Photo by Holly Andres

Esperanza Spalding Stars at SF Symphony Gala

When The San Francisco Symphony kicks off its 2021–22 Season this week it will feature singer and bassist Esperanza spalding and a jazz trio of guest musicians who will be performing Wayne Shorter’s Gaia with the Symphony.

Spalding (also known as irma nejando, or, i.e.) is a being who has grown to recognize love in the abstract and aspirational, and is now fully dedicated to learning how she can serve and embody actualized love through honor for and receptivity to, fellow humans, teachers, and practitioners of various regenerative arts.

Bass, piano, composition, performance, voice, and lyrics are tools and disciplines she is engaged in deeply to cultivate her own channel for transmitting care and beauty through vibration/sound/presence.

She has written an opera with Wayne Shorter slated for premiere in Fall 2021. She is currently developing a mockumentary in collaboration with brontë velez and the San Francisco Symphony (where she serves as a Collaborative Partner), researching and developing liberation rituals in jazz and black dance, and continuing a lifelong collaboration with practitioners in various fields relating to music, healing, and cognition to develop music with enhanced therapeutic potential.

Bay Area audiences have multiple opportunities to hear this program, which is repeated in all three of the SF Symphony’s opening week performances—the All San Francisco Concert on September 30, Re-Opening Night on October 1, and the first Orchestral Series concert of the season on October 2.

The San Francisco Symphony