Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival (2024)

Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival (3)

Paid admission includes unlimited access to workshops for various levels of playing ability and a variety of topics, plus live all-star performances by some of today’s most popular ukulele players continuously throughout the day (included in admission).

For those just getting started on the path to making music and discovering the ukulele, the festival offers FREE ukulele classes for beginners of all ages and free access to Ukulele Marketplace where festival goers can browse a variety of entry level instruments and fun stuff and grab a bite to eat or cool off with refreshing island style shave ice.

Buy Tickets Now

FREE BEGINNER UKULELE CLASSES

All Day Saturday! Nakano Theatre, Torrance Cultural Arts Center

*Does not include entry into main festival event

FREE beginner classes & demonstrations throughout the day Saturday Sept 21! No admission required but seating is first come, first served.Bring your ukulele; if you don't have one, there will be a variety of entry-level friendly instruments available for purchase. Prize giveaways, too!

Ukulele 101 Beginner Bootcamp 9:30am, 11:00am

All Day Saturday! Nakano Theatre, Torrance Cultural Arts Center

Teens and adults: join us and jumpstart your musical journey - you'll be strumming your first song by theend of the hour!Pre-teen kids are welcome with parent supervision and encouragement.Bernadette Plazola is a certified music teacher and holds a bachelor's degree in music and a master's degree in education.

Seniors: Get Started Playing Ukulele 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30PM

All Day Saturday! Nakano Theatre, Torrance Cultural Arts Center

Seniors: Get Started Playing Ukulele 12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30PM

For all rank novices who have never played an instrument before but with a focus on seniors seeking mental exercise - because learning something new is great for brain health! Melanie Lawson Kareem is the Founder and Creative Director of Get Started Playing Ukulele; her proprietary teaching materials and methods simplify and expedite the learning process.

Buy Tickets Now

WORKSHOPS (INCLUDED WITH PAID FESTIVAL ADMISSION)

Confident Beginner

Confident Beginner: You can strum through the basic chords without breaking the rhythm. Perhaps you've nailed down a couple of strumming and fingerpicking patterns as well.

Intermediate

Confident Beginner

Intermediate level: You have an extended chord vocabulary and can strum a steady rhythm while singing. An intermediate student is able to catch on and follow along on simple tunes fairly quickly.

Advanced

Confident Beginner

STRUM-ALONG'S

Advanced level: You can hear chord progressions, mastered some chord inversions and barre/4-fingered closed chords and can strum/fingerpick a steady rhythm while changing chords.

STRUM-ALONG'S

SLACK KEY UKULELE - KAMUELA KIMOKEO

STRUM-ALONG'S

There'll be two 30-min group strum-along's during the day, led by Peter Luongo

SLACK KEY UKULELE - KAMUELA KIMOKEO

"Slack Key" - or Ki Ho'alu in Hawaiian - refers to the open tuned guitar style that originated among the Hawaiian cowboys. In this class, Dr Kamuela Kimokeo (Director of the Hawai‘i Music Institute and head of the music program at Windward Community College) will show you how to recreate the quintessential sound of the islands - in standard ukulele tuning.

FINGERSTYLE UKULELE - JEFF PETERSON

SLACK KEY UKULELE - KAMUELA KIMOKEO

CLASSES TBA

BLUES UKULELE - BORIS MOGILEVSKI

PERCUSSIVE UKULELE - VIGGY KOLANSINSKI

Blues is a universal musical language that bridges various music styles, making it a perfect focus for our workshop. You'll learn one of Boris' original 12-bar blues themes he composed especially for this event. He'll break down chords, melody, rhythm, strumming, and percussive playing. The highlight will be learning to play together as a band, incorporating different parts to create a harmonious sound like an orchestra or a real band.

