SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY PRESENTS LUNAR NEW YEAR: YEAR OF THE TIGER FEBRUARY 5, 2022 AT DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL

Conductor Yue Bao makes her debut leading the Orchestra in traditional folk music and works by Asian composers including Huan-zhi Li, Chen Gang and He Zhanhao, Huang Ruo, Tan Dun, Texu Kim, Tyzen Hsiao, and Liu Yuan

Concert features soloists including violinist Bomsori and SF Symphony Assistant Principal Cello Amos Yang

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—The San Francisco Symphony celebrates the Year of the Tiger with Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger concert on Saturday, February 5 at Davies Symphony Hall. This year’s celebration marks the 22nd anniversary of the Symphony’s signature event, which bridges East and West traditions with the universal language of music. The annual event is an elegant celebration of the Lunar New Year, drawing upon vibrant Asian traditions, past and present. Conductor Yue Bao makes her debut leading the Orchestra in traditional folk music and works by Asian composers, featuring music from Chen Gang & He Zhanhao’s The Butterfly Lovers Concerto performed by violinist Bomsori, Tan Dun’s Eternal Vow from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon performed by SF Symphony Assistant Principal Cello Amos Yang, and works by Huan-zhi Li, Texu Kim, Huang Ruo, Tyzen Hsiao, and Liu Yuan.

Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, is the most important cultural holiday for many nations in East, South, and Southeast Asia, and is celebrated by people of Asian descent worldwide. Both a time of profound reflection of the past year and joyous optimism for what is to come, the SF Symphony’s Lunar New Year concert shares the sounds and beauty of varied musical and cultural experiences coming together in solidarity to fight Asian American and Pacific Islander hate. An inspiring program of music will be performed alongside short video reflections from members of our community on what it means to be Asian American, or to stand in solidarity with Asian Americans, today.

Due to the surge in the Omicron variant and out of an abundance of caution, the Blue Moon Banquet will not take place.  

The 5pm concert celebrates the Lunar New Year and San Francisco’s unique cultural fabric, featuring a combination of traditional Asian music alongside orchestral works influenced by both Eastern and Western musical traditions. The program opens with Huan-zhi Li’s Spring Festival Overture—the first movement of a suite honoring the Lunar New Year, followed by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao’s The Butterfly Lovers Concerto performed by violinist Bomsori. The Butterfly Lovers Concerto was composed in 1959 and faced censorship during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, finally gaining popularity in late 1970s. Composed for Western instruments and intertwining tonal harmonies with Chinese melodies, the concerto is considered the embodiment of a China in transition. The concert continues with Flower Drum Song from Feng Yang and Girl From the Da Ban City from Huang Ruo’s Folk Songs for Orchestra, originally commissioned and performed by the San Francisco Symphony at the 2012 Chinese New Year concert; Eternal Vow from Tan Dun’s score to Ang Lee’s 2000 Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, featuring SF Symphony Assistant Principal Cello Amos; and Texu Kim’s Spin-Flip, which the composer describes as “an eight-minute overture that is all about ping-pong.” Concluding the program are Tyzen Hsiao’s The Angel from Formosa, a work which evokes the quiet, rural life in the composer’s homeland of Taiwan, and Liu Yuan’s depiction of a rushing locomotive,TrainToccata.

The Lunar New Year Concert is underwritten by Patricia and Steven Lee-Hoffmann. Proceeds from the Lunar New Year: Year of the Tiger benefit the Symphony’s artistic, education, and community programs. This celebration is presented in partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission.

SPECIAL EVENTLunar New Year: Year of the Tiger

Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 5pm
Yue Bao conductorBomsori violinAmos Yang celloSan Francisco Symphony
HUAN-ZHI LI Spring Festival Overture
CHEN GANG; HE ZHANHAO Excerpt from The Butterfly Lovers Concerto
HUANG RUO Flower Drum Song from Feng Yang and Girl from the Da Ban City from Folk Songs for Orchestra
TAN DUN Eternal Vow from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
TEXU KIM Spin-Flip
TYZEN HSIAO The Angel from Formosa
LIU YUAN TrainToccata
Tickets: $25–85.
Ticket Link:https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2021-22/Lunar-New-Year-Year-of-the-Tiger