Arts and education highlights for events in February 2022

The Center for the Performing Arts is located at 1 Carter Green in Carmel, Ind. Tickets and information available at TheCenterPresents.org or (317) 843-3800. Please note: Health and safety protocols are posted at TheCenterPresents.org/Health.

• Zach Brock Quartet

8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5

The Palladium

Drewry Simmons Vornehm Jazz Series

Tickets from $25 ($15 for students)

Heralded as “the pre-eminent improvising violinist of his generation,” Zach Brock is a Grammy Award-winning musician and composer best known for his role in the instrumental supergroup Snarky Puppy. Brock was named DownBeat Magazine’s Rising Star Violinist of 2013 and has recorded and toured with such jazz greats as Stanley Clarke, Phil Markowitz and Wycliffe Gordon.

• Intro to Stand-Up Comedy

6 p.m. Mondays, Feb 7-28

The Palladium

Cost: $110 for all sessions

Professional comedian Mat Alano-Martin leads the class through the history, theory and mechanics of stand-up comedy, guiding each student in the development of an original five-minute comedy set to be performed in the March 4 graduation show.

• Performing Arts Connect: The Roots of Black Music in America

7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7

Online via Zoom

Tickets: $12

New York-based musician Karlus Trapp’s educational and entertaining performance/presentation is a 100-year journey through time with the music of America’s Black musical giants. The material comes alive through audience participation and interaction, including singing, call and response, percussion playing and Q&A.

• JazzTalk: A Conversation with Wynton Marsalis

6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8

Online via Zoom

Free

Acclaimed trumpeter, bandleader and jazz standard bearer Wynton Marsalis discusses his life and work with JazzTalk host Todd Williams (a former bandmate) in advance of his Feb. 27 Palladium performance with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Viewers can pose questions after the conversation.

• Piaf! The Show

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10

The Palladium

Telamon Passport Series

Tickets from $35

Inspired by the award-winning film La Vie en Rose, this program celebrates the life and career of legendary French chanteuse Edith Piaf through her most popular songs. Internationally acclaimed vocalist Nathalie Lhermitte, who has portrayed Piaf in this and other stage productions, is accompanied by live musicians and historical images for an unforgettable multimedia experience.

• Child & Adult Music Class: Things That Go

Fridays, Feb. 18-March 25; 9:30 or 10:30 a.m. session available

The Palladium

Cost: $60 for six sessions

Local musician Michelle Marti of ShooBeeLoo Music and Movement leads toddlers and their caregivers through interactive songs, stories and activities with toys and percussion instruments. Recommended for ages 10 months to 5 years.

• The Company Men

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18

The Palladium

Katz, Sapper & Miller Pop/Rock Series

Tickets from $25

The Company Men weave today’s Top 40 hits with reimagined classics of the past, blending songs by artists including Sam Smith, the Four Tops, Michael Jackson, Katy Perry, Adele, the Temptations, Sam Cooke, The Weeknd, Billy Joel, Prince, Meghan Trainor, Bruno Mars, Michael Bublé, the Eagles and many more.

• Live at the Center: Zach DuBois

7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24

Online and at the Palladium

Free livestream; $5 on site

Singer-songwriter Zach DuBois spent several years working out of Nashville, Tennessee, and sharing stages with the likes of Turnpike Troubadours, American Aquarium, Jack Ingram, and Radney Foster before returning to Indiana. Lauded by CMT and Billboard, he has released three studio albums and places his music “somewhere between John Denver and John Mellencamp.”

• Polish Wieniawski Philharmonic Orchestra

8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25

The Palladium

Printing Partners Classical Series

Tickets from $25

Principal Conductor Wojciech Rodek leads the acclaimed Polish orchestra, founded in 1944, on its first U.S. tour. Featuring violin soloist Sara Dragan, winner of many international competitions, the program will include works of Rossini, Wieniawski and Schubert. Ball State Professor Heather Platt leads a preconcert Classics in Context discussion 7:15-7:45 p.m. in the Robert Adam Room.

• Faegre Drinker Peanut Butter & Jam: Animal Athletes with Silly Safaris

10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 26

The Studio Theater

Tickets: $10 per child, includes up to two free adult admissions

What is the fastest animal on earth? Who can jump the farthest? Who can squeeze the strongest? Join us for Animal Athletes and compete for the gold medal with your favorite Silly Safaris stars. Let’s get moving with reptiles, mammals, birds, amphibians and bugs! Recommended for ages 1-7.

• Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27

The Palladium

Drewry Simmons Vornehm Jazz Series

Tickets from $45

Dedicated to preserving America’s jazz heritage, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra returns to the Palladium with 15 of the finest soloists, ensemble players and arrangers in jazz music today. Founded in 1988 and led since 1991 by world-renowned trumpeter and artistic director Wynton Marsalis, the big band performs a vast repertoire that ranges from new commissioned compositions to rare historic works.

About the Center for the Performing Arts

The mission of the nonprofit Center for the Performing Arts is to engage and inspire the Central Indiana community through enriching arts experiences. Its campus includes the 1,600-seat Palladium concert hall, the 500-seat Tarkington theater and the black-box Studio Theater. The Center presents and hosts hundreds of events each year, including the Center Presents performance series, featuring the best in classical, jazz, pop, rock, country, comedy and other genres. Educational and experiential programming includes children’s concerts, summer camps, book clubs, lectures, and classes in music and dance. The Center is home to the affiliated Great American Songbook Foundation and provides space and support services for six resident arts companies. More information at TheCenterPresents.org.