SF Symphony can’t afford conductor, goes ahead with $100 million hall
OrchestrasEsa-Pekka Salonen is leaving the San Francisco Symphony because the board won’t pay for his programming.
That’s widely known.
In the next few days the board will seek city permission to go ahead with a makeover of Davies Symphony Hall, with a projected cost of $100 million.
Sack the best gardener, build a better garden shed.
More here.
“Build it and they will come.”
Field of Dreams, 1989
No they won’t.
Birmingham, 2024
I’m planning a trip to SF over Thanksgiving week & had hoped to buy tickets to attend the SF Symphony &/or the opera. The program choices are SO disappointing!
The symphony only has movie play-along concerts & a chamber music program which isn’t even fully programmed yet. The opera has Carmen & more Carmen.
SF looks to me to be moving towards being a cultural wasteland, pandering to popular crowds & (hate to use this word as a Dem but it’s true) “woke” ideology.
Why are these fine musicians getting 6 figure salaries to accompany movies? Why is this once-renowned opera company spending so much time and effort on yet another unnecessary production of Carmen? Peter Gelb proved that people buy more tickets to new operas. Why isn’t SF paying attention to the MET’s data?
So, no, I will not be visiting Davies Hall or the magnificent SF Opera House. I may just take my trip LA or NYC instead. Shame on you San Francisco.
While I don’t disagree with part of what you said, you might want to think twice about going to see the LAPhil over Thanksgiving. They aren’t performing anything. The week before, they’ll be doing Star Wars in concert. The NYPhil will be doing Chopin and Rachmaninoff, so maybe you’ll be happy there. In case you think Chicago would be a good option, they’re doing the Wizard of Oz and a Vienna Boys Choir Christmas.
I don’t think the Thanksgiving weekend is a good time to hear good music in the US. Perhaps you should recalibrate your expectations and not judge SFS on one holiday week of performances.
What gives me more pause than that is the orchestra having a $12.5 million budget deficit.
Some of the changes are needed, but others are pure vanity, like the outdoor “media wall.”
The article makes no mention of adding sustainable energy systems and other measures to lower utility costs, which the Inflation Reduction Act will help pay for.
The media wall is odd because there’s no viewing area.
War Memorial Opera House is across the street with only sidewalks for people to stand and view.
There’s also the noisy Van Ness so sound would be sub-optimal; maybe they could use an app for the sound.
New World Center’s media wall (Miami) has an entire viewing park with sound reinforcement.
Good move. Let Messa-Pakka Sillinen try to cadge multi-millions for his vanity projects with his subzero personality.
Totally and irretrievably bonkers. Whose ‘board’ is this? Do they own and administer both the orchestra and the hall? Do the people who adminster the interior decorations, the cleaning of the toilets, the water, the electricity, the heating, the air conditioning, the roof tiles and the carpets also pay the orchestra and conductor, and decide on the repertoire? Or do the orchestra have to pay a rental fee to the hall authority, out of their ticket fees? Is the hall privately owned, or is it a municipal property? Is it used exclusively by the orchestra or does it also host Taylor Swift concerts, bingo evenings, political rallies and discos?
Are any SD contributors based in San Francisco, and if so, could they explain how this all works and how this outrageous situation could arise? it looks like killing the goose that lays loads of golden eggs and it also seems more likely that this is a variant of the Stenning syndrome. Birmingham, Melbourne and now San Francisco – is it a pandemic? Where will it strike next?
Davies Symphony Hall is the permanent home of the SFS; the Symphony board is as such responsible for both entities. It is not programmed as a rental space – no Taylor Swift or any such concerts are performed there. As a San Franciscan music student, I am as ashamed of the current Geeslin board as all other musicians in the area are. This final Salonen year will likely be audiences’ last opportunity to hear innovative music in several years (and only in between the Disney movies and pop-rock “collaborations.”)
the hall is owned by the City and County of San Francisco
“Sack the best gardener, build a better garden shed.” Brilliant summation!!
I attend concerts at the New York Philharmonic where Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts. His choice of contemporary music is deeply unsatisfying, often unlistenable, downright tedious and boring. A brilliant conductor, who cares little or not at all about his audience. What a pity!
De gustibus… I find his programming to be as brilliant as his conducting — and his composing.
But there’s plenty of care for the young ladies of the orchestra.
the ‘garden’ has been overgrown with weeds and tall branches touching the power lines; it clearly needs a new gardener and a major renovation.
Common in many fields. The truth is often, donors that would not support a single conductor, or donate to a fund, would fund a hall. And I bet there are grants included in that 100m. And I bet they in no way have anything close to a hundred million dollars. They will still need to raise part of that money, announcing the hall being the best way to do it.
World class space does sell tickets, and tickets turn into donations, and those fuel the orchestra. Best to not be too judgy. I would want to ask many questions before deciding what I think they can afford or not.
Additionally, they had the money for the conductor, so the headline is false.
SFS has me wondering for whom the renovated and expanded hall will be named. As in, which mega-donor?
I don’t think it will remain Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall.
Davies has been lousy from.day 1. Should demolish it. Build a replica of the Berlin.
$28 million to build it in 1980. $10 million to try to fix acoustics problems in 1999. Now $100 million to fix something–it’s not clear what. Perhaps part of the problem is insisting on a 3,000-seat hall. It just feels too large and impersonal to be there.The only music that really seems to fit are Mahler symphonies.
If the Berlin Philharmonie is so great, why is that the back row instruments are often times swallowed up? Horns, tuba and percussion are often times difficult to hear clearly. Less so trumpets and trombones, given that their bells point forward. I went their in 1978 and heard Barenboim conduct Bruckner 9. Their fantastic horn section sounded miniscule, and the tuba was pretty much inaudible. The timpani are very strong there, so there was no problem hearing the timps.
The changes described in the article look and sound fantastic.
the optics and timing are horrible–agreed–but do note that SFS has not even begun fundraising for this project. orchestra leadership has said over and over that city regulations more-or-less require that they make certain applications NOW if they ever want to improve Davies….
as for “not being able to afford a conductor”: EPS quit because the organization could afford his grand plans. he could have signed a new contract and proved what can be done on a smaller budget–but, no.
the comment above is mine–I was typing too fast and thinking too slow. the quote in my second paragraph SHOULD have been “as for ‘sack the gardener’…EPS quit (etc.) and further on I meant to write “the organization could NOT afford his grand plans.”
Before getting started with our armchair criticism: did the SFSO have the option to use apply part of the reported 100 million towards conductor fees? What onearth do we know about their finances and their plans?
If you build it. They will come
I, for one, am not going to come to watch Disney movies with orchestra accompaniment.
This is only wise of them. An orchestra must look beyond its conductor if it seeks to sustain itself and prosper longer than a single mortal tenure.
A hall won’t walk out on you.
Your neighbor can hire your gardener away, he can’t take your garden away.
Not gonna happen. Not at that price, not in that time.
In San Francisco, it costs $1.7 million and 3 years just to build a single public toilet.
(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/24/us/san-francisco-toilet.html
“San Francisco Tried to Build a $1.7 Million Toilet. It’s Still Not Done.
An expensive public bathroom project has come to symbolize the city’s bureaucratic inefficiencies.”)
Some would say the entire area around symphony hall is one big open public toilet. But I won’t say that. I would only say that pedestrians have to dodge feces on the sidewalk, and not of the canine kind.
In the past 30 years, I have never had to dodge human feces near Davies Symphony Hall, and I walked by there frequently going to War Memorial for full seasons of opera and ballet. Stinky street people, yes.
I also have never had to dodge feces along Van Ness, or any other locale in the immediate vicinity of Davies Hall. I’ll agree that tents and a bit of trash strewn about is not attractive to look at, nor very sanitary. But I think the extent of the problem has been exaggerated for any of of the places an arts patron would park, and walk, in that part of town. NOBODY parks in the The Tenderloin. However, the The Tenderloin has been skid row and flop-house city ever since I was kid. It’s nothing new. It’s just that the drugs got harder, and the level of desperation has increased. Most major U.S. cities have such areas.
