About the Concert
On Saturday, March 9, 2024, the Official Band of San Francisco presented Heart of the Golden West at the historic Herbst Theatre, a concert celebrating music about our City by the Bay and by composers who called it home. The program ranged from traditional marches, new music for concert band, jazz, and show music to a musical depiction of a ride on the Powell-Hyde cable car in the 1890s.
The program included the world premiere, its first performance anywhere, of Cobra, a new piece by the Band’s Composer-in-Residence, Mattea Williams. It also featured the San Francisco premiere of Awakening by Roger Zare. Both pieces were commissioned through the Band’s BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Commission Program.
Several pieces on the program were long-lost treasures, brought back to life by music historians and premiered by the Band.
The Program
- Dawn of Freedom | Nancy Bloomer Deussen
- Suite Française | Darius Milhaud, arr. Higgins
- Flower of Youth | Roger Nixon
- “Mauve Decade” from San Francisco Suite | Ferde Grofé, arr. Kevin Tam
- Shoonthree | Henry Cowell
- Cobra | Mattea Williams (world premiere, watch the Cobra performance on YouTube)
- Friml Favorites | Rudolf Friml, comp. Grofé, arr. Leidzén
- Linus and Lucy | Vince Guaraldi, arr. Clark
- San Fran Pan American | Joel P. Corin, arr. Philip Orem
- A Tribute to Dave Brubeck | Patrick Roszell
- Awakening | Roger Zare (San Francisco premiere)
- Panama-Pacific Expo March | Al Pinard, arr. Philip Orem