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May/June: James Gaffigan Returns to Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony
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Conductor James Gaffigan Returns to the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony
May 31: Chicago Symphony Orchestra – "An American Suite" with Janai Brugger
June 12-14: National Symphony Orchestra – "Notes & Frames: A Film & Music
Festival" with James Ehnes and Abel Pereira
June 20 & 22: San Francisco Symphony – Verdi Requiem and Gordon Getty
"a feisty intensity" – The New York Times
"effortlessly chic" – The Washington Post
"Gaffigan is one of the most promising conductors of his generation." – Musical America
New York, NY (March 27, 2025) – Praised for his "impassioned leadership" (The Wall Street Journal) and "meticulous presentation" (OperaWire), American conductor James Gaffigan embarks on three upcoming U.S. engagements, leading performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on May 31, 2025, the National Symphony Orchestra from June 12 to June 14, 2025, and the San Francisco Symphony on June 20 and 22, 2025.
Gaffigan conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 7:30pm, leading the orchestra in a musical "American road trip" featuring the Orchestra's first performance of Dvorák's American Suite followed by two works by Bernstein: Three Dance Episodes from On the Town and Overture to Candide. Completing the program are three pieces by Gershwin – Summertime and My Man's Gone Now from Porgy and Bess, and An American in Paris – as well as two songs by Florence Price that also receive their first CSO performances in this program. Soprano Janai Brugger performs as featured soloist.
On Thursday, June 12 at 7:00pm; Friday, June 13 at 8:00pm; and Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 8:00pm, Gaffigan leads the National Symphony Orchestra in concerts spotlighting film music by classical composers, including Leonard Bernstein's soundtrack to On the Waterfront and Nino Rota's music for The Godfather. Thursday's concert also features GRAMMY® Award winner James Ehnes in a performance of James Newton Howard's Violin Concerto No. 2, while Friday's program incorporates Michael Abels' work Delights and Dances and Saturday's performance spotlights the NSO's Principal Horn, Abel Pereira, in John Williams' Horn Concerto.
In a pair of concerts with the San Francisco Symphony on Friday, June 20 at 7:30pm and Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 2:00pm, Gaffigan conducts the Orchestra in "Verdi Requiem and Gordon Getty," a program pairing one of the great Romantic compositions with three choral works by Getty, a longtime friend of the SF Symphony. The orchestra will be joined in this program by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, conducted by Chorus Director Jenny Wong, as well as soloists Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano; Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano; Mario Chang, tenor; and Morris Robinson, bass.
Program Details
Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 7:30pm
Chicago Symphony Orchestra – "An American Suite"
Symphony Center | Chicago, IL
Tickets: $65-$399
Link: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/an-american-suite/
Program:
Dvorák – Suite in A Major, Op. 98b (American)
Price (orch. Rosner) – My Dream
Price (orch. Rosner) – Beside the Sea
Bernstein – Three Dance Episodes from On the Town
Gershwin – Summertime from Porgy and Bess
Gershwin – My Man's Gone Now from Porgy and Bess
Gershwin – An American in Paris
Bernstein – Overture to Candide
James Gaffigan, conductor
Janai Brugger, soprano
Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 7:00pm
National Symphony Orchestra
The Kennedy Center Concert Hall | Washington, DC
Tickets: $15-$85
Link: www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/james-gaffigan/
Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold – The Sea Hawk (Main title)
Aaron Copland – Music for Movies
James Newton Howard – Violin Concerto No. 2
James Ehnes, violin; NSO commission [World Premiere]
Nino Rota – The Godfather – Suite
Leonard Bernstein – On the Waterfront
James Gaffigan, conductor
James Ehnes, violin
Friday, June 13, 2025 at 8:00pm
National Symphony Orchestra
The Kennedy Center Concert Hall | Washington, DC
Tickets: $15-$85
Link: www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/james-gaffigan/
Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold – The Sea Hawk (Main title)
Aaron Copland – Music for Movies
Michael Abels – Delights and Dances
Ying Fu, Dayna Hepler, Abigail Kreuzer, David Teie
Nino Rota – The Godfather – Suite
Leonard Bernstein – On the Waterfront
James Gaffigan, conductor
Ying Fu & Dayna Hepler, violin
Abigail Kreuzer, viola
David Teie, cello
Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 8:00pm
National Symphony Orchestra
