St. Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church, 545 Shasta Ave., in Morro Bay invites everyone to its Advent Festival of Lessons and Carols, a special evening of worship and music at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7. St. Peter’s Advent Choir is made up of members of St. Peter’s and St. Benedict’s Episcopal churches. A reception will follow the service in the parish hall. For more information, call St. Peter’s at 772-2368 or see: stpetersmorrobay.org. In the photo are: choir director Marty Lindholm (at the piano) and left to right: Doreen Hughes, Diane Ludin and Sidney Wilson-Young. Submitted photo
Pianist, Linda Brady, will present “A Keyboard Christmas,” at noon Friday, Dec. 5, part of the free Brown Bag Concert Series at First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo, 981 Marsh St. Call 543-5451 for more information.
The Cal Poly big bands and jazz combos will present their Annual Fall Jazz Concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5 in the Spanos Theatre on campus. Tickets are $12 for the public and $9 for senior citizens, students and SLO Jazz Federation members. Price includes all fees and parking. Tickets are available at the PAX Box Office noon-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Order by phone at 756-4849. The two big bands will perform “Airegin” by Sonny Rollins and “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To,” both arranged by Michael Abene. The concert is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts, Music Department, and Instructionally Related Activities Program. For more information, call the Music Department at 756-2406.
The San Luis Coastal Adult School Scholarship Fund will hold a benefit concert set for 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 at Trinity United Methodist Church, 490 Los Osos Valley Rd, in Los Osos. Soprano, Katherine Arthur and pianist, Ann Lucas, will present an afternoon of Brahms “Ziguenerlieder” (Gypsy Songs) and some Cole Porter favorites. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Reserve tickets by calling 549-1222 or see: ae.slcusd.org. Cal Poly music Prof., Arthur has appeared in music festivals across the U.S. and Europe. She has performed with the Southwest Chamber Music Ensemble, Deutschlandfunk, and on Orfeo Records. She lived, taught, performed, and recorded in Germany and Austria from 1997-02. Pianist, Lucas, was a member of the music faculties at Towson University and the Baltimore School for the Arts. Since 1997, she has been active as a recitalist and accompanist and is the pianist for the Allegria Wind Quintet and the San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra. Lucas is a member of the music faculty at Allan Hancock College, and director of the College Singers.
The Cal Poly Choirs will present their annual holiday spectacular, “A Christmas Celebration,” at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Performing Arts Center on campus. Tickets are $12 and $14 for the public and $9 and $12 for senior citizens and students. Pricing includes all fees, and parking. Tickets are sold at the PAC Box Office from noon-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Order by phone at 756-4849. PolyPhonics, the University Singers, the Early Music Ensemble, The Brass Ensemble, Take it SLO and That’s the Key will take the stage. Repertoire will include original works for Christmas and Hanukkah by Antonio Vivaldi, Felix Mendelssohn, Benjamin Britten, Stephen Paulus and Ron Jeffers.
The Pacific Horizon Chorus’ women of Sweet Adelines International and the Gold Coast Chorus men of the Barbershop Harmony Society are singing a concert of holiday music at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 at the United Church of Christ, 11245 Los Osos Valley Rd., in San Luis Obispo. Festivities will include raffle for gift baskets and a special appearance by Santa Claus. Free admission but donations accepted. For more information call 528-6106.
East Coast-based jazz trio, Steel House, on a West Coast Tour will play at 8 p.m. Saturday Dec. 6 at the Unity Concert Hall, 1130 Orcutt Rd., SLO (entrance on Fernwood). Tickets are $25 general admission, $20 for Jazz Fed members and $15 for Students. Tickets at the door or in advance at BooBoo’s Records in SLO and online at: BrownPaperTickets.com. Doors open at 7:30. Steel House is Edward Simon, piano (he’s performed with Bobby Hutcherson, Terrance Blanchard and the SF Jazz Collective among many others); Scott Colley, bass (Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall and Michael Brecker); and Brian Blade, drums (Wayne Shorter Quartet Joshua Redman, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan). More information at 546-3733 and at: slojazz.org.
Cuesta College’s vocal ensembles will celebrate the holidays with two local concerts in SLO and at the Hwy 1 Campus, at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 at the Mission in Downtown SLO and at 3 p.m. Sunday Dec. 14 at the Cuesta Performing arts Center. Tickets are $7 students/seniors, $12 general admission and available online at: www.cpactickets.cuesta.edu or call 546-3198. Also available at the door. You’ll hear works by Eric Whitacre, songs from the hit movie “Frozen,” as well as favorite Holiday tunes. Directed by John Knutson and Cassandra Tarantino.
Hawaiian hula band, HoapiIi Pamaika’i, will play a concert featuring fresh now takes on traditional Hawaiian music, at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7 at the San Luis Obispo Grange hall, 2880 Broad St. Tickets are $22 at the door and $20 for groups of 10-more. Call Yvette at 878-6793 or get tickets at the Red Dirt Coffeehouse, Arroyo Grande. The 3-piece band of men ages 15-23, includes ukulele, bass and guitar.
Luis Oliart and Debra Windsong return to Pismo on Dec.11, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at The Shell Café, 1351 Price St. as part of the Songwriters at Play Series. Debra Windsong of the Blue Souls adds harmonica, percussion and harmonies to the original music of singer-guitarist Luis Oliart. Southern California native Luis Oliart’s talent as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter has been described as “simply magical… totally captivating… compelling.” His sound blends the influences of funk, rock, blues, reggae and Latin, producing music that is fresh and full of energy. Oliart has tagged this new genre “Alternative Soul”, and he has brought this unique sound to such well-known venues as House of Blues, the Hard Rock Cafe, BB King’s, The Bitter End, and even Carnegie Hall. The title track of his recent CD, Broken Chains, gets steady airplay on Central Coast radio station The Krush 92.5FM. Luis has become a local favorite, featured on many of Songwriters At Play showcases in the past few years. He brings several guitars, going from bottleneck slide on one song, to a flamenco-inspired style on the next. www.luisoliart.com. This is a free all ages show.
Special guests on Dec. 11 include Craig Louis Dingman of the Code Blues band, and Morro Bay’s Stefan Rodman.
Songwriters At Play presents two contemporary folk duos in concert on December 12 at 7 p.m. at D’Anbino Cellars, 710 Pine St., Paso Robles. — San Francisco’s Misner & Smith (pictured), and Central Coast favorites Erin Inglish & Dylan Johnson. Sam Misner and Megan Smith met as actors, first in a Shakespeare play, and later in a musical “Woody Guthrie’s American Song”. The two have acted in the play over a hundred times around the country, and began to form a musical partnership based on a mutual love of roots music, and in particular, harmony singing. Erin Inglish is always coming up with new collaborations — this time, Erin is accompanied by bassist Dylan Johnson, Cuesta College music professor who performs regularly with Inga Swearingen. Reservations are highly recommended at (805) 227-6800 ext. 700. Tickets are $10. Show begins at 7 p.m. but come early for dinner (food service begins at 6pm).For more information, visit www.songwritersatplay.com.
