UCSB Arts & Lectures - Winter Program 2026

Winter Program 2026

WI NE COU N T RY CU ISI NE in the heart of the Historic Arts District

Private Dining • Local Wines • Market Tours DI NNER NIGH T LY

9 WEST VICTORIA STREET | 805.730.1160

Serenity Close to Home With our Road to Riviera package, Southern California residents are invited to slow down and savor the American Riviera, complete with complimentary valet parking and a food & beverage credit.

To make a reservation, please call 805.845.5800 or visit www.elencanto.com

photo: Mélanie Lhôte

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI, Jan 25 Sol Invictus

Dear Friends, The start of a new year at Arts & Lectures brings abundant opportunities to learn, reflect and connect.

Winter, too, can be a season of renewal.

Inspired by Emily Dickinson – who found revelation in “a certain slant of light” on winter afternoons – we are offering a complimentary copy of her poems as this season’s Thematic Learning Initiative book. Share it with a friend, or savor it until those words return as shimmering new music when Joyce DiDonato and Time for Three perform Emily – No Prisoner Be (Feb 5), one of several Arts & Lectures co-commissions this season.

January also marks the launch of Hear & Now, our series of Santa Barbara debuts at Hahn Hall, with pianist Aristo Sham, the 2025 Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medal winner. Then, take a historic listening journey as Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane honor the 100-year legacies of Miles Davis and John Coltrane (Jan 27).

The Justice for All programming initiative continues with former University of California President Dr. Michael V. Drake (Jan 22); Pulitzer Prize-winner Caitlin Dickerson (Mar 5); MacArthur Fellow Ibram X. Kendi (Apr 7); and international affairs analyst Masha Gessen (Apr 14) – events that invite us to engage meaningfully with ideas that shape civic life.

This winter also offers a wealth of international performances, including France’s exhilarating Compagnie Hervé KOUBI (Jan 25); the dazzling artistry of Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti (Jan 28); and the soaring bel canto of Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez (Feb 7). We’ll honor an American legend with two extraordinary evenings celebrating choreographer Jerome Robbins, curated and danced by beloved New York City Ballet artist Tiler Peck (Mar 3 & 4).

We’ve added two can’t-miss musical evenings – a double bill with blues legend Taj Mahal and Americana maven Patty Griffin (Feb 17) and, coming in spring, Bluegrass Album of the Year Grammy nominee Sierra Hull (Apr 16).

Your winter adventure awaits, and I can’t wait to see you there!

Season Sponsor

photo: Isaac Hernández de Lipa

Warmly,

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Meghan Bush Miller McCune Executive Director

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Community Partners

A Benefit for Arts Education Tony Award Winner

Jonathan Groff

“That warm and heady feeling? … It’s secondhand intoxication from the joy Groff radiates in his element.” The Washington Post review of Just in Time Broadway star Jonathan Groff brings his remarkable versatility and warmth to an intimate evening of song and conversation. Fresh from his “dazzling and immersive love letter to live performance” (The Washington Post) as Bobby Darin in Just in Time and his Tony-winning turn in Merrily We Roll Along, Groff continues to enthrall audiences on stage and screen. Known to millions as the royally hilarious, scene-stealing King George III in Hamilton, as well as for standout work in Spring Awakening, Mindhunter, Frozen and more, he is a performer whose presence lights up every room. Join us for an evening that reveals the heart, humor and artistry behind one of the most captivating performers of our time.

Call Heather Silva, Managing Director of Development, 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu to reserve your table(805) today!

(805) 893-3755

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Arts & Lectures’ Thematic Learning Initiative (TLI) extends the conversation from the stage into the community, enriching lifelong learning and initiating dialogue and empowerment through special events, book giveaways and more.

2025-2026 Theme: Paradigms at Play Paradigms shift when we begin to experience the world around us in new ways. This season’s theme highlights artists and thinkers who play with our perceptions and expand how we feel, see, hear and imagine. Through shared experiences, we will play with paradigms to explore how we learn, connect and imagine what’s possible.

Winter Book Giveaway

The Selected Poems of Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson’s use of language, form and the deceptive simplicity of her verse categorize her as an defining force in 19th-century American letters and a founder of a distinctly American voice in modern poetry.

Explore the essence of life, love, nature and time in exquisite verse with this elegantly designed edition of Dickinson’s finest poems.

Free copies will be available on Jan. 29 at 5:30 PM at the Santa Barbara Wine Collective. (Registration required) Discover the paradigms at play in Dickinson’s poetry during a special evening hosted by Santa Barbara Poet Laureate George Yatchisin and featuring UCSB Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook. Books available while supplies last.

RELATED EVENT

Joyce DiDonato and Time for Three, Emily – No Prisoner Be, Feb 5, (p. 26)

With thanks to our visionary partners, Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, for their support of the Thematic Learning Initiative

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Paradigms at Play - Free Events Listening to Jazz with Professor Jon Nathan Wed, Jan 21 / 6-7:15 PM / SOhO Restaurant and Music Club FREE (registration required) Beloved UCSB Professor Jon Nathan adapts his popular Listening to Jazz course for an evening dedicated to the smooth stylings of Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

Enjoy live jazz interwoven with discussion on the allure and influence of these American icons. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Stay for a free performance by the UCSB Jazz Ensemble.

RELATED EVENT

Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane, Jan 27 (p. 17)

Community Dance Class with Tango After Dark Sat, Jan 31 / 2-3 PM Carrillo Ballroom, 100 E. Carrillo St. FREE (registration required) Dancers of all levels are invited to step into the rhythms of authentic Argentinian Tango with Gérman Cornejo’s world-class tango dancers. This community class will focus on basic tango steps specific to Argentine style. All ages and levels are welcome. Partners are welcome but not required.

RELATED EVENT

Tango After Dark, Feb 1 (p. 22)

Dance on Film Tiler Peck: Suspending Time Wed, Feb 18 / 7-8:30 PM / Granada Theatre FREE (registration required) Take a deeply personal look at one of ballet’s most celebrated artists as she faces a career crossroads. Following a series of life-altering events, including a major injury and a personal loss, New York City Ballet prima ballerina Tiler Peck is forced to reckon with the unknown and reimagine her relationship to dance. (Alex Ramsey, 2025, TV-PG, 52 min.) The screening will be followed by a brief discussion on American choreographer Jerome Robbins with UCSB Arnhold Professor of Dance Studies Ninotchka Bennahum.

Presented in association with The Granada Theatre

RELATED EVENT

Ballet Festival: Jerome Robbins, Mar 3 & 4 (p. 53)

Look for additional events to be added throughout the season.

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Illuminating a wide spectrum of systemic injustice, the Justice for All programming initiative looks to today’s great minds and creators and to the courageous leaders across the globe who are forging a new path forward. Join us as we learn from those confronting uncomfortable questions, solving difficult problems, and guiding us all toward a more equitable world.

Dr. Michael V. Drake, Jan 22

Understanding contemporary higher education

Ibram X. Kendi, Apr 7 Challenging racist ideologies

Caitlin Dickerson, Mar 5

Reporting the human cost of deportation

Masha Gessen, Apr 14

Identifying authoritarian patterns across borders

Look for additional events to be added throughout the season.

JUSTICE FOR ALL Lead Sponsors:

Marcy Carsey, Eva & Yoel* Haller, Dick Wolf, and Zegar Family Foundation JUSTICE FOR ALL UCSB Faculty Advisory Committee: Daina Ramey Berry, D. Inés Casillas, Charles Hale, Beth Pruitt, Susannah Scott, Jeffrey Stewart, Sharon Tettegah

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An Evening with

Miranda July

photo: Elizabeth Weinberg

Tue, Jan 20 / 7:30 PM / Campbell Hall

Event Sponsor: Jordana Brewster & Mason Morfit

Miranda July is a filmmaker, artist and writer. Her videos, performances and web-based projects have been presented at sites such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and in two Whitney Biennials.

Her fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, Harper’s and The New Yorker with her collection of stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You (2007), winning the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award having been published in twenty countries. She wrote a collection of essays and photographs titled It Chooses You (2011). Her novel, The First Bad Man, became an immediate bestseller and was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015. Her book, Miranda July (2020), is a complete retrospective of all her work to date and narrated by more than 80 friends and collaborators.

Described as “Beyond-dazzling” in a star review from Booklist, her bestselling novel, All Fours, is one of the New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2024; one of Time’s 10 Best Books of 2024; a Notable Book from both the Washington Post and the New York Times; a 2024 National Book Award finalist for Fiction; was named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, Vogue, Financial Times, Oprah Daily, Vulture and Vox; and was shortlisted for the 30th Women’s Prize for Fiction.

All Fours is currently in development as a series on Starz network.

July wrote, directed and starred in Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), which won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival and four prizes at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Caméra d’Or. In 2011, she wrote, directed and starred in The Future, another film that premiered at Sundance. She co-starred in Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline in 2018, and the next year in 2019, July directed the Sleater-Kinney video for “Hurry On Home.” Her feature film, Kajillionaire – produced by Plan B and Annapurna and starring Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger and Gina Rodriguez – was theatrically released in late 2020 to favorable reviews. In 2021, she narrated the documentary Fire of Love directed by Sara Dosa.

In 2000, July created the seminal participatory website, Learning to Love You More, with artist Harrell Fletcher, and a companion book was published in 2007 (Prestel); the work is now in the collection of The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She designed Eleven Heavy Things, an interactive sculpture garden, for the 2009 Venice Biennale, and it was later presented in Union Square in New York (2010) and by MOCA in Los Angeles (2011). Her email-based artwork, “We Think Alone” (commissioned by Magasin 3, Stockholm), launched in July 2013 with nearly 100,000 subscribers and continued through November 2013. Other participatory art works include “New Society” (a performance), “Somebody” (a messaging app created with Miu Miu) and an interfaith charity shop in Selfridges department store in London, presented by Artangel. In late

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2019, she collaborated with Margaret Qualley on a performance art piece that took place on Instagram over multiple posts. In 2020, she collaborated with Jay Benedicto to create Services, a limited edition book sculpture. Her first solo museum exhibition spanning three decades of her work titled Miranda July: New Society was presented by Fondazione Prada at the Milan Osservatorio in 2024. Recently in 2025, she was made a Guggenheim Fellow. July is also one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025.

In the last two years, July’s work has entered an expansive public-facing phase marked by the convergence of her literary, cinematic and visual art practices. Following the publication of All Fours, she has been deeply engaged in conversations about the body, intimacy, aging and reinvention, appearing in dialogues, interviews and public programs that frame the novel not only as a work of fiction but as a catalyst for broader cultural discussion. In parallel, her large-scale retrospective Miranda July: New Society at Fondazione Prada offered audiences a rare opportunity to encounter the full arc of her practice from early participatory experiments to more recent performance, installation and moving-image works. The New Society exhibition underscored the continuity of her interest in vulnerability, collaboration and systems of exchange.

During this period, July has also continued to explore new modes of authorship and collectivity, remaining committed to forms that invite audience participation and blur the boundaries between private experience and public art. With the development of All Fours as a television series and her recognition as a Guggenheim

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Fellow and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2025, July’s recent work reflects both a widening cultural reach and a sustained dedication to experimentation, risk and emotional candor.

Special Thanks

Books are available for purchase in the lobby

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An Evening with

Dr. Michael V. Drake in Conversation with Dr. Susannah Scott

photo: Elena- Zhukova

Thu, Jan 22 / 7:30 PM / Campbell Hall

Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Eva & Yoel* Haller, Dick Wolf, and Zegar Family Foundation

Dr. Michael V. Drake In 2020, Dr. Michael V. Drake became the 21st president of the University of California’s system of 10 campuses, six academic health centers, three affiliated national laboratories, more than 290,000 students and 230,000 faculty and staff. Drake also holds faculty appointments at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine as a professor of ophthalmology and at the UC Riverside School of Medicine as a professor of medicine.

Drake served as the 15th president of Ohio State University (OSU) from 2014 through 2020. Prior to his six years at OSU, his entire academic career had been at the University of California, including nine years as chancellor of UC Irvine (2005-2014) and five years as UC systemwide vice president for health affairs (2000-2005).

American Universities (AAU) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). He currently serves as Chair of the Board of the Commonwealth Fund, a century-old organization that works to achieve a health care system with better access, improved quality and greater efficiency for the benefit of society’s most vulnerable populations.

Drake has published numerous articles and co-authored six books. He has received dozens of awards for teaching, public service, mentoring and research, as well as five honorary degrees. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Drake received his A.B. from Stanford University and his M.D. and residency training from UC San Francisco. He subsequently spent more than 25 years on the faculty of the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, ultimately as the Steven P. Shearing Professor of Ophthalmology and senior associate dean.

Under Drake’s leadership, the University of California expanded its strong commitment to access, affordability and academic excellence, all while weathering the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to this global crisis, Drake instituted critical public health protections for UC students, staff and faculty, including strong mask and vaccine mandates which kept infection and fatality rates across the UC system dramatically lower than in surrounding communities.

During more than two decades of national leadership in higher education, Drake has served as president of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and has chaired the boards of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the Association of

During this period, the university also continued to grow its enrollment, increase student diversity and enhance student support and affordability. In July 2021, the president proposed – and the UC Board of Regents approved – a multi-year Tuition Stability Plan that helps students and families budget for a UC education by

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keeping tuition stable and predictable and providing new financial aid resources. In early 2022, Drake also committed to creating a path to a debt-free UC education for students by significantly expanding needbased financial aid offerings. This included the launch in spring 2022 of the UC Native American Opportunity Plan, which ensures that in-state systemwide tuition and student services fees are fully covered for California students who are enrolled in federally recognized Native American, American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. At the same time, the university admitted a record number of California first-year students for the fall of 2022, with an increase in the number of underrepresented students.

Under Drake’s leadership, the university also achieved greater state funding stability. A five-year funding compact established with California Governor Gavin Newsom will enable the university to make critical long-term investments in its students, faculty, research and infrastructure. The 2022-2023 state budget included $185 million to advance UC’s impactful work in addressing the global challenges of climate change – a top priority for the president and the university.

Drake has been a strong advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts at the University. In particular, he championed an effort to reimagine campus safety and policing at the University of California, leading to a clear set of guiding principles including community and service-driven safety, holistic and inclusive response models, improved data collection and transparency, clear accountability and independent oversight.

Drake’s interests outside higher education and health sciences include art and music. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Broad Museum of Art in Los Angeles and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

Susannah Scott Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Susannah Scott has been a member of the UC Santa Barbara faculty since 2002. Scott holds joint appointments in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry & Biochemistry and is the Duncan & Suzanne Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability.

She was named a UC Santa Barbara Distinguished Professor in 2015.

Professor Scott is a leading researcher in sustainable chemistry. Her work focuses on designing catalysts—

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materials that make chemical reactions happen faster and more selectively—to improve the sustainability of manufacturing. Her work aims to reduce waste, lower energy use, and make cleaner fuels and materials. She also studies how to convert renewable and recycled materials, including plant-based materials and even plastic waste, into the building blocks of useful products, contributing to more sustainable industry practices.

A committed campus leader, Professor Scott chaired the Santa Barbara Division of the Academic Senate from 2020 to 2024, guiding shared governance during a period of exceptional challenges. She served on UCSB’s COVID-19 response teams, advocated for faculty consultation in emergency decision-making, and helped secure funding support for early-career faculty impacted by the pandemic. She also co-chaired key campus committees—including the Chancellor’s Coordinating Committee on Budget Strategy, the Childcare Taskforce, the Design Review Committee, and the Decarbonization Study Committee—and played a leading role in campus planning, housing, and accreditation efforts.

At the systemwide level, Professor Scott served on the Academic Council and the Academic Planning Council (APC), also co-chairing the APC’s Workgroup on the Future of Doctoral Education. She has been a strong advocate for graduate education, emphasizing its central role in UC’s academic mission, and has contributed to policy development through service on the Graduate Education and Employment Advisory Committee and as a reviewer for the UC Laboratory Fees Research Program.

Professor Scott helped lead the creation of UCSB’s Clean Energy Master Plan, which is projected to virtually eliminate the campus’s direct emissions (Scope 1) at the lowest cost and with the highest return on investment of any UC decarbonization initiative.

