Berklee’s Signature Series Returns February 21

Grammy Award–winning producer, songwriter, and musician Larry Klein kicks off the celebrated series with Grammy-winning Brazilian jazz vocalist Luciana Souza.

December 20, 2018

Since 2004, the Signature Series at Berklee has brought students, faculty, alumni, and world-renowned, award-winning musicians to the Berklee Performance Center stage.

The Signature Series continues to push the boundaries of musicianship with creative collaborations in the pursuit of reflecting Berklee’s commitment to the diversity of expression and opportunities that define music today.

Opening the series on February 21 is the show Larry Klein Meets Berklee, featuring Grammy-winning songwriter and musician Larry Klein with special guests, jazz singer and songwriter Madeleine Peyroux and Grammy-winning Brazilian jazz vocalist Luciana Souza. On April 5, Grammy-winning conductor Arnie Roth leads the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, with Julius Williams as artistic director, through a captivating and specially conceived program of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy at Symphony Hall.

The Signature Series includes a total of six concert events running through April 2019, offering a diverse range of genres from jazz, country, and roots to pop, R&B/soul, and classical.

Larry Klein Meets Berklee

Thursday, February 21, 2019
8:00 p.m.9:30 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

Reserved seating: three price levels
Admission: $30 / $25 / $20 in advance; $35 / $30 / $25 day of show
$20 discount for Berklee community

Multiple Grammy Award–winning record producer, songwriter, and musician Larry Klein has worked with some of the most important artists in popular music. A three-time Grammy nominee for Producer of the Year, including a 2019 nominee, he has produced many adventurous multiartist projects such as Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters and Billy Childs’s Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro. Performing with an international cast of top Berklee students, alumni, and faculty, Klein has crafted a setlist that spans his diverse and extraordinary career. Special guests include jazz singer and songwriter Madeleine Peyroux and Grammy-winning Brazilian jazz vocalist and composer Luciana Souza.

Under the baton of Professor Julius Williams, a Berklee student orchestra will take center stage during the second half of the concert to spotlight Joni Mitchell’s Both Sides Now album. Assistant Professor Marty Walsh will serve as musical director. The concert is produced by Carl Beatty, assistant vice president of artist and music industry relations, with Maureen McMullan serving as executive producer.

Great American Songbook: The Music of Dolly Parton

Sunday, February 24, 2019
7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center (BPC)

Reserved seating: two price levels
Admission: $20 / $15 in advance; $25 / $20 day of show
$15 discount for Berklee community

Join a global cast of students, alumni, faculty, and an array of special guests for an unforgettable evening filled with Dolly Parton’s greatest hits and deep cuts, from rousing production numbers to intimate down-home songs, delivered with a raw, acoustic sentiment akin to Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe. The band—a full rhythm section, strings, horns, and background vocalists—will revisit Parton’s formative years, steeped in spirituals and gospel music, in Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains; traverse her trademark country writing and late ’70s/early ’80s pop crossover boom; and cover her return to Appalachian folk, bluegrass, and old-world Celtic music. The concert is produced by Maureen McMullan, with faculty guitarist Kevin Barry serving as musical director.

A singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actress, businesswoman, producer, author, and humanitarian, Parton is a living legend whose integrity, charisma, and indomitable spirit remain unabated. Topping 100 million in record sales around the world, Parton is one of the most honored female country performers of all time, with 26 no. 1 songs, eight Grammy Awards, 46 Grammy nominations, and an induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Ariana Grande and Micki Miller Tribute Show

Thursday, March 7, 2019
8:00 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

Reserved seating: two price levels
Admission: $20 / $15 in advance; $25 / $20 day of show
$15 discount for Berklee community

Directed by saxophonist and Berklee Professor Tia Fuller, a 2019 Grammy nominee, Berklee's Ariana Grande and Micki Miller ensembles will perform pop and R&B hits, including "God Is a Woman," "Side to Side," "Diamonds," and more. This two-part concert will feature College and Conservatory vocalists, instrumentalists, and dancers in a fully choreographed production of the artists’ music. Students Max Nudi, Aaron Ward, and Marcus Prince will serve as musical directors for the ensembles.

Berklee American Roots Music Program 10th Anniversary

Tuesday, March 12, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

Reserved seating: two price levels
$20 / $15 in advance; $25 / $20 day of show
$15 discount for Berklee community

Celebrating the first 10 years of the Berklee American Roots Music Program, this extraordinary concert welcomes back some of the amazing musicians who passed through Berklee during the program's first decade, as well as some of the incredible Americana bands that got their start here. Come hear Sierra Hull ’11 and Molly Tuttle B.M. ’14, the Lonely Heartstring Band, Mile Twelve, Twisted Pine, Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, Jenna & Màiri (Jenna Moynihan B.M. ’13 and Màiri Chaimbeul B.M. ’16), and the Goodbye Girls, as well as Donna McElroy and the Jubilee Spirit Ensemble, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Darol Anger, Kevin Barry, and others. The concert is produced by Matt Glaser, artistic director of the Berklee American Roots Music Program.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy

Friday, April 5, 2019
8:00 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Grammy-winning conductor Arnie Roth leads the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra with Julius Williams as artistic director through a captivating and specially conceived program of Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy for the show's triumphant return to Boston’s celebrated Symphony Hall. This multimedia experience shows stirring screen images—direct from game developer Square Enix—that reflect the soaring emotions of a symphony orchestra and chorus performing music selected from the entire Final Fantasy catalogue.

Singers Showcase: Aretha, Queen of Soul

Thursday, April 11, 2019
8:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

Reserved seating: two price levels
$15 / $10 in advance; $20 / $15 on day of show
$10 discount for Berklee community

Joined by a full rhythm section, horns, background vocalists, dancers, and special guests, Berklee’s most outstanding lead vocalists and vocal groups will interpret Aretha Franklin’s rich canon. Produced by Maureen McMullan, this concert will feature the inspirational and powerful music that became the soundtrack to the lives of so many—songs such as “Respect,” “Think,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “Rock Steady,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “I Knew You Were Waiting,” and many more.

The undisputed “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin was one of the few artists who not only defined their times but transcended them. She became a monumental figure in social change, as a civil rights activist, an icon for feminism, and symbol of hope who helped define the American experience. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she was also the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Tickets for the BPC, located at 136 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, are available at berklee.edu/bpc or at the BPC box office. Call 617-747-2261 for more information. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

Tickets for Symphony Hall, located at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, are available at bso.org or by calling SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

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