A new arts season, a free SF Symphony concert
Ah, the excitement of a new season. We may not have the dramatic foliage color changes here in San Francisco. We may not have the crisp fall air slowly pushing out the hot, dry summer air (it's pretty much cold and foggy with intermittent sun here all the time). But we do have an exciting fall arts season, and it's under way.The season started a little earlier this year with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Aurora Theatre Company opening shows in the last week of August (the excellent Chinglish and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity respectively), then there was a wee break.But this week, the new season starts with a vengeance. The acclaimed revival of The Normal Heart opens at American Conservatory Theater, Sharr White's Broadway-bound The Other Place opens at the Magic Theatre and, because man and woman cannot live by theater alone, the San Francisco Symphony begins its 101st season with one of the highlights of the social set meets great art parties of the year: the opening gala.
For those lucky enough to attend Wednesday's Symphony opening, the program includes Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas conducting, special guest violinist Joshua Bell (seen above, photo by Marc Hom) includes and selections from Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, Chausson’s Poème and Saint-Saëns’s Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, both with Bell and the Orchestra, and Ravel’s Boléro. If that black-tie affair is a little too ambitious, not to worry.On Friday, Sept. 21 at 5pm, Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony will perform the season’s first free outdoor concert at Justin Herman Plaza at the Embarcadero Center. Downtown workers, shoppers and music lovers are all invited to relax and enjoy an array of popular works at the waterfront plaza after work.Visit www.sfsymphony.org for information about the San Francisco Symphony.For more on shows at the Magic Theatre, ACT and Hamlet, the season-ending show at California Shakespeare Theater. Check back here at Theater Dogs regularly in the next few days.Happy fall season!