Grammy winner Howard Levy highlights concert series at Baker Community Center in St. Charles

A performance by two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, diatonic harmonica artist and composer Howard Levy highlights the fall season of “Saturday Night Lights” events at the historic Baker Community Center in downtown St. Charles.

In his first St. Charles concert appearance on Oct. 19, Levy will be joined by his frequent collaborator, jazz/blues/rock guitarist Chris Siebold.

Following Levy’s concert, the series resumes Nov. 16 with the return of two Baker Center audience favorites, performing together in St. Charles for the first time – versatile vocalist Tatum Langley and the Jeremy Kahn Quartet, led by acclaimed Chicago jazz pianist Jeremy Kahn. The Fall season of concerts concludes on December 21 with “An Italian Christmas with Fox Valley Opera,” featuring holiday season favorites and a selection of arias and duets from the operas of Italian composer Giacomo Puccini in observance of the 100th anniversary of his passing in 1924. Fox Valley Opera is one of the area’s newest and most exciting musical organizations.

Fox Valley Opera founder and artistic director, Brad Noffsinger Morrison, is one of the talented singers on the program. A graduate of St. Charles East High School, Morrison is enjoying a career in opera that has offered him wide-ranging roles and experiences.

Levy has won Grammy Awards for Pop Music Performance and Instrumental Composition. He is an acknowledged master of the diatonic harmonica, a superb pianist, innovative composer, educator and producer, according to a news release.

At home in many musical styles, Levy is a favorite with audiences worldwide and a recording artist sought after by Kenny Loggins, Dolly Parton, Paquito D’Rivera, Styx, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon and many others. He has appeared on hundreds of albums and several movie soundtracks, most prominently on “A Family Thing” with Robert Duval and James Earl Jones.

The Howard Levy and Chris Siebold duo has performed to great acclaim in the US, Europe and South America. Levy’s virtuosic playing combines with Siebold’s masterful resonator guitar work to deliver a spirited evening of jazz, blues, pop, classical and original compositions that transcend genre or category, the release stated.

Siebold, house guitarist for five years on “A Prairie Home Companion,” draws from a deep well of influences, and plays many styles of music including blues, bluegrass, jazz, world music and rock. He has played with many notable musicians around the world.

The Norris Cultural Arts Center produces the Saturday concert series, now in its fifth year. For information and links to online ticketing, visit NorrisCulturalArts.com. Tickets include coupons for three complimentary beverages (wine, beer or soft drinks). All performances begin at 7:30 p.m.