A Generous Bounty from
UCSB Arts & Lectures
A Fertile Calendar of Programming Awaits
By Leslie Dinaberg | September 17, 2026
Read more of our 2026 Fall Arts Preview here.
The richness of our fall arts season, in the form of a wide plethora of cultural options, owes a great thanks to the bold and consistently inspiring programming of UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L).
This season’s stellar array of world-class artists and a lecture series brimming with important speakers and contemporary thinkers kicks off on September 25 with Scott Galloway offering observations on the intersection of business, technology, economics, and modern society. NYU Professor Galloway, whose latest best-selling book is Notes on Being a Man, joins acclaimed Talk Easy host Sam Fragoso for an in-depth conversation about masculinity, loneliness, and purpose in modern America.
Acoustic guitarist José González (Sept. 26), renowned choreographer Akram Khan (Oct. 6), and returning favorites Punch Brothers (Oct. 7) and Lang Lang (Oct. 9) are followed by a magical evening of song with the incomparable Bernadette Peters on October 15. The acclaimed screen actress and Broadway powerhouse will perform an intimate set of selections from Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, and Jerry Herman, among others.
Circa’s Duck Pond(Oct. 18) riff on Swan Lake is followed by Brazilian father-daughter musicians Clarice & Sérgio Assad (Oct. 21), and Musique au Jardin(Oct. 24), a free guided musical tour of Santa Barbara Botanic Garden with live Renaissance and Baroque music performed by local artists. Then CelloGayageum (Oct. 29) engages in a dialogue across Western classical and Korean gugak musical traditions and Lyle Lovett brings his Small Large Band, extraordinary musicianship, entertaining storytelling, and Texas charm to the stage on November 1.
Serbian violinist Nemanja Radulović(Nov. 4) and jazz, hip hop, R&B and soul musician Terrace Martin (Nov. 6) are up next, followed by award-winning novelist Min Jin Lee (Nov. 12), whose international bestseller Pachinko and the highly anticipated American Hagwon (to be released Sept. 29) explore the Korean culture and themes of race, ethnicity, immigration, class, religion, gender, and identity with what The New York Times described as “a compassionate, clear gaze at the chaotic landscape of life itself.”
Doug Varone and Dancers (Nov. 14) are followed by Baroque masters Les Arts Florissants (Nov. 15) and the recently announced addition of Financial Times associate editor and CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar(Nov. 19), who will delve into how the race for control of the world’s oceans is reshaping the global economy and redefining national security, the topic of her new book Sea Change: America’s New Great Game in the Arctic Circle.
Contemporary dance company Sankai Juku (Nov. 20) is followed by the fabulously entertaining international chanteuse and comedienne Meow Meow (Dec. 1), and a noteworthy recital showcasing three-time Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, internationally revered German baritone Matthias Goerne, and Van Cliburn gold medal-winning pianist Yekwon Sunwoo (Dec. 2).
A collaboration with Santa Barbara Symphony, the last A&L event of 2026 (Dec. 9) is a live screening of OCEAN in Concert, featuring breathtaking underwater imagery narrated by David Attenborough and a live accompaniment by the Santa Barbara Symphony performing Steven Price’s sweeping score in sync with the film.
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