Grammy winner Howard Levy opens Baker Center’s centennial season Oct. 17

Two-time Grammy Award winner Howard Levy, acclaimed internationally as a harmonica innovator and virtuoso, will appear in concert with frequent collaborator and renowned guitarist Chris Siebold on Oct. 17 at the Baker Community Center in downtown St. Charles.

Their performance opens the seventh season of “Saturday Night Lights” concerts presented at the Baker Center and produced by the Norris Cultural Arts Center.

The concert series and other Norris-produced events throughout the 2026-27 season celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Baker Center, which opened in 1926.

Levy’s concert, “I Speak Music: Songs and Stories of a Century,” takes its theme from his recently published memoir, “I Speak Music.” It is the first of several concerts and programs focusing on the music and culture of the 1920s and the 20th century. Beyond his talents on the harmonica and piano, Levy is a music historian and storyteller whose concerts weave an engaging tapestry of music and narratives.

Tickets are available online for all fall season “Saturday Night Lights” concerts at events.ticketleap.com/events/norris-cultural-arts, which includes links to reservations for the popular “Wednesdays @ One” event series and tickets for “Music & More in the Gallery” programs presented, respectively, at the Baker Community Center and the Norris Cultural Arts Center art gallery.

The Norris has resisted inflationary pricing pressures by keeping ticket prices for the Saturday concerts at $30 for individual seats and $150 for a full table of six guests, and retaining its policy of including two beverages in the ticket price.

The fall music series continues on Nov. 21 when concert pianist Jeffrey LaDuer performs “Classics, the Jazz Age & the Silent Film: An Early 20th Century Sampler.” His program will include a screening of the 1920 Buster Keaton silent film comedy classic, “One Week,” which LaDeur will accompany with a performance of a new piano score by Stephen Prutsman, written in the style of silent film music of a bygone era.

It will be followed on Dec. 19 with members of the Fox Valley Opera performing “Holiday Revelry,” blending warm holiday nostalgia, sparkly gowns, and soaring high Cs into a program of operatic glamour and seasonal sparkle.

Guests may expect a mix of beloved opera arias and timeless Christmas classics – all performed with heart, humor, and a healthy dose of holiday cheer. This concert was a sellout last December.

Throughout the 2026-27 event season, The Norris will celebrate the centennial of its “home-away-from-home,” the Baker Community Center. Since 2020, the Baker Center has hosted the majority of concerts and events produced by The Norris, under an agreement with the St. Charles Park District which manages the historic venue, located at 101 S. Second St. in downtown St. Charles.

Visit www.NorrisCulturalArts.com for more information.