Photo by: Kelsey Greene

Emily Blue will bring her music to Cowboy Monkey on Friday in downtown Champaign.

Here's what's happening in the area's

MUSIC SCENE

The research behind the concert

Sinfonia da Camera's concert on Saturday at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana was influenced by market research the chamber orchestra conducted with two University of Illinois MBA student groups.

One group's survey asked: "What word(s) would you use to describe orchestral music?" The three top responses were "relaxing, classy and old-fashioned."

"We have decided to capitalize on the 'old-fashioned' description as well as the current popularity of the old-fashioned cocktail and do a throwback evening on Saturday our American Century concert," said Jenie Kechulius, the orchestra's operations and personnel manager. "The idea is to tell audience members particularly the under-40 crowd that they should feel free to dress up in '20s, '30s or '40s era clothing."

"The American Century" concert, starting at 7:30 p.m., will feature works by American composers, beginning with Leonard Bernstein's most popular overture, the "Candide." Violinist Rachel Patrick (above) will join Sinfonia in David Canfield's "Rhapsody after Gershwin."

The concert also will feature Samuel Barber's "Knoxville: Summer of 1915." It will end with a suite of favorites from George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess," arranged by Robert Russell Bennett.

Tickets are $40, adults; $36, senior citizens 65 and older and retired UI faculty and staff; $8, non-UI college students; and $5, youths high school age and younger. Call 333-6280 or visit krannertcenter.com.

Valentine's Day concert

A Valentine's Day performance by local and regional musicians will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at McKinley Presbyterian Church, 809 S. Fifth St., C.

"A Time for Love" will feature solo classical piano repertoire and selections from opera and jazz music that highlight romance, including works by Leonard Bernstein, Franz Liszt, George Gershwin and Aaron Copland.

The featured performers include local pianists and educators Tatiana Shustova and Jaifang Yan, as well as soprano Elena Negruta. Joining them will be concert pianist Ian Gindes, who recently returned from performing live on Chicago's WFMT classical music station, and opera singer Cornelius Johnson, who recently performed in "Porgy and Bess" at the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Special guests are jazz pianist Chip Stephens, a professor in the UI Jazz Studies Program, and his wife, singer-songwriter Paige Stephens.

"We wanted to create an exciting program to bring together a variety of music designed to be shared with someone you love," Gindes said. "It has something for everyone to enjoy whether you prefer opera or Broadway, popular classical music or jazz. We are excited about the opportunity to enjoy sharing this music with you and that special person in your life in an intimate venue."

Tickets will be available at the door for $12 for general admission and $7 for students and senior citizens. For more information, check out the event's page on Facebook.

Sonic Illinois schedule

Celebrating the UI sesquicentennial in 2017, Krannert Center and the School of Music are exploring the diversity of the contemporary music scene this and next month via a new project titled Sonic Illinois.

Sonic Illinois is a revival of the spirit of the UI Festival of Contemporary Arts, which was a major cultural force in the mid-20th century on the campus. With Sonic Illinois, the campus and community are invited to explore innovative composers, musicians and scholars.

The celebration will include historic compositions, global contemporary artists, School of Music ensembles and works by Illinois faculty and students. Audiences will hear pieces by John Cage, Jeffrey Mumford, Julia Wolfe and Osvaldo Golijov; School of Music composers Erin Gee, Reynold Tharp and Erik Lund; student composers Kyle Shaw and Dongryul Lee; and School of Music alumna Tomeka Reid.

The remaining Sonic Illinois events:

Illinois Modern Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Smith Memorial Hall Recital Hall, 805 S. Mathews Ave, U.

Jupiter String Quartet with Todd Palmer, clarinet, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Krannert Center's Foellinger Great Hall.

Bang on a Can All-Stars with the UI Chamber Singers: Wolfe's "Anthracite Fields," 7:30 p.m. March 3, Krannert's Tryon Festival Theatre.

Cajun group to visit Post

Mardi Gras, which falls on Feb. 28, will be celebrated early with Cajun music from 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday at The Iron Post, featuring the trio Blake Miller, Amelia Biere and A.J. Srubas.

