Bay Area fans flock to see Esa-Pekka Salonen before final S.F. performances
Esa-Pekka Salonen 's final month as music director of the San Francisco Symphony has begun, and the lines at the Davies Symphony Hall box office are just one sign of how much Bay Area audiences are going to miss him.
At the front of it for the Symphony's matinee of the last of three performances with violinist Hillary Hahn on Sunday, June 1,were patrons and old Symphony supporters Devorra Depper and Ophelia Salazar. The two San Franciscans arrived an hour and a half before showtime looking for an upgrade in order to get as close as possible to the conductor.
'I wanted to see him again as many times as I can before he left,' said Depper, who has been a Symphony patron for 40 years. She added she plans to see Salonen conduct three more times before his final performance on June 14.
'Each music director brings a different quality and I don't want to rank them but I just think he is superb,' she went on. 'He has a fabulous relationship with the orchestra and it makes for a marvelous listening experience.'
In March 2024, the Finnish conductor announced he was severing ties with the orchestra after just five years — one of those years lost to the COVID-19 lockdown — citing differences with the Symphony's Board of Governors. Since then, the institution's financial challenges have been made public, with musicians frustrated to the point of protest because they've been performing without a contract. (As of a joint statement issued by the administration and the union on May 14, they expressed 'an ongoing commitment to the bargaining process.')
While Salonen is not in the musicians' union, he has made statements in the past that are sympathetic to their cause. Those sentiments were echoed by many attendees at Sunday's show.
'It should be the musicians making the decisions, not the board,' said Salazar, who has been a Symphony subscriber for 31 years. 'It is the relationship between the conductor and the orchestra that matters. If that is not there, you have nothing.'
Still, no matter what's been happening backstage, the audience didn't get that sense once Salonen came bouncing out the stage door to a warm ovation on Sunday before a mostly sold out auditorium of more than 2,500.
By intermission, Salonen had been called out from the wings twice by audience ovations, with some standing.
'He's a great conductor who brings out the best in the orchestra,' Jonathan Kaner of Berkeley reflected. 'He chooses a smart program and is engaging and fun.'
Now there are only six concerts left, plus an open rehearsal, before the Salonen era comes to a close.
'(I'm) really sorry to see Salonen go,' Kaner said, 'really sorry.'
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