SF Symphony Backstage Portraits — Part 1
Access Inside the San Francisco Symphony
This is where the San Francisco Symphony backstage portrait series begins. Marc Olivier Le Blanc had his first access to photograph musicians backstage at Davies Symphony Hall before a performance — a session that would eventually grow into a three-part portrait project and an ongoing working relationship with one of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States.
The San Francisco Symphony, led during this period by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, performs at Davies Symphony Hall in the Civic Center neighborhood of San Francisco. It is one of the top-ranked orchestras in the world — a cultural institution with a history going back to 1911. Photographing its musicians backstage is a privilege, and the portraits from this first session reflect the care that went into earning that access.
What Backstage Looks Like Before a Performance
The backstage at Davies is not a glamorous space. It is functional — a series of corridors, warm-up rooms, and staging areas designed to move musicians and instruments efficiently from practice to performance. The light is institutional. The atmosphere is purposeful.
What makes it photogenic is not the setting but the people in it. Musicians with decades of experience warming up with the same scales and phrases they have practiced since childhood. Young players carrying the weight of a major debut. Section leaders managing the logistics of an ensemble with dozens of moving parts. As a portrait photographer and editorial photographer in San Francisco, Marc is drawn to the specificity of these moments — the way that a particular preparation ritual or a particular quality of nervous focus can become the image.
Beginning an Ongoing Portrait Series
This first session established the visual approach that carries through all three parts of the series: available light wherever possible, a minimal footprint, portraits that respect the subject's preparation rather than interrupting it. The series that followed — Parts 2 and 3, photographed over subsequent visits — builds on the foundation laid here.
See the full three-part SF Symphony backstage portrait series on the blog, or contact Marc about editorial documentary work with Bay Area arts organizations.
For editorial portrait series work with arts organizations, cultural institutions, or music ensembles in San Francisco and the Bay Area, contact Marc Olivier Le Blanc through the website. Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a San Francisco professional photographer working with arts organizations, symphony orchestras, and cultural institutions across the Bay Area.
