Alexander Kahn

On Friday night, the San Francisco Symphony offered up a unique program as part of its 6.5 series: a chance to observe three of the Symphony’s staff conductors — Benjamin Shwartz, Ragnar Bohlin, and James Gaffigan — conducting back to back.

Audiences jumped to their feet for standing ovations after performances by the Philharmonia on both Sunday and Monday at Davies Symphony Hall, presented by the San Francisco Symphony. The venerable orchestra was in town for a set of concerts under Christoph von Dohnányi, the ensemble's principal conductor.

It has been an exciting two weeks on the podium at the San Francisco Symphony. Two of the world's most talked-about young conductors — Gustavo Dudamel and Alan Gilbert — came to town back-to-back to guest conduct the orchestra.

Last week the San Francisco Symphony offered up two quite different versions of what the ascent to heaven sounds like. Under the direction of guest conductor Myung-Whun Chung, the orchestra performed an innovative program that featured Olivier Messiaen's L'Ascension and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 1 ("Titan").

During a discussion session that followed the Berkeley Akademie’s inaugural concert on Wednesday, musicologist Joseph Kerman reflected that many of today’s performing ensembles are seeking innovative ways of presenting classical music. Kerman’s remarks encapsulated the impetus behind the Akademie, a spin-off of the Berkeley Symphony, under the artistic direction of Kent Nagano and Stuart Canin.

One of the most satisfying experiences you can have at a concert consists of being forced to reexamine your own attitude toward a piece of music. I had just such an experience on Friday, at the San Francisco Symphony's performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.

When I picked up my tickets at Davies Symphony Hall on Friday, the words "Mendelssohn Violin Concerto" were written in boldface across them. The San Francisco Symphony had wisely chosen to market the concert on the name recognition of the Mendelssohn chestnut and on the appeal of its interpreter, rising star Sergey Khachatryan.

A substantial crowd filled St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley on Friday for the opening of Volti's 29th season. The concert, titled "Adventures in Life, Love, and Longing," presented recent works (the oldest of which was written in 1987) by six living composers, many of whom were in attendance at the performance. Four works were premieres.

The San Francisco Symphony, flush with the success of its European tour, played the opening subscription concert Wednesday to a fair number of empty seats. I was surprised to see this, given the orchestra's praiseworthy recent Mahler interpretations.