Concerts
Hopkins Center for the Arts' 2019-2020 season
For Tickets:
- Buy online by selecting BUY TICKETS below each of the concert descriptions
- Call the Box Office at 952-979-1111, Option 4
- Visit the Box Office
- Box Office Hours: Tuesday - Saturday Noon - 6pm
Save 15% or more by purchasing tickets to 3 or more concerts. Select a package (using the link for a printable order form) or by calling the Box Office at 952-979-1111.
Ruthie Foster
February 15, 2020 at 8 pm
Hailing from the tightly knit musical community of Austin, Texas, award-winning singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster has found herself duetting with Bonnie Raitt, standing on stage with the Allman Brothers at New York’s Beacon Theater, and trading verses with Susan Tedeschi. Her latest album, Joy Comes Back, described as “some folk, some blues, some soul, some rock, some gospel,” illustrates Ruthie’s genre-spanning talent. Ruthie has been nominated for three GRAMMYs, and has won multiple Blues Music and Austin Music Awards, plus the Grand Prix du Disque from Académie Charles-Cros in France. Gold Level Seating: Members $37, Non-members $42; Silver Level Seating: Members $27, Non-members $32
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Squirrel Nut Zippers
Saturday, March 14, 2020 at 8 pm
Their musical journey began in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the mid 1990’s, as a musician’s escape from the cookie-cutter world of modern rock radio at the time. Jimbo Mathus, along with drummer/percussionist Chris Phillips, formed the band as a casual musical foray among friends and family in the area. It wasn’t long before the band’s quirky mix of jazz chords, folk music, and punk rock leanings spread out of the region and attracted a national audience.
Years later in 2016 and through chronicles of every kind, the band has emerged from a lengthy recording hiatus, reinvigorated, reinvested, and rejuvenated. With an all-star cast of New Orleans musicians, the band breathed new life in to the old material, and inspired Mathus to return to the studio to reignite the band’s unique, enigmatic sound.
A kind of uncontrolled experiment in music on the road allowed the band to feed off audiences energy and surrender to the dancing muse, rather than trying to subscribe to a preconceived notion. Their current critically acclaimed release Beasts Of Burgundy entails twelve original songs from the mind of Jimbo Mathus and the Squirrel Nut Zippers and is inspired by the city of New Orleans, the poet Ron Cuccia, and a disregard for convention. Gold Level Seating: Members $54, Non-members $59; Silver Level Seating: Members $45, Non-members $49
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David Wilcox
Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 8 pm
Cleveland-born David Wilcox is a father, a husband, a citizen, and a songwriter. First inspired to play guitar after hearing a fellow college student playing in a stairwell, Wilcox is now 20 records into a career marked by personal revelation and wildly loyal fans. His lyrical insight is matched by a smooth baritone voice, virtuosic guitar chops, and creative open tunings, giving him a range and tenderness rare in folk music. Gold Level Seating: Members $23, Non-members $28; Silver Level Seating: Members $15, Non-members $20
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Maria Schneider Orchestra
Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 8 pm, Musical-Notes talk at 6:45 pm
Maria Schneider’s music has been hailed by critics as “evocative, majestic, magical, heart-stoppingly gorgeous, and beyond categorization.” She and her orchestra became widely known starting in 1994 when they released their first recording, Evanescence. There, Schneider began to develop her personal way of writing for what would become her 18-member collective, made up of many of the finest musicians in jazz today, tailoring her compositions to distinctly highlight the uniquely creative voices of the group.
Schneider’s music blurs the lines between genres, making her long list of commissioners quite varied, stretching from Jazz at Lincoln Center, to The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, to collaborating with David Bowie. She is among a small few to have received GRAMMYS in multiple genres, have received the award in both jazz and classical categories, as well as for her work with David Bowie.
Schneider and her orchestra have a distinguished recording career with twelve GRAMMY nominations and five GRAMMY awards. Unique funding of projects has become a hallmark for Schneider through the trend-setting company, ArtistShare. Her album, Concert in the Garden (2004) became historic as the first recording to win a GRAMMY with Internet-only sales, even more significantly, it blazed the "crowd-funding" trail as ArtistShare’s first release. She’s been awarded many honors by the Jazz Journalists Association and DOWNBEAT and JAZZTIMES Critics and Readers Polls. In 2019, the National Endowment for the Arts bestowed on Schneider the nation's highest honor in jazz, naming her a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master. Gold and Silver Level Seating: Members $50, Non-members $55
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Taj Mahal Quartet
Saturday, April 25, 2020 at 8 pm
Celebrating decades of recording and touring that have nearly single-handedly reshaped the definition and scope of the blues via the infusion of exotic sounds from the Caribbean, Africa and South Pacific, the two-time Grammy winning singer, songwriter, film composer, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist was feted with the Lifetime Achievement for Performance Award at the 13th Annual Americana Honors and Awards.
