Brazilian-American vocalist, composer, and pianist Clarice Assad and her world-renowned father Sergio Assad (guitar) will perform a jazz-inspired program primarily featuring music from their first recording together called Reliquia. In a review of this recording, All About Jazz states, “Clarice constantly captivates, whether singing in Portuguese, delivering wordless vocals, or taking to the piano bench, and Sergio, likewise, manages to seduce with his every gesture on guitar.” Clarice’s rising reputation as a composer-performer who comfortably straddles the worlds of jazz, classical, and traditional Brazilian rhythms is quickly catching up with her father’s international prominence as one of the world’s great guitarists. This concert, the first ever Twin Cities performance by this duo, will be a testament to the bonds forged through birth and life, continually strengthened in every small and large gesture of love that takes place between a parent and child.

A well-known name locally and nationally, Libby Larsen was recently recognized as the 2016 McKnight Distinguished Artist. Based out of Minneapolis, she is one of this nation’s leading composers. This one-of-a-kind concert will feature music which Libby has written to combine with comic strip cartoons. The program includes “The Fantom of the Fair” which illustrates a story of the superhero in action at the World’s Fair, “The Peculiar Case of Dr. H.H. Holmes” for baritone & prepared piano with projected drawings, and “Love Tamer” with reconstructed comic strip illustrations. It also features a new piece with lighting design “O Magnum Mysterium” for former King’s Singers member Paul Phoenix.

Join us at Aria for a high energy evening featuring Colin Currie, “the world’s finest and most daring percussionist” (The Spectator, 2013). The Guardian highlights his “athletic percussionism, compulsive showmanship and deep musicality.” His Schubert Club Mix program will feature a wide range of instruments and includes music based on stories by Gabriel García Márquez – interspersed with readings of the texts. Currie is as mesmerizing to watch as he is to listen to – and his broad array of percussion instruments make a fascinating theatrical set.