“This time last year, conductor Jessica Bejarano was coming off the success of the debut concert for the orchestra she founded, the San Francisco Philharmonic,” writes Peter Feher in Tuesday’s (3/2) San Francisco Classical Voice. “While large ensembles haven’t had much of a chance to perform since then, Bejarano is keeping up the orchestral collaboration. This week, the conductor is partnering with L.A.’s American Youth Symphony. It’s a return appearance of sorts: Bejarano was the first woman to conduct the ensemble, in 2019. This Friday’s concert, a free family event that has Bejarano teaching a short conducting lesson and AYS musicians playing a selection of solo and duet repertoire, isn’t back in the concert hall yet. But online, it’s still bringing people together. The music from Bejarano and AYS is one half of a larger event, hosted by A Place Called Home, a community organization serving South Central L.A. APCH screens a film following the concert; this week, it’s the 2016 animated movie Sing. It’s all part of a regular series, Family Film Fridays, that, for the first time, AYS is playing the pre-show for, along with APCH’s own Youth Strings Ensemble.”
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