Miller and Biere are part of a vibrant Cajun and Creole music scene in and around Lafayette, La. Miller is a gifted accordion player and fiddler and can play rock-solid bass and guitar as well, according to bassist-guitarist Rob Krumm of Urbana.

Currently with The Revelers, Miller was one of the original members of the Pine Leaf Boys and also played with the Red Stick Ramblers. He grew up in a Cajun family in Iota, La., and is a grandson of well-known accordion builder Larry Miller.

Blake Miller has served stints in other Cajun/Creole bands of note including Balfa Toujours, Les Malfecteurs and Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole.

Originally from Dodgeville, Wis., Biere is a terrific guitarist and vocalist, Krumm said. She honed her musical skills with Anabel and the Bell Tones, an all-women Cajun music group in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Drawn to learn more about Cajun and Creole music and culture, Biere moved to the Lafayette area a few years ago and has performed often there with local musicians.

Srubas, originally from Green Bay, Wis., grew up playing Irish music in a family band. After graduating high school, he studied fiddle in Ireland for a few months. Upon returning home, he was introduced to old-time music after his older brother started to learn claw-hammer banjo.

Srubas, who now lives in Minneapolis, was hooked and has been playing old-time music for the last decade. He plays old-time fiddle in the Bootlicker Stringband and Cajun fiddle and pedal steel guitar in the New Riverside Ramblers. When not playing music, he is an apprentice violin-bow maker and organizer for The Monday Night Square Dance and other Minnesota festivals.

This will be the trio's first show in Champaign-Urbana.

Also at the Post, Dennis Stroughmatt & Friends will perform from 5 to 7 p.m. Feb. 24.

Stroughmatt, who lives in Albion in southern Illinois, tours with his bands Creole Stomp and L'Esprit Creole and with his latest project, a traditional country band that pays tribute to the music of Ray Price and his Cherokee Cowboys.

The Iron Post gig will feature Stroughmatt on fiddle and accordion; Doug Hawf, guitar; Doug Rigsby, drums; and Krumm, bass and accordion.

"For this gig, we'll play a lot of traditional Cajun and Creole tunes from Louisiana and mix it up with some swing, blues and country. This should be a very fun show," Krumm said.

A taste of Klezmer and Yiddish music

Klezmer and Yiddish music luminaries Deborah Strauss and Jeff Warschauer will be in Champaign-Urbana for a series of events from Thursday through next Sunday.

In addition to a playing at a performance and dance party Saturday, the duo will present a lecture and musical demonstration on the UI campus and host a "Big Klezmer and Yiddish Music Jam and Workshop" for all ages.

For more than 25 years, Strauss (violin, accordion, voice, dance) and Warschauer (voice, guitar, mandolin) have been at the forefront of the international klezmer and Yiddish music scene. They were long-time members of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, one of the premiere groups of the klezmer revival, and have performed with legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman.

The two are Yiddish speakers and have researched and collected Yiddish and Hebrew songs and instrumental melodies since the 1980s. Together they lead some of the most popular klezmer music, Yiddish song and traditional dance workshops throughout North America and Eastern and Western Europe.

Other events featuring the duo:

Klezmer Concert and Dance Party, 7 p.m. Saturday, Sinai Temple, 3104 W. Windsor Road, C. Free.

Klezmer Music: From Old World to New: Lecture and Musical Demonstration, 7 p.m. Thursday, UI Music Building Auditorium, Room 1030, 1114 W. Nevada St., U. Free.

Big Klezmer and Yiddish Music Jam and Workshop, 2 to 4 p.m. next Sunday, Phillips Recreation Center, 505 W. Stoughton Ave., U. Open to all ages, levels and backgrounds; singers are welcome too. There also will be a workshop section for experienced musicians. Freewill donations will be appreciated.

For more information, see tinyurl.com/klezmerduoitinerary and klezmerduo.com/.

