From Deep River to Open Sky: A Musical Journey
On Sunday, March 22, 2026, the San Francisco Pride Band presented The Universal Language, a winter community concert at the historic Herbst Theatre.
The Universal Language was led by Matthew Fell, appointed Artistic Director of the San Francisco Pride Band’s Concert Band program in 2026. Matthew Fell is an accomplished music educator and conductor with degrees in Music Education and Trombone Performance from Biola University and a Masters in Instrumental Conducting from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University. At the time of the concert, he was also the Assistant Director of Bands at Amador Valley High School.
When conceiving this program, Fell chose music and composers that are rooted in and inspired by human experiences, and informed by the links between shape, movement, and identity. Music, movement, and identity have always been inextricable. Whenever humans travel, whether across oceans, toward opportunity, or inward in search of identity and hope, music has been part of the process.
The program featured:
- A Sky So Boundless, by Katahj Copley
- Shenandoah, by Omar Thomas
- Of Endless Miles and Empty Rafts, by Michele Fernandez
- “Deep River” from Spiritual Symphony, by Benjamin Horne
- Caribana Afterparty, by Omar Thomas
- Roma, by Valerie Coleman
- Australian Upcountry Tune, by Percy Grainger
- Bamboo Shoots and City Streets, by Benjamin Barker
Bamboo Shoots and City Streets takes you on a journey from a bamboo forest to its urban analog, a modern cityscape. Caribana Afterparty features Caribbean-inspired rhythms that evoke the drive to dance, a fundamental urge to move that is at the heart of human connection. These pieces and more tell the musical story of how we move through the world.
This concert was made possible by a grant from the Horizons Foundation and the San Francisco Grants for the Arts.