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MORE INFORMATION
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Gala concert benefit
Continuing education units
Cancellation policy
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GALA CONCERT BENEFIT:
 MONDAY, 24 NOVEMBER, 8 PM |
 Free Tickets: Donations Welcome
Join us for a special benefit concert featuring the world premier of Buddhafonias, an orchestral poem by award-winning Guatemalan classical composer Jorgé Sarmientos, to be conducted by his son Igor Sarmientos (an accomplished cellist and timpanist as well). The San Francisco Sinfonietta will perform the evening’s program of international music.
Tickets are free, and donations will be happily accepted at the event.
The Recipients of the Gala Benefit
All proceeds from the concert benefit the John Muir Elementary School, Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics and Liberation Prison Project.
John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco’s District 5 is a Bay Area School Reform Collaborative leadership school, whose clear focused effort is on literacy, with high standards in place for every one of its 220 children, and which provides language/literacy education for its parents and families.
Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics, established in 1967 and renowned for their innovation and research, offer compassionate, quality health care services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and case management to the uninsured and underinsured of San Francisco who are struggling to overcome illness, poverty and addiction. Their mission is driven by their belief that “Health Care is a Right, Not a Privilege.”
Liberation Prison Project since 1996 has been supporting the spiritual practice of thousands of inmates throughout the USA, as well as in Australia, Mexico, Spain and Mongolia.
World Premiere
Buddhafonias by Jorgé Sarmientos, Guatemala, 2008
Buddhafonias was commissioned in August 2007 by Robina Courtin, Executive Director of San Francisco’s Liberation Prison Project. Jorgé Sarmientos began the work in October and completed it in July this year.
“I was moved by the depth and scope of Jorgé’s music when I first met him in 2003. He is a national treasure, composing prolifically for 50 years. I decided to ask him to write a piece for us and have it performed in San Francisco. I am delighted about this event and glad that the funds raised will also support our dear friends at John Muir and Haight-Ashbury, as well as our own Liberation Prison Project.”
Immersed since childhood in the magic and mysticism of Catholicism, it wasn’t until recently that Jorgé first heard about Buddhism and its approach to the human mind from his son Igor, himself a Buddhist.
Here, he found himself on new ground. “This is not my father’s usual language,” his son Igor Sarmientos, who will conduct the piece, says. Involved in political activism against the right-wing military in the 1960s, and having even spent time in prison, his music over the years has reflected his views of the world. In Buddhfonias, he delves into the internal for the first time.
The first part, Depression/Anguish, reflects the confusion and chaos of these mental states, symbolized by the woodwinds and followed by the brass in blocks of random structures, and finally the strings. The different rhythms, dynamics and nuances represent the depression, confusion, and the ignorance that is the source of human suffering.
A long note held by the third horn leads into the second part, Meditation/Calm Abiding. Rather than “music for meditation,” Sarmientos uses music as an unconventional language to describe a moment of silence and single-pointed concentration, or “calm abiding.” More than a description of meditation itself, the theme acts as an observer of the process of a person in meditation, deconstructing the meditation experience. This state of repose is expressed by the long notes of the winds and strings. The solo trombone and first violins softly lead an insightful idea, moving toward dissolution in a low line played by the violas that ends the Meditation.
Finally there is Illumination/Liberation. In the mind of the composer, the moment of illumination is a triumphant march-dance, written in a joyous 12/8 rhythm that demonstrates an optimistic, happy and transforming vision (as opposed to just a philosophical idea). This is expressed like an epic battle and triumph over negativity and neurosis, which leads to the state illumination or liberation. This harmonious and rhythmically pleasing orchestration leads the listeners to the conclusion of the piece, leaving them with the understanding that the ultimate goal has been achieved – the ego, described by the great Buddhist teacher Lama Zopa Rinpoche as our worst enemy, has been triumphantly overcome.
