CONTEMPORARY - The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

With his trademark, tortured vocals and rip-roaring fretwork, Buddy Guy has become one of the biggest names in blues history. In his illustrious career, he’s won six Grammy’s®, been named the 13th Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Rolling Stone, and been hailed as the unrivaled king of Chicago blues. And that’s just the beginning. For this performance, Buddy will also be joined by Quinn Sullivan, the 12-year-old blues phenomenon featured on Oprah and The Ellen Degeneres Show. The blues don’t get much better than this. Details.

Tony Award-winning actress, singer and songwriter Idina Menzel, star of Broadway’s Wicked and the original stage production of Rent, will tour North America, performing her brand new live show.

Wowing audiences with the classic Chicago songs along with CTA (California Transit Authority) originals, CTA has been described as “Chicago on Steroids.” Fresh, soulful and jazzy arrangements mixed with pop classics leave audiences on their feet calling for more. Danny Seraphine, founding member of both Chicago and CTA, has an instantly recognizable style and sound. He is ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the top rock drummers of all time.

Trumpeter Chris Botti, the world’s largest selling jazz instrumentalist, will perform at The Smith Center in support of his latest album release, Impressions (Columbia Records, April 17, 2012).  Melody has always been at the heart of Botti’s music.  Whether applying the lush sounds of his trumpet to the long, lyrical phrases of a familiar ballad or the arching, rhythmic lines of a jazz improvisation, his solos tell evocative stories, finding their way into the very heart of a song.

k.d. lang’s tour with her new band, the Siss Boom Bang arrives in Las Vegas in style for an incredible evening of music spanning her entire career, featuring classics like “Constant Craving” and songs from her new album Sing It Loud. Named “Album of the Week” by Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, Sing it Loud is lang’s first studio album since 2008′s “Watershed” and her first record made entirely with a band of her own since her early albums with the Reclines. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph also hailed it as “back-to-basics lang recorded as a band, mostly in one take, just like the old days: raw and immediate.”

The composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim is the most important artist to work in the American musical theater over the past half-century. He has not only collaborated on more than a dozen landmark shows and written countless standard songs but has also been the single most influential force in bringing the Broadway musical into the modern age.

Pia Zadora returns to the stage with a 75 minute show created by 3 time Emmy winning director and choreographer Walter Painter, Peabody Award and Tony winning Composer/Author Larry Grossman and Emmy nominated Academy Award writer Jon Macks that features the greatest songs of our lives, a lot of  laughs and pure non-stop entertainment.  Accompanied by legendary Sinatra pianist and musical conductor Vinnie Falcone and his orchestra, this Grammy nominated singer performs classics like “The Lady Is a Tramp”, “Come Rain or Shine”, “All of Me”, “Young at Heart” and “The Man That Got Away”. Audiences every where  who come for this evening of great entertainment will be sure of a great start and a memorable and amazing finish.

Diana Krall, the multi-platinum, GRAMMY^®-winning musician with an unprecedented nine #1 Billboard Jazz chart debuts, will bring her “Summer Nights 2012” tour to The Smith Center.  Since her GRAMMY^®–winning tenth studio album Quiet Nights (Verve) was released in 2009, Krall has performed on four different continents, produced Barbra Streisand’s “Love Is the Answer,” contributed “Simple Twist of Fate” to the charity album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International and performed on Paul McCartney’s new album, Kisses On The Bottom.

Presented by Todd-Avery Lenahan for Standard Textile

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers swing into Las Vegas in support of their #1 bluegrass album, Rare Bird Alert, which recently received a Grammy^® nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. The tour comes on the heels of a banner year that saw Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers winning “Entertainer of the Year” at the 2011 International Bluegrass Association Awards.  In the roughly three years since Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers have been touring together they have delighted audiences at Bonnaroo, New Orleans’ Jazzfest and The Newport Folk Festival to name a few. They’ve embarked on four widely acclaimed tours with many critics noting Martin’s “exceptional musicianship.” The OC Register said “what’s so heartening and wonderful to see is Steve Martin back on stage, doing both things he does best – playing banjo and being funny.”

Join vocalist Brody Dolyniuk, a killer band, and 25 of the finest orchestral musicians as they take their audience on a two hour journey through rock’s biggest anthems. Featuring the music of supergroups like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Queen, Pink Floyd and more, this is the ultimate symphonic rock experience.