Featured Events
Below is a sample of the many arts activities happening around campus during the Spring 2024 semester.
Please visit the respective departments' websites for a full list of activities.
The Rebirth of Apsara | February 1 | Green Music Center
The Rebirth of Apsara is a full-length dance/theatre work that investigates the relationship between art and war, exploring how Cambodian arts and in particular Apsara, fabled female celestial beings, have embodies the essence of Cambodian culture from ancient mythology to its post-genocide resurrection. The performance features esteemed dancers from Cambodia and live music.
Themes: Cambodian arts, dance, ancient mythology, the Cambodian genocide
In the Heights | February 9-11 and 16-18 | Person Theatre
In the Heights tells the universal story of a vibrant community in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood - a community on the brink of change, full of hopes, dreams, and pressures, where the biggest struggles can be deciding which traditions you take with you and which ones you leaves behind.
Music, lyrics, and conceived by Lin-Manuel Miranda | Book by Quiara Alegria Hudes
Faculty Music Director: Lynne Morrow | Faculaty Stage Director: Marie Ramirez Downing
This Land is Our Land | Martha Redbone and the American Patchwork Quartet
February 22 | Green Music Center
Martha Redbone's soul-stirring voice and music are a tasty gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel celebrating her southeastern Cherokee/Choctaw and African American heritage. American Patchwork Quartet expertly weaves together jazz refinement, country twang, and West African hypnotics to create a musical patchwork that celebrates our differences and commonalities as a nation.
Themes: Indigenous and African American cultures, immigration, inclusion, cultural equity
Print Press Play! showcases Sonoma State University's exceptional collection of prints. Featuring art by luminaries including Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, David Alfaro Siqueiros and many others, the exhibition explores the how and why of printmaking with over thirty artworks on display, videos of the printmaking process, and hands-on interactives.
Themes: art practice, history of communications, art history: American, Mexican, European
(Image: Alexander Calder, Nez et Oreilles Tres Gais, 1969, color lithograph, Sonoma State University Art Collection)
Music Department Concerts & Events | Various Dates | Green Music Center
Performances throughout the semester by students, faculty, and guest artists, including SSU's Jazz Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir and SonoVoce, Brass Ensemble, Concert Jazz Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band, Jewish Music Series, and more.
The Sound of {Black} Music | March 1 | Green Music Center
The Sound of {Black} Music is a vibrant one-act concert reimagining of the classic Rogers and Hammerstein musical; through a utopian, Afrofuturistic lens full of love. Cherished songs such as "Do-Re-Mi," "Edelweiss," and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" are recast through a Black roots music kaleidoscope of jazz, gospel, blues, soul, funk, and Afro-beat.
Themes: Black joy, Afrofuturism, American roots music
The Art of Bob Nugent | March 4 - August 4 | University Library Art Gallery
Curated by Museum Studies students at Sonoma State, The Art of Bob Nugent features the work of Professor Emeritus Bob Nugent. Nugent divides his time between Sonoma County and Brazil, and his work is informed by his time in the rainforest, the indigenous people that inspire him, and his exploration of shamanism.
Power Lines New Play Festival & Senior Projects | April 4-7 | Ives Hall 119
Get on the ground floor of the playwrights of tomorrow in these workshop productions of student one-acts. Plus, creative works directed, performed, designed, and produced by graduating seniors of Theatre Arts & Dance.
Tonality | You Are Not Alone | April 11 | Green Music Center
Tonality represents the diverse cultures and ethnicities within the LA area, and uses their collective voices to present concerts on themes of social justice in hopes to act as a catalyst toward empathy and community activism. In their latest program, You Are Not Alone, Tonality sings of the labels placed on those with mental illness. This concert speaks through the eyes of poets and artists who have dealt or deal with mental illness issues, and explores how we can be of support to members of our community who need compassion, understanding, and validation.
Themes: mental illness, cultivating empathy
Spring Dance: Student Choreographers | May 2-5 | Person Theatre
Join SSU student dance artists as they explore, create, and perform original works across a broad range of dance genres. Student choreography celebrates the creativity and talent of future dance artists, and promises to be full of inventive, bold, and expressive movement.