The artists will play John Adams’ Hallelujah Junction for two pianos, named after a small truck stop on US 395 near the California–Nevada border. Pinkham’s Mechanical Transcendence for two pianos tells the story of an android that wishes to become human. Joep Franssens’ Old Songs, New Songs for two pianos will be followed by another ...
This year the big band musicians are going to find their groove with Maiya Sykes, a former back-up singer whose rendition of “Stay with Me” on The Voice in 2014 catapulted her to lead singer fame. Based in Los Angeles, Sykes is a classically trained musician who graduated from Yale and studied with Betty Carter ...
Hailed as “imaginative, skillful creators” by the New York Times, the Calder Quartet captivates audiences with its explorations of a broad repertoire, always striving to fulfill the composer’s vision in their performances. The group’s distinctive artistry is exemplified by the musical curiosity they bring to everything they perform. This concert will feature Ravel’s String Quartet ...
Julian Pollack, along with bassist Trey Henry and drummer Ray Brinker, will begin the evening with jazz standards beautifully and inventively performed. Tierney Sutton will join the band for the second half in a tribute to the great drummer Ralph Humphrey. A fabulous singer with a gorgeous trio—who could ask for more? Sutton is not ...
Enjoy a delightful evening of gourmet food and music at one of the area’s leading restaurants, with premium wines generously supplied by Husch Vineyards. Located seven miles south of Mendocino on the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) in Albion, California, its bluff-top location on the Albion headlands allows panoramic views of the Pacific and breathtaking sunsets.
Pianist, accordionist, composer, and educator from San Francisco, Reider brings together various streams of American music, from jazz and folk tunes to popular song and contemporary composition. He has appeared as a bandleader and soloist at major festivals and venues around the world, and his performances and original compositions have been featured on NPR, PBS ...
Susan Waterfall will play Sonatine. Silvie Jensen, mezzo-soprano, will be joined by Daniel Lockert on piano for Deux melodies hébraïques. Harpist Anna Maria Mendieta will be joined by a small group of string and woodwind players to perform the chamber piece, Introduction et Allegro. On Chansons Madécasses, Silvie Jensen, mezzo-soprano, will be joined by Mindy ...
Every year since 2012, banjo master Bill Evans brought together a stellar collection of banjo players from all over the world and joined them with an all-star California-based band to present his California Banjo Extravaganza. In 2021, Bill changed the format to a gathering of well-loved bluegrass musicians with strong California connections. These musicians have ...
Allan Pollack will open this concert by conducting his own “Scenes from the Pandemic,” inspired by sounds he heard while sheltering in place on his farm. Stephen Prutsman will play Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, the atmospheric tone poem for piano and orchestra. Before the magic has evaporated from that performance, Dvořàk’s ...
A flatpicking bluegrass guitar legend with an international reputation for innovation, taste and brilliance, Dan Crary is one of the founding fathers of the flatpicking and “newgrass” movements in Americana and Bluegrass music. He is joined by Bill Evans, one of the most celebrated virtuosos in the history of the banjo, and their soulful-singing partner ...
Currently based in Germany, American pianist Rachel Breen’s performances have been described as “truly show-stopping” (Gramophone UK), having “a beautiful piano sound and original detail.” She has enjoyed an active and successful competition career and has performed and taught masterclasses world-wide. Breen will put her own stamp on Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Nicolai Medtner’s Sonata Op. ...
This new project finds Alicia and Michael Olatuja reuniting in music. OLATUJA blends Afro-Beat, Jazz, Funk, and Soul. Praised by the New York Times as “a singer with a strong and luscious tone and an amiably regal presence on stage,” Alicia Olatuja has been captivating audiences with her exquisite vocals and artistic versatility. She first ...
The annual concert by the wonderfully talented young string players from the Festival’s Emerging Artists Program is anticipated by all who love hearing accomplished musicians interpret chamber music classics. CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY
A musical ensemble based in Charleston, South Carolina, Ranky Tanky specializes in jazz-influenced arrangements of traditional Gullah music, a culture that originated among descendants of enslaved Africans along the coast of South Carolina and nearby islands. Apart from lead vocalist Quiana Parler, four of the group's members—Quentin Baxter, Kevin Hamilton, Clay Ross, and Charlton Singleton—previously ...
The final concert will open with Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, with the Festival Chorus, and soloists Silvie Jensen, mezzo-soprano; Angela Moser, soprano, and Anders Froehlich, baritone. Fauré wrote of the 1888 work, "Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by ...
The Festival Chorale will present its first concert under the direction of Matthew Evans, including music by Praetorious, J.S. Bach, and Vaughan Williams, followed by a selection of carols, both familiar and unusual. After the concert we’ll celebrate the season and each other next door in Preston Hall, with hot cider and homemade Christmas cookies. ...
Susan Waterfall's latest film explores the cultural milieu and creative life of Gabriel Fauré (1845 –1924.) It includes art and photographs from his era and excerpts from all his major works. A Q&A will follow the screening.
