Jason Mraz to Perform Benefit Concert for SPARC, 12/19

Multi-Grammy winner and Mechanicsville native Jason Mraz will perform a benefit concert for SPARC, the School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community. The intimate acoustic concert will be held Monday night, December 19, at 8:00 p.m. in the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage.

The special performance will feature Mraz, a SPARC alumnus, with percussionist and longtime friend Noel "Toca" Rivera. Mraz has been touring the world in 2011 performing similar concerts with Rivera in iconic venues across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. More than just a concert tour, Mraz' worldwide journey has seen him celebrating music's lasting power to inspire change and help others through global citizenship.

Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, November 11, at 10 a.m. EST. Prices range from $35 to $150, and some ticket packages include a meet-and-greet reception with Mraz. All proceeds from the concert will benefit SPARC, a 501(c)(3) public charity celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2011.

"I took SPARC when I was really small," cites Mraz, "and credit them for kick-starting my imagination. I also credit SPARC for giving me my first big break; the lead role in Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which we performed at beautiful Dogwood Dell. I was 15 and after the experience that summer I knew I would have a career in entertainment. I'm so happy about this homecoming to celebrate and acknowledge their 30 extraordinary years."

Hailed as one of the modern era's most gifted pop troubadours, Mraz has shared stages with percussionist Noel "Toca" Rivera for more than a decade. The two musicians first met back in 2000, when Mraz was just making his mark on the San Diego coffee house scene. Mraz's guitar and vocals match beautifully with Rivera's intuitive djembe playing and the two maintain a long friendship and collaborative relationship, recording and touring together to this day.

"Each time we play, Toca does something a little different on his drum," Mraz says, "and he's very committed to the harmonies. Like me, he lives in the moment which makes each performance stand-out from the rest. He's like every member of the Commodores & The Oak Ridge Boys all rolled up into one prized wind-up teddy bear designed to beat a drum."

Mraz has taken his musical journey from coffee houses to stadiums globally and now has two Grammy Awards and six Grammy nominations to his credit. His latest album, "WE SING. WE DANCE. WE STEAL THINGS." proved a global blockbuster, earning platinum and multi-platinum certifications in 17 countries around the world. One of the hit singles on the album, "I'm Yours" was ASCAP's 2010 "Song of the Year" and also holds the record for being the longest-running song in the history of the Billboard "Hot 100" chart. A world-renowned humanitarian, Jason founded Jason Mraz Foundation, which will focus on areas of human trafficking and equality, arts and education, environment preservation, and recovery and assistance.

Photo Credit: Paul Natkin

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