I attended "Contrasts" last night 3 August and I found the orchestra to be fantastic. The conductor…read morealso seems to really lead the musicians with incredible energy. That being said, I didn't enjoy the pieces of music at all. Both composers were present and their compositions were "new wave" classic which I find disgusting compared to such artists as Beethoven, Mozart and Tchaikovsky. That is just my opinion. Ben F Tarsitano, DDS, MD.

This is an amazing, one-of-a-kind event. I've been volunteering with the festival for the last 12…read moreyears and it's always the highlight of my summer. I started with the student staff program where I was able to meet the musicians, take master classes, and compose music for the student ensemble. I even met my fiancee here. I still make it back every summer to usher the shows and listen to the great music. It's one of the only places you can hear the latest music not to mention music performed by highly skilled musicians that come from all across the country.

Pablo was wonderful! He's music songs were beautiful. For the size of our group he works well and…read morevery accommodating. Highly recommend him!

An entertaining dimension of the Good Life here in the Santa Cruz area is the varied soundscape…read more This ensemble (with a CD titled "Boa Vida" [good life]) brings broad experience (popular, classical, South/North America) with youthful enthusiasm. They light up the room, or the patio if you are outside! Make sure to request at least one tune by the Brazilian songsmith Dorival Caymmi! :) DJCP KSQD FM 90.7 (aka Prof. Dr. Charles A. Perrone)

The seating needs to be replaced. It is torture. Other than that it is a nice venue.read more

Nice place!! 778 seating capacity, clean and new…read more I was here for a Middle Eastern dance show and there isn't a bad seat in the house. I don't know what it's like backstage yet... (I will in the future, as I will be performing at an upcoming event) but the sound and lights were great from the audience and I had a great time. Very straightforward directions to get here. I'd happily go to another show here in the future.

We had Paris String Quartet play for our wedding at the Chaminade in Santa Cruz. They played…read moreamazingly and we heard lots of compliments about them after the event was finished. They played all of our requests including a great Star Wars song that blew my friend away. Aude was very professional and a delight to do business with. Definitely consider them for your event!

These ladies are fabulous. As an event planner it is important for me to find solid vendors that…read moreare a delight to work with and can deliver!

Eric's talent combined with his warm, easygoing demeanor makes him a joy to have at any occasion…read more He played for a birthday gathering we hosted in our backyard. He's professional and knows how to read an audience, changing up the music for different times of the evening. I would gladly book him again.

Eric was an excellent addition to our wedding ceremony & reception! A very classy and stylistic…read moreone! From booking with Eric, he was professional, prompt with his responses, and reasonably priced. We had very clear communication, and customized requests based on his song selections. The day of was beautiful, we and all of our guests loved the Spanish guitar. Only thing I wish is that we had him play LONGER! Highly recommend him for your event!

West Theater has been a life changer for my teenager. He has attended Harry Potter camps on up to…read moreimprov groups. They are kind and talented instructors and the curriculum is stellar. This program has given my son a sense of confidence and that is a gift that will last a lifetime.

This little gem of a studio offers classes for all ages and performances year round. I love the…read moreofferings, like improv and playlabs..I need a boot to the behind to motivate myself to attend but once there it's pretty magical. Attentive to details, the staff seems to have as much fun as the students. Makes me miss the SF art scene less and less. SC has the bright shiny shiny right here in my backyard..Lucky us.

I've been taking vocal lessons with Audrey and she's a wonderful teacher. Knowledgeable,…read moreencouraging and inspiring. Everything you want from someone helping you with your musical journey. The Skype lessons are super helpful as she takes video and the ability to watch and listen back to your exercises is incredibly valuable. I'm a drummer who is adding vocals to my repertoire and her assistance has been invaluable! I highly recommend!