Celebrate and support the Festival by enjoying a mouthwatering family-style lobster-boil dinner at the enchanting Mendocino Grove. Enjoy fine Mendocino County wines from Baxter, Bon Pari, Drew, Handley, Lichen, Scharffenberger and Toulouse. Another hot dish being served up, CZ and the Bon Vivants, will provide "infectious Cajun/Zydeco dance music." Generously sponsored by Fedele and Linda ...
Miko Marks is one of the Bay Area’s most visible country music singers, but recently her role as a Black, woman country music pioneer has gained attention. Marks, who lives in Oakland, was named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country in 2022 and recently made her third appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. The ...
The opening concert begins with a wild gallop of gauchos over the plains of Argentina in Ginastera’s Estancia. Cellist Evan Kahn is featured in two works, the dramatic Elgar Cello Concerto, which depicts hope for the future after the tragedy and loss of war, and the lovely Elégie by Fauré. Moussorgsky’s grand “Pictures at an ...
Solstice is an a cappella vocal ensemble specializing in music written for women's voices. Their music spans different genres, with an emphasis on world, pop, and jazz. The group has performed in many Bay Area and Northern California venues: Freight and Salvage, La Pena, Music on the Hill, the Berkeley Arts Center, Villa Montalvo, and ...
Mr Sun is made up of some of the most original musicians to apply themselves to the American string band genre. Legendary fiddler Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent, and is a member of the original "nuclear" generation of pickers who extended bluegrass, ...
American pianist Rachel Breen’s performances have been described as “truly show-stopping” (Gramophone UK) and having “a beautiful piano sound and original detail.” She has enjoyed an active and successful competition career and has performed and taught masterclasses around the world. In this concert Breen will perform Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Opus 126; a “Suite of Miniatures” she ...
Embark on an evening of soul-tinged jazz and fusion, with a look to the future, marbled by intricate glistenings of electronica and hip-hop. This trio, who tours throughout the year with Chris Botti as his rhythm section, features Albion native Julian Pollack on piano and synthesizers, Juilliard-trained Dan Chmielinski on bass and synthesizer, and the ...
Born and raised in Mendocino, Gwyneth Moreland has toured with her Folksy Americana tunes from coast to coast and has released five solo albums. Her songs have ranked as high as the top five on the Americana and Roots Radio Airplay charts and she was hosted on NPRs Music City Roots: Live at the Loveless ...
Susan Waterfall will accompany mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen in a selection of songs. She will be joined by Julian Waterfall Pollack for “The Dolly Suite.” Susan will play two of Fauré's most famous works for piano: the Barcarolle No 12 in E-flat Major and the Nocturne No. 6 in D-flat Major. The Sonata for Violin and ...
When virtuoso Irish playing jumps the pond and runs naked through the wide open fields of bluegrass/Americana, JigJam is born. Bluegrass and American Folk music originated from the group’s home, and now JigJam is here to take it back! Described as “The best Irish band in bluegrass,” JigJam has been hailed as “Ireland’s answer to ...
Dr. Kim Nalley has been a fixture in the San Francisco Bay Area—and here in Mendocino as well—as a quality soulful jazz and blues singer, very much in the tradition of the best vocalists of the 1940s and ‘50s. Always exciting to hear, she can go from operatic to gritty blues on a dime, with ...
Mozart’s comic masterpiece shows us what can happen when two sisters and their suitors are tested by a manipulative friend, Don Alfonso. The men accept his wager that their brides-to-be will remain faithful to them, and orchestrate a plot to test that hypothesis: they will be “called away to war,” but will in reality disguise ...
The second Fauré program will feature pianist Jeffrey LaDeur and mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich in L’hiver a cesse, an exploration of Fauré’s music for voice and piano. Jeffrey LaDeur is known for his blend of insight, spontaneity, and approachable, communicative playing. Mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich has been praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “fearless technical ...
Maiya Sykes completely and utterly wowed the audience at the 2023 Big Band concert. She’s a former back-up singer whose rendition of “Stay with Me” on The Voice in 2014 catapulted her to lead singer fame. Based in Los Angeles, Sykes is a classically trained musician who graduated from Yale and studied with Betty Carter ...
Hailed as “imaginative, skillful creators” by the New York Times, the Calder Quartet captivates audiences with its explorations of a broad repertoire, always striving to fulfill the composer’s vision in their performances. The group’s distinctive artistry is exemplified by the musical curiosity they bring to everything they perform. One of America’s most satisfying—and most enterprising—quartets" ...
With its fusion of bluegrass instrumentation and folk-rock amplification, Rose’s Pawn Shop has spent the better part of two decades perfecting a sound that’s as diverse as the band’s native Los Angeles. Their past releases offer modern day roots music shot through with electric guitar, fiddle, raw percussive stomp, and stacked vocal harmonies. It’s a ...
