2007 Press Releases

Yerba Buena Arts & Events Announces
the 2007 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

March 1, 2007

(San Francisco, CA) - Linda Lucero, Executive Director of Yerba Buena Arts & Events, today announced highlights of the programming for The 2007 Yerba Buena Gardens Festival at Yerba Buena Gardens.  Lucero says, “I am super-excited about the amazing performers in our 2007 season, which include Moroccan percussionists, Hawaiian Ukelele players, Yiddish Klezmer violinists, Balinese dancers, Shakespearean actors, Cuban musicians, and Japanese shakuhachi players all celebrating our commonalities through music, dance, theater and spoken word.”

The Festival, which takes place from May through October, features over 100 free events, including classical and jazz concerts, Shakespeare, opera, international music events, theater, dance, children's and family events.  The Yerba Buena Gardens are located between Mission Street and Howard Street and 3rd and 4th Streets in downtown San Francisco.

The Resident Artists for this year are Marcus Shelby and the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble. Shelby received the “Composer Commission 2006 – 2007” and will be making the world premiere of “Harriet Tubman: Bound for the Promised Land,” a secular oratorio for jazz orchestra and vocalists with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra and guest vocalists on May 5.  The Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble, directed by John Calloway, perform on August 9 and October 13.

Musical highlights include The Klez-X on May 26, Le Jazz Hot performing Django Reinhardt music on June 9, the Mo’Rockin Project on June 23, Merola Opera Program on July 29, San Francisco Symphony on August 24 and Ukelele in the Gardens on September 8.

The festival continues the very popular Music In The Gardens 101 Series of educational and interactive programs especially conceived for musicians and audiences of all ages.  This year’s Music In The Gardens 101 Series features blacKMahal’s “The Punjabi Funk Experience ” on May 20, the Venezuela Music Project on June 16, Dr. Loco and Tom Rigney’s “From Tabasco to Salsa” on August 25, and Balinese dance and music with Gamelan Sekar Jaya on September 22.  

The Thursday lunchtime concert series are popular with downtown workers and students and this year features the very best of Bay Area musical masters including Maria Marquez on June 7, Carne Cruda on July 26, John Handy & Friends on September 20 and many more.

The Latin Series features Rebeca Mauleon’s Descarga en Yerba Buena on June 30, Candela on July 7, A Tribute to Armando Peraza on September 1 and headlining the Fourth Annual Latin Jazz Festival in the Gardens on September 30 is the award-winning Cuban group, Maraca.

This year also presents numerous Bay Area Theater performances including the Balinese shadow play Wayang Kulit by ShadlowLight Theater on May 12, the San Francisco Mime Troupe on July 21, San Francisco Theater Festival on July 22 with over 70 regional Theater companies, and the Women’s Will performance of Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare on August 3 and 4.

ChoreoFest, curated by Brechin Flournoy, showcases the Bay Area's wealth of talented, innovative choreographers and runs from July 9 to July 14.

The Festival offers the Children’s Garden Series, specially designed for kids and families, on Saturdays in June, July and August with Derique the High-Tech Clown, the Caterpillar Puppets and more.  Halloween is celebrated with the Gardens Halloween Walk October 28.

The Gardens Festival hosts other Festivals and this year includes Israel In The Gardens on June 3, Native Contemporary Arts Festival June 17, Pistahan Filipino Cultural Festival on August 11 and August 12, and many others.

In addition to the free programs in Yerba Buena Gardens, the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival and the Museum of the African Diaspora will co-present a new low-cost lecture series: John Santos’ Roots of Latin Jazz and Salsa.  Taught by four-time Grammy nominated Bay Area musician, producer and historian John Santos, Roots is designed to give participants a concise yet thorough perspective of the evolution of Latin Jazz and Salsa.  Beginning July 3 and running through October 16, the series cost is $240 for 15 weeks.

All performances and events in Yerba Buena Gardens 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.  Yerba Buena Gardens Festival is made possible through the generosity of The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The Creative Work Fund, The Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The National Endowment for the Arts, The San Francisco Art Commission, The LEF Foundation, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Fleishhacker Foundation, The Zellerbach Family Foundation, Forest City Development, Target, and Individual Contributors.

Media sponsors: KPIX/CBS 5, San Francisco Downtown, KPFA-FM, KPOO-FM. In-kind and pro-bono contributions: John Spicer, Ray Moisa, David Wong, Millennium Partners, MJM Management Group, Latino Entertainment Partners, Steefel, Levitt, & Weiss, Pro Piano.

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.

#####

For media requests, please contact:

Marshall Lamm Promotions & Public Relations
829 27th Avenue
Oakland, CA 94601
office: 510.533.3909
cell: 510.928.1410
marshalllamm@earthlink.net
www.marshalllamm.com

Additional Information Links

Festival Calendar

M T W T F S S
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

produced by Yerba Buena Arts & Events

Mailing Address:
760 Howard Street
San Francisco CA 94103
Phone: 415 543 1718
Fax: 415 543 1755
info@ybgf.org
www.myspace.com/ybgfestival