Live @ Benaroya Hall Announces Joe Biden, Yanni, Emily Haines, and More

Live @ Benaroya Hall announces their biggest season ever with an eclectic mix of concerts, lectures and dancers from around the world. Additional shows will be announced in the coming months. Tickets for most of the concerts listed above are on sale now, prices vary. Tickets for Yanni and Casa Patas Flamenco: Binomio will go on sale Friday, August 11, at 11am. Visit www.benaroyahall.org or call (206) 215-4747. The Benaroya Hall Ticket Office is on the corner of Third Avenue and Union Street. Ticket Office hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m.

Phone interviews and in-person appearances (when the touring schedule allows) are available by contacting Jennifer Rice at the number listed above. Details on the individual concerts listed below.

George Winston Friday, September 22, 7:30pm; Tickets $37-$47

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.georgewinston.com/

Inspired by the seasons and topographies, George Winston's concerts feature a variety of styles including melodic folk piano, New Orleans R&B piano and stride piano. He performs songs from his seasonal favorites Autumn, December, Winter Into Spring and Summer, as well as Peanuts pieces from his Vince Guaraldi tribute albums.

Colin Hay Thursday/Friday, September 28 & 29, 8pm; Tickets $45-$60

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.colinhay.com/

Scottish singer-songwriter Colin Hay may be best known as the frontman for Australian hit makers Men at Work, but he has received renewed acclaim for his troubadour-style solo career. His latest album, Fierce Mercy, finds him at the top of his game. Alongside the thoughtful storytelling in his songs, Hay's solo shows are peppered with hilarious anecdotes from his often surreal experiences in the world of rock music.

Sun Kil Moon Thursday, October 12, 7:30pm; Tickets $30-$35

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.sunkilmoon.com/index.html

Formed by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek, the indie folk act Sun Kil Moon crafts observational, diary-style lyrics and delivers them through Kozelek's haunting, moody vocals.

Tommy Caldwell Saturday, October 28, 8pm; Tickets $30-$56

S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium www.tommycaldwell.com/

Legendary rock climber Tommy Caldwell chronicles his evolution as a climber in the engrossing memoir, The Push: A Climber's Journey of Endurance, Risk, and Going Beyond Limits. This dramatic, inspiring memoir chronicles the journey of a boy with a fanatical mountain-guide father who was determined to instill toughness in his son to a teen whose obsessive nature drove him to the top of his sport. But his evolution as a climber was not without challenges; in his early twenties, he was held hostage by militants in a harrowing ordeal in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Soon after, he lost his left index finger in an accident.

Caldwell emerged from these hardships with a renewed sense of purpose and determination. He set his sights on free climbing El Capitan's biggest, steepest, blankest face - the Dawn Wall. This epic assault took more than seven years, during which time Caldwell redefined the sport, found love again, and became a father.

Creating S-Town: A New Way to Tell A Story with Brian Reed Sunday, October 29, 7:30 pm; Tickets $30-$56

S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium https://stownpodcast.org/

Brian Reed is the host and co-creator of the podcast S-Town. S-Town is part of Serial Productions, a Production Company from Serial and This American Life. In his talk, Brian walks his audience through the process of how he and his collaborators developed an entirely new kind of storytelling, taking techniques from literature and merging them with journalism in ways that hadn't been done before. Using audio outtakes and reporting details that never made it into the final version, Brian reveals how his team invented this groundbreaking new way of telling a story. S-Town broke podcast records by reaching 40 million downloads in its first month. Rigorously reported and entirely true, S-Town is the first podcast that feels like reading a masterful novel.

Hauschka Friday, November 3, 7:30pm; Tickets $25-$35

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.hauschka-music.com/

The sonic landscapes created by German pianist/composer Volker Bertelmann - better known as Hauschka - sound like the work of a whole ensemble, so it is an astonishing sight to see just one lone figure onstage. Hauschka achieves these otherworldly effects through careful curation of a prepared piano, employing everything from ping pong balls to aluminum foil. His latest release, What If, is an irrepressible outpouring of creativity, and reinvents piano music in a dramatic and exceptional fashion.

Yanni Friday, November 3, 8pm; Tickets $40-$100

S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium www.yanni.com/welcome

Legendary composer and performer Yanni returns to Benaroya Hall to give fans a closer look into his world with an intimate evening of piano and conversation. Forgoing the big production, Yanni will settle in for an evening of piano and conversation, giving his audiences the chance to ask questions and enjoy free-form discussion with him. Yanni has brought hundreds of millions of fans and fellow world citizens together via his concerts. His iconic performances at the Acropolis in Greece, the Taj Mahal in India, the Forbidden City in China, the Royal Albert Hall in England and El Morro in Puerto Rico have crossed countless borders and resonated with billions across the globe.