These extraordinary Los Angeles based musicians are the power drivers of the always thrillingly swinging Festival Big Band, and now you can hear them break out on their own. Julian “J3PO” Pollack is known for his innovative playing in jazz, fusion, hip-hop, and electronic styles of music. He has toured extensively with Marcus Miller, Chris ...
Enjoy a delightful evening of gourmet food and music at one of the area’s leading restaurants, with premium wines generously supplied by Husch Vineyards. Located seven miles south of Mendocino on the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) in Albion, California, its bluff-top location on the Albion headlands allows panoramic views of the Pacific and breathtaking sunsets.
An active performer and teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory, Robert Schwartz has recently performed at the Beijing Conservatory, the Vienna International Pianists series, in master classes at the Chautauqua Institution, and at Portland Piano International. Recent performances in the Bay Area have included Mozart and Shostakovich concertos with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and ...
A singer’s talent is complete when they can bring a crowded dive bar to a collective hush and also get one of the biggest audiences on the planet to a collective standing ovation. Stephanie Anne Johnson is that special singer. Stephanie can don a cowboy hat and sing over a slide as old timers weep. ...
Each one a solo artist of distinction, Van Raat and Pinkham join up to make beautiful music together. They will play two-piano pieces by a range of composers: Chick Corea’s “Duet for Two Pianos in Three Parts,” George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm Variations,” Vanessa Lann’s “Second Nature,” Frederic Rzewski’s “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” and William ...
Allan Pollack will conduct his own “From an Ancient Book,” written especially for the Festival Orchestra. The brilliant colors of Stravinsky’s ballet score for “The Firebird” will explode in sparkling music that brought instant success to the composer and has delighted audiences ever since. The concert concludes with perhaps the most beloved of all piano ...
Faure wrote some of his most astonishing music in his late seventies, when he was becoming increasingly deaf. Susan Waterfall will accompany mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen in Le jardin clos, Stephen Harrison, cello, and Daniel Lockert, piano, will play the Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor. The program will conclude with the Ives Quartet playing ...
In their early days, Brooklyn-based Damn Tall Buildings didn’t rehearse; they busked. Now, whether live or on record, the band still radiates the energy of a ragtag crew of music students playing bluegrass on the street. But anchoring that energy are their instrumental chops, their strong songwriting, and their varied influences that stretch beyond bluegrass, ...
The annual concert by the wonderfully talented young string players from the Festival’s Emerging Artists Program is anticipated by all who love hearing accomplished musicians interpret chamber music classics. CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a South African male choral group singing in the local styles of isicathamiya, which developed in the mines of South Africa, and mbube, rhythmic homophonic a cappella singing. They became known internationally after performing with Paul Simon on his 1986 album Graceland, and have won multiple awards, including five Grammys. Their ...
The final concert offers comfort and hope in difficult times. Mozart’s Symphony No. 40, sometimes referred to as the "Great G minor symphony" to distinguish it from No. 25, the only other symphony he wrote in a minor key. It is one of his last works, showing him at his most introspective and thoughtful. The ...
December 7 and 8 the Festival Chorale will present a joy-filled concert in the Mendocino Presbyterian Church Sanctuary under the direction of Matthew Evans. This year's musical selections include songs familiar and unusual, including some "classics" in four-part harmony. All will be sure to delight and help kick off your festive holidays. After each concert ...
Sunday, December 8, 2024, 7:00 PM
Abalone Room, Little River Inn
Kim Nalley with Pianist Kent Strand
Wines and treats (savories and sweets)
The arrival of Spring will be lauded in song with some traditional folk songs, including "The Water Is Wide," and selections by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Johann Sebastian Bach, Aaron Copland, and more. With special guest Marcia Sloane, cello. Matthew Evans, Director; Robin Knutson, piano; Marcia Sloane, cello; Claire Armstrong, four-hand piano on "The Promise of ...
The Mendocino Music Festival is, first and foremost, a community of music lovers who collaborate to produce the Festival, create the music, and enjoy the performances. Volunteers are at the heart of our production. Over two hundred people serve as door captains, ticket scanners, ushers, and concessions workers. Many more help out at fundraising events, ...
Imagine yourself... ...in a stunning seaside setting, with a small gathering of fellow opera lovers, grazing on delicacies both savory and sweet, sipping fine wines and other libations, enhanced by the 'golden hour' ambience of a mid-June North Coast evening... ...meeting Artistic Director Allan Pollack and guest conductors Francesco Lecce-Chong and Ryan Murray, and hearing Ryan, who'll conduct July's Don Pasquale, share opera ...
Susan Waterfall's biographical film on Igor Stravinsky provides an ideal prologue to the Festival's programming this year. Experience the fascinating life of the greatest composer of the 20th century, including excerpts from 25 of his works, along with compelling images and photographs. A Q&A will follow the screening.
