The Edit | Fall 2026
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Dear Friends,
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The 2026-2027 season is underway!
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This is my first complete season at the helm of Arts & Lectures, and I am especially proud of the artists and ideas we are bringing to Santa Barbara. I am equally proud of the creativity, dedication and care of the extraordinary team behind it all.
We are taking a new approach to our traditional program book. Welcome to The Edit, a publication offering a closer look at the people and ideas behind the experiences we present. The usual program notes and artist biographies are still available digitally. Simply scan the QR code found throughout these pages to explore that content. This publication offers behind-the-scenes stories, artist close-ups, and the occasional “did you know?” A glimpse into what makes A&L special and why it matters. It is also a more thoughtful use of our resources, both environmental and otherwise. Rather than printing the program information for every event, we can put those resources toward more substantial content, something to sink your teeth into beyond tonight’s event. The live experience will always be at the heart of A&L, creating moments we share and memories that stay with us. The Edit is a complement to those experiences, an invitation to linger a little longer with the artists and ideas. Thank you for being part of the A&L community. I hope this season educates, entertains, inspires, and gives us all plenty to talk about.
Season Sponsor
photo: Jeff Liang, UCSB
Warmly, Community Partners
Meghan Bush Miller McCune Executive Director UCSB Arts & Lectures
Season at a Glance 2026
2027
25 Scott Galloway, Notes on Being a Man 26 José González
20 The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor 22 Lara Downes, Sounds Like America
September October 6 Akram Khan Company
Thikra: Night of Remembering
7 9 15 18 21 29
Punch Brothers Lang Lang, piano Bernadette Peters Circa, Duck Pond Clarice & Sérgio Assad CelloGayageum
November 1 Lyle Lovett and his Small Large Band 4 Nemanja Radulović & Double Sens 6 Terrace Martin 12 Min Jin Lee, American Hagwon 14 Doug Varone and Dancers 15 Les Arts Florissants The Magic of Monteverdi
19 Rana Foroohar - Just Added Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic Circle 20 Sankai Juku, TOTEM
December 1 Meow Meow, Feline Festive 2 Hilary Hahn, violin Matthias Goerne, baritone Gloria Chien, piano 9 OCEAN in Concert
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January
A Musical Conversation with Imani Perry
26 Yiyun Li
In Conversation with Pico Iyer
27 Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal 28 An Evening with Alysa Liu - Just Added 31 Anne Applebaum History, Memory and Power
February 4 Ballet Folklórico de México de Amalia Hernández 16 Christopher Wray
Geopolitics and National Security
18 Viano Quartet 19 Michael Pollan
In Conversation with Pico Iyer
21 Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life
23 Danish String Quartet 24 The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Portraits of Bards, Titans and Legends
27 The Joffrey Ballet 28 The Joffrey Ballet
March 5 Stanley Clarke & Hiromi
A Celebration of the Music of Chick Corea and Beyond
9 JIJI, guitar 11 GALLIM 12 Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
Scan for event programs or visit bit.ly/AL-program
April
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Women’s Health, Reimagined: The Science of Thriving Through Midlife Kara Swisher, Who Wants to Live Forever? Technology and the Future of Being Human Niladri Kumaar, sitar The Space Between the Notes, Honoring Zakir Hussain Camille A. Brown & Dancers, I AM La Santa Cecilia, Los Años Tour Yuja Wang, piano
15 16 20 22 The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain 23 Margaret Atwood In Conversation with Pico Iyer
25 Manual Cinema
Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster
27 Don Was & The Pan-Detroit Ensemble 50th Anniversary Blues for Allah Tour
28 Simply Ina
An Evening with Ina Garten
May 2 Gravity & Other Myths 4 5
Ten Thousand Hours Himari, violin Chelsea Wang, piano Hakeem Oluseyi, Why Do We Exist? The Science of Connection and Possibility Sunny Jain, Wild Wild East
6 7 John McEnroe
In Conversation with Pico Iyer 11 Danielle Allen - Just Added Academic Freedom for a Stronger Democracy
photo: Seung Yull Nah
6 Cedric Burnside 7 Mary Claire Haver, M.D. - Just Added
Oct 29 CelloGayageum 5
Beyond the Bio 5 Things About Nemanja Radulović It’s difficult not to be captivated by Nemanja Radulović. Making his Santa Barbara debut, the Serbian-French violinist’s irrepressible stage presence and anything-but-conventional approach to classical music have garnered him broad praise, from an Elle Style Award to the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Republic and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Arts in Niš, Serbia. Take a deep dive into the world of this boundary-breaking classical musician with a rock-star aesthetic.
