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Time: May through October
The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in San Francisco celebrates the 11th year of arts programming in the Gardens, and they are pleased to continue to bring a splendid array of free events to a diverse audience, which numbered more than 100,000 last year.
The Festival, which takes place from May through October, features over 150 events, including classical and jazz concerts, opera, performance art, international music concerts, dance performances, children’s programs, theater, visual arts, puppet shows, cultural festivals, and special events.
Opening the season May 1st will be ""Spirit of Africa in the Gardens,"" a high-energy infusion of music and dance of the African Diaspora featuring Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, Reconnect Dance Ensemble, and the African Queens Youth Performance Troupe.
New to the Festival this year will be ""Music in the Gardens 101,"" a series of narrated performances especially conceived for musicians and audiences of all ages, and the world premiere of Les Sylphides, choreographed by Yannis Adoniou and performed by Kunst-Stoff, co-commissioned by ODC Theatre and The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival. Thursday lunchtime concerts will feature the very best of Bay Area musical masters including Marcus Shelby, María Márquez, Jon Jang, and Josh Workman. Returning to the Festival this year will be internationally renowned companies such as the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Symphony. There will be a weekend celebration of Italian culture, featuring the Italian Marble Mosaic Competition, live music, and the spectacular Infiorate, a unique, age-old Sicilian art form that utilizes thousands of flower petals to make beautiful mosaics.
This year, along with performances by local favorites such as the Merola Opera, the San Francisco Ballet School, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, there will be an International Music Festival with musicians from around the world, Books by the Bay Book Fair, Sogetsu Artscapes - the art of Japanese flower arranging, Butoh in the Gardens, the second annual San Francisco Theater Festival, with performances by over 50 companies and solo artists, and much more. The cultures of Israelis, Filipino-Americans, Native-Americans, and African-Americans will be celebrated in cultural festivals and concerts. The traditional ""We are Family"" 4th of July picnic continues this year and the children will be treated to puppet shows and to the popular annual Gardens Ghoullery Walk.
Headlining the second annual Latin Jazz Festival in the Gardens in early October is New York’s premier urban salsa band, Yerba Buena. (Yes, the Ensemble’s name is the same as the Festival’s). Also on the program is the Bay Area’s exciting new Zarate/Pollace Project. The Latin Jazz Festival is produced by the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in association with Latino Entertainment Partners. All performances and events are free and open to the public, drawing an audience of San Francisco and Bay Area residents, tourists, and convention attendees that numbers more than 100,000 each year.
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