Her professional service is extensive. She is Executive Editor of ACS Catalysis, serves on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science, and has chaired major scientific organizations and conferences, including the Organic Reactions Catalysis Society and the Gordon Research Conference on Catalysis.

Professor Scott earned her B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Alberta and her Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Iowa State University. She completed postdoctoral research at the Ames Laboratory and the Institut de recherches sur la catalyse et l’environnement in France.

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Aristo Sham, piano

17th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Gold Medal Winner

photo: Ralph Lauer

Sat, Jan 24 / 7 PM / Hahn Hall

Supporting Sponsor: Anne Smith Towbes honoring the memory of Michael Towbes

Program

Aristo Sham

Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. Ferruccio Busoni): Chaconne in D Minor, BWV 1004

Pianist Aristo Sham exudes astounding intellect and a deep emotional resonance – a cultivated sophistication and an immediately engaging presence, a penchant for taking on the great monuments of the piano repertoire and a natural, infectious spontaneity. This makeup is fueled by a fascination with the world and its rich cultures: he was an international prodigy, is a voracious student of wide-ranging interests and currently splits his time between three continents.

Johannes Brahms (arr. Ferruccio Busoni): Six Chorale Preludes, op. 122 Frédéric Chopin (arr. Ferruccio Busoni): Variations on Prelude in C minor, op. 28, no. 20 - Intermission Johannes Brahms: Selections from Klavierstücke Capriccio In F-sharp minor, op. 76, no. 1 Capriccio in B minor, op. 76, no. 2 Capriccio in G minor, op. 116, no. 3 Intermezzo in C major, op. 119, no. 3 Intermezzo in A major, op. 118, no. 2 Capriccio in C major, op. 76, no. 8

Johannes Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in C Major, op. 1 Allegro Andante Scherzo. Allegro molto e con fuoco Finale. Allegro con fuoco

At the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Sham found his breakthrough moment, taking home both the gold medal and the audience award. And the critics showered him with imaginative praise, calling him “a marvel of deft characterization,” “consistently authoritative,” “a card-carrying risk taker,” “a dapper, aristocratic figure on stage” and “a pianist I look forward to hearing again” (The Dallas Morning News, Gramophone, Texas Classical Voice). In just two months’ time, he was mentioned in more than 800 news articles and his Cliburn performance videos were streamed two million times across 125 countries.

Sham was featured in the 2009 documentary The World’s Greatest Musical Prodigies on Channel 4 (U.K.) and has performed for royalty including King Charles.

He has concertized across Asia, Europe and the United States with major highlights including performing with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon

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Rattle, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under Edo de Waart, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Minnesota Orchestra. His 2025-2026 debut season as Cliburn winner includes a major tour of Asia through Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and South Korea alongside recitals across the United States.

In addition to his rapidly expanding international performance schedule, 2025 has also seen Aristo Sham make a significant statement with the release of his debut solo album, Timeline, on Universal Music Hong Kong. Issued on November 7, Timeline presents a thoughtfully curated program spanning works from Bach to Grieg, including inventive Busoni transcriptions and deeply reflective late Brahms preludes. Critics praised Timeline for its conceptual coherence and expressive depth. One review described the recording as more than a conventional recital, characterizing it as a meditation on time, transformation and human experience that invites listeners to traverse stylistic and emotional landscapes. Sham has spoken about the album as an extension of his artistic journey following his Van Cliburn triumph, emphasizing the freedom of creative programming and his fascination with how music embodies the passage of time and personal memory. Timeline not only highlights his prodigious technique, narrative instinct and wide expressive range; it also reinforces his emerging identity as an artist equally at ease in the recording studio as on the world’s great stages.

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Van Cliburn International Piano Competition The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition is widely considered “the instrument’s Olympics” (The Guardian) and “one of the most prestigious contests in classical music” (The New York Times). From its origins in 1962 through today, it has remained dedicated to sharing music with the largest international audience possible and to launching the careers of its winners.

Known for excellence and innovation in the digital space, the Cliburn is one of the most-watched events in classical music: views over the past four years have topped 100 million across 200 countries.

The Cliburn is a proven catalyst to significant worldwide touring careers for its winners, with a laureate roster that — in the past 25 years alone—includes Olga Kern, Joyce Yang, Haochen Zhang, Nobuyuki Tsujii, Yeol Eum Son, Vadym Kholodenko, Beatrice Rana, Yekwon Sunwoo and Yunchan Lim. To that list, it now adds its 2025 class: Aristo Sham (gold), Vitaly Starikov (silver) and Evren Ozel (bronze).

This track record of success brings an elite group of 18to 30-year-old pianists to Fort Worth every four years to compete for the coveted medals. The total Cliburn prize package is worth an estimated $2 million and includes comprehensive and personalized career management, concert bookings and artistic support.

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Compagnie Hervé KOUBI Sol Invictus

Hervé Koubi, Artistic Director Sun, Jan 25 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

photo: Mélanie Lhôte

Running time: approx. 75 minutes, no intermission

Event Sponsor: Marcia & John Mike Cohen Dance Series Sponsors: Margo Cohen-Feinberg, Barbara Stupay, Sheila Wald, and Anonymous

Choreography: Hervé Koubi, assisted by Fayçal Hamlat

Coproduction: Ballets de Monté Carlo - Direction, Jean-Christophe Maillot

Music: Mikael Karlsson, Maxime Bodson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Steve Reich

Le GRRRANIT - Scène Nationale de Belfort

Lighting: Lionel Buzonie

L’Empreinte - Scène Nationale Brive-Tulle

Costumes: Guillame Gabriel

Centre Choreographique National de Biarritz - Thierry Malandain

Artistic Advisor: Bérengère Alfort Dancers Francesca Bazzucchi, Badr Benr Guibi, Joy Isabella Brown, Denis Chernykh, Samuel da Silveira Lima, Youssef el Kanfoudi, Abdelghani Ferradji, Elder Matheus Freitas Fernandes Oliveira, Oualid Guennoun, Hsuan-Hung Hsu, Pavel Krupa, Ismail Oubbajaddi, Ediomar Pinheiro de Queiroz, Allan Sobral dos Santos, Ayoub Rouifi, Matteo Ruiz, Karn Steiner

La Barcarolle - Scène conventionnée de Saint-Omer

Ballet Contemporain des Mers d’Opale - Pôle Chorégraphique de Calais Théâtre de Grasse - Scène conventionnée d’intérêt National Ville de Cannes Office Artistique de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine With the help of L’Esplanade du Lac de Divonne-les bains, Conservatoire de Calais and Le Channel Scène Nationale de Calais Representation: Margaret Selby Selby Artists Management mselby@selbyartistsmgmt.com | 212-382-3260

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About the Program

Hervé Koubi, Choreographer

Named after the “invincible sun” deity, Hervé Koubi’s work, Sol Invictus upholds that love is the guarantor of peace, that despite fracture, communion emerges as humanity’s saving grace. The music score includes a composition by Swedish composer Mikael Karlsson, with excerpts by Steve Reich and digital composer Maxime Bodson. “I want to talk about light, solidarity and those bonds that unite us,” says Koubi. “Here, the sun and the dance will emerge victorious.”

Hervé Koubi began his journey at the École de la Danse with Rosella Hightower, later performing for acclaimed choreographers such as Jean Christophe Paré, Claude Brumachon and Thierry Smits. In 2000, Koubi launched his own choreographic project, initially driven by an interest in tradition and the way movement is passed down through generations. His work seeks to bridge the gap between the social dances of the past and the rave culture of today.

Compagnie Hervé KOUBI

A search for his roots led Koubi to Algeria, where he underwent a creative transformation through a pivotal encounter with urban dance. Since then, he has explored the “porosity” of movement, blending technical and aesthetic styles to create a language that defies traditional categories.

Drawing creative strength from Algerian roots and Mediterranean culture, Compagnie Hervé KOUBI is a powerhouse player on the international touring circuit.

Combining contemporary and urban dance movements, capoeira and martial arts with powerful imagery and inspired choreography, the dancers defy gravity.

Choreographer’s Note Why do we dance? We are nothing in the universe. Life – and not just humanity – will be nothing more than a match lit and extinguished in the skies. Our existence will go unnoticed and our loneliness in the cosmos is maddening. What is difficult is not the hostility of the universe, but its indifference to our existence. Yet if we manage to integrate this indifference and accept the challenge of life, our existence can truly have meaning and be fulfilling. No matter how deep the darkness, we must bring our own light to it. The universe, the cycle of the seasons, how do we situate ourselves in this great vertiginous space? From this space, related to that which is life, delimited by a beginning and an end, our destiny for all of us will be the same – me, faced with this, I dance.

Since 2017, Koubi has collaborated closely with dancer and choreographer Fayçal Hamlat, whom he met while serving as the choreographer for the National Ballet of Algiers. Their partnership is built on a unique exchange: while Koubi moved from contemporary dance toward hip-hop, Hamlat took the opposite path. Together, they redefine 21st-century ballet as a “field choreography” — an inclusive practice that honors history while remaining vibrantly modern. In 2015, Koubi was appointed a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.

Sol Invictus, or how to make fun of death while dancing.

Celebrate through dance, this vital energy that we must find within us to face our fears, to face ourselves. I wish to rediscover through dance gatherings this union of peoples and cultures beyond any consideration of ethnic, cultural or religious belonging. Dance gathers and unites. Dance goes beyond human and geographical boundaries. It goes beyond the boundaries of the codes of ballet, urban dance and acrobatics.

- Hervé Koubi

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Terence Blanchard and Ravi Coltrane

Miles Davis and John Coltrane Centennial Tue, Jan 27 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

photo: Erin O’Brian

photo: Cedric Angeles

Running time: approx. 90 minutes, no intermission

Event Sponsors: Jody & John Arnhold and Susan & Bruce Worster Jazz Series Lead Sponsor: Manitou Fund

Terence Blanchard, trumpet and synthesizers Ravi Coltrane, saxophones Charles Altura, guitars Julian Pollack, piano and keyboards David Ginyard, Jr., bass Oscar Seaton, drums

Terence Blanchard Terence Blanchard has been a consistent artistic force for making powerful musical statements concerning painful American tragedies both past and present. A true “Renaissance” man, Blanchard stands tall as one of jazz’s most-esteemed trumpeters and defies expectations by creating a spectrum of artistic pursuits. Boundarybreaking and genre-defying, Blanchard is recognized globally as a dazzling soloist and a prolific composer for film, television, opera, Broadway, orchestras and for his own ensembles. Leading theater magazine TheaterMania has cited Blanchard as “the most exciting American composer working in opera today.”

An eight-time Grammy Winner and twice Oscarnominated film composer, Blanchard became only the second African-American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards, duplicating Quincy Jones’ feat

from 1967’s In Cold Blood and 1985’s The Color Purple.

Blanchard’s work has placed him at the forefront of giving voice to human rights, civil rights and racial injustice, including the 2016 album Breathless, an elegy for Eric Garner, who was killed by police and whose words, “I can’t breathe,” became a civil rights rallying cry.

Blanchard is also heralded as a two-time opera composer whose Fire Shut Up in My Bones is based on the memoir of celebrated writer and New York Times columnist Charles Blow. The Metropolitan Opera premiered Fire Shut Up in My Bones on September 27, 2021, to open their 2021-2022 season in New York, making it the first opera composed by an AfricanAmerican composer to premiere at the Met in its 138-year history. The recording of those performances received a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, and The New York Times heralded Fire as “inspiring,” “subtly powerful” and “a bold affecting adaptation of Charles Blow’s work.” Of the historical moment, Blanchard said, “I don’t want to be a token, but a turnkey.” Fire has been widely recognized as one of our nation’s most important cultural milestones and returned to the Met for a highlyanticipated second run in April of 2024.

Blanchard’s first opera, Champion, about the troubled life of boxer Emile Griffith, premiered in 2013 and starred Denyce Graves with a libretto from Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Cristofer. Champion premiered at the Met in 2023 to widespread critical acclaim. It too received a 2024 Grammy for Best Opera Recording.

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But there is a center of gravity. It’s Blanchard’s beautiful, provocative, inspiring jazz recordings that undergird all these projects. The same holds true now as it did early in his career in 1994 when he told DownBeat: “Writing for film is fun, but nothing can beat being a jazz musician, playing a club, playing a concert.”

From his expansive work composing the scores for over 20 Spike Lee projects over three decades – ranging from the documentary When the Levees Broke to the recent Lee films, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods (both of which garnered Blanchard Oscar nominations) – Blanchard has interwoven beautiful melodies that create strong backdrops to human stories like Regina King’s One Night in Miami; Kasi Lemmons’ Eve’s Bayou; George Lucas’ Red Tails; the HBO drama series Perry Mason; Apple TV’s docuseries They Call Me Magic (for which Blanchard received an Emmy nomination) and Gina Prince Bythewood and Viola Davis’ critically acclaimed film The Woman King.

Born in New Orleans in 1962, Blanchard is a musical polymath who launched his solo career as a bandleader in the 1990s. Since then, he has released 20 solo albums, garnered 15 Grammy nominations, composed for the stage and for more than 60 films and received 10 major commissions. He has been named an official 2024 NEA Jazz Master as well as a member of the 2024 class of awardees for the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Letters, and he currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director for SF Jazz, the largest non-profit jazz presenter in the world.

Regarding his consistent attachment to artistic works of conscience, Blanchard confesses, “You get to a certain age when you ask, ‘Who’s going to stand up and speak out for us?” Then you look around and realize that the James Baldwins, Muhammad Alis and Dr. Kings are no longer here… and begin to understand that it falls on you. I’m not trying to say I’m here to try to correct the whole thing, I’m just trying to speak the truth.” In that regard, he cites unimpeachable inspirations: “John Coltrane playing Alabama, even Louis Armstrong talking about what was going on with his people any time he was interviewed. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter who live by their Buddhist philosophy and try to expand the conscience of their communities. I’m standing on all their shoulders. How dare I come through this life having had the blessing of meeting those men and not take away any of that? Like anybody else, I’d like to play feel-good party music but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are.”

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Ravi Coltrane Ravi Coltrane is a critically acclaimed Grammynominated saxophonist, bandleader and composer. In the course of an over 20-year-long career, Coltrane has worked as a sideman to many, recorded noteworthy albums for himself and others and founded a prominent independent record label, RKM. Born in Long Island, the second son of John and Alice Coltrane, he was named after Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar. He was raised in Los Angeles where his family moved after his father’s death in 1967. His mother, Alice Coltrane, was a significant influence on Coltrane and it was him who encouraged her to return to performance and the recording studio after a long absence. Subsequently, Coltrane produced and played on Alice Coltrane’s powerful Translinear Light, which was released in 2004.

Coltrane has released six albums as a leader, including Spirit Fiction released in 2012 for the Blue Note label.

Additional credits include performances as well as recordings with Elvin Jones, Terence Blanchard, Kenny Baron, Steve Coleman, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, Matt Garrison, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Geri Allen, Joanne Brackeem and The Blue Note 7, among others. He is a co-leader of the Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman.

Coltrane lives in Brooklyn, NY and maintains a fast paced touring, recording, composing and performance schedule. He leads the effort to restore the John Coltrane Home in Dix Hills, Long Island and presides over important reissues of his parent’s recordings.

Special Thanks

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Nicola Benedetti, violin

Director, Edinburgh International Festival Wed, Jan 28 / 7 PM / Campbell Hall

photo: Franz Galo

Nicola Benedetti, violin Plínio Fernandes, guitar Hanzhi Wang, accordion Adrian Daurov, cello

Lead Sponsor: Sara Miller McCune

Program

Nicola Benedetti

von Paradis: Sicilienne

Nicola Benedetti is one of the most sought-after violinists of her generation. Her ability to captivate audiences and her wide appeal as an advocate for classical music has made her one of the most influential artists of today.

Wieniawski: Polonaise Brillante Ponce: Estrellita Paganini: Cantabile in D Major, Op. 17 Paganini: Caprice No. 1 in E major Paganini: Caprice No. 24 in A minor Sarasate: Navarra - Intermission Traditional (arr. Brighde Chaimbeul): A’ Choille Ghruamach (air) Skye Boat Song Hacky Honey Reel Monti: Csárdás Bloch: “Prayer” from From Jewish Life Debussy: Beau Soir Sarasate: Carmen Concert Fantasy Any changes to this program will be announced from the stage.

