By Lina Broydo
San Francisco, May 28, 2024 – On a sunny Sunday afternoon in San Francisco Disney “Encanto” Live to Film concert with SF Symphony attracted and entertained hundreds of happy families at the sold out to the capacity of the architecturally stunning Davies Symphony Hall. Under the playful and masterful baton of guest conductor Christopher Dragon, the music director of Wyoming Symphony and resident conductor of Colorado Symphony – the SF Symphony musicians performed magically sharing the fabulous experience of “Encanto” with all – the young and the young at heart enthusiastic audience.
“Encanto” original songs were created by Lin Manuel Miranda and Germaine Franco. Lin Manuel Miranda, a Pulitzer Prize, Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winning songwriter, actor, producer and director (of the Broadway’s “Hamilton” and “In the Heights” fame), recipient of the 2015 MacArthur Foundation Award and 2018 Kennedy Center Honors. Mr, Miranda, and the Miranda Family, are active supporters of initiatives that increase the representation of people of color throughout the arts and government. A son of immigrant parents from Puerto Rico, Lin Manuel lives with his family in New York.
Germaine Franco, a Grammy-winning and Oscar nominated composer, songwriter, conductor, and music producer who is the first Latina to win a Grammy Award for the best Score Soundtrack for “Encanto” and the first woman to score a Disney animated feature film. She recently completed work on the Netflix hit “The Mother” starring superstar Jennifer Lopez. Franco actively mentors aspiring musicians as a guest speaker and artist at the prestigious Juilliard School, Brown University and UCLA. She is a board member of the Neighbourhood Music School in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.
To the young fashionistas who beautifully enriched the Sunday’s matinee of “Encanto” show – Thanks and Bravo! Yes! It was a thrilling afternoon in the City by the Bay!
This concert was presented in partnership with sfac.
SF Symphony’s brilliant Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Board of Governors of the SF Symphony gratefully acknowledge the support of the SF Arts Commission (sfac). Through this mutually beneficial partnership, Arts and Commission funding contributes to the Symphony’s community programs, supporting concerts such as Dia de los Muertos and Lunar New Year by helping to bring a broad audience to experience its music and programs.
By Lina Broydo, Award winning writer/columnist/blogger. Member of the Bay Area Travel Writers
