Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi to perform in San Francisco

March 15, 2024

Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi will be heading to San Francisco in September to perform with the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall.

Key points:

Hisaishi, 73, will conduct the four performances with the San Francisco Symphony titled “Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert: Music from the Studio Ghibli Films” from Sept. 5-8, the symphony announced in a press release on Thursday.
Tickets are set to go on sale on July 20 at 12:00 p.m. Studio Ghibli fans are encouraged to mark the dates, as tickets for Hisaishi’s upcoming concert are likely to be sold out quickly, much like what reportedly happened during his previous performance in San Francisco in 2018.

The details:

The performance will kick off the San Francisco Symphony’s Film Series for its 2024-25 season. In the Film Series, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus performs live accompaniment while clips from a movie are projected on a big screen behind them.
Hisaishi has played an important role in bringing Studio Ghibli’s films to life with his compositions since he began collaborating with the studio and Hayao Miyazaki in 1984 for the film “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.”
The Japanese composer has worked on many notable titles for the studio, including “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” “Princess Mononoke,” “Howl’s Moving Castle” and the two Academy Award-winning titles “Spirited Away” and “The Boy and the Heron.”
Besides Studio Ghibli movies, the San Francisco Symphony’s lineup for its Film Series this season will also include “Amadeus,” “Coco,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “Psycho,” “Titanic” and “Top Gun: Maverick.”

Catching up:

Hisaishi is currently on tour, with Germany being his next stop with performances in Düsseldorf on May 23 and Munich on May 24.
Following that, he will travel to Chicago for his “Hisaishi Conducts Hisaishi” performance from June 27-30. Afterward, he will be in New York City’s Madison Square Garden from July 11-13 for the “Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert: Music From the Studio Ghibli Films.

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