If you were in the audience this November when the Danish String Quartet (DSQ) performed with the 50-member Danish National Girls' Choir, you were a part of history in the making. That performance marked a brand-new collaboration between the two revered Danish groups, and was their only U.S. appearance together. Savor clips of gorgeous music and get a behind-the-scenes look at the ambitious undertaking with this video created by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, which sent a crew to the Granada Theatre to document the event.

"We realized that we and the choir would be in the U.S. at the same time," DSQ violinist Asbjørn Nørgaard explains, "and Arts & Lectures is a presenter who has the courage to get involved in crazy projects such as this one."

"We want to show that beauty and the beast can and should live side by side" Nørgaard said in an interview for the Santa Barbara Independent. "If you put a string quartet on a stage, the default sound is quite beautiful. Then add 50 singing girls, and it is like putting sugar on an ice cream. So we have worked a lot to present a program that shows some darker sides. A girls’ choir can sound like angels, but they can also be as scary as the twins in Kubrick’s The Shining."

Intrigued? Enjoy the full November 12 concert plus commentary (in Danish!), courtesy the Danish Broadcasting Corporation.  

A&L's resident humorist David Sedaris has been bringing his keen – and hilarious – observations of American culture to the Santa Barbara stage for nearly a decade. He recently penned a piece for The New Yorker about learning to hoard from a master – his father – and failing miserably when put to the test. Whether you have enough T.P. on hand to last a lifetime or you're like David and his sister Amy, who can't keep the cupboard stocked with enough food for dinner tonight, Sedaris will bring some much-appreciated humor to your day.

We're excited to announce that Sedaris will be back this fall! Stay tuned for our 2020-2021 season announcement in June.

Yo-Yo Ma, one of the world’s most renowned and beloved musicians and a great friend to A&L, is offering comfort through music in this time of crisis. He has been posting videos of himself performing short "Songs of Comfort" and encouraging musicians of all levels around the world to join him. Watch his interview with PBS Newshour to hear more about the project, and check out #SongsOfComfort to see how he's inspired musicians of various genres and nations to comfort and inspire us all. 

When women’s rights icon Anita Hill came to A&L this February to discuss putting an end to sexual harassment, she visited with students from UCSB's newly-formed Feminist Futures initiative. 

The students expressed their awe at being able to speak directly with one of their heroes, and Hill led a powerful, wide-ranging discussion of the possibilities of what we could achieve if we stopped using pigeonholing rhetoric such as "victim" and "ally" and instead recognized a more nuanced experience for all. Hill's public lecture was the inagural event for The Center for Feminist Futures, committed to accelerating progress toward a more just future. 

Get to know A&L's Manager of Ticketing Operations 

Rachel Leslie might be the person at A&L you know best, even if you don't realize it. As our manager of ticketing operations, she has probably helped you pick the best seats for your favorite show, handed you your ticket at the will call table or – more likely these days – been processing your refund. 

A master of many talents, Rachel is coming to the rescue yet again, offering creative ways to spend your days at home.  

As promised last week, here's a selection of recommendations from your fellow bookworms. Buy locally from Chaucer's Books, now taking web and phone orders and offering curbside pickup, or avail yourself of the Santa Barbara Public Library's cache of digital offerings. 

– Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
– The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
– Daemon Voices: On Stories and Storytelling by Philip Pullman
– The Source of Self Regard by Toni Morrison
– Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
– Autumn Light by Pico Iyer
– Moo by Jane Smiley