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Event
Susan Werner In Concert - Progressive Voices Concert Series
Progressive Voices Concerts is thrilled to welcome back singer-songwriter Susan Werner to open our 2017-2018 Season!
WHEN: Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 7:30pm
WHERE: First Unitarian Church, 1800 Bell Ave., Des Moines, IA 50315
TICKETS: $20 in advance / $25 at the door. Season tickets $70 for 4 shows or $105 for 6 shows (available elsewhere on this site.)
You may pick up your pre-paid tickets at the Will Call table after 6:30 p.m. the night of the show.
Seating is general admission, except reserved seating section for season ticket holders. Doors to the auditorium open at 7 p.m.
PARKING: Primary parking lot located just south of Bell Ave. & Druid Hill Dr., just east of the church. Smaller lot with handicap parking located just south of Bell Ave. & Casady Dr. Overflow parking is also located just north of Bell Ave. & Cassady Dr. in the lot of the former Wells Fargo offices IN THE DESIGNATED AREAS ONLY. Street parking also available on Druid Hill & Casady Drives.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
www.susanwerner.com
SUSAN WERNER composes skillful songs that effortlessly slide between folk, jazz, and pop, all delivered with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. Throughout her expansive career, boundless versatility has emerged as a hallmark of Werners talent, and has proven to be a quintessential ingredient of her engrossing musical persona.
After writing twelve albums of songs in styles ranging from folk/rock to Tin Pan Alley to gospel, country and chamber music, what might a woman deemed by National Public Radio as The Empress of the Unexpected try next?
Well, go to Cuba, of course!
Which is what Chicago-based (and native Iowa) singer-songwriter, Susan Werner, has done, resulting in the Cuban-influenced songs of An American In Havana, her new EP. The album features performances and arrangements by Cuban-born percussionist, Mayra Casales, (Dizzy Gillespie, Celia Cruz, Regina Carter), who will also accompany Werner on tour this fall.
And as audiences will testify again and again, Werners been reaching new heights in concert halls all around the US for twenty years. Renowned as a charismatic performer, shes known above all for challenging herself to conquer new styles, almost like mountaintops, every few years. From her 1995 major label debut on BMG/Private Music, the folk/rock gem Last of the Good Straight Girls, to her 2004 Koch Records collection of Tin Pan Alley styled originals I Cant Be New, to her 2007 agnostic gospel hymnal The Gospel Truth, to 2013s tribute to agriculture and her Iowa farm roots Hayseed, Werners creative restlessness has become her defining characteristic. I like concept albums, because they provide a place for the audience and the artist to meet. You may not know me and I may not know you, but we both know something about a farmers market, about what it is to sit in a pew at church and wonder what life means, we both know something about falling in love and maybe falling back out again. I like to have a starting point for an evenings conversation with an audience its a great icebreaker.
She first arrived on the national stage when her 1995 BMG/Private Music debut earned her national concert tours with Joan Armatrading and Richard Thompson. In 1996 Werner was featured as part of the next generation in Peter Paul and Marys PBS special LifeLines. She has performed on NPRs World Café three times, NPRs Mountain Stage nine times, and in August 2016 Nebraska Educational Television will broadcast The Land Will Outlive Us All, a one hour special on Werner, agriculture, and her 2015 concert tour across the state.
Her songs have been recorded by Tom Jones and Michael Feinstein, Broadway stars Betty Buckley and Christine Ebersole, and countless individuals and ensembles. But Werner says shes just getting started: Im at work finishing up an album of songs inspired by a trip to Cuba. And Ive always wanted to go to Scotland hey, maybe I could learn the bagpipes. Its not impossible.is it?
PRESS:
One of the most innovative songwriters working today.
Chicago Tribune
(Werner is) a songwriter and musician who is in such complete command of her gifts that its almost scary.
All Music Guide
When it comes to crafting a song, Ms. Werners only peers are Jimmy Webb and Paul Simon.
No Depression
Susan Werner, a clever songwriter and an engaging performer, brings literacy and wit back to popular song.
The New Yorker
Vulnerability has rarely been so witty or concise in modern song.
Boston Herald
Always an impressive songwriter, Werner continues to compose sharp, funny, compassionate lyrics, a gift rare enough to set her apart
The Washington Post
The classically trained and jazz inspired singer is redefining the genre and winning admirers around the country
Phildelphia Inquirer
Kicking The Beehive is evidence that Susan Werner has no trouble reinventing herself year after year; and shes damn good at it.
Performer Magazine
Werner has quietly risen to the elite of American songwriters.
Direct Current
This woman is great. period.
Music Row (Nashville)
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LocationFirst Unitarian Church of Des Moines (View)
1800 Bell Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50315
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 6 |
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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