Collin Ziegler

Stéphane Denève leading the San Francisco Symphony on Thursday, June 25 | Credit: Brittany Hosea-Small The San Francisco Symphony’s concert on Thursday afternoon occasioned a very special guest — one who’s been around for decades but only rarely comes out to play: the enormous, magnificent Ruffatti Concert Organ.

The San Francisco Symphony occasioned a very special guest for its latest performance — one that has been around for decades but only rarely comes out to play: the enormous, magnificent Ruffatti Concert Organ. Commissioned specifically for Davies Symphony Hall from the Padua firm Fratelli Ruffatti, the instrument, with more than 8,000 pipes, was the largest concert organ in North America when it was installed in 1984. Denève Conducts Saint-Saëns’ “Organ” Symphony: San Francisco Symphony.

SF Symphony Chorus | Credit: Courtesy of SF Symphony Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is a standard with drama, thrills and that melody of all melodies, “Ode to Joy.” Everyone knows it, which means even the best musicians must meet an audience’s high expectations.