ASTRAL PROGRESSIONS WITH JOSEF LEIMBERG + FRIENDS. Virtuoso trumpeter and composer Josef Leimberg will make his Ford Theatres debut performing music from his recent album, Astral Progressions, a fusion of cosmic jazz with soul, R&B and hip-hop. Josef appeared on Kendrick Lamar's Grammy Award–winning LP To Pimp a Butterfly, and has worked with Snoop Dogg, Erykah Badu, Funkadelic, Thundercat and Dr. Dre, among others. For his Ford performance, he will bring along some of his favorite musicians and collaborators, including singer/songwriters Bilal, Jimetta Rose and Jermaine Holmes (D'Angelo's The Vanguard/Drumhedz), to perform his signature style of innovative and expansive jazz. Presented by Go As If

"TAO PO!" - WE ARE HERE! FEATURING KAYAMANAN NG LAHI PHILIPPINE FOLK ARTS, CELEBRATING ITS 26TH YEAR! “Tao Po!” – We Are Here! is a multi-disciplinary production that will cover the breadth of Philippine folk-based dance, music and song, juxtaposed with contemporary dance forms and musical stylings with underlying positive social messages. The show declares that Filipinos are here, there and everywhere, adding to the richly diverse cultural landscape of America. The evening will feature guest stars Deedee Magno Hall and Jennifer Paz of singing group Mama Bares and voice actors of Steven Universe, original music by Anthony Fedorov of American Idol, and the Glendale College Concert Singers with their musical director Dr. Peter Green.

JACOB JONAS THE COMPANY + TIM HECKER WITH KARA-LIS COVERDALE In partnership with the Ford Theatres, The Music Center On Location presents a double bill featuring groundbreaking artists in contemporary dance and music. Jacob Jonas The Company: Named “Best New Force in L.A. Dance in 2016” by LA Weekly, Jacob Jonas creates original work based on real-life situations. In a premiere of new work, On Me, commissioned by The Music Center On Location and set entirely to the music of Tim Hecker, Jonas blends contemporary ballet with breakdance and acrobatics to explore the idiom, “to carry the weight of the world on one’s shoulders.” With a reputation for honest visceral, intensely visual work, Jacob Jonas The Company has performed at the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out Festival, The Kennedy Center, the Wallis Center for the Performing Arts and the Ailey Citigroup Theater in New York. According to the Los Angeles Times, “When Jacob Jonas the Company performs, energy doesn’t just seem to bounce off the walls it reverberates off bodies.” Tim Hecker with Kara-Lis Coverdale: Juno award-winning Canadian composer and sound artist Tim Hecker has spent the last decade inhabiting a unique intersection between noise, dissonance and melody. He will present a special concert featuring a mix of past and new material in an entirely new configuration specifically designed for the outdoor setting at the Ford. In his varied and celebrated works, digital and organic sources tightly intertwine. The result is a hybrid aesthetic that recalls electronic abstraction and psychedelic American minimalism. Pitchforkmedia.com described Hecker as "one of Canada's most celebrated sound artists, imbuing electro-magnetic b-rolls with humanity and grace." As the New York Times put it, he plays “foreboding, abstract pieces in which static and sub-bass rumbles open up around slow-moving notes and chords, like fissures in the earth waiting to swallow them whole.” Hecker will be joined by Kara-Lis Coverdale, a fiercely independent voice in new music. Coverdale creates colorful and dense arrangements that blur the line between the human and the data with a unique penchant for long-form melody, harmony and sonic detail. She has been named “one of the most interesting composers in North America” by The Guardian, and her works and performances have been widely acclaimed by NPR, The Wire and more. The Music Center takes its creative vision beyond the places and spaces of its Downtown Los Angeles home and into the diverse venues and locales of greater Los Angeles with The Music Center On Location. Part of the IGNITE @ the FORD! series, made possible through the generous support of LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. Proceeds benefit the Ford Theatre Foundation.

MEXICO, DE TIERRA A MAR Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Pacífico Dance Company will present an evening exploring early Mexican history, myth and folktales through a signature blend of traditional and contemporary dance movements. The Ford stage will be transformed into Mictlan, a mythical Aztec world, to recount the rise of the fifth sun. One folktale that will be told through dance is that of La Llorona, the weeping woman, a spine-chilling urban legend about a scorned woman who dies of a broken heart that permeates Hispanic world culture. Pacífico will be accompanied by the musical talent of Mariachi Los Toros, a dynamic group of professional musicians whose passion for music is as evident as Pacífico’s devotion to the preservation of cultural roots through dance.

BRASIL 70: SAMBA / SOUL / RESISTANCE. Samba Society, a collective of musicians deeply rooted in traditional Brazilian music yet influenced by the global rhythms of Los Angeles, has put together an evening featuring artists at the forefront of the LA Brazilian music scene, including MôForró, Os Zagueiros and Samba Society, with special guests, Diana Purim, Thalma de Freitas, Marcel Camargo and Tita Lima. Highlighting some of Brazil’s most well-known traditional musical genres alongside internationally-influenced hybrid musical forms, Brasil 70: Samba / Soul / Resistance will take the audience on a musical journey of socio-political turmoil, viewed through the lens of the 1970s.

Syncopated Ladies: LIVE in LA is a groundbreaking all-female tap show that propels women onto a reinvigorated stage, weaving their inspiring stories with intricate footwork and life renewing energy. Dancing to music from salsa to Beyoncé to funk, this nonstop action-filled show features a band of critically acclaimed musicians and Syncopated Ladies Chloé Arnold, Maud Arnold, Orialis Ashley, Anissa Lee, Assata Madison and Melissa Tannus. The evening will also feature guest appearances by Chloé and Maud’s youth company #No Filter: Sole Talk, Emma Hellenkamp (So You Think You Can Dance), Artyon Celestine (Little Big Shots), Alaman Diadhou (World of Dance) and more.

FANTASM - ODYSSEY OF DREAMS The timeless tales of Scheherazade and the heroes of Arabian folklore will be reimagined for the Ford stage as we follow Sinbad on his voyages across imaginative worlds. More than 20 dancers will pull from a variety of Middle Eastern and contemporary folkloric dance styles to bring these mythical characters to life, set to an original score by Paul Dinletir, audiomachine’s co-founder and head composer.

Between the Lines - Little by Little: People I’ve Known and Been by Rich Little

Ford Theatres Live - An Evening with Martin Nievera. Presented by Pastiche Alchemy Entertainment (PAE Live!)