Sunday, May 2, 2021

CURRENTS to Explore Zimbabwean Performances

It is probably just coincidence that the first performance by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) to take place this year before an audience in Davies Symphony Hall will occur on the same date as the next program in the CURRENTS series streamed through SFSymphony+. Of course there is far more flexibility involved in viewing any of the SFSymphony+ offerings. However, the close coincidence of the physical and the virtual is worth noting and may even harbinger the possibility that the SFSymphony+ service will continue to be maintained even after all of the physical constraints associated with COVID-19 have been lifted.

Members of the Chinyakare Ensemble performing “Mbavarira,” on the the selections to be presented as part of the Mavambo eNgoma, Rooted in Music program (courtesy of SFS)

The title of the next CURRENTS program is Mavambo eNgoma, Rooted in Music. SFS musicians will partner with members of the Chinyakare Ensemble, whose performers include instrumentalists, vocalists, and dancers. The program will explore Zimbabwean music and dance through offerings that celebrate music as the root of family, community, and the world. This is likely to be one of the less familiar offerings to be captured on video by Frank Zamacona, but the viewing experience is likely to assuage that unfamiliarity through the affordances of informed video capture and editing.

This episode of CURRENTS will launch at 10 a.m. this coming Thursday, May 6. A Web page has already been created for viewing this program, which includes a fifteen-second preview. Like the other programs in this series, the admission charge will be $15. As has already been mentioned, SFS donors that have contributed $250 or more will be entitled to receive complimentary membership with access to all SFSymphony+ content. That access will remain active through the end of the current season on August 31.

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