Enjoy student music ensembles on The Plaza when you arrive early for select shows. BroadStage’s Pre-Show on The Plaza series includes performances by music students who have been mentored by and have performed with our Artist in Residence Stanley Clarke: Cameron Ravare, Luca Zamora, and Morgan Martin from LUNCH CREW, and Sam Smylie from Sam Smylie’s Trio. Together with music students from our partner schools and organizations, these performances create a welcoming environment on The Plaza. Come support BroadStage’s commitment to intergenerational arts learning!

Lunch Crew Band is a jazz ensemble featuring young musicians who play together in the SMC Applied Music program, SMC Jazz Ensemble, and Just Jazz Collective. Lunch Crew Band includes alumni from BroadStage’s Artist in Residency with Stanley Clarke, Cameron Ravare (saxophonist), Luca Zamora (keyboardist), and Morgan Martin (drummer). Lunch Crew Band is led and founded by Chris Ravare (bassist/saxophonist), with the most recent addition, Lance Butler (guitarist), both current students of various SMC programs. Together, they explore a mix of jazz influences and creative themes to find a style of their own.

See Lunch Crew before the performance on September 27th. 

The Applied Music Program provides music students the opportunity for affordable private instruction in preparation for transfer as music majors to four-year universities or conservatories. The competitive, admission-based program offers participants instruction in voice, any instrument, or composition, and various stylistic/historical musical traditions.

See the SMC Applied Music Program before the shows on October 5th, December 17th, and March 8th. 

SMC Mariachi Ensemble rehearses and performs both revered mariachi repertoire, special arrangements of mariachi music, and contemporary compositions.

See the SMC Mariachi Ensemble perform before the show on October 10th, and February 1st.

SOL-LA is a Santa Monica, California-based music academy whose mission is to provide high quality performing arts education to students from all backgrounds and economic circumstances, in an engaging and encouraging environment fostering achievement and community. SOL-LA's programming includes a variety of group music classes for ages 0-18, the Chamber Music Institute at SOL-LA, and individual lessons in strings, piano, flute, clarinet, voice, and guitar for all ages and levels.

See SOL-LA perform before the shows on October 18th, November 16th, December 13th, and February 28th. 

Elemental Music offers after-school music ensembles in Santa Monica and surrounding westside areas for elementary, middle, and high school students. Our programs foster a love for music, giving students the chance to make music with friends and create community!

See Elemental Music perform before the shows on January 31st and March 29th.

The Samohi Chamber Orchestra is the most advanced string ensemble of the Santa Monica High School (Samohi) Orchestra Program. This award-winning ensemble performs highly advanced classical repertoire on campus and for the public, from chamber concerts to a performance tour of South Korea in the spring of 2026 with concerts in Busan, Daegu, and Seoul.The Samohi Orchestra program provides a wide range of opportunities for students of all levels, from beginners to advanced, ensuring all interested students can explore their interest in and passion for music.

See the Samohi Orchestra perform before the show on March 7th, April 26th, and June 7th.

Sam Smylie is an emerging American jazz composer and songwriter based in Santa Monica, California. While at SMC, Sam participated in BroadStage’s Artist Residency with Four-time Grammy Award-winning bassist Stanley Clarke. He was selected to play piano alongside Clarke at college concerts, as frontman for BroadStage @ Fairmont summer series and in our 2025 Future Sounds of Jazz festival. His compositions blend traditional jazz elements with innovative improvisation, reflecting the vibrant sound emerging from Southern California. He will be joined by Yakiv Tsvientinsky and Adam Hernandez.

See the Sam Smylie Trio perform before the show on February 20th and February 27th.