Posted: November 16, 2017, 12:16am
In front of San Francisco’s Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in Hayes Valley.
This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to go to San Francisco yet again to visit friends and family. My brother and I got an amazing deal on Southwest, so it was a quick 48-hour trip from Saturday to Monday morning. We obviously had lots of amazing food while we were there – pastries, oysters, and burritos galore!! – and we also got to watch the USC football game with the alumni club up there, see Thor: Ragnarok with our MoviePass (almost unlimited movies for $10 a month!), and enjoy the San Francisco Symphony. I’d grown up playing in and listening to orchestras up until college, but I hadn’t gone to a real classical concert in a long time.
Front row seats to see the San Francisco Symphony play pieces by American greats!
Michael Tilson Thomas, a two-time USC grad and a Judge Widney Professor of the Thornton School of Music, conducted music from three American masters: Dvorák (The American Flag), Ives (Symphony No. 3), and Gershwin (An American in Paris). Though four different pieces, we were led through stories of immigrants arriving to America, the feelings of living in the countryside, and the longing for home from the perspective of an expatriate. I had seen An American in Paris at Pantages Theater earlier this year, so it was a treat to hear the same tunes and themes from a full orchestra. Watching the strings from up close (we were in the front row!) was extremely special, and it made me miss playing the violin. Maybe I’ll find a small group on campus to play with sometime!
Published on November 16th, 2017
Last updated on April 1st, 2021