Taj Mahal’s career has been full of and defined by colorful twists and turns, unexpected whimsical ventures and a commitment to a muse that has long preferred freewheeling innovation to conformity. So there’s always the challenge of finding the right words and phrases to capture just what he’s meant to American music over the past half century.
His diversity of musical experience served as the bedrock for Mahal’s first three recordings: Taj Mahal (1967), The Natch’l Blues (1968) and Giant Step (1969). Drawing on the eclectic sounds and styles he’d absorbed as a child and a young adult, these early albums showed signs of the musical exploration that would become Mahal’s hallmark in the years to come. In the 1970s, Mahal carved out a unique musical niche with a string of adventurous recordings, including Happy To be Just Like I Am (1971), Recycling the Blues and Other Related Stuff (1972), the GRAMMY®-nominated soundtrack to the movie Sounder (1973), Mo’ Roots (1974), Music Fuh Ya (Music Para Tu) (1977) and Evolution (The Most Recent) (1978). The type of blues he was playing in the early 70s showed an aptitude for spicing the mix with exotic flavors that kept him from being an out and out mainstream genre performer.
“What inspires me most about my career is that I’ve been able to make a living playing the music that I always loved and wanted to play since the early 50s,” Mahal says. “And the fact that I still am involved in enjoying an exciting career at this point in time is truly priceless. I’m doing this the old fashioned way and it ain’t easy. I work it and I earn it. My relationship with my audience has been fun, with great respect going both ways! I am extremely lucky to have fans who have listened to the music I choose to play and have stayed with me for 50 years. These fans have also introduced their children, grandchildren and in some cases great-grand children to this fabulous treasure of music that I am privileged to represent. It’s very exciting, to say the least. Gold Level Seating: Members $70, Non-members $75; Silver Level Seating: Members $65, Non-Members $70
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Asleep at the Wheel
Saturday, May 2, 2020 at 7:30 pm
This is the ticketed Mainstage performance of May Day Music on Main - a fundraising event that supports programming for Hopkins Center for the Arts. More information at May Day Music on Main
Ray Benson founded Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia 48 years ago. Now based in Austin, the band holds 10 Grammy awards, 20 studio albums and 20 singles on the Billboard country charts. The Grammy Award-winning Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys is the band’s most recent release (2015) and marks their third full-length Bob Wills tribute album. Featuring 22 acclaimed collaborations, the all-star lineup includes legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and George Strait and newcomers like The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show and many other fine talents.
Asleep at the Wheel is bringing a fresh look, sound and New Album in 2018. With recent additions Katie Shore (fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin) Connor Forsyth (keyboard, vocals) and Josh Hoag (Bass) Asleep at the Wheel’s newest members have given a newfound energy and their own unique style within the band. Asleep at the Wheel veterans David Sanger (Drums) Eddie Rivers (Steel Guitar) and Jay Reynolds (Saxophone and Clarinet) round out the now 8 piece band. Between those Texas Twin Fiddles and Boogie Piano, you can bet you’ll be dancin’ down the aisles and swingin’ all night long when the Wheel rolls into town! Gold Level Seating: Members $50, Non-members $55; Silver Level Seating: Members $40, Non-members $45
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Roger McGuinn
Saturday, May 9, 2020 at 8 pm
Mr. Tambourine Man not only lived history, he made history with his fearless sense of experimentation. As the leader of the influential 60s group, The Byrds, he was on the leading edge, combining the rock beat of the Beatles with the folk sensibilities of Bob Dylan, to create the genre known as “folk-rock” His groundbreaking work on The Byrds “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo” album, is widely credited with ushering in the genre of country rock. Roger’s solo career began in 1973 and has yielded 13 albums, a Grammy nomination, and extensive touring and performing for enthralled audiences ever since. Roger can provide an educational seminar which includes aspects of rock history, musical techniques, and computer techniques he uses in recording. Most recently Roger has been working on his 2018 album, “Sweet Memories” and has been seen onstage with Chris Hillman and Marty Stuart and The Fabulous Superlatives during the Sold Out “Sweetheart Of The Rodeo 50th Anniversary Tour”. Gold Level Seating: Members $30, Non-members: $35; Silver Level Seating: Members $20, Non-Members $25