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Garden Concerts for Kids
8/5/2017 - 8/20/2017
Garden Concerts for Kids is a free outdoor music series for kids and their families in the Getty Center’s Central Garden featuring some of the best children’s musical artists from across the nation.
Please feel free to bring a picnic blanket, but lawn chairs are not allowed.
Secret Agent 23 Skidoo
Date: Saturday and Sunday, August 5 and 6, 2017
Time: 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: Central Garden
Admission: Free; no ticket required
Grammy-winning hip-hop artist, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo combines the excitement of hip-hop with the magical world of childhood. With sophisticated instrumental funk and positive, witty wordplay, he has earned a loyal national following. His latest album, Infinity Plus One, took home music’s biggest prize at the 59th Grammy Awards for Best Children’s Album of the Year and in a heartfelt speech, he dedicated the award to his daughter, who’s been rapping at his side since she was just five years old. Secret Agent 23 Skidoo’s songs take kids into outer space with “Glimmer” about a moth who flies to the moon, and “Tastes Like Space,” an exploration of the intergalactic destiny of Carl Sagan’s famous Gold Record. His classic hip-hop sound is spiced with Motown, reggae, club thump, blues and the occasional pirate shanty—the perfect summer sound for the whole family.
Dan Zanes with Claudia Eliaza, Pauline Jean, and Special Guests
Date: Saturday and Sunday, August 12 and 13, 2017
Time: 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: Central Garden
Admission: Free; no ticket required
Grammy award-winner Dan Zanes occupies a unique place in American music where sea shanties, folk music, the spirit of early rock ‘n’ roll, and soulful originals collide. For over 15 years he has performed everywhere from thrift shop basements to Carnegie Hall, from Brooklyn to Bahrain and beyond, meanwhile releasing over a dozen children’s albums and several DVDs reconnecting people to forgotten songs. Referred to as “the family-music genre’s most outspoken and eloquent advocate” by TIME magazine, his widely acclaimed music has all been featured on Sesame Street, Playhouse Disney, Nickelodeon, HBO Family, and Sprout. Zanes recently finished Ha-Ha This Away, an album released on the Smithsonian/Folkways label celebrating the children’s music of his main inspiration, Lead Belly (1889–1949), known as the King of the 12-String Guitar. Routinely performing with a large roster of friends, Zanes will be joined by Haitian-American jazz vocalists Claudia Eliaza and Pauline Jean, and other special guests.
Sonia De Los Santos
Date: Saturday and Sunday, August 19 and 20, 2017
Time: 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: Central Garden
Admission: Free; no tickets required
Sonia De Los Santos hails from Monterrey, Mexico and has spent ten years touring the world, singing in English and Spanish, playing guitar, mandolin, and jarana, and lighting up the stage with Grammy Award-winning group Dan Zanes and Friends. Now with her own multicultural band, she shares songs from her celebrated album, Mi Viaje: De Nuevo León to the New York Island (Parents’ Choice Foundation Gold Award Winner) a collection of songs that reflect on her experiences growing up in Mexico, moving to another country, learning about other cultures, and in the process, feeling closer to her own heritage. This unique concert is filled with original songs, Latin American party tunes and new bilingual versions of American classics, making it a personal, and yet universal, musical story from a soulful and important new voice in family music. Messages of joyful community music-making and cultural bridge-building will inspire and excite children and grown-ups of all backgrounds.
Sonia has been hailed by Billboard as “one of the Latin Children’s music artists you should know” and her music has been featured on NBC’s Visiones, Sirius XM’s Kids Place Live and WXPN’s Kids Corner among others. She has also made numerous appearances as a singer and guitarist on TV shows like ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’s The Early Show, and Sprout’s The Sunny Side up Show.
Admission to the Getty is free. Parking is $15.
