SF Asian Music: Feb. 11-12

February 11-12 is a banner weekend for Asian music in the Bay Area. A stunning array of talent will be showcased. Here is a sampling of some of the events:

• The 2012 Annual Chinese New Year Parade. Saturday February 11, 5:15pm-8:00pm. Parade highlights include elaborate floats, lion dancers, folk dancers, costumed elementary school groups, marching bands, stilt walkers, Chinese acrobats, and a 250 foot long Golden Dragon ("Gum Lung."). The drummers are extraordinary. Phone: 415 986-1370 or 415 982-3071.                                                                                                             
• Vietnamese Grand Champion zither player Van-Anh Vo will play a concert featuring the Vietnamese danh tranh zither at the Randall Museum February 11. 7:30pm.                        
• The 12th Annual San Francisco Symphony Chinese New Year Celebration. The San Francisco Symphony rings in the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon Saturday, February 11 at its Chinese New Year Concert and Celebration in Davies Symphony Hall. The celebrations begin with a Festival Reception at 3:00 p.m., followed by the Orchestra concert at 4:00 p.m. It will be a program of all Chinese and Chinese-American composers who incorporate traditional Chinese music traditions into the orchestral style. The rarely heard Chinese mouth organ called “Sheng” will be featured.                                                
• The Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival will host “Re-imagining the Musical Tradition” This program focuses on the transformation of ancient performance styles from Japan, China, and Korea. The program will include Japanese Shamisen music, a Chinese pipa concerto, and from Korea, Jin Hi Kim presents her personal modernization of the ancient komungo instrument using electronic and digital technology. Kim performs Eternal Rock, a concerto she composed specifically for the digital komungo.Dinkelspiel Auditorium; $10/5 Saturday, February 11, 8:00 pm.                                                                                                                    
• Classical Indian music is alive and well in the Bay. A violin concert that will feature Dr. Saravanapriyan Sriraman - Violin Solo and Sri. Ravindrabharathy Sridharan - Mridangam (double-headed hand drum.) will take place on Saturday February 11 from 3-5pm. Sri Satyanarayana Swamy Devasthanam (close to India Community Center, Milpitas) 473-479 Los Coches St. Milpitas, CA 95035 Google Map Phone: 408-971-7852                                                                                                                                                          
• The Stanford Lively Arts Series will host The Kronos Quartet with the Qasimov ensemble Inspired by the music of Central-Asian country of Azerbiajan. The world reknown Kronos quartet is paired with Alim Qasimov, one of the greatest living masters of mugham, a classical Azerbaijani vocal tradition. Sunday, February 12, 2012 | 7:00 pm.                                                                                                                                                               
• Spring Festival 2012: Year of the Dragon. An  annual installation of activities and performances comprising the Bay Area’s largest indoor Chinese New Year celebration. A full day of music, dance, and more featuring Heigu Chinese Percussion, Kevin Wong, Great Wall Youth Orchestra, and China Dance and Theater. February 11, 11am-3pm. February 12 11am-1pm.

With so many options to choose from this weekend the time is better than ever to go out and see one of these terrific concerts!

Further reading:
Pan-Asian Music Festival Review
Vietnamese zither concert review
Indian Violin Music concert review