Green Music Center

Located on the picturesque Sonoma State University campus in the heart of California’s Sonoma wine region, the Green Music Center is a focal point for music in the region. Designed by architect William Rawn, working closely with acoustician Lawrence Kirkegaard, the 1,400 seat Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall is modeled after Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood and was designed to replicate the intimacy and acoustics of Vienna’s Musikverein and Symphony Hall in Boston. In addition to the concert hall, the Center will include two additional performance venues. The south end is designed with a back wall that can be fully opened onto a beautifully landscaped and terraced lawn, similar to Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, expanding the reach of the concert hall to an additional 3,000 guests. The Weill Commons, an area directly to the east of the main concert hall, will be transformed into an amphitheater with a 10,000 seat capacity for large-scale outdoor events.

Grand opening festivities include a performance by internationally acclaimed pianist Lang Lang, a Sunday matinee concert from the Santa Rosa Symphony, Resident Orchestra of the Green Music Center and Sunday night Alison Krauss, winner of 27 Grammy Awards, leads her renowned band Union Station for an evening of acoustic bluegrass music.

The Green Music Center has programmed a 2012-2013 season offering a diverse array of the world’s most distinguished performers from classical music, opera, jazz and world music – the majority of whom make their first appearances in Sonoma County with these performances. 

The vocal splendor series features eight concerts and kicks off in October with Canada’s superstar soprano Karina Gauvin. The series includes Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča who has appeared in starring roles in major opera houses, including the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and The Metropolitan Opera. Joyce DiDonato who was selected as Gramophone’s “Artist of the Year” in 2010 performs in November. Kennedy Center Honoree Barbara Cook who was called “the greatest singer in the world” by the Financial Times appears in February. Groups performing include Tallis Scholars, the leading exponents of Renaissance sacred music in the world and San Francisco’s Philharmonic Baroque Orchestra and Chorale. The series ends in April with Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught, a rising star in the international opera world.

The Concert series kicks off in October when the best-known living classical composer, John Adams leads New York’s innovative and fiery International Contemporary Ensemble in a program featuring the composer’s own work in addition to works by Stravinsky, Philip Glass and George Gershwin. Yo-Yo Ma who has received more than 15 Grammy Awards and remains of the best-selling classical recording artist will headline in January. Also featured will be the Modigliani Quartet with Joyce Yang in October, Anne-Sophie Mutter in March, Vadim Repin in April and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

The Jazz and World Music Series features Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in March. “The dean of Latin jazz”, Chucho Valdes and the Afro-Cuban Messengers perform in November. Also in November is Buika who fuses flamenco of her native Spain with jazz, copla, soul and dance rhythms. The series concludes in April with Mexican artist Lila Downs bring her soaring voice to a dramatic and highly unique reinvention of traditional Mexican music and original compositions fused with blues, jazz, soul and African roots.

For tickets to upcoming events visit the Green Music Center.