SHORT TAKES : Symphony Books E. Germany

The San Francisco Symphony announced Tuesday it has included three concerts in East Germany among 10 additional dates for its August-September European tour next year.

Performances in East Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden will be the first by an American orchestra in East Germany since the country’s lifting of border restrictions.

Herbert Blomstedt, the symphony’s music director, was music director of the Dresden orchestra for 10 years before coming to San Francisco in 1985. He said his return to Dresden is “a special privilege.”

“When I went to Dresden as music director of the Staatskapelle 15 years ago, it was not only for the joy of making music with one of Europe’s finest orchestras, but also because it was an opportunity to build bridges,” he said.

“The isolation felt in East Germany was extremely painful and even the smallest opening in the Iron Curtain was an event. I was received with an enthusiasm I have never experienced before.”