Performer: San Francisco Symphony

Sayaka Shoji and Salonen remain in close dialogue in a riveting performance of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto. 

As the news breaks that Esa-Pekka Salonen will be leaving at the end of his San Francisco Symphony tenure, he conducts the music of his fellow Finn, Jean Sibelius. 

After 50 years of performances with the San Francisco Symphony, including a quarter-century tenure as Music Director, Michael Tilson Thomas chooses Mahler’s Fifth Symphony for his final subscription concert. 

Michael Tilson Thomas, the American conductor, composer and educator, has died at the age of 81.

The conductor stated that his Glioblastoma tumour has returned, commenting “the odds are uncertain”. His 80th birthday performance with the San Francisco Symphony in April will be his last.