Festival Commission 2009
ABOUT THE INITIATIVE
An International Youth Music Initiative started last year after receiving a generous grant from the Sam Mazza Foundation, and since has traveled across the globe to unite the youth of the world through music. This initiative brings together youth from all over the Bay Area, 12-18 years of age, combining a diverse range of our world’s musical traditions and cultures, from the ragas of North India to the choral music of Eastern Europe.
In addition to investing in the youth of the Bay Area, the initiative has also traveled to the mountains of Nepal, rural Taiwan, and the mountains of Kyrgyzstan to pass on to underprivileged youth their traditional music. Within the next couple years, students from these regions will join the group performing in the Bay Area.
SAN FRANCISCO WORLD PREMIERE
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco
November 22, 2009 at 7pm,
PERFORMERS
The World Premiere of the International Youth Music Initiative will debut featuring several Bay Area accomplished youth, including:
Bay Area Youth Ensembles: Gaayatri Kaundinya, Indian youth vocalist and disciple of the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan; South Indian Youth Ensemble of the Trinity Center for Music; The Ali Akbar College of Music Youth Tabla Ensemble; The Jumping Buddha Youth Ensemble; The San Francisco School Orff Ensemble; and Echoes of the Dragon Chinese Percussion Ensemble
Master Musicians and Teachers: Tibetan singer Techung; South Indian master musician Anu Sridhar; Chinese virtuoso Zhang Xiaofeng; Akylbek Serkebaev making his US Debut from Kyrgyzstan; Armenian singer Hasmik Harutyunyan; Balkan Female Choir Kitka; Indian sarodist Alam Khan; master Orff instructors Doug Goodkin, James Harding, and Sofia Lopez-Abor; master North Indian tabla master Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri; and directed by multi-percussionist Jim Santi Owen
Videos of Overseas Children to Play with Children on Stage: Tibetan exiled children in Nepal; Kyrgyz children in the mountain village of Jany-Tilek, located in Ak-Tala district, Naryn region; and Aboriginal children of the Tayal ethnic group from the village of Wu Lai in the north of Taiwan.
Artistic Director: Michael Santoro
Music Director: Jim Santi Owen
Lighting and Scenic Design: Matthew Antaky
In addition to the traditional and newly composed music performed by this orchestra, the production will also feature interactive video compositions performed by the ensemble with video projections of youth performers in Nepal, Taiwan, and Kyrgyzstan. There will also be stylized video projections from several countries featuring interviews with leaders in the fields of human rights, performances of youth, and village and community elders talking about the importance of preserving their traditions and cultures.
This dialogue between youth from many countries, having diverse global perspectives, is an effort to promote and preserve ethnic music here in the Bay Area, as well as, to provide youth from oppressed or endangered cultures of the world a voice to express themselves through their traditional music. It is an effort to challenge and inspire our next generation to learn about the global issues facing their peers in their own communities and of those around the world.
DEDICATION
During the performance, there will also be a dedication to Ustad Ali Akbar Khansahib, by his son, Alam Khan, and his dedicated vocal student, Gaayatri Kaundinya, providing the live music to a short film prepared by the Ali Akbar College of Music, which highlights their guru’s lifelong dedication and commitment to teaching the youth of the Bay Area.
