Fingerstyle guitar master Alex de Grassi is the founder of the Mendocino Summer Guitar Workshop which runs concurrently with the Mendocino Music Festival. Grammy Award-winning classical guitarist, composer and guest workshop teacher Andrew York joins him again this year in a concert program featuring their solo and duo compositions and arrangements that blend the sonorities ...
Featured wines at this performance. With a reputation as one of the world’s best jazz and blues vocalists, Kim Nalley is back to join the big band musicians in a tribute to the incomparable Aretha Franklin. She has pipes to burn, a 3½ octave range that can go from operatic to gritty blues on a ...
Brahms' momentous meeting with Clara and Robert Schumann when he was only 20 forged a bond of love and familial connection that lasted throughout Brahms’ and Clara’s lifetimes. Susan’s lecture will be supplemented with images and recorded examples. The two chamber concerts divide Brahms’ life roughly in half: before and after 1878, when he grew ...
Featured wines at this performanceHailing from rural Texas, Foster is a singer-songwriter of blues and folk music. Mixing a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk and soul, she is often compared to Bonnie Raitt. Drawing influence from legendary acts like Mavis Staples and Aretha Franklin, Foster has developed ...
Featured wines at this event 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, and an intimate musical performance by TBA. The Ledford House Restaurant is located seven miles South of Mendocino on Highway One in Albion, California. Its bluff ...
Susan Waterfall will play the Four Ballades Op. 10; Miles Graber, Larry Lowe, and Jay Zhong will essay the Horn Trio in E-flat Major Op. 40; and Carolyn Steinbuck, Jay Zhong, Tammie Dyer, Susan Freier, and Stephen Harrison will interpret the F minor Piano Quintet Op. 34. BUY TICKETS
Featured wines at this performance. A musical force equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis and the guitar slinging skills of Stevie Ray, Carolyn Wonderland reaches into the depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit of a poet. She hits the stage with unmatched presence, a true legend in her time. Carolyn Wonderland ...
The Odd Dogs’ sound is a melting pot of dynamic rock and world music, expressed through jazz and improvisational sensibilities. The band draws from a rich pallet of musical influences: Rush, Tool, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Joe Zawinul, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, and Thelonious Monk. Each an accomplished musician in his own right, the members ...
Festival Orchestra with pianist Spencer Myer Featured wines at this performance.The concert will open with Mendelssohn’s evocative concert overture, The Hebrides; long-time crowd favorite Spencer Myer will bring his warm and intelligent interpretation of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54; and Brahms’ last symphony, No. 4 in E minor Op. 98 will wrap ...
Susan Waterfall and Eric Kritz will play the Clarinet Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 120; Christopher Nomura and Daniel Lockert will sing Vier Ernste Gesänge; and Jay Zhong, Tammie Dyer, Susan Freier, Stephen Harrison, and Danny Sheu will play the String Quintet No. 2 in G Major Op. 111, “Prater.” BUY TICKETS
Featured wines at this event Grammy-award winner Peter Rowan is a singer-songwriter who started his career as a Blue Grass Boy in 1964. By Bill Monroe's own admission, Peter sounded a lot like him and when the two harmonized, they were said to have reached "heavenly heights.” The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band is made up ...
The annual recital by the enormously talented young string players from the festival’s Emerging Artists Program is anticipated by all who love chamber music. BUY TICKETS
Featured wines at this performanceSweet Honey is a well-known Grammy Award-winning (and many times nominated) a cappella ensemble that expresses their history as African American women through song, dance, and sign language. Rooted in the hymns, gospel music, and spirituals, the troupe seeks to preserve and extend the traditions of African American vocal music while ...
Bay Area vocal band Business Casual explores a wide range of genres including pop, jazz, soul, folk and swing to produce fresh a cappella versions of vintage chart toppers, today's top 40 hits, and award-winning original songs. In 2018, Business Casual was named National Champion at the Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival and their first ...
