Dec 20 Saturday
Garden d’Lights is a dazzling holiday tradition that transforms the Bellevue Botanical Garden into a magical wonderland of over half a million sparkling lights in whimsical shapes of plants, flowers, birds, animals, and cascading waterfalls, all set amid the Garden’s natural beauty. Now celebrating its 31st year, this beloved family event continues to enchant visitors with festive charm and imaginative displays.
Join us to celebrate American roots piano music including ragtime, blues, boogie-woogie, stride jazz, swing, and straight ahead styles. Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome to come and hit the keys, meet new friends, and share in the joy of keeping these classic music styles alive. Black and Tan Hall has a fine grand piano, so polish up your best solo piano pieces for a rollicking good time. Fans, friends, listeners and dancers are welcome too.
For our December meetup, how about preparing a bluesy, raggy, or jazzy version of a favorite holiday tune?
Black and Tan Hall will also be hosting a holiday craft fair so there will be lots of nifty gift ideas to browse.
B# (Be sharp) and be there!
Join us to celebrate American roots piano music including ragtime, blues, boogie-woogie, stride jazz, swing, and straight ahead styles. Players of all ages and skill levels are welcome to come and hit the keys, meet new friends, and share in the joy of keeping these classic music styles alive. Black and Tan Hall has a fine grand piano, so polish up your best solo piano pieces for a rollicking good time. Fans, friends, listeners and dancers are welcome too! Great food from the kitchen available.
World class Jazz saxophone player and Golden Ear award winner Kareem Kandi brings his trio to Jazz on J Street. Based in Tacoma, Kareem Kandi travels to France annually to participate in the thriving Jazz scene there. Kareem Kandi-Saxophones Craig Feingold-BassJacques Willis-Drumset
Live Jazz!
Northern LightsMusic of the Nordic and Baltic Countries
The otherworldly beauty of the aurora borealis is the spark for our holiday concert. From medieval chant and traditional carols to dazzling works by Arvo Pärt, Ola Gjeilo, and Veljo Tormis, you’ll journey through a thousand years of ethereal Baltic and Nordic choral music. In our centerpiece, Northern Lights by Ēriks Ešenvalds, voices, chimes, and tuned water goblets combine to evoke the spectacle of the aurora.
In person: Saturday, December 13, 2025 ‐ 3pm & 7pmChapel at Bastyr University - Kenmore, WApre-concert conversation at 2:30pm & 6:30pm
In person: Saturday, December 20, 2025 ‐ 3pm & 7pmSeattle First Baptist Church - Harvard & Seneca, Seattlepre-concert conversation at 2:30pm & 6:30pm
Streaming: Monday, December 22, 2025 ‐ 7:30pm online, free; donations gratefully acceptedpremiering on YouTube on December 22 and available on-demand for 30 days
Of note: Our performances of Northern Lights at Bastyr University Chapel will be sung-through, and will not include any spoken introductions to the pieces after our welcome message; we will ask the audience to hold applause until the end of the concert. These concerts will be recorded.
Our performances of Northern Lights at Seattle First Baptist Church will include introductions from choir members and Karen P. Thomas, and audience members will be encouraged to applaud as they are moved to do so.
Audience favorites Rachell Ellen Wong (violin) and David Belkovski (harpsichord) bring nature-inspired soundscapes from the Baroque era to life with Northwest Sinfonietta strings. The inventive genius of Telemann, Vivaldi and Biber will surprise and delight you, with trilling birdsong, croaking frogs and even mewling cats. Let Northwest Sinfonietta entertain you and your family with a magical concert this holiday season.
Welcomed by KNKX. Frank Vignola is one of the most extraordinary guitarists performing before the public today. His stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, John Lewis, Tommy Emmanuel, Lionel Hampton, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List:” for the Wall Street Journal.
His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 21 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.
Pasquale Grasso - It was the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of, and then some. In his interview for Vintage Guitar magazine’s February 2016 cover story, Pat Metheny was asked to name some younger musicians who’d impressed him. “The best guitar player I’ve heard in maybe my entire life is floating around now, Pasquale Grasso,” said the jazz-guitar icon and NEA Jazz Master. “This guy is doing something so amazingly musical and so difficult. “Mostly what I hear now are guitar players who sound a little bit like me mixed with a little bit of [John Scofield] and a little bit of [Bill Frisell],” he continued. “What’s interesting about Pasquale is that he doesn’t sound anything like that at all. In a way, it is a little bit of a throwback, because his model—which is an incredible model to have—is Bud Powell. He has somehow captured the essence of that language from piano onto guitar in a way that almost nobody has ever addressed. He’s the most significant new guy I’ve heard in many, many years.”
KIDSTAGE proudly presents a student-performed production of James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim’s take on everyone’s favorite storybook characters, brought together for a timeless, yet relevant, piece… and a rare modern classic. The Tony Award-winning book and score are both enchanting and touching.
The story follows a Baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King’s Festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk. When the Baker and his wife learn that they cannot have a child because of a Witch’s curse, the two set off on a journey to break the curse. Everyone’s wish is granted, but the consequences of their actions return to haunt them later with disastrous results.
KIDSTAGE proudly presents a student-performed concert production of Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, the electropop opera from award-winning composer Dave Malloy based on a scandalous slice of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Young and impulsive, Natasha Rostova arrives in Moscow to await the return of her fiancé from the front lines. When she falls under the spell of the roguish Anatole, it is up to Pierre, a family friend in the middle of an existential crisis, to pick up the pieces of her shattered reputation.