Emily Blue playing Cowboy Monkey

Emily Blue, frontwoman of the band Tara Terra, will debut new material for her #BubbleGumAcidPop project during the show Emily Blue + Church Booty with Tell Mama at 8 p.m. Friday at the Cowboy Monkey, 6 Taylor St. C. The cover is $7.

#BubbleGumAcidPop will be released in March. In November, Blue's last album, "Another Angry Woman," raised more than $3,000 for Rape Advocacy Counseling and Education Services.

Church Booty delivers a musical experience drawing on a wide range of influences, Blue said. The band formed in Champaign-Urbana but members now live in Chicago, where they entertain crowds with high-energy performances.

"Guided by tight arrangements and skillful improvisations, the bar is set at a high musical standard that works both the brain and the booty," Blue said.

Free Urbana Pops recitals at library

The Urbana Pops Orchestra will host three free recitals, each at 2 p.m. the second Sunday of the month, at the Urbana Free Library, 210 W. Green St.

The recital today will feature violinist Tamra Gingold, who will perform along with students from Urbana High School. On March 12, bassoonist Christopher Raymond will perform. And on April 9, violist Robin Kearton will perform with students from the Community Center for the Arts.

"These winter/spring recitals have been another way that the Urbana Pops Orchestra can share music with the community and give performance opportunities to some of UPO's student musicians," said orchestra President Debra Levey Larson. "Because these recitals are short and casual, they are also a great way to introduce young children to orchestral instruments. The library setting makes it easy for families to wander in, listen to a few pieces and get up and walk around if their kids need to stretch."

Larson said the recitals also serve as a venue to help promote the ensemble's summer concert schedule, "because the full orchestra only performs in June and July, the recitals help us bridge the long Pops drought."

The summer concerts this year will be June 10 and July 15 in the Urbana School High auditorium.

For more information, visit urbanapops.org.

ARTS SCENE

Parkland grad displaying works

The Giertz Gallery at Parkland College will welcome back distinguished alumna Alicia Henry with an exhibition of her works, opening Monday.

The reception for the solo show, "Home: Works by Alicia Henry," will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, with a gallery talk at 6 p.m. by Henry and music by Nathaniel Banks and Friends. Henry will give an another lecture at 1:15 p.m. Thursday in Parkland's Harold and Jean Miner Theatre

The exhibition will remain on view through March 28.

The exhibition, lectures and reception are free and open to the public.

Giertz Gallery Director Lisa Costello said Henry's exhibit has been long anticipated.

"We are delighted to have this Guggenheim Award-winning artist return home from Nashville to exhibit her work and share her experiences with our students and community," Costello said. "Hosting it this year, in celebration with Parkland College's 50th anniversary, makes it an ideal time."

The exhibition features work that explores issues of loss. Henry is interested in how cultural, gender, racial and social differences affect both individual and group responses to loss. Using abstracted human figures, both in isolation or interaction with others, Henry goes beyond mere representation of the figure to present a psychological interpretation of her ideas.

Henry is an associate professor and the discipline coordinator in the Department of Arts and Language at Fisk University. She received her bachelor's of fine arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her master's of fine arts degree at the Yale University School of Art.

In addition to attending the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, she has received numerous awards, grants and residencies, including a Ford Foundation Fellowship; a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant; residencies at Art in General, the MacDowell Art Colony and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown; and most recently, the 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art.

Henry's works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and are held in private and public collections.

The Giertz Gallery's spring semester hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday. The gallery will be closed Feb. 23 for Professional Development Day and March 1825 for spring break.

St. Thomas More fundraiser

The High School of St. Thomas More's Art Club and Art Department, along with Culver's restaurant on Marketview Drive in Champaign, will have an "Empty Bowls" supper fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday at The High School of St. Thomas More, 3901 N. Mattis Ave., C.

Proceeds will go to organizations that fight hunger.

The Empty Bowls project was started by high school students in Michigan in 1990. Since then, groups worldwide have sponsored their own Empty Bowls events, in which people buy an empty ceramic handmade bowl in which to have soup and then take the bowl home.