The Kennedy Center Concert Hall | Washington, DC
Tickets: $15-$85
Link: www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2024-2025/james-gaffigan/
Program:
Erich Wolfgang Korngold – The Sea Hawk (Main title)
Aaron Copland – Music for Movies
John Williams – Horn Concerto
Abel Pereira, horn
Nino Rota – The Godfather – Suite
Leonard Bernstein – On the Waterfront
James Gaffigan, conductor
Abel Pereira, horn
Friday, June 20, 2025 at 7:30pm
Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 2:00pm
San Francisco Symphony
Davies Symphony Hall | San Francisco, CA
Tickets: $39-$89
Program:
Gordon Getty – Intermezzo from Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Gordon Getty – Saint Christopher
Gordon Getty – The Old Man in the Snow
Giuseppe Verdi – Requiem
James Gaffigan, conductor
San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Jenny Wong, SF Symphony Chorus Director
Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Mario Chang, tenor
Morris Robinson, bass
About James Gaffigan
Recognized worldwide for his natural ease and extraordinary collaborative spirit, American conductor James Gaffigan has attracted international attention for his prowess as a conductor of both symphony orchestras and opera. The mutual trust he builds with artists empowers them to cultivate the highest art possible.
Gaffigan is uniquely positioned with Music Directorships at two international opera houses. He is the General Music Director of Komische Oper Berlin, where he begins his second season in 2024-2025, and Music Director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, where he enters his fourth season off widely acclaimed productions of Wozzeck, La Bohème, and Tristan und Isolde.
In his 2024-2025 season with Komische Oper Berlin, Gaffigan leads productions of Sweeney Todd, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni, among others. At Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, he conducts a varied season of programming including a staging of Der fliegende Holländer. Guest engagements include his debut with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester and returns to the Vienna Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Luzerner Sinfonieorchester and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. In the United States, he makes return engagements with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Santa Fe Opera and Houston Grand Opera.
During the 2023/24 season, Gaffigan made returns to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony. In Summer 2023, Gaffigan led the Metropolitan Opera in their production of La Bohème, as well as the Orchestre de Paris with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Verbier Festival Junior Orchestra. Other recent orchestral appearances include London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Wiener Symphoniker, Münchner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Norske Opera and Ballet, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Czech Philharmonic and Luzerner Symphonieorchester. In North America, Gaffigan regularly works with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, among others.
The 2022/23 season marked Gaffigan's final season as Principal Guest Conductor of both the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra & Opera. In 2021, he finished his tenure as Chief Conductor of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester, a position he held for 10 years, where he raised the orchestra's international profile with highly successful recordings and tours abroad. A regular at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Opéra National de Paris, Gaffigan has also conducted the Zürich Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Dutch National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Santa Fe Opera.
Gaffigan was first-prize winner of the 2004 Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition, which opened Europe's doors to him as a young American. In 2009, he completed a three-year tenure as Associate Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, a position created for him by Michael Tilson Thomas. Prior to that, he was Assistant Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, where he worked with Music Director Franz Welser-Möst. Gaffigan is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival's Aspen Conducting Academy and the Tanglewood Music Center.
Passionate about music education and a product of the New York City public school system, Gaffigan grew up in New York City and studied at the LaGuardia High School of Music and Art before pursuing his conducting studies. He believes that access to music education is the method by which America's concert halls will finally begin to reflect our community and shrink the racial and gender gaps that exist in the performing arts today.
*Photo Credit: Miguel Lorenzo
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