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His parents wanted him to take judo.
Nemanja and his sisters weren’t having it. He persuaded his mother to take him to music school instead, where the teachers suggested violin.
famous hair 3 That isn’t a statement. He’s worn it long since he was 17. It’s not a stage persona or carefully cultivated image. That’s simply his hair.
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Double Sens is something of a family affair.
Nemanja’s two sisters are cellists in Double Sens, the ensemble he created to bring together musicians from the two countries that have shaped his life: Serbia and France.
no, the moves aren’t 4 And choreographed either. His intensely physical playing is spontaneous. He’s been known to get so carried away that he’s knocked over microphones while recording.
photo: Sever Zolak
first violin was 5 His a very big deal. His parents bought it on installment payments. Nemanja still remembers holding it for the first time and has recalled being so excited that he kissed it.
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Nov 4 Nemanja Radulović & Double Sens
The Art of the Commission By Derek Katz, Associate Professor of Musicology, UC Santa Barbara One of the most striking moments from Milos Forman’s 1984 movie Amadeus finds Mozart visited by a sinister masked messenger who asks him to write a requiem mass. Most of the particulars of this incident in the movie, from the visitor’s costume to Mozart’s conviction that he was composing music for his own requiem, can be traced back to stories spread by Mozart’s widow Constanze after his death, but the piece that we now know as Mozart’s Requiem really was composed in response to a commission from a local aristocrat. This is just one example from a long tradition of composers collaborating with institutions, performers and patrons that extends through the centuries to Arts & Lectures today. Commissions were especially important to composers, like Mozart, who had to support themselves without salaried positions in a time before music was protected by copyright law. Beethoven’s early career in Vienna was substantially supported by commissions from local noble patrons who would receive exclusive use of the commissioned works for a year or more before Beethoven published them, and have musicians in their employ play the new works for themselves and their guests, in the same way that they would display fine paintings or imported china. Performing organizations also commissioned works as a way to establish themselves with audiences. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was commissioned in 1817 by the Philharmonic Society of London, then only four years old and the first permanent orchestra in that city. Repertoires for particular instruments have also been shaped by players, both amateur and professional, who have gone directly to composers for new works. Mozart’s flute quartets were composed for a wealthy Dutch amateur flutist, and the English violist Lionel Tertis all but created a solo repertoire for his instrument from scratch in the early 20th century by commissioning British composers like Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss (a one-time Santa Barbara resident) and William Walton. Later in the century, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich commissioned over a hundred pieces (Continued on page 9)
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2026-2027 Commissions The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor Directed and Choreographed by Sonya Tayeh Wed, Jan 20 / 7:30 PM Lobero Theatre
Co-commissioned with The Joyce Theater, Factory International and others
Hilary Hahn, violin Matthias Goerne, baritone Gloria Chien, piano Wed, Dec 2 / 7 PM Granada Theatre
Wir by Reena Esmail co-commissioned with Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and others
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Portraits of Bards, Titans, and Legends Wed, Feb 24 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre
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(Continued from page 7) from composers including Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten and Leonard Bernstein. As a separate world of festivals and performing organizations for contemporary music grew up after World War I, individual patrons committed to new music became very influential. In America, many of these patrons were women, most notably Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, an amateur pianist and composer passionately devoted to chamber music and to contemporary music. From a wealthy family in the Chicago grocery business, she used her inheritance to support festivals and prizes and to commission new works from Bartók, Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Britten, Ravel and many other significant composers.
