Classical Gets Weird!

Classical music taught the Dead to think big: to layer sounds, build tension, create space, and let a piece unfold like a journey. They took that sense of orchestration and structure and brought it into the world of improvisation. For the Dead, the jam could be a symphony, with fewer rules and a lot more room to wander.

At age 4, Phil Lesh's ear was piqued by Johannes Brahms's First Symphony as it played on his grandmother's radio. “I knew right away that I wanted that, whatever it was,” Phil said in a 2008 interview with Michael Muckian. “It just flattened me against the wall. I ended up listening to the whole symphony.”

From Phil's first gig as a violinist in a Berkeley youth symphony to his monumental contributions to music with Grateful Dead and Phil Lesh & Friends, his work drew inspiration from Luciano Berio, John Coltrane, Charles Ives, Gustav Mahler, and many more.

But this influence goes both ways. Members of Phil Lesh & Friends are joined today by members of One Found Sound, a San Francisco-based orchestra focused on making classical music an exciting, barrier-free space. Throughout the show, the band and One Found Sound explore how Phil's creative legacy equally inspires classical musicians to feel the music as a jam: a space where all are welcome, and where we all have a lot more room to wander.

Please join us for the next part of a special concert series celebrating the the Grateful Dead as a Living Ecosystem, throughout the run of the Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park exhibit.

Photo Credits: Bob Minkin (@minkinphotography)