The Jerry Douglas Band Wednesday, November 8, 7:30pm; Tickets $30-$40

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.jerrydouglas.com/

Jerry Douglas was a teenager playing in a band in Lexington, Kentucky, the first time he heard Weather Report and Chick Corea - on the same day. More than 40 years later, he remembers the moment vividly. "It blew my head off," he says. "I loved it. And I thought, "Well, there's where I could go with all this stuff runnin' around in my head." "All this stuff" is the remarkable music Douglas has made on Dobro and lap steel in a career that's earned him world renown as the top purveyor of his craft. He has won a stunning 14 Grammy Awards so far, including many for his brilliant work with Alison Krauss & Union Station. On his latest musical foray, What If, Douglas decisively merges his early jazz inclinations with the bluegrass, country, blues, swing, rock and soul he's spent his life absorbing and performing, forging a sound that flies beyond the boundaries of anything he - or anyone else - has done before.

Casa Patas Flamenco: Binomio Thu& Fri , Nov. 6&17, 7:30pmSat., Nov. 18, 2pm; Tickets $28-$38

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall http://casapatas.com/casa-patas-2/

Francisco Hidalgo, Anabel Moreno and the dance company of Casa Patas return to Benaroya Hall for Binomio, a passionate new program of flamenco and Spanish dance. Binomio is the energy that flows between the forms of two dancers who together create art. Two identities, two visions, two manners of thought align with one another to create a dialogue of senses, feelings and responses that are interpreted through the music of flamenco.

Joe Biden: American Promise Tour Sunday, December 3, 7:30pm; Tickets $80-$250

S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium www.joebidenbook.com

Joe Biden has always believed that when given a chance, ordinary people can do extraordinary things. As a scrappy kid from Scranton who rose to the Office of Vice President, he is no exception. During his 45 years of public service, one of Biden's greatest strengths has been his ability to bring people together, even in crisis, even across difficult divides, all the while, respecting everybody at the table. This fall, Joe Biden will travel the nation for his American Promise Tour, a series of conversations that will go beyond the 24-hour news cycle and 140-character arguments to connect friends and neighbors around the topics that matter most. Biden will reveal the big political moments of his career, the life-altering choices he made, and the key traits that have helped him persevere through challenges. He will share how the loss of his son Beau tested his resolve, and how he is finding new purpose in a time of uncertainty. Each ticket includes a copy of Joe Biden's forthcoming memoir, Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose (a $27 value, on sale November 14 from Flatiron Books).

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton Friday, December 8, 8pm; Tickets $36

Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall www.emilyhaines.com/

It's time: Emily Haines is back with Choir of the Mind, the Metric singer's first release as her Soft Skeleton solo project in a decade. That interval has particular resonance for Haines: Choir of the Mind, due out September 15 on Last Gang Records, comes 10 years after her Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton EP What Is Free to a Good Home?, which in turn stemmed from her 2006 LP Knives Don't Have Your Back. Ten years before that, she released Cut in Half and Also Double under her own name. Haines' vocals are definitely the focal point of Choir of the Mind. She used her voice to create spellbinding orchestrations for an effect that is subtle and ghostly on "Wounded," lush on "Fatal Gift" and deeply powerful on "Legend of the Wild Horse," which she calls her "soft anthem." Haines' voice is the only audible instrument on "Strangle All Romance," and she creates mesmerizing layers that drift and swirl through the title track, which includes a spoken-word part adapted from a poem by the Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo. Haines recorded Choir of the Mind over several weeks in September and October of 2016, more or less alone in Metric's Toronto studio with a borrowed 18-foot grand piano built in 1850. Her longtime musical partner/Metric bandmate, James Shaw, helped flesh out the sonics with various instruments and rhythmic elements. (Shaw also mixed the album.) Sparklehorse drummer Scott Minor, a member of The Soft Skeleton's first incarnation, returned to perform on "Legend of the Wild Horse." Haines says, "The writing and recording process was heightened and intensive, the two became one thing."

About Live @ Benaroya Hall

Launched in 2012, Live @ Benaroya Hall presents a diverse lineup of lectures, jazz, rock, blues, country, pop, alternative and world music concerts in downtown Seattle's acoustically superb Benaroya Hall - a world-class performing arts center that engages and serves the Puget Sound region. For additional information, including a full concert schedule, please visit www.benaroyahall.org.

About Benaroya Hall

Benaroya Hall is home of the Seattle Symphony and venue of choice for many local arts organizations. It is located on an entire city block in downtown Seattle and is surrounded by numerous restaurants, retail stores and parking facilities. The hall has two performance spaces - the 2,500-seat S. Mark Taper Foundation Auditorium and the 540-seat Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall - and a 430-stall underground parking garage. Over 450,000 people participate in public and private events annually, making Benaroya Hall the most-visited performing arts venue in Seattle. Benaroya Hall has received numerous awards, including a 2001 American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Honor Award for outstanding architecture. For additional information, including rental information, event listings and public tour schedules, please visit www.benaroyahall.org.