Green Music Center announces 34 performances for 2018-2019 season

The Green Music Center at Sonoma State University has announced its 2018-2019 Mastercard Performance Series, including 34 performances curated for the first time by new Executive Director Jacob Yarrow, who came on board the performing arts center last summer.

New artists booked by Yarrow include the Kronos Quartet, the Monterey Jazz Festival and contemporary Mexican band the Villalobos Brothers, Returning artists include violinist Gil Shaham, the Soweto Gospel Choir and the Afro-Mexican band Las Cafeteras. World music and dance are the predominant genre, followed by jazz and instrumental music, orchestras and ensembles, chamber music, folk music, film and theatre, holiday programming and vocal concerts.

Aligning with its mission to educate and inspire Sonoma State University and the surrounding communities, the center will offer a wide range of pre-concert lectures, residencies, workshops and master classes throughout the season.

“Bringing extraordinary performers, creative educational initiatives and partnership opportunities to Sonoma County have always been cornerstones of the Green Music Center’s vision,” Yarrow said in a press release. “We believe this new season also exemplifies our renewed promise to engage our communities with compelling artists, to investigate the ideas of our time and to create lasting imprints that linger long ?after you’ve left the performance.”

In addition to the 1,400-seat Weill Hall and the 240-seat Schroeder Hall, the venues will expand to include The Loft, a new setup in Weill Hall that spins the performers and audience around, with intimate seating on stage and in the choir loft.

To kick off the new season on Sept. 15, the Green Music Center will host Banjos & Bourbon, a benefit that highlights the hot jazz and sweet country twang of the Bumper Jacksons, a seven-piece Americana band featuring banjos, horns and pedal steel. There are two tiers of tickets: $250 for the concert and party, and $1,000 for the dinner, concert and party.

This season, the Green Music Center will be a commissioning partner of the Kronos Quartet’s “Fifty for the Future: The Kronos Learning Repertoire,” a performance, education and legacy project designed to guide young, amateur and early-career professional string quartets in honing the skills required for the performance of 21st-century repertoire. The Kronos Quartet will be in residency at the Green Music Center in May 2019, coaching student quartets in performances.

Subscription packages to the 2018-2019 season for Mastercard cardholders and 2018-’19 Green Music Center season subscribers are now on sale. The general public can subscribe starting at 10 a.m. May 22. Single tickles will go on sale in August. Call 866-955-6040 or go to gmc.sonoma.edu.

The 2018-’19 schedule:

Las Cafeteras - The Los Angeles-based band will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at Weill Hall.

Brentano String Quartet - The string quartet will perform at 3 p.m. Sept. 30 at Weill Hall.

Soweto Gospel Choir - The South African vocal ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at Weill Hall.

Julie Fowlis - The Gaelic singer, who sang the theme song to the film “Brave,” will perform at 3 p.m. Oct. 14 at Weill Hall, followed by a Scotch tasting with the band. A free screening of Disney Pixar’s “Brave” follows at 5:30 p.m. on Weill Lawn.

Manual Cinema’s “The End of TV” - An immersive visual story for stage and screen - part shadow puppetry, part cinematic techniques and part music - will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in Weill Hall.

Steven Lin - The Taiwanese-American pianist will perform at 3 p.m. Oct. 21 in Schroeder Hall.

Venice Baroque Orchestra - This Baroque ensemble will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at Weill Hall.

The Kenny Barron Quintet - NEA Jazz Master and pianist Barron will perform with his quintet at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at Weill Hall. Barron will also give a free lecture at 1 p.m. Nov. 7.

Kurbasy - Three actress-singers explore the folk traditions of the Ukraine through multimedia at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in Weill Hall.

Peter Serkin - The American pianist, who had to cancel his appearance last fall due to the wildfires, will perform at ?7:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at Weill Hall.

Joan Baez - The folk singer on her “Fare Thee Well” Tour 2018 will perform at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 in Weill Hall.

Calmus - The German vocal quintet will perform global folk songs at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 in The Loft - Weill Hall.

Navidad Mexicana with Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles - America’s first all-female mariachi ensemble brings the spirit of the holidays to Weill Hall at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8.

American Bach Soloists - The San Francisco-based vocal ensemble present Handel’s “Messiah” at 7 p.m. Dec. 15 at Weill Hall.

Dave Koz & Friends - Saxophonist Dave Koz presents “Christmas Tour 2018” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20 at Weill Hall.

Martha Redbone - American roots vocalist Martha Redbone presents “Bone Hill: The Concert” at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at Weill Hall.

Joshua Bell - American violinist Joshua Bell performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Weill Hall.

A Far Cry - High-energy, conductor-less string orchestra performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 at Weill Hall.

Wild Up - Modern music collective and chamber orchestra presents “We, The People,” a program of music celebrating civic dialogue, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 at Weill Hall.

Chieftains - The revered Irish band returns to Weill Hall at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23.

Veronica Swift with the Benny Green Trio - This rising, young jazz vocalist joins pianist Green and his trio at 3 p.m. Feb. 24 in Schroeder Hall.

Banda Magda - Greek-born singer and accordionist Magda Giannikou and her band combine South American rhythms with jazz, cinematic arranging and world “chansons” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28.

“We Shall Overcome - A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” featuring Damien Sneed - The pianist and musical director ties together repertoire from across African-American traditions at 7:30 p.m. March 2 in Weill Hall.

Rodger Guenveur Smith - The American actor and writer presents his solo performance, “Frederick Douglass Now,” at ?7 p.m. March 3 at Schroeder Hall.

Jonathan Dimmock - The American organist presents a solo recital at 3 p.m. March 24 at Schroeder Hall.

Monica Bill Barnes & Company - Contemporary American dance company presents an evening of subversive theater, Happy Hour,” at 6 and 8:30 p.m. March 28 in The Loft - Weill Hall.

Anne Akiko Meyers and Jason Vieaux - The internationally acclaimed violinist and guitarist perform adventurous repertoire together at 7:30 p.m. March 30 at Weill Hall.

Delphi Trio - Chamber music ensemble presents “Among Friends,” a program focusing on the intimacy of conversation, at 3 p.m. March 31 in Schroeder Hall.

Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour 60th Anniversary Celebration - A top roster of millennial talent, including Haitian-American singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, performs at 7:30 p.m. April 4.

Tallis Scholars - British early music ensemble dubbed “The rock stars of Renaissance vocal music” perform at 7:30 p.m. April 5 in Weill Hall.

Taikoproject - Young, emerging Taiko drummers from Los Angeles perform “Surrounding Suns” at 7:30 p.m. April 13 at Weill Hall.

Villalobos Brothers - Three, high-octane Mexican fiddlers and their band redefine their native music at 7:30 p.m. April 20 at Weill Hall.

Gil Shaham and Akira Eguchi - The acclaimed violinist performs a recital with his accompanist at 7:30 p.m. April 26.

Kronos Quartet with Mahsa Vahdat - San Francisco’s fearless quartet joined by the Persian singer performs “The Banned Countries - music from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - at 7:30 p.m. May 9 at Weill Hall.

Staff Writer Diane Peterson can be reached at 707-521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @dianepete56.