San Francisco Symphony Musicians Urges Board to Keep Music Director 

The musicians are holding the board responsible for Esa-Pekka Salonen’s decision to depart as music director following his five-year contract 

Due to a recent announcement of Esa-Pekka Salonen leaving the San Francisco Symphony (SF Symphony) after his five-year contract ends in June 2025, the symphony musicians have appealed to the Board to keep Salonen on as music director.

Salonen joined the SF Symphony in 2018 as its 12th Music Director and began his tenure in the Fall of 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown.

“I have decided not to continue as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, because I do not share the same goals for the future of the institution as the Board of Governors does,” Salonen said in a statement, according to The New York Times. “I am sincerely looking forward to the many exciting programs we have planned for my final season as music director, and am proud to continue working with the world-class musicians of the San Francisco Symphony.”

The orchestra’s musicians have since issued a statement urging their management to retain Salonen in the role, and are holding their Board of Governors responsible for his decision to not renew his contract, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. 

“We are deeply saddened by the news that Esa-Pekka Salonen will not be returning as Music Director as a result of the Board of Governors’ lack of investment in the future of the Symphony,” read an open letter from the musicians to the board. “The decision to cut innovative programming and cancel touring, as well as the failure to competitively invest in the Symphony’s musicians, has led to the departure of a world-class Maestro and raises serious questions about the future of the Symphony.”

The musicians claim that the board had denied Salonen’s requests for continued funding for the symphony’s projects and educational programming, international touring, the restoring of musicians’ salaries to competitive levels, and the goal for more digital media opportunities. 

Flyers were also distributed by the musicians to audience members at a March 16 concert, urging patrons to contact CEO Matt Spivey and Board Chair Priscilla Geeslin.

“The goal here is to try to increase public awareness of the problem, and to put some pressure on the administration,” an SFS musicians’ spokesperson Andy Lynch, told the SF Chronicle. “Their concern is that if these matters aren’t addressed, then the orchestra may be facing a doom spiral that would threaten its standing.”

(To date, Spivey and Geeslin have made no public response to the open letter.)

Salonen’s relationship with the ensemble will continue, however. The SF Symphony wrote in a press release that after June 2025, “Salonen will maintain an ongoing partnership with the San Francisco Symphony through regular guest conducting appearances and collaborations following the conclusion of the upcoming season.”

At the beginning of his tenure, Salonen brought several online projects via the streaming service SFSymphony+ plus a digital performance of György Ligeti's works with imagery generated by Artificial Intelligence and visual artist Refik Anadol.

After COVID-19 restrictions were loosened, he conducted his first in-person performances as Music Director at Davies Symphony Hall as well as at Stanford University’s Frost Amphitheater.

With the SF Symphony, Salonen has conducted world premieres of works by Samuel Adams, Fang Man, Anders Hillborg, Jens Ibsen, Magnus Lindberg, Jesper Nordin, and Trevor Weston — plus U.S. premieres of works by Bryce Dessner, Hannah Kendall, and Daniel Kidane.

In 2023, Salonen led the San Francisco Symphony on a European tour featuring extended residencies at France’s Philharmonie de Paris and Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie. Alongside Gustavo Dudamel and Rafael Payare, he also led the California Festival: A Celebration of New Music, which gathered over 100 musical organizations to perform more than 180 works written in the last five years.

Additionally, Salonen is a conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. He is currently on faculty at the Colburn School, where he develops, leads, and directs the pre-professional Negaunee Conducting Program. Recently, Salonen has been named the recipient of the 2024 Polar Music Prize.