Mar 06 Friday
60th Anniversary Farewell TourRescheduled from February 26, 2026 to March 6, 2026.
Brazilian-born brothers Sérgio and Odair Assad have created a new standard of guitar innovation, ingenuity, and expression. Their exceptional artistry and uncanny ensemble-playing come from a family rich in Brazilian musical tradition and studies under guitarist/lutenist Monina Távora, a disciple of Andrés Segovia.
Their touring programs are a compelling blend of styles, periods, and cultures, including folk, jazz, and various styles of Latin music, as well as classical repertoire such as transcriptions of the great Baroque keyboard literature by Bach, Rameau, and Scarlatti, and adaptations of works by Gershwin, Ginastera, and Debussy.
Mar 13 Friday
With The Bad Plus, acclaimed artists Chris Potter and Craig Taborn revisit the formative repertoire of Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet. The project is not simply a tribute to one of jazz’s most influential ensembles, it’s a continuation of the American Quartet’s spirit: a fearless commitment to musical dialogue, emotional depth, and boundary-pushing improvisation.
Founding members Reid Anderson and Dave King, whose work with The Bad Plus helped redefine modern jazz, combine with Potter’s commanding tenor saxophone and Taborn’s brilliant piano to capture the raw, exploratory energy of the American Quartet while bringing their own distinct voices to the material.
Mar 15 Sunday
It wouldn’t be St. Patrick’s Day without a visit from úԲ! These Irish music superstars return to the Lensic for the fourth time to bring joyous Celtic tunes to our stage. Not only are they standout musicians, they have a sense of humor that will leave you warmer than an Irish whiskey.
úԲ was formed in 1997 by members of some of the greatest Irish groups of the previous decade, an early review from Folk Roots magazine describing the band as an “Irish music dream team.” From the start, the band’s complex arrangements and unique sound reshaped the boundaries of traditional music and energized audiences.
Apr 07 Tuesday
The meeting of great minds usually happens behind closed doors, but for two of the world’s foremost bassists—Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer—the collaboration proved so fruitful that a duo album, But Who’s Gonna Play the Melody?, exploring their collective backgrounds, was born.
Now the duo is hitting the road, and we can’t wait to present them at the Lensic. The legendary bassists will meld McBride’s jazz and R&B fusion with Meyer’s bluegrass and classical sensibilities for what is sure to be an unforgettable performance of new compositions and timeless American standards.
The bass is traditionally seen as the bedrock of an ensemble, and no living bassists have done as much to bring the instrument from the background to the spotlight as Christian McBride and Edgar Meyer. Both belong to an elite cadre of musicians whose jaw-dropping virtuosity on their chosen instruments is matched only by the profound soul and emotion of their playing and the spectrum-wide range of their tastes.
Christian McBride has blazed an extraordinary trail as one of the most preeminent musicians of his time. Over the last three decades, the nine-time Grammy winner and Newport Jazz Festival Artistic Director has made momentous advances as a dynamic musician and recording artist, a prolific composer-arranger-producer, a distinguished curator of culture, and a dedicated educator and mentor.
Hailed by The New Yorker as “…the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument,” Edgar Meyer’s unparalleled technique and musicianship in combination with his gift for composition have brought him to the fore, where he is appreciated by a vast, varied audience. His uniqueness in the field was recognized by a MacArthur Award in 2002.
Apr 16 Thursday
“The Australian Chamber Orchestra is uniformly high-octane, arresting, and never ordinary.” — The AustralianThe Australian Chamber Orchestra lives and breathes its craft, making waves around the world for its explosive performances that redefine orchestral music. With their fearless leader of thirty-five years, Artistic Director Richard Tognetti, the Orchestra is celebrating fifty years of invention, disruption, and unforgettable music-making.
The ACO performs more than 100 concerts each year, with programs that embrace celebrated classics alongside new commissions and ground-breaking collaborations working with artists and musicians who share their ideology.
Program:
Purcell, Fantasia upon One Note, Z. 745
Handel, Concerto Grosso in A major, Op. 6, No. 11
John Luther Adams, Horizon
Intermission
Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending (arr. Adam Johnson)
Mendelssohn Hensel, String Quartet in E-flat major (arr. strings)
Apr 28 Tuesday
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returns to the Lensic by popular demand. Formed in 1985 as the antidote to mindless pop, egocentric rock, and the indulgent bluster of the music business, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain donned black tuxedos and began giving ‘concerts’ in tiny rooms above old pubs.
Four decades later, they’re still thrilling audiences with their off-beat humor and four-stringed virtuosity. There are no drums, pianos, backing tracks, guitars, or banjos, no pitch shifters or electronic trickery, just an astonishing revelation of the rich palette of orchestration afforded by ukuleles and a menagerie of voices in a collision of post-punk performance and old classics.
Come and celebrate the fortieth anniversary of this much-loved institution on a white-knuckle shopping-trolley dash through every kind of musical genre. From ABBA to ZZ Top, Tchaikovsky to Nirvana, bluegrass to Broadway, all played on the ‘bonsai guitar.