San Francisco Symphony - Mariinsky plays Mahler

The Mariinsky Orchestra performs Debussy, Rachmaninoff & Mahler

The San Francisco Symphony welcomes Russia's oldest and most respected musical institution the Mariinsky Orchestra and their fearless leader Valery Gergiev for a rousing one-night-only program of Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Mahler. The evening begins with seminal Debussy classic 'Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun', a symphonic poem that broke new ground and explored the artistic limits of the traditional tonality of the late 1800s. Its impressionist whimsy, rich tonal color and dreamy orchestrations are sure to transport listeners to a mythical realm where fauns, nymphs and naiads frolic upon each soaring melodic line.

Russian classical piano virtuoso Denis Matsuev will then take to the stage to ascend the challenging heights of Rachmaninoff's 'Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini', a concertante work written for solo piano and orchestra inspired by Paganini's diabolically devilish violin variations. The program comes to a close with Mahler's Symphony No 5, a truly epic five-movement work, filled-to-bursting with breathtaking emotional scope and boundary pushing arrangement - the perfect test of the Mariinsky's musical mettle.