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St. Cecilia Music Center rolls out winter season for three different concert series

See the new line-up at St. Cecilia Music Center.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Thursday, January 16

St. Cecilia Music Center in Grand Rapids is proud to present Emmet Cohen’s Master Legacy Series featuring Benny Golson on January 16, 2020. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the world-renowned composer, arranger, lyricist, producer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson with the Emmet Cohen Trio. With a mission to celebrate the last remaining legendary jazz artists, 28 year old jazz prodigy Emmet Cohen has created the "Masters Legacy Series," a celebratory set of recordings, interviews and live performances honoring legendary jazz musicians. Benny Golson is one of the most revered jazz musicians in the world and it will be an honor to have him on stage at St. Cecilia Music Center. 

 

Thursday, January 23

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will return on January 23, 2020 with a program entitled French Enchantment where the audience will experience the grace, wit, and charm of French music.The program begins and ends with early works by Saint-Saëns and Fauré that recreate the elegant atmosphere of 19-century Parisian salons. In between the two works will be Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello, written soon after World War I, where he used just two string instruments to produce a composition of unique, austere beauty. CMS artists performing include Pianist and Co-Artistic Director Wu Han, violinist Paul Huang, violist Matthew Lipman, and cellist Clive Greensmith.

Thursday, February 6

GRAMMY® Award Winning bluegrass/rock artists, The Infamous Stringdusters, will debut in West Michigan at St.  Cecilia Music Center on February 6, 2020. Their uniquely powerful blend of bluegrass, rock and more has pivoted them to the top echelons of the blue-grass/rock scene. The New York Times has reported, “With a nod to the past and a firm foot down on the gas toward the future, the 'Dusters... don't leave bluegrass behind; they're stretching it from within."

Wednesday, February 19

Multi- GRAMMY® award winning artist Rosanne Cash will appear on the Royce Auditorium stage on Wednesday, February 19, 2020 with guest artist musician/composer John Leventhal. Cash’s tour entitled She Remembers Everything, from her most recent album of the same name,is a poetic, lush and soulful collection of songs of personal songwriting and reflection. She Remembers Everythingwas produced by collaborator and husband John Leventhal and Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, My Morning Jacket, Mavis Staples, Neko Case). One of the country’s pre-eminent singer/ songwriters, Rosanne Cash has released 15 albums of extraordinary songs that have earned 4 Grammy Awards and 11 nominations, as well as 21 top 40 hits, including 11 No. 1 singles.

Tuesday, February 25

Multi- GRAMMY® Award Winner and MacArthur Fellow Chris Thile will hit the stage at SCMC on Tuesday, February 25, 2020. A member of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, and now the host of the radio program, Live from Here, Chris Thile is a mandolin virtuoso, composer and vocalist. With his broad outlook, Thile transcends the borders of conventionally circumscribed genres, creating a distinctly American canon and a new musical aesthetic for performers and audiences alike.A child prodigy, Thile first rose to fame as a member of GRAMMY® Award-winning trio Nickel Creek, with whom he released four albums and sold over two million records. As a soloist, Thile has released several albums including his most recent, Thanks for Listening, a collection of recordings, produced by Thomas Bartlett, originally written as Songs of the Week for Live from Here. In February 2013, Thile won a Grammy for his work on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Stuart Duncan. In September 2014, Thile and Meyer released their latest album collaboration, Bass + Mandolin, which won the GRAMMY® for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Punch Brothers released their latest album, the GRAMMY®-winning All Ashore, in July 2018 with the Pop Matters describing the album as 'a call to savor, to pay attention, to step back from the hustle and bustle and remember the importance of being calm."