SFS is clearly in a lot of trouble. They have a massive number of vacancies, appoint too many musicians/do too many unannounced auditions, etc.
Having said that: while it’s true they don’t have their priorities quite right here, it’s also true Esa-Pekka’s programming wasn’t resonating with the audiences. It didn’t make sense for the Symphony to keep doing them, and of course it didn’t make sense for Esa-Pekka to stay without doing them either. Him leaving was the right move for all parties involved, even if it’s frustrating.
Sure. They could rectify that problem by getting Salonen to repeat Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein and Mahler endlessly, just as they did with Tilson-Thomas.
Needs a new board that like music.
Norman, idk about the UK, but here in the US, major arts organizational budgeting is generally divided into operational (e.g. salaries and PR etc.), and capital expenditures (like building projects). These monies are almost always clearly specified, and not used to rob Peter to pay Paul -or vice versa. That Davies hall needs a Geffen Hall style makeover has been known for decades before EPS showed up.
Can anyone blame him? New music is the least of SF’s problems. Crime and Grime know no boundaries in California’s boiling cesspools.
That $100m will probably enhance the hall for event rentals and multimedia networking.
Salongagain will find another city to not program the classics.
Wrong. Crime can happen in ANY city. I’ve twice pushed my tuba on a baby jogger, in lederhosen, after playing an Oktoberfest up on Gough St., and right through the middle of The Tenderloin to go to my (then) job on Powell St. Not only did nobody bother me, nobody even batted an eye. I’ve ridden BART and MUNI countless hundreds of times, and never had ANY issue. If you want to be afraid, be afraid. The problems in the immediate vicinity of Davies Hall are no worse than they are at most any other inner city concert venue.
Your anecdotal evidence is nothing but a comment in the style of John Cage.
Comparing San Francesspool to “any other inner city?” Is this helpful? Lost Angeles isn’t any better. You keep defending your city. Crime rates have dropped because businesses are closed shop (there’s less to steal) and because those who have things worth stealing have been leaving in droves.
Kamala Harris’s daddy fortified his Marxist ideology at Berkeley and promoted it at Stanford. San Francisco can keep its Marxist ideologies to itself. No wonder Salongagain left. The new hall is at least a wise investment; empty seats are easy to steal.
Is it possible that operating budgets and capital budgets come from different funding sources ? That happens quite a lot, resulting in cash-strapped organisations being able to fund large projects.
But it doesn’t always end well, since thy later struggle to pay for upkeep.
This is *exactly* what the Minnesota Orchestra board and CEO tried for back in 2012. It did not end well for them…
They already several halls in the immediate vicinity that are appropriate for chamber music and small opera productions. What’s the point?
What is a better long term investment: an overpaid ‘star’ conductor or a better / new concert hall?
(My apologies, I inadvertently placed my comment under the Sydney article)
It could be worse.
Take the CSO: they have “invested” – by some conservative estimates – $30-33M to pay Muti since his appointment (between the Stallion’s salary and concert fees, which will continue to be paid in the foreseeable future until Klaus puts a stop to the madness).
They got back: drastically reduced audiences; an orchestra in disarray attracting sub-par principals and denying tenure to world class musicians; arguably no consequential recordings; abysmal programming; hundreds of incoherent Latin quotes; anti me2 rants; a totally reset bar for ‘ethical’ MD behavior.
At least SF will get a hall.
So, Which of the two organizations is dumber?
Roderick Nash: …Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts…His choice of contemporary music is deeply unsatisfying, often unlistenable, downright tedious and boring.
—–
Too many contemporary creative types (in music, visual arts and literature) think that in order to be cool and trendy, their output has to be very opaque and esoteric. Or very dark and gloomy.
If a, say, John Williams is too middle-brow hummable (movie music!!), why do people like Salonen favor being too high-brow monotonous?
If you read the article – they are getting the permits for the potential project and then will start the fundraising for it in due time. Everyone likes to get keyboard happy and critical. Chill!
Many do not want to go to downtown SF because it’s such a mess – a new hall will not help
Grateful for all that background information. It would seem then that juxtaposing the funding for the hall and the departure of the conductor is a non sequitur.