MUSIC
WYRK Acoustic Series - SOLD OUT
Mainstage Theatre
Wednesday, March 7
7:30PM
This concert is Sold Out
Country duo Thompson Square will be headlining the WYRK Acoustic Concert this spring. Their new, self-titled album has seen success with singles such as "I Got You" and "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not," the latter of which hit #1 on Billboard's Hot Country
Songs chart. Also performing are Hunter Hayes and JT Hodges.
Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society Tour
Mainstage Theatre
Wednesday, April 18
7:30PM
$42, $37, $27
It has not taken Esperanza Spalding long to emerge as one of the brightest lights in the musical world. Listeners familiar with her stunning 2008 Heads Up International debut, Esperanza, and her best-selling 2010 release Chamber Music Society, were well aware that the young bassist, vocalist and composer from Portland, Oregon was the real deal, with a unique and style-spanning presence, deeply rooted in jazz yet destined to make her mark far beyond the jazz realm. That judgment was confirmed on February 13, 2011, when Spalding became the first jazz musician to receive the GRAMMY® Award for Best New Artist.
On March 20, 2012, Heads Up International, a division of Concord Music Group, releases Spalding's latest recording, Radio Music Society, her most diverse, ambitious and masterful recital yet. Inspired by her desire to write for a large ensembles, Spalding has crafted her performances to spotlight the talents of her 12-piece world class band. Radio Music Society is a companion release, rather than a sequel, to Spalding’s previous internationally acclaimed Chamber Music Society.
Spalding’s dynamic performances are nothing less than exhilarating when experienced live. As Jeff Baker of The Oregonian once wrote, “This was about art, performed at the highest level by someone with the vision, talent, and determination to make it happen.”
Photo by Carlos Pericas
Sponsored in part by:
AND
Straight No Chaser
Mainstage Theatre
Tuesday, May 1
7:30PM
Tickets: $42.00, $37.00, $32.00
Returning by popular demand!
If the phrase "male a cappella group" conjures up an image of students in blue blazers, ties, and khakis singing traditional college songs on ivied campus, think again. The men of Straight No Chaser are neither strait-laced nor straight-faced, but neither are they vaudeville-style kitsch. Since their initial formation in 1998, SNC has reinvented the idea of a cappella on the modern pop landscape… while still maintaining a strong sense of humor. As original member Randy Stine comments, "We take the music very seriously; we just don't take ourselves too seriously."
Originally formed over a dozen years ago while students together at Indiana University, the group has reassembled and emerged as a phenomenon with a massive fan base, more than 35 million views on YouTube, numerous national TV appearances, and several successful releases. In an era when so much pop music is the product of digital processing and vocal pro-tooling, SNC offers the chance to witness ten unadulterated human voices coming together to make extraordinary music.
Sponsored in part by:
Buddy Guy & Jonny Lang
Mainstage Theatre
Tuesday, June 12
7:30pm
$64, $54, $39, $27
Buddy Guy returns by overwhelming demand after his incendiary performance at the Center for the Arts last April! At age 75, he’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, a major influence on rock titans like Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, a pioneer of Chicago’s fabled West Side sound, and a living link to that city’s halcyon days of electric blues. He has received five Grammy Awards, 28 Blues Music Awards (formerly W.C. Handy Awards), the Billboard magazine Century Award for distinguished artistic achievement, and the Presidential National Medal of Arts.
Rolling Stone ranked him in the top 30 of its “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
Don’t let 32-year-old
Jonny Lang fool you – his appearance often belies the grizzled, blues-veteran voice that he is famous for. The Grammy-winning former child prodigy instrumentalist topped the
Billboard New Artist chart with his first album at age 15 and was called “one of the most important artists to watch in the new millennium” by
Time Magazine. Today, Lang has eight critically acclaimed albums under his belt, including the Grammy Award-winning
Turn Around and his newest offering,
Jonny Lang Live at the Ryman.