Center for Performing Arts Announces April Concerts, Events

By The Times of Noblesville | March 10, 2022

The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel has released their schedule of concerts and public events for April. Featuring performances from a wide range of artists with as many different styles, as well as events for adults, kids, and the whole family, April is sure to be an exciting month to visit the Center. This year’s edition of the Center Presents Season is sponsored by Allied Solutions. Discounts are available upon request for military personnel and first responders. Health and safety protocols are posted online at TheCenterPresents.org/Health. A full list of events can be found below:

  1. Vanessa Williams
    • 8 p.m. Friday, April 1
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $45
    • Hoosier Village Songbook Series
    • Singer-actress Vanessa Williams has sold millions of records worldwide and posted Billboard Top 10 singles in genres including pop, dance, R&B, adult contemporary and jazz. Her hits have included “Dreamin’,” “Save the Best for Last” and “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s Pocahontas. She found similar success on Broadway (The Trip to Bountiful, After Midnight) and in film (Soul Food) and television (Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives). Williams’ career honors have included 11 Grammy nominations, four Emmy nominations, a Tony nomination and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  2. Las Cafeteras
    • 8 p.m. Friday, April 8
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $25
    • Telamon Passport Series
    • Born and raised in East Los Angeles, Las Cafeteras are remixing roots music and telling modern-day stories of Latino and immigrant lives. Using traditional Son Jarocho (“Veracruz Sound”) instruments like the jarana, requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone) and tarima (a wooden platform), they sing in English, Spanish and Spanglish, melding styles from rock to hip-hop to rancheras. Las Cafeteras use music as a vehicle to build bridges among different cultures and communities, creating “a world where many worlds fit.”
  3. An Evening with Itzhak Perlman
    • 8 p.m. Saturday, April 9
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $45
    • Printing Partners Classical Series
    • Violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman has been making waves since his 1958 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show at age 13, and he remains one of the great ambassadors of classical music. Born in 1945 Tel Aviv to Polish émigré parents, he achieved international acclaim despite being disabled by a childhood bout with polio. Perlman has won 16 Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and his PBS specials have earned four Emmy Awards. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He will be accompanied by pianist Rohan De Silva.
  4. Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band
    • 8 p.m. Saturday, April 16
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $35
    • Katz, Sapper & Miller Pop/Rock Series
    • Guitar phenom Kenny Wayne Shepherd signed his first recording contract at 16 and quickly became one of the most successful blues-rock artists of his generation. The Louisiana native’s releases have routinely topped Billboard’s Blues Albums chart, and he has collaborated or toured with such names as B.B. King and the Rolling Stones. The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band’s current tour celebrates the upcoming 25th anniversary of his sophomore album, Trouble Is …, which sent three singles to the Top 10 of the Mainstream Rock chart: “Blue on Black,” “Everything Is Broken” and “Somehow, Somewhere, Someway.”
  5. Steve Hackett: Genesis Revisited
    • 7:30 p.m. Wednesday April 27
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $35
    • Faegre Drinker Encore Series
    • Steve Hackett was lead guitarist for the classic 1970s lineup of pioneering progressive rock group Genesis, originally led by Peter Gabriel and known for such landmark albums as Selling England by the Pound and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. In the 1980s, he and Yes/Asia guitarist Steve Howe formed the band GTR, which scored a Top 20 single with “When the Heart Rules the Mind.” Hackett’s current tour features solo material as well as a re-creation of Genesis’ acclaimed 1977 live double-album, Seconds Out, which included many of the band’s signature songs.
  6. Matthew Whitaker
    • 8 p.m. Saturday, April 30
    • The Palladium
    • Tickets from $25; $15 student tickets available
    • Drewry Simmons Vornehm Jazz Series
    • Blind since birth, 20-year-old Matthew Whitaker is a rising star of jazz piano whose unique musical abilities have been featured on Today, Ellen and 60 Minutes. He has recorded three albums and performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center and the Apollo Theater with artists including Christian McBride, Regina Carter, Jason Moran, Jon Batiste and the New York Pops Orchestra.

Other Events:

  1. Child & Adult Music Class: It’s Fantastic
    • Fridays, April 8-May 13; 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.
  2. World Voice Day
    • 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14
    • The Palladium
    • Free
    • Grab your sheet music, family and friends and come sing onstage during the Center’s annual World Voice Day celebration, as we transform the Palladium into a cabaret for one special evening. Singers of all ages and skill levels are encouraged to join our piano accompanist and MC for an open-mic night that is informal, free and open to the public. The performers and audience will sit nightclub-style at tables on the stage, with refreshments available.
  3. Faegre Drinker Peanut Butter & Jam: Imagination Station with Phoenix Rising Dance Company
    • 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 16
    • The Studio Theater
    • Tickets: $10 per child, includes up to two free adult admissions
    • Imagination Station is an interactive presentation ideal for sharing the art of dance with children and their parents and grandparents. Designed for children ages 1-7, Faegre Drinker Peanut Butter & Jam sessions encourage young children to become engaged in the arts.
  4. Performing Arts Connect: The Art of Performance
    • 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 20
    • Online via Zoom
    • Tickets: $12
    • Presenter Arielle Levine of the Cleveland Museum of Art explores the influence of music and performance on visual artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Many artists captured the growing audiences for musical and theatrical performances in Europe and the United States around the turn of the century, providing an inside look at entertainment across various class distinctions and backgrounds. In art movements such as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, the Harlem Renaissance and the Ash Can School, we find artists depicting operas, jazz performances, and even burlesque shows.
  5. Live at the Center: The Brothers Footman
    • 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28
    • Online and at the Palladium
    • Free livestream; $5 on site
    • Brothers Dikembe, Gerald, Micah and Joshua Footman have been surrounded by music all their lives. In their current band, the Brothers Footman combine soul, rock, country, gospel, R&B and other influences into a distinctive sound they call “Summa Music” – “summa this, summa that” – capped with smooth vocal harmonies. Their debut single “Country Sky” has earned local and international radio airplay. Live at the Center is a series of livestreamed concerts featuring local and regional artists in a range of genres.

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 is available at TheCenterPresents.org.

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