Each successive visit by the remarkable Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki confirms her place at the forefront of a new generation of musical leaders.

San Francisco Chronicle

Joshua Kosman

It also increases the perplexity around the question of why no American orchestra has yet snapped her up as music director.

Happily, the San Francisco Symphony seems to have a semipermanent place on her guest-conducting dance card, which means regular helpings of her brand of lithe, athletic and adventurous musicianship.

This weekend, Mälkki returns to Davies to lead the orchestra in music by Stravinsky — including “The Rite of Spring” — and Beethoven, where she’ll be joined by pianist Garrick Ohlsson.

— Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Symphony: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, June 9-10; 2 p.m. Sunday, June 11. $45-$165. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., S.F. (415) 864-6000. www.sfsymphony.org