Featured wines at this performance.Festival Orchestra and Chorus The season finale will feature Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major; Brahms’ orchestrally-accompanied choral work, Schicksalslied Op. 54; and Beethoven’s great choral Symphony No. 9 in D minor Op. 125, with soloists Shawnette Sulker, Betany Coffland, Christòpheren Nomura, and Alex Boyer. Ticket price includes pre-concert ...
Join the Festival Chamber Chorale in a concert featuring the music of some of America’s greatest composers. Included in the concert are the haunting melodies of Samuel Barber, the edgy harmonies of Norman Dello Joio, choral super-star Eric Whitacre, as well as glimpses into the Mendocino Music Festival’s final concert with foot-stomping selections by Aaron Copland. The featured work will be Randall Thompson's great choral cycle Frostiana. Spend the afternoon basking in our rich American musical heritage.
Featured wines at this event. A perfect pairing: scrumptious food from MacCallum House’s celebrated chef Alan Kantor and elegant wines from Graziano. An all-inclusive bargain at $125, the evening includes hors d'oeuvres and wine at 6:00, followed by dinner with wine at 7:00. This event has been cancelled. If you have already reserved, you will ...
Opening Night, on July 11: With some scenic aerial footage of the tent site and fun discussions with Festival Orchestra musicians and the makers and shakers of the July season, get yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and feel again the heartening spirit of music in Mendocino. 7:30 PM, at your house. FREE TICKET ...
On July 16, spend some time with Lucia Micarelli. Audience members begged us to bring her back after her stunning concert in 2018. She is an unbelievably talented, eclectic musician whose creativity seems almost limitless. A singer, a violinist, an explorer of styles, her musical life will fascinate you. Her fresh youthfulness spills over into ...
Saturday, July 18 is Big Band night! Allan Pollack, Kim Nalley, and the Festival Big Band rhythm section will all get together to talk about Jazz, pop, and the lives that all the players have led. They have played with some famous musicians, and stories of their experiences will be something you won’t want to ...
Saturday, July 25, is Closing Night. This night has traditionally featured a large choral work, so we have asked Jenny Matteucci and Daniel Lockert to join us to talk about a singer’s life as well as what is entailed in preparing the chorus for performance. Conductor Mary Chun and Stage Director Elly Lichtenstein will also ...
Pianist Spencer Myer has wowed, inspired and touched Festival audiences many times, and is a warm-hearted and engaging conversationalist. Live from his living room in New York, he’ll give you a glimpse into his insights and process, including the nitty-gritty of practice, and he’ll be glad to answer any questions you might have. You’ll see ...
Another of Susan Waterfall’s fascinating virtual presentations, this time about Kurt Weill. This gives you an opportunity to learn more before you attend the July 18 Weill concert in Cotton Auditorium. What happens when an impeccably trained young German composer decides he wants a new audience? When a nice Jewish boy starts hanging out with ...
A smash hit at past Festivals, four-time Grammy-nominated Pine Leaf Boys began as a group of friends getting kicked off the college campus for busking in Lafayette and have made a name for presenting their own inimitable brand of music. Hailing from southwest Louisiana, they are known for their wild shows, thoughtful arrangements and for ...
In the first classical concert, Maestro Allan Pollack will lead the string orchestra in Bach’s richly textured Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major, his clever and elegant homage to Mozart; and Samuel Barber’s poignant Adagio for Strings, “one of the most universally recognizable pieces of American concert music,” which Barber ...
One of America's most eclectic immigrant composers is the incomparable Kurt Weill, with an array of music ranging from classical to Broadway. Join the Mattlock Duo (Jenny Matteucci and Daniel Lockert) and the Festival Chorale as they explore the breadth of Weill’s works, tracing his journey from the Weimar Republic, through his Paris years, and ...
Grammy-nominated guitarist Diego Figueiredo is a virtuoso with an infectious, joyful feeling that will leave you amazed. A brilliant musician who keeps the tradition of the true essence of Brazilian music, and at the same time can be extremely modern and innovative, he is an extraordinary star among the world's greatest jazz guitarists. Figueiredo’s superb ...