Benedetti opens her 2025-2026 season with a unique and personal solo tour of pre-eminent stages across the U.K. and Ireland including Usher Hall, Edinburgh; Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow; Bridgewater Hall, Manchester; National Concert Hall Dublin and the Royal Albert Hall.

Coinciding with the release of her new album Violin Café, this marks Benedetti’s first solo tour in over a decade, combining popular virtuosic and seductive romantic works arranged for violin, guitar, accordion and cello.

Elsewhere in the season Nicola returns to the New York and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras with the Marsalis Violin Concerto; the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin; the Royal Scottish National, Philharmonia and London Philharmonic Orchestras with the Elgar Violin Concerto and lastly the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor.

Winner of the Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in 2020 as well as Best Female Artist at both 2012 and 2013 Classical BRIT Awards, Benedetti records exclusively for Decca (Universal Music).

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She received high praise for her latest Beethoven recordings, the Violin Concerto with Aurora Orchestra and the Triple Concerto with Benjamin Grosvenor, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Her recordings of the Vivaldi Concerti and Elgar’s Violin Concerto entered at number one in the U.K.’s Official Classical Album Chart. Other recent recordings include her Grammy award-winning album written especially for her by jazz musician Wynton Marsalis: Violin Concerto in D and Fiddle Dance Suite for Solo Violin. In 2021, BBC Music Magazine named her “Personality of the Year” for her online support of many young musicians during the pandemic.

Benedetti has always been a dedicated, passionate ambassador and leader in music education; her commitment was underlined in 2019 when she established The Benedetti Foundation, which delivers transformative experiences through mass music events and unites those who believe music is integral to life’s education. The Foundation believes in the strength of music and the power of mass inspirational moments to connect cultures and communities through combining excellence and inclusivity, tradition and innovation and meaningful collaboration. In its first four years, the Foundation has worked with close to 70,000 participants of all ages and levels, instrumentalists and non-instrumentalists alike, across 105 countries. Its free online educational video resources such as “With Nicky” and other videos have over 6 million views online.

Benedetti was appointed a CBE in 2019, awarded the Queen’s Medal for Music in 2017 and an MBE in 2013.

In addition, Benedetti holds the positions of Vice President (for the National Children’s Orchestras, Big Sister for the charity Sistema Scotland and Patron of the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland’s Junior Orchestra, the Music in Secondary Schools Trust and Junior Conservatoire at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

In October 2022, Benedetti became the Festival Director of the Edinburgh International Festival. In taking the role, she became both the first Scottish and the first female Festival Director since the Festival began in 1947.

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Plínio Fernandes Born and raised in São Paulo, Plínio Fernandes fuses the tradition of classical guitar with Brazilian folk music.

An exclusive Decca Gold recording artist, Fernandes released his debut album Saudade in 2022, which hit Number One on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums Chart. His second album Bacheando, released in September 2023, explores Bach’s influence on Brazilian music and contrasts to his recently released EP, Cinema, which dives into five iconic movie soundtracks.

Following debuts at the BBC Proms and Lucerne Festival, the 2024-2025 season saw Fernandes performing solo recitals at St. Martin in the Fields and Temple Music Church, as well as making debuts at Canterbury Festival and Newbury Spring Festival.

He also debuted with the BBC Concert Orchestra, performing Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” and Britten Sinfonia later this season.

A powerful ensemble player and collaborator, Fernandes performs regularly with a number of musicians, including Lang Lang and brothers Braimah and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. The previous 2023-2024 season saw Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Fernandes give a five-date recital tour of the U.K. which included a soldout performance at Wigmore Hall.

Having performed in sold-out concert halls around the world, including renowned venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Radio City Music Hall in New York, Fernandes has also conducted solo recitals and masterclasses in various locations, including Hong Kong, Portugal (for the MIMO festival in Porto) and throughout South America.

Fernandes was named on Forbes Brazil’s Under 30 list and a Rising Star by Classic FM, and he has also recently received the Revelação Award at the 30th Annual Prêmio da Música Brasileira. A passionate advocate for music education, he was invited to join London Music Masters as an ambassador, and is involved with performing, teaching and guiding young musicians in schools.

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Hanzhi Wang

Adrian Daurov

Acclaimed for her “staggering virtuosity,” Hanzhi Wang is the only accordionist to ever join the roster of Young Concert Artists in its 63-year history. Known for her captivating stage presence and performances that display both passion and finesse, Wang is an ambassador for her instrument.

Adrian Daurov is a dynamic and versatile cellist who has graced many of the world’s premier stages, captivating audiences in performances that span from classical solo recitals to large-scale arena concerts. His eclectic career has included collaborations with celebrated artists such as Alicia Keys, Steven Tyler, Josh Groban, Burt Bacharach and Sigur Rós, among others.

Her groundbreaking achievements include being named Musical America’s “New Artist of the Month,” becoming the first solo accordionist featured on New York’s WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase and releasing the Naxos label’s first-ever solo accordion CD, On the Path to H.C. Andersen, which was nominated for the prestigious Danish Radio P2 Prize in 2019.

As the First Prize Winner of the 2017 YCA Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, Wang made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall and her Washington, DC debut at The Kennedy Center, opening the 40th Anniversary Young Concert Artists Series co-presented by Washington Performing Arts.

Wang won First Prize in the 40th Castelfidardo International Accordion Competition in Italy and continues to inspire the next generation of accordionists through lectures, performances and masterclasses at prestigious institutions worldwide. Composers such as Martin Lohse, James Black and Sophia Gubaidulina have written and dedicated works to her.

Recent performances include recitals at UC Santa Barbara’s Arts & Lectures, Stanford Live, Bravo! Vail and the Krannert Center. As a chamber musician, she has performed at Tanglewood, with YCA alum Steven Banks at The Morgan Library & Museum and with mandolinist Avi Avital in a previous season that included a performance presented by the New York Philharmonic. Wang has also appeared as a soloist with the Oregon Music Festival Orchestra, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Victoria Symphony and Hawaii Symphony.

A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Daurov began his formal musical education at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He later earned a full scholarship to attend The Juilliard School in New York City, where he studied under eminent cello pedagogues André Emelianoff and David Soyer, completing both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

While at Juilliard, Daurov was appointed Principal Cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, a post he continues to hold. His recent seasons have featured concerto debuts with the Dayton Philharmonic, Massapequa Philharmonic and Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey as well as the symphony orchestras of Altoona, Bozeman, Kalamazoo, Longmont, Ridgefield, Westerville, the Berkshires, Wyoming Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall.

In 2012, Daurov founded the Daurov/Myer Duo with acclaimed pianist Spencer Myer. Together, they have performed at prestigious venues including the Smithsonian Institution and The Embassy Series in Washington, D.C., Brooklyn’s Bargemusic and the Nantucket Musical Arts Society, among many others.

He also performs with his wife, Taiwanese composer and pianist Sherry Shieh, as part of their duo project An International Affair.

Daurov performs on a 1989 cello crafted by luthier John Terry in Florence, Italy.

Special Thanks

Wang earned her Bachelor’s degree at the China Central Conservatory of Music and completed her Master’s degree and Soloist Diploma at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

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Germán Cornejo’s

Tango After Dark Sun, Feb 1 / 2 PM & 7 PM / Lobero Theatre

photo: Federico Paleo

Running time: approx. 135 minutes, including intermission

Director and Choreographer: Germán Cornejo in collaboration with the dancers Music: Compositions inspired by Astor Piazzolla Singer: Vanina Tagini Lead Dancers: Germán Cornejo and Noelia Pizzo Dancers Juan Cupini, Marilu Leopardi, Guido Palacios, Erica Rossi, Nicolas Schell, Nair Schinca, Esteban Simon, Florencia Zarate Musicians Tomas Falasca, double bass Jeronimo Izarrualde, drums Gemma Scalia, violin Matias Rubino, bandeneon Diego Ramos, piano

Assistant Choreographer: Gisela Galeassi Sound Designer: Gaston Briski Original Lighting Designer: Charlie Morgan Jones Lighting Designer: Charlie Morgan Jones Costume Designers: Germán Cornejo, Alberto Mauri Costume Makers: Ema Benitez, Alberto Mauri, Celsa Valdez Costume Manager: Jaqueline Aviles Diaz Sound Operator: Nahuel Delgado Production Management: Silvia Otero Executive Producer: Sandra Castell-Garcia Original Production Idea: Guadalupe Cornejo Musical Director: Diego Ramos

About the Program Tango After Dark is the ultimate theatrical tango experience straight from Argentina, one that merges the intoxicating music inspired by the great Argentine tango composer Astor Piazzolla, jaw-dropping choreography and breath-taking moves to reveal tango in its most authentic but sophisticated form.

As Argentina’s most popular dance, world-renowned for its seductive powers, this mesmerizing show combines the sensuous side of tango with the rawness and quick-fire precision of this dance, taking this passionate dancing language to the limit to create a unique and exhilarating performance.

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The theatrical experience is entirely inspired by the great work of Astor Piazzolla, a prominent Argentinean contemporary music figure. His music, a masterful blend of urban music and cutting-edge composing techniques, seeks a provocative renewal of style through a transmutation of sonority as well as rhythm, culminating in unique and remarkable sounds and sensations recognized worldwide. Starting in the 60’s, Piazzolla’s figure became the core of avant-garde thought, and his three-decade-long leading transformation took the “New Tango” style to the most prestigious stages in the world.

This worldwide renowned composer transformed the tango landscape in the 1960’s and 70’s by introducing the world to his Nuevo Tango.

Piazzolla is representative of Buenos Aires but he also embodies the night: peak and abyss, fierceness and mystery, lights and shadows of this city which never sleeps, all reflected in his music as if in a kaleidoscope.

Tango After Dark springs from this porteña night, Piazzolla’s muse and inspiration.

With live music by a sensational singer and on-stage band who bring Piazzolla’s passionate music to life, tango superstar and World Champion German Cornejo leads his superb company of 10 world-class dancers to show off the sultry nature of tango in this breathtaking new performance. The show widely approaches different periods of Piazzolla’s work, which transforms dancing into a vivid portrait of this Argentinean great composer’s creative spirit. Cornejo, who was deeply inspired by such a revolutionary and creative spirit, goes through his own transformation of the language of tango by setting free his creativity and pushing it to its limits. The final outcome is both an authentic and personal tango which magnificently blends roots with the cutting edge, the melancholic and surreal Buenos Aires with 21st century sophistication.

With multiple sold out performances across the globe, Cornejo’s spectacular choreography has captivated audiences worldwide for more than 10 years through its unique mix of tradition and sophistication of tango for the modern era. Celebrities such as Simon Cowell, Marc Anthony, Mel B., Heidi Klum and Jennifer Lopez, among others, have praised Cornejo’s work.

Germán Cornejo, Director and Choreographer Germán Cornejo, born in Zárate, Buenos Aires Province, started studying Tango at the age of 10. At 15, he graduated from the Gatell Conservatory of Dance with

a Master of Tango degree. Over the years, he expanded his skills in classical and contemporary ballet, jazz and acrobatics, eventually pursuing a Master of Choreographic Composition at the National Institute of Arts.

Nélida Rodriguez, a legendary Tango Argentino ballerina and Broadway star, played a crucial role in Cornejo’s training as his “Artistic Godmother.” She imparted not only dance knowledge, but also the secrets of tango steps.

In terms of awards, Cornejo won the Gold New Talent prize in 2003 and the Competition of Gold Dance in 2005 on the popular TV show Susana Giménez. He became World Champion of Tango dancing in 2005 and achieved numerous other accolades, including seven gold medals in contests for youth in Buenos Aires Province.

Cornejo has performed at renowned Tango houses in Buenos Aires and showcased his talent at notable milongas such as La Viruta, Porteño and Bailarín. His performances have been featured on top-rated TV shows in South America and internationally, including Susana Giménez, Showmatch and Por el Mundo. As a dancer, Cornejo has collaborated with various productions and orchestras such as El Arranque Orchestra and Osvaldo Berlingeri’s Vamos al Tango. He has toured worldwide, performing in theaters like the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center, Sydney Opera House and Luna Park Arena. Cornejo’s participation in the reality TV show ¡Q’Viva! The Chosen further highlighted his professional talent. He was additionally a guest artist at Jennifer Lopez’s Dance Again World Tour.

Currently, Cornejo serves as the Director of Choreography and Lead Dancer in the Tango Fire Company of Buenos Aires. He has his own company, Germán Cornejo Dance Company, and has created successful shows like Immortal Tango, Tango After Dark and Wild Tango. As a choreographer and coach, Germán has worked with contestants on the Latin American version of Dancing With The Stars and guided his students to success in the World Tango Championship.

Many of his students have achieved top positions in the championship, establishing Cornejo as a highly recognized and sought-after instructor in Buenos Aires.

Cornejo’s overall work as a choreographer and tango dancer has made significant contributions to the world of Tango through his exceptional skills, awards and performances, leaving a lasting impact on the dance community.

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Ruckus Davóne Tines, bass-baritone What Is Your Hand in This? photo: Fay Fox: inset: Noah Elliott Morrison

Tue, Feb 3 / 7 PM / Hahn Hall

Supporting Sponsor: Linda Stafford Burrows

Program Part I

Part III

Stephen Foster: Beautiful Dreamer Douglas Adam August Balliett: “Overture” and “The Four F’s” from Compassion Preludes Traditional (Arr. Davóne Tines): Be the Lover of My Soul

Sawney Freeman: A New Death March Joshua McCarter Simpson: To The White People of America Sawney Freeman: The Rays of Liberty Lewis Allan and Earl Robinson (Arr. Tines and Balliett): The House I Live In Balliett: Federal Nations

Part II George Frideric Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 10 in D Minor, op 6: ii Balliett: Scherzo from Compassion Preludes John Dickinson (Arr. Balliett): The Liberty Song Handel: Concerto Grosso No. 10 in D Minor, op 6: ii George W. Clark: What Mean Ye?

Benjamin Carr (Arr. Balliett): The Federal Overture George Frideric Handel: “Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage” from Messiah

Part IV Julius Eastman: Buddha Clyde Otis (Arr. Tines and Balliett): This Bitter Earth Davóne Tines: What is My Hand in This?

William Billings: Chester Balliett: “Nunc Dimittis” from Compassion Preludes Traditional (Arr. Tines): Be the Lover of My Soul

Program conceived by Douglas Balliett, Davóne Tines and Clay Zeller-Townson. Program developed by Ruckus Early Music.

Commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Hudson Hall with support from the New York State Council of the Arts.

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Ruckus

Douglas Adam August Balliett, electric bass, arrangements and compositions Elliot Figg, harpsichord, piano, electric keyboard Keir GoGwilt, violin Manami Mizumoto, viola Paul Holmes Morton, baroque guitar Clay Zeller-Townson, baroque bassoon, taille, percussion

Davóne Tines, singer and arrangements America’s music at the founding of the country was the music of dissent. We celebrate this tradition.

Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque ensemble with a visceral and playful approach to early music. Described as “the world’s only period-instrument rock band” (San Francisco Classical Voice), Ruckus’ core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. The NYC-based ensemble aims to fuse the earlymusic movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique sound of “rough-edged intensity” (New Yorker) that’s “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (New York Times). The group’s members are among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music.

Ruckus is the house band for Hudson Hall’s baroque opera productions, directed by R.B. Schlather. The New York Times’ Zachary Woolfe wrote: “Ruckus aptly describes itself as a band: it’s that tight, and that wild.”

Ruckus’ next production at Hudson Hall will be Handel’s final opera, Deidamia. In spring 2025, the band released The Edinburgh Rollick featuring violinist Keir GoGwilt, bringing new life to the tunes of Neil Gow, one of Scotland’s most important 18th-century composers.

Praised as “a perfect meeting of folk repertoire and ancient instruments “ (Le Canard Folk), it will come to NYC in January 2026 at the concert series Music Before 1800. Ruckus’ debut album, Fly the Coop, a collaboration with flutist Emi Ferguson, was Billboard’s #2 Classical album upon its release. Performances of Fly the Coop have been described as “a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” (New York Times). The Boston Musical Intelligencer describes the group as

taking continuo playing to “not simply a new level, but a revelatory new dimension of dynamism altogether… an eruption of pure, pulsing hoedown joy.”

