OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK
Maybe some people think of a ukulele as sort of a joke instrument that half-soused people plunk around a beach bonfire — but Jake Shimabukuro will quickly cure them of such wrong-headed thinking.
This uke phenom has taken the humble instrument that came with the Portuguese to the cane fields of Hawaii and collaborated with an array of artists as diverse as YoYo Ma, Bette Midler, Ziggy Marley, Cyndi Lauper and Lyle Lovett. He’s performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival, the TED conference and even on the Queen Elizabeth II. Now he’s coming to the Lensic at 7:30 p.m. Sunday with improvisation, as well as careful arrangements of compositions such as Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Schubert’s “Ave Maria.”
Tickets are $29-$44 and you can get them through the Lensic Box Office, www. ticketssantafe.org or by calling 988-1234.
CLIMB THE HILL:
Los Alamos offers a couple of musical treats today — but both at 7 p.m., so you’ll have to make a choice.
The Dover Quartet, which skyrocketed to fame after sweeping the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, is headed to the Duane Smith Auditorium, 1300 Diamond Drive, courtesy of the Los Alamos Concert Association. The first quartet-inresidence at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2013-14, the group is bringing a program that includes works by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as David Ludwig’s “Pale Blue Dot” that, appropriately enough, is inspired by Voyager’s missions into the cosmos and the view of Earth from afar.
Tickets are $30, available from www. ticketssantafe.org or 988-1234.
Also, Coro de Cámara promises a swinging concert at the Trinity on the Hill Episcopal Church, 3900 Trinity Drive, with New York Nuance: Music of Bernstein, Copland, Ellington and “Fats” Waller. C’mon, your fingers must be snapping just at the mention of some of those greats. Donations are accepted at the door.
Oh, wait, maybe you don’t have to choose. They’ll repeat the concert 7 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, 208 Grant Ave. in Santa Fe.
NUEVO TANGO:
The ever-popular Austin Piazzolla Quintet is making a return visit to GiG Performance Space, 1808 Second St., at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. This group has been filling the space with its original compositions and arrangements of music by the Argentinian master Astor Piazzolla, after whom the group is named (along with their home town), so get there early to get a good seat. Admission is $20 at the door.