The Levitt VIBE Pasadena Music Series opens July 11 at 6 p.m. at the Memorial Park bandshell, 85 E. Holly St., with jazz pianist Yuko Mabuchi — the first of 10 free Saturday-night concerts running through Sept. 12.
On July 11, Jazz pianist Yuko Mabuchi opens the first of 10 free Saturday-night concerts running through Sept. 12. [Archival image of Levitt Pavilion event, unknown year. [Pasadena Recreation & Parks Foundation][/caption]The season is funded by a Levitt Family Foundation matching grant of up to $40,000 a year through 2028, awarded in November after residents’ votes carried Pasadena’s proposal into the top 50 finalists of a national competition that drew more than 300 applications.
“They voted for us, which was a huge deal,” said Treasure Sheppard, president and CEO of the Pasadena Recreation and Parks Foundation, the nonprofit that applied for the grant and co-presents the series with the City of Pasadena’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department.
According to the Levitt Family Foundation, public voting held Sept. 5–15, 2025, determined the 50 finalists; the Foundation then reviewed those proposals and announced its grant recipients on Nov. 18.
For Sheppard, the revival is personal.
“As a Pasadena resident, I’ve lived here all my life. I remember the Levitt series when I was younger and it was just a joy to be around,” she said. “I want that kind of joy to come back so this next generation gets to experience that all together.”
The original Levitt Pavilion Pasadena launched at Memorial Park in 2003 as the Foundation’s first venture-philanthropy project, and the free summer concerts at the restored WPA-era bandshell ran through 2017.
According to the Foundation, the local nonprofit that presented those concerts determined in late 2017 that it could no longer sustain the full 50-concert Levitt program and withdrew from the national network; the venue was later renamed the Pasadena Pavilion for the Performing Arts.
The loss has not gone unnoticed as years passed.
“They have been asking about it for several years,” said Kenny James, a recreation administrator with the City’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department who also serves as secretary of the Recreation and Parks Foundation’s board.
James said he was glad the department could partner with the local foundation and the Levitt Family Foundation to bring the concerts back.
Councilmember Justin Jones, whose District 3 includes Memorial Park, said the demand surfaced repeatedly at his Saturday-morning “Coffee & Tea Conversations” with constituents.
“Residents kept telling me how much they missed having free, accessible concerts at Memorial Park,” Jones told Pasadena Now.
That feedback, he said, prompted the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department to stage its own summer concert series at the park last year.
“The turnout was fantastic, and it led right into the community voting to bring the Levitt series back to Pasadena,” he wrote.
Jones has his own history with the bandshell.
“My amazing wife and I actually used to go to the music series at Memorial Park back when we were first dating,” he wrote. “We’d make a whole evening out of going to a restaurant, walking around Old Pasadena and catching the concert. Those nights are really special to me.”
The grant requires the local foundation to raise matching funds each year.
Sheppard said sponsorships from the Rose Bowl Stadium and a financial contribution from the Old Pasadena Management District have helped meet that requirement, and residents can donate through prpf.org or by scanning QR codes posted at each concert.
The Rose Bowl sponsorship underwrites The Vibe Set, a series of opening performances by local and emerging artists before each headliner, according to the City’s July 2 news release announcing the season.
Sharon Yazowski, president and CEO of the Levitt Family Foundation, told Pasadena Now that Memorial Park “holds such a meaningful place in the history of Pasadena’s arts and cultural life” as the former Levitt site.
“We know how much the community has missed free Levitt concerts over these past years, and we can’t wait to see people of all ages and backgrounds once again enjoying music together under the stars,” she wrote.
The Foundation has also framed the season’s return partly around the area’s recovery from the Eaton Fire, writing that the series can support “the area’s renewal” by making free live music accessible as the community continues to heal.
Jones, in his written responses, put it in the vocabulary of his engineering background, describing music as “a form of emotional public works.”
“A concert doesn’t fix a foundation or replace a roof, but it gives us a safe, common space to just breathe together, look at the person next to you, and recognize our shared resilience,” he wrote.
Opening night will include a kids’ zone with crafts and games, said Dolores McConnell, events program coordinator for the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department, along with food for purchase from two Old Pasadena businesses — Pez Coastal Kitchen and Agnes Restaurant & Cheesery — and food trucks. No alcohol will be sold.
“Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets,” Sheppard said.
Concerts are free, all ages, with no tickets required, every Saturday at 6 p.m. through Sept. 12.
The season’s headliners span jazz, mariachi, soul, blues, country, Latin and R&B, according to the City’s announcement:
• July 11 — Yuko Mabuchi, with The Rogue Lemon Collective
• July 18 — Dave Barnes
• July 25 — Julian Torres and Mariachi Cenzontle
• Aug. 1 — Niki J. Crawford and Leah Ashton
• Aug. 8 — Jessica Fichot, Melo Gía and Ara Dabandjian
• Aug. 15 — Lao Tizer Band
• Aug. 22 — Chris Pierce
• Sept. 5 — La Verdad
• Sept. 12 — Troop and Jon B
Sheppard said the artist lineup will be updated as the season goes on; the current schedule is posted at levittvibepasadena.org.
For accessibility accommodations, contact CSC@CityOfPasadena.net or (626) 744-7311.
Asked what she hopes the three-year commitment leaves behind, Sheppard didn’t talk about attendance numbers.
“I just want this to be proof. A point of proof that when you invest in a park or when you invest in the community around it, when you fill it with music, when you make it free and ensure that people feel invited, that you really do change what that space means to the people,” she said. “Once people believe in that part, then they’ll fight for it.”
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