Ruckus joins Davóne Tines in a collaboration entitled What is Your Hand in This? The program, marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, asks: “how can we passionately address wrongs while coexisting as a people? Can we find compassion for others? Can we find compassion for ourselves?” The repertoire spans early American hymnody, Handel’s Messiah, Benjamin Carr’s Federal Overture, abolition-era songs, mid-20th century protest songs and features commissions from Carnegie Hall and Hudson Hall. It will make its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall in January 2026.

Davóne Tines Davóne Tines is a pathbreaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity.

Tines is an artist who takes full agency of his work, often devising new programs and pieces from conception to performance. He has premiered numerous operas by today’s leading composers, including John Adams, Terence Blanchard and Matthew Aucoin; his concert appearances include performances of works ranging from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to Saariaho’s True Fire. He recently made his Metropolitan Opera debut performing in John Adams’s El Niño. His first studio album, ROBESOИ, was released on Nonesuch Records in September 2024 and explores his connection to legendary American baritone Paul Robeson, reimagining some of the music Robeson famously sang.

Tines is Brooklyn Academy of Music’s artist-in-residence and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale’s first-ever creative partner. He is Musical America’s 2022 Vocalist of the Year, a winner of the 2020 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, a recipient of the 2018 Emerging Artists Award from Lincoln Center and a recipient of the 2024 Chanel Next Prize. He is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Harvard University.

(805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

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Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano Time for Three, string trio Emily – No Prisoner Be

photo: Lorenzo Cisi

Thu, Feb 5 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre

Event Sponsor: Luci & Rich Janssen Additional support from the A&L Fund for the Commission of New Works

Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano Kevin Puts, composer

Notes From the Composer

Time for Three, string trio

Emily – No Prisoner Be emerged through my collaboration with great performers from two different realms. The Hours, an opera based on the novel by Michael Cunningham with a libretto by Greg Pierce, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and featured a trio of stars including Joyce DiDonato, who created the role of Virginia Woolf to rapturous acclaim. My creative work during the Covid-19 pandemic toggled between this mammoth project and another: a triple concerto called Contact for the dynamic string trio Time for Three.

By Kevin Puts

Ranaan Meyer, double bass, vocals Nicolas Kendall, violin, viola, vocals Charles Yang, violin, vocals Direction, Lighting & Sound Designer: Andrew Staples Stage Manager: Lars Braun Lighting Designer: William Reynolds Sound Engineer: Colin Egan Tour Management & Producer: Askonas Holt Time for Three General Management: Park Avenue Artists Time for Three Tour Management: David Ross Dress Designer: Metamorphoza Producers: Joyce DiDonato, Ranaan Meyer, Nicolas Kendall, Charles Yang Emily – No Prisoner Be has been generously supported by Mary Ellen Clark, Helen Berggruen for FiveArts Foundation and Gordon P. Getty.

The creation of Emily – No Prisoner Be was made possible by the Lead Commissioner, Bregenzer Festspiele and Co-Commissioners: Cal Performances at University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures.

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At some point during our work on Contact, the members of Time for Three (Nicolas Kendall, violin and vocals; Charles Yang, violin and vocals; Ranaan Meyer, bass and vocals) and I realized we were having too much fun and needed to look ahead to another project in the near future. When the idea of an album of songs arose, I had just the singer in mind! I had a strong feeling the deep musical intuition, larger-thanlife personalities and fiercely creative minds of all four of these powerhouse artists might gel in a very special way. I wasn’t wrong.

But an album of songs based on what text? I stumbled upon this poem of Emily Dickinson and had the answer:

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They shut me up in Prose — As when a little Girl They put me in the Closet — Because they liked me “still” — Still! Could themself have peeped — And seen my Brain — go round — They might as wise have lodged a Bird For Treason — in the Pound — Himself has but to will And easy as a Star Look down upon Captivity — And laugh — No more have I — Though Juilliard- and Curtis Institute-trained musicians of the highest caliber, Time for Three exudes the energy of a rock/pop concert at its most exhilarating.

I could imagine this energy right from the start, with “shredding” violin virtuosity ushering in Joyce’s first lines. The trio could even sing back her lines in counterpoint and provide harmonic support in the manner of Aretha Franklin’s backup singers. In short, I could see from the start this wasn’t going to be your grandmother’s Emily Dickinson song cycle. The breadth of the entire work became vaguely apparent in my mind, a rather massive journey through Dickinson’s poetry framed by her refusal to be contained in “prose”, or – put less poetically – within the confines of conventional religious ideology, societal norms of the era, traditional social conventions or even sexual identity. Though she famously cloistered herself in a room in her father’s house for much of her life, she would be a prisoner of nothing and no one. To be sure, there is nothing groundbreaking in the choice to set Emily Dickinson’s poetry to music, and admittedly my mention of it caused a few eyes to roll in the early stages. In fact, according to David Nirenberg, Director of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Studies who graciously hosted the five of us for two immensely productive workshops, there have been over 3,000 musical settings of Emily Dickinson’s poetry. It positively cries out to be sung. There is music in every line, every word, and in the spaces between the words. It inspires rhythm, harmony, melody, musical atmosphere – it leaps off the page in a way composers have been unable to resist.

So I simply began to set poems – some well-known, some more obscure – as I discovered them, writing quickly and with little sense of where each song might eventually appear sequentially in the cycle. This approach to form represented a departure from the way I normally work, and frankly it made me nervous.

Not until I began workshopping the various songs with Joyce and Time for Three did I discover we could allow the music to dictate the course of things. Historians have relied on Dickinson’s handwriting to make rough guesses as to when in her life a poem was written, but we do not know the precise order. It seems she wrote them as the spirit moved her. So once I disavowed myself any obligation to preserve chronology or give the work a sequential thematic structure, isolated songs began to coalesce into small groups of songs. Dickinson enjoyed a particular fascination with bees, judging from the number of poems written about them, so I found myself composing “bee scherzos” which serve the dual function of showcasing Time for Three’s virtuosity and giving Joyce’s voice a much-needed rest during this rather colossal cycle. In fact I was delighted to find that, in her indispensable book Dickinson, Helen Vendler fittingly describes the following as a “winsomely playful scherzo”: Bee! I’m expecting you!

Was saying Yesterday To Somebody you know That you were due — The Frogs got Home last Week — Are settled, and at work — Birds, mostly back — The Clover warm and thick — You’ll get my Letter by The seventeenth; Reply Or better, be with me — Yours, Fly. These scherzos also serve as connective material between clusters of songs. Sometimes I even found myself flipping through Dickinson’s 1,800 poems to find one whose musical setting might close a “gap” in a similar way within the arc of the whole piece. Though the intention of a poem like the wonderful “I Dwell in Possibility” is clear enough, others are more resistant to interpretation, at least for this composer. Again to quote Tendler, “like all capacious writers, she baffles complete understanding”, yet these more enigmatic offerings often create the most alluring space for musical setting. For example, the following: So set its Sun in Thee What Day be dark to me— What distance—far— So I the Ships may see That touch—how seldomly— Thy Shore?

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There is the sense of longing for something just out of reach, and there is the setting sun and the gentle rhythm of the tide. And for me, that is enough. In my program note for The Hours, I described a rather metaphysical experience after spending so much time considering the predicaments and motivations of Virginia Woolf, albeit through a second-hand incarnation of the great writer formed in the mind of Michael Cunningham. It truly began to feel as if she was in the room with me as I grafted melodies and harmonies onto her story. I experienced something similar with the ghost of Georgia O’Keeffe as I mined hundreds of her letters to create The Brightness of Light for Renée Fleming. Emily Dickinson also stopped by my little third-floor office in Yonkers, New York (it’s getting crowded up here!).

And when I visited Dickinson’s house in Amherst, Massachusetts in summer 2024, I felt an odd familiarity and sense of recognition, though undoubtedly one formed by my own projecting and romanticizing. But this is, after all, what we do with our heroes.

Joyce DiDonato Multi-Grammy Award winner and 2018 Olivier Award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Opera, Kansasborn Joyce DiDonato entrances audiences across the globe, and has been proclaimed “perhaps the most potent female singer of her generation” by The New Yorker. With a voice “nothing less than 24-carat gold” according to The Times, DiDonato has towered to the top of the industry as a performer, a producer and a fierce advocate for the arts. With a repertoire spanning over four centuries, a varied and highly acclaimed discography and industry-leading projects, her artistry has defined what it is to be a singer in the 21st century.

Recent highlights include Handel’s Theodora for the Teatro Real in Madrid and a highly acclaimed European recital tour with performances at Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Berlin, Athens Megaron and Palau de la Música de Valencia. DiDonato continued her celebrated musical partnership with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra and made debut appearances with the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In December 2024, Joyce toured the United States with Dallas-based a cappella group Kings Return with a festive programme entitled “Kings Re-Joyce”. An intensive spring residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund featured the world premiere of Another Eve, a song cycle by Rachel Portman, as well as her concert debut in Handel’s Jephtha alongside Il Pomo d’Oro.

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DiDonato’s distinctively varied 2025-2026 season commenced with season-opening concerts for both the Minnesota Orchestra and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain as well as re-opening Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a Kevin Puts’ World Premiere, House of Tomorrow. She returned to Musikkollegium Winterthur for a performance of Rachel Portman’s Another Eve, and collaborated with Radio France for Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder in Paris and Dijon.

She reunites with pianist Craig Terry for recitals at Théâtre de Genève and Suntory Hall Tokyo. DiDonato embarked on her first major tour of Australasia with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmania Symphony Orchestra and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In the United States, she made her Lincoln Center Theater stage debut as The Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors and her much-anticipated role debut at the Metropolitan Opera in Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence. Concert appearances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra plus Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Nézet-Séguin and the Berlin Philharmoniker. She maintains her annual in-demand masterclass series at Carnegie Hall and tours her album SongPlay throughout Asia. DiDonato also joined the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for her second European tour with Yannick and this orchestra following a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 at Carnegie Hall.

As DiDonato’s latest global touring project, EDEN, completed a ground-breaking three years with tours in Asia, South America, the United States and Europe, reaching over 15 million people and performances in 50 cities, the anticipation is only building for her next album release and touring project.

On the operatic stage, Joyce’s recent roles include Virginia Woolf (The Hours), Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Agrippina, Cendrillon, Sesto (La Clemenza di Tito) and Adalgisa (Norma) all for the Metropolitan Opera. Other milestones include Didon (Les Troyens) at the Wiener Staatsoper; Agrippina for the Royal Opera House and in concert with Il Pomo d’Oro under Maxim Emelyanchev; Semiramide at the Bavarian State Opera and Royal Opera House and Charlotte in Werther at the Royal Opera House.

Much in demand on the concert and recital circuit, DiDonato has held residencies at Carnegie Hall and London’s Barbican Centre, toured extensively in the United States, South America, Europe and Asia and appeared as guest soloist at (Continued on page 37)

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¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! brings people together to share the rich cultural heritage of Latin America, serving more than 15,000 students and community members each year throughout Santa Barbara County.

Ballet Nepantla performs a free concert

Created in 2006 out of a commitment to arts access for all, Viva works with dozens of local partners to present high-quality artists who share their knowledge and passion. Schools, neighborhood spaces and community centers come alive in these free programs for youth and families. ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! is a collaboration between The Marjorie Luke Theatre, Guadalupe Visual & Performing Arts Center, Isla Vista School Parent Teacher Association and UCSB Arts & Lectures, serving Carpinteria, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Lompoc, Santa Maria, Guadalupe and New Cuyama.

For nearly two decades, Viva has brought vibrant cultural performance and educational opportunities to the most underserved in Santa Barbara County.

Coming in Winter of 2026

Join us in securing the future of this vital partnership with a gift to ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara!

January 15-18

Las Cafeteras March 19-22

Performances are FREE (no registration required)

photo: Isaac Hernández de Lipa

Mariachi Reyna de Los Ángeles

For more information about supporting Viva, contact Elise Erb, Senior Director of Development, at (805) 893-5679.

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Access for ALL | Arts & Lectures Learning Through Access for ALL, inspirational, dynamic learning experiences are possible for students and lifelong learners across classrooms, our community and the UCSB campus.

UCSB Students

• Classroom visits • Master classes • Panel discussions • Lecture-demonstrations • Discounted and free admission to A&L mainstage events

K-12

UCSB student session with columnist, CNN host and author, Fareed Zakaria Free community dance class with dancer from Ballet Preljocaj

• Matinee field trips for students from across the county • Assemblies • Workshops • Q&As Lifelong Learners

• Thematic Learning Initiative (TLI): • • •

Extending the conversation through film screenings, special events and book giveaways Author signings Pre-show talks and post-show Q&As Community workshops

Access for ALL serves more than 30,000 students and community members annually.

Please consider a contribution to A&L’s award-winning educational outreach programs. Call Elise Erb, Senior Director of Development, at (805) 893-5679 to learn more.

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La Cumbre Junior High School students attend a workshop with Lila Downs’ band members

Thank you to our Access for All and ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! Sponsors Arnhold A&L Education Initiative Linda Stafford Burrows Marcy Carsey La Centra-Sumerlin Foundation Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher Martha Gabbert Eva & Yoel* Haller Robin & Roger Himovitz Hutton Parker Foundation Dorothy Largay & Wayne Rosing In Memory of Margaret Zwigard Lavidge Little One Foundation and Belle Hahn Lucky One Foundation and Hahn Shining Family Sara Miller McCune The Otis Booth Foundation The Roddick Foundation Stone Family Foundation Towbes Fund for Performing Arts, an interest area of the Santa Barbara Foundation William H. Kearns Foundation Dick Wolf Crystal & Cliff Wyatt

photo (top): David Bazemore; (middle and bottom): Isaac Hernández de Lipa

The Zegar Family Foundation

* In Memoriam

University Support:

Office of the Chancellor Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor

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The Benefits of Giving

$100+

Pr

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of

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Fr i

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Become a donor and join a community of arts advocates that enable us to deliver remarkable programming on and off stage.

le Ex ec ut ive Pr od uc ers Le ad Cir er cle sh ip C ir cle Pa r tn er s

The Benefits of Giving

$2,500+

$5,000+

$10,000+ $25,000+

Bespoke A&L experiences



Invitations to dinners with artists or lecturers and other A&L members

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Opportunity to host reception with an artist or lecturer

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Event sponsorship opportunities

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Complimentary reserved parking for all ticketed Campbell Hall events

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A pair of complimentary guest tickets to an A&L public event

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Reserved VIP seating at A&L Summer Cinema Series

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VIP Ticketing Concierge Service and Priority Seating

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Complimentary ticket exchange when your plans change

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Invitations to Producers Circle Receptions

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Access to Intermission Lounge at A&L events at The Granada Theatre

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Invitation to A&L’s exclusive Season Announcement Party

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Opportunity to attend master classes and other educational activities

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Invitation to a member appreciation event

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Recognition in A&L impact reports or digital media

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To learn more about membership, contact Annual Giving & Membership Manager Austin Janisch at Membership@ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu or (805) 893-2174.

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Thank You Arts & Lectures Supporters!

Arts & Lectures Council Arts & Lectures is privileged to acknowledge our Council, a group of 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 Arts & Lectures is proud to acknowledge our Ambassadors, volunteers who help ensure the sustainability of our program by cultivating new supporters and assisting with fundraising activities.

Winnie Dunbar Donna Fellows Belle Hahn Eva Haller

Robin Himovitz Luci Janssen Maxine Prisyon Lily Hahn Shining

Heather Sturgess Anne Smith Towbes Sherry Villanueva Crystal Wyatt

Arts & Lectures Program Advisor Bruce Heavin

Leadership Circle Our Leadership Circle members, a group of key visionaries giving $10,000 to $100,000 or more each year, make a significant, tangible difference in the community and help bring A&L’s roster of premier artists and global thinkers to Santa Barbara. We are proud to recognize their philanthropy.