The Evening’s Full Program
Urs Leonhardt Stiener conducting
New World Symphony, Antonín Dvořák
Igor Sarmientos conducting
Sinfonietta Opus 10, Anleu Diaz
Concertino for Marimba and Orchestra, Jorge Sarmientos, featuring soloist Matthew Coley Buddhafonias—The Sound of the Buddha, Jorge Sarminetos
The Artists
Jorgé Sarmientos is an award-winning composer and conductor. Born in 1931, he studied at the National Conservatory of Guatemala, the Normal Superior Music School in Paris, and Torcuato di Tella Institute in Buenos Aires.
He was Artistic Director of the National Symphonic Orchestra of Guatemala from 1972 to 1991 and has performed as a guest conductor in numerous Latin-American countries, as well as in the United States of America, France, Israel and Japan.
He is known for the breadth of his repertoire, conducting and performing his own compositions and those of the European masters, as well as the less well-known orchestral pieces of Latin American composers.
Igor Sarmientos is the fifth generation of a family of musicians. He studied cello and percussion at the Guatemalan National Conservatory of Music, graduating with high honors in 1984.
A musical prodigy, at age 13 he began playing with the percussion section of local orchestra – the youngest person ever to do so. He later became a full-time principal timpani player with the orchestra.
He debuted as an international conductor in 1990 and since then has had a busy international schedule as a conductor.
Urs Leonhardt Steiner is a conductor, guitarist, educator, and composer. He is the founder and director of the San Francisco Sinfonietta.
Originally from Chur, Switzerland, his compositions have been performed to critical acclaim in Switzerland and the United States.
The San Francisco Sinfonietta has provided over 12 years of high quality musical performances and dynamic music education programs to communities in San Francisco and abroad. These highly successful programs have earned the organization a national and international reputation.
The Venue
An artful blend of design and service, The Westin Market Street is a sophisticated oasis in the heart of San Francisco's South of Market district. Enjoy a glamorous evening with the Simphonietta at this luxurious hotel and conference center.
50 Third Street, San Francisco, California 94103
www.Westin.com/MarketStreet
Parking and Public Transportation Valet parking is available 24 hours 7 days a week. There is also a public parking lot across the street on Stevenson St.
The Westin is within two blocks of many major MUNI lines at Market and Third Street, and an easy walk from nearby BART stations. To plan a route, visit tripplanner.transit.511.org.
Downtown Dining
At the Westin, enjoy northern Italian-inspired cuisine at Ducca. Seating areas are separated by large booths, creating a warm intimacy that invites guests to unwind and linger over meals. As night falls, the al fresco terrace becomes a large outdoor lounge with communal tables, lounge seating, and fire pits to keep guests warm on foggy San Francisco evenings.
An incredible variety of international cuisine is available nearby. Visitors to town can wander along Powell Street, famous for its cable car line, to sample from a rich variety of restaurants and shops. For local reviews of nearby restaurants, visit www.yelp.com. |
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| CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS |
 In collaboration with California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco we are delighted to be able to offer Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for the entire Happiness & Its Causes event: the two days of conference sessions and two days of pre- and post-conference workshops.
They are available, one CEU for each session, to all California MFTs and LCSWs (BBS provider PCE 652) and RNs (BRN provider 02523), as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
To receive credits, CEU-eligible participants must attend the entire session. No partial credit will be granted. At the time of registration at the conference itself, licensed professionals must identify their clinical status by showing their license number. Certificates will be distributed after the conference.
For more information contact:
Mike McEntee
Tel: +1 415 861 4767
Fax: +1 415 701 8505
Mike@HappinessAndItsCausesSF.com
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| CANCELLATION POLICY |
Should you be unable to attend, a substitute delegate is welcome at no extra charge. A charge of 50% of the registration fee will be made for cancellations received in writing at least 4 weeks prior to the conference. We regret that no cancellations will be accepted within 4 weeks of the conference start date. Course documentation will, however, be sent to the delegate. Terrapinn reserves the right to alter the program without notice. |
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