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 theater, 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 are now on sale. Single tickles will go on sale in August. Call 866-955-6040 or go to gmc.sonoma.edu.

The 2018 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.

See the 2019 dates online at sonomanews.com.