2006 Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT:
Marshall Lamm, 510.928.1410
Marshalllamm@earthlink.net
                                               
YERBA BUENA GARDENS FESTIVAL KICKS OFF 2006 SEASON WITH SPECIAL PERFORMANCE OF GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA SUNDAY, MAY 7

(April 10, 2006) – The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival kicks off the 2006 season with a free performance of Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Sunday, May 7 from 1:00pm – 2:30pm. Gamelan Seka Jaya is a fifty-member ensemble of musicians and dancers, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, that specializes in the performing arts of Bali, Indonesia. Led by two of Bali's most brilliant artists, Made Arnawa (guest music director) and Tjokorda Padmini (guest dance director), Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ) convenes two large gamelan orchestras: the bronze gamelan gong kebyar, and the ensemble of giant bamboo marimbas, gamelan jegog. The setup recreates the kalangan-style arena used in traditional Balinese contexts, where the audience is welcomed to enjoy the performance from three sides. The audience will have the opportunity to enjoy the complex interlocking rhythms and virtuosic ensemble sensibility of Balinese gamelan, and the myriad expressions and delicate hand and eye motions of Balinese dance. GSJ is recognized internationally as the finest Balinese gamelan ensemble outside of Indonesia. More than thirty of Bali’s most renowned musicians, dancers and theater artists have joined GSJ for extended residencies over the past quarter century and this event features two of the most prolific master artists to come from Bali. Extended contact with master artists has enabled the group to become a key player in Bali’s living artistic traditions, which are continually invigorated through new artistic creation and re-interpretation of older forms. The group has sponsored the creation of more than sixty new music and dance works by Balinese and, more recently, American artists—often in exciting collaborations that stretch the boundaries of culture, genre, and ethnicity; and blur the distinctions between traditional and modern.   For more information, please visit www.ybgf.org or www.gsj.org.

Yerba Buena Gardens is located at Mission Street between 3rd and 4th Street in San Francisco's SOMA District.  The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, which takes place from May through October, features over 100 events, including classical and jazz concerts, opera, international music events, theater, dance, children's and family programs, visual art exhibits, educational programs and cultural events. All performances and events are free and open to the public, drawing an audience of San Francisco and Bay Area residents and tourists that numbers more than 100,000 each year.  Free artistic and cultural programming in Yerba Buena Gardens is made possible through the generosity of The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency; The Creative Work Fund; The JPMorganChase Foundation; The Bernard Osher Foundation; The San Francisco Art Commission; The Walter & Elise Haas Fund; The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation; The Zellerbach Family Foundation; Forest City Development; and individual contributions.

Yerba Buena Arts & Events, producer of The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is located at 760 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Phone (415) 543-1718; Fax (415) 543-1755; website: http://www.ybgf.org.

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