"The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian" -- at the San Francisco Symphony through tonight, which you should not miss, for it is unique and superbly rendered -- is not "La Mer." Thursday night in darkened Davies Hall, facing his massive orchestra and divided...

Thursday night in the darkened concert hall, facing his massive orchestra and chorus, conductor Michael Tilson Thomas might have been presiding over some ancient sacred ritual. Dressed in priestly robes, the soloists sang from towers circling the stage.

Yet it also boasts the modernist's restless urge toward innovation, the desire to transform these well-known elements into something unprecedented and different. So listening to Sunday's performance, briskly and tenderly led by Music Director Michael...

Through such techniques the entire concerto reveals itself more as a panorama of sonorities than as a discourse of traditional forms (although, from a structural point of view, this concerto is far more traditional than even the most sympathetic ear...

New York region, selected by Times critics. But Mr. Gilbert opened the program with the New York premiere of Thomas Adès’s “Polaris: Voyage for Orchestra.” And this restless 14-minute piece proved a fascinating teaser for the Mahler. The premiere of...

New York region, selected by Times critics. But Mr. Gilbert opened the program with the New York premiere of Thomas Adès’s “Polaris: Voyage for Orchestra.” And this restless 14-minute piece proved a fascinating teaser for the Mahler. The premiere of...