An enthusiast of the "Progressive" or "Art Rock" genre, and a performer in a couple of "Prog Rock" bands in the late 70s, Stephen Prutsman has been drawn to create solo piano (and fiendishly difficult) transcriptions of several Prog classics. For this short recital he's chosen "Sound Chaser" by YES and GENESIS' "Supper’s Ready." These ...
Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the San Francisco-based Alexander String Quartet is widely admired for its interpretations of Mozart, Beethoven, and Shostakovich. The group will play the innovative Haydn String Quartet in C Major, Ravel’s lyrical and virtuosic String Quartet in F, and Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor. The seventh of ...
The Hattie & Joe Craven Show is a duo project celebrating the value of music making and artful living within, and shared by, families. The presentation features a show curated by a father and his daughter, awakening each other to new possibilities as they each bring their influences to a multi-generational table. The result, is ...
The lively “Hoe-down” from Aaron Copland’s Rodeo will get this show on the road. Maestro Pollack will then lead the Festival String Orchestra in his own composition, Suite for My Sweets, written as a piece celebrating the Festival’s return to live music. Dvořák’s Serenade for Strings in E Major will round out the evening. One ...
Once a Leonard Cohen back-up singer, singer-songwriter Batalla launched her solo career with Cohen’s encouragement. The Grammy-nominated Batalla has recorded seven albums, written for both film and television, and toured worldwide. In this concert, expect "a mixed program of originals, Leo Cohen, Mexican ballads, maybe some Pete Seeger." Batalla’s gorgeous, rich, contralto voice adds another ...
This year’s Big Band Night will feature the great Kim Nalley, singing the most popular tunes and arrangements that she has performed over the past number of years. There will be great music, great soloing, and that good old feeling the band has been bringing to its audiences for decades. Whether playing Count Basie, Aretha ...
Join us for the virtual world premier of Susan Waterfall's Understanding Schubert—an 85-minute video biography, with art and portraits from Schubert’s era as well as 16 recorded musical excerpts, including nine lieder—wherein Waterfall explores the cultural context of Schubert’s life and music, his relationship with Romantic lyric poetry, and his position in the middle-class homes ...
Join us for the exciting premiere of Susan Waterfall’s new film The Life and Art of Claude Debussy. Immerse yourself in the composer’s world, and enhance your experience of the many Debussy offerings in this summer’s Festival: the Festival Orchestra’s Afternoon of a Faun, the Calder’s performance of the String Quartet, Spencer Myer’s Pour le Piano, and the two narrated chamber music concerts Breakfast with Chou-Chou and Sounds and Perfumes of Evening.
Maestro Allan Pollack will open the Festival with The Phoenix, his new composition that celebrates the victory of life over death and hope over despair. Yevgeny Kutik will solo in Prokofiev’s ethereal Violin Concerto No. 1. The concert will conclude with Beethoven’s rhythmic and lively Symphony No. 7.
Super-group Hills to Hollers (Barbara Higbie, Vicki Randle, Laurie Lewis) explores the rich history and intertwined roots of the African-American and white musical traditions of the American south. Vicki Randle, of Mavis Staples, “Tonight Show” and Skip the Needle fame joins Laurie Lewis, two-time bluegrass female vocalist of the year and Barbara Higbie, a Grammy-nominated, ...
Join Debussy at the breakfast table with his wife and beloved daughter, Chou-Chou, as his imagination is stirred by the toys in the nursery, the paintings on the wall, and fantasies of sunlit ancient Greece. Susan Waterfall will play the “Children’s Corner” suite, Eric Kritz will join her on the Rhapsody for Clarinet and Piano, and Daniel Lockert will team up with her on Six Épigraphes Antiques. Two sonatas will round out the petit-déjeuner: the darkly humorous Sonata for Cello and Piano, and the magical Sonata for Flute, Harp and Viola.
Bay Area vocal band Business Casual explores a wide range of genres including pop, jazz, soul, folk and swing to produce fresh a cappella versions of vintage chart toppers, today's top 40 hits, and award-winning original songs. In 2020, their album, Voices Only Volume 2, hit the airwaves and in 2021, Business Casual won a ...
