Artists

• Esa-Pekka Salonen

  Conductor

  Esa-Pekka Salonen is known as both a composer and conductor. He is music director of the San Francisco Symphony, where he works alongside eight Collaborative Partners from a variety of disciplines, ranging from composers to roboticists. He is conductor laureate for London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is in the midst of Multiverse Esa-Pekka Salonen, a two-season residency at Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and is composer-in-residence with the Berlin Philharmonic. As a member of the faculty of Los Angeles’s Colburn School, he develops, leads, and directs the pre-professional Negaunee Conducting Program. Salonen co-founded, and from 2003 until 2018 served as the artistic director for, the annual Baltic Sea Festival.

  Salonen brings his longstanding affinity for emerging technologies to the San Francisco Symphony. In his first two seasons as music director, he has led a series of signature projects including an AI-infused take on the music of Györgi Ligeti and the Grammy-nominated Throughline, and reshaped the symphony into a powerhouse of the unexpected, equally comfortable with live performance and expansive new-media projects.

  In 2023 Salonen premieres his Organ Concerto with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Additional Salonen works this season include kínemá with the New York Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Gemini with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra; his Cello Concerto with the Seattle Symphony, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, and The Cleveland Orchestra; and LA Variations with the Helsinki Philharmonic.

  Esa-Pekka Salonen has an extensive and varied recording career, both as a conductor and composer. His recent recordings include Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs recorded with Lise Davidsen and the Philharmonia Orchestra; Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin and Dance Suite also with the Philharmonia; Stravinsky’s Perséphone featuring Andrew Staples, Pauline Cheviller, and the Finnish National Opera; and a 2018 box set of his complete Sony recordings. His compositions appear on releases from Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, and Decca; his Piano Concerto (with Yefim Bronfman), Violin Concerto (with Leila Josefowicz), and Cello Concerto (with Yo-Yo Ma) all appear on recordings conducted by Salonen himself.

  Learn more about Esa-Pekka Salonen

• Anthony McGill

  Clarinet

  Anthony McGill joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Clarinet, The Edna and W. Van Alan Clark Chair, in September 2014, becoming the Philharmonic’s first African American Principal player. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical music’s most significant awards, given to musicians who represent the highest level of musical excellence.
  
  Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times) and “exquisite combination of technical refinement and expressive radiance” (The Baltimore Sun), he is recognized as one of the classical music world’s finest solo, chamber, and orchestral musicians. McGill also serves as an ardent advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities and for addressing issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion in classical music. He took part in the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece written for the occasion by John Williams alongside violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Gabriela Montero.
  
  Anthony McGill appears regularly as a soloist with top orchestras around North America, including the New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony. As a chamber musician, McGill is a collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets, as well as Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. He has toured with Musicians from Marlboro and regularly performs for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Marlboro, Mainly Mozart, and Music@Menlo, as well as the Santa Fe, Seattle, and Skaneateles Chamber Music Festivals.
  
  McGill has recorded Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, led by then Music Director Alan Gilbert, released on Dacapo Records. He has also recorded three albums released by Cedille Records: one with his brother, Seattle Symphony principal flute Demarre McGill, and pianist Michael McHale; another featuring the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with the Pacifica Quartet; and Winged Creatures, recorded with Demarre McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras led by Allen Tinkham. McGill collaborated with Gloria Chien on his first album, which featured music from France, Russia, and America.
  
  A dedicated champion of new music, Anthony McGill premiered Richard Danielpour’s From the Mountaintop in 2014, written for him and commissioned by the New Jersey Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, and Orchestra 2001. In 2021 he joined the Pacifica Quartet to perform the world premiere of James Lee III: Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet. He served as the 2015–16 Artist-in-Residence at WQXR and has appeared on Performance Today, MPR’s Saint Paul Sunday, and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News and MSNBC in stories about the McGill brothers. In 2020 his #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice went viral.
  
  A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Anthony McGill previously served as principal clarinet of The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and associate principal clarinet of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In demand as a teacher, he serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, and he is artistic director of the Music Advancement Program at Juilliard. He is on the Board of Directors of the Harmony Program and on the advisory council of the InterSchool Orchestras of New York.

  
  Learn more about Anthony McGill