The Center for the Performing Arts announces wide-ranging 2024-2025 Center Presents Season

Schedule offers pop, rock, classical, jazz, comedy, family fun & more

Stars from Hamilton, classical icons, classic rock, world music, and even a bit of Taylor Swift are on the schedule for the Center for the Performing Arts’ 2024-2025 Center Presents Season, presented in partnership with Allied Solutions.

The Center’s 14th season will kick off in August with more than 60 events already booked and more on the way, as well as new, custom-designed sound and lighting systems in the Palladium concert hall.

“The technology has advanced so much since we opened,” said Jeffrey C. McDermott, the Center’s President/CEO. “Our patrons and artists expect and deserve a state-of-the-art experience, and we will continue to provide that.”

The entire season is on sale now through subscription packages. Several performances also are on sale individually now, and the rest will be available in August.

New faces on the schedule include Renée Elise Goldsberry and Leslie Odom Jr., both Tony and Grammy winners for their roles in Hamilton on Broadway. Odom also will deliver one of the season’s four free matinee performances for local school groups.

Other first-timers include the Average White Band in conjunction with Carmel Jazz Fest, YouTube stars the Piano Guys, longtime Jimmy Buffett sideman Mac McAnally, arena-rock heroes Grand Funk Railroad, Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, and Grammy-winning music producer Don Was with his Pan Detroit Ensemble of top Motor City jazz players. Fans of country-fried guitar picking will enjoy Noblesville native Steve Wariner and bluegrass-rockabilly icon Marty Stuart with his Fabulous Superlatives.

Returning favorites include Ben Folds, classical piano star Lang Lang, legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman, jazz/R&B saxophonist Boney James, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, pop-soul legend Dionne Warwick, and Michael Feinstein, the Center’s artistic director, with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

For classic rock fans, alongside standard tributes to artists such as David Bowie and Queen are less conventional approaches to the genre, including Yesterday and Today, an interactive Beatles experience in which the audience chooses the songs. And if you’re looking for Taylor Swift, you can hear her songs interpreted by the innovative Vitamin String Quartet, known for its Bridgerton soundtrack work.

The Holiday Series includes the annual tradition of Dave Koz & Friends, a first-time visit from swing revivalists Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and return visits from Canadian Brass, the Four Phantoms, Jane Lynch, and Jon McLaughlin.

International artists on the calendar include Colombian salsa band Grupo Niche, Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain with dulcimer player Rahul Sharma, and Heart of Afghanistan featuring the Fanoos Ensemble, representing a musical tradition banned from public performance under the current regime in their home country.

In addition to the music, the schedule includes the domestic comedy of #IMOMSOHARD, spooky tales with Haunted Objects Live and witty observations from Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!

Subscription packages are on sale now for the Classical Series, the Drewry Simmons Vornehm Jazz Series and the Hoosier Village & The Barrington of Carmel Songbook Series, with benefits including discounts up to 20 percent off the regular ticket price. Another option is a Create Your Own subscription package, which offers similar perks for the purchase of any four or more events from the 2024-2025 Center Presents schedule. Subscribers also are eligible for immediate purchase access to the entire 2024-2025 Center Presents Season and presale access to new events added throughout the season.

Visit TheCenterPresents.org/SubscribeNow for more information on subscription packages and benefits. Purchases can be made online at TheCenterPresents.org, by phone at (317) 843-3800 or toll-free (877) 909-2787, or in person at the Palladium’s Fifth Third Bank Box Office, 1 Carter Green, Carmel.

Tickets are on sale now for some individual events early in the season, including the annual Songbook Academy in Concert, Average White Band, Jerome Collins (Straight No Chaser), rising jazz star Veronica Swift, Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, Leonid & Friends’ tribute to Chicago, crossover violinist Damien Escobar and #IMOMSOHARD.

Other performances will go on sale individually Aug. 2. Free tickets for the United States Army Field Band & Soldiers’ Chorus will be available in the spring.