Concert Capsules

• Big Three Palladium Orchestra                  Saturday, September 23                  World

• Ladysmith Black Mambazo                  Thursday, October 12                  World

Grammy Award-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been for decades one of the world’s best a capella groups with their South African rhythms.  Known to many as the group on Paul Simon’s Graceland Album, Ladysmith has been at the forefront of the World Music revolution that has swept the globe. 

You don't go to a Ladysmith Black Mambazo show for innovation; you go to be reminded that the human voice is the most beautiful sound on Earth.

                        --Washington Post

• Ahn Trio                    Saturday, November 4                  Classical

From Dvorak to The Doors, this piano trio of sisters has been redefining, reinvigorating, and reawakening the classical music form.  Hailed as a brilliantly distinguished ensemble gifted with extraordinary powers of communication and an exquisite blend of sound, each of the artists performs with superb technique and contagious excitement.

“This is one of the finest chamber music performances I ever hope to hear... The Ahn Trio's playing is breathtaking..."

—Audio Magazine

• Boston Brass                           Friday, December 1                  Classical

Celebrate the holidays with Boston Brass!  This five-person ensemble is setting new standards in entertainment. From exciting classical arrangements, to breathtaking vocal harmony, to burning jazz standards, Boston Brass achieves new levels in brass performance.  The ensemble's lively repartee, touched with humor and personality, bridges the vast ocean of classical formality to delight audiences with an evening of boisterous fun.

"The ensemble played with brash abandon at times, then with feathery gentleness."

— Salt Lake Tribune

• Imago Theatre’s Frogz                   Sunday, January 28                  Family

Compared to Mummenschanz and Blue Man Group, Frogz is guaranteed to bring smiles to faces.  Part acrobatics, part illusion, part theatre, part comedy, part mime, and all parts fun, Frogz will delight adults and children of all ages.  Frogs hop, alligators with bright red eyes crawl across stage, and penguins play musical chairs.  Frogz promises to be unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Theater like this opens the eyes to the possibilities of exploration in the vast realm of imagination.
                        --New York Times

• Italian Sax Quartet                  Saturday, February 10                  Classical

The Italian Saxophone Quartet is acclaimed by critics worldwide as one of the outstanding ensembles on the international music scene.  It’s obvious almost immediately that the “sound” this group produces is very special. The four varieties of saxophone — soprano, alto, tenor and baritone — blend to produce a unique fusion of sound, sensuous and rich. The unity and spectrum of sound they produce is awe-inspiring and enables them to play a wide variety of original compositions and saxophone transcriptions with exhilarating bravura.

"Think you don't like saxophone quartets? Oh my, think again! A revelation…knocked me out from the first notes"

--Monterey Peninsula Herald

• IONA Dance: Hawaiian Myths                   Sunday, February 18                  Dance

The myths of Hawaii come alive on stage in IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre’s Presentation of Hawaiian Myths and Legends.  IONA melds luxuriant costumes and staging, witty spoken text, and the power of music to create an experience that reaches beyond dance to total theatre.  Love stories between gods set to the music of Ravel, flowing feather capes, and an erupting volcano are just a few of the facets of Hawaii that you will experience with this exciting dance troupe.

“unique and inspired”
                        --Honolulu Star Bulletin

• Lunasa                       Saturday, March 17                  World

On St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish!  Celebrate the Irish spirit with this great Celtic music band. Lúnasa has become one of the most sought-after bands on the international Irish music scene. The band’s inventive arrangements and bass-driven grooves are steering Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory. On their first American visit, word-of-mouth led to sold-out shows and rave reviews.

"This is the hottest Irish acoustic group on the planet."
            --Irish Voice

• Ball in the House                         Saturday, April 14                  Family

Ball In The House is a band without instruments – just five guys, five mouths and an a cappella orchestra of music. Their performances are dynamic showcases of lush harmonies and amazing percussive textures. Ball In The House is a tour de force of vocal sound that must be heard and seen to be believed. They have appeared with such performers as Smokey Robinson, Jessica Simpson, and Kenny Loggins.  This five-man, pop/R&B "mouth band" is on its way to becoming one of the best-known and most-loved acts in the a cappella community today.

"Ball in the House has everything you would expect to find in a successful pop/rock band....the one thing it doesn't have is instruments."
--Boston Globe

• David Sedaris                        Tuesday, May 1                  Humor

You’ve heard his commentaries on NPR programs like Morning Edition and This American Life.  You’ve read his pieces in the New Yorker and GQ.  Me Talk Pretty One Day and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim have made you laugh out loud.  Now you’ll get to see this American treasure of humor in person.

Compared to Twain and Hawthorne, David Sedaris has become one of the best-loved humorists of our time, writing with perfect pitch about the ludicrousness of our age.

--The New Yorker