Late next month, Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony are bringing Bay Area concertgoers an unprecedented multi-sensory concert experience filled with cutting-edge multimedia projections, vivacious dancers and vocalists, and a smooth mélange of classical and jazz.

The program, Music for a Modern Age, will offer a wild and unconventional experience at Davies Symphony Hall from June 23–25.

Continuing a long tradition of breaking new artistic ground with a Symphony and maestro on the forefront of new American music, Music for a Modern Age aims to present groundbreaking contemporary works with the immersive, multimedia staging of the modern concert experience.

The repertoire includes two contemplative, modernist masterpieces by Charles Ives, Lou Harrison’s stunning Suite for Violin with American Gamelan, and George Antheil’s A Jazz Symphony, which is set to feature a cast of dancers and video projections for a dynamic performance.

Antheil composed A Jazz Symphony in 1925 as part of a commission from former SFS violinist Paul Whiteman, premiering the work at Carnegie Hall in 1927. Its perfect intermingling of the spirit of jazz, Latin American music and French modernism heralded a future of risk-taking and pushed both the classical and jazz genres into a new arena of experimentation.

Six artists will make their SFS debuts in these performances—vocalists Mikaela Bennett and Kara Dugan, dancers Kiva Dawson and Erin Moore, pianist Peter Dugan, and director Patricia Birch.

Music for a Modern Age also features Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind, composed by the SFS’ own music director Michael Tilson Thomas. Making its West Coast premiere, with accompanying video content, the piece was inspired by the wide breadth of American musical influences the conductor has studied and brought to the stage throughout his career.

Thomas and the SFS have a long tradition as champions of artistic innovation. The SFS has been on the leading edge with innovative programming and in-house media projects through SFS Media. The Keeping Score series has brought pioneering, thought-provoking classical music content to PBS, radio, the web, and education programs across the country—creating a national model for classroom arts education for K-12 teachers.

The SFS’ wildly successful SoundBox series has also breathed new life into a once vacant practice space at Davies, with its state-of-the-art Myers Sound Constellation Acoustic System, multistage formats and screens projecting creative visuals crafted and tailored to each program. Music for a Modern Age borrows elements from the SoundBox series and brings them to the larger stage.

For more information and tickets to Music for a Modern Age at Davies Symphony Hall, visit the San Francisco Symphony.