Suspended Motion Aerial Arts presents its Winter Showcase featuring aerial dances on silk, lyra, rope and other cirque-style apparatuses, set for 7-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Dec. 12-13 at their studio, 207 Suburban Rd., SLO. Tickets at the door are $15 adults, $10 for students, seniors and children, and free for kids under 3. Proceeds go toward the studio’s goal of relocating into a larger studio/theater space, buying new equipment, and expanding the curriculum of circus arts classes for children and adults. More than 20 aerialists of all ages will perform to music as diverse as Wainwright’s “Hallelujah,” to Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” and more. Refreshments will be served. See: www.SuspendedMotion.net, or www.facebook.com/suspendedmotionslo for more on the troupe.
The Pewter Plough Playhouse’s Great American Song Book Society presents “Duke’s Place,” an original musical celebrating the life and work of Duke Ellington weekends Dec. 19-Jan. 18.
Preview Night is at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 19 with tickets set at $30 and including a special after-show party with Champagne, desserts and pianist/vocalist Dave Manion in the PPP lounge. There’s also a gala New Year’s Eve party set for 8 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 31. Tickets are $130 a person and include the play, a buffet dinner and entertainment. Regular performances are Fridays-Saturdays, at 7:30 and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 a person. Group Reservations (10 or more) get a 10% discount if paid with single payment in advance. Contact the PPP Box Office for reservations at 927-3877 or reserve online at: www.pewterploughplayhouse.org.
The show was written and directed by Rebecca Buckley and produced by Jim Buckley. Musical Director is Jim Conroy. The cast features (pictured left to right): Jim Conroy, Judy Philbin, David Manion, Roy Henry and Sunny Wright. Many of the Duke’s most famous songs are featured, including “Mood Indigo”, “Sophisticated Lady,” “I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good,” “Take The A Train” and many more.
The Pewter Plough Playhouse is located at 824 Main St., corner Sheffield St., in Cambria’s West Village.
The Cuesta College Jazz Ensemble will perform an end of semester concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 12 at the Cuesta performing Arts center. Tickets are $7 students/seniors/Jazz Federation members, $12 general admission. Buy tickets online at: www.cpactickets.cuesta.edu or call 546-3198. The concert features the best of Cuesta’s small jazz groups and the favorite pieces of its Big Band. Directed by Ron McCarley.
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.
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.
Songwriters At Play presents two contemporary folk duos— San Francisco’s Sam Misner and Megan Smith and Central Coast favorites Erin Inglish and Dylan Johnson — in concert on Friday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. at D’Anbino Cellars, 710 Pine St., Paso Robles. Misner and Smith met as actors, first in a Shakespeare play, and later in the 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. Banjo player, Inglish is always coming up with new collaborations and this time, she is accompanied by bassist Johnson, a 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 6 p.m.). For more information, see: www.songwritersatplay.com.
Cal Poly Arts has added two new musical shows to its lineup for early next year at the Performing Arts Center, and tickets will be on sale soon for both. Classically trained violinist, Lindsey Stirling, will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3. Tickets are on sale now and range from $28-$58 each. The American musical group, The Piano Guys, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 13. Tickets for that show are $40-$75 and go on sale Friday, Dec. 12. Tickets for both 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. An Internet sensation, Stirling has entered a futurist world of electronic big beats and animation, leaping through the music industry with more than 800 million views on YouTube, Billboard chart-topping hits and sold-out tours worldwide. Last April, Sterling released a new album, Shatter Me, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard “Top 200” album charts, her highest charting album to date. The Piano Guys, Jon Schmidt (piano) and Steven Sharp Nelson (cellist), formed in 2011 and also became famous through YouTube, posting videos of renditions and mash-ups of popular songs accompanied by high-quality video production. To date, more than 1 million people subscribe to their YouTube channel.
Celtic/folk/world music duo, Four Shillings Short, is coming to Cambria for a worship show and concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Cambria, 786 Arlington St. The husband-wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama and Christy Martin will perform at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 28 at the church service and then perform in concert at 3 p.m. The concert is on a donation basis at the door. Four Shillings Short play traditional and original music from Ireland and Scotland, Indian Ragas, folk ballads, old-time songs, on Medieval and Renaissance plus a cappella numbers on a fantastic array of instruments (over 30) including hammered dulcimer, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, tinwhistles, recorders, Medieval and Renaissance woodwinds, North Indian Sitar, Charango, bowed psaltery, banjo, bodhran, guitar, percussion, and even a Krumhorn.