PERCUSSIVE UKULELE - VIGGY KOLANSINSKI

Spice up your strumming withy Viggy in this rockin' workshop all about percussive ukulele! You'll learn how to incorporate kick drums, snare drums, and hi hats into your playing - no drum set needed! Track-list: Sunday Morning by Maroon 5, Ram On by Paul McCartney, Come As You Are by Nirvana

build your own chords - 4stringboy

PERCUSSIVE UKULELE - VIGGY KOLANSINSKI

build your own chords - 4stringboy

In this workshop Sammy will teach you how to playmany new exciting variations of chords that willadd some wonder to your sound, without learning a million new chord shapes. Sammy will break down the theory behind this so that you can apply it to whatever chord or song you're playing - no previous theory knowledge needed!

MORE CLASSES TBA

Flamenco Sevillanas - DANIEL WARD

build your own chords - 4stringboy

Flamenco Sevillanas - DANIEL WARD

Learn two short traditional songs in the flamenco style named after the town they came from: Sevilla. There are hundreds of these songs that all share the same form. They are easy to learn and combine a tasty right hand strum with Spanish melodies and can be played solo, as a duet or as a group, and will lead to hours of fun long after the class is over.

MORE CLASSES TBA

Flamenco Sevillanas - DANIEL WARD

CLASSES TBA

Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival (10)

WORKSHOP & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Did we mention all workshops and performances are included in the price of admission? Take as many classes as you like that you feel are level appropriate, join in on open mic, or, if you prefer, simply hang out and enjoy the continuous stage performances in the Torino Plaza.

PURCHASE TICKETS

Download THE SCHEDULE

Files coming soon.

Torino Plaza Performances - Heidi Swedberg, MC

Welcome! First Prize Drawing

9am

Cali Rose & CC Strummers

9:30am

Danilo Vignola

10:30am

Victoria "Viggy" Kolasinski

11am

Sammy Turton

12pm

Hi'ikua

12:30pm

Bernadette Plazola & Friends

1:30pm

Boris Mogilevski

2pm

Jeff Peterson

3pm

Langley Ensemble

3:30pm

Daniel Ward, Prize Drawing #2

4:30pm

Aldrine Guerrero

5pm

Closeout Strum-Along W/Heidi Swedberg

6pm

Ken Miller Auditorium

Open Mic

9:30am

Click to signup

Robert Krout, Music Therapist: “Therapeutic Ukulele – Healthy Vibrations”

10:30am

Descriptions of the roles of the ukulele in therapeutic music interventions date to the 1950’s and 60’s and have continued through today. This presentation will explore how the ukulele can be used as a motivating instrument of health and healing with children, teens, adults, and seniors. Uses of the ukulele in creative self care and therapeutic community music will also be examined.

Open Mic

11am

Click to signup

Strum-Along w/Peter Luongo

12pm

Open Mic

12:30pm

Click to signup

Strum-Along w/Peter Luongo

1:30pm

Open Mic

2pm

Click to signup

Robert Krout, Music Therapist: “Therapeutic Ukulele – Healthy Vibrations”

3pm

Open Mic

3:30pm - 4:30pm

Click to signup

Ken Miller Assembly Room Workshops

Jeff Peterson

9:30am

Fingerstyle Ukulele

Jeff Peterson

11am

Fingerstyle Ukulele

Victoria "Viggy" Kolasinski

12:30pm

Percussive Ukulele

Sammy Turton

2pm

Build your own chords

Victoria "Viggy" Kolasinski

3:30pm - 4:30pm

Percussive Ukulele

Toyota Meeting Hall Workshops

Kamuela Kimokeo

9:30am

Hawaiian Slack Key Ukulele

Kamuela Kimokeo

11am

Hawaiian Slack Key Ukulele

Boris Mogilevski

12pm-1:30PM

Blues Ukulele

Aldrine Guerrero

2pm

Chord Melody

Aldrine Guerrero

3:30pm

Chord Melody

Garden Room Workshops

Sammy Turton

9:30am

Build your own chords

Daniel Ward

11am

Flamenco Ukulele

Daniel Ward

12:30pm

Flamenco Ukulele

Danilo Vignola

2pm

Mediterranean Style Ukulele

Danilo Vignola

3:30pm-4:30pm

Mediterranean Style Ukulele

Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival (11)

Join the email list!

Don't miss out on festival updates, news, and special offers & announcements

Sign me up!

This website uses cookies.

We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.