In This Program
The Concert
Tuesday, December 17, 2024, at 7:30pm
Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at 7:30pm
Edwin Outwater conducting
Boyz II Men
San Francisco Symphony
Boyz II Men
with the San Francisco Symphony
This evening’s program will be announced from the stage.
There will be one intermission.
The December 17 concert is presented in partnership with
Concert Sponsor
Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Board of Governors of the San Francisco Symphony gratefully acknowledge the support of San Francisco Arts Commission.
In founding the San Francisco Symphony in 1911, San Francisco’s civic leaders sought to create a permanent orchestra in our music-loving city. For more than 85 years, the San Francisco Symphony has partnered with the San Francisco Arts Commission to enrich and serve its vibrant community through music. The partnership dates back to 1935, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt encouraged all cities to support local symphonies believing that music was good for the soul of the people. San Franciscans followed suit and passed an historic charter amendment allocating funds to support the Symphony.
Through this mutually beneficial partnership, the Arts Commission funding contributes to the Symphony’s community programs, supports concerts such as Día de los Muertos and Lunar New Year, and helps bring a broad audience to experience its music and programs. This partnership also enables the Arts Commission to distribute funds to support and strengthen cultural equity throughout the city.
The San Francisco Symphony is honored to partner with the San Francisco Arts Commission to continue its work as San Francisco’s orchestra.
About the Artists
Edwin Outwater
Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions, and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with Metallica, Wynton Marsalis, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music director laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.
Recent appearances include performances with New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the New World Symphony, as well as the Royal Philharmonic in a multi-concert series opening the Steinmetz Hall in Florida. He also served as a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center. In December 2022, he premiered A Christmas Gaiety at the Royal Albert Hall with Peaches Christ and BBC Concert Orchestra, and returned in 2023.
Outwater holds a long association with San Francisco Symphony since making his debut in November 2001. In the 2022–23 season, he led the first Symphony performances of Gabriel Kahane’s emergency shelter intake form in collaboration with the composer and a program with Seth MacFarlane, and in 2024 led the Symphony in a collaboration with Sting. He was formerly San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor, Director of Summer Concerts, and Music Director of San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men remains one of the most iconic groups in music history, penning and performing some of the most celebrated classics of the past three decades. The group redefined popular R&B and continues to create timeless hits that appeal to fans across all generations. The group’s four Grammy Awards are just the tip of the iceberg: they have also earned nine American Music Awards, nine Soul Train Awards, three Billboard Awards, a 2011 MOBO Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as well as a Casino Entertainment Award for their acclaimed residency at the Mirage Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
The trio holds the distinction of being the best-selling R&B group of all time, with an astounding sixty-four million albums sold. And the reason is abundantly clear: Boyz II Men have given fans a rich catalog of hits filled with smooth harmonies and enduring themes. And for Boyz II Men the hits just keep on coming—the group continues to craft new albums and bring their legendary act to stages across the world. Boyz II Men made their San Francisco Symphony debut in 2022.
