March 2020, conductor Jessica Bejarano was coming off the success of the debut concert for the orchestra she founded, the San Francisco Philharmonic. 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.
Bejarano, who grew up in L.A. and has made a point of giving back to the community in music, says: “It’s incredibly important to bring free classical music to families to aid in enriching and fulfilling their lives. I also find it incredibly important and notable that AYS is not only bringing music to APCH families but also demonstrating how to be a leader through the conducting lesson that I will be teaching. It gives our youth a different lens through which to experience music and the world.”