San Francisco Performances, the once tiny group established by Ruth Felt 46 years ago to present chamber music, has blossomed into a major organization offering a large roster of world-class artists — and “not only gentlemen in powdered wigs,” as SFP President Melanie Smith told SF Classical Voice.
As the presenter’s 2025–2026 season is being released today, Smith reaffirmed that the “organization’s continued mission is bringing artists to come and create culture, to give them space to do what they want to move music forward. SFP is a living, breathing organism, not a museum.”
That mission is grounded in the history of the organization, which can boast of having introduced hundreds of established and emerging classical, jazz, and dance artists to local and sometimes even national audiences. Those talents have included Yo-Yo Ma, the Juilliard String Quartet, Philip Glass, Wendy Whelan, and Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Getting a bang from its buck, SFP has managed its limited resources well — the organization’s operating funds for 2022–2023 (the most current publicly available data) were $2.5 million, representing a fraction of the purses of larger Bay Area arts presenters.
Such success is thanks in part to the strong relationships that SFP has cultivated with artists, though recent political developments have brought strain. In February, violinist Christian Tetzlaff, an SFP favorite and regular, canceled his U.S. tour with his quartet, which was to have included an appearance in San Francisco, as a protest against “the situation for Americans who are suffering under [their current president’s] politics.”
Smith said that so far she knows of no other cancellations or visa problems for artists caused by the new government’s actions. Asked if President Trump’s policies in opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have had an impact on artistic planning, Smith responded that SFP programs its seasons two to three years ahead, meaning today’s political issues were irrelevant to the 2025–2026 schedule.
She added that the approximately $30,000 in annual support that SFP receives from the National Endowment for the Arts may yet impose restrictions on programing related to DEI, which the NEA has already notified arts organizations about. But she said she hopes “poorly defined ideology” won’t ultimately impact her organization.
Here are some of the highlights of SFP’s upcoming season, running Sept. 26 to May 1, 2026, mainly at Herbst Theatre, and featuring a mix of classical, contemporary, and boundary-pushing performers over 36 concerts:
— Tenor Mark Padmore with pianist Paul Lewis in an all-Robert Schumann program (Sept. 26)
— The Esmé Quartet in Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” (Sept. 27), the first of several concerts on this year’s Saturday Morning series, with Robert Greenberg’s commentary (subsequent series date are Oct. 18, Nov. 15, and Dec. 13)
— Father-son piano duo Jeffrey and Gabriel Kahane in a program that includes an arrangement latter’s piano concerto Heirloom, written for his father (Oct. 10)
— Baritone Benjamin Appl with pianist James Baillieu in a tribute to Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Oct. 24)
— The Modigliani Quartet in works by György Kurtág, Haydn, and Beethoven (Nov. 14)
— SFP’s 11th PIVOT Festival, guest-curated by Andy Meyerson of The Living Earth Show and featuring Tanner Porter, Double Wall, Bucket List, KoollooK, the Qube Chix, Myles Thatcher, and others (Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2026)
— Baroque ensemble Ruckus with bass-baritone Davóne Tines in a program exploring American roots music as the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence nears (Feb. 7, 2026)
— Attacca Quartet in the West Coast premiere of David Lang’s note to a friend, based on texts by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (Feb. 27, 2026)
— Violinist Augustin Hadelich with pianist Francesco Piemontesi in a program of music by Nicolas de Grigny, Claude Debussy, Jean-Philippe Rameau, Francis Poulenc, György Kurtág, and César Franck (March 20, 2026)
— The Brentano String Quartet in an all-Haydn program (March 26, 2026)
— The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in a program to be announced (May 1, 2026)
Subscriptions go on sale to the public on April 9, available online or by phone at 415-677–0325; prices range from $135 to $450. Tickets for individual events go on sale on Aug. 27.
