San Francisco is a haven for the arts and the San Francisco Symphony stands at the pinnacle of the city"s artistic community. This weekend, the SFS will journey to Ann Arbor, another bastion for the nation"s top performing groups. In two incredible programs exclusive to Hill Auditorium and Carnegie Hall, the SFS will delight audiences with their trademark energy and technical brilliance.

If one were to pinpoint the source of the San Francisco Symphony"s enthusiasm, it would undoubtedly be their conductor and musical director, Michael Tilson Thomas. Tilson Thomas, commonly referred to as MTT, has held the post since 1995. His relationship with the orchestra, however, began two decades earlier, when at the age of 29 he led the SFS in a performance of Mahler"s "Symphony No. 9."

Tilson Thomas" penchant for risk-taking and ambitious repertoire has earned the admiration of the SFS musicians. But more than anything, the orchestra members find him to be a dynamic personality and the most exciting conductor with whom they"ve ever worked. English horn and oboe player Julia Ann Giacobassi, who has been with the SFS for 21 years, is a huge fan of MTT. "He"s just phenomenally talented and energetic I just feel like he"s a groundbreaker," she said. "He has a way of getting people to listen to new kinds of sounds, of new experiencesHe has an encouraging manner about him, about broadening your horizons, about the arts in general.

Violist Don Ehrlich, a 30-year member of the SFS, agrees with Giacobassi on Tilson Thomas" unique presence on the podium. "He has the ability to communicate on the energetic level and not just in the beats and in the phrases. He manages to somehow involve us in his music making with the energy he projects to us," Ehrlich said.

What began as a fascination with Mahler developed into Tilson Thomas" lifelong pursuit of presenting his works with superior craftsmanship and style. Each time he has visited Ann Arbor with the SFS they have performed a Mahler piece. Friday"s program, for instance, includes Mahler"s "Das Lied von der Erde," as well as two pieces by Schoenberg. "I think the pieces are intellectually very interesting and work well with this orchestra," Giacobassi said. "It"s a wonderfully balanced program."

Echoing Tilson Thomas" love of Mahler, the orchestra has similarly adopted the composer as among their favorites. The SFS recently began a series of live recordings of Mahler"s works, many of which will be released later this year. His "Symphony No. 6," in particular, has become enormously popular with the SFS. Performing this piece for the first time on Sept. 12 of last year, the audience was somewhat perplexed that Tilson went ahead with the program. But he felt that "Symphony No. 6," written at the time of World War I, captures the madness surrounding such tragedies. "The piece is very aggressive, and in places ugly," Ehrlich said. "We had a kind of intensity and focus that I"ve never experienced before."

Along with Friday"s performance, the SFS will also be in residence at the School of Music for a series of educational events. The principal players of the orchestra will conduct free master classes on North Campus, while the orchestra personnel managers will lead a panel discussion on the audition process and the future of symphony orchestras in America.

Saturday evening"s program will include two Berlioz pieces, Six Traditional Hymns and Ives" "Symphony No. 4." For the latter two pieces, the SFS will be joined by the UMS choral union.