Turning the concert hall on its ear

There is just something about live music. There is a spiritual aspect that is inherent in really good music that connects to the careful listener on a deep, almost primal level. Musicians speak the language of the heart, and they can touch your soul- bringing you to tears, or filling you with pure bliss. Music can take you on journeys, showing you worlds you never knew existed, often without ever uttering a word. Witnessing this magic being created right before your ears is an experience that can leave you mesmerized and stirred to the depths of your being, and often has the potential of changing you forever, if only in some small, internal way. Okay, enough hyperbole…. 

 

Here at the Alys Stephens Center, we’re not only constantly trying to bring you the most powerful performances by the most unique and important artists alive today, but we strive to present the art in such a way that it has the most profound impact on you, our audience. We know what it’s like to sit in rapt wonderment at a show - our staff is comprised of people who live to see live shows.  Ask any of our friends and they’ll tell you that we’re out and about almost every night of the week. For our education director, it’s theatre.  For our executive director, it’s dance. For me, it’s singer/songwriters.  For our marketing and programming director, it’s pretty much anything else. And as “professional show-goers”, we all crave the unique concert experience that will present great art in a fresh dynamic light. And what better way to witness the creation of musical magic than to be sitting “On Stage with the Band”?

 

 

And while we’re re-inventing the wheel, we thought, why not reconfigure the same old grand concert hall that we all know and love so well? So, we’ve turned the Jemison Concert Hall onto its proverbial ear. The band will be onstage, facing the Choral Balcony (yes, backwards) with a curtain drawn behind them, closing off the larger part of the hall. A limited number of onstage seats will be available, along with incredible birds-eye seating in the Choral Balcony. Sounds cool, huh?

 

So now, without further adieu, we are thrilled to announce our first ‘On Stage with the Band” performance, featuring the legendary COWBOY JUNKIES!  We would have been hard-pressed to find a better band to kick off the “On Stage” series. Their music encompasses everything that inspires us – it is at once dynamic and mournful, haunting, heartfelt, and blisteringly poignant. You can’t help but be drawn into the webs they spin, both lyrically and musically.

 

The concert will be Tuesday, February 10^th at 7pm. Tickets go onsale to the general public Monday December 15, 2008. Because we are expecting such a high demand for this show, we are offering an internet presale to loyal friends of the ASC. The presale will be available via www.alysstephens.org only, and will begin Monday December 8, 2008.  Check today’s ASC E-Updates for details.