CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Krannert Center for the Performing Arts’ 2023-24 season will begin with the 10th year of ELLNORA: The Guitar Festival. The performances that follow will include women singer-songwriters; song and dance from Ghana; chamber music and symphony orchestras; a collaboration that combines art and science; and a Latin Grammy winner. And that’s just the first half of the season.
The biennial ELLNORA festival brings a wide range of musical styles to Krannert Center, which this year include jazz, Latin, rock, country and surf music. The Sept. 8 opening night party includes a ticketed performance by Rodrigo y Gabriela, a Grammy-winning Mexican acoustic guitar duo playing a mix of rock and Latin music who performed at ELLNORA in 2015. Free performances in the Krannert Center lobby and amphitheatre include pedal and lap steel guitar player Roosevelt Collier, playing a mix of blues, gospel and rock; the gypsy jazz of the Stephane Wremble Band; and The Surfrajettes, a four-piece instrumental group playing psychedelic rock and surf music.
Country music star Emmylou Harris – a multiple Grammy Award winner, a recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame – is one of the headliners for ELLNORA’s second day of music.
In addition, the influential Grammy-winning jazz bassist Ron Carter will perform with his trio, featuring pianist Donald Vega and guitarist Russell Malone. Other musicians include feminist singer-songwriter Ani DeFranco; Andy Summers, the former guitarist for The Police who went on to a solo career and membership in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; and classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, a multiple Grammy Award winner who performed at ELLNORA in 2015.
The national and international artists performing during the fall include Morris Day and the Time, a soul and funk band founded in Minneapolis and closely associated with Prince.
Ghanaian musician Okaidja Afroso is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and dancer whose work is a fusion of Ghanaian music with a diverse range of influences including jazz and classical. His multimedia performance will showcase his most recent work “Jaku Mumor,” an album and a music documentary that incorporate traditional fishing songs and chants. Krannert Center was a commissioner of the project.
In September, Krannert Center will host several PYGMALION events, including a talk and cooking demonstration by Joanne Molinaro – a U. of I. alumna and cookbook author known as the Korean Vegan – and a drag show with two winners of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars.
Fall classical music performances include the Merz Trio, playing chamber music from the 16th century to the present; the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, returning after a performance in 2022. The Jupiter String Quartet, artists-in-residence with the School of Music, will play a three-part series during the season, with the first two performances on Oct. 3 and Nov. 10. The Kronos Quartet will present selections from five newly commissioned works in celebration of its 50th anniversary. Krannert Center was a commissioner for the Five Decades Project.
“Gene Machine” mixes art and science, featuring a lecture by Venki Ramakrishnan, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry, and music by his son, cellist Raman Ramakrishnan, and pianist Benjamin Hochman. The Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the chemistry department are collaborating on the event.
Grammy-winning singer-songwriters Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin will perform together in October. Grammy-winning pianist Pablo Ziegler brings his trio to Krannert Center in November for two evenings of jazz tango in November.
Highlights of the spring performances include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott, longtime collaborators on their final recital tour together. The second half of the season also will feature jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis playing with his quartet; Manual Cinema’s multimedia performance that uses music, puppetry and cinematic techniques to bring to life characters from the books of Mo Willems; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Krannert Center also hosts the productions of the U. of I.’s music, theatre and dance programs throughout the year.
Tickets for the fall events will go on sale Aug. 9 at krannertcenter.com. Before buying tickets, visit Krannert Center’s online ticket office to ensure that you have or can create an active account. For questions about ticket buying, contact the ticket office at (217) 333-6280 or kran-tix@illinois.edu.