by Georgia Rowe

This week's San Francisco Symphony program could be described as "all-Italian," and that would certainly be true. But the phrase scarcely suggests the range of eras and stylistic concerns revealed in Thursday's brilliantly programmed concert.

How often, for example, do audiences get to hear Luciano Berio's 1969 "Sinfonia for Eight Solo Voices and Orchestra?' Or Alessandro Marcello's 18th-century Oboe Concerto in C minor? Add a selection of 19th-century works – Verdi's masterful "Te Deum," and arias by Verdi and Donizetti, sung by tenor Michael Fabiano – and this Italian survey adds up to something rare and wonderful.

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