Pink Martini is one of those bands that resists easy description — part jazz ensemble, part chamber orchestra, part world music collective — and their annual holiday show is exactly that energy applied to December. On Saturday, December 5, 2026, Pink Martini All-Stars: A Season of Stars comes to Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center in Davis, with a 7:30 PM curtain. That’s about 20 minutes from downtown Sacramento, and it’s one of the more distinctive options on the region’s performing arts calendar this winter.
The Show
This isn’t a standard holiday concert. Pink Martini, the Portland-based “little orchestra” founded by pianist and conductor Thomas Lauderdale in 1994, has built a catalog that spans more than 25 languages and ranges freely across jazz, classical, Latin, and pop. Their holiday programs follow the same spirit: familiar carols sit next to original compositions, and the multilingual repertoire turns what could be a generic December show into something with actual character.
The All-Stars version of the tour spotlights three of the ensemble’s most prominent collaborative vocalists. Ari Shapiro — best known as a longtime host on NPR’s All Things Considered — has been performing with Pink Martini for several years, and his cabaret sensibility fits the ensemble’s approach well. Edna Vázquez is a Sacramento-area singer who brings a Mexican and Latin American vocal tradition to the show. Jimmie Herrod, who came to wider attention through his America’s Got Talent performances, rounds out the vocal lineup. Together they lead a program of holiday classics and new material in Pink Martini’s signature style.
The Venue
Jackson Hall at the Mondavi Center is UC Davis’s main performing arts stage — a 1,800-seat hall on the Davis campus that draws national and international touring performers that don’t always stop in Sacramento proper. The acoustics are good, the sightlines are clean, and the hall has enough scale to feel like an event without becoming anonymous. Parking is available in the campus structure adjacent to the venue; a fee applies on weekends.
Davis is roughly 15 miles west of downtown Sacramento via I-80. From most Sacramento neighborhoods the drive runs 20 to 25 minutes. For a Saturday evening show that starts at 7:30 PM, leaving by 6:45 PM gives comfortable time for parking and finding seats.
Who This Works For
Pink Martini draws a broad audience — listeners who came up on NPR, fans of jazz and cabaret, Spanish and French speakers who recognize what the band does with multilingual material, and people who want a December night out that feels different from the standard holiday concert. The show is not particularly appropriate for young children (there’s nothing wrong with it, but the material runs sophisticated), but it works well for couples, groups of friends, and parents looking for a grown-up December event while the kids have their own Nutcracker outings.
The same night — December 5 — the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus opens its Holiday HITS! show at Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. If you’re planning December performing arts, both events land on the same date, so one is a weekend option and the other is a different night.
The Details
- What: Pink Martini All-Stars: A Season of Stars
- When: Saturday, December 5, 2026, 7:30 PM
- Where: Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center, UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616
- Featured vocalists: Ari Shapiro, Edna Vázquez, Jimmie Herrod
- Tickets: mondaviarts.org
- Parking: Campus structure adjacent to venue; fee applies
- Drive from Sacramento: Approximately 15–20 minutes via I-80 West
Putting It in Context
December’s performing arts calendar in the Sacramento region is dense. Candlelight Concerts continue through the winter at multiple Sacramento venues, the Glenn Miller Orchestra plays Memorial Auditorium on December 14, and various theater productions run across the region. The Pink Martini show is an outlier in the best sense — it doesn’t fit cleanly into any category, which is exactly why it fills seats every time the ensemble comes through.
Bottom Line
Pink Martini All-Stars at the Mondavi Center on December 5 is a 7:30 PM show in Davis — a short drive from Sacramento — featuring three vocalists and the ensemble’s characteristic mix of languages and styles applied to a holiday program. It’s a better fit for adults looking for something different than for families seeking a traditional holiday experience, but for the audience it suits, it’s a strong evening. Tickets through the Mondavi Center’s website, and capacity at Jackson Hall is finite enough that waiting until December to buy is a real risk.
