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San Francisco Symphony
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San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
Welcome
One of the things I most love about our holiday concerts is the opportunity to welcome so many first-time concertgoers to the San Francisco Symphony.
From the greeting at the door to the glow of the lobby decorations and the excitement of experiencing live music together, we want you to feel at home. The holidays are a time of gathering and every night in our hall is an opportunity to create a new community.
Part of what makes Holidays with the Symphony special is the incredible variety of music we share each season. From favorite films to family-friendly concerts, programs with popular artists, and SF Symphony musician showcases like Holiday Brass and Messiah, there is truly something for everyone. The remarkable artistry of our musicians sets the stage for a shared spirit of joy and connection.
We are thrilled you’ve made the San Francisco Symphony your holiday home. By being here with us, you are doing your part to strengthen our city’s cultural fabric, a gift to us all.
Priscilla B. Geeslin
Chair, San Francisco Symphony
Christmas Cards in Sound
SF Symphony Holiday Highlights Through the Years • By Steven Ziegler
“Season’s Greetings, O San Francisco,
Piquant as Paris, punchy as Pisco,
City of thrills and hills and chills…”
—from a holiday poem by Herb Caen,
San Francisco Chronicle, 1979
The holiday season in San Francisco is a magical blend of traditions, sights, and sounds unique to our city. The San Francisco Symphony has provided the soundtrack to the season for more than a century, and this month marks the 100th anniversary of our first performance of Handel’s Messiah. To commemorate this milestone, we look back at the Symphony’s holiday highlights through the decades.
“Hallelujah!”: 100 years of Messiah
Alfred Hertz brought Handel’s Messiah to the San Francisco Symphony on December 15, 1925. The performance featured “San Francisco’s Municipal Chorus of 300 mixed voices under the direction of Dr. Hans Leschke and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra augmented to 100.” Messiah made regular appearances over the years before becoming a nearly annual affair with the establishment of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in the 1970s and the opening of Davies Symphony Hall in the early 1980s. Since then, performances have been led by early music specialists such as John Eliot Gardiner, Nicholas McGegan, Roger Norrington, Masaaki Suzuki, and Jane Glover, who conducts her fourth Messiah with the Symphony this month.
Peter and the Wolf
The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s yearly presentation of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf has been a beloved Bay Area tradition for 40 years. Since the first performance with legendary San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in 1985, the SFSYO has welcomed a starry cast of narrators, including Linda Ronstadt, Robin Williams, Danny Glover, Sharon Stone, Rita Moreno, Florence Henderson, Leonard Nimoy, Tom Kenny, and many more. Joshua Dela Cruz, of Blue’s Clues & You! fame, returns this month to narrate Prokofiev’s delightful fable for the second year in a row.
Chorus at Christmas
The founding of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus in 1974, and the appointment of Vance George as Chorus Director a decade later, heralded a new era of Christmas programming at the Symphony. The Chorus’s annual Christmas concerts with George, and later Ragnar Bohlin, blended traditional carols and contemporary works by composers including David Conte, Conrad Susa, and Eric Whitacre. A 1998 Delos CD, Christmas by the Bay, captured the magic of these concerts for future generations. The Chorus continues to lend its burnished sound to annual performances of Handel’s Messiah and other holiday concerts.
Deck the Hall
When Davies Symphony Hall opened in 1980, a new holiday tradition began. The first Deck the Hall was a holiday gift from Louise M. Davies, who offered not only financial support but also her exuberant presence, welcoming families to the concert hall that bears her name. For 45 years, Deck the Hall has invited families for a concert and celebration drawing on varied holiday traditions and featuring local musicians, children’s choirs, dancers, and actors. In 2000, the event expanded to include Deck the Hall Community Day, welcoming children from local community organizations and public schools. Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, the Symphony’s Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education, has conducted Deck the Hall since 2015.
Pipe Dreams and Brass
For many, the holidays wouldn’t be complete without the stirring sounds of organ and brass. The 1984 holiday season brought a welcome addition to Davies Symphony Hall with the inauguration of the Ruffatti Organ, one of the largest concert hall organs in the United States. The Ruffatti has added heft to many holiday performances over the years, from the Pipe Dreams concerts of the 1980s and ’90s to more recent iterations of Holiday Brass and Deck the Hall.
The San Francisco Symphony Brass are also busy during the season, having launched their annual Holiday Brass program in 2015. In addition to highlighting the polish and panache of the brass section, Holiday Brass is programmed by the players themselves and often features their own arrangements.
Expanding the Reach
Prior to the construction of the War Memorial Opera House, and later Davies Symphony Hall, the Symphony delighted audiences with holiday concerts at venues throughout the Bay Area. This tradition began with the Symphony’s very first holiday concert, a December 1916 program for children at the Cort Theater. A particularly memorable performance came during World War II, when Music Director Pierre Monteux (in full Santa attire) led a holiday concert for soldiers stationed on Treasure Island.
Community Connections
SFYC: 10 Years of Song
The San Francisco Youth Chorus (SFYC) proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary season as one of the Bay Area’s leading children’s choral organizations. Founded in 2015 by Artistic Director Katherine Gerber, SFYC now serves more than 200 registered students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade—an exciting milestone that reflects a decade of growth and dedication to nurturing young voices.
This anniversary year began with the Thankful for Ten Years Gala Fundraiser and continues with the annual Winter Memories concert on December 6. Looking ahead, SFYC singers will represent the Bay Area on the national stage: this spring at the Anaheim Heritage Festival, and in 2026 at the prestigious Festival of Gold in Chicago—an invitation earned with a gold rating during last year’s tour to New Orleans.
Learn more about SFYC at sanfranciscoyouthchorus.org or @sfyouthchorus.
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