Norris' Music in the Gallery season features acclaimed concert pianist, Irish band, alternative jazz and more
The Norris Cultural Arts Center in St. Charles announced details of its upcoming season of "Music in the Gallery" events.
They are offering a special "12 Days" discount that gives patrons $5 off the price of every ticket purchased online before 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5.
The season begins at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, with a return performance by one of the Chicago area's favorite Irish pub band, The Ragged Rascals. One of the Chicago area's most popular and longest-established Irish folk bands, they will perform authentic Irish folk songs, street ballads, rebel and drinking songs, sea shanties and other traditional music in the style of the Clancy Brothers, the Dubliners, the Chieftans and the Irish Rovers.
On Sunday, Feb. 24, four international vocal soloists from Fox Valley Lyrical Productions (formerly known as Soiree Lyrique) will perform a concert of "Voices from Around the World" at 3 p.m. Canadian soprano Solange Sior and Italian tenor Franco Martorana thrilled the gallery audience last season in a duo recital. They are joined for this performance by Ukrainian soprano Tetyana Torzhevska, Korean tenor Simon Kyung Lee and pianist Chiayi Lee in a program featuring operatic excerpts, musical theater favorites, standards, Italian songs, Viennese waltzes, popular music and folk songs from around the world.
On Sunday, March 24, the alternative jazz quintet ZAZZ appears for a concert of jazz standards, show tunes and original compositions at 2 p.m.
The Norris welcomes internationally acclaimed concert pianist, Julia Siciliano, in her Norris debut at 6:30 p.m. April 14 as she performs music of Ravel, Basque composers and American composer Logan Skelton. A winner of many local and international piano competitions, she has won top prizes at the Heida Hermanns International Competition, Iowa Piano Competition, MTNA National Competition, and Beethoven Sonata Competition. Active as a chamber musician, Siciliano has been invited to perform with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Chamber Players, Basque National Orchestra's chamber music series "Miramon Matinées", and has given numerous recitals with Metropolitan Opera stars Amanda Pabyan, Eric Owens, and Marina Domashenko. Her 2016 debut solo album is "Dream Catchers", a two-disc album featuring small scale works by Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, Ravel and Debussy. Her program, "Variations on Mi Patria," will include Ravel's "Noble and Sentimental Waltzes," selections by Basque composers José María Usandizaga and Don Pedro Albéniz, Logan Skelton's "Civil War Variations" and an arrangement of Liszt's "Dante Sonata."
On Mother's Day, May 12, The Norris presents a concert of songs by Beethoven and Schumann, performed by Kindra Scharich, a San Francisco-based mezzo soprano who has thrilled audiences throughout the United States and internationally with her expressive interpretations of lieder and opera repertoire. For the 6:30 p.m. recital, Scharich will perform Beethoven's "An die ferne Geliebte," and Schumann's Frauenliebe und Leben, Fantasie, Opus 17. Appearing with Scharich will be pianist Jeffrey LaDeur, a St. Charles native and alumnus of St. Charles East High School. He performs worldwide, from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the San Francisco Jazz Center, from the Shanghai Conservatory to the Orlando Festival in the Netherlands. LaDeur is founder and artistic director of New Piano Collective and the San Francisco International Piano Festival. His recent debut solo performance at Carnegie Hall in New York coincided with the release of his solo CD, "Rameau & Debussy: The Unbroken Line." In addition to accompanying Scharich, LaDeur will perform as a piano soloist in this concert.
The season of gallery events concludes at 3 p.m. May 26 when The Norris again presents Debra Ann Miller, this time for a portrayal of American author Louisa May Alcott. Miller has delighted Norris audiences in past seasons with her portrayals of Mary Todd Lincoln and Jane Austen. As a poet and author, abolitionist and nurse, patriot and suffragist, Alcott was more than the author of "Little Women." In an hourlong encounter with this prolific American author, you will learn of the hopes, the heartbreaks and the experiences of her life from which she drew inspiration for her novels, short stories and poems. Drawing from Alcott's letters and journals, Miller allows Louisa to speak to us in her own words. After the performance, she will take questions from the audience.
The season's event will be presented at a variety of starting times. All events are on Sundays; starting times vary from 2 to 6:30 p.m.
Visit norrisculturalarts.com for more details and links to online ticketing.
For the fourth consecutive season, the Norris acknowledges the support of season sponsor, Meyers & Flowers Trial Attorneys, St. Charles.
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