Events

TAIKOPROJECT celebrates 25 years of taiko creativity and innovation with a new concert production entitled “25.” Featuring new compositions and choreography and stunning costumes by acclaimed designer Sueko Oshimoto, “25” will take audiences on a thundering roller coaster of the senses. TAIKOPROJECT has astonished audiences worldwide since 2000 with their unique blend of traditional taiko & innovative aesthetics.

"Grabbing the Hammer Lane: A Trucker Narrative" is a searing, 60-minute, one-act play about prodigal rebellion and fleeting moments for redemption written by and starring David M. Proctor. Matt, a long-haul trucker, hits the road to find himself and the freedom he desires — only to become imprisoned over time in a steel cell on 18 wheels. Clarence remains at home, diminishing with the passage of time and from the anguish he bears from losing the love he pushed away. With humor, grit, and in-your-face honesty, Hammer Lane chronicles the lives of these two men living different sides of one story — a story about rejection, regret, separation, and the devastating consequences of rage-fueled choices. It offers an intimate glimpse of a final reckoning after a six-million-mile journey back home.

C Street Brass will return to the San Juan Islands October 26 and 27 as part of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s Musicians-in-Residence program. Known for their energetic performances and wide-ranging musical style, the ensemble moves comfortably between traditional chamber music, jazz, and popular music, creating concerts that are engaging and
accessible to audiences of all ages.

Orcas Improv: Last Thursday Night is the place for improvised comedy on island every Last Thursday of the month. Improv groups and players borne from the classes and Monday evening Improv Jams (Whalewreck) at Orcas Center perform fully improvised bits, made up, on-the-spot, based on audience suggestions and stories and transformed right before your eyes and ears. From food items to scientific subjects, we'll take your suggestion and find the funny within.

Hailed as "terrific," by the New York Times, "impossible to resist" by the Montreal Gazette, and "imaginative, intelligent, and strangely mesmerizing" by the San Diego Union Tribune; Phina Pipia takes audiences on an adventure overflowing with the delightfully unexpected. A tuba lights the way, beds make music, paintings come to life, and a radio delivers a message from the past in a whimsical production that combines elements of illusion, music, and theater. When a young grad student discovers that Leonardo da Vinci and his collaborator, magician and mathematician Luca Pacioli, invented a time machine, she is zapped back to the Renaissance. It’s up to her to decode their notes and solve a 15th-century mystery so that she can return to the present.

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. In 2016, Pasquale Grasso received the kind of endorsement most rising guitarists can only dream of when Pat Metheny was asked to name impressive younger musicians in an interview for Vintage Guitar Magazine.

Break out the hairspray and leg warmers. New Leaf Cafe is turning back the clock for "Totally Rad '80s Prom Gone Bad," a murder mystery dinner on Saturday, Nov. 14, beginning at 6 p.m. The event is a fundraiser for Orcas Center. Tickets are $195 per person and include dinner prepared by New Leaf and drinks like Bloody Carrie and Pretty in Pink. Seating is limited; you can purchase tickets at www.orcascenter.org. Please note your menu preference (vegan or non-vegan) when booking. During the ticket buying process, you will have an option to select your level of involvement, from main characters, secondary characters, or ensemble observers.

Sign-ups are now open for the 2026 Battle of the Bands, Orcas Island's local music event of the year, returning to Orcas Center on Sunday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. and ticket sales are live! Hosted by Pedro LopezDeVictoria and Jamey Moriarty, the night pits original music by Orcas Island artists head-to-head across a range of categories, with audiences dancing along and cheering on their favorites. Organizers promise a night of laughs, a few tears, and no shortage of rock. A handful of surprises are also in store for the evening.

Come enjoy a night of live music at the Orcas Center on November 22nd. Sturtz and Zan Fiskum have toured together in the past, and both groups are led by vocal powerhouses. Sturtz is a folk duo based out of Longmont, CO, but they travel to the PNW at least once a year to share their music. Zan is based out of Maple Valley, WA, and loves making it out to the islands whenever possible. Join us for this night of impressive harmony!

They’re back! The Olga Symphony is thrilled to be returning to Orcas Center for their traditional Thanksgiving weekend show, November 27 and 28 at 7pm. As always, admission is by donation and all proceeds will support Orcas Center and other island charities. The band appreciates your generosity that makes this possible!

First recorded in 1963 by the Robert Shaw Chorale and RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, The Many Moods of Christmas has become one of the most beloved collections of traditional Christmas music in the American choral repertoire. Following the success of Robert Russell Bennett's earlier collaboration with the great contralto Marian Anderson, RCA commissioned Bennett to arrange eighteen familiar...

Orcas Dance Collective is again presenting the Salish Sea Nutcracker! Featuring many wildlife themes that make our island home so magical, this full-length dream ballet will showcase an intergenerational cast of local dancers. Salish Sea Nutcracker is a nautical twist on the traditional ballet, featuring roles such as the Sea Star Fairy, Great Blue Heron, Octopus Fairy, Orca Whales, and more!