San Antonio Philharmonic Appoints Jeffrey Kahane As Music Director

The San Antonio Philharmonic today announces the appointment of beloved conductor, pianist, and educator Jeffrey Kahane as Music Director for the 2024-2025 season, for an initial period of three seasons.

San Antonio Philharmonic Executive Director Roberto Treviño, an architect and former city councilman, says of Kahane's appointment, "The San Antonio Philharmonic's dedication to inclusivity across all segments of our community is underscored with the selection of Jeffrey Kahane, who understands the significance of engaging with all members of the community."

In a career spanning five decades, Jeffrey Kahane has excelled in a multitude of roles - from performing as a soloist in concertos with renowned orchestras around the world, to numerous recital tours with Yo-Yo Ma, to leading the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on European tours during his 20-year tenure as Music Director, where he was recently named Music Director Laureate. Since 2017, he has been Music Director of the Sarasota Festival, where he has significantly expanded the diversity of both the faculty and the programming. He has been instrumental in commissioning and premiering dozens of new works, bringing a sense of moral and ethical purpose to all he takes on. Kahane has enjoyed a decades-long history with the San Antonio Symphony, having maintained close ties to the musicians since his conducting debut in 1992. A Los Angeles native and cultural figure, Kahane is a lifelong learner with deep and broad interests both within and beyond music and speaks fluent Spanish, aligning with the culture of the newly named San Antonio Philharmonic.

Kahane says, "It is tremendously moving and genuinely thrilling for me to have been asked by the San Antonio Philharmonic to assume the role of Music Director of this wonderful orchestra at a critical juncture in its history, in one of America's largest and most historically significant cities. My relationship with the orchestra goes back to the early years of my conducting career more than three decades ago, and my most recent experiences conducting and playing with the orchestra were truly joyous and inspiring occasions. As someone whose musical life has long been centered around the ideal of music-making as ethical practice, and who believes in the notion of an orchestra being an instrument of community and social action, I was elated to discover that Roberto Treviño, Brian Petkovich, and the entire organization share a deep understanding of the critical importance of these values and ideals. I believe that a great orchestra is one of the most beautiful and powerful symbols available to us of the idea of human cooperation and the capacity of people of widely differing backgrounds and points of view to come together in the service of a higher calling.

"Having grown up in Los Angeles, where I was surrounded by and studied the Spanish language from childhood, I am especially grateful to have the privilege of helping to deepen the orchestra's connection to the city's Hispanic community, and to play a role in ensuring that the San Antonio Philharmonic is truly an orchestra for everyone."

Organized informally as a community orchestra as early as the mid-1880s, the ensemble holds the distinction of performing the first complete symphony ever presented in the state of Texas, in 1887. In 1939, the orchestra was founded more formally as the San Antonio Symphony by local musicians under the direction of Italian-born conductor Max Reiter, thanks to financial help from AFM Local 23. As an immigrant himself, Reiter helped other immigrants find work in the newly formed ensemble, and by 1950, the Symphony had grown rapidly into one of the largest in Texas. The orchestra performed as the San Antonio Symphony for some 83 years, rising to the high ranks of United States orchestras. In January 2022, though, the orchestra began its transformation into the ensemble that exists today. Amid the dissolution of of the Symphony Society, which had functioned as its board since 1939, the orchestra was reborn - reclaimed in a determined grassroots effort by its longstanding and close-knit group of musicians to create an orchestra dedicated to the values of a diverse community and social impact, now known as the San Antonio Philharmonic.

As a return to a name first used in 1914, the choice celebrates a renewal of the ensemble's original values and intentions. Helmed by Treviño, the San Antonio Philharmonic has charted a course toward reclaiming and revitalizing elements of the city's historic culture. Its offices have moved to the heart of the west side in the Avenida Guadalupe neighborhood adjacent to Plaza Guadalupe, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, UTSA's Westside Community Center, and next door to the Alazan-Apache Public Housing Projects, exemplifying the organization's commitment to engaging with the community. As one of the first public housing projects in the United States, championed by Eleanor Roosevelt, the Alazan-Apache Courts represent a crucial piece of San Antonio history, and bringing the Philharmonic's offices to this location helps shine a light on a community often overlooked. Gabriel Quintero Velasquez, President and CEO of Avenida, comments, "The artistic excellence of the San Antonio Philharmonic combined with its commitment to its musician workforce makes a powerful investment in a community where the cultural arts historically both excel and lead locally but also nationally."

Brian Petkovich - President of the Board and acting Principal Bassoon of the orchestra, who was instrumental in the rebirth of the organization, - says, "We are overjoyed to welcome an artist of Jeffrey Kahane's caliber to San Antonio. As our new Music Director he will create a lasting vision and inspire our community."

In its new incarnation, the San Antonio Philharmonic is primed to reconnect with more diverse audiences; especially San Antonio's vibrant Hispanic community, which now represents 65.8% of the city's population, with a significant segment of that population speaking Spanish as their primary language. The orchestra will provide bilingual printed programs and spoken announcements, while programming a wide range of repertoire representative of the entire community. In December 2023, the San Antonio Philharmonic presented A Folklorico Nutcracker, partnering with the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, San Antonio Ballet School and art-rock band Buttercup to premiere a new work by composer Mari Maurice.

The 2024-25 season, curated by Kahane, will feature recent works by Gabriela Ortiz, Jerod Tate, Valerie Coleman, Jeff Scott, Peter Shin, Gabriela Lena Frank, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Sofia Gubaidulina, among others. The season's programs will also continue to showcase masterpieces from the classical canon, including familiar masterworks such as Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" Symphony, Saint-Saëns' "Organ" Symphony and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, as well as major works that have been played rarely or never by the orchestra, such as Elgar's Symphony No. 1 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1.

The orchestra partners with San Antonio's historic Majestic Theatre in several concerts throughout the season, including a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the San Antonio Mastersingers and a distinguished cast of soloists. Among the stellar soloists and guest conductors to be featured this season are Augustin Hadelich, Elena Urioste, and Jon Kimura Parker.

Kahane has also envisioned a multi-year project centered around the music of J.S. Bach entitled Bach: Reflections and Reverberations, an effort to perform the major choral masterpieces of Bach, including not only the most famous works but also many of the less familiar cantatas, in dialogue and juxtaposition with other works. These concerts will take place all around San Antonio, in such venues as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, the Cathedral of San Fernando, and Our Lady of the Lake Chapel, as well as the orchestra's current home base, the First Baptist Church. The San Antonio Philharmonic will partner with various choral organizations in San Antonio, including the Mastersingers, as well as Artistic Partner Roomful of Teeth. Kahane will launch this initiative with a special solo piano recital of Bach's monumental Goldberg Variations as a benefit for the orchestra.

The San Antonio Philharmonic and its Music Director Jeffrey Kahane are thrilled to announce that the visionary GRAMMY-winning vocal band Roomful of Teeth will join the Philharmonic as its Artistic Partner. The first phase of the partnership will involve Teeth's participation in the inaugural Bach: Reflections and Reverberations in a 3-day mini-residency during the 2024-2025 season. The second phase, which will take place during the 2025-2026 season, will involve a performance with the Philharmonic on its subscription series, as well as a second mini-residency as part of the Bach initiative.

Additional details of the San Antonio Philharmonic's 2024-2025 season will be announced in Spring 2024.

About Jeffrey Kahane

Pianist, conductor, and scholar Jeffrey Kahane is now in the fifth decade of an expansive and eclectic career - one that has ranged from concertos with the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphonies, to recital tours with Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell, to a European tour with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under his baton, to lecture/performances of Beethoven symphonies informed by his immersion in ancient literature, to collaborations with the Emerson, Miró, Dover, Attacca, and Calidore String Quartets. Since 2017 he has been Music Director of the Sarasota Festival, where he has significantly expanded the diversity of both the faculty and the programming.

During his twenty seasons as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, he led the orchestra on tours of the United States and Europe. He was instrumental in the creation of several new series, among them the orchestra's renowned "Sound Investment" commissioning club, which allows donors to be witnesses to and partners in the evolution of a major new work each season. He was recently named Music Director Laureate of the orchestra.

Jeffrey also served for 11 years as Music Director of the Santa Rosa Symphony, and for five years as Music Director of the Colorado Symphony. In addition to the dozens of works commissioned and premiered by the orchestras where he has served as music director, Jeffrey has premiered piano concertos written for him by composers Kevin Puts and Andrew Norman, and recently gave multiple performances of "Heirloom", a new concerto written for him by his son Gabriel that reflects the connections between music and three generations of family history. He will perform the concerto at Carnegie Hall this coming May with The Knights under the direction of Eric Jacobsen, followed by a recording of the work for Nonesuch.

When not on the road, he teaches a small class of gifted pianists and coaches chamber music at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music. An avid and accomplished linguist conversant in a number of languages both ancient and modern, Jeffrey received an M.A. in Classics from the University of Colorado in 2010, and is currently pursuing a PhD in the Department of Classics at USC. His wife of 44 years, Martha Kahane, is a clinical psychologist in private practice. Their two children, Gabriel and Annie, are both highly accomplished in different art forms. Learn more at www.jeffreykahane.net.

About the San Antonio Philharmonic

The San Antonio Philharmonic's foremost commitment lies with the community, recognizing the transformative impact of a world-class orchestra in enhancing the overall quality of life. It aims to harness the potential and opportunities inherent in music to effect positive change and enrich all lives on a profound scale.

San Antonio's professional orchestra has roots traced back to 1887. In 1939, the renowned San Antonio Symphony was formally founded. Our many seasons have featured outstanding music directors, conductors, and a multitude of world class musicians who have presented inspiring performances for decades. Our long legacy of musical excellence has featured the music of composers from across the globe, and collaborations with guest ensembles and artists have exemplified musical artistry, with former guest artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, and countless others. In September 2022 the professional orchestra launched its inaugural season under its new name known as the San Antonio Philharmonic. Learn more at www.saphil.org.

*Photo Credit: E.F. Marton Productions

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