Hamilton de Holanda Trio; photo: Nando Chagas
Tuesday, January 20, 2026—Hamilton de Holanda Trio (at Sripps Research)
Wednesday, January 28, 2026—Paul Cornish Trio (at the Athenaeum)
Saturday, February 14, 2026—Anat Cohen Quartetinho (two shows at the Athenaeum)*
Wednesday, March 18, 2026—Tord Gustavsen Trio (at the Athenaeum)
Monday, March 23, 2026—Immanuel Wilkins Quartet (at the Athenaeum)
7:30 PM
*6 & 8:30 PM
Start the new year with jazz! The Athenaeum is pleased to announce this five-concert series featuring return visits and local debuts by internationally acclaimed and rising-star artists, including performances in the library’s Joan & Irwin Jacobs Music Room (at 1008 Wall Street in La Jolla) and at Scripps Research Auditorium (10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive). Seating is limited, so order soon!
Tuesday, January 20, 2026—Hamilton de Holanda Trio (at Sripps Research)
The series opens on Tuesday, January 20, at Scripps Research Auditorium, with a local debut by the Hamilton de Holanda Trio. De Holanda, one of Brazil’s most celebrated musicians, is a global ambassador for Brazilian music. Picking up the mandolin at the age of five, he revolutionized the 10-string version of the instrument, blending Brazilian traditions with jazz and other global influences. JazzTimes wrote, “Mandolin virtuoso and composer de Holanda proves the limitless capabilities of the Brazilian bandolim as a solo instrument.” DownBeat called him an “absolute maestro of rhythm and improvisation.”
A four-time Latin grammy award winner with 17 nominations, de Holanda has earned international recognition and amassed over 14 million streams across 180 countries, with 800,000 monthly listeners on Spotify in 2024. His music is rooted in the vibrant choro street jams of Brasília. He co-founded the world’s first choro school in Brasília and led the movement to establish a National Day of Choro in Brazil. His collaborations include legends like Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Milton Nascimento, Djavan, and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and he has graced iconic stages such as Montreux and Newport Jazz. His trio on this concert date will feature keyboardist Salomão Soares, and drummer Thiago “Big” Rabello.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026—Paul Cornish Trio (at the Athenaeum)
The winter series continues Wednesday, January 28, at the Athenaeum with another local debut by the Paul Cornish Trio, featuring Cornish on piano, Jermaine Paul on bass, and Jonathan Pinson on drums. The Los Angeles–based Cornish has been traveling the world for the past three years as the pianist in saxophone-giant Joshua Redman’s quartet. In 2025 he issued his debut recording as a leader on the prestigious Blue Note Records label, You’re Exaggerating!, following in the footsteps of eminent Blue Note pianists from Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons through Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Geri Allen, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, and Renee Rosnes, to Jason Moran, Robert Glasper, James Francies, and Gerald Clayton.
Cornish moved from his native Houston, Texas, to the West Coast to attend the USC Thornton School of Music and was chosen for the elite fellowship at UCLA’s Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. There, he developed a personal and creative relationship with Hancock and artist-in-residence Wayne Shorter—two of his lodestars. DownBeat wrote, “You’re Exaggerating! is absolutely a jazz recording with something for new fans and seasoned jazz lovers alike. The album glows with youth and vigor. … [Cornish is] a new artist with uncommon depth.”
Saturday, February 14, 2026—Anat Cohen Quartetinho (two shows at the Athenaeum)
Saturday, February 14, brings a special Valentine’s Day appearance by a favorite Athenaeum performer, Anat Cohen, with Quartetinho. The band plays two separate 75-minute performances, one at 6 p.m. and the other at 8:30 p.m. The word quartetinho is Portuguese for “little quartet,” although the players make a big, color-rich sound, each an ace on multiple instruments: Anat on various clarinets, Tal Mashiach on bass and guitar, Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion, and James Shipp on vibraphone and percussion. Their concerts showcase compositions by each member of the band and by the great masters such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Egberto Gismonti, Thelonious Monk, Augustín Barrios Mangoré, and more. The result is boundlessly melodic and lyrical.
Cohen has been declared Clarinetist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) every year since 2007 and has also been named the top clarinetist in both the Readers and Critics Polls in DownBeat for multiple years running. That’s not to mention years of being named Rising Star in the soprano and tenor saxophone categories in DownBeat, as well as Jazz Artist of the Year, among other honors. As The Chicago Tribune said about Anat, “The lyric beauty of her tone, easy fluidity of her technique and extroverted manner of her delivery make this music accessible to all.”
Wednesday, March 18, 2026—Tord Gustavsen Trio (at the Athenaeum)
Next up in the series, on Wednesday, March 18, is the return of another Athenaeum favorite, Norway’s Tord Gustavsen Trio, featuring Gustavsen on piano, Steinar Raknes on bass, and Jarle Vespestad on drums. Since the release of his first recording in 2003, on the landmark ECM Records label, Gustavsen created a new sound that commanded worldwide attention, an extraordinary achievement given the rich history of piano jazz. With only a few carefully chosen notes, he draws listeners into a musical world where melody is cherished as much as the freedom to explore textures and soundscapes. His bands unite beauty and emotional intensity in a unique, immediately identifiable Nordic jazz sound that has established Gustavsen as Scandinavia's leading jazz artist.
JazzTimes wrote, “Gustavsen draws you into his encompassing atmosphere of rapt contemplation. His music feels soothing at first, but the depth of his emotional exposure requires creative listeners." Freespace commented, “There were moments of such surpassing beauty that everything else seemed to vanish. It was like a meditation—a descent into a world with no clichés, no insincerity, followed by a knowing embrace of things too lovely to be unreal. It seems strange to call this jazz. It was more like the sound of stars.”
Monday, March 23, 2026—Immanuel Wilkins Quartet (at the Athenaeum)
The winter series concludes Monday, March 23, with a local debut by the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, featuring Wilkins on alto sax, Micah Thomas on piano, Ryoma Takenaga on bass, and Savannah Harris on drums. Wilkins burst onto the music scene in 2020 with the release of his Blue Note recording debut, Omega. October 2024 saw the release of Wilkins’ third album on Blue Note, Blues Blood. Accolades, awards, and critical acclaim have followed with each of Wilkins’ album releases. In 2020, Omega was named the best new jazz release by The New York Times and the best debut jazz album by National Public Radio (NPR). Two years later, Wilkins’ sophomore album on Blue Note, The 7th Hand, topped many year-end lists, including NPR, The New York Times, The Financial Times, and JazzTimes.
In 2023, Wilkins received three DownBeat Critics Poll Awards: Best Alto Saxophonist, Best Rising Star Composer, and Best Rising Star Group. Wilkins and his quartet have graced some of the most esteemed stages in the world, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, North Sea Jazz, and the Newport Jazz Festival. DownBeat wrote, “Haunting, profound, astonishing … few albums released in any year achieve Wilkins’ improbable balance of ethereal and earthy, of searching and grounded, of virtuosic and plainspokenly lyrical.”
The January 20 concert will be in person at Scripps Research Auditorium (10620 John Jay Hopkins Drive, San Diego, CA 92121). The January 28, February 14, March 18, and March 23 concerts will be in person at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA 92037). There are no physical tickets for these events. Your name will be on an attendee list at the front door. For the January 20, January 28, March 18, and March 23 concerts, doors open at 7:00 p.m. For the February 14 concert, doors open at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., respectively. Seating is first-come; first-served. Priority seating will be given to Donor level members and above.
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