$100,000+ Jody & John Arnhold Marcy Carsey Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher ◊ G. A. Fowler Family Foundation Martha Gabbert

Eva & Yoel* Haller ◊ La Centra-Sumerlin Foundation Dorothy Largay & Wayne Rosing ◊ Manitou Fund Sara Miller McCune ◊ Natalie Orfalea & Lou Buglioli

Stone Family Foundation Dick Wolf Crystal & Clifford Wyatt Laura & Geofrey Wyatt The Zegar Family Foundation Anonymous (2)

Susan McCaw Jillian & Pete Muller The Roddick Foundation Shanbrom Family Foundation Heather & Tom Sturgess ◊

Towbes Fund for the Performing Arts, a field of interest fund of the Santa Barbara Foundation Lynda Weinman & Bruce Heavin ◊

Cottage Children’s Medical Center Robin & Roger Himovitz Luci & Rich Janssen Ellen & Peter O. Johnson Little One Foundation Lucky One Foundation and Hahn Shining Family Siri & Bob Marshall

Marilyn & Dick Mazess The John C Mithun Foundation Montecito Bank & Trust Merrill Sherman Barbara Stupay Sheila Wald Susan & Bruce Worster Monica Wyatt & Mark Horowitz Anonymous

$50,000+ Patricia Bragg Foundation Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara Justin Brooks Fisher Foundation Gainey Foundation William H Kearns Foundation

$25,000+ Betsy Atwater Mary Becker Otis Booth Foundation Gary Bradhering & Sheraton Kalouria Jordana Brewster & Mason Morfit Linda Stafford Burrows Marcia & John Mike Cohen Margo Cohen-Feinberg

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$10,000+ Allyson & Todd Aldrich Nancy Barasch Susie & Riley Bechtel Gay-Lynn & Robert Blanding Jennifer & Jonathan Blum Christine Bruce & John Hilliard Scott Charney & Ellen McDermott Charney Sarah & Roger Chrisman

NancyBell Coe & William Burke Jane Eagleton Donna M. Fellows & Dave Johnson Robyn & Larry Gottesdiener Lisa & Mitchell Green Hutton Parker Foundation Jacquie & Harry McMahon Holliday McManigal

Northern Trust Sophie & Adam Pritzker Sharon & Bill Rich Julie Ringler & Richard Powell Susan J. Rose Eva & Bryan Schreier Anne Smith Towbes Dr. Bob Weinman George & Beth Wood Foundation

Producers Circle Arts & Lectures gratefully recognizes the commitment and generosity of our Producers Circle members, who have made gifts between $2,500 and $9,999. Recognition is based upon a donor’s cumulative giving/pledges within a 12-month period.

$5,000+ Executive Producers Circle Martha & Bruce Atwater Susan D. Bowey Elizabeth & Andrew Butcher Annette & Dr. Richard Caleel David & Debby Cohn Olivia Erschen & Steve Starkey Christine & Bill Fletcher

Pamela Gann & David Hardee Ruth & Alan Heeger Shari & George Isaac Ann Jackson Family Foundation Margaret & Barry Kemp Maia Kikerpill & Daniel Nash Steve Lyons

Nancy McGrath Suzanne & Duncan Mellichamp Michael Millhollan & Linda Hedgepeth Judy Wainwright Mitchell & Jim Mitchell Elizabeth & Charles Newman Jan Oetinger

Lisa A Reich ◊ & L Robert Johnson Kyra & Tony Rogers Laurie Seigel & Joseph Nosofsky Joan Speirs Towbes Foundation Nicole & Kirt Woodhouse Anonymous (4)

Gail & Harry* Gelles Linda Gorin - In Memory of Arnold B. Gorin, M.D. Grafskoy Hindeloopen Limited, LLC Tricia & Don Green Paul Guido & Stephen Blain Daniel Halsted Carolyn Holmquist Donna & Daniel Hone Sandra Howard Andrea & Richard Hutton Carolyn Jabs & David Zamichow Lauren Katz Michelle & Dr. John Kelly Susan Kudo Lieff Jacqueline* & Robert Laskoff Arlyn & Michael Latin Karen Lehrer & Steve Sherwin Melissa & Todd Lemein Janice & David Levasheff Chris & Mark Levine Denise & George Lilly

Peggy Lubchenco & Steve Gaines Carole Macelhenny Nancy & Mike McConnell Amanda McIntyre Carol & Stephen Newman Dale & Michael Nissenson Joan Pascal & Ted Rhodes Lynn & Mel* Pearl Ann & Dante Pieramici Andrew & Liisa Primack Justine Roddick & Tina Schlieske Jean Rogers Gayle* & Charles Rosenberg Ginger Salazar & Brett Matthews Karen Shapiro & Richard Appelbaum Anitra Sheen Holly & Lanny Sherwin Maureen & Robert Siegel Jeanne & Alexander Sloane Rebecca Sokol Smith Roxanna & Randall Solakian Anita & Eric Sonquist

David Spector & Robert Trachtenberg Lynne Sprecher Carol Spungen Elisa & Marc Stad Dale & Gregory Stamos Debra & Stephen Stewart Sheila Stone Mary Jo Swalley ◊ Denise & James Taylor Amy & George Tharakan David Tufts & Cris Dovich Sandra & Sam Tyler Christine Van Gieson & John Benson Kathryn & Alan Van Vliet Dianne & Daniel Vapnek Sherry & Jim Villanueva Karen & Peter Warshaw Dr. Richard Watts Alexis & Mike Weaver Kathy Weber Anonymous (3)

$2,500+ Producers Circle Roxana Anson Jill & Arnie Bellowe Dan Berendsen & Kevin Bruckman Donna & Brad Beutter Deirdre & Fraser Black Sherri Bryan & Tim Dewar Susan & Claude* Case Lilyan Cuttler & Ned Seder Deva & Gabe Dalporto Dorothy Daniels Deborah David & Norman Kurland Gamble Douville Parks & Gary Douville Jen & Max Drucker Winnie & Hod Dunbar Richard Flacks Tisha Ford Charlie Franciscus & Dr. Herb Rogove Bunny Freidus Priscilla & Jason* Gaines John J. Galvin

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Circle of Friends $1,000+ Martha Blackwell Judith L. Hopkinson Danson Kiplagat Irving Levin

Mary & Mark Maxson Norberg Family Foundation Gail Osherenko Carey Pearlman

Ann Pless Minie & Hjalmer Pompe van Meerdervoort Santa Barbara Foundation Jo & Ken Saxon

Maureen & Les Shapiro Diane & Charles Sheldon Stephen Simons Claire & Glenn Van Blaricum Anonymous (2)

Niedre Heckman Elinor & James Langer Irene Marsi Richard Mirin

Priscilla & Forrest Mori Oshay Family Foundation Quinn O’Toole Marla Smith

Lisa Stratton & Peter Schuyler Patricia Thornton Carol Vernon & Robert Turbin Richard Wimbish Anonymous

Ann & David Dwelley James & Diane Giles Nancy Goldberg Deborah & Jay James Stacey & Raymond Janik Dennis Johns

Antonia LaRocca & Christopher Johnson Rochelle Mackey Kurt Meyer Jeanne & Larry Murdock Jennifer O’Toole Elisabeth Ogle

Diane Quinn Alanna & Peter Rathbone Kathy & Mark Rick Beverly & Michael Steinfeld Pam & Russ Strobel Jo Ellen & Thomas Watson Anonymous (3)

Kathleen Copeland Tony Cossa Patricia Crafts Nathalie Crick Jeanette Curci Lila Deeds Jane Delahoyde Pamela Elliott Cid & Thomas* Frank Betty H. Fussell Susan Gionfriddo Virginia Graves Amanda Greene Hamman Family Kenneth Hasegawa Janet Healy Page Hiller-Adams & Alexander Adams Lauren Hobratsch

Melinda Horwitz Susan Jordan & Pedro Nava Ralph Kappelhoff Janet & Robert Kates Niall Kelly Carole Kennedy Julie & John Kennedy Andrew Le Mary Martin Ray Mathiasen Bruce McDonald Chris Moore Barbara Nagle-Statler Bob Naylor Catherine Nesci Kathleen Nienhouse Betty Pierskalla Deborah & Ken Pontifex Dr. Gaines Post

Karen Poythress Sarah York Rubin Thekla & Richard Sanford Dr Suzanne M Savoy Joan & Steven Siegel Brian Smith DaAnne Smith Norman Smith Craig Snell Joan Szkutak Diana & William Thomas Ann Tullo Johanna Vandermolen Vickie Ascolese & Richard Vincent Mary Walsh Dorothy & John Warnock Carole Wasserman Anonymous (3)

$500+ Linda & Peter Beuret Janice Burnham Dennis Doordan Paul Finkel

$250+ David Auston Rochelle & Mark Bookspan Joan & Thomas Dent Victoria Dillon Anne & Jeffrey Donahue Ellen Durham

$100+ Benjamin Allen Lynn & Joel Altschul Margaret & Howard Arvey Mickey Babcock Roger Bamford Wayne Benner Cherie Bonazzola Teresa & David Bothman Anna Boyd-Bucy William & Dorothy Brokken Norman Brooks Smith Kathleen Carmel Vikki Cavalletto Michael Chabinyc Jim Chiddix Whitney Chiu Melissa Colborn Karen Conway

List current as of December 1, 2025. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy. Please notify our office of any errors or omissions at (805) 893-3382. * In Memoriam ◊ Indicates those who have made plans to support UCSB Arts & Lectures through their estate

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Legacy Circle

Arts & Lectures Staff

Legacy Circle members listed below have made provisions in their estate plans to support A&L and ensure our exciting programs continue for future generations. We are pleased to acknowledge these thoughtful commitments.

Meghan Bush, Miller McCune Executive Director Ashley Aquino, Contracts Administrator Marisa Balter, Financial Analyst Michele Bynum, Senior Artist Shiloh Cinquemani, Assistant Ticket Office Manager J.O. Davis, Interim Production Manager Charles Donelan, Senior Writer/Publicist Elise Erb, Senior Director of Development Michael Figueroa, Show Runner Krystalin Giles-Bullicer, Prospect Management & Donor Research Specialist Kevin Grant, Senior Business Analyst Jenna Hamilton-Rolle, Director of Education & Community Engagement Ashley Hill, Arnhold Education Associate Austin Janisch, Annual Giving & Membership Manager Nina Johnson, Marketing Manager Rachel Leslie, Manager of Ticketing Operations & Patron Services Mari Levasheff, Marketing Manager Hector Medina, Marketing & Communications Production Specialist Roshan Nair, Interim Education Associate Caitlin O’Hara, Director of Public Lectures & Special Initiatives Dominic Padero, Interim Marketing Specialist Jennifer Ramos, Programming Manager Mike Rojas, Production Coordinator Heather Silva, Managing Director of Development Laura Wallace, Finance & HR Manager Eliot Winder, Production Manager

Judy & Bruce Anticouni Helen Borges* Ralph H. Fertig* Audrey & Timothy O. Fisher Georgia Funsten* Eva & Yoel* Haller Dorothy Largay & Wayne Rosing ◊ Susan Matsumoto & Mel Kennedy Sara Miller McCune Lisa A. Reich Hester Schoen* Heather & Tom Sturgess Mary Jo Swalley Lynda Weinman & Bruce Heavin

Arts & Lectures Endowments Roman Baratiak Endowed Lecture Fund for A&L Fund for Programmatic Excellence Beth Chamberlin Endowment for Cultural Understanding Commission of New Work Fund Education and Outreach Fund Sara Miller McCune Executive Director of Arts & Lectures Harold & Hester Schoen Arts & Lectures Endowment Sonquist Family Endowment ¡Viva el Arte de Santa Bárbara! Endowment Lynda Weinman & Bruce Heavin Arts & Lectures Endowment for Programmatic Excellence

Government & Regional Funders California Arts Council City of Santa Barbara National Endowment for the Arts UCSB Summer Culture and Community Grant Program

University Support Arts & Lectures is especially grateful to UCSB students for their support through registration and activity fees. These funds directly support lower student ticket prices and educational outreach by A&L artists and writers who visit classes.

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@artsandlectures (805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

(Continued from page 28) the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms.

Other concert highlights include the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Accademia Santa Cecilia Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra U.S.A. under Sir Antonio Pappano.

DiDonato’s expansive discography includes the highly celebrated Les Troyens (winning Gramophone’s coveted Recording of the Year) and Handel’s Agrippina (Gramophone’s Opera Recording of the Year). Joyce’s other albums include her singular EDEN spanning four Centuries of music; the acclaimed Winterreise with Yannick Nézet-Séguin; Grammy Award-winning SongPlay; In War & Peace, the 2017 Best Recital Gramophone Award; Stella di Napoli; Grammy-Awardwinning Diva Divo and Drama Queens. Other honours include the Gramophone Artist and Recital of the Year awards, as well as an inaugural inductee into the Gramophone Hall of Fame. In September 2024, she was honoured to receive the 14th Concertgebouw Prize for her exceptional contribution to the artistic profile of the Concertgebouw. Joyce recently received one of France’s highest honors – becoming officière de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Time for Three Grammy and Emmy-winning ensemble Time for Three (TF3) defies convention and boundaries, merging classical, Americana and singer-songwriter traditions into a singular, remarkable sound. Consisting of Ranaan Meyer (double bass, vocals), Nicolas “Nick” Kendall (violin, vocals) and Charles Yang (violin, vocals), TF3 captivates audiences worldwide with their virtuosic playing and insatiable appetite for creativity that expands typical perceptions of a string trio.

TF3 appears this season with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Marin Alsop, Louisville Orchestra alongside Teddy Abrams and St. Louis Symphony with Stéphane Denève.

Their repertoire includes their newest commissioned concerto by composer Mason Bates, which received its premiere at Arizona Musicfest, with subsequent performances with San Francisco Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC. Time for Three also embarks with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato on a project titled Emily – No Prisoner Be. Written by Kevin Puts and inspired by the vivid and introspective poetry of Emily Dickinson, the project received its world premiere

at the Bregenzer Festspiele and will visit Carnegie Hall and other top venues across the U.S. this season.

TF3 won a Grammy Award for their album Letters for the Future, released by Deutsche Grammophon and featuring works by Kevin Puts and Jennifer Higdon, both recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Time for Three has enjoyed additional collaborations with Ben Folds, Natasha Bedingfield, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Bell, Jennifer Higdon, Chris Brubeck, William Bolcom and Arlo Guthrie.

Time for Three’s solo shows have been praised for their “joy, mastery, creativity and supreme artistry” (The Strad). Their concert special, Time for Three In Concert, was produced by PBS and earned the trio an Emmy Award. Time for Three’s affinity for creative boundary pushing, commitment to encouraging the next generation of musicians and relentless pursuit of musical excellence has solidified them as one of the most exceptional groups on the scene today.

Kevin Puts Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy-winning composer Kevin Puts has established himself as one of America’s leading composers, gaining international acclaim for his “plush, propulsive” music (The New York Times), and described by Opera News as “a master polystylist.”

His work has been commissioned and performed by leading organizations around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, Opera Philadelphia and Minnesota Opera to name a few, and Puts himself has collaborated with leading artists such as Renée Fleming, Joyce DiDonato, Joshua Bell, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Marin Alsop and Stéphane Denève, among many others.

In March 2022, Puts’ fourth opera, The Hours, had its world premiere on the concert stage by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and it was hailed as a “historic event... with a lush orchestration that hits you in the solar plexus” (The Philadelphia Inquirer). The Hours premiered to sold-out houses as a fully staged production at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2022 starring sopranos Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara and mezzosoprano Joyce DiDonato and was called “a stunning triumph” by Variety Magazine. The opera’s revival in May 2024 marked the first instance in the Metropolitan Opera’s history of a work returning the season after its premiere. Puts was invited to perform the final trio from

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the opera at the 2024 Grammy Awards, accompanying its three leading ladies on the piano.

Puts’ breakthrough opera Silent Night – for which he was awarded the 2012 Pulitzer Prize following its 2011 premiere by Minnesota Opera – was heralded as “remarkable” (The New York Times) and “stunning” (Twin Cities Examiner) and has become one of the mostperformed contemporary operas. Another major work is his multi-media orchestral song cycle The Brightness of Light, which was based on the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and features Renée Fleming and Rod Gilfry; it premiered at Tanglewood in 2017 and received performances across the United States by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera and many others. Written for Time for Three, his triple concerto Contact had its worldpremiere in March 2022 with the Florida Orchestra and subsequently received performances around the world.

