C ALENDAR OF Note to readers: This entertainment calendar is a subjective sampling of arts and other events taking place in the Santa Barbara area for the next week. It is by no means comprehensive. Be sure to read feature stories in each issue that complement the calendar. In order to be considered for inclusion in this calendar, information must be submitted no later than noon on the Wednesday eight days prior to publication date. Please send all news releases and digital artwork to slibowitz@yahoo.com)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 Assads, Again – CAMA’s Masterseries presents Sérgio & Odair Assad, the guitar-playing brothers from São Paulo, Brazil, who began playing Brazilian folk melodies and transitioned to classical guitar in their teens, training under the most prominent instructors in Brazil. Wise move. Now considered by some critics as “the best two-guitar team in existence, maybe even in history,” they’ve been noted as performing with “telepathic unity” as their career continues to grow in stature. In a special Valentine’s Day return to the Lobero, the Assads will play works by Giuliani, Albéniz, Piazzolla, Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos, Jobim, Gismonti, and Sérgio Assad. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. COST: $45-$55 INFO: (805) 9630761 or www.lobero.com SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Symphony’s Reif-er Madness – Hailed as one of his generation’s most promising conducting talents, Christian Reif leads the Santa Barbara Symphony through an engaging and light-hearted program appropriate for Valentine’s Day weekend. Reif, who until recently was Resident Conductor at the San Francisco Symphony, has impressed critics with a combination of poise and interpretive prowess, which he’ll lend to two of Mozart’s most
celebrated compositions, the overture to La Clemenza di Tito and Symphony No. 39. Also being played tonight and tomorrow afternoon are Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, performed by Cuban-born cellist and rising star Thomas Mesa – the top prizewinner at the 2016 Sphinx, 2013 Thaviu, and 2006 Alhambra Orchestra Concerto competitions – and Graffiti: Concerto for Chamber Orchestra, which Pulitzer Prize-nominated composer Michael Gilbertson was inspired to write after observing the creative drive of San Francisco’s street artists. WHEN: 8 pm tonight, 3 pm tomorrow WHERE: Granada Theatre, 1214 State Street COST: $29 & up ($20 for ages 20-29, $10 all students) INFO: (805) 8992222 or www.granadasb.org ‘Absurd in the Anthropocene’ – Dan Rosenboom embraces the chaos of the complicated and often surreal times referred to in the title in his new album released at the end of last month, which finds the internationally recognized trumpet player and composer-producer-entrepreneur staying true to his abstract musicianship and virtuous experimentalism as he follows inspirations that run the gamut from Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman to Frank Zappa, Soundgarden, and Squarepusher. What’s also not absurd is the generous crew of musicians Rosenboom recruited for the project, including producer and
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Gore and More – Lauren Yee calls her 2012 play Hookman “existential slasher theater,” which the Chicago Tribune expanded upon by terming the 75-minute “creeper” “high-end gore with a progressive twist.” Either way, this is no Nightmare on Elm Street, as Yee’s work probes the psyche of a college freshman named Lexi who has been through some tough stuff including alienation, teen angst and dealing with grief while also featuring a killer with a hook for a hand. Hookman is an early play by the rising contemporary playwright whose awards include the Steinberg Playwright Award, the Horton Foote Prize, and the Francesca Primus Prize. Michael Bernard directs the “slasher comedy” featuring a cast of UCSB students who take on the work he describes as “ full of surprises and taking on some pretty heavy issues in a way that is unexpected and refreshing (with a) tone that can go from silly to serious before you even realize the shift has happened.” WHEN: Today through February 23 WHERE: UCSB Performing Arts Theater COST: $17 general, $13 children & seniors in advance, $19 & $17 at the door INFO: (805) 893-2064 or www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu
42 MONTECITO JOURNAL
