Live Graffiti Painting & Beethoven at SF Symphony!

This article was made possible by the fine folks at the San Francisco Symphony 

There’s a really incredible show happening at the SF Symphony October 7-9. And the best part is, BAS readers get:

25% off tickets with the code BASSFS

Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Symphony in the U.S. Premiere of Hannah Kendall’s Tuxedo: Vasco ‘de’ Gama, which takes inspiration from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artwork Tuxedo. Kendall comments on her work, “Lately I’ve been trying to bring an aspect of the “other” into the western classical context. That’s something Basquiat was interested in as well. So, for example, I’ve incorporated harmonicas into this work. They’re a nod to the blues, music that’s very specifically connected to people of the African diaspora. The central aspect of the piece is the presence of a spiritual, “Wade in the Water,” and that of course harks back to Vasco da Gama crossing the seas.”

Esa-Pekka Salonen (c) Minna Hatinen

The program also includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s triumphant Symphony No. 7 and the San Francisco Symphony Premiere of Unsuk Chin’s multi-layered Graffiti—a musical representation of the idea of street art. The idea of street art is further reflected in original murals, which will be painted live onsite pre-concert on each performance night by three local Bay Area artists who make up the group The Writerz of Doom—Jude Capili, Alex Douhovnikoff, and Domingo Magobet.