A recording of the piece by the Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Xian Zhang was released on the Deutsche Grammophon album Letters for the Future and was awarded Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Based on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, his House of Tomorrow for mezzo-soprano soloist, chorus and orchestra was commissioned by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the reopening of its renowned Powell Hall. It premiered in September 2025, led by Music Director Stéphane Denève with Joyce DiDonato as soloist.

Puts was named Musical America’s Composer of the Year in 2024. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Composition Faculty at the Peabody Institute. He also serves as Distinguished Visiting Composer at the Juilliard School as well as Director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer’s Institute. All works by Kevin Puts are published worldwide by G. Ricordi & Co., New York, a Universal Music Publishing Classics & Screen company.

Special Thanks

90th Birthday Celebration

Philip Glass and The Poets Sun, May 17 / 7 PM / Campbell Hall

This special event, featuring some of his favorite interpreters and special guests, celebrates Glass’ extraordinary relationships and collaborations with poets. From Rumi to Leonard Cohen and beyond, poetry has played a key role in the evolution of his music. In particular, his friendship with American beat poet Allen Ginsberg spawned multiple collaborations; this evening will include previously unreleased recordings of Ginsberg reading his poetry set to some of Glass’ most intimate chamber music.

Co-commissioned by Pomegranate Arts.

(Philip Glass will not be performing.)

(805) 893-3535 www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu

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Les Ballets Africains Fri, Feb 6 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre Running time: approx. 130 minutes, including intermission

Les Ballets Africains was formed in Paris in 1952 by a distinguished Guinean choreographer Keita Fodeba with the support of numerous African heads of state.

invitations to return. Their performances transcend mere entertainment, serving as a powerful medium for cultural exchange and diplomacy.

The company quickly established itself as a global phenomenon, touring successfully around the world. However, it was in 1958 following Guinea’s independence that Les Ballets Africains received a transformative invitation – to become the national ensemble of Guinea. This marked the beginning of a new chapter for the company, propelling them to even greater heights of international acclaim.

Les Ballets Africains’ journey is a testament to the enduring power of art to transcend boundaries and unite people across the globe. Their legacy is one of artistic excellence, cultural pride and a steadfast commitment to bridging the gap between nations through the universal language of dance.

Special Thanks

Throughout their travels, Les Ballets Africains have been hailed as cultural ambassadors, carrying with them the pride and aspirations of their people.

Their performances serve a dual purpose: to showcase the rich cultural heritage of Africa and to foster greater understanding and cooperation between Africa and the rest of the world.

In one extraordinary marathon, they appeared in 165 capital cities, presenting an astonishing 695 performances in 750 days, traveling 180,000 kilometers by plane, 33,000 by train and 21,000 by road.

Whether enchanting audiences in Sydney, Paris, London, Rio, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, New York, Chicago, Shanghai or Los Angeles, Les Ballets Africains has consistently garnered tumultuous acclaim and

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Juan Diego Flórez, tenor Vincenzo Scalera, piano

photo: Kristin Hoebermann

Sat, Feb 7 / 7 PM / Lobero Theatre

Program Gioachino Rossini: Le Sylvain Vincenzo Bellini:

“Malinconia, ninfa gentile” “Vanne, o rosa fortunata” “La ricordanza” Arietta: Almen se non poss’io (arrangement for piano solo by Carl Czerny)

Gaetano Donizetti:

“Ah! Rammenta, o bella Irene”

“Ed ancora la tremenda porta… Come uno spirito angelico” from Roberto Devereux - Intermission -

Reveriano Soutullo, Juan Vert: “Bella enamorada” from El último romántico Agustín Pérez Soriano: “Suena, guitarrico mío” from El guitarrico

José Serrano:

“Aquí está quien lo tiene tó y no tiene ná” from La alegría del batallón

Ernesto Lecuona: Mazurka Glissando (piano solo) Jules Massenet:

“Ah, tout est bien fini… Ô souverain, ô juge, ô père” from Le Cid

Charles Gounod:

“Quel trouble inconnu me pénètre… Salut! Demeure chaste et pure” from Faust

Jocelyn Di Godard: “Berceuse” (piano arrangement)

Giacomo Puccini: “Che gelida manina” from La bohème

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Juan Diego Flórez

Vincenzo Scalera

With a career that includes performances on the world’s leading stages, Juan Diego Flórez has established himself as one of opera’s greatest talents with his expressive singing and virtuosity. His generosity, charisma and passion inspired his many philanthropic endeavors, in addition to his acclaimed operatic appearances and recordings.

Vincenzo was born in New Jersey, USA, of ItalianAmerican parents and began piano studies at the age of five. He graduated from Manhattan School of Music and worked as assistant conductor with the New Jersey State Opera.

Flórez, born in Lima, Peru in 1973, began singing and playing Peruvian folk and pop music at an early age, studying later at Peru’s National Conservatory of Music and eventually winning a scholarship to the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1996, he made his professional debut at the Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro, stepping in at the last minute to sing the leading role of Corradino in Matilde di Shabran. Despite the short preparation time, his debut was a triumph and marked the beginning of his stellar career.

His singular voice and astonishing agility made him an overnight sensation and led to another debut that year at the age of 23 in the opening of La Scala’s 1996-97 season, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Since then, he has made regular appearances at all major international opera houses and venues with the world’s leading conductors.

Flórez has recorded numerous solo albums, as well as complete operas on CD and DVD. He has been recognized as one of the best tenors in history by the BBC, and has received numerous accolades and awards including Peru’s highest distinction, the Gran Cruz de la Orden del Sol as well as the Austrian’s government title of Kammersänger.

In 2011, Flórez founded Sinfonía por el Perú, an inclusive social project that aims to enhance the personal and artistic development of the most vulnerable children and youth in the country through music. In recognition of his work, he was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 2012 and received the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in 2014.

Recent appearances include Orphée in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice (ROH, Milan), Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera), Ricciardo in Ricciardo e Zoraide (Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro), Alfredo Germont in La Traviata (Metropolitan Opera) and Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Almaviva, Des Grieux in Manon and the titular Faust (Vienna State Opera).

He continued his studies in Italy and in 1980, joined the musical staff of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala as coach and pianist, assisting conductors Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Giannandrea Gavazzeni and Carlos Kleiber among others.

Scalera has participated in many important music festivals, including Edinburgh, Martina Franca, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Les Choregies d’Orange, Carinthischer Sommer Ossiach, Salzburger Festspiele and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.

Accompanying such celebrated singers as Carlo Bergonzi, Andrea Bocelli, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Juan Diego Florez, Leyla Gencer, Vittorio Grigolo, Sumi Jo, Raina Kabaivanska, Katia Ricciarelli, Renata Scotto, Cesare Siepi, Lucia Valentini Terrani and more, he has been heard in all the major music centers of the world.

His discography includes these recitals: Sumi Jo “La Promessa,” Renata Scotto in the “Complete Songs of Verdi,” “Carlo Bergonzi in Concerto” Carlo Bergonzi in the “Art of Bel Canto-Canzone,” “The Comeback Concerts of José Carreras.” Scalera has three recitals on Video with José Carreras, “In Vienna,” “In Concert,” and “Comeback Concert in Spain.”

Documenting his extensive collaboration with Carlo Bergonzi is a video concert entitled “Bergonzi Celebrates Gigli,” the program they performed together in a highly acclaimed 1985 Carnegie Hall recital.

As harpsichordist, he recorded the soundtrack of the video of Rossini’s “La Cenerentola” under the direction of Claudio Abbado, and the world premiere recording of Rossini’s “Il Viaggio a Reims,” also with Abbado.

Scalera is a Steinway Artist and is currently on the staff of Milan’s Accademia d’Arti e Mestieri of Teatro alla Scala.

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Bruce Liu

photo: Christoph Koestlin

Thu, Feb 12 / 7 PM / Campbell Hall

Program

York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony and Wiener Symphoniker as well as with conductors including Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Antonio Pappano, Lahav Shani and Dalia Stasevska.

Ligeti: Étude No. 4 (“Fanfares”) Bach: French Suite No. 5, BWV 816

Highlights of Liu’s 2025-2026 season include several major international tours including Japan with Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski, China with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Daniele Gatti and then Germany, Austria, Belgium and Paris with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Kazuki Yamada. As a spotlight artist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Liu appears multiple times in the season to collaborate with Franz-Welser-Möst and Gustavo Gimeno.

Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 21, op. 53 (“Waldstein”) - Intermission Chopin: Nocturnes, op. 27 Ravel: Alborada del gracioso Mompou: Glossa y fantasía sobre “Au clair de la lune” Albéniz: “El Puerto” from Iberia, Book 1 Liszt: Rhapsodie espagnole First Prize winner of the 18th International Chopin Piano Competition 2021 in Warsaw, Bruce Liu has emerged as one of the most compelling pianists of his generation – a musician praised not only for his dazzling technique, but for his curiosity and artistry that combines “nimble versatility” (New York Times) and “playing of breathtaking beauty” (BBC Music Magazine).

In high demand as a soloist, he has recently performed with many of the world’s finest ensembles including the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New

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An exclusive recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon, Liu was awarded Opus Klassik’s Young Talent of the Year prize 2024 for his debut studio album Waves. His second studio album, featuring Tchaikovsky’s Seasons, was released in November 2024 to rave reviews and praise for its “fresh music-making unadorned by superficial virtuosity” (Gramophone).

Born in Paris and raised in Montréal, Bruce Liu’s artistry reflects his multicultural heritage-blending European refinement, North American dynamism and the long tradition of Chinese culture. He studied with Richard Raymond and Dang Thai Son.

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Taj Mahal and Patty Griffin Tue, Feb 17 / 7:30 PM / Arlington Theatre

Event Sponsor: Marilyn & Dick Mazess

Taj Mahal “The blues is bigger than most people think,” Taj Mahal says. “You could hear Mozart play the blues. It might be more like a lament. It might be more melancholy. But I’m going to tell you: the blues is in there.”

Taj Mahal is a towering musical figure — a legend who transcended the blues not by leaving them behind, but by revealing their vast and magnificent scope to the world. Measuring the impact of the 83-year-old is nearly impossible, but people try anyway. Grammy wins for TajMo in 2017 (Majal’s collaboration with Keb’ Mo’) and ‘Get on Board’ with Ry Cooder in 2022 brought his tally to four wins and fifteen nominations, underscoring his undiminished relevance more than 50 years after his solo debut.

A recipient of the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, an inductee into the Blues Hall of Fame, and an Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award honoree — among countless other distinctions —Majal’s résumé is a testament to his influence. Yet accolades are not what drive him. “I just want to be able to make the music that I’m hearing come to me — and that’s what I did,” Majal says. “When I say, ‘I did,’ I’m not coming from the ego. The music comes from somewhere. You’re just the conduit it comes through. You’re there to receive the gift.”

Mahal’s exploration of music began as an exploration of self. He was born in 1942 in Harlem to musical parents — his father was a jazz pianist with Caribbean roots; mother was a gospel-singing schoolteacher from South Carolina — who cultivated an appreciation for both personal history and the arts in their son.

In the early 1950s, his family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts — a microcosmic melting pot for immigrants from across the globe: the Caribbean, the American South, Europe, the Mediterranean, Syria, Lebanon. “Music was everywhere,” he says.

“Things were different in those days. There weren’t a lot of places that African Americans had to go out to entertain themselves. So people did a lot of entertaining in their homes. Friday or Saturday night, you’d move the furniture, mop and wax the floor, and set things up so people could pop over and hear all the music.” Musicians and friends from around the world passed through, ate home-cooked feasts and led neighborhood jam sessions and dance parties in cozy living rooms.

From the beginning, Mahal found the blues magnetic, even as most artists around him in the Northeast were exploring other sounds. “I could hear little strains of the blues coming through — you could feel that energy in the music that was being played,” he says. “I could also feel that energy of the blues inside myself.”

Piano lessons didn’t stick — “I’d already heard what

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Patty Griffin

I wanted to play” — so when a blues guitarist from North Carolina moved in next door, Mahal found an early mentor and was off.

Over the years, Mahal also emerged as a mindboggling, multifaceted player. In addition to the guitar, he has become proficient on about 20 different instruments — and counting. “There weren’t an awful lot of people still playing these instruments that came from my culture,” he explains. “Not that they didn’t before, but nobody was playing them in the time I was. But I wanted to hear them. So I watched people play, got one, sat down, remembered the music that I was listening to, and started picking it out on the mandolin or banjo or 12-string.”

As Mahal thinks about the many albums, collaborations, live experiences, and captured sounds, he finds satisfaction in one main idea. “As long as I’m never sitting here, saying to myself, ‘You know?

You had an idea 50 years ago, and you didn’t follow through,’ I’m really happy,” he says. “It doesn’t even matter that other people get to hear it. It matters that I get to hear it — that I did it.”

Patty Griffin, guitar David Pulkingham, guitar Michael Longoria, percussion Patty Griffin is among the most consequential singersongwriters of her generation, a quintessentially American artist whose wide-ranging canon incisively explores the intimate moments and universal emotions that bind us together.

Over two decades, the two-time Grammy Award winner – and seven-time nominee – and Americana Music Association Lifetime Achievement award winner has crafted a remarkable body of work in progress that prompted the New York Times to hail her for “[writing] cameo-carved songs that create complete emotional portraits of specific people…[her] songs have independent lives that continue in your head when the music ends.”

2019 saw the acclaimed release of the renowned artist’s Grammy Award-winning 10th studio recording, Patty Griffin. One of the most deeply personal recordings of Griffin’s remarkable two decade career and firstever eponymous LP, Patty Griffin made a top 5 debut on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart amidst unprecedented worldwide acclaim and later earned a prestigious Grammy Award for Best Folk Album.

Griffin’s new album, Crown of Roses, is a deeply personal and introspective work that explores themes of identity, nature, family and womanhood. Emerging from a creative drought during the pandemic, Griffin found herself re-evaluating the stories she’d long told herself. The result is an eight-track collection that is both sparse and emotionally rich, blending folk, Americana and blues.

With Crown of Roses, Griffin offers a record that’s both grounded and transcendent – one that invites listeners to release old narratives, embrace new truths and stay truly alive while they’re here. Having crafted a rich catalog that chronicles love and death, heartache and joy, connection and detachment, Patty Griffin continues to push her art forward, as always imbuing every effort with compassion, craft, uncanny perception and ever-increasing ingenuity.

Special Thanks

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Jlin + Third Coast Percussion Thu, Feb 19 / 8 PM / Campbell Hall

photo: Lawrence Agyei

Running time: approx. 90 minutes, no intermission

Program

Jlin

David Longstreth:

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America and one of the most influential women in electronic music. Jlin’s thrilling, emotional and multidimensional compositions have earned her praise as “one of the most forwardthinking contemporary composers in any genre” (Pitchfork) and a 2023 United States Artist award. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nominee for Perspectives, which was originally commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion. Her mini-album Perspective, featuring the original electronic versions of the suite, was released to critical acclaim on Planet Mu 2023.

Her much-lauded albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have been featured in “Best of” lists in The New York Times, The Wire, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian and Vogue. She has remixed works for major artists including Björk, Max Richter, Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode), Galya Bisengalieva, Marie Davidson, Nina Kraviz and Ben Frost. In the last decade, Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, legendary choreographers Wayne McGregor and Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. Jlin has collaborated with contemporary artists including William Basinski, Dope Saint Jude, Holly Herndon, Zora Jones and the late icon SOPHIE. Her latest album, Akoma (Planet Mu), was released in March 2024 and features collaborations with Philip Glass, Björk and Kronos Quartet.

New Work, TBA

Philip Glass (Arr. Peter Martin and Third Coast Percussion): Mishima Jlin (Arr. Third Coast Percussion): “Derivative” “Fourth Perspective” “Embryo” “Five Perspectives” “Premonition” “Fragmentation” “Carbon 12” “Summon” “Alkebulan” (rework of Mozart’s Requiem) “Grannie’s Cherry Pie”

David Skidmore (Arr. Jlin): Torched and Wrecked

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Third Coast Percussion

University in Ohio and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada, as well as masterclasses at dozens of tour stops. TCP’s new tour programs include 20th Anniversary commissions by Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery, Tigran Hamasyan and more.

