Sting — Fragile — Live With The SF Symphony — February 15, 2024 (4K)

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Sting plays his song “Fragile” live in concert with the San Francisco Symphony before a sold-out crowd at Davies Symphony Hall on February 15, 2024. Fragile appeared on Sting’s second solo album, Nothing Like The Sun (1987). He later released Spanish and Portuguese versions of the song — Fragilidad and Frágil — on his Nada Como El Sol EP (1988). Fragile has been covered by many, including Herb Alpert, Julio Iglesias, Take 6, Ramsey Lewis, Jesse Cook, Jake Shimabukuro, Kirk Whalum, Brian McKnight, Mercedes Sosa, Isaac Hayes, and Dionne Warwick.

As Sting told the audience, his guitar was made from the wood of migrant boats shipwrecked near Lampedusa, an Italian island in the Mediterranean. It was made in Rome’s high-security Levibbia prison, where prisoners make instruments as part of their rehabilitation. Sting unveiled the guitar in an Italian tour, which included a show at Secondigliano prison in Naples.

Sting is a Grammy Award winning British singer-songwriter from Newcastle, England who was a founding member of the band The Police. This was one of only a handful of shows Sting is playing with symphony orchestras, including upcoming shows with the Philadelphia Orchestra on March 8-9 and the The Florida Orchestra in St. Petersburg, FL on May 9. Joining him onstage were Edwin Outwater (conductor), Rob Mathes (music director, piano, and keyboards), Wyatt Underhill (concertmaster / violin), Ben Butler (guitar), Kaveh Rastegar (bass), Nate Laguzza (drums), and the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony.

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Fragile lyrics:

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay

Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime’s argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star, like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are, how fragile we are

[Guitar Solo]

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star, like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are, how fragile we are
How fragile we are, how fragile we are

Written by Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner a/k/a Sting

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Sting official bio:

Composer, singer-songwriter, actor, author, and activist Sting was born in Newcastle, England, before moving to London in 1977 to form The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band released 5 studio albums, earned 6 Grammy Awards and 2 BRIT Awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2003.

One of the world’s most distinctive solo artists, Sting has received an additional 11 Grammy Awards, two BRIT Awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, four Oscar nominations, a Tony nomination, Billboard Magazine’s Century Award, and MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. In 2003 he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to music. Also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he has received the Kennedy Center Honors, American Music Award of Merit, and Polar Music Prize. Sting has been awarded honorary doctorates of music by the University of Northumbria, Berklee College of Music, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and Brown University at its 250th commencement ceremony. Throughout his illustrious career, Sting has sold 100 million albums from his combined work with the Police and as a solo artist.

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Edwin Outwater official bio:

Edwin Outwater regularly works with the world’s top orchestras, institutions, and artists to reinvent the concert experience. His ability to cross genres has led to collaborations with Metallica, Wynton Marsalis, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma. He is music director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and music director laureate of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

Recent appearances include performances with New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the New World Symphony, as well as the Royal Philharmonic in a multi-concert series opening the Steinmetz Hall in Florida. He also served as a producer and musical advisor for the National Symphony Orchestra’s 50th Anniversary Concert at the Kennedy Center. In December 2022, he premiered A Christmas Gaiety at the Royal Albert Hall with Peaches Christ and BBC Concert Orchestra.

Mr. Outwater holds a long association with San Francisco Symphony since making his debut in November 2001. In the 2022-23 season, he led the first Symphony performances of Gabriel Kahane’s emergency shelter intake form in collaboration with the composer and a program with Seth MacFarlane. He was formerly San Francisco Symphony Resident Conductor, Director of Summer Concerts, and Music Director of San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra.