Davies Symphony Hall Celebrates the Lunar New Year

Year of the Rabbit: February 5, 2022

BY CLAUDIA ROSS

AFTER A 3-YEAR HIATUS, THE SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CELEBRATED THE LUNAR

New Year’s Year of the Rabbit at Davies Symphony Hall with an array of entertaining displays depicting vibrant Asian traditions past and present at the 23rd anniversary of the Symphony’s signature event. Top donors were invited to start the evening with a private, elegant reception attended by Lunar New Year co-chairs—Tiffany Chang and Thao Dodson; San Francisco Ballet’s Yuan Yuan Tan; San Francisco Symphony’s CEO, Matt Spivey—the evening’s honoree, Gorretti Lo Lui; and San Francisco’s new chief of protocol, Maryam Muduroglu. Guests were then treated to an intimate concert with guest conductor Earl Lee, followed by a celebratory banquet. Lee, dressed in a bespoke conductor’s tuxedo made in the Sochi district of Seoul, South Korea, led the orchestra with An-Lun Huang’s energetic and vibrant “Saibei Dance” from Saibei Suite No. 2. Soon to follow, award winning Grammy soprano Sumi Jo, wearing Korean haute couture designer Dénicheur, led the orchestra with“Three Wishes of a Rose” by composer Huang Tzu. Lee then closed the program with Huan-Zhi Li’s Spring Festival Overture as an encore.

The evening concluded with a glamorous post-concert Lunar New Year banquet in Zellerbach Rehearsal Hall with over 400 in attendance. During the banquet, co-chairs Tiffany Chang and Thao Dodson welcomed guests by honoring the many Asian traditions exemplified throughout the evening. What a great evening!