Out There :: And We're Off in the New Season!

The fall arts season got off to a rip-roaring start last week. The San Francisco Symphony opening-night gala last Wednesday night celebrated the 20th season of music director Michael Tilson Thomas' tenure with the orchestra. It was a characteristically eclectic affair, with zestful energy (pianist Yuja Wang delivering Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"), envelope-pushing (singer Bonnie Raitt putting across songs from the American Songbook) and giants of the Russian classics (Tchaikovsky , Prokofiev). And it was a hell of a lot of fun, from the press reception in the Green Room to the glamorous after-party in the tent pavilion and out onto Grove Street.

Tilson Thomas and San Francisco seem such a natural fit together. Early in Out There's career, we participated in a journalists' round-table interview with him, and afterward, we went up to him to express our appreciation. It was not unlike the episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" in which Mary gets to meet her idol Walter Cronkite during his visit to her Minneapolis TV newsroom. She worries about what she's going to say, she wears herself out about it, and when the moment finally arrives, she curtsies and says, "Welcome to our fair city!" Yes, Mary blew her big moment.

So what did we finally say when we were up-close and personal with MTT and were robustly shaking his hand? We said, "Thank you for everything you're doing for the musical life of our city!" Immediately we felt like the biggest dunce. But MTT kept our hand clasped between his two big, soft hands, perhaps longer than a straight man would, and sweetly replied, "We're all doing it together!"

This was so gracious and generous a response - and true, to boot - that it immediately dispelled our self-consciousness, and we remember the moment fondly today. We feel that he showed the sign of a true artist and a true mensch - it didn't have to all be about him.

The SFS season opening had a lot to do with our fair city's enchantment with the maestro and his 20 years here so far, but it also had to do with the spectacular energies of the orchestra, and of the guest stars, and finally of the audience. Outside the Symphony Hall at the afterparty, a flash mob of pretty young things who had infiltrated the affair by dressing up as waiters and busboys performed a couple of numbers in high style. It was a tribute of sorts to the beloved SF Symphony, its patrons and fans.

The SFS opener was a warm-up of sorts for the San Francisco Opera opening gala two nights later. This was more of an endurance test, as it involved pre-parties with the Bravo Club in the Opera House's Loggia and with the San Francisco Opera Guild at City Hall, a welcoming reception in the press room, the opera itself - Bellini 's bel canto masterwork "Norma," clocking in at just under three hours - and then afterparties at Jardiniere and back at City Hall. We found ourselves mingling with the kind of society ladies in ball gowns whom author Lucinda Franks in her new memoir calls "living lollipops." At least this year we managed not to step on the train of opening weekend grand sponsor Diane B. Wilsey's gown. That happened one year, but it wasn't on purpose, we promise.

The Rotunda at City Hall had been transformed into an enchanting setting for Opera Ball 2014. We congratulated event stylist J. Riccardo Benavides on the elegance of his design, including two lions with wings guarding the grand staircase. It was both pagan and classical at the same time.

The night between the big socialite openings was a First Thursday brimming with gallery openings for the start of the season. Out of many possibilities we chose to check out the James Havard show at the new San Francisco Gallery in Jackson Square. Gallerists Mary Mill and Verne Stanford previously showcased midcareer artists in Santa Fe, and that Southwestern aesthetic shines through in the work of abstract figurist Havard, most worth seeing. (Through Sept. 27, 441 Jackson St.)

See you around town this season!

Cockette Night

The "Friday Nights at the de Young" series will offer "A Tribute to the Cockettes" on Sept. 19, 6 p.m., at the museum, in conjunction with the current exhibit "Anthony Friedkin: The Gay Essay." The connection is that Friedkin documented the theater troupe in a series of photographs on view in the exhibition.

"The Cockettes" documentary director David Weissman promises, "It will be fun! Along with performances by Scrumbly Koldewyn and the Thrillpeddlers doing some Cockette classics, I'll be giving a little talk and presenting a rare big-screen presentation of the 1971 Cockette film 'Tricia's Wedding.' "

"Friday Nights at the de Young" public programs are free of charge, but tickets are required to view permanent collection galleries and the special exhibitions.