photo: Gilberto Tadday; inset: Chris Lee (Hilary Hahn)
Today, presenting organizations like Arts & Lectures are playing an ever-larger role in supporting the creation of new works. Unlike many commissioners of past centuries, A&L provides opportunities for artists to pursue their own passions and desires, and to foster collaborations that would not be possible without institutional backing. Recent examples of A&L co-commissions include Everything Rises (2022), a multimedia piece created by violinist Jennifer Koh and bass-baritone Davóne Tines addressing the experiences of artists of color in the classical music world, and three new works for cellist Yo-Yo Ma from South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, French composer Camille Pépin, and Pulitzer Prizewinning composer and musician Caroline Shaw (2026).
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A Lifetime with Arts & Lectures By Pico Iyer, Speaking with Pico Series Host As the child of UCSB professors, I grew up around Campbell Hall, raiding the library, walking across campus as the wild solos of the Grateful Dead drifted through the night and receiving the richest of informal educations from the Arts & Lectures program. It was a special grace that the person for decades in charge of much of that program was a loyal former student of my mother, Roman Baratiak [A&L Associate Director Emeritus], who always found a way to slip her – and me – into every sold-out event. So I grew up hearing Iris Murdoch and Doris Lessing, seeing films that whisked me across the globe, learning that Tom Stoppard was in our midst. Even though my official education took place 6,000 miles away (in England) – and then 3,000 miles away (in Boston) – it was at Arts & Lectures events that I stretched my mind not for homework but for enjoyment, enrichment, no reason at all.
Isabella Rossellini In Conversation with Pico Iyer
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photo: David Bazemore
After I moved from New York City to Santa Barbara for a few months in 1987, I found I was leading a much brighter cultural life here than there, thanks in large part to Arts & Lectures. I was thrilled, therefore, when, 30 years ago, Roman invited me to introduce one of my favorite novelists, Michael Ondaatje, when he came to read here, and then one of my closest writer friends, Gretel Ehrlich.
Soon Roman was asking me to come and deliver presentations of my own – one after another and another – and then asking if I might have any interest in talking to Meredith Monk onstage, or Matthieu Ricard, Werner Herzog and Sebastião Salgado. And then, nine years ago, wonderfully resourceful Celesta Billeci and Roman launched a “Speaking with Pico” series so that I could talk to my heroes, as well as those visionaries who are hymning into being a more hopeful future. I’ve lived for 33 years now in suburban Japan, going to sleep each night at 7:00 p.m. and spending months without speaking English or seeing a concert or lecture or film. But suddenly, thanks to our series, I can fly over and speak to the immortals in my field – Elizabeth Strout and George Saunders, Zadie Smith and Richard Powers. Suddenly I get to chat with people I’d never expected to meet: Marina Abramović, Isabella Rossellini. As I travel around the world, I keep an ear out for inspirations we might lure to Santa Barbara. I’ve spent most of these past few months rereading what may be the most unblinking grown-up currently writing in English, Yiyun Li. Flying to Washington, D.C. to watch professional tennis so I can throw unexpected questions at John McEnroe. Going back to Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind so I can learn from one of the master explorers and modest revolutionaries of our time. And making my way slowly through the works of the master futurist Margaret Atwood. I could never have dreamed, as a boy, that one day I’d be talking to the marvels I’d grown up hearing on the Arts & Lectures stage.