The art students at St. Thomas More have hosted Empty Bowls events for 11 years, usually raising close to $2,000 each year. This year, Culvers will provide the soup and bread. The money raised will be donated to The Daily Bread Soup Kitchen in Champaign.

In addition to the meal, there will be music, drama and dance performances. Other supporting participants include St. Matthew Catholic School, Holy Cross School and Campus Middle School for Girls, as well as many family members, teachers and friends who made bowls.

The suggested donation for the bowl and meal is $10 and for the meal alone, $5. Additional donations are welcome.

Photos on display in 'Seeking'

The Asian American Cultural Center, with the Urbana Museum of Photography, is presenting through March 31 the exhibition "Seeking" of black and white photographs made from film.

The exhibition features photographs by Yashin Chen, Ryan Fang and Ziang Xiao, who explore their Chinese culture and its traces in the American society. The project consists of three parts, with each part offering a personal view of each artist.

Xiao, born and raised in northern China, documents the lifestyle and landscapes of mainland China. As a Taiwanese, Chen feels living in America reminds her every day of the importance of the Chinese culture. For the short period she went back to Taiwan, she brought back photos of the landscape and people. Fang, as an international student at the UI, explores the impact of Chinese culture in the Midwest, particularly Chicago and Champaign-Urbana.

The exhibit is open for viewing from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the Asian American Cultural Center, 1210 W. Nevada St., U. The reception will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday.

LITERARY SCENE

Book launch party at Esquire

Champaign author Patricia Hruby Powell will celebrate the publication of her latest book, "Loving vs. Virginia," at a book launch party from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Esquire Lounge, 106 N. Walnut St., C.

In free verse, Powell tells the story of the landmark civil rights case that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"In 1955, in Caroline County, Va., amidst segregation and prejudice, injustice and cruelty, two teenagers fell in love," reads the Amazon review. "Their life together broke the law, but their determination would change it. Richard and Mildred Loving were at the heart of a Supreme Court case that legalized marriage between races and a story of the devoted couple who faced discrimination, fought it and won."

At the free launch party, Hruby Powell will read from the book and sign copies sold by Jane Addams Book Shop, Champaign. Robin Kearton, Tom Faux and other musicians will perform the kind of string band music that Mildred Loving's family played in Virginia. Along with its regular menu, the Esquire will offer Brunswick stew, a traditional dish from Virginia.

Hruby Powell, also a dancer and storyteller, has had four other books published and is working on another to be published next year.

THEATER SCENE

DLO will perform 'Violet'

Danville Light Opera Musical Theatre will present the award-winning, Tony-nominated Broadway musical "Violet," with a dessert performance at 7 p.m. Friday and dinner performances at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 12:30 p.m. next Sunday at Bremer Auditorium at Danville Area Community College.

The music in "Violet" ranges from folk to blues to rock to gospel and was written by Tony-winning composer Jeanine Tesori. Inspired by the short story "The Ugliest Pilgrim" by Doris Betts, "Violet" has been praised as "a work of great resonance and beauty and joy" by New York magazine; Newsday wrote, "The Broadway musical we've been waiting for has arrived!"

The synopsis: Violet is a disfigured woman of unshakable faith who boards a Greyhound bus in Spruce Pines, S.C., to pursue her dream of beauty. The real journey takes place through the people she meets on the road leading to a television preacher in Tulsa, Okla. Set in 1964, themes of tragedy, racism, faith and, ultimately, acceptance and love, are part of the story. Its setting in the early days of the civil rights era will resonate with audiences today."

Director Jeanne Dunn embraced a minimalist vision for the production, putting the focus directly on the story, the characters and the performances. "Violet" has been on her theatrical "bucket list" since 2010, and she is collaborating on it with music director Karen Grove.

Leading the cast are Mallory (Williams) Middendorf in the title role and Phil Bryant and Bryan Jenkins as two young soldiers to whom Violet grows close.

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That's entertainment: Spotlighting events throughout the area - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette