Eliane Elias // Jobim Centennial Celebration
Saturday, April 24, 2027
7 pm Doors // 8 pm Music
All Ages
$149 ($176.54 w. taxes/fees) Premium Seating
$129 ($153.46 w. taxes/fees) Preferred Reserved Seating
$99 ($118.85 w. taxes/fees) Advance General Admission
$109 ($125 w. taxes/fees) At The Door General Admission
Ticket purchases are final and non-refundable
An incredibly rare and intimate musical tribute as multi-GRAMMY winning Brazilian pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias honors the 100th birthday of the legendary Brazilian composer, Antônio Carlos Jobim. Known throughout the world as the "father of the bossa nova,” his songs have come to define the musical aesthetic of Brazil.
Joined by acclaimed bassist Marc Johnson, Brazilian drummer and percussionist Rafael Barata, and Brazilian guitarist Leandro Pellegrino, Eliane will feature songs from her new album in a concert filled with the internationally-beloved sounds of bossa nova and samba.
With her upcoming release Dreams of Jobim (released January 22, 2027 — just days before the iconic composer’s 100th birthday), Eliane Elias pays spellbinding homage to the Brazilian master, demonstrating that virtuosity and beauty are natural companions. Songs like “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Desafinado” define a sound, a historic period, and a sensual approach to the music with their sophisticated harmonies and iconic lilting melodies.
Dreams of Jobim is a sensuous, hypnotic take on the music of Brazil’s most important composer. The program balances Jobim’s classics with lesser-known works, and Elias personalizes the music without losing the essence of each song.
Behind that achievement is the authenticity Elias brings, both as a Brazilian bandleader guiding some of her native country’s finest musicians and as a longtime friend of Jobim, who openly spoke about how much he admired and respected her musicianship. As Elias says, “Knowing Tom’s musical sensibilities, I believe he would have deeply appreciated the care, the art and craft represented in this recording. It would have made him happy and proud. Jobim was a romantic who had love for nature and humanity. His songs lift the human spirit and speak directly to the heart. My wish is to honor him and his music and give continuity to his legacy.”
The story of how Elias met Jobim is part of the lore of both jazz and Brazilian music. She was 17, a jazz-piano prodigy onstage with her trio at the storied São Paulo jazz club Opus 2004, when she noticed a table of Brazilian cultural figures near the bandstand: Jobim; his lyricist Vinícius de Moraes, among Brazil’s most beloved poets; and the singer and guitarist Toquinho. After the show, Elias was asked to join an extensive South American tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the partnership between Toquinho and De Moraes, which Jobim would join for select dates. She accepted, the tour lasted three years, and the rest is history.
Their friendship lasted throughout the rest of Jobim’s life. In the late 1980s while Elias was finalizing her Blue Note release Plays Jobim, featuring a band of jazz heavyweights, she went to his home in Manhattan to show him her new arrangements of his songs. “His eyes opened so big when I played him the ideas, and he was so happy,” she recalls. “He would hear my interpretations and say, ‘Ha! And I wrote that, huh?’”
In the years since Jobim’s passing, Elias has earned a reputation as his foremost torchbearer, bringing her jazz pianism and arranging skill to his music while retaining what she calls “the grace in the presentation, or the glide,” the seamless, liquid flow that defines the bossa nova aesthetic. Dreams of Jobim shows more imagination and ambition than Elias’ previous Jobim recordings.
The album features five compositions Elias has never recorded before: “Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars),” “Red Blouse,” “Triste,” “Meditation” and “Somewhere in the Hills.” It also includes five she is revisiting, or reinventing: “Água de Beber,” “The Girl From Ipanema,” “One Note Samba,” “Children’s Games” and “Anos Dourados.” All are arranged and produced with remarkable richness, making Dreams of Jobim an album to savor and revisit on headphones.
The album is a testament to Elias’ artistry and to the melodic gifts and rhythmic sway of Antonio Carlos Jobim. “I’m just thrilled to be making this tribute,” says Elias, “and it couldn’t be a more honest, more dedicated, genuine and cared-for tribute to my most loved Brazilian composer.”