A barracks room at the Angel Island Immigration Station (from the Angel Island Web page for planning visits)
As was announced this past June, the 2019–20 concert season of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP) will get under way in about a month’s time. The first program will be the on STAGE offering of the season; and, since it will launch the entire season, it is at least somewhat apposite that the title of the program is Oceanic Migrations. The performance will be devoted entirely to an evening-length, site-responsive piece by Michael Gordon, co-founder and co-director of Bang on a Can. Gordon has not yet announced whether or not the title of the program will be the same as the title of his composition, but the underlying theme of his piece has to do with those who sailed across the Pacific to immigrate and the consequences of immigration that involved both alienation and acceptance.
The piece is site-responsive because it was inspired by the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940, Angel Island processed immigrants from 84 different countries, roughly a million of them being Chinese. Where those Chinese were concerned, this was a rigorous screening process, since the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was still in effect. Greater leniency was granted to those from other countries, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, who crossed the Pacific Ocean, rather than the Atlantic Ocean, when planning a concert tour of the United States.
Gordon has prepared a score for 21 players. Only eight of them are members of SFCMP. They will be joined by the reed quintet Splinter Reeds and the vocal octet Roomful of Teeth. One of the vocalists in this group is SFCMP Artistic Director Eric Dudley.
The performance will take place in the Cowell Theater, which is part of the Fort Mason Cultural Center, located at 2 Marina Boulevard. The date will be September 14; and it will involve pre-concert activities. Doors will open at 6 p.m. with a full bar service and food available through Cow Hollow Catering. At 7 p.m. Gordon will engage in a discussion with three “subject matter experts” on issues of immigration and Angel Island. They will be filmmaker Rick Quan, archivist William Greene, based at the National Archives and Records Administration in San Bruno, and journalist William Wong, currently working on an oral history of Chinatown. The performance will then begin at 8 p.m., followed by a post-concert reception. Tickets are being sold for $35 for general admission and $15 for arts employees, teachers, and students. They may be purchased online through the event page for this concert.
In addition, because this is the first concert of the season, subscriptions are still available for purchase. Season Subscribers will receive tickets for all events in the season, waiver of all ticket fees, a 20% discount on the purchase of additional single tickets, and two music downloads. The price of a full subscription is $175 with a special rate of $99 for arts employees, teachers, and students. A special Web page has been created for purchasing subscriptions. Also, there is a Web page about the benefits of membership, including hyperlinks for paying for membership either annually or monthly.
Finally, beginning on Saturday, September 7, the Angel Island Immigration Station, the museum on the island itself, will host a multi-media installation about the inspiration behind Gordon’s composition, as well as the development of the overall project. This will be available for free viewing. However, there are fees for admission to the rest of the museum and guided tours of the island. There are also fees for getting to the island by the ferry that leaves at Fisherman’s Wharf or a ferry from Tiburon at 21 Main Street. Those with any evidence of having visited Angel Island (such as a ferry ticket) will be admitted to the concert at no extra charge.
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