John Pizzarelli

by Gina Graham

December 6, 2016

Using performers like Nat “King” Cole, Frank Sinatra and Joao Gilberto and the songs of composers from Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin to James Taylor, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Lennon & McCartney as touchstones, John Pizzarelli has established himself as one of the prime interpreters of the Great American Songbook and beyond, bringing to his work the cool jazz flavor of his brilliant guitar playing and singing.

John Pizzarelli, the world-renowned jazz guitarist and singer, was called “Hip with a wink” by Town & Country, “madly creative” by the Los Angeles Times and “the genial genius of the guitar” by The Toronto Star. After his recent smash success with the Boston Pops, he was hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” And the Seattle Times called him “a tour de force” and “a rare entertainer of the old school.”

The Squire Foundation will host a special pre-concert Meet & Greet with NY Abstract painter Peter Bradley. Meet & Greet begins at 6:45 pm on the Lobero Esplanade. Please click here for more information.

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Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band

by Cecilia Martini-Muth

December 6, 2016

For more than three decades as both a leader and a sideman, conguero Poncho Sanchez has stirred up a fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. His influences are numerous, but among the more prominent figures that inform his music are two of the primary architects of Latin jazz – conga drummer and composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.

“North America’s (if not the world’s) most popular conguero bandleader.” – JazzTimes

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Maria Schneider Orchestra

by Gina Graham

December 6, 2016

Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as, “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” She and her orchestra became widely known in 1994 when they released their first recording, Evanescence. Schneider has developed a personal way of writing for her 17-member collective made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring compositions to distinctly highlight the uniquely creative voices of the group.

“Maria Schneider is a national treasure.” – NPR

“The Maria Schneider Orchestra, Led by Ms. Schneider, a composer and orchestrator of penetrating insight, this group has an ambitiously realized new album “The Thompson Fields,” its first release in eight years – that underscores its stature as the pre-eminent large ensemble of our time.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES

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SB Teen Dance Star

by Genevieve Rhiger

December 1, 2016

The producers of the popular regional singing competition Teen Star are excited to announce their newest project, Teen Dance Star. Teen Dance Star will bring Santa Barbara County’s best young dancers to share the Lobero Stage for an opportunity to showcase their talent and vie for a scholarship. This unique event brings teen dancers across several genres – ballet, modern, flamenco, hip-hop, jazz, tap, and more. The showcase finale will feature a high-energy group performance number, celebrity judges from the dance world and from TV’s popular show “So You Think You Can Dance.”

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Welcome to Night Vale

by Genevieve Rhiger

November 28, 2016

A live performance of the hit/cult podcast Welcome To Night Vale, a twice-monthly podcast in the style of community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff’s Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events… Turn on your radio and hide. Welcome To Night Vale Live stars Cecil Baldwin, with special musical guest Erin McKeown and live music by Disparition, performing “Ghost Stories,” their creepiest and most ambitious live show yet.

“A geeky cultural gem” – CBC

“Incredible, spooky, funny, and monumentally charming” – BoingBoing

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The Capitol Steps

by Genevieve Rhiger

November 28, 2016

No one in the headlines is safe from the side-splitting satire of the Capitol Steps, the only group in Washington attempting to be funnier than Congress. This troupe of former Congressional staffers travels the country satirizing the very people and places that once employed them. Although not all of the current members of the Steps are former Capitol Hill staffers, taken together the performers have worked in a total of eighteen Congressional offices and represent 62 years of collective House and Senate staff experience. Now in their 30th year, the Cap Steps continue to tour the U.S. presenting their unique brand of witty partisan mockery directly to their constituents. “When it comes to satire,” says the Washington Post, “you haven’t seen the real thing until you have been to the Capitol Steps.”

“[Capitol Steps] brings chuckles…rave reviews…guffaws…and bipartisan grins all around.” —Wall Street Journal

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Hot Tuna – Acoustic

by Gina Graham

November 28, 2016

From their days playing together as teenagers to their current acoustic and electric blues, probably no one has more consistently led American music for the last 50 years than Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, the founders and continuing core members of Hot Tuna. Since their days putting together the soundtrack of the 60s, in The Jefferson Airplane, the pair has remained loyal to the blues, jazz, bluegrass, and folk influences from years before.

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Lucinda Williams and band

by Gina Graham

November 28, 2016

We’ve all heard about the iconic vibe of Route 66, the neon lights on Broadway and the ocean air of the Pacific Coast Highway. But there are untold stories emanating from countless blue highways across the land – like Interstate 20, which cuts a 1500-mile swath from South Carolina to Texas, and cuts deep into the spirit of those who’ve spent their lives traversing it.

Lucinda Williams is one of those people, and with the expansive, enveloping The Ghosts of Highway 20, she brings those stories to life – and gives listeners a remarkably vivid look at how the highway has been a literal and figurative backdrop throughout her entire life. The intensely involving 14-song collection may be the most deeply felt, deeply affecting work of Lucinda Williams’ illustrious 35-plus-year career, a career that has been established on a foundation of remarkably personal songs.

