Another Rich Cultural Season from A&L, Unveiled

Each year, soon after UCSB’s Arts & Lectures (A&L) season closes up shop — except for its popular summer film screenings at the Courthouse Sunken Garden — the organization rolls out its red carpet for the annual “reveal” party, laying out what’s in store for its next season, starting in the next fall. 

This time, the event venue shifted to Hotel Californian, where patrons and special guests enjoyed drinks and treats, and were then given slightly early access to the lowdown on the 2026-27 season. Another distinction this year is that this program is the first to be fully curated by Meghan Bush, who took over the A&L director role last year, but had inherited a final program designed by Celesta Billeci, who retired after boldly leading and solidifying the program for 25 years.

Post-reception, invited revelers settled into the fancifully motif-ed conference room. As Patricia MacFarlane (co-chair of the A&L Advisory Council) pointed out in the introduction to the presentation, under Billeci’s and now Bush’s guidance, “There is no other program in the country with the depth or breadth of Arts & Lectures.”

And then came the ceremonial “passing of the program” in the room, as the thick, detail-packed new program books (and “book” is the proper noun) were handed out to the curious throng. 

Clearly, the rich tapestry of options offered — in music, dance, lectures, discussions, educational outreach, and more — has become a strong and indispensable resource for the community. That tradition remains reliable in the coming season, which includes many respected returnees, as well as new voices and faces. 

On the popular and noteworthy returning list are the Danish String Quartet, piano great Yuja Wang, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis — in his last tour as director, before retiring that post — post-bluegrass champs the Punch Brothers, the esteemed Joffrey Ballet (part of the program’s usual first-rate roster of dance performances).

Other names on the list worth calendar-marking: classical stars violinist Hillary Hahn, pianists Lang Lang and Leif Andsnes, and the French baroque-specializing Les Arts Florissants, Americana legends Lyle Lovett and Rosanne Cash, and Broadway star Bernadette Peters. On the local debut front, the program’s celebrated “Hear and Now” series — where we first encountered Yuja Wang in town — brings to town the young likes of CelloGayagum, Viano Quartet, guitarist Jiji, and Himari and pianist Chelsea Wang. 

Jazz is also well-accounted for, and beyond Marsalis. Don Was & the Pan Detroit Ensemble, a hit at its Lobero Theatre local debut two years ago, returns to town, Stanley Clarke and Hiromi in tribute to the late, great Chick Corea, and from the younger slice of the jazz world comes Terrace Martin, who has worked with Kendrick Lamar and Kamasi Washington and weaves together jazz and hip-hop. 

Dance has long been a particularly robust piece of the A&L puzzle, partly due to former dancer Bilecci’s passion for the art form.  

Topping the list are the Joffrey, Camille A. Brown and Dancers, Sonya Tayah’s The Surge: An Ode to Sinead O’Connor, and the swan-song tour of the Akram Khan Company. 

The L-word in the A&L moniker lives up to its great reputation with a list of visitors in the news and the pantheon, including Scott Galloway (who opens the entire season, at the Arlington Theatre on September 25), Ina Garten, Anne Applebaum, Christopher Wray, and Hakeem Oluseri. The continuing “Speaking with Pico” series, in which Pico Iyer, the well-known novelist, organic conversationalist, and everything-ist with deep Santa Barbara connections, interviews famed subjects, brings out such sparkling figures as Margaret Atwood, Michael Pollan, and John McEnroe. Yes, that John McEnroe.

Wait, there is more, in the margins of the dense schedule, including family fare. In not-so-easily categorizable corners of the cultural world, where some of the most interesting art lives, neo-cabaret artists Meow Meow returns, after teasing and wowing a Lobero crowd two years ago, as does the prominent Brazilian guitar family Assad, this time in the form of Sergio and his acclaimed composer-pianist-vocalist daughter Clarice. Sitarist Niladri Kumaar will also pay tribute to his longtime comrade, the late tabla player Zakir Hussain, who appeared in many an A&L program over the years.

Considering the prospects of the coming season, A&L is continuing to faithfully bring the world of culture and ideas — on a high level — into the community. 

For more information, see artsandlectures.ucsb.edu.