Conducted by Xian Zhang

Beethoven's tour de force masterpiece headlines an illuminating program conducted by Xian Zhang. Joined by an array of guest vocalists, including Gabriella Reyes, Kelley O'Connor, Issachah Savage, Reginald Smith, Jr. and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Zhang will oversee an evening that begins with the San Francisco premieres of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade, Opus 33 and Michael Abels' Emerge, before the glory of Beethoven's towering final work.

Beethoven's 9th

Often hailed as the most central work of western classical music as well as 'the symphony to end all symphonies', Beethoven's Ninth is the apex of technical and compositional mastery as well as imagination. Composed and first performed in 1824, the Ninth would be Beethoven's final complete symphony, so it's fitting that it would contain his most well-known melody. Pushing the symphonic structure to its absolute limits, the epic journey immortalizes the unity of mankind and its place in the universe, culminating in the ever-popular and ebullient Ode To Joy finale.