San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is the most important orchestras in San Francisco ( California). The current music director is Michael Tilson Thomas, who holds this position since September 1995.
History
The orchestra was founded in 1911. It has long been an important part of the cultural life of San Francisco. The first concerts were directed by Henry Hadley, who had led from 1909 to 1911, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. 60 musicians played in the first season. The first concert included works by Richard Wagner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Joseph Haydn and Franz Liszt. A total of 13 concerts were held in the 1911/12 season.
The successor of Hadley in 1915 Alfred Hertz, who led City before the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
After 1930 Hertz gave up his office, the orchestra was led by two conductors, Basil Cameron and Issay Dobrowen. During the Great Depression, the orchestra was threatened with closure, and the season 1934/35 has been canceled. The famous French conductor Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) was hired to revitalize the orchestra again. Monteux was so successful that NBC began to transfer concerts, and RCA Victor joined with the orchestra a record deal from. 1949 invited Monteux Arthur Fiedler to a common summer concerts. Fiedler conducted the orchestra at free concerts at the Sigmund Stern Grove in San Francisco and the Frost Amphitheater at Stanford University. Fiedler's commitment lasted until the 1970s.
As Monteux in 1952 left the orchestra, it was led by different conductors as Leopold Stokowski, Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Münchinger, George Szell, Bruno Walter, Ferenc Fricsay and William Steinberg.
Two years later, the young Spanish maestro Enrique Jordá was engaged as music director. He started with great advance praise. He conducted partly so enthusiastic that he flew the baton from his hand. Over the years neglected Jordá but the discipline and the quality of the orchestra subsided. George Szell (1897-1970), the longtime music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, was in 1962 as a guest conductor in San Francisco and was so upset about the lack of discipline that he publicly Jordá condemned and even the music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, Alfred Frankenstein, criticized for it to have recommended Jordá and the orchestra. Because of Szell criticism, the orchestra sought to change.
In the fall of 1963, the Austrian conductor Josef Krips ( 1902-1974 ) was music director. He quickly became known as a benevolent autocrat who did not tolerate sloppy game. He worked hard to inspire his musicians, and built the orchestra up again, especially with the classic German - Austrian repertoire. One of his innovations was a New Year's Concert with melodies by Johann Strauss and other Viennese masters of the 19th century. These concerts are there in a little different form, to this day.
Krips did not record records with the orchestra, since he did not consider it mature enough. However, he allowed KKHI to transfer some Friday concerts. He also paved the way for his successor Seiji Ozawa ( b. 1935 ), when he invited him as a guest conductor. Ozawa quickly impressed critics and audiences with his work in amber -like style.
The Ozawa era began in 1970 with great enthusiasm. Even his guest appearances had caused much enthusiasm. It was soon difficult to get any tickets for his concerts. He increased the quality of the orchestra and massive castle with Deutsche Grammophon in 1972 from a record deal. He was additionally music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After leaving San Francisco. He returned twice more back as a guest conductor.
Ozawa was succeeded by Edo de Waart, a young Dutch conductor who missed a new face to the orchestra. He was not as extroverted as Ozawa, and a part of the audience missed its self-presentation. De Waart but kept the high standard of the orchestra and took on some plates. He conducted the first concert in the new Davies Symphony Hall in September 1980.
Herbert Blomstedt, the Swedish- American conductor, began work in the fall of 1985. The post was offered to him by two guest concerts in 1984; he was at this time music director of the Staatskapelle Dresden. He brought the orchestra back to greater precision and reliability. The orchestra began under him annual tours of Europe and Asia, and returned to the weekly radio broadcasts. Blomstedt also recognized the poor acoustics of Davies Symphony Hall and initiated a reform that was completed in 1992.
1995 Michael Tilson Thomas became music director. He came by the London Symphony Orchestra. He had been a guest conductor of the orchestra several times since 1974 and had a good rapport with the musicians. As Ozawa, Thomas made sure again more American music was played. Another focus of his work was on Russian music, and in particular Igor Stravinsky, as well as on Gustav Mahler.
In 1999, the orchestra Album S & M together with the Heavy-/Thrash-Metal-Band Metallica. This landed in the U.S. on the Billboard 200 chart at # 2 with 1.5 copies sold, and five times platinum status.
2013, the orchestra was awarded the ECHO Klassik Orchestra of the Year ( New instruments )