Details

Who: San Francisco Symphony, led by maestro Herbert Blomstedt

When: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18, with a 7 p.m. pre-concert talk by Scott Foglesong, chairman of musicianship and music theory with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music

Where: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

Tickets: $55-$99 general, $27.50-$49.50 students; www.mondaviarts.org, 530-754-2787

For the past few weeks, with the San Francisco Symphony’s musicians out on strike, it appeared touch-and-go whether the orchestra would make it to the Mondavi Center for a much-anticipated concert on Thursday, April 18, at 8 p.m.

But with the announcement of a settlement in the dispute on March 31, it now appears that the concert — which could stack up as one of the most interesting of the season — will take place.

Scheduled to lead the orchestra is the noted Swedish maestro Herbert Blomstedt, the San Francisco Symphony’s conductor laureate. Blomstedt began his conducting career leading several Scandinavian orchestras in the 1950s and 1960s, then he went to Germany to lead the Dresden Staatskapelle from 1975 to 1985.

Blomstedt then moved to the West Coast and led the San Francisco Symphony as music director from 1985 through 1995, then returned to Europe as music director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus from 1998 to 2005. More recently, he has developed a relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducting that orchestra several times.

During his years as music director in San Francisco, Blomstedt became known for taking the orchestra on European tours and recording a number of highly regarded albums, often focusing on Scandinavian composers — including a recording of the not-so-oft-performed Symphony No. 5 by Danish composer Carl Nielsen — the work that is scheduled to make up the second half of the April 18 program at Mondavi.

Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, composed in 1922, is a two-movement work by an early 20th century composer whose music is not all that familiar to American ears. According to the Chicago Symphony’s program notes, “The first movement begins uncertainly, with wandering wind melodies over static, obsessive string figures; turns more sinister (pounding timpani and an insistent snare drum add to the Hitchcock-like suspense); and then dissolves into a spacious, heartfelt adagio.

“The snare drum returns, with even greater force, at the climax of the Adagio, nearly upstaging the entire orchestra — it’s one of Nielsen’s signature confrontations, like the battle of the timpani in Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 (‘The Inextinguishable.’) The second movement is more impetuous, with a number of gear shifts along the way; it never loses momentum, even when it slows down for a gentle andante episode, and it never lacks energy.”

The opportunity to hear this Danish symphony, not often featured in American concert halls, under the baton of a veteran Scandinavian conductor like Blomstedt is rare. This will be Blomstedt’s first appearance at the Mondavi Center, and since he is now a distinguished elder in the profession (still conducting in his mid-80s), the chance to see him locally may not come again.

The first half of the concert will feature the Beethoven Violin Concerto, with soloist Augustin Hadelich. Born in Italy to German parents in 1984, Hadelich is appearing during 2012-13 with some of the world’s top orchestras, including the Boston Symphony (at Tanglewood), New York Philharmonic and the St. Louis Symphony. He also has dates upcoming with the BBC Philharmonic.

In 2010, the New York Times praised Hadelich for his “dazzling technique, a gorgeous tone and penetrating, spontaneous musicality.”

Now 28, Hadelich stopped playing for a time in his teens after he was badly burned in a fire; he resumed playing two years after those injuries and his career has been on an upward trajectory ever since.

The Beethoven Violin Concerto, composed in 1806, is a well-established standard, popular with audiences. But in Beethoven’s lifetime, the work was considered a failure at its premiere, and didn’t really catch on until 1844, when conductor composer Felix Mendelssohn led a highly regarded performance featuring the then-12-year-old violinist Joseph Joachim.

That success propelled Joachim into a long and productive career — he performed the Beethoven Violin Concerto on many other occasions, and also became a close associate of Johannes Brahms.

Tickets for the April 18 concert are $55-$99 general, $27.50-$49.50 for students, available at www.mondaviarts.org or 530-754-2787. There will be a pre-concert talk at 7 p.m. by Scott Foglesong, chairman of musicianship and music theory with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Herbert Blomstedt conductorW

Herbert Blomstedt will conduct the San Francisco Symphony on Thursday, April 18, at The Mondavi Center. Courtesy photo

Augustin Hadelich violinW

Violin soloist Augustin Hadelich, 28, who was badly burned in a fire when he was 15, will play with the San Francisco Symphony on Thursday, April 18. Courtesy photo

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