Kirkland Performance Center Announces Spring Lineup

Lisa Loeb, (mom of two, children's author, musician and glasses designer) is best known for her geek-girl glasses and 90s hit "Stay (I Missed You)." On April 9 this busy working mom-musician travels to KPC in support of her new album "No Fairy Tale." Local flamenco guitarist Andre Feriante kicks of Mother's Day weekend on May 10^th with a musical tour of the Mediterranean. Andre's performance features a wine tasting, captivating stories and exotic images to accompany his stunning guitar music. And what mom wouldn't be amazed by nineteen year old jazz sax phenom Grace Kelly (featuring Tineke Postma as the opening act). Grace Kelly performs on Saturday May 11. On Mother's Day, May 12, singer and puppeteer Mallory Lewis pays tribute to her own mother - the iconic children's entertainer ShAri Lewis - in a family-friendly show titled A Lamb Chop Celebration.

In early Spring Hauschka will dazzle with his experimental prepared piano. Later in April Medeski Martin & Wood will 'go acoustic', local a capella singing ensemble the Baudboys will venture off the Microsoft campus to KPC and on May 18^th Rahim Alhaj, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan will amaze with their two distantly related stringed instruments: the oud and sarod.

VIP Tickets for Medeski Martin & Wood on April 17 are $75. Quantities are limited and VIP patrons receive prime seating, the opportunity to sit in on their sound check and participate in a Q & A session prior to their public performance. A complete list of shows is available at www.kpcenter.org. Tickets are available over the phone at (425) 893-9900 or at the KPC Box Office Noon - 6pm Tues - Sat and until curtain on show days (hours are subject to change seasonally). The Box Office is located at 350 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland WA.

From ping pong balls to bottle caps, leather wedges to pieces of paper, Hauschka inserts alien objects between or upon piano strings, hammers and dampers. This technique, an extension of John Cage's "prepared piano," allows for the replication of entirely different sounds - whether that of the bass guitar, gamelan or the hi-hat cymbal of a drum kit - to usher in a whole new sonic world.

The evening is filled with ninety's nostalgia (hint, she even has a new song titled "The 90s"), geek-girl glasses, and new music from the multi-talented, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb. This acoustic evening is in support of her latest CD titled "No Fairy Tale" which she describes as a "poppy, punky, rock album." Lisa is the Brown-educated pixie-like songstress with the cat-eyed glasses who sang the Grammy-nominated song "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites. But since that song launched her to international fame, she has had a remarkable career in music, film, television, voice-over work and children's recordings. She even had a cooking show with Dweezil Zappa and has launched her own line of signature eyewear.

International superstar Sharon Isbin is the first lady of the classical guitar and hailed as the reigning guitar diva, Ms. Isbin has performed at a wide range of venues, from the White House to Ground Zero. She has appeared as soloist with over 160 orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, the National Symphony, the Orchestre National de France, and the London Symphony, and has been profiled in periodicals from People to The Wall Street Journal, as well as on the cover of 45 magazines. The winner of multiple Grammy awards, Ms. Isbin comes to Kirkland to perform the mesmerizing solo guitar concert.

Progressive keyboard trio Medeski Martin & Wood launch the West Coast portion of their second-ever all-acoustic tour at KPC. Touring in support of their 2012 live acoustic album Free Magic, pianist, John Medeski explains that performing acoustic is "...softer, so it requires a different kind of listening for both us and the audience, so it takes you into a completely different space. It tends to be less focused on the groove that so many people associate with us. We're excited. For us, these acoustic tours are just a treat. It's refreshing to be in that situation because it forces people to listen harder and when the people are actually listening and not off in their own party world there's a different kind of journey we can go on musically."

The Baudboys, an award-winning, 8-voice a cappella group composed entirely of Microsoft workers, perform hits from Weird Al and the Red Hot Chili Peppers to George Michael and Stevie Wonder. Members are drawn from teams across the company and boast of wealth of musical training and experience. They have performed to audiences in a variety of venues, from nursing homes and schools to major festivals and sporting events. They are the 2011 and 2008 Pacific Northwest Harmony Sweepstakes Champions, 2-time Audience Favorites, and have placed in the top three on five different occasions.

After over 20 years of performing and recording, award-winning virtuoso guitarist Andre Feriante has left his musical mark on the classical, world music and fusion scenes. A cross-over artist in the vein of YoYo Ma or Sting, his performance program represents a bold but fluid musical fusion, featuring music from Bach to Leonard Cohen, flamenco improvisation to jazz standards, and even poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca, Rumi and Feriante himself.

Featuring opening act internationally acknowledged saxophonist and composer Tineke Postma. When it comes to sax phenom Grace Kelly, people seem to be divided into two groups: those who marvel at her proficiency, creativity and ever-accelerating growth, and those who have yet to encounter the 19-year-old wunderkind. Since the age of 12, she has performed over 500 concerts throughout the world from the Montreal and Newport Jazz Festivals to the Kennedy Center and Birdland. She has garnered numerous accolades from artists she reveres, performing and recording with the likes of Dave Brubeck, Harry Connick Jr., Esperanza Spalding, Toots Thielemans, Dianne Reeves, and more. According to Wynton Marsalis, Grace Kelly plays with intelligence, wit and feeling. She has a great amount of natural ability and the ability to adapt that is the hallmark of a first-class jazz musician.

Bring the whole family for an entertaining hour of laughter and song with A LAMB CHOP CELEBRATION!. Introduce the kids to the beloved children's icon Lamb Chop, skillfully bought to life by Shari's daughter, Mallory Lewis. Fun for all ages, kids will fall in love with Lamb Chop, teens and twenty-somethings will remember Lamb Chop from Lamb Chop's Play Along, and grown-ups will enjoy revisiting their youth as they laugh and sing along with Lamb Chop and Mallory! It's filled with audience participation and a retrospective video presentation on Shari.

Iraq meets India in this remarkable live collaboration. The world is awash in stringed instruments, each boasting its own remarkable character. Yet sometimes the most exciting sounds stem from mixing these distantly related instruments. On this special engagement Rahim AlHaj, Iraqi master of the lute-like oud, teams up with the fraternal Indian team of Amaan & Ayann Ali Khan, seventh generation players of the sarod, a mainstay of Indian classical music, who are both primed for and predisposed to collaboration: AlHaj's excellent 2009 Ancient Sounds was recorded with their father, the great Amjad Ali Khan.

About Kirkland Performance Center. KPC provides cultural enrichment by offering a home for the presentation, support and promotion of the performing arts. Located in downtown Kirkland, this 402-seat theatre hosts an average of 300 music, theatre and family-oriented performances a year from acclaimed regional, national and International Artists. With an annual operating budget of $1.2 million KPC serves more than 70,000 patrons and over 20,000 students each year. Since opening in 1998 over 800,000 patrons have walked through KPC's doors. In addition to presenting performing arts, KPC conducts a variety of educational and community outreach programs at area schools. These are designed to bring visiting artists into the classrooms for in-depth workshops. KPC also grants students the opportunity to perform in a professional setting on the KPC stage.