The Ventura Music Festival (VMF) is known for its mixed-genre program and for adding national and internationally-known artists to the area’s robust local music scene.

Schedule:
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
5:30pm: Adaawe - Free public concert
Join us for the Ventura Music Festival’s annual free concert in the park! Bring low-back lawn chairs, blankets and a picnic to this family-friendly open-air ninety-minute concert in the park on the lawn across from Mission San Buenaventura.

ADAAWE’s Celebratory Global Soul Unites Audiences Everywhere

Mixing West African roots, Gospel harmonies and American funk, women-led ensemble ADAAWE brews up a contemporary global fusion. Its dynamic members bring their diverse percussive and harmonic flavors to the stage, with an intoxicating energy that captivates audiences everywhere.

Hailing from Kenya, Morocco, Israel, Panama and across the United States, the talented musicians of ADAAWE embody intercultural understanding and a celebration of music from around the globe. Through their music, they also build community, promote women’s rights and social and environmental justice.

ADAAWE has headlined performing arts venues, festivals, colleges and clubs across the U.S., and opened for such artists as Mickey Hart, James Brown and Michael Franti. ADAAWE has supported benefits such as “Human Rights Watch,” with Annette Benning, “Roots & Shoots,” with Jane Goodall and the “Urban Peace Awards” with Harry Belafonte. Recently, they performed at the wedding of Stevie Wonder, were “Pick of the Fringe” at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and with their full nine piece fusion band, toured the East Coast with the Levitt Pavilion Foundation. If you watched the 2022 Rose Parade, you saw ADAAWE members featured with LeAnn Rimes in the opening number!

ADAAWE’s album “Passage” is an arresting collection of Afro-fusion, ranging from their trademark vocal percussion and djembe drum rhythms to Afrobeat, reggae and soul. Continuing their legacy, ADAAWE is teaming up with writer/producer Curt Wilson and Nashville-based label, United Alliance Music Group (UAMG), to release new music in 2022.

Location: Mission Park

Friday, July 29, 2022
7:30pm: We Banjo 3
ENDA SCAHILL - Tenor Banjo, Vocals
MARTIN HOWLEY - Tenor Banjo, Mandolin, Vocals
FERGAL SCAHILL - Fiddle, Viola, Dobro, Percussion, Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
DAVID HOWLEY - Lead Vocals & Guitar

Debuting in the U.S. in 2012, We Banjo 3 has since emerged as fast-rising touring darlings in the country that two of the members now call home. The Galway, Ireland, and Nashville-based quartet––comprised of two sets of brothers, Enda & Fergal Scahill and Martin & David Howley––continually push musical boundaries while maintaining an unwavering devotion to the essential audience experience. WB3 seamlessly converge the shared and varied traditions of Americana, Bluegrass, and Celtic music with pop-sensible songcraft to create a truly unique and gratifying signature sound. Brilliantly commanded instruments––banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and percussion––effortlessly elevate lead singer David Howley’s propulsive voice. Live on stage, their songs carry the listener along until, at the perfect moment, the band crescendos into catchy choruses with pitch perfect harmonies. We Banjo 3 deliver their music with such palpable rapport, stunning precision, and infectious energy, it’s impossible to pigeonhole what kind of listener might suddenly consider themselves a WB3 fan. With recent stunning performances at such broad ranging festivals Merlefest, BottleRock, Summercamp, ROMP, Wintergrass and others, enthusiasts of almost every genre of music are taking notice.

Saturday, Jul 30, 2022
7:30pm: Django Festival Allstars
SAMSON SCHMITT - Guitar
PIERRE BLANCHARD - Violin
LUDOVIC BEIER - Accordion
DOUDOU CUILLERIER - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
ANTONIO LICUSATI - Bass

The Django Festival Allstars bring the music of the legendary Gypsy Jazz Guitarist Django Reinhardt fully into the 21st century. Their unique, high energy performances pay attribute to Reinhardt who is considered one of the greatest guitar players of all time. Reinhardt’s driving, swinging style became known as “hot jazz” and it continues to grow in popularity throughout the world…in great part to the success of The Django Festival Allstars, who honor the traditions of this “gypsy jazz” adding their own interpretations, arrangements and original compositions with stunning virtuosity.

