Following a highly successful performance at the Birch Aquarium in May 2024, co-presented by Art of Elan and ArtPower, the internationally renowned JACK Quartet returns to San Diego with an exciting program that features the world premiere of a new work by UC San Diego (UCSD) faculty member and composer, Rand Steiger, as well as the gorgeous “lines made by walking” string quartet by John Luther Adams. This one-night-only special event will take place in the acoustically superb Conrad Prebys Concert Hall on campus at UCSD and will offer a chance to meet the composer and musicians immediately following the performance.

Art of Elan musicians premiere Young Artists in Harmony (YAH) student works in this free community concert that additionally offers a complimentary reception and a chance to meet the composers and musicians who bring these new works to life.

Award winning jazz guitarist and composer Peter Sprague teams up with pianist Danny Green and bassist Mack Leighton on November 22nd to play music that jumps around jazz, samba, The Beatles, tango, Carole King, Hoagy Carmichael, John Coltrane, and a few songs by Peter. They frequently start one song, make up some new sonic material, improvise weaving melodies and then attempt a safe landing in another aural vista. Freedom is one of the perks of being just a trio.

Art of Elan’s popular downtown series returns with an evening of genre-defying music that features the ever-innovative Jesus Gonzalez in collaboration with Art of Elan musicians. This unique concert will be held at Union Hall Gallery in Golden Hill.

“Midday Music” is a free, lunchtime concert series held in collaboration with the San Diego Central Library.

Tied to the powerful "Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo" exhibit on display at Mingei International Museum, this colorful concert featured the playful music of Xavier Foley and Paul Wiancko, alongside the angular and rhythmically charged String Quartet No.1 by Alberto Ginastera, performed by the HAWK Quartet. Listen to the live concert recording here.

“Midday Music” is a free, lunchtime concert series held in collaboration with the San Diego Public Library, taking place on select Fridays throughout the year in the Shiley Special Events Suite on the top floor of the Central Library @ Joan Λ Irwin Jacobs Common, where concertgoers are invited to bring their lunch and enjoy carefully curated chamber music along with gorgeous views of the city. This brand-new series and partnership is dedicated to the memory of James R. Dawe, a longtime arts advocate in San Diego and supporter of public libraries.

Tied to the environmentally focused work of artist Fernando Casasempere, Art of Elan and The San Diego Museum of Art are proud to present Ocean Music Action for an interactive family concert of music inspired by the beauty and wonder of our natural world. For this hour-long program in the May S. Marcy Sculpture Garden, children were encouraged to get up and move to the music, to ask questions, and to meet the musicians. The program included a singalong and a chance to experience the instruments up close. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Join the Ocean Music Action artists on Saturday June 1 from 9-11am for a beach cleanup with Surfrider San Diego. Surfrider Foundation does critical work to protect our oceans and waterways, and we can all pitch in!

Ocean Music Action’s ‘Everlasting’ program was inspired by the interconnectedness of all living things and the evolution of this relationship over time. A quartet of internationally renowned musicians (Megan Conley, harp; Shawn Conley, bass; Christina Courtin, violin/vocals; and Colin Jacobsen, violin) as well as dancer Maile Okamura performed music that honors our forests, oceans, and the creatures that depend on them. This program was centered around a newly commissioned work by Christina Courtin and serves as a beautiful and poignant reminder of our deep connection to nature and to one another. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Art of Elan’s Young Artists in Harmony composition program celebrated its Spring 2024 cohort with world premiere works by student composers, performed by Art of Elan musicians. This free concert took place at A Reason To Survive in National City. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Tied to George Rickey's sculpture "Two Lines Oblique: San Diego," this diverse program featured music by Arthur Honegger, Nahre Sol, Reena Ismail, and Osvaldo Golijov. Alyssa Morris' "Motion" for winds added a playful element to this musical mosaic which was held in the rotunda of the museum. Listen to the live concert recording, here.

Art of Elan and ArtPower’s first-ever collaboration brought the renowned JACK Quartet to San Diego for an evening of music titled “Modern Medieval,” where connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of American music today were explored in this one-hour program that included music by Caroline Shaw as well as Gabriella Smith. Listen to the live concert recording, here.

Tied to a cross-border exhibit (LA FRONTERA) that showcases handmade jewelry from artists on both sides of the U.S. / Mexico border, this program amplified a variety of voices, and featured the world premiere of an Art of Elan commissioned work by composer Michi Wiancko for solo harp, in addition to works by Sarah Kirkland Snider and others. Listen to the live concert recording, here.

