Ventura Music Festival announces ‘String Theory: The Fall Series’ (Oct. 11-18)

String Theory: The Fall Series

October 11-18, 2026

Some physicists believe that at the subatomic level, the universe isn’t made of particles at all… it’s made of strings. Tiny, vibrating strings, each one humming at a different frequency, each one producing something entirely different. They posit that these strings are the heart of all matter; everything we can see, touch, or feel. Though we can’t speak with authority on matters of theoretical physics, we know this much: when the right strings vibrate together, something extraordinary emerges. That’s string theory, and that’s what’s coming in the 2026 Fall Series.

There’s a common thread running through October: from the violin at the heart of Birth of Impressionism, putting you inside a revolution in musical history, to the genre-defying strings of TAKE3, where Bach sounds like a stadium show, to two fiddle legends performing in the open air at golden hour. The series then expands outward into a 19-piece big band paying tribute to one of the most restlessly creative minds in American music, and finally, at the very end of the year, twelve voices filling a sanctuary with five centuries of choral music. And it all begins with the return of a cherished VMF tradition: Tea & Trumpets on October 11th, the perfect opening note.

Tea and Trumpets is one of those VMF experiences that, once you’ve been, you make sure you don’t miss. An elegant afternoon tea, a beautiful setting at the historic Pierpont Inn, and a live brass quintet filling the room with sound. It’s civilized and joyful in equal measure, and it’s back by popular demand. Act quickly! It’s selling out…

October 15 | Birth of Impressionism | Museum of Ventura County | 7 PM

VMF Artistic Director Nuvi Mehta returns with another Classical Edge Concert — the format that turns a night of classical music into something closer to a guided adventure. Birth of Impressionism traces a pivotal moment in musical history, weaving live performance together with storytelling to bring the Impressionist movement off the page and into the room.

October 16 | TAKE3: Where Rock Meets Bach | Ventura Music Hall | 7 PM

TAKE3 is the kind of ensemble that makes you reconsider what chamber music can be. The violin, cello, and piano trio is conservatory-trained and, frankly, rock-star electrifying — technically immaculate and completely willing to blow the roof off. Their evening at Ventura Music Hall is ticketed directly through the venue, and it will sell.

October 17 | Michael Cleveland and Jason Carter | Mission Park | 5 PM

Sponsored by Vita Arts Center, The Welcome Room, Ofi Property and Daly Group

This one is outdoors, at Mission Park, at golden hour, and it features the two most decorated fiddle players in the history of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Michael Cleveland has won IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year twelve times. Jason Carter has won it six. Together on one stage, in the open air, on a Ventura October evening — we’ll just leave that image with you.

The centerpiece. Pacific Jazz Orchestra brings its 19-piece Big Band Ensemble to Rancho Campana Performing Arts Center for an evening built entirely around the early genius of Quincy Jones — his big band recordings, his luminous arrangements for Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan, his groundbreaking film scores for The Pawnbroker and In the Heat of the Night. This is the Jones that existed before the pop world claimed him, and it is extraordinary material.

Artistic Director and conductor Chris Walden — a seven-time Grammy nominee who counts Jones among his personal mentors — leads the ensemble through original arrangements drawn from that early catalog. Joining him are vocalists Nayanna Holley (a decade-long member of the house band on NBC’s The Voice, with credits including The Color Purple, Encanto, and the Academy Awards) and Adam “Aejaye” Jackson, a Detroit-born artist whose collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, Toni Braxton, and David Foster speak for themselves.

And then, two months later, we close the season the way it deserves to close. Chanticleer is twelve male voices, five centuries of choral music, one million recordings sold, and coming to Ventura Center for Spiritual Living for a special holiday concert. If you know Chanticleer, you already have this on your calendar. If you don’t, consider this your introduction.

IMPRESARIO

The John & Glenda Hammer Family

VIRTUOSO

Jordan Laby, In Memoriam

Vita Art Center, The Welcome Room, OFI Property, and Vince Daly

COMPOSER

Boyko & Reardon Telegraph Rd, Mortuary & Cremation FD 2390

Joseph Reardon Funeral Home & Cremation Service FD 883

Freddie Contarino

The Hemming Family

Mary Ann Cohen, New Art City Theatre

The City of Ventura

CONDUCTOR

EJ Harrison & Sons – Nan Drake

The Hopps Family

Richard & Lori Reisman

Spencer & Nancy Garrett

ORCHESTRA

Jill Walker & Mark Arndt

Penny Barnds

Bob & Mary Braitman

Betsy Chess

DeeDee Dorskind & Brad Tabach-Bank

Bruce Hanifan

Bill & Elise Kearney

Patricia Lathrop-McPherson

Barbara Meister

Keith & Kathleen Richmond

Jennifer O’Toole

Nancy Sieh

Steven & Rebecca Snyder

Blake & Charlie Wade

Dr. Rosalind Warner & Dr. Michael Hogan

Leanne Wood & Rene Hubert

SOLOIST

Ann Ahlstone

Sally Crain

Ivor Davis, In Memoriam

Eric Oltmann & Susan Van Abel

Pegasus Transportation

Port of Hueneme

Louise Sherman