Join Debussy at the breakfast table with his wife and beloved daughter, Chou-Chou, as his imagination is stirred by the toys in the nursery, the paintings on the wall, and fantasies of sunlit ancient Greece. Susan Waterfall will play the “Children’s Corner” suite, Eric Kritz will join her on the Rhapsody for Clarinet and Piano, and Daniel Lockert will team up with her on Six Épigraphes Antiques. Two sonatas will round out the petit-déjeuner: the darkly humorous Sonata for Cello and Piano, and the magical Sonata for Flute, Harp and Viola.
Bay Area vocal band Business Casual explores a wide range of genres including pop, jazz, soul, folk and swing to produce fresh a cappella versions of vintage chart toppers, today's top 40 hits, and award-winning original songs. In 2020, their album, Voices Only Volume 2, hit the airwaves and in 2021, Business Casual won a ...
The vernacular Venezuelan term, bululú, means “a gathering of people with excitement.” The San Francisco Bay Area band launched by Venezuelan-born percussionist Lali Mejia and Mexican string expert and vocalist Jose Roberto Hernandez manifests kindred cultural streams flowing together harmoniously. The nine-piece combo of veteran performers draws on folkloric styles from Venezuelan, Colombian, Chilean, Cuban ...
Audience favorite Spencer Myer returns to play Beethoven Sonata No. 27, Op. 90; Debussy’s Pour le Piano; and Chopin’s “The Four Impromptus.” Two pieces from Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite—inspired by Goya’s paintings—will complete the program: Los requeibros and El amor y la muerte. CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY
Audience favorite Spencer Myer returns to play Beethoven Sonata No. 27, Op. 90; Debussy’s Pour le Piano; and Chopin’s “The Four Impromptus.” Two pieces from Enrique Granados’ Goyescas suite—inspired by Goya’s paintings—will complete the program: Los requeibros and El amor y la muerte. CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY
The vernacular Venezuelan term, bululú, means “a gathering of people with excitement.” The San Francisco Bay Area band launched by Venezuelan-born percussionist Lali Mejia and Mexican string expert and vocalist Jose Roberto Hernandez manifests kindred cultural streams flowing together harmoniously. The nine-piece combo of veteran performers draws on folkloric styles from Venezuelan, Colombian, Chilean, Cuban ...
Created by Cara Butler and Jon and Nathan Pilatzke (longtime touring members of The Chieftains), The StepCrew combines Irish, Tap and Ottawa Valley Step dancing, music, and song. The virtuosic cast of 11 dancers and musician, made up of leading performers in today’s Celtic music scene, has appeared on the stages of Celtic festivals all ...
Debussy’s symphonic poem, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, will take us into Debussy’s charming orchestral music. The mood will change with Mozart’s first orchestral masterpiece, Symphony No. 29. Jennifer Cho and Jonah Kim will be featured in Brahms’ last work for orchestra, the Concerto for Violin and Cello.
Back for a tenth year of sensitive and eloquent playing, the Calder Quartet will perform the Beethoven Quartet Op.18, No. 3, and the Debussy G-minor Quartet for Strings. In addition to these audience favorites we’ll hear the world premiere of Paul Wiancko’s “Climb,” written especially for Calder Quartet. The players…are particularly good at producing a ...
A Chicano band from East Los Angeles, Las Cafeteras are known for their infectious live performances and music that fuses word and folk music with traditional Son Jarocho, Afro-Mexican music, and zapateado dancing. Remixing roots music and telling modern stories, Las Cafeteras create a vibrant musical fusion with a unique East LA sound. Crossing genres ...
Jackie Gage is a jazz singer whose velvety voice, relaxed piano playing, and uplifting songwriting straddle the worlds of jazz, folk, and R&B. Born in San Jose, she relocated to New York City for a few years to immerse herself in a different music scene, and has returned to the Bay Area. A pearlescent, cool-toned ...