Tied to Helen Frankenthaler's '“Warming of the Wires”, this colorful program featured the whirling folk melodies of Erberk Eryilmaz alongside the soaring sounds of Kevin Puts and the rhythmic games of Steve Reich. Milhaud's playful "7th String Quartet " received its San Diego debut on this rhapsodic program that also featured Vincent Persichetti's "Serenade for flute and harp." Listen to the live concert recording, here.

Featuring the epic Death and the Maiden string quartet by Franz Schubert (written in March 1824), this powerful program intentionally set the 200 year-old work at The JAI, in an intimate, contemporary cabaret space where listeners were asked to bring fresh ears to the experience. Listen to the live concert recording, here.

Art of Elan musicians workshopped Mason Bynes ‘Black Goo’, a newly commissioned piece by Art of Elan, as a film score for ICA San Diego artist-in-residence Danielle Dean, whose work draws from her multinational and multiracial heritage to explore colonization, consumption and our shared humanity.

Now in its 10th season in partnership with A Reason To Survive (ARTS), a nationally recognized organization that believes in the power of creativity to transform lives, Art of Elan’s Young Artists in Harmony composition program celebrated its Fall 2023 cohort as part of the California Festival with world premiere works by student composers, performed by Art of Elan musicians at A Reason to Survive in National City, CA. Listen to the live recording, here.

In collaboration with California Festival, Art of Elan’s popular downtown series returned with an evening of thought-provoking new music that featured the world premiere of works by Jory Herman (LA Phil bassist and composer) and Mason Bynes (multimedia composer), along with new music by trumpeter Steph Richards, drummer Andrew Munsey and others. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Art of Elan’s In the Here & Now in collaboration with the San Diego Symphony, featured a wide variety of composers whose new works collectively shape the soundtrack of our lives. From the spellbinding sounds of Juhi Bansal to the whirling folk melodies of Erberk Eryilmaz, and a world premiere of “Crossroads” by Nahre Sol, this colorful program reminded us of our diversity, our shared humanity, and our ability to celebrate both. This concert was part of the California Festival Series.

Maps & Memories was inspired by Mingei International Museum’s Washi Transformed exhibit featuring highly textured two-dimensional works, expressive sculptures, and dramatic installations that explore the astonishing potential of Japanese handmade paper, known as washi. Listen to the live concert recording here.

ENVZN23: Urban Art Takeover, a one-of-a-kind visual and performing arts festival, transformed Commercial St. corridor in Logan Heights with multi-sensory art installations by creatives from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border. We’re excited to have been one of the featured artists of the festival to showcase our performance of Elliot Cole’s Flowerpot Music No. 1.

Art of Elan’s Young Artists in Harmony composition program celebrated its Spring 2023 cohort with world premiere works by student composers, performed by Art of Elan musicians. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Divided Landscapes, a live Art of Elan concert at The San Diego Museum of Art, was inspired by the exhibit of Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore. This colorful program explored our shared humanity and our shared responsibility to care for each other and the world around us and featured a world premiere by composer Rand Steiger, performed by The Myriad Trio. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Defining Home was an Art of Elan live concert at Mingei International Museum, inspired by the “25 Million Stitches” exhibit that focuses on raising awareness of the global refugee crisis through large hand-sewn panels. This musical program highlighted various folk traditions from around the world. Listen to the live concert recording here.

Art of Elan, in collaboration with ICA San Diego, explored music as an entry point into the world of visual art in response to Edra Soto’s exhibition Graft. Art of Elan's performance took us on a journey: from the timeless music of J. S. Bach to the vibrant sounds of composers Marco Granados, Gabriela Lena Frank and Angelica Negrón, whose compositions explore the intricacies of cross-cultural identities. This immersive, multisensory, and dynamic experience provided a unique perspective of how diasporic communities shape identities in new places.

Portraits and Pictures, an Art of Elan concert at The San Diego Museum of Art was inspired by the incredibly life-like oil paintings of emerging artist Carlo Miranda. This diverse program was a mosaic of sounds, drawing from a myriad of musical traditions, histories and cultures. Listen to the live concert recording here.

The Shellie Zhang Residency Collaboration was an evening filled with visual and auditory experiences that explored the works of ICA San Diego Artist-in-Resident, Shellie Zhang and San Diego composer Lei Liang. Listen to the live concert recording here.

A celebration of the end of the year at Art of Elan's VIRTUAL happy hour with Executive and Artistic Director, Kate Hatmaker.