David Skidmore, Artistic Director Sean Connors Robert Dillon Peter Martin Third Coast Percussion (TCP) is a Grammy Awardwinning percussion quartet and Grammy-nominated composer collective that made history as the first percussion ensemble to win the revered music award in the classical genre. To date, Chicago-based TCP has garnered seven total Grammy nominations with individual musicians receiving two additional nominations.

After marking its 20th Anniversary in 2025, TCP continues its milestone celebrations with exciting and unexpected performances worldwide that constantly redefine the classical music experience and “push percussion in new directions, blurring musical boundaries and beguiling new listeners” (NPR), with a brilliantly varied sonic palette and “dazzling rhythmic workouts” (Pitchfork). Its 20th anniversary recording, Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records), received two nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Engineered Album, Classical and Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.

Representing “one of the most enterprising and creative ensembles working today” (WFMT), the artists of Third Coast Percussion are in-demand collaborators who have worked closely with a range of artists including choreographers Twyla Tharp, Lil Buck, and Jon Boogz; composer/performers Zakir Hussain, Jessie Montgomery and Jlin; and composers Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli and Danny Elfman, among many others. The ensemble has been praised for the “rare power” (Washington Post) of its 30+ recordings, and its “inspirational sense of fun and curiosity” (Minnesota Star-Tribune).

TCP’s recordings include 21 feature albums and appearances on 14 additional collaborative releases.

Besides putting its stamp on iconic percussion works

by John Cage and Steve Reich – including its Grammywinning album of Steve Reich’s works for percussion – the quartet has created recordings of numerous TCP-commissioned works and original compositions.

During the 2024-2025 season, they released two new acclaimed albums: Aguas da Amazonia (Rockwell Records), capturing TCP’s bespoke arrangement for Twyla Tharp Dance of the title work by Philip Glass, and Standard Stoppages (Cedille Records).

The four members of Third Coast Percussion (Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin, and David Skidmore) met while studying percussion at Northwestern University and formed the ensemble in 2005. Members of Third Coast also hold degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University, the New England Conservatory, and the Yale School of Music.

Follow Third Coast on Instagram (@ThirdCoastPercussion), YouTube (@thirdcoastpercussion), TikTok (@thirdcoastpercussion), X (@ThirdCoastPerc), Facebook (@Third Coast Percussion), and LinkedIn (linkedin.com/company/third-coast-percussion).

The 2025-2026 season takes the ensemble from Chicago to New York, Boston, Los Angeles and beyond, with almost two dozen domestic engagements.

International tour dates include first performances in Serbia, Montenegro and Latvia, plus engagements in Paris. In Chicago, TCP performs at The Art Institute of Chicago, The University of Chicago and more.

The ensemble also conducts residencies at Denison

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Yo-Yo Ma in Recital

photo: Austin Mann

Sun, Feb 22 / 4 PM (note special time) / Granada Theatre

Additional support from the A&L Fund for the Commission of New Works

Yo-Yo Ma’s multi-faceted career is testament to his belief in culture’s power to generate trust and understanding.

Whether performing new or familiar works for cello, bringing communities together to explore culture’s role in society or engaging unexpected musical forms, he strives to foster connections that stimulate the imagination and reinforce our humanity.

the Goat Rodeo Sessions with Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. Recent releases include Six Evolutions, his third recording of Bach’s cello suites, and Beethoven for Three: Symphony No. 1 / Op. 70, No. 1 ‘Ghost’ / Op. 11 ‘Gassenhauer,’ the fourth in a series of Beethoven recordings with pianist Emanuel Ax and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.

Most recently, Yo-Yo Ma began Our Common Nature, a cultural journey to celebrate the ways that nature can reunite us in pursuit of a shared future. Our Common Nature follows the Bach Project, a 36-community, six-continent tour of J. S. Bach’s cello suites paired with local cultural programming. Both endeavors reflect his lifelong commitment to stretching the boundaries of genre and tradition to understand how music helps us to imagine and build a stronger society.

Yo-Yo Ma was born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris. He began to study the cello with his father at age four and, three years later, moved with his family to New York City, where he continued his cello studies at the Juilliard School before pursuing a liberal arts education at Harvard. He has received numerous awards, including the Avery Fisher Prize (1978), the National Medal of the Arts (2001), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010), Kennedy Center Honors (2011), the Polar Music Prize (2012) and the Birgit Nilsson Prize (2022). He has performed for nine American presidents, most recently on the occasion of President Biden’s inauguration.

Yo-Yo Ma is an advocate for a future guided by humanity, trust and understanding. Among his many roles, he is a United Nations Messenger of Peace, the first artist ever appointed to the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees, a member of the board of Nia Tero – the U.S.-based nonprofit working in solidarity with Indigenous peoples and movements worldwide – and the founder of the global music collective Silkroad.

Yo-Yo Ma and his wife have two children. He plays four cellos: two modern instruments made by Moes & Moes, a 1733 Montagnana from Venice and the 1712 Davidoff Stradivarius.

His discography of more than 120 albums (including 19 Grammy Award winners) ranges from iconic renditions of the Western classical canon to recordings that defy categorization, such as Hush with Bobby McFerrin and

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A Double Dose of Crescent City Soul

Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen Cha Wa Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler

Thu, Feb 26 / 8 PM / Campbell Hall photo: Steve Rapport

Running time: approx.140 minutes, including intermission

Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen Jon Cleary, piano, keyboards, vocals Cornell Williams, bass Thomas Glass, drums Pedro Segundo, drums, percussion

After thirty-five years of being at the forefront of the ever-evolving musical landscape of New Orleans, Grammy Award winner Jon Cleary decided to bring that sound back home, both figuratively and literally.

He assembled his Absolute Monster Gentlemen (his acclaimed all-star big band) in his home studio in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans, drew up a setlist of some of his most beloved songs – and some new favorites – and rolled tape. “We set out to capture that sound in the old-fashioned way: everybody in the room, playing together,” Cleary explains. The result is The Bywater Sessions, a musical tour-de-force that showcases the grit, funk and joy that’s packed concert halls from New Orleans to Tokyo and beyond.

Co-produced by Cleary and John Porter (Roxy Music, The Smiths, Taj Mahal), it’s a stunning collection of performances that affirms Cleary’s place in the New Orleans musical vanguard.

“There’s a lot to be said for the ‘lean and mean’ sound of a piano trio, stripped down to basics, simple and direct,”

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Cleary says. “But recently, I’ve been experimenting with different combinations; adding horns, guitar, percussion and even another keyboard player. This expanded line-up has allowed the arrangements to blossom in new directions.”

As for the musicians, it’s the best of the best. Long time Monster Gentlemen Cornell Williams and A.J. Hall anchor the band on bass and drums respectively. They are joined by Nigel Hall (Lettuce) on Hammond organ, Pedro Segundo (Ronnie Scott’s All Stars) on percussion, Xavier Lynn (MonoNeon, Ledisi) on guitar and an all-star horn section of Aaron Narcisse (Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra), Charlie Halloran (Squirrel Nut Zippers, Preservation Hall All Stars) and Jason Mingledorff (Galactic).

“Sophisticated, nasty, good-time, low-down funk is the folk music of New Orleans,” Cleary says. “Everyone playing on this recording is a New Orleanian by birth or by choice, having learned their craft at the feet of the masters who in turn were taught by the old lions in their day – it’s a tradition stretching back over two hundred years. The roots go deep, but each generation, growing up with street parades and second-lines, absorbs the old and introduces the new, gently coaxing the essential essence into and out of each succeeding decade.”

It’s an apt description of Cleary’s career thus far. Born in London and on a plane to New Orleans before he turned twenty years old, he grew up absorbed by the

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sounds and rhythms of the Crescent City. His mastery of the city’s music landed him gigs playing as a session musician in the bands of local legends Earl King, Johnny Adams, Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington, Snooks Eaglin, Ernie K-Doe, Jessie Hill – and as a guitarist for Dr. John.

He later toured extensively with icons like Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal. His solo career began in earnest in 1989 and includes beloved records like their self-titled band debut and his 2015 Grammy winner, Go-Go Juice.

In fact, his first job in New Orleans was as a painter at beloved local club the Maple Leaf Bar, and it wasn’t long until he was playing piano in that very room. To this day, he and his band continue to pack that room to crowds that gather from around the world, playing their unique and ever-evolving take on New Orleans funk and R&B. “These grooves are not museum pieces, they are alive, breathing and fresh – and that’s why joints like Tipitina’s, The Maple Leaf Bar and Chickie Wah Wah are always packed when the locals, young and old, come out to hear the Gentlemen do they thang,” Cleary proudly adds.

On The Bywater Sessions, the band that Rolling Stone’s David Fricke called “as broad, deep and rolling as the Mississippi river” is finally captured as intended – live, in the room and as funky as ever. And with that comes an invitation from Cleary himself: “Close your eyes, imagine you’re in the room with us, me and the band, Mike Dorsey the engineer, John Porter the producer and Reed the manager. Turn it up and enjoy the experience. I hope you have as much fun listening as we did playing.”

Cha Wa

Joe Gelini, drums Honey Banister, vocals Tajh Derosier, saxophone and vocals Rik Fletcher, keyboards Trevor Nathan, guitar It should be no surprise that the twice Grammynominated, New Orleans-based Afro-Indigenous funk collective Cha Wa has a most unique history. The story begins in 1996 when Joe Gelini, a kid from Connecticut studying drumming at Berklee College of Music in Boston, attends a show by New Orleans drummer Idris Muhammad. Intrigued, Gelini approached the legend for a lesson. He said come by my hotel about noon,” Gelini remembers. “I booked a rehearsal space at school and he spent the afternoon teaching me.”

Gelini then moved to New Orleans after graduation, immersing himself in its music culture. “I’d grown up going to shows where people responded to bands with a polite golf-clap,” he recalls. “In New Orleans, it was the total opposite – the audience interacted with the band the whole time; they were a huge part of the show.” From humble beginnings on a bass drum in a second line march, Gelini graduated to playing with and becoming the musical director for Monk Boudreaux, Big Chief of the Golden Eagles tribe of Mardi Gras Indian.

The Mardi Gras Indian phenomena is itself a fascinating fusion of America’s two original sins: the marginalization of the Native American and slavery. Evolving from runaway slaves who were welcomed and assimilated into local Indian tribes, the Mardi Gras Indian was so named for tribal members who would create elaborate ceremonial suits and headdresses made of velvet and thousands of beads to wear as bright disguises to march in Mardi Gras parades (“hiding in plain sight”).

Their music, Gelini recognized, was especially enigmatic and, frankly, important. “It’s some of the oldest American folk music, especially in the call-and-response style,” he offers, “it just seemed natural to put it to funk music, following in the footsteps of groups like the Wild Magnolias and the Wild Tchoupitoulas in the mid 20th century.” By 2014, Cha Wa (Mardi Gras Indian slang for “here we come” in many contexts) had become a proper band centered around its Mardi Gras Indians. Three albums followed: Funk n Feathers in 2016, Spyboy in 2018 and My People in 2021. The latter two were Grammynominated for Best Regional Roots Album. The band also delivered a rapturous NPR Tiny Desk performance during the pandemic at Preservation Hall in full Mardi Gras Indian regalia, wearing their hand-woven technicolor suits.

Rise Up is the fourth album by the funk collective Cha Wa. The title refers to the progression of the band from acclaimed regional performers to an accomplished band coming into its own to make its most mature and accessible album yet.

Featuring an ensemble of singers – including guest appearances by The Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas, John Boutté (HBO’s Treme) and guest keyboards by Roger Joseph Manning (Beck, Jay-Z) – as well as stellar songwriting led by founding musical director and drummer Joe Gelini, the album is a tour de force of original R&B funk anthems poised to export Cha Wa to the world’s stage.

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Produced, mixed and mastered by Dave Trumfio (Wilco, Jesus and Mary Chain, My Morning Jacket, Built to Spill, etc.), Rise Up’s crowning achievement is how compellingly its 11 tracks draw on Cha Wa’s foundation as New Orleans musical royalty, especially the band’s enigmatic Mardi Gras Indian frontman, “Spyboy” Irving “Honey” Banister Jr. of the Golden Sioux Tribe. Through its range of original songs, the album elevates its singers to frontmen and its musicians to compelling songwriters in their own right.

“Revival” is the stunning ballad at the heart of the album, with John Boutté (HBO’s Treme) leading a stirring call-and-response that mixes an inner-city blues with the charisma worthy of Seal. It’s a song, Derosier explains, inspired by tragedy but driven by hope. “I taught a student in an afterschool program that passed away, and a lot of other musicians had lost loved ones,” he says. “Really the song’s about the hustle taking its toll and the grind that’s always there, but we keep coming together as a community to keep going.”

Trumfio’s own introduction to the band came during Mardi Gras 2023, where the producer, a newcomer to Cha Wa’s rich cultural background, promptly joined the members on their renowned annual march as a part of the holiday’s festivities. “What struck me was the potential for the traditional chants they were doing to be turned into anthems,” he recalls. Trumfio says he and the band took inspiration from Paul Simon’s Graceland and the ensemble of Buena Vista Social Club to record an album that honored its roots but also created a broader platform for the band and its members, many of them already Crescent City icons, to tell their stories, musically and culturally, to the rest of the world.

Tracks like “Hear the Sound” and “Heavy is the Head” give Spyboy Honey his own, mood-heavy throne from which to share his most unique of histories. As the melodic chorus says, “Big Chief coming from way uptown / Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”

As such, Rise Up features a wide array of Cha Wa members. On any given track, horn players Cameron Clark and Tajh Derosier, female back-up singers led by Jay Sutton and sisters Whitney and Jessica Mixon, as well as the heart and soul of Cha Wa, Mardi Gras Indian royalty “Spyboy Honey” Banister, trade poignant verses over horn and hook-driven arrangements. With the added melodies of keyboardist Rik Fletcher and lead guitarist T.J. Nathan, the result is an album that Trumfio says, plays like a mixtape of the very best elements of Mardi Gras Indian Funk in these incredible pop songs.

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“The song is literally about how heavy my headdress is, but it’s also about everything I’ve had to go through and the responsibility I have to our culture when I wear it,” Honey says. Derosier says the arrangement of the track reflects its gravity. “We made it more spacious with vibraphone, so it’s got this sort of mystical mood, like, ‘The King is about to speak.’”

From the album’s opening piano roll, the album’s title track is a stomp-and-clap, take-you-to-church introduction to the “hiding in plain sight” Mardi Gras Indian phenomena – and also a testament to Cha Wa’s and New Orleans’ perseverance. As “Spyboy Honey” Banister, son of famed New Orleans’ guitarist Irving Banister (James Brown, etc.), proclaims, “We’re the last pure culture in New Orleans, but this is the first time we’re telling our story, how we paid our dues, talking about what we go through, as people and a community, how we keep going. The lyric, ‘Today we shout our truth out loud / It should be every day’ – that’s us saying, it’s not just us in New Orleans on Mardi Gras. Anyone, anywhere can relate to it. It’s universal.”

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Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy and The Celtic All Stars Sun, Mar 1 / 7 PM / Campbell Hall Running time: approx. 90 minutes, including intermission

Natalie MacMaster, fiddle Donnell Leahy, fiddle The Celtic All Stars Karen Matheson, vocals Enda Scahill, banjo Ross Ainslie, bagpipe Mary Frances, fiddle and piano

Natalie MacMaster Natalie MacMaster is one of Canada’s most celebrated and charismatic performers, renowned for her fiery, virtuosic command of the Cape Breton fiddle. Born in Troy, Nova Scotia, in 1972, MacMaster was immersed in the rich Celtic musical tradition of Cape Breton Island, the homeland of her impressive musical lineage, which includes her late uncle, the legendary fiddler Buddy MacMaster. She began playing the fiddle at age nine and is also an accomplished step-dancer, a skill she frequently incorporates into her dynamic live performances.

MacMaster’s career took off with her first independent album at age 16, and her subsequent work has earned her international acclaim, multiple Juno Awards for Best Instrumental Album, a Grammy nomination, and numerous “Artist of the Year” honors. Her signature style

is deeply rooted in the Scottish-influenced traditional music of Cape Breton, which she masterfully blends with contemporary elements like American bluegrass, jazz, Latin and rock, constantly expanding the boundaries of the genre.

