CENTENNIAL OPENING NIGHT GALA: FANFARE FOR A NEW CENTURY

The San Francisco Symphony celebrated its Centennial with The Symphony’s Opening Gala on Wednesday, September 7 featuring Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra and special guest soloists pianist Lang Lang and violinist Itzhak Perlman.

The Gala celebrations began at 5:00 p.m. with a cocktail reception for all dinner package ticket holders in the lobby of the San Francisco Opera House followed by the Patrons’ Dinner, catered by McCall Associates and designed by Stanlee Gatti in the Louise M. Davies Tent Pavilion. The Symphony Supper and Symphonix Dinner were held in City Hall’s Grand Rotunda and North Light Court.

Proceeds from the Centennial Gala benefit the Orchestra’s myriad artistic, community, and education programs, which provide music education to more than 75,000 Bay Area school children each year. The concert program includes Copland’s Billy the Kid Ballet Suite, Lang Lang performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with Itzhak Perlman, and Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.