EVENTS by Steven Libowitz
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18 Beleza Brazil – The new program from five-time Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves is devoted to the “beauty of Brazil,” a sentiment brought to the fore in the concert coming to the Lobero. Brazilian music has always been a passion of Reeves’, as evidenced by just about every one of her recordings, but this is the pre-eminent jazz vocalist’s first program devoted entirely to the beautiful music of Brazil. Featuring a masterful band (John Beasley on keyboards, Romero Lubamo on guitars, Itaiguaro Brandao on basses, and Rafael Barata on drums) backing up Reeves’ magical, timeless voice that is wedded to her winning stage presence, the show should prove to be a most captivating concert. As Wynton Marsalis exclaimed, “She has one of the most powerful, purposeful, and accurate voices of this or any time,” perhaps pointing to why Reeves was recently named a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master – the highest honor the United States bestows on jazz artists. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St. COST: $45-$55 INFO: (805) 963-0761 or www.lobero.com
keyboard master Jeff Babko; legendary drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Nova, and Zach Danziger; renowned bassists Jimmy Johnson, Tim Lefebvre and Jerry Watts Jr.; longtime collaborator Gavin Templeton and jazz icon David Binney on saxophones; guitarists Tim Conley, Alexander Noice and Jake Vossler; electronics wizard Troy Zeigler; and horn-players Brian Walsh, Ryan Dragon, Juliane Gralle and Javier Gonzalez. Local audiences have two chances to catch the master’s music in motion as Rosenboom’s Absurd in the Anthropocene release tour featuring a half-dozen of the accompanists in various configurations stops at the tiny Piano Kitchen tonight, and the NAMBA Performing Arts Space (47 S. Oak St., Ventura) tomorrow. WHEN: 8 pm WHERE: Piano Kitchen, 430 Rose Ave. COST: $10 INFO: (430) 7673283 or www.facebook.com/The-Piano-Kitchen-150090325053979 Not in Kaunas Anymore – Egle Januleviciute, who began playing piano at age four in her hometown of Kaunas, Lithuania, eventually earned three advanced degrees, including a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from UCSB, where she later also served on the piano faculty. She has toured Lithuania, Germany, Finland, Japan, Italy, Belgium and the former Soviet Union both as soloist and collaborative artist and has recorded commercially for nearly 30 years. Currently teaching piano here in Montecito at Westmont College and Cate School, Januleviciute will perform in recital this afternoon playing a program of Mozart’s Sonata KV 332 in F major; J. S. Bach’s Organ Chorale Prelude Jesus Christus, unser Heiland
“Marry a man your own age; as your beauty fades, so will his eyesight.” — Phyllis Diller
(arr. F.Busoni) and English Suite No. 2 BWV 807 in A minor; and Liszt’s Vallée d’Obermann from Années de Pèlerinage and Fantasy and Fugue on the theme of BACH. WHEN: 3 pm WHERE: First United Methodist Church, 305 East Anapamu (at Garden) COST: $10 suggested donation INFO: www.Eglej.com WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 TV at the Pollock – The CarseyWolf Center at UCSB is honoring the legacy of its founding sponsors – Marcy Carsey and Dick Wolf, whose work largely reshaped the modern television landscape – with a winter quarter series celebrating some of the best in classic and contemporary shows. Ranging from the traditional sitcom to recent dystopian drama, the series pulls great television out of the living room, onto the big screen, and into a communal conversation. This week’s entries start with “Gender, Work and the Sitcom Family” (7 pm Thursday, February 13), featuring English professor Elana Levine examining TV’s role as a cultural forum and mass entertainment medium and themes of gender, work and family via screenings of episodes from three classic sitcoms: Father Knows Best, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Modern Family. Also, actress Robin Weigert, who played Calamity Jane in the highly-acclaimed period drama Deadwood, will talk about the show after a screening of Deep Water (7 pm Tuesday, February 18). WHERE: Pollock Theater, UCSB campus COST: free (reservations recommended) INFO: (805) 893-5903 or www. carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock 13 – 20 February 2020
