Palaver Strings—April in Santa Cruz

Kuumbwa Jazz, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Arts Division at UC Santa Cruz partner to present: A Change is Gonna Come, featuring Palaver Strings and tenor Nicholas Phan.

Grammy award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan joins Portland, Maine-based ensemble Palaver Strings, in a program that explores our country’s rich legacy of protest songs. Repertoire includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including Akenya Seymour’s “Fear the Lamb,” and Errollyn Wallen’s Protest Songs, both commissioned by the ensemble, and premiers written for this program by UC Santa Cruz composers Lukáš Janata and Siamak Barghi. Spanning genres, eras, and movements, A Change Is Gonna Come confronts our past and present and celebrates protest as one of our most precious rights.

This event is a co-production of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and April in Santa Cruz Festival of Creative Music.
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ADMISSION
– Tickets and information here on the Kuumbwa website
– Attend in-person at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in downtown Santa Cruz
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FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
– This year’s festival includes seven events between April 15 and May 21, 2026
– Additional April in Santa Cruz events and information at aprilsc.ucsc.edu
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A CHANGE IS GONNA COME
PALAVER STRINGS WITH NICHOLAS PHAN

image: photo of Palaver Strings
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