10 Best Performing Arts Venues in The Monterey Bay Area, California

Each August, the festival brings some of the world's finest artists to the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium to play groundbreaking symphonic music, including major world premieres.

The festival has presented the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, his contemporaries, and musical heirs in concerts and recitals since 1935. The festival runs for three weeks, starting mid-July.

Traditional jazz bands play early jazz, big band, swing, ragtime, blues, zydeco, and gypsy jazz at waterfront venues during this festival, held on the first full weekend of March.

The center draws top performers such as Lee Ritenour, Chris Potter, and the Dave Holland Trio. A café serves meals an hour before most shows.

The world's oldest jazz festival attracts top-name performers to the Monterey Fairgrounds on the third full weekend of September.

The symphony performs classical concerts from October through May at the Sunset Center in Carmel and at the Performing Arts Center of the Steinbeck Institute of Art & Culture in Salinas.

The theater puts on the Carmel Shakespeare Festival from September through October and performs contemporary dramas and comedies at several area venues throughout the year.

From February through May the festival presents classical music at various venues and holds pre- and postseason events. The focus is on 17th- and 18th-century composers such as Bach and Handel.

This is the Monterey Bay Area's top venue for the performing arts presents concerts, lectures, and headline acts.

The former Salz Tannery now contains nearly 30 studios and live-work spaces for artists whose disciplines range from ceramics and glass to film and digital media; most have public hours of operation. Performances also take place at the on-site Colligan Theater, and the center hosts assorted arts events on weekends and, occasionally, on weekdays.