2026-2027 Speaking with Pico Events Yiyun Li
Margaret Atwood
Tue, Jan 26 / 7:30 PM Campbell Hall
Fri, Apr 23 / 7:30 PM Arlington Theatre
Michael Pollan
John McEnroe
Fri, Feb 19 / 7:30 PM Granada Theatre
Fri, May 7 / 7:30 PM Arlington Theatre 11
Save the Last Dance By Meghan Bush, A&L Miller McCune Executive Director and Charles Donelan, A&L Senior Writer Encountering the work of a great artist at a career defining moment is uniquely moving. We watch differently, knowing the impact a legacy can have on future generations of creators, not wanting to miss a beat as each step, lift, turn and lunge makes a deliberate and lasting imprint on those who follow. This fall, Arts & Lectures brings two extraordinary moments of artistic transition to Santa Barbara, opening its 2026-2027 Dance Series with works that invite us to reflect on the legacies of two of contemporary dance’s most visionary choreographers. photo: Camilla Greenwell
On October 6, Akram Khan Company performs Thikra: Night of Remembering, part of the company’s final international tour. For more than 25 years, Khan has created work of extraordinary emotional power and cross-cultural imagination, but perhaps his most enduring legacy is his instinct for collaboration. In the mid-2000s, he crafted a celebrated trilogy of works Akram Khan that brought his distinctive physical vocabulary into dialogue with artists from radically different disciplines: Zero Degrees with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley and composer Nitin Sawhney; Sacred Monsters with ballet icon Sylvie Guillem; and in-I with actor Juliette Binoche. Across his career, Khan has continually crossed boundaries between classical and contemporary dance, music, visual art and theater, inviting other artists to challenge and expand his own creative language.
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photo: S hintaro Shiratori
On November 20, Sankai Juku presents TOTEM: Void and Height, the final work of Ushio Amagatsu, who founded the company in 1975. Over nearly five decades, Amagatsu developed a singular artistic language that carried Butoh from Japan onto the international stage. His career extended well beyond choreography, encompassing Ushio Amagatsu collaborations in music, theater and opera, and his work became deeply connected to France and Théâtre de la Ville in Paris. His contributions were recognized with major honors from both the Japanese and French governments. Created shortly before Amagatsu’s death in 2024, TOTEM brings together many of the qualities that defined his work: sculptural movement, visual precision and hypnotic stillness. Its themes of memory, nature and the passage of time acquire an added resonance knowing that this was his final creation. The origin of these swan songs is profoundly different. Amagatsu’s farewell became one because his life came to an end. Khan’s is an artistic choice, as he brings the company he founded to the close of its international touring life. Yet both invite us to consider the same question: What does an artist leave behind? It is not simply a body of work, the collaborations they fostered, the traditions they carried forward or the audiences they moved. In dance, legacy is embodied knowledge: ways of moving, thinking and feeling that live on in generations of performers today and to come. There is a fitting symmetry in these farewells opening rather than closing the Dance Series. The season begins with what endures. These artists may be saying goodbye to particular chapters, but the work they have given us continues to move. The last dance is never really the last.
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Did You Know?
Master class with Danish String Quartet member Frederik Øland at The Waldorf School
photo: David Bazemore
Many of A&L’s visiting artists and speakers spend as much time with Santa Barbara County students and community members as they do on our stages.
“Access to the arts is not a luxury, but a public good. At A&L, we create accessible spaces where people can see themselves reflected, learn about cultures and perspectives beyond their own, and help build the connections that make our community stronger.”
NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck leads a master class for UCSB students
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photo: David Bazemore; inset: Jeff Liang, UCSB
Jenna Hamilton-Rolle Director of Education & Community Engagement
Access For ALL - Arts & Lectures Learning By the Numbers
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200+
total schools reached annually
free engagement opportunities annually
3,000+
4,000+
4,400+
community members served annually
TK-12 students served annually
UCSB students served annually
Thank you letter from Goleta Valley Junior High School music student
Contact Heather Silva, Managing Director of Development, (805) 893-3755 to learn more about supporting arts education.
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2026-2027 Authors Scott Galloway, Notes on Being a Man Sep 25 / Arlington Theatre Min Jin Lee, American Hagwon Nov 12 / Campbell Hall Rana Foroohar
Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic Circle Nov 19 / Campbell Hall
Yiyun Li, In Conversation with Pico Iyer
Jan 26 / Campbell Hall
Anne Applebaum, History, Memory and Power
Jan 31 / Granada Theatre
Michael Pollan, In Conversation with Pico Iyer Feb 19 / Granada Theatre Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D.
Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life Feb 21 / Granada Theatre
Mary Claire Haver, M.D.
Women’s Health, Reimagined: The Science of Thriving Through Midlife Apr 7 / Granada Theatre
Kara Swisher
Who Wants to Live Forever? Technology and the Future of Being Human Apr 8 / Granada Theatre
Margaret Atwood, In Conversation with Pico Iyer
Apr 23 / Arlington Theatre
Simply Ina, An Evening with Ina Garten Apr 28 / Granada Theatre Hakeem Oluseyi
Why Do We Exist? The Science of Connection and Possibility May 5 / Campbell Hall
John McEnroe, In Conversation with Pico Iyer
May 7 / Arlington Theatre
Danielle Allen
Academic Freedom for a Stronger Democracy May 11 / Campbell Hall
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Calling All Book Clubs Whether you’re a current affairs junkie or a fiction fanatic, your next read is in the bag – or at Arts & Lectures.
Want to attend with your book club? Ask us about group ticket options for select events. Email info@artsandlectures.ucsb.edu with inquiries.
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Thank You Arts & Lectures Supporters! Arts & Lectures Council Insightful community leaders and visionaries who help us meet the challenge to educate, entertain and inspire. Marcy Carsey Timothy O. Fisher Rich Janssen Dorothy Largay, Co-Chair
Kath Lavidge Patricia MacFarlane, Co-Chair Susan McCaw Sara Miller McCune
Jillian Muller Natalie Orfalea Tom Sturgess Anne Smith Towbes
Lynda Weinman Cliff Wyatt Merryl Snow Zegar
Arts & Lectures Ambassadors Dedicated volunteers who strengthen the A&L community by championing our mission and advancing our fundraising efforts. Deva Dalporto Jen Drucker Winnie Dunbar Donna Fellows
Belle Hahn Lily Hahn Shining Eva Haller Robin Himovitz
Luci Janssen Sheraton Kalouria Andrew Primack Heather Sturgess
Anne Smith Towbes Sherry Villanueva Crystal Wyatt
Cornerstone - $100,000+ Foundational supporters who help ensure A&L’s long-term sustainability. Jody & John Arnhold Marcy Carsey Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher Martha Gabbert Eva Haller La Centra-Sumerlin Foundation
Dorothy Largay & Wayne Rosing Sara Miller McCune Jillian & Pete Muller The Nora McNeely Hurley Foundation Natalie Orfalea & Lou Buglioli The Stone Family Foundation
Leslie Thomas Crystal & Clifford Wyatt Geof & Laura Wyatt The Zegar Family Foundation Anonymous (2)
Legacy Circle Supporters who secure the future of A&L through thoughtful planned gifts that will help enrich our community for generations to come. Judy & Bruce Anticouni Helen Borges* Ralph H. Fertig* Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher Georgia Funsten*
Eva & Yoel* Haller Dorothy Largay and Wayne Rosing Susan Matsumoto & Mel Kennedy* Sara Miller McCune
Lisa A. Reich Hester Schoen* Heather & Tom Sturgess Mary Jo Swalley
List current as of September 1, 2026. For a more comprehensive listing of A&L supporters, see the digital program. * In memoriam
To learn more about how to join our family of supporters and help us provide exceptional arts, ideas and educational experiences for our community, visit artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/give
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See You Next Summer!
photo: Veridian Creative; insets: Cameron Roberts, A&L
For seven summer nights, the County Courthouse Sunken Garden became Santa Barbara’s biggest outdoor movie theater – and a gathering place for thousands of friends, families and neighbors.
With thanks to our Free Summer Cinema sponsors
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Fall 2026 Event Programs Find artist/speaker information, program notes and more.
Scan to find your event Or visit bit.ly/AL-program
(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu