Sylvester, SF’s Disco Diva, Gets the HiFi Treatment at SFMOMA

Since 1978, Sylvester’s megahit “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” has been the soundtrack to those epic dance floor moments that feel spiritually healing. It’s the kind of song that makes the world’s worries melt away — fitting for a San Francisco disco star who became an icon of queer, Black freedom while conquering the Billboard charts.

Even at a time when queer identity was heavily stigmatized, Sylvester never switched up his glittery, androgynous style despite industry pressure. It paid off: Sylvester counted David Bowie among his fans. And in 1979, he sold out San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, where then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein presented him the key to the city during his performance with a 26-piece orchestra.

Never-before-heard audio from that night appears on Sylvester’s posthumous new album, Live From the Opera House, which arrives Sept. 6 on Craft Recordings. While parts of the performance have been included in previous releases, Live from the Opera House will be the first time fans can hear all two hours of the concert in full.

Before the album comes out on streaming and vinyl, fans will have a chance to hear it on a top-of-the-line sound system at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. On Aug. 4, Sylvester’s Live at the Opera House will play inside of Devon Turnbull’s HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 2, an immersive audio installation where listeners are invited to sit on the floor in a darkened room among an array of custom-built speakers. The piece is part of Art of Noise, SFMOMA’s exhibition that surveys a 100 years of music culture and design.

There’s been a renewed appreciation of Sylvester’s legacy lately thanks to PBS’ new documentary Disco: The Soundtrack of a Revolution. Last month at KQED, drag performers and queer DJs discussed how Sylvester gave them the courage to live authentically. You can watch the conversation in full here.

Sylvester’s ‘Live at the Opera House’ gets its world premiere inside of Devon Turnbull’s ‘HiFi Pursuit Listening Room Dream No. 2’ at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art on Aug. 4, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.