Over her multi-decade career, MacMaster has performed on distinguished stages around the globe and collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including The Chieftains, Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Santana. For her contribution to Canadian culture, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2006, followed by her induction into the Order of Nova Scotia in 2020. Since marrying fellow fiddler Donnell Leahy in 2002, they have become one of Celtic music’s most captivating duos, often touring and recording together while raising their seven children.

Donnell Leahy Donnell Leahy has cemented his reputation as one of the world’s finest fiddlers and a peerless instrumentalist capable of synthesizing traditional influences with contemporary Celtic/folk sensibilities. Hailing from Lakefield, Ontario, and rooted in Irish and Cape Breton heritage, Leahy began playing the fiddle at the age of three and has spent his life mastering the instrument, which he has described as an “extension of his body.” He is known for his aggressive, quick-moving, and highenergy playing style.

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For over 15 years, Leahy served as the principal fiddler and musical director for his family band, Leahy, which included eight of his eleven siblings.

Under his leadership, the group achieved significant success, including three Juno Awards and the honor of opening for Shania Twain on her world tour. Donnell also contributed the distinct fiddle line to Twain’s hit “Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You).” The Leahy family’s musical journey was also the subject of an Academy Award-winning short film, Leahy: Music Most of All. Since marrying Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster in 2002, Leahy has collaborated extensively with his wife, forming Canada’s “reigning couple of Celtic music.” As a duo, they combine their magnificent individual talents for an unforgettable experience, recording acclaimed albums, co-hosting the Leahy Music Camp, and touring the world, sometimes featuring their seven children on stage. Leahy’s self-taught mastery and unique Canadian style blend seamlessly with MacMaster’s Cape Breton roots, keeping both the tradition and the art of the fiddle vibrant and alive for a global audience.

U.S. Premiere of New David Lang Commission

Danish String Quartet and Danish National Girls’ Choir Charlotte Rowan, Conductor

The Celtic All Stars The ensemble features several renowned Celtic artists from various traditions, including Scottish vocalist Karen Matheson (lead singer of Capercaillie); Ireland’s four-time All-Ireland Champion banjoist Enda Scahill (known for the band We Banjo 3); and Scottish piper and multiinstrumentalist Ross Ainslie. The lineup also includes the next generation of the headliners’ musical legacy, with their daughter, Mary Frances, performing on fiddle and piano. This collective band provides an international exploration of Celtic music spanning Canadian, Scottish and Irish influences.

Special Thanks

“They could be grounded in their tone or mystical. They allowed time to stand still, and they could assume the pose of excitingly aggressive rockers. They did it all.”

– Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times on DSQ

Fri, Apr 10 / 7 PM / Granada Theatre Event Sponsor: Anonmyous

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@artsandlectures

Ballet Festival: Jerome Robbins Curated by Tiler Peck A Joyce Theater Production Tue, Mar 3 & Wed, Mar 4 / 7:30 PM / Granada Theatre

photo: Matthew Karas

Running time: approx. 90 minutes, including intermission

Lead Sponsor: Jody & John Arnhold Dance Series Sponsors: Margo Cohen-Feinberg, Barbara Stupay, Sheila Wald, and Anonymous Additional support from the A&L Fund for the Commission of New Works

Choreography: Jerome Robbins

Program: Tue, Mar 3

Curator: Tiler Peck, Prima Ballerina

Four Bagatelles Other Dances

Lighting Designers: Jennifer Tipton, Ronald Bates Artistic Coordinator to The Robbins Trust: Jean-Pierre Frohlich Repetiteurs: Jean-Pierre Frohlich, Isabelle Guerin, Rebecca Krohn, Christine Redpath Production Stage Manager: Jacqueline Reid Lighting Supervisor: Perry Silvey Wardrobe Supervisor: Amy Page The Joyce’s Ballet Festival: Jerome Robbins is a Joyce Theater Production generously supported by the Jerome Robbins Foundation. Lead support provided by the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation.

Key support for Joyce Theater Dance Residency Program provided by The New York State and Robbins Fund for New Work.

- Intermission -

In the Night

Program: Wed, Mar 4 Rondo A Suite of Dances Other Dances - Intermission -

Dances at a Gathering See each night’s program insert for detailed program information.

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Jerome Robbins, Choreographer

Tiler Peck, Curator and Prima Ballerina

Jerome Robbins (1937-1998) is world renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets as well as his work as a choreographer and director in theater, movies and television. Although he began as a modern dancer, his start on Broadway was as a chorus dancer before joining the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre in 1939, where he went on to dance principal roles in the works of Fokine, Tudor, Massine, Balanchine, Lichine and de Mille. His first ballet, Fancy Free (1944) for ABT, still in many repertories, celebrated its 50th birthday on 1994.

While embarking on his career in the theater, Robbins simultaneously created ballets for New York City Ballet, which he joined in 1949, and became an Associate Artistic Director with George Balanchine.

Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet since 2009, Tiler Peck stands among America’s most versatile and celebrated ballerinas. Her artistic journey spans from Broadway – debuting at age 11 in The Music Man and later starring in the Tony-nominated On The Town – to creating the title role in Susan Stroman’s Little Dancer, which recently had a sold out one-night only performance at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the U.K.

Robbins has directed for television and film as well, with his co-direction and choreography of West Side Story winning him two Academy Awards. After his Broadway triumph with Fiddler On the Roof in 1964, Robbins continued creating ballets for New York City Ballet. He shared the position of Ballet-Master-in-Chief with Peter Martins until 1989. He has created more than 60 ballets, including Afternoon of a Faun (1953), The Concert (1956), Les Noces (1965), Dances At a Gathering (1969), In the Night (1970), In G Major (1975), Other Dances (1976), Glass Pieces (1983) and Ives, Songs (1989), which are in the repertories of the New York City Ballet, the Ballet de l’Opéra de Paris and major dance companies throughout the world. His most recent ballets include A Suite of Dances with Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995) and Brandenburg (1996) all of which premiered at New York City Ballet.

In addition to his two Academy Awards, Robbins’ awards and citations include four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, an Emmy Award, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

Robbins is a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors Recipient, was awarded the Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, is an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and was awarded a National Medal of Arts, as well as the Governor’s Arts Awards by the New York State Council on the Arts. Some of his Broadway shows include On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, and Fiddler on the Roof. In 1989, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director.

He was most recently awarded the French Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur.

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Since her 2018 choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival, Peck has created works for major ballet companies including Boston Ballet, Northern Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and BalletX. Most recently, she choreographed her first ballet for New York City Ballet, Concerto for Two Pianos, which was met with rave reviews and an encore performance at their annual gala. Tiler has been asked to choreograph a second work for New York City Ballet, premiering spring of 2026. Her choreography extends to television (Tiny Pretty Things, Ray Donovan) and film (John Wick 3).

Peck’s curatorial vision was showcased as she directed the inaugural Artists at the Center for New York City Center, which evolved into the acclaimed Turn it Out with Tiler Peck & Friends earning an Oliver Award nomination and 2 National U.K. Dance Awards. She has collaborated with musical luminaries Hilary Hahn, Yuja Wang and more through the New York Philharmonic’s 4-part Nightcap series and made television history as the first ballerina to guest star on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Currently, she appears in Amazon Prime’s series Étoile.

Her documentary presence includes Hulu’s Ballet Now, chronicling her groundbreaking role as the first woman to curate The Los Angeles Music Center’s BalletNOW. Her achievements have earned her the Princess Grace Statue Award, The Dance Magazine Award and recognition on Forbes’ 30 Under 30.

During the pandemic, Peck launched #TurnItOutWithTiler, free Instagram ballet classes that united dancers worldwide. Beyond performance, she created the Love, Tiler collection for dancewear brand Só Dança and authored children’s books, including the Katarina Ballerina series with XO Ballerina Big Sis just releasing under Penguin Random House in October 2025.

Special Thanks

@artsandlectures

Caitlin Dickerson

Deported: The Price of Our Prosperity

photo: Earl Wilson

Thu, Mar 5 / 7:30 PM / Campbell Hall

Justice for All Lead Sponsors: Marcy Carsey, Eva & Yoel* Haller, Dick Wolf, and Zegar Family Foundation

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Peabody Award and Edward R. Murrow Award, Caitlin Dickerson engages audiences on the power of journalism, telling stories of remarkable resilience and hope from around the world.

From Ukraine to Romania to Guatemala, Dickerson has spent years covering refugees and other humanitarian crises for some of the nation’s foremost news outlets. She dispels common myths about the forcibly displaced and breaks down the seemingly complex forces that influence their life trajectories – from policy to rhetoric and public sentiment.

Dickerson conveys the human stories behind the growing global refugee crisis. Her audiences walk away with a deeper understanding of how war and other forms of insecurity that expel people from their homes exacerbate pre-existing inequality.

The Atlantic staff writer has broken stories that have led policies to be reversed and lives to change. For a 2024 cover story, she crossed one of the most dangerous migration routes in the world, the Darién Gap, to portray what people were willing to risk to reach safety and stability. She won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for her September 2022 cover story, We Need to Take Away Children.

Previously, Dickerson won Peabody and Edward R. Murrow awards for her investigative reporting for NPR. As a reporter for The New York Times, she wrote frequent front page stories revealing government policies and practices that put vulnerable communities at further risk.

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Chucho Valdés & Arturo Sandoval Legacy Quintet Sat, Mar 7 / 7:30 PM / Campbell Hall

photo: Martin Espino and Innercat

Running time: approx. 90 minutes, no intermission

Jazz Series Lead Sponsor: Manitou Fund

Chucho Valdés Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Chucho Valdés is one of the most influential figures in modern Afro-Cuban jazz and was recently named a 2025 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Master.

As noted in the NEA announcement, the distinction celebrates “a select number of living legends who have made exceptional contributions to the advancement of jazz.” The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists.

The recognition crowns a 60-year career that includes seven Grammy and six Latin Grammy Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and being inducted into the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Meanwhile, Valdés, 83, keeps creating, still curious and restless. In September 2024, he presented his brilliant ensemble, the Royal Quartet, featuring three generations of top Cuban musicians including Horacio “El Negro” Hernández on drums, José A. Gola on bass and Roberto Jr. Vizcaíno on percussion. The release of Cuba & Beyond (Innercat Music Group), which earned a Grammy nomination, marked the 60-year anniversary of Valdés’s recording debut, Jazz Nocturno (Areito, 1964).

Cuba & Beyond was a superb bookend for a year in which Valdés led Chucho Valdés: Irakere 50, a celebration of one of his most important achievements: Irakere,

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a band he co-founded and led for more than three decades. With its bold fusion of Afro-Cuban ritual music, Cuban popular styles, jazz, rock and classical music, Irakere opened unexpected possibilities to the sound of Latin jazz.

The historic Irakere 50 concert at the Arsht Center in Miami was a highlight of the tour as it reunited Valdés with two Irakere mainstays that went on to become stars in their own right: reedman and composer Paquito D’Rivera and trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist and composer Arturo Sandoval.

Born in a family of musicians in Quivicán, Havana province, Cuba, on October 9, 1941, Dionisio Jesús “Chucho” Valdés Rodríguez distilled elements of the AfroCuban music tradition, jazz, classical music and rock into an organic, deeply personal style.

His first teacher was his father, the pianist, composer and bandleader Ramón “Bebo” Valdés. At the age of three, Valdés was already playing on the piano with two hands and in any key, following the melodies he heard on the radio. Two years later, he began taking lessons on piano, theory and solfege. He continued his formal musical education at the Conservatorio Municipal de Música de la Habana, from which he graduated at age 14. A year later, Valdés formed his first jazz trio. In 1959, he debuted professionally with the band Sabor de Cuba, a large ensemble directed by his father.

@artsandlectures

Valdés made his early mark as the co-founder, pianist and leading composer and arranger of another landmark ensemble in modern Cuban music: the small big band Irakere (1973-2005). Irakere’s self-titled debut recording in the United States won a Grammy as Best Latin Recording in 1979.

While he remained with Irakere until 2005, Valdés launched a parallel career in 1998 as a solo performer and smallgroup leader. It marked the beginning of an enormously fruitful period highlighted by six albums on the Blue Note label, including the Grammy-winning Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 2000). A highlight of this period is Juntos Para Siempre (Calle 54, 2007), the duet recording with his father, Bebo. Juntos Para Siempre, which won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album. It was a heartfelt coda to a story of love and deep mutual admiration between father and son.

Arturo Sandoval A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949 – just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz. Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of 12, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist and composer.

Sandoval has been awarded 10 Grammy Awards personally and nominated 19 times; he has also received 6 Billboard Awards and an Emmy Award. The latter for his composing work on the entire underscore of the HBO movie based on his life, For Love or Country, starring Andy Garcia as Sandoval.

His remarkable life story, overcoming political oppression in Cuba and finding success on the international stage, adds depth to his legacy and serves as an inspiration to many.

Sandoval was a founding member of the Grammy Awardwinning group Irakere, whose explosive mixture of jazz, classical, rock and traditional Cuban music caused a sensation throughout the entertainment world. In 1981, he left Irakere to form his own band, which garnered enthusiastic praise from critics and audiences all over the world, and continues to do so.

Sandoval is also a renowned classical musician, performing regularly with the leading symphony orchestras from around the world. Arturo has composed his own “Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra”, which can be heard on Arturo Sandoval: “The Classical Album. He later composed his 2nd Trumpet Concerto which he went on to perform around the world. Sandoval has performed with the foremost orchestras in the country as well as abroad and recorded John Williams’ Trumpet Concerto with the London Symphony Orchestra. His classical artistry has earned him the respect and admiration from the most prestigious conductors, composers and symphony orchestras worldwide.

His underscore compositions can also be heard in movies including Clint Eastwood’s most recent films The Mule starring Clint Eastwood & Bradley Cooper and Richard Jewel 1001 to 1 starring Beau Bridges, At Middleton starring Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga; Havana and Random Heart on Dave Grusin’s soundtrack; on the Mambo Kings soundtrack with his Grammy-nominated composition “Mambo Caliente”; The Perez Family; 61; Mr. Wrong; the documentary Oscar and The Family Fuentes. He also was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to compose the music for Debbi Allen’s ballet productions Pepito’s Story and Soul Possessed as well as Oman O Men and The Chocolate Hot Nutcracker.

Sandoval reaches beyond the scope of mere effort. His struggles while in Cuba and since his defection have given him more energy and strength, urging him to accomplish and surpass his childhood dreams. Filled with a virtuoso capability, he desires nothing more than to share his gift with others who feel the same intense adoration for music as he does. One frequently speaks of Sandoval’s virtuoso technical ability or his specialty in high notes, but those who have seen him on the piano, lyrically improvising a ballad or have had the opportunity to enjoy the diversity of his jazz, Latin jazz or classical compositions know that Sandoval is a prominent musician, one of the most brilliant, multifaceted and renowned artists of our time.

Special Thanks

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A

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Santa Barbara’s independent bookstore with over 150,000 titles.

Scan the QR code to visit us online and order books (we ship!), view Staff Picks, and see upcoming store events.

WWW.CHAUCERSBOOKS.COM 3321 STATE STREET, LORETO PLAZA 805-682-6787

Tue, Feb 24 & Wed, Feb 25 7 PM (note earlier start time) / Arlington Theatre Major Local Sponsor: Justin Brooks Fisher Foundation (805) 893-3535 | www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu Arlington event tickets can also be purchased from

Banff National Park, photo by Paul Zizka

Celebrating 34 Years in Santa Barbara Two Nights! Two Programs!

Coming in Spring 2026 April 7 Ibram X. Kendi, Chain of Ideas 10 Danish String Quartet

and Danish National Girls’ Choir 12 Emmet Cohen Quintet Miles and Coltrane at 100 14 Masha Gessen Politics of the Past, Politics of the Future 16 Sierra Hull 21 Bill McKibben Here Comes the Sun 23 Yuja Wang & Mahler Chamber Orchestra 29 An Evening with Martín Espada 30 Lucía

May 2 Kronos Quartet 6 Ed Yong

The Amazing Nature of Animal Senses 7 Michelle Zauner - UCSB Reads Author Event Crying in H Mart 12 A.I.M by Kyle Abraham 13 Terry Tempest Williams in Conversation with Pico Iyer 14 Isidore String Quartet with Sterling Elliott, cello 17 Philip Glass and The Poets Sierra Hull, Apr 16

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