Jaap Van Zweden Conducts The San Francisco Symphony At Davies Symphony Hall, January 11–13 

Conductor Jaap van Zweden leads the San Francisco Symphony in concerts on January 11–13.  

The program begins with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, one of classical music’s most well-known symphonies. Beethoven wrote his Fifth and Sixth symphonies simultaneously, premiering them together in a marathon 1808 concert. The work's four-note opening is said to represent fate and has been referenced frequently in popular culture.  

In the second half of the program, van Zweden conducts Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, composed after Joseph Stalin and the state newspaper Pravda publicly condemned Shostakovich’s music.  His music was banned throughout the Soviet Union, and fearing for his life and career, Shostakovich temporarily abandoned his Fourth Symphony to focus on his Fifth. He described Symphony No. 5 as “a Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism” and the work was well-received, restoring Shostakovich’s reputation in the eyes of the public and the government. 

Tickets for concerts at Davies Symphony Hall can be purchased  via sfsymphony.org or by calling the San Francisco Symphony Box Office at 415.864.6000.

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