Pulled my daughter (6 years old) out of the Disney Princess camp due to concerns that camp was…read morebeing treated more like a day care than an actual vocal camp. When we first dropped my daughter off at camp, my wife and I immediately felt a bit weird about this place. None of the instructors welcomed us in. In fact, only one of the instructors spoke to us. He actually recognized my wife from somewhere, but they couldn't remember where. After they figured out where they recognized each other from the coach's response was "Jesus F@#%$&* Christ, that's where I remember you from. Time sure flies!" Not exactly the type of language to be using in front of children. We checked in at lunch on the first day, and unfortunately, the instructors seemed to be more interested in whatever was going on with their phones than actually interacting with the kids. The scene was the same at pick up time. Coaches on the couch, kids playing on their own. When checking in with my daughter at lunch on the first day, she told us they hadn't sung anything yet. But instead watched a movie. At the end of the first day, we asked her "What songs did you sing today?" She told us she learned part of 1 song......over the course of a 6 hour camp. The following day was even more alarming when my when my wife went to pick our daughter up from camp and the coach informed her that they had a "very chill day." We asked our daughter what they did at camp and she said "We didn't sing at all today. Instead, the kids voted not to sing because there was a new kid and she didn't want to sing. I wanted to sing, but we voted. So we just watched movies and played dress up." I was dumbfounded. We had paid over $200 for a VOCAL camp. 2 days into this "vocal camp" our kid had watched Disney movies, played a lot of dress up and learned part of 1 song. After hearing all of this, I decided to call Forte. Nobody picked up the phone. So I drove down to their location to try and ask what had happened during camp that day. I proceeded to ask the lead vocal coach about the days events and why there was no singing today. Her response was (loosely quoted) "The kids decided they wanted to spend double time on costumes and so they voted not to sing today." "Also, the kids are young so they can't sing and do stage work all day, despite this being a vocal camp." I then asked when they are going to sing, and her response was (again loosely quoted) "Well they will have to spend the whole day singing tomorrow because they didn't sing today." (Wait....what? I'm confused. I thought the kids were "too young to spend all day singing...????) Never once did I receive an apology. But I did receive multiple attempts to justify why things at camp fell short. I notified the coach that my daughter wouldn't be attending the remaining days of the camp as I felt like this camp was totally misrepresented. To us, this camp acted more like a daycare. (But a daycare where the employees are more interested in whatever is happening on their cell phones than the children they are supposed to be interacting with.) We might have been able to just write this off, and chalk it up to one of those "you live and you learn lessons." But then something too coincidental happened and we felt like we just had to say something. We purchased a spot in this camp after seeing a posting on the Facebook site "Scotts Valley Virtual Garage Sale." The head vocal coach says a parent bought the spot, but their child came down with pneumonia, so she was trying to help her sell it. OK. Well interestingly enough, 2 weeks later the same head vocal coach posts on Scotts Valley Virtual Garage Sale again that a parent purchased a spot for their child for Katy Perry camp, but instead they decided to go to Hawaii, and thus she decided to help sell her spot. Coincidence? Maybe, but it sure feels more like a deceiving way to sell spots in your vocal camp. It feels unethical. I took screen shots of the two postings and uploaded them to yelp so you can review them if you want. Our daughter has attended many dance/performing arts camps for similar or even cheaper pricing. So this was not our first go-round. The other camps we have been a part of have all been professionally run. Unfortunately, Forte Vocal Academy's Disney Princess Vocal Camp felt completely thrown together. It lacked structure, professionalism, and even common courtesy.

This review is focused on the Actors' Theater inside the Arts Center…read more This is a cozy and petite community theater with intimate seating. The stage is close to the audience, which seats around 40 people. This means that there there is not a bad seat in the house. I recently saw a play there titled 8 Tens @ 8, Part 2, which consisted of 8 plays each lasting 19 minutes. I really enjoyed this production and now want to see more plays. In auto the Actors' Theater, there are some sone other shops/offices here that were all closed when I visited.

This is more than just a theater: it also has several small boutiques that sell locally made…read moreartworks, including art quilts, nature-themed sculptures, and so on. The location is fairly convenient, too.