Two-time Grammy winner Howard Levy to perform at Norris concert series
A concert on Oct. 19 by two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, diatonic harmonica artist and composer Howard Levy will be a highlight of the fall season of “Saturday Night Lights” events at the historic Baker Community Center in downtown St. Charles.
In his first St. Charles concert appearance, Levy will be joined by his frequent collaborator, jazz/blues/rock guitarist Chris Siebold.
The Norris Cultural Arts Center produces the Saturday concert series, now in its fifth year. For information and links to online ticketing, visit www.NorrisCulturalArts.com. Tickets include coupons for three complimentary beverages (wine, beer, soft drinks). All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.
Following Levy’s Oct. 19 concert, the series resumes Nov. 16 with the return of two Baker Center audience favorites, performing together in St. Charles for the first time — versatile vocalist Tatum Langley and the Jeremy Kahn Quartet, led by acclaimed Chicago jazz pianist Jeremy Kahn.
The fall season of concerts concludes on Dec. 21 with “An Italian Christmas with Fox Valley Opera,” featuring holiday season favorites and a selection of arias and duets from the operas of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini in observance of the 100th anniversary of his passing in 1924. Fox Valley Opera is one of the area’s newest and most exciting musical organizations.
Fox Valley Opera founder and artistic director Brad Noffsinger Morrison is one of the talented singers on the program. A graduate of St. Charles East High School, Morrison is enjoying a career in opera that has offered him wide-ranging roles and experiences.
More about Howard Levy and Chris Siebold
Howard Levy has won Grammy Awards for Pop Music Performance and Instrumental Composition. He is an acknowledged master of the diatonic harmonica, a superb pianist, innovative composer, educator and producer. At the age of 19, Levy discovered how to play the diatonic harmonica as a fully chromatic instrument by developing techniques on it that had never existed before. This enabled Levy to take the harmonica out of its usual role as a folk and blues instrument, and into the worlds of jazz, classical, Middle Eastern music, and more. His discovery unlocked infinite possibilities for the harmonica world.
At home in many musical styles, Levy is a favorite with audiences worldwide and a recording artist sought after by Kenny Loggins, Dolly Parton, Paquito D’Rivera, Styx, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon, and many others. He has appeared on hundreds of CDs and several movie soundtracks, most prominently on “A Family Thing” with Robert Duval and James Earl Jones.
His solo album, “Alone and Together” (Balkan Samba Records) and his trio album “Tonight and Tomorrow” (Chicago Sessions) both received four-star reviews in DownBeat. Levy also put out a classical CD featuring his Concerto for Diatonic Harmonica and Orchestra — the first true concerto composed for the instrument.
As an educator, Howard has taught at leading universities and conservatories, and online for TrueFire/ArtistWorks. His revolutionary technique book “Rhythms of the Breath” is the first of its kind to apply drum rudiments to the harmonica, influencing players around the world.
The Howard Levy and Chris Siebold duo has performed to great acclaim in the U.S., Europe, and South America. Levy’s virtuosic playing combines with Siebold’s masterful resonator guitar work to deliver a spirited evening of jazz, blues, pop, classical and original compositions that transcend genre or category.
Chris Siebold, house guitarist for five years on “A Prairie Home Companion,” draws from a deep well of influences, and plays many styles of music including blues, bluegrass, jazz, world music and rock. He has played with many notable musicians around the world.