The thread of Highway 20 connects those songs, mirroring the winding route of the road itself, a street that cleaves close to Williams’ childhood homes, the final resting place of her mother, the sites where signposts of her formative years are forever planted. The connection runs deep here, particularly on the dark and moody tones of the album’s poignant title track, on which Lucinda ponders the lives that were lived, the legacies that were left and the imprints that remain on her own soul, conveying those vignettes with a palette that’s nuanced enough to give the listener pause to ponder, but unvarnished enough that her message is impossible to miss.

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An evening with Crystal Bowersox

by Gina Graham

November 28, 2016

Crystal’s emotive folk-rock-country style has been catapulted from the cramped coffeehouses and cavernous subway tunnels of Chicago to millions of homes across America when she placed second Season 9 of American Idol. Her old-soul voice, carefree style and don’t-mess-with-me attitude set her apart from the other contestants and eventually landed the self-taught songstress a career performing with the likes of Joe Cocker, Harry Connick, Jr., and Alanis Morrissette.

All That For This reflects the ease and comfort Ms. Bowersox now claims in her career…” – The New York Times

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Arlo Guthrie – Running Down the Road Tour

by Gina Graham

November 22, 2016

Since the late sixties, folk icon Arlo Guthrie has spent his life in a state of perpetual tourdom… on trains, planes, buses and motorcycles. Following the sold-out Alice’s Restaurant 50th Anniversary Tour, Arlo Guthrie hits the road once again.

The Running Down The Road Tour promises to be a flashback inducing, mind-expanding adventure, presenting the best of Guthrie’s material from 1969 forward.

With Running Down The Road, Arlo celebrates his life in motion. Join Arlo as he takes audiences on this latest musical road trip. Hop on his bus and take a ride through the continuing American revolution, flying past the 60’s counter-culture and “running down the road” to a more perfect union. Arlo Guthrie’s Running Down the Road tours with a full band in the 2016/17 season.

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Roy Orbison Returns

by Gina Graham

November 18, 2016

One Night, back in 2004, Country Western singer Wiley Ray was enticed into performing “Oh Pretty Woman” at a karaoke bar. When he finished, he was treated to stunned silence and then thunderous applause. This singular event blossomed into Wiley Ray and the Big O Band, a regionally-touring musical group paying tribute to one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time. Wiley was already something of an expert on All Things Roy (go ahead, ask him something) and a fan from the earliest days so it was no stretch to go “Roy” all the way. All of the players in the Wiley Ray Big O Band project have been playing for most of their lives and the years of experience tops 100.

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Dawes 2017

by Genevieve Rhiger

November 14, 2016

California-based roots rock band Dawes formed in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hills by brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith. Heavily influenced by the gentle, acoustic-based musical trappings and rich vocal harmony of the Laurel Canyon Sound their sound reflects the a warm, stripped-down vintage Americana of the Band. London’s Independent declares Dawes’ album, Nothing is Wrong is, “as close to a perfect Americana album as there’s been this year.”

“[A] quietly gripping, deceptively gleaming record.” – Rolling Stone

A New Noise and Numbskull production

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Hershey Felder

by Genevieve Rhiger

November 8, 2016

Known for his musical character creations from Gershwin to Bernstein, Chopin to Beethoven and Irving Berlin, Hershey Felder will present a special one-night-only performance, featuring his signature style and lots of audience participation. Hershey will take you through 100 years of American music from the Gershwins, Jerome Kern, Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, through Bernstein, Sondheim and many more, and you’re invited to sing along!

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A Salute to Teachers

by Gina Graham

October 28, 2016

The 4th Annual A Salute to Teachers is a collaborative celebration of Santa Barbara County’s finest educators and schools. Presented by Cox Communications and the Santa Barbara County Education Office, A Salute to Teachers is the premier teacher recognition event held in honor of teachers countywide. The gala event will be held on November 5, 2016 at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara. The community is invited to attend this black-tie optional event, tickets are required. Click HERE to register.

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Brundibár by Hans Krása

by Gina Graham

October 27, 2016

Opera Santa Barbara’s newly formed Santa Barbara Youth Opera presents a fully staged production of Brundibár. Written for children with just one adult part, and approximately forty minutes long, the opera was composed in 1938 by Hans Krása, as an entry for a children’s opera competition. It received its premiere in German-occupied Prague and was performed by children at a Jewish Orphanage. The children and the composer were eventually transported to the Terezín concentration camp. In July 1943, the score of Brundibár was smuggled into camp, where it was re-orchestrated by Krása for the various instrumentalists who were available to play at that time. The premiere of the Terezín version took place on 23 September 1943 in the hall of the Magdeburg barracks. The opera eventually had over 50 performances at Terezín. Nearly all of the children who performed in the opera were deported to Auschwitz and died in the gas chambers. Hans Krása met the same fate.

While the history of Brundibar is brutal, but the opera itself is a parable of hope and justice. This special performance is a collaboration with the Ojai Youth Opera and the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony.

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