Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, the San Francisco Symphony’s performance home.
“The San Francisco Symphony has canceled its entire fall season, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to decimate the performing arts landscape for 2020,” writes Joshua Kosman in Thursday’s (6/18) San Francisco Chronicle. “The cancellation, announced Thursday, June 18, by CEO Mark C. Hanson … will have a heavy impact on plans for Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first season as the orchestra’s music director, including an opening festival with the eight musicians and polymaths he has tapped as ‘collaborative partners.’ … The decision to cancel in-person performances through the end of December entails 61 performances … on top of 77 spring and summer performances that had already been called off. Among the casualties of the fall cancellations are a performance of Bartók’s opera ‘Duke Bluebeard’s Castle’ … and the premiere of ‘Her Story,’ Julia Wolfe’s co-commissioned oratorio about women’s suffrage. Hanson said the Symphony had originally planned to reach a decision about the fall offerings in July but pulled the plug early in order to begin work on virtual programming efforts. ‘Our goal is to move beyond the disappointment and to focus on alternative programming to ensure that no one within or outside the organization comes to believe we’re going into hibernation,’ he said.”
