Tickets

Thursday, January 8, 2026
7:30 PM

Liebestod—myths of love and death
—World premieres by Alyssa Aska and Franklin Cox
—Music by Chaya Czernowin, Alexandra Gardner, Zosha DiCastri, and Benjamin Britten

January 8, 9 & 10, 2026
7:30 PM

The annual soundON Festival returns! Presented by San Diego New Music and the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, this year’s lineup showcases cutting-edge contemporary music by a global roster of composers, along with music by friends of the festival, such as Juan Campoverde Q.

Friday, January 9, 2026
7:30 PM

Body and Soul—Memory, Contemplation, and Expectation  
—World premiere by Sidney Marquez Boquiren
—Music by Michael Gordon, David Lang, Vicky Ray, and Michael Jarrell

Saturday, January 10, 2026
7:30 PM

Mythologies—searching for and seeing ourselves             
—World premieres by Juan Campoverde Q., Lukas Schulze, and Sidney Marquez Boquiren
—Music by Yu-hui Chang and  Salvatore Sciarrino

Tuesday, January 20, 2026
7:30 PM

*AT SCRIPPS RESEARCH AUDITORIUM*

The series opens on Tuesday, January 20, at Scripps Research Auditorium, with a local debutby 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.”

Tuesday, January 20, 2026—Hamilton de Holanda Trio
Wednesday, January 28, 2026—Paul Cornish Trio
Saturday, February 14, 2026—Anat Cohen Quartetinho*
Wednesday, March 18, 2026—Tord Gustavsen Trio
Monday, March 23, 2026—Immanuel Wilkins Quartet
7:30 PM
*6 & 8:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

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!

Wednesday, January 28, 2026
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

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.

Saturday, February 14, 2026
6 PM & 8:30 PM (two shows)

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

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.

Monday, February 23, 2026
7:30 PM

This special “lineage” program combines world-class performers and pedagogues in their debut performance as a trio, featuring romantic lyricism alongside playful folk melodies, culminating in Dvorak’s always riveting “Dumky” piano trio.

Tuesday, March 3, 2026
7:30 PM

Images of the Buddha are among the most widely distributed religious representations. While the Buddha himself was South Asian, the origins of the image of the Buddha remain something of a paradox. The earliest descriptions of him were extraordinary, but Indian Buddhists curiously decided not to represent the Buddha as a human figure for some centuries, only denoting him by symbols. Around the beginning of the Common Era, two traditions of the Buddha image suddenly emerged, essentially fully developed from the schools of Mathurā in North India and of Gandhāra, bordering Central Asia. What had happened to make this dramatic change palatable to the Buddhist communities in India and Central Asia? We will look at images of the Buddha configured by Alexander the Great’s incursions, by image-driven forms of prevailing religion in India, temples to Central Asian kings, and North Indian spirit cults. Working through these influences—and more—the Buddhists managed to convey the Buddha’s sense of spirituality and interiority, spreading a legacy across Asia.

Monday, March 16, 2026
7:30 PM

We eagerly welcome pianist Conor Hanick to the Athenaeum for the first time for an adventurous solo recital featuring Charles Ives’s monumental first sonata and two Schubert Impromptus paired with a new revision of Samuel Carl Adams’s Three Impromptus (a West Coast premiere) inspired by Schubert. 

Wednesday, March 18, 2026
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

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.

Monday, March 23, 2026
7:30 PM

*AT THE ATHENAEUM MUSIC & ARTS LIBRARY*

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.

Tuesday, April 14, 2026
7:30 PM

The Diderot String Quartet will make their Athenaeum debut with a journey to 18th century Vienna, featuring masterpieces by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. One of the premiere ensembles performing on gut strings and historical instruments, this dynamic group (Adriane Post, violin; Johanna Novom, violin; Kyle Miller, viola; Paul Dwyer, cello) breathes new life into old works.

Monday, May 4, 2026
7:30 PM

Specializing in the rich and varied “sound-world” of the late 17th century, the Artifex Consort (Malachai Komanoff Bandy, Rebecca Landell, and Eva Lymenstull, bass viols; John Lenti, theorbo; Ian Pritchard, keyboards) closes our season with works showcasing the viola da gamba as an ensemble instrument outside of the English consort tradition, during the height of its later flourishing in parts of England and Germany. The program features virtuosic music for two bass viols by Christopher Simpson and Johannes Schenck, alongside lush and ingenious—though little-known—works for three bass viols by Benjamin Hely and Johann Michael Nicolai.