Sunday, Jul 31, 2022
3:00pm: Sean Chen
Mr. Chen has performed with many prominent orchestras, including the Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Kansas City, San Diego, Knoxville, Hartford, Louisiana Philharmonic, Milwaukee, North Carolina, Pasadena, Phoenix, Santa Fe, and New West Symphony Orchestras, as well as the Chamber Orchestras of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and South Bay. He has collaborated with such esteemed conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Michael Stern, Gerard Schwarz, Nicholas McGegan, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Marcelo Lehninger, and James Judd. Solo recitals have brought him to major venues worldwide, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Subculture in New York City, the American Art Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Salle Cortot in Paris.

Mr. Chen has served on the juries of notable piano competitions, including the American Pianists Awards, Thailand International Piano Competition, West Virginia International Piano Competition, Cleveland International Piano Competition for Young Artists, and Steinway competitions around the country. Given his natural inclination for teaching and approachable personality, Mr. Chen is particularly in demand for residencies that combine performances with master classes, school concerts, and artist conversations, which have brought him to such institutions as the Cleveland Institute of Music, Indiana University, University of British Columbia, University of Houston Moores School, Spotlight Awards at the Los Angeles Music Center, Young Artist World Piano Festival, and several Music Teachers’ Associations throughout the country.

Friday, August 05, 2022
7:30pm: The Moanin' Frogs
Lucas Hopkins - Bass Saxophone
Gabriel Pique’ - Saxophone
Jeff Siegfried - Saxophone
Edward Goodman  - Tenor Saxophone
Andy Hall - Saxophone
Jonathan Hulting-Cohen - Saxophone

Bending genres and uplifting spirits, The Moanin’ Frogs offer an electrifying approach to chamber music. Conservatory trained and entertainment minded, their dynamic and technically precise performances of classical, ragtime, jazz, and pop delight fans across the world.

Featuring all six saxophones from soprano to bass, The Moanin’ Frogs are unique on today’s chamber music landscape. First prize winners of the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, their passion, quality, variety, instrumentation, and focus on the audience experience set them apart. Comfortable in a wide array of venues, The Moanin’ Frogs deliver artist-level performances to small towns and major performance halls alike, performing for concert series, as concerto soloists, and for educational programs throughout the US and abroad. A few such performances include appearances at: the The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; on Detroit Public Television; in Strasbourg, France, and as concerto soloists with the United States Air Force Band of the West. Their debut recording was released on Teal Creek Music in 2017.

Online and in person, The Moanin’ Frogs inspire future generations through popular music videos, and interactive clinics and masterclasses for students and educators. The Moanin’ Frogs are performing artists for D’Addario Woodwinds and the Conn-Selmer Division of Education.

TheMoaninFrogs.com

Saturday, August 06, 2022
7;30pm: Veronica Swift
With a repertoire running the gamut from swing to bebop to the Great American Songbook, Veronica Swift is a young but fully fledged star on the international jazz scene.

Having first gained widespread attention in high-profile collaborations with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti, she has developed a devoted following among audiences. On stage, Veronica will be performing selections from her 2021 album, This Bitter Earth, along with additional jazz standards, rock classics, and more.

Sunday, August 07, 2022
3:00pm: The Crossing
The Crossing is a professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally and dedicated to new music. It is committed to working with creative teams to make and record new, substantial works for choir that explore and expand ways of writing for choir, singing in choir, and listening to music for choir.

Many of its nearly 125 commissioned premieres address social, environmental, and political issues. With a commitment to recording its commissions, The Crossing has issued 25 releases, receiving two Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance (2018, 2019), and seven Grammy nominations.

Location: Ventura College Performing Arts Center

Date: July 27 - August 7, 2022

Location:
Mission Park - E Main St Ventura, CA 93001
Ventura College Performing Arts Center - 4700 Loma Vista Road Ventura, CA 93001

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