Inga Swearingen and Guy Budd will team up for a foot-stomping, toe tapping live benefit concert, set for 2 p.m. Sunday, May 17, benefiting Celebrate Los Osos, a community beautification all-volunteer group in Los Osos. Tickets are $25 a person and tickets and details are available on-line at: www.bigbigslo.com/inga. Tickets also available at the Los Osos-Baywood Park Chamber of Commerce during regular office hours. Seating is limited, so buy tickets early. A no-host wine and beer bar will be open during the event. The show is being held at a private estate in town and the location and directions will come with the tickets. Inga and Guy will present “quasi-pastoral themes,” as well a compelling mix of homegrown folk, and soulful, bluesy jazz, with acoustic layers of guitar. Local musician and guitarist, Dorian Michael, will also perform. Several sponsors are helping to offset the costs to increase the proceeds for future projects, including: Rabobank, Baywood Inn, Back Bay Inn, Marshalls Jewelers, Los Osos Rexall, Van Beurden Investments, Deanna Richards/Edward Jones, Sea Pines Golf Resort, Halter Winery and the Los Osos Valley Memorial Park.
A host of local bands will take the stage at Vina Robles Amphitheatre Sunday, May 17 stepping up to the big stage from clubs and festivals all over the county. The lineup is Moonshiner Collective, Girls & Boys, Captain Nasty, The Kicks and Zongo All Stars. Tickets are $20 each, doors open at noon and the show runs from 1-6 p.m. Tickets are available at Boo Boo Records, Walmart, or Vina Robles. Call 800-745-3000 or online at: nederlandconcerts.com, ticketmaster.com or vinaroblesamphitheatre.com.
Brazilian-born brothers and classical guitar masters, Sérgio and Odair Assad will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 14 at the Performing Arts center at Cal Poly. Tickets range from $24 to $45 and are available at the PAC Box Office, Tuesdays-Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to curtain times. Call 756-4849 or order online at: www.calpolyarts.org. The Assad Brothers are celebrating their 50th Anniversary Tour, and continue to set the benchmark for all other classical guitarists by creating a new standard of guitar innovation, ingenuity and expression. See: www.assadbrothers.com for more on the duo. There will be a free pre-concert lecture with Dr. Craig Russell at 6:30 p.m. in the PAC Pavilion. Sponsored by James R. Landreth in memory of Esther Landreth.
Cuesta College’s Jazz Studies combo program will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 19 at the school’s Performing Arts Center. All seats are $5 and tickets are available online at: www.cpactickets.cuesta.edu or call: 546-3198. Parking in Lot 2 is free for the event. The variety concert features eight, small groups of different styles including the award winning Sperdak. Directed by Ron McCarley.
The Cuesta Wind Ensemble’s final concert of the season is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 15 at the Cuesta PAC. Tickets are $7 students/seniors, $12 general. Buy tickets online at: www.cpactickets.cuesta.edu or call 546-3198. Free parking in Lot 2. The show will feature a performance of “Twilight of the Gods,” a work commissioned by the wind ensemble. It includes a video shown in sync with the music. Joining the show is the Symphonic Winds of the SLO Youth Symphony, and the two ensembles will come together for the performance of two works.
The San Luis Chamber Orchestra will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Los Osos, 490 Los Osos Valley Rd. Cost is a $10 donation at the door. Featured on the program will be guest artist, Jeanne Shumway, performing Saint Saens Cello Concerto #1. Also on the program will be some old favorites performed by vocalist, Judy Philbin. Call (805) 528-7795 or see: www.sanluischamberorchestra.org for more information.
Traditional Rockabilly / Country band The Phil Friendly Trio will play at the Creeky Tiki on Friday, May 22. Americana/Rockabilly singer-guitarist and songwriter Phil Friendly and his band have been touring all over Europe and the USA. Being a prolific songwriter, Friendly also enjoyed various film and TV placements; one of the recent film projects with Phil’s music is “Mighty Fine,” a film drama starring Andie MacDowell and Chazz Palminteri, which features Friendly’s original composition ‘She Wanna Do It,’ and a British comedy “Man Up,” slated for a release in late May 2015.
Coalesce Bookstore Chapel, 945 Main St., Morro Bay will host the next G.Roger Bailey Classical Guitar Scholarship Concert featuring Tomasz Fechner and set for 2-4 p.m. Sunday, May 24. Tickets are $20 and available at Coalesce Bookstore or at the door. Polish-born Fechner, 24, started his music education at the age of 8. Since 2001, he has participated in guitar competitions throughout Europe and has received many accolades along the way. In 2014, he was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to the University of Southern California, where he studies with LAGQ founding member and G. Roger Bailey Classical Guitar Scholarship supporter, William Kanengiser.
The Cuesta College Choirs will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 17 at Cuesta Performing Arts Center at the Hwy 1 campus. Tickets are $12 general admission, and $7 for students, seniors, and Jazz Federation members and available at: cpactickets.cuesta.edu or by calling (805) 546-3198. The Concert Choir is performing music from the Pacific Regions; Chamber Choir is presenting pieces recently performed on its Central and Southern California tours, and the vocal jazz group, Voce, is doing a set of a cappella funk, rock and pop. Directed by John Knutson and Cassandra Tarantino.
The Cal Poly Music Department student production ensemble, RSVP, will stage “RSVP XX: Kinship/Being Frank” at 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, June 2 and 4, in the Performing Arts Center Pavilion. Tickets are $14 including all PAC fees, and parking. Buy tickets at the PAC Box Office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. To order by phone, call 756-4849). “This year’s production is like a musical suite with six distinct movements, all with some element of dance included,” said Antonio G. Barata, artistic director of the RSVP concert series. “The show exhibits a wide variety of musical styles and genres, including performances by Polyrhythmics, Cal Poly’s percussion ensemble, under the direction of faculty member John Astaire. The background material for the show is taken from scientific, theological and spiritual traditions. It has been a grand undertaking to bring together a collective statement about humankind’s kinship with creation.”
SLO Jazz Festival returns to SLO’s Mission Plaza from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 16 with a powerhouse line up of jazz musicians with headliner, two-time Grammy Award nominee, saxophonist, Joshua Redman Quartet with Reuben R. Rogers on bass, Aaron Goldberg piano and Marcus Gilmore drums. Tickets are $45 a person plus fees, with kids under-10 free. For more information and to order tickets, see the Festival website at: www.slojazzfest.org. The festival features three stages with full line ups at each throughout the day and evening. Other bands slated to play include: John Santos and his Latin jazz sextet; vocalist Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers; and Grammy winner Paul McCandless with the electric S.F. Bay Area jazz trio, Charged Particles. See the website for the complete lineup.
The 80-voice Central Coast Children’s Choir will present its annual Spring Concert “Earth, Sea, Sky, Sing,’’ at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17 at SLO’s United Methodist Church, 1515 Fredericks St. Tickets range from $10-$18 and available online at: www.BrownPaperTickets.com. The show features songs about water, sailing, rivers and seas, stars, birds and angels, pastures, daffodils and bumblebees, celebrating the beauty of the earth. Included are songs from different countries, in several languages and styles, concluding with the traditional American folk tune, “This Land is Your Land.”
Cuesta College’s student musicians will present a chamber music concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 20 at the Cuesta PAC. Tickets are just $5 a person and available by calling 546-3198 or online at: www.cpactickets.cuesta.edu. This is a concert that features solos and small ensembles of Cuesta music students on piano, woodwind and brass, along with singers. Free parking in Lot 2 outside the CPAC.