“Itzhak Perlman plays a pretty good fiddle,” observed Michael Tilson Thomas as the San Francisco Symphony celebrated the start of their 24th season together on Wednesday, September 5, with an Opening Night Gala performance in Davies Symphony Hall.
Indeed the legend was in extraordinary form as he brought in students of the Perlman Music Program to the stage.
Together, they performed Concerto No. 3 in minor for strings and continuo, BWV 1043.
And while J.S. Bach composed this piece for two violins, the rotating ensemble made for a moving performance.
Perlman also performed music from beloved Hollywood film scores.
Prior to the Gala Concert, the SF Symphony hosted four separate formal dinners, all beginning at 6pm, with cocktail receptions beginning at 5pm. The Patrons’ Dinner was the largest and took place in the Tented Pavilion next to Davies Symphony Hall. The Symphony Supper and Symphonix Dinner took place at City Hall’s Grand Rotunda and North Light Court, respectively, and the fourth dinner was in the Wattis Room of Davies Hall. Proceeds from the Opening Night Gala benefit the San Francisco Symphony’s myriad artistic, education, and community programs, which serve nearly 100,000 children, students, educators, and families in the Bay Area each year.
Following the Gala concert, all guests enjoyed a high-energy indoor-outdoor After-Party in the Tented Pavilion and on Grove Street, which included entertainment from from DJL! and The Cheeseballs, as well as complimentary drinks and food from an array of local San Francisco establishments.
Bay Crossings readers will appreciate that Dobbs Ferry Restaurant & Bar was there, too.
Others included Doppio Zero, Nightbird, The Meatball Bar, Smuggler’s Cove, Salt & Straw, Souvla, Monsieur Benjamin, Johnny Doughnuts, The Absinthe Group, Cala, August (1) Five, Corridor Restaurant, Proposition Chicken, Revelry Bistro, Humphry Slocombe, Palm House, The Dorian, and Sutro’s at The Cliff House.
What a blast.