S.F. Symphony puts fall schedule on ice
The San Francisco Symphony has canceled its entire fall season, as the COVID19 pandemic continues to decimate the performing arts landscape for 2020 in the Bay Area and nationwide. The cancellation, announced Thursday, June 18, by CEO Mark C. Hanson, comes on the heels of a similar announcement by the San Francisco Opera.
Perhaps most painfully, it will have a heavy impact on plans for EsaPekka 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.”
“We’re disappointed, of course, but we understand the importance of not allowing live performances during the pandemic,” Hanson told The Chronicle. “The Symphony’s priority remains the health and safety of our musicians and audience members.”
The decision to cancel inperson performances through the end of December entails 61 performances, including some holiday events that had not been publicly announced, said a Symphony spokeswoman. That comes 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,” a complete series of Beethoven’s piano concertos with conductor and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, and the premiere of “Her Story,” Julia Wolfe’s cocommissioned 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 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. “We are going to remain as active, as vibrant, as visible an organization as possible.”
He said that Salonen, who could not be reached for comment, shared the commitment to switching gears to online presentations.
“EsaPekka is an eternal optimist who is innately curious about alternative programming ideas and about the combination of this centuriesold art form with current and yettobediscovered technology,” Hanson said.
Also this week, Cal Performances canceled all inperson events for its fall season because of concerns over the pandemic. The announcement Wednesday, June 17, is in accordance with UC Berkeley’s new plans for the fall semester.
The canceled performances include “Not Our First Goat Rodeo,” featuring YoYo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile and Aoife O’Donovan, which was slated to open the season on Aug. 20 at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. “Frankenstein,” a presentation by Chicago’s Manual Cinema, also got the ax, along with planned appearances by the Miami City Ballet, the Dhamaal Dancers and Musicians of India, Angélique Kidjo and the Vienna Boys Choir.
Executive and Artistic Director Jeremy Geffen said the organization is working to develop alternatives, including plans to showcase some of the canceled work online. He said that performances from January 2021 onward are still expected to take place as scheduled.
At the Symphony, Hanson declined to give an estimate of the organization’s total losses due to the pandemic when asked about the financial impact of the cancellations. Davies Symphony Hall has been dark since March 7, when Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas led a single performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony.
In April, when the remaining spring and summer concerts were canceled, the organization instituted acrosstheboard salary cuts averaging 25% for musicians, stagehands and staff. In addition, the Symphony has now eliminated 24 staff positions and instituted six and 12week summer furloughs for an additional 22 employees.
“Even when we thought the impact of this virus would be measured in weeks or months, rather than a year or more, our priority has been to safeguard the longterm as well as the shortterm health of the organization,” Hanson said. “This is the most daunting challenge we’ve faced in our 109year history.”