Tag archives: Arts & Lectures
In her new book How to Stand Up to a Dictator, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa expresses the fear that the world is “in the last two minutes of democracy” and wonders if we’re at the tipping point for democracy, or fascism. Ressa discusses the story of how democracy dies by a thousand […]
Born and raised in Bakersfield, Jimmy Cuéllar has never lived a day of his life in Mexico, but it’s safe to say that mariachi music is in his blood. Both of his parents migrated to the United States with their parents when they were kids, his father brought here in his pre-teens to work the […]
The arts and entertainment scene in Santa Barbara stays particularly fallow in the current year-spanning four-week period, as none of the major producing organizations in town are staging events between mid-December and mid-January, save for the Santa Barbara Symphony’s annual New Year’s Eve concert. The Lobero is the first downtown to spring back into action, […]
The Arlington Theatre, our town’s largest indoor venue, hosts Santa Barbara’s first-ever Mariachi holiday concert produced by a local organization, in this case UCSB Arts & Lectures. The incomparable José Hernández will lead Mariachi Sol de México in a festive musical tribute to Mexico’s Christmas traditions, offering holiday favorites in a December 7 performance that […]
Exuberance and energy were the order of the night when the 20-year-old three-time Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir sang at a concert at UCSB’s Campbell Hall, part of the popular Arts & Lectures program. The singers, long associated with late South African president Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, impressed with a variety of South African […]
At my core I’m an optimist. Not to be confused with a Pollyanna. I try to stay open to ideas and sources of inspiration and innovation that could lead us to a better place – no easy feat. Which is why I enjoyed (or more accurately, had the enriching experience of) reading Ian Bremmer’s book, […]
Come see “An Evening with Nigella Lawson” on Saturday, November 12 at 7:30 pm at the Granada Theatre, as the global food icon converses with KCRW’s Evan Kleiman about her new cookbook and the meals, people, and experiences that shaped her life. I had the chance to recently chat with Kleiman about the upcoming event […]
As an advisor to four U.S. Presidents, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, David Gergen had a front row seat to the highest levels of power and leadership in this country. As an editor for U.S. News and World Report, and a commentator on PBS and CNN, Mr. Gergen became a steady and rational voice on […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures caps off the opening week of its new season in a culturally significant and community-oriented way, hosting a Ukraine Fest in front of the Granada before Kyiv-based band DakhaBrakha takes the stage inside for its Santa Barbara debut on Thursday, October 6. The free festival, which takes place during the monthly […]
UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Hot Fun in the Summertime free film screening series presents The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the 1994 Australian road comedy that became a certified cult classic about two drag queens and a transgender woman (Terence Stamp!) journeying across the Australian Outback in an old tour bus. Showtime is […]
Hot Fun in the Summertime, UCSB Arts & Lectures’ return to its weekly series of classic movies projected onto a huge inflatable screen at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden, returns for the first time in three years. Monster hits and cult favorites are among the summer-inspired buddy and adventure films that range from […]
Cultural gridlock reigned at the Santa Barbara Club when UCSB Arts & Lectures held its new 63rd season reveal party with 150 guests. “It has all been very challenging,” said Miller McCune Executive Director Celesta Billeci. “There have been many unknown hurdles during the pandemic. But we are now standing on the other side. We […]
Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet mesmerized at the Granada when they performed for two consecutive nights as part of UCSB’s Arts & Lectures program. The magnificent company under Scottish artistic director Ashley Wheater kicked off the first night with Liam Scarlett’s “Vespertine,” originally created for the Norwegian National Ballet in 2015 and premiering with the Joffrey three […]
To UCSB’s Campbell Hall to see the talented Danish String Quartet perform part two of its four-year-old Doppelgänger Project, supported by the college’s Arts & Lectures program, as well as New York’s Carnegie Hall. The project pairs world premieres from four renowned composers with chamber music masterpieces by Schubert, including “Death and the Maiden” and […]
An energized and frenetic program provided a thoroughly entertaining evening when New York-based Ballet Hispánico performed Noche de Oro: A Celebration of 50 Years at the Granada, as part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program. The tony troupe, under artistic director Eduardo Vilaro, performed three very differing works with Arabesque from 1984, an […]
Multi Grammy winner Sir John Eliot Gardiner, founder and music director of the English Baroque Soloists, was in fine form when the 44-year-old orchestra performed at the Granada as part of CAMA’s 103rd international concert series. Playing two works from Mozart – “Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major” and “Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major” – […]
Duos continue to be de rigueur this week, as Britain’s brother-sister breakout stars Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason follow Jennifer Koh and Davóne Tines’ April 12 world-premiere presentation of Everything Rises at Campbell Hall, with a concert of their own at Campbell on Tuesday, April 19. Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason first gained renown as winner of […]
Just 48 hours later, at the same venue, it was an extraordinary performance of a very different sort when Memphis Jookin’: The Show featuring Lil Buck kicked off UCSB Arts & Lectures’ first dance performance in two years, given the pandemic. Jookin’, which derived in Memphis, Tennessee, as a sort of rivalry between freestyle-based dancers, […]
International violinist Joshua Bell was at the top of his game when he performed at the Granada, marking the glorious return of UCSB Arts & Lectures classical shows to the venerable venue, which celebrates its centenary in two years’ time. With a career spanning almost four decades, Grammy Award-winning Bell, 54, has performed with virtually […]
Transform Through Arts Theater’s annual Colors of Love dance show at Center Stage Theater returns to its usual Valentine’s Day weekend performance slot for 2022 after moving to August due to the pandemic last year, and the local collective’s approach to the concept of love has expanded in the interim. “It’s evolved into more diversity […]
