Sonoma County’s Green Music Center offers its first concerts of the new year later this month when the County’s restrictive ban on gatherings is expected to lift. According to Executive Director Jacob Yarrow, “January was a challenge for us. We canceled about 15 public events. That includes two concerts the Center was presenting, some Santa Rosa Symphony events, and presentations of the Sonoma State music department.” Yarrow added, “We’re ready to kick off Spring 2022 performances – putting people in space together, feeling the magic and power of being part of a community. We’re excited to present a number of really exceptional performances in the coming months.”
Concerts begin the weekend of Feb. 18, with jazz legend Dianne Reeves on Friday, Kronos Quartet on Saturday, and Sonoma Bach Early Music Discovery Day on Sunday.
Yarrow told SFCV, “We are excited to offer a spring season that includes many favorite performers. We're particularly pleased to present works that we have helped to commission in performances by Kronos Quartet and the world premiere of Liz Lerman’s Wicked Bodies.
“I’m also looking forward to Jordi Savall playing music from the great film Tous les matins du monde. I have vivid memories of seeing it about 30 years ago and being amazed by the beauty of the music and the film.”
Here are some of the musical highlights of the coming months. To see the full roster, visit the Green Music Center website.
Dianne Reeves
Friday, Feb. 18, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25-$75
Among her many honors, the jazz vocalist has received five Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album, an honorary doctorate from Juilliard and was named a 2018 National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master.
Kronos Quartet
Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25-$55
Still cutting edge after all these years, the quartet’s Green Center program will feature some Kronos favorites, including selections from their landmark project 50 for the Future, a commissioning, performance, education, and legacy project of unprecedented scope. The Green Music Center is a Commissioning Partner for the project.
Sonoma Bach
Early Music Discovery Day
Sun, Feb. 20, 2022 at 12 p.m. in Schroeder Hall|
Tickets: $15–$28
Intended for anyone interested in music the day will include classes taught by experts within the community on such topics as chamber music, organs and keyboards, small vocal ensembles, plucked string instruments, and German lieder. The Sonoma Bach Choir will perform a short set of music to kick off the day, and all attendees may join together for a group sing at the end.
Piaf! The Show
Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25-$75
A musical celebration of the life and music of the legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf, Piaf! The Show narrates the Parisian singer’s career through her unforgettable songs, complemented by previously unreleased photographs and images of mid-20th century Paris
Connie Han Trio
Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Schroeder Hall
Tickets: $30-$40
Jazz pianist Connie Han has been described by Downbeat magazine as possessing “skills as a bop player of fearsome ability, a supple balladeer, and a groove merchant par excellence.” Jazziz magazine predicts her latest album, Iron Starlet, will “confirm her as one of the brightest young stars in jazz.”
Jordi Savall & le Concert des Nations
Tous les matins du monde
Thursday, March 3, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25–$95
Jordi Savall leads his ensemble Le Concert des Nations in music inspired by the award-winning film Tous les matins du monde (1991), which starred Gérard Depardieu and Savall’s performances.
Anthony De Mare
Liaisons 2021: Reimagining Sondheim from the piano
Sunday, March 6, 2022 at 3 p.m. in Schroeder Hall
Tickets: $30–$40
A commissioning project conceived by pianist Anthony de Mare, Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim From the Piano presents new music inspired by the work of Stephen Sondheim. De Mare has invited 50 composers to be part of the project, each one reimagining one of Sondheim’s songs.
Eileen Ivers & Universal Roots
Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 7 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25–$75
Grammy-awarded and Emmy-nominated fiddler Eileen Ivers has performed with Sting and The Chieftains, was a founding member of Cherish the Ladies, and a member of the Hall & Oates band. She and her band, Universal Roots, celebrate in music the humanity that ties us all together.
Santa Rosa Symphony
RACH & the Hollywood Sound
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
Saturday–Monday, March 19–21, 2022 at various times in Weill Hall
Tickets: $24–$97
The orchestra performs the Ballet Suite from La Strada (The Road), by Nino Rota, with Sergei Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony. Hildur Guŏnadóttir’s experimental yet warm From the Other Place, played from a color map rather than a traditional score, provides room for the strings to organically make music together for a one-of-a-kind performance.
Simone Dinnerstein and Matt Haimovitz
Beethoven/Glass
Friday, March 25, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25–$75
Two artists pair Beethoven’s with Philip Glass in a program that includes a Beethoven cello sonata, a Glass partita, and solo piano and cello repertoire by both composers.
Maria Schneider Orchestra
Sun, March 27, 2022 at 7:30 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $25–$75
Maria Schneider’s varied commissioners encompass Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the American Dance Festival. She has collaborated with David Bowie and is among the few to receive Grammys in multiple genres.
Liz Lerman
Wicked Bodies (Sonoma)
Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 8 p.m. in Weill Hall
Tickets: $40
Liz Lerman’s new evening-length, dance-theater piece, Wicked Bodies is about the persistence across time and culture of old crones, evil stepmothers, and the use of the body as a source of fear by governments and institutions. The multidisciplinary piece is designed specifically for Weill Hall at the Green Music Center.
