Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts Presents Line Up of Performances Throughout January

After a short break for the holidays, the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts resumes its 2021–2022 season with several powerful performances throughout January. Percussion group TAIKOPROJECT, violinist Jenny Scheinman, and Grammy-nominee Joan Osborne, and the Weepies are just a few of the artists making their appearances in Malibu this month. 

The first of the spring performances features the group TAIKOPROJECT on January 14 at 7:30 PM in Smothers Theatre on the Malibu campus. Inspired by Benzaiten, the Japanese goddess of everything that flows, the TAIKOPROJECT’s new concert effortlessly combines power and strength with grace and movement. The group harnesses a dynamic of contemporary taiko, music, storytelling, and choreography to connect with ancient Japanese tradition and modern innovation for a powerful percussive experience. 

On January 21 at 8 PM in Smothers Theatre, acclaimed composer and violinist Jenny Scheinman will help audiences experience the sights and sounds of the Great Depression in the multimedia performance Kannapolis: A Moving Portrait. Scheinman will perform a live soundtrack for filmmaker H. Lee Waters’ documentary of more than 118 small towns in the southeastern United States between 1936 and 1942.

That same weekend, the Four Freshmen will bring their harmonic jazz arrangements and big band vocal sounds to Smothers Theatre on January 23 at 2 PM. Joan Osborne and the Weepies will join forces on January 25 at 8 PM for an intimate evening of passionate music. The Queen’s Cartoonists, Gabriel Martins, and Collision of Rhythm will have their own performances to close out the month. 

To learn more about the schedule of shows throughout spring 2022 and purchase tickets, visit the Center for the Arts website.