Brian (Local SF Guide) 
A month-by-date guide to San Francisco in September 2026: the opera and symphony season openings, the Autumn Moon Festival, Portola, four museum shows closing, and the freeway and transit changes to plan around.
Vivid: Immerse Your Senses, the projection and scent exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences, closes September 7, 2026, leaving the museum without a headline temporary show until its October 24 Halloween party.
Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective opens at the Asian Art Museum on September 25, 2026, the Korean painter’s first museum exhibition in North America, running through January 25, 2027.
The San Francisco Symphony opens its 2026-27 season with a September 24 gala featuring Hilary Hahn, followed on September 25 by the All San Francisco Concert with $12 tickets.
Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal runs at SFMOMA through September 27, 2026, extended from September 13. The painting cannot travel under the terms of its bequest, so the show has no second venue.
San Francisco Fleet Week runs October 4 to 12, 2026, with the air show October 9 to 11. The Blue Angels are on the Navy’s published schedule for October 10 and 11.
Portola has assigned its 60-plus artists to four stages for September 26 and 27 at Pier 80. Robyn and Dog Blood headline Saturday, Swedish House Mafia and Tiësto Sunday.
A light sculpture by the Filipino collective mumu, called 13°N, 122°E, is unveiled at Yerba Buena Gardens on September 4, 2026, with its light timed to sunrise and sunset in the Philippines.
RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me opens October 3, 2026 on Floor 7, with a $10 to $12 surcharge over general admission and a $75 Encore Pass for repeat visits.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass added Los Lobos, Mavis Staples, Lukas Nelson and Marty Stuart to its 2026 lineup on August 19. The free festival runs October 2 to 4 in Golden Gate Park.
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