Subscription sales are set to begin Saturday (April 9) for the 10th anniversary season — 2011-12 — at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

While most people do their buying online or by phone, the Mondavi Center plans an open house in the lobby from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that first day, to offer in-person assistance.

Regular hours at the box office at noon to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Telephone: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787.

The center is once again offering discounts to staff and faculty:

• Prepackaged series — 30 percent off regular ticket prices and 25 percent off add-on tickets throughout the season.
• Choose-your-own plans (five or more events) — 25 percent off regular ticket prices and 20 percent off additional purchases throughout the season.

All tickets for students and children are 50 percent off.

Single-event tickets are scheduled to go on sale Aug. 12.

Read last week's Dateline UC Davis story on the new season.

The 2011-12 brochure: See it online or by download.

'Just added' for summertime

The Mondavi Center this week announced late spring and early summer concerts in Jackson Hall: the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Pink Martini. These are in addition to Summer Music on the Quad, a free program; look for an announcement in mid-May.

“Jackson Hall has traditionally been quiet over the summer, but a first visit to the Mondavi Center by the extraordinary Pink Martini, and a return engagement by Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, always a favorite, were too good to pass up,” said Jeremy Ganter, associate executive director and director of programming.

“Each, in their own way, will make for a fitting coda to a great season and will help usher in the summer in high style."

Each concert is being presented as a “just added” event for the 2010-11 season; tickets are set to go on sale April 18.

• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — The “greatest large jazz ensemble working today,” according to the Chicago Tribune, draws from an extensive repertoire, including original works by Marsalis, Ted Nash and other members of the group. Marsalis, trumpeter, and the orchestra’s leader and music director, received the Pulitzer Prize in music in 1997 — becoming the first jazz artist to be so honored. He earned the prize for Blood on the Fields, a commissioned work for Jazz at Lincoln Center, the orchestra’s parent organization (with Marsalis as artistic director). 8 p.m. Saturday, June 18.

• Pink Martini — A 12-member band that draws inspiration jazz, classical, old-fashioned pop and the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s and ’50s — with a more global perspective. As Pink Martini bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale said, “If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, then hopefully we’d be that band.” Pink Martini’s latest album is Splendour in the Grass, described as a virtual carnival of musical influences, with one grand purpose: to rebuild a culture that sings and dances. 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 5.

More at the Mondavi

• The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma — The cellist's concert is sold out. Contact the box office to inquire about the waiting list for tickets that may be returned. 8 p.m. Friday, April 8. Preperformance talk by Henry Spiller, associate professor, Department of Music, 7 p.m., AGR Room, Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center.

• Lara Downes: Long Time Coming — The Mondavi Center's artist in residence offers a poignant reflection on Duke Ellington's enduring legacy, the power of hope in troubled times and the dramatic impact of American music on our nation's history. Downes has more than her piano playing in store for the audience. Indeed, Long Time Coming is a multimedia concert — featuring music, film and spoken word. Downes is set to perform a new solo arrangement of Ellington’s iconic World War II-era New World A-Comin’, and David Sanford's modern-day response. The program also includes guest performers from the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet and the poetry of former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. 8 p.m. Saturday, April 9, and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre. Preperformance talks, featuring Sanford and Downes, in conversation, 7 p.m. April 9 and 1 p.m. April 10, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

• Sarah Silverman — "The most outrageously funny woman alive," as proclaimed by Rolling Stone magazine, makes her Mondavi Center debut. 7 p.m. Sunday, April 10, Jackson Hall.

• China Philharmonic Orchestra — With Long Yu, conductor and music director, and Renaud Capuçon, violin. Program: Berlioz, Roman Carnival Overture; Bruch, Violin Concerto; Alexander Borodin, Polovtsian March from Prince Igor; Giacomo Puccini, Preludio sinfonico; and Maurice Ravel, Boléro. 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, Jackson Hall. Preperformance talk by Christian Baldini, assistant professor, Department of Music, and conductor of the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra. 7 p.m., Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

• Max Raabe and Palast Orchester — Performing a mix of German and American standards, Raabe and his 12-piece band bring Weimar-era cabaret to life, channeling the high style and musical glory of the 1920s and '30s with uncanny precision, drama and humor. 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, Jackson Hall.

• Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer — Three masterful genre-benders perform in the Crossings series. Fleck (banjo), Hussain (tabla) and Meyer (bass) move with ease among the worlds of classical, bluegrass, jazz and world music. 8 p.m. Thursday, April 14, Jackson Hall.

• Gold Coast Trio — In this Department of Music program, Susan Lamb Cook, faculty affiliate in cello, performs with Rachel Vetter Huang, violin; and Hao Huang, piano. Program: Beethoven, Trio in B-flat Major, op. 97 (Archduke); Martinu, Trio in D Minor; Zwilich, Trio; and Brahms, Trio in C Major, op. 87. 8 p.m. Friday, April 15, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

• UC Davis Symphony Orchestra: Picnic Day Concert — A free performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, with Lois Brandwynne, piano. Noon Saturday, April 16, Jackson Hall.

• UC Davis Empyrean Ensemble: Meanwhile, In Europe — Program: John Stringer, Disquiet; Bent Sørensen, Phantasmagoria; Gianvincenzo Cresta, Sospesi-Anonimi, Diseredati, Poeti; Petr Bakla, For Eduard Herzog; and Steingrimur Rohloff, The Sinus Experience II, an Empyrean Ensemble commission for flute, clarinet, vibraphone, violin, viola, cello and piano (2010-11). 7 p.m. Sunday, April 17, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

• Focus on Film: Der Untergang (Downfall) — About Hitler's final days, as he raged against his powerlessness to stop the fall of Berlin, and with it, World War II and the Third Reich. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel with music by Stephan Zacharias. 156 minutes, rated R. 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre.

• Buddy Guy — The guitar-playing blues legend, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, a living link to that city’s halcyon days of electric blues, and a chief influence to such rock titans as Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Rolling Stone puts Guy 30th on the magazine’s listing of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. In 2008, at the age of 71, he made the Rolling Stone cover for the first time — in connection with “Stone Crazy,” ranked 78th among the 100 greatest guitar songs of all time. Guy received a National Medal of Arts in 2003 and a place in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. He is the recipient of 29 W.C. Handy Blues Awards, five Grammy Awards and the Billboard Magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement.As Guy’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame biography notes, “He’s renowned for his raw, blistering vocals and high-voltage guitar playing … employing feedback, distortion and extreme string-bending.” 8 p.m. Friday, April 22, Jackson Hall.

Tickets are available online, or by visiting or calling the Mondavi Center box office, (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787. Box office hours: noon-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday.