Our 8-year old daughter just completed a week of musical theater camp at PAA of Marin and is now…read moregoing back for the "Triple Threat" (singing, acting & dancing) course. She loved the experience and we - the parents - loved the way she developed both her artistic talent AND collaborative skills in working as an ensemble/team. We highly recommend this for kids who want to have fun while learning important life lessons applicable to everything we do in today's world. Performing in a musical theater production involves creativity, self-expression, discipline, practice, attunement to what's going on around oneself, and working with others. A great way to build multiple skills while having a great time.

-----Adding to address Annie's comment below: Annie - if…read moreindeed you want to apply consistency across all performers, then when we fly in for the performance on Sunday we will join the show just like a number of other caucasian ensemble performers who had lower attendance and are still being allowed on stage. I plan to have my video on, so will record any interactions in which we're stopped from going on stage, and point to the caucasian students who have missed tech rehearsals this week yet still being allowed on stage. If paam is keeping our money, then we are performing on Sunday. Paam can also issue a refund and we'll be happy to go separate ways. But Paam does not get to take all our money and disallow us to be on stage yet allow others to be on stage who have lower attendance than our kids. Appreciate you doing the right thing. -----Original post: Our experience with the Performing Arts Academy of Marin (PAAM) has been deeply disappointing -- both in terms of fairness and the overall learning outcomes. The program feels heavily commercialized, prioritizing revenue over education or student experience. Tuition is extremely high for what ultimately amounts to very limited technical instruction, the pressure of buying vanity products aimed at parents who think their kids a star is everywhere, and the refund/credit policies are rigid to the point of being unreasonable. I've never written about race or discrimination in a review before, but I feel obligated to address it here because it has affected my daughters repeatedly. In the lyrical squad, choreography has been super simple and non-technical, yet cast placements have shown a clear pattern: the same Caucasian dancers are routinely placed front and center, while my older daughter -- who is a good dancer but not Caucasian -- is continually placed in the back or off to the far side. My younger daughter was once put in the front purely due to her small size in a formation, but it wasn't part of any fair or rotating system that would give all dancers a chance to shine. The final straw has been this: Multiple Caucasian dancers have been allowed to miss tech rehearsals and still participate in shows. Meanwhile, my daughters, who need to miss a single 24-hour window for a required ski team race and assessment (and for which we arranged to return early at significant cost of flying in, tickets already purchased), were told just 3 days before that they would not be allowed to perform once they fly in -- despite knowing their choreography thoroughly and being disciplined, capable dancers. The rigidity applied to them simply hasn't been applied to others. The pattern is painful to watch as a parent. It's demoralizing for kids who have worked hard and earned their place on stage. It's their right and not someone's at the front desk to strip them of who doesn't even see them. At the start of the year parents also receive an extremely one-sided agreement through DocuSign -- which I declined to sign because it was so imbalanced. I can't say I'm surprised. But it is disheartening to pay thousands of dollars for a program that delivers minimal instruction, selectively enforces rules for preferential kids, and ultimately allows discriminatory dynamics to persist. I wish our experience had been different, but based on what we've seen, I cannot recommend PAAM for families seeking a fair, inclusive, or educationally meaningful dance program.

This company is AMAZING!! I hired them site unseen from a friends recommendation and they were…read moreFABULOUS! On a scale of 1-10 they scored a 20! They came early to my event, professionally dressed and when they started to play the "Celebration of Life" took off. Every single person attending this event said how wonderful the trio was and we could not have been happier! If you need any music played for any event this is the company for YOU!

Ever Music Group just performed at our wedding last April and they did a FANTASTIC job. They are…read moresuper professional and "tick all the boxes" in terms of having excellent music and creating an amazing environment at a wedding / special event. Where Ever REALLY impressed and made a huge difference is just how nice and accommodating Brian (the group coordinator) is. We got married at the Auberge du Soleil which has pretty strict rules regarding approved music groups - that was a challenge for us given I wanted my college friend to sing the "first dance" song. Luckily, when I shared this idea with Brian, he was happy to accommodate! He worked directly with my friend and coordinated everything. The day of, everything went off seamlessly. Brian had directly worked with the venue on setup time and didn't charge anything extra even though they had to show up early. There were also no disruptive sound checks - they were just totally professional and ready to go the minute our speeches were done and we did the "big reveal" of the cake / dance floor / band. Ever is professional, accommodating, and excellent overall. Thank you Brian for being an amazing and SEAMLESS part of our big day!

What a treat! The Marin Symphony is a highly underrated group. And my new favorite musical…read moreorchestra. Though I am from San Francisco and have seen the SF Symphony at Davies several times, I much more prefer the Marin Symphony performances at the Marin Veterans Memorial Center. I've seen two performances this year--Waterfront Pops: The Music of John Williams, and most recently Holiday Pops. Waterfront Pops was performed outdoors near the Lagoon of the Marin Center. There is ample parking, and very easy to get to just off the freeway. The line up was amazing, and had all of my favorite John Williams songs. The choice of songs was arranged perfectly, starting and ending with Olympic themes. Indiana Jones, Schindler's List, The Patriot, Hook, Jaws, ET, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Superman...All of the classics were played. The songs transported you back to the movie all over again. The Holiday Pops performance was equally beautiful. I love the intimate venue of the Marin Center, as every seat is a good one. Tickets for performances are extremely reasonable--$50.00 for an orchestra seat. Song choice was just perfect, mixing in traditional songs with more contemporary arrangements. The Nutcracker selection was a treat, and at times, sounded better than when I saw the actual performance of the Nutcracker at the War Memorial Opera House (I do not like the sound system there). The finale of Sleigh Bells topped off a truly magical evening. Conductor Alasdair Neal is a lot of fun, personable, and tells great stories. He's a lot of fun to watch conducting as he gets really animated and always looks like hes having so much fun on stage. At one point, during the Trepak performance from the Nutcracker, it looks like he was having a seizure of some sort from from his enthusiasm. Overall, I thoroughly enjoy seeing the Marin Symphony on the two occasions that I've attended their shows, and look forward to seeing Disney Classics next year. A must.

Their local performances are delightful. We are so fortunate that the symphony continues to bring…read moreus beautiful music in a time of so much noise.

The Street School Artist Collective, or SSAC, is creating some of the best original,…read morethought-provoking stage art that San Francisco has seen in years. With a talented cast of various artists, from writers, actors, and musicians to technicians, and chapters in both SF and LA, the SSAC is poised for a breakout in the near future. Check their website for upcoming shows; you won't be disappointed!

I found City Lights Band, as I was perusing my high school year book. They played for one or more…read moreof my high school Father-Daughter dinner dances. I was so happy to discover that 10+ years later, they were still together and active! Their website has many different samples of their music. http://www.citylightsband.net/ We chose them because they have a huge repertoire of music to play from, and a very strong male & female vocalist. They were able to play bosa nova jazz music during dinner, which made the wedding so much more elegant and festive. My husband really wanted to add some brass to their 6 piece band. Barry, the band leader, was very easy going, and fun to work with-- not to mention his great sense of humor! He helped Emc the night. We added a sax and a trumpet, which made the band sound fantastic! We chose "At Last" as our first song-- which everyone was so impressed with. Thank you City Lights Band! BTW, the band members live all over the bay area. The band leader, Barry, lives near Santa Rosa. They perform all over the bay area, and all over California!

We saw Pride & Joy Band last night for the first time. They were epic. Such talent. Their music got…read morethe entire crowd dancing. They had such an awesome stage presence. They play a lot of R & B but don't stop there. Bay Area band. If you get a chance see them. You will not be disappointed. Pride & Joy thank you for such a fun night.

Such a fun party band. Always the highlight of summer music. If you enjoy Motown music, you'll…read morecertainly enjoy Pride & Joy. They're the best local band in the SF Bay Area!

Our 14 year old daughter has participated in Piedmont East Bay Children's Choir (PEBCC) for 8 years…read moreand it has enriched her life enormously and she has relished every moment. It offers an amazingly diverse and inclusive community, the ability to build life long friendships, and formal music and singing instruction. The choir singers all perform in front of the community a few times a year and the older singers also tour and compete internationally. And many of the singers perform with such visible joy and smiles. The artistic directors (just two in its 45 year history) are lovely, very talented and technically skilled and proficient. The successor artistic director, Eric Tuan, attended PEBCC and is also a composer , including a piece called Nagasaki, about his Japanese grandmother's account of her surviving the nuclear bombing which the choir will perform during their Japan next summer. Just a remarkable organization which also performs a touching graduation ceremony for the departing seniors every year and who typically average 10+ years of attendance.

PEBCC is one of the most important things in my life. PEBCC has amazing directors and staff that…read morenot only care about you as a musician but as a person. The level of musicianship here is insane, but the community is even better. This chior is not only a Chior, but a family. Also the swag is pretty cool

Amazing klezmar / jazz / swing band we hired for our wedding! Ben Brussels, the band leader, was…read moreprofessional and friendly, and helped us greatly to enjoy our reception. The band played a mix of traditional Jewish music, popular hits, jazz and swing. Ben was happy to oblige us with some non-traditional requests, and spent two hours helping us to outline our event and prepare us for the evening. On our wedding day, he took great pains to arrive early, helped non-Jewish guests feel comfortable about participating in the Hora, and responded to the crowd's moods with a variety of music. Thanks Ben!

I truly can not recommend Ben Brussell and Klezmania highly enough. Every single aspect of working…read morewith Ben was easy and actually a joy -communicating and planning my daughter's Bat Mitzvah celebration. The band's music was extraordinary - beautiful and motivating and energizing. Ben and Klezmania understood the mood and energy level and we literally had 100 people (children, teens and adults; Jews and non-Jews; dancers and non-dancers) all holding hands and twirling and swirling together on and on. It was a once in a lifetime experience. (Maybe twice in a lifetime - we will definitely hire them again for our son's Bar Mitzvah!)