Edutours at the in-person 2026 Annual Meeting are designed to provide a unique experience and to change the way in which attendees think about psychiatric research, treatment, and care delivery.
Space is limited and reserving a spot requires a fee. Registration for EduTours is available as an add-on in the registration platform as you register for the in-person Annual Meeting. If you have already registered, visit the Registration Resource Center to add an EduTour to your registration.
San Francisco Symphony: Blomstedt Conducts Mahler 9
At 97, San Francisco Symphony Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt maintains a rigorous concert schedule that belies his age, offering a compelling example of cognitive vitality, purpose, and sustained engagement in late life. When he conducts Mahler’s Ninth Symphony—a 90-minute work of extraordinary emotional breadth and technical complexity—he interprets a composition created in close psychological proximity to death. It was the last symphony Mahler completed, composed during a period marked by illness, loss, and an acute awareness of mortality.
- Saturday, May 16
- 5:45 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
- Price: $149
The Ninth Symphony can be understood as an extended study in the emotional processes often present at the end of life: anticipatory grief, existential anxiety, emotional regulation, and ultimately, integration and acceptance. Its structure moves through states that parallel clinical experience—turbulence and despair give way to moments of calm, meaning, and psychological resolution. Despite its tragic elements, the music consistently returns to states of solace, evoking restorative images of light, transience, and human connection. These moments reflect the capacity for emotional resilience and coherence even in the context of physical decline.
In this sense, Mahler’s Ninth offers a powerful analogue for end-of-life mental health care. It underscores the importance of attending not only to suffering, but also to the preserved capacity for joy, memory, and emotional continuity. Blomstedt’s interpretation, shaped by a lifetime of experience, reinforces a core psychiatric principle: that meaning, purpose, and emotional depth can remain accessible across the lifespan, including at its final stages.
Before this enchanting, melodic performance, Dr. David Miller of UC Berkeley gives a pre-concert lecture about the conductor and his masterful composition.
Limited seats available for this unique Annual Meeting Experience
Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco City Walking Tour
San Francisco's rolling hills, Victorian roof lines, and panoramic vistas would make it a tremendous backdrop for any director — but nobody knew how to film the city better than the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock fell in love with the city while filming here in 1939. After planting his roots in a sprawling estate an hour south, the Master of Suspense churned out several classics featuring San Francisco — including his masterpiece Vertigo. Join this private, curated tour to see the landmarks Hitchcock shot and learn how he used the city's unique look to create his signature sense of paranoia. Discover what made San Francisco one of Hitchcock’s favorite cities and gain an even greater appreciation for Hitchcock's faithful encapsulation of San Francisco in the 1950s and '60s.
- Tuesday, May 19
- 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Projected)
- Price: $69