Season Calendar

The Nutcracker in Oxnard

Saturday - December 7: 2pm and 7pm and Sunday - December 8: 7pm | Oxnard Performing Arts Center

We are thrilled to expand our Nutcracker tradition in a new partnership with Ventura County Ballet! This year, for the first time, the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra will accompany Ventura County Ballet's production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker at the beautiful 1600-seat Oxnard Performing Arts Center! There's nothing like ending the year with a grand performance of The Nutcracker with live full orchestra. Join us in Oxnard and make it a stay-cation!

Saturday, December 7, 2pm and 7pm
Sunday, December 8, 2pm

The Nutcracker in San Luis Obispo

FRIDAY - December 13, 7pm; SATURDAY - December 14, 2pm & 7pm; SUNDAY - December 15, 2pm | Performing Arts Center San Luis Obispo

The end of the year means, Civic Ballet San Luis Obispo's presentation of Lorilee Silvaggio’sThe Nutcracker! For over 40 years, the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo has presented this holiday classic (including 25 years performing to sold out audiences). Lori Lee Silvaggio’s The Nutcracker is filled with all the pageantry, magic and wonder that have made this one of the most enduring holiday traditions around the globe. Audiences of all ages will marvel in this spectacular and professional production, accompanied by the OperaSLO Grand Orchestra conducted by OperaSLO's General and Artistic Director, Maestro Brian Asher Alhadeff.

Friday, Dec. 13th at 7pm

Saturday, Dec. 14th at 2PM and 7PM

Sunday, Dec. 15th at 2 PM

The Nutcracker in Santa Barbara

SATURDAY - December 21, 2pm & 7:30pm; SUNDAY - December 22, 2pm | Granada Theater Santa Barbara

The end of the year means The Nutcracker, Santa Barbara-style at one of California's most beautiful venues - the historic Granada Theatre. Audiences of all ages will marvel at the magic and wonder of this spectacular and professional production by Santa Barbara's State Street Ballet, accompanied by the OperaSLO Grand Orchestra conducted by OperaSLO Artistic Director, Maestro Brian Asher Alhadeff. 

Saturday, December 21, 2023; 2:00 pm and 7:30pm
Sunday, December 22, 2023; 2:00 pm

Behind Barbed Wire - WORLD PREMIERE

Friday, January 31, 2025 | 7:30pm | Clark Center in Arroyo Grande

Behind Barbed Wire: A Glimpse at Central Coast Japanese American Life During WWII centers around 1942, a few weeks prior to graduation, when nearly 45% of the Arroyo Grande High School Graduating Class were bussed with their Japanese-American families to isolated internment camps. Historian Jim Gregory (author of World War II Arroyo Grande), composer Deon Nielsen Price (Behind Barbed Wire), and conductor Brian Alhadeff (OperaSLO Grand Orchestra), are pleased to present a commemoration of that tumultuous time.

With a live orchestra and a big band, guest performers, video, poetry, swing music of the 1940’s and narration, this special production shares this region’s local heritage of sacrifice, friendship, patriotism, hard work, and community solidarity.

Featuring: Darryl Taylor, Countertenor; Chika Inoue, Saxophone; Mary Au, Piano; Narration by Jim Gregory, People of Honor; Video Editing by Highlight Media – Christina Bearce; Musical Compositions by Deon Nielsen Price; Justine Prado Manro, Stage Director; Friendly Neighborhood Big Band, Mitch Latting, Director; and the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra with Brian Asher Alhadeff, Music Director and Conductor

Sponsored by: Culver Crest Publications, Osumi Agricultural Company Inc., South County Historical Society, Hayashi Family Farms, Opera San Luis Obispo, an the Clark Center for the Performing Arts.

The Little Mermaid - WORLD PREMIERE BALLET

Saturday, March 1: 2pm & 7:30pm | Sunday, March 2: 2pm at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara

The Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra joins forces with State Street Ballet Santa Barbara and OSLO Resident composer Charles Fernandez in a world premiere ballet featuring all-new sets, costumes, life-sized puppets. In this heartwarming tale, The Little Mermaid takes the ultimate adventure, sacrificing her tail and her voice to experience life as a human and pursue true love. An imaginative take on a classic story, this production is perfect for all ages.

Choreography by Megan Philipp and Cecily MacDougall
Music by Charles Fernandez (World Premiere)
Featuring the Opera San Luis Obispo Grand Orchestra
Conducted by Brian Asher Alhadeff

*Young audience members are invited to enter the theater at 1:15 pm on March 2nd to take a photo with a real ballerina and hear her tell the story of The Little Mermaid.

*Families with special needs or small children are invited to our first sensory-friendly Performance on March 1 at 2:00 pm. During sensory-friendly performances, the lights in the theater stay on, the music is played more quietly, fidget items are welcome, and patrons can move, vocalize, and behave in ways that are often unfamiliar in other performance settings. Tickets are $20; subsidized tickets are available upon request.

*This is a State Street Ballet Santa Barbara season production which OperaSLO is honored to collaborate.