Lesher Center Presents: Sarah McKenzie

Sarah McKenzie

Table of Contents Welcome About the Artist Lesher Center Programs Support Lesher Center

Program Details Approx 90 minutes with no intermission

Welcome Join us for a year of entertainment, joy, and inspiring artistic voices!

Building upon your ongoing support, we welcome you to the 23/24 season from Lesher Center Presents, including the Headliners Series, Center Repertory Company productions, and Bedford Gallery exhibitions. You’ll find a diverse array of genres, artists, and themes at your home for incredible, innovative arts experiences.

We look forward to seeing you this year – you won’t want to miss what you’ll find at the Lesher Center!

Peggy + Carolyn Peggy White Executive Director, Diablo Regional Arts Association Carolyn Jackson General Manager, Lesher Center for the Arts

Digital Programs Beginning in 2024, Lesher Center’s Headliners Series adopted the use of digital programs meant to be viewed on mobile devices. By cutting our paper use and eliminating substantial printing costs we are sustaining our mission to elevate the arts in the greater Contra Costa region.

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Sarah McKenzie

Presented By

Music is about evoking emotions and is meant to touch people.

Sarah McKenzie grew up in Australia, taking classical piano lessons from the age of five. A teacher introduced her to rock, the blues, and boogiewoogie when she was nine. “By the age of 15 I heard Oscar Peterson’s Night Train record and that was the turning point for me. It was such happy music that I knew that I wanted to do that with my life.” She also loved Gene Harris and Ahmad Jamal early on as she developed into a very skilled jazz pianist and a highly appealing singer. For a fiveyear period she worked 5-7 nights a week playing in clubs, hotels and at weddings, building up her repertoire and her individual musical style.

Sarah was inspired as a pianist-singer

by Shirley Horn, Nat King Cole, Harry Connick Jr. and Blossom Dearie.

“They all tell stories through their singing and listeners believe it due to their sincerity. They have inspired me to be most concerned with telling the story of the song and reaching listeners. Music is about evoking emotions and is meant to touch people.”

McKenzie was formerly trained at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and concluded with a Bachelor of Music. She won the Generations in Jazz Vocal scholarship, an Aria (Australian Grammy) and a Bell Award in Australia.

She first came to America in 2012 when she was awarded a full scholarship to Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA. She signed

with the Impulse! label, went on tours worldwide, and realized one of her dreams by playing at the Montreux Jazz Festival. She spent periods living and working in Paris and London, and she recorded five well-received albums: Don’t Tempt Me, Close Your Eyes, We Could Be Lovers, Paris In The Rain, and Secrets Of My Heart.

The release of ‘Without You’ will certainly add to Sarah McKenzie’s popularity and reputation as a creative jazz pianist and singer.

Rather than simply recording a typical Brazilian heritage album, she reinvigorates the timeless music with fresh ideas and subtle surprises, adding to its legacy. Now based in Los Angeles but still traveling the world, Sarah McKenzie looks towards the future with enthusiasm. “I’ve grown to love touring and having

new adventures making music. My love of Oscar Peterson, Michel Legrand, and Antonio Carlos Jobim has consistently inspired me to create and write new music, to perform classic songs with meanings that are important to listeners and to play with great feeling. The music is my mission.”

Lesher Center Resident Programs

Our nonprofit partner, DRAA, invests in the power of the arts to transform lives and creates avenues for everyone to experience the arts.

HEADLINERS SERIES Up Next Anat Cohen Tentet February 29 Featuring a vibrant mix of ace New York players drawing from a diverse range of musical inspirations..

Buy Tickets College Notes A Cappella March 8 - 9 Award winning a cappella groups from top universities from across the country perform.

Buy Tickets Dance Theater of Harlem April 20 - 21 A world-renowned multi-ethnic company with a forwardthinking repertoire.

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Fiesta Cultural 2023 Street Fair, Chavalos Danzas por Nicaragua, photo by Ben Krantz Studio

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