Thursday, February 27

Guitarist / Singer Raul Midón will appear at SCMC on February 27, 2020.  The New York Times named Raul Midón “a one-man band who turns a guitar into an orchestra and his voice into a chorus.” Along with releasing 10 studio albums as a solo artist, the GRAMMY® Nominated Raul Midón – dubbed “an eclectic adventurist” by People magazine – has collaborated with such heroes as Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Bill Withers, along with contributing to recordings by Queen Latifah, Snoop Dogg and the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. A native of New Mexico who was educated in the jazz program of the University of Miami – and who now lives in Maryland after years in New York City – Midón has earned acclaim the world over, with a fan base that stretches from San Francisco to India, Amsterdam to Tokyo. A critic for the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper wrote: “Midón has a lovely voice, a beautifully controlled tenor that can express anything from tenderness to passion… And the guy can play. His strumming has a flamenco flourish, but after a while, you realize he can do every kind of accompaniment he needs on acoustic guitar.”

Thursday, March 5

On March 5, the uniquely talented Jazz Vocalist Luciana Souza will perform on the Royce Auditorium Stage. Billboard Magazine proclaims Luciana Souza as “a uniquely talented vocalist who organically crosses genre borders. Her music soulfully reflects, wistfully regrets, romantically woos, joyfully celebrates...” Entertainment Weeklysays, "Her voice traces a landscape of emotion that knows no boundaries.” Beginning her recording career at age three with a radio commercial, Souza recorded more than 200 jingles and soundtracks becoming a first-call studio veteran at age sixteen. From 2005 to 2010, she was the Jazz Artist in Residence with the prestigious San Francisco Performances. In 2005 and 2013 Luciana was awarded Best Female Jazz Singer by the Jazz Journalists Association. 

 

Thursday, March 19

GRAMMY® award winning folk Americana singer and songwriter Marc Cohen will perform on March 19, 2019. After winning a Grammy for his soulful ballad “Walking in Memphis,” Marc Cohn solidified his place as one of this generation’s most compelling singer-songwriters, combining the precision of a brilliant tunesmith with the passion of a great soul man. Since his last time in Grand Rapids at SCMC in Spring 2017, Cohen has spent time on the road with legendary Michael McDonald and other American music greats including soul survivor William Bell. Bell won his first Grammy at age 78 with Cohen’s help in creating half of Bell’s celebrated album This is Where I Live. He will be coming back to St. Cecilia Music Center following his collaborative record to be released on August 9, 2019 with gospel legends the Blind Boys of Alabama titled Work To Do.

Thursday, April 16

Capping off the 2019/2020 Spectacular Jazz Series season will be the two time Grammy-nominated Clayton Brothers Quintet performing on April 16, 2020. The Clayton Brothers Quintet, which is led by John and Jeff Clayton became a quintet when trumpeter Terell Stafford joined the group. The quintet is invigorated by young blood with John’s son Grammy-nominated Gerald Clayton on piano and David Alvarez on drums.  

Thursday, April 30

On April 30, 2020, CMS Co-Artistic Directors Wu Han (piano) and David Finckel (cello) will perform with violinist Arnaud Sussman and violist Paul Neubauer on a program entitled From Prague to Vienna. This concert celebrates three composers who mentored and inspired each other: Brahms, Dvořák and Suk. Brahms discovered Dvořák through a composition competition and helped him rise to international stardom, and became his lifelong friend and mentor. In turn, Suk was one of Dvořák’s favorite students and eventually became his son-in-law. 

Tuesday, May 19

Shawn Colvin returns for her second appearance at St. Cecilia Music Center on May 19, 2020 performing her newly released album Steady On Acoustic in its entirety. Her original 1989 album Steady On became her first Grammy Award winning album and brought her significant acclaim and a large devoted fan base. Colvin says, “I’ve played these songs countless times, primarily as a solo acoustic artist. All in all, this is the incarnation that feels most genuine. And so, to commemorate this milestone I decided to celebrate Steady On by recording it again, this time using only my voice and my guitar. This represents who I am as an artist and all I ever wanted to be, and I believe it does its predecessor proud.”

For tickets and concert times, visit http://scmc-online.org/.  

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