Afternoon on 3 - 18/03/2008

Presented by Louise Fryer. 1.00pm Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert LSO St Luke's Beethoven Plus A new series of concerts given at LSO St Luke's in East London, featuring the complete Beethoven string quartets alongside those by Haydn and Bartok. 1/8. Former Radio 3 New Generation Artists the Psophos Quartet launch the series with the third of Beethoven's Opus 18 quartets, considered a defining illustration of the composer's musical development, followed by Bartok's Quartet No 2. Beethoven: Quartet in D, Op 18 No 3 Bartok: Quartet No 2 in A minor, Sz 67 2.00pm San Francisco Symphony Orchestra San Francisco Symphony Orchestra: A week of concerts from the Davies Symphony Hall, with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under their music director Michael Tilson Thomas, and an array of guest conductors. Arr. Conlon: Three Dances based on Oscar Wilde (Schreker, Zemlinsky, Strauss) San Francisco Symphony Orchestra James Conlon (conductor) Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy, opera in one act, Op 16 Kate Aldrich (mezzo-soprano) Kim Begley (tenor) James Johnson (baritone) San Francisco Symphony Orchestra James Conlon (conductor) Varese: Equatorial San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor) Mahler: Symphony No 8 in E flat Marisol Montalvo, Elza van den Heever, Jennifer Welch-Babidge (sopranos) Elena Manistina, Stephanie Blythe (mezzo-sopranos) Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor) James Johnson (baritone) Raymond Aceto (bass) Pacific Boys' Choir San Francisco Symphony San Francisco Girls' Chorus San Francisco Symphony Orchestra Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor).