ONE FOUND SOUND ANNOUNCES 2022-2023 10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON

ONE FOUND SOUND CELEBRATES ITS 10TH SEASON WITH SIGNATURE LIVE PERFORMANCES AND THREE WORLD PREMIERES

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—One Found Sound (OFS), the San Francisco-based conductorless and democratic orchestra, is thrilled to announce their tenth anniversary season. This season, called “Season x,” features world premieres by Nathalie Joachim, recipient of the group’s Annual Commissioning Fund; Estevan Olmos, winner of their 2022 Emerging Composer Award; and Herbert Franklin Mells, with the performance of his Symphony No. 1, written in 1938. The performance of Mells’s symphony marks the launch of the group’s Herbert Franklin Mells Project, a five-year initiative that includes the world premiere performances and recordings of the composer’s large orchestral works written between 1938-44. Each performance will include immersive visual experiences by filmmaker Max Savage.

Tickets are available online at OneFoundSound.org. More information about the ensemble and performances available at OneFoundSound.org.

Since its founding in 2013, OFS has challenged traditions with its forward-thinking approach to the performance of classical music. This exciting season features five orchestral performances and three world premieres, all presented without a conductor in the group’s signature, casual venues.

“Ten years ago, a group of us got together to read some symphonies without a conductor,” says Sarah Bonomo, OFS co-founder and clarinetist. “The goal of this experiment was to bring classical music to audiences and musicians in ways that encourage individuality, creativity, and a sense of belonging—and it worked. Since then, we have been lucky to share electrifying music with thousands of listeners and we can’t wait to bring even more memorable performances to our community throughout our special anniversary season.”

The season begins with “Dream” on Saturday, Oct. 8 at the group’s home venue of Heron Arts in San Francisco’s SOMA district. The program includes Igor Stravinsky’s 1938 work Dumbarton Oaks; Hannah Kendall’s Vera, written in 2008 and scored for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, Béla Bartók’s Divertimento for Strings, and Eleanor Alberga’s Sun Warrior, which Alberga describes as an energy-driven depiction of the inner-self and search for light. Written in 1990, Sun Warrior is composed in three colorful movements: Red Dawn; Mirrors of Blue; and Golden Palace.

The season continues with “Formation” on Saturday, Nov.12 at Heron Arts. This performance features the world premiere of Mi Cultura Lejana by Estevan Olmos, winner of One Found Sound’s 2022 Emerging Composer Award. “This piece is meant to evoke a sense of nostalgia and yearning for one's own “distant culture,” hence the name, Mi Cultura Lejana,” Olmos says. “As a U.S. born Mexican-American, I have witnessed firsthand how in the United States, Mexican culture slowly fades from generation to generation. My parents' grasp on Mexican culture is slightly different than my grandparents' which begs the question, at what point are we still Mexican? If my family traditions are lost, are we still Mexican?” Olmos is a student at California State University, Fresno. This concert also features Dmitri Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony in C minor, Op. 110a, an arrangement of his 1960 String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 by Rudolf Barshai; Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Gilbertson’s Graffiti: Concerto for Chamber Orchestra; and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegía Andina.

OFS will celebrate the holiday season on Saturday, Dec. 10 with a special show titled “Holiday Pop Rox!” hosted by Jesse Barrett with special appearances by drag performers Nicki Jizz and Obsidienne Obsurd. This fun holiday show will take place at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco, and will feature pop and classical festive favorites.

On Saturday, Mar. 4, 2023 the group will present “Horizon” at Heron Arts with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture, Op. 62, which premiered in 1807; and Quinn Mason’s Reflection on a Memorial, which was commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2020. “Horizon” concludes with the world premiere of Herbert Franklin Mells’s Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, written in 1938 in partial fulfillment of his master’s degree from Indiana University. Born in 1908, Mells was a composer, educator and choral director, and was the second Black American man to receive a Ph.D.in music composition—and the first to focus on symphonic music—which he earned in 1944. Despite his own efforts, racist practices prevented Mells from having his orchestral works published in his lifetime. This landmark performance of his first symphony marks the launch of OFS’s five-year Herbert Franklin Mells Project, which includes the preparation, performance, and recording of Mells’s large symphonic works written between 1938 and 1944.

OFS’s season concludes on May 13, 2023 with an exciting 10th Birthday Bash Gala, featuring Angélica Negrón’s What Keeps Me Awake; Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Primal Message, an orchestral musing on the Arecibo interstellar radio message written in 2020; Ruth Gipps’s 1958 work Seascape, Op. 53 for double wind quintet, and the world premiere of a currently untitled orchestral work by Nathalie Joachim, the recipient of One Found Sound’s Annual Commissioning Fund. Joachim, a Haitian-American flutist and composer, has been hailed for being “a fresh and invigorating cross-cultural voice”. (The Nation). She is co-founder of the critically acclaimed urban art pop duo, Flutronix.

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets for One Found Sound’s 2022-2023 season are available online at OneFoundSound.org.
Tickets are $25 online with gala tickets ranging from $45 - $125.
Holiday Pop Rox! tickets are available through Swedish American Hall; Gala tickets will be available later this season.

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