Leon Botstein and his orchestra specialize in thematic programming that often brings a period of music history into sharp and welcome relief.
And in terms of the criteria urged on orchestras in their recent music-director searches -- notably, an interest in thematic programming, contemporary repertory and American composers -- San Francisco is far ahead of the game.
In its Beethoven Quartets in Context concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Emerson String Quartet has raised the bar for ensembles interested in thematic programming by taking a commonplace idea — presenting the Beethoven quartets with works by other composers — and turning it into a revelatory series.
Mr. Korf and Mr. Rothman are not big on historical tie-ins or thematic programs with catchy titles like "Russian Revolutionaries" or "Heroism in the Symphony".
The festival, which occurs every two years, has also created a refuge for classical-guitar aficionados in the form of a marathon recital that, since 2004, has brought together established players and hot newcomers, usually in carefully assembled thematic programs at the 92nd Street Y.
A newer addition to the scene is the PostClassical Ensemble, which, since 2003, has been presenting thematic programs in halls around town.
TAFELMUSIK BAROQUE ORCHESTRA This respected ensemble has devised ambitious thematic programs in recent years: notably, "The Galileo Project," a riveting theatrical evening experienced at Tafelmusik's home base in Toronto in March.
Though he still plays it onstage, and as beautifully as ever, these days he is mainly a hybrid musicologist, performer and entrepreneur with a specialty in assembling and directing thematic programs, typically on subjects that do not seem obvious until he has turned his hand to them.
Audiences may get excited when they make the connections in a thematic program, he said.
Steven Blier and Michael Barrett have created a cottage industry out of the art song repertory — with occasional forays into popular song — by presenting thematic programs closer in spirit to old-fashioned salon evenings than to modern recitals.
