New Clarion season showcases top recording artists

For the past 13 years, The Clarion at Brazosport College has brought some of the world’s finest recording artists to Brazosport College. The Clarion’s 14^th season will continue that trend with another season of shows that will appeal to all musical tastes.

The upcoming 2019-2020 performance season will feature two series, the Acoustic Series and the Curated Series. The Acoustic Series will feature internationally known country, Americana and popular music artists, while the Curated Series will feature classical, jazz and popular music artists with educational and community outreach programs.

This season’s Acoustic Series will highlight some of music’s most recognizable names, starting with multi-platinum recording artist Mark Chesnutt, followed by performances by Larry, Steve and Rudy, famously known as the Gatlin Brothers, as well as the Texas Tenors later in the season. Also scheduled this season is Grammy-winning pop artist Colbie Caillat’s new country band, Gone West, and Roots & Boots, which is a collaboration of three country superstars, Sammy Kershaw, Aaron Tippin and Collin Raye.

Other highlights include an appearance by Grammy-winning R&B and jazz singer Patti Austin with our own Brazosport Jazz Orchestra, as well as a return performance by local favorites Blue Water Highway.

This is only the beginning of a big season, though.

The Curated Series will also usher in some of the top classical and jazz artists, including singer/trombonist Aubrey Logan, the multi-Grammy-winning choral ensemble The King’s Singers and one of the most popular brass ensembles today, Canadian Brass.

The Curated Series will also feature Hotel California, “A Salute to the Eagles,” which is the only show with official authorization to perform the Eagles catalog of music. This performance will feature the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra.

Also, for children of all ages, the Clarion is bringing in Garry Krinsky’s fun-filled, science-themed show, “Toying with Science.”

Full season and individual tickets are available for all of this year’s shows. Call the Clarion box office at (979) 230-3156 or visit Brazosport.edu/clarion for more information.

The following is a closer look at the 2019-2020 artists scheduled to perform: 

ACOUSTIC SERIES:

MARK CHESNUTT
Sponsored by BASF Corporation
Sept. 13, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $45 Adult; $40 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

Mark Chesnutt is one of country music’s true musical treasures. Critics have hailed him as a classic country singer of the first order, and some of country music’s most elite entertainers — from George Jones to George Strait — echo this sentiment. Chesnutt’s stature is easily gauged, as he has 14 No. 1 hits, 23 Top 10 singles, four platinum albums and five gold records.

THE GATLIN BROTHERS
Sponsored by CHI St. Luke’s Health Brazosport
Nov. 1, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $50 Adult; $45 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

Larry, Steve and Rudy — the Gatlin Brothers — have dazzled audiences for more than 60 years. The Grammy Award-winning trio has a lifetime of noteworthy achievements in their storybook career, including a Grammy for Best Country Song (“Broken Lady”), three ACM awards for Single of the Year (“All the Gold in California”), Album of the Year (Straight Ahead) and Male Vocalist of the Year for Larry Gatlin. The Brothers have accumulated seven No. 1 singles, 32 Top 40 records, 22 studio albums and five BMI “Million-Air” awards.

GONE WEST FEATURING COLBIE CAILLAT
Dec. 13, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $65 Adult; $60 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

Featuring multi-Grammy winner Colbie Caillat and her fiancée, Justin Kawika Young, Gone West music brings a new freshness to modern country, straddling singer/songwriter vulnerability, Iowan humility, Lone Star tenacity and Hawaiian steel guitar. The playing is spare enough the instruments and voices shine, while the lyrics, which offer a heart-positive embrace of life, stand out in the mix.​

PATTI AUSTIN WITH THE BRAZOSPORT JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Jan. 18, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $45 Adult; $40 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

Patti Austin has charted 20 R&B songs, including a No. 1 hit in 1981 with "Do You Love Me?"/"The Genie." The album containing that hit, “Every Home Should Have One,” also produced her biggest mainstream hit, “Baby, Come To Me,” a duet with James Ingram. She has released more than two dozen albums during her career, and her record “Avant Gershwin” won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2008. Her other albums include “For Ella,” a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, released in 2002.

THE TEXAS TENORS
Sponsored by Danny & Robyn Cochran, Gordon & Nancy Wollam and Nalco Champion an Ecolab Company
Feb. 22, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $45 Adult; $40 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

The Texas Tenors are the most successful music group and third highest selling artist in the history of “America's Got Talent.” Since appearing on the show in 2009, J.C., Marcus and John have released four studio albums, two PBS Specials, four DVDs, multiple singles and a children's book that have earned them impressive recognition, including three Emmy Awards, the Gelett Burgess Award for Excellence in Children's Literature and the distinction of being Billboard Magazine's 2017 No. 10 Classical Crossover Artist in the World.

BLUE WATER HIGHWAY
Sponsored by MEGlobal
March 6, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 Adult; $20 Senior/BC Employee/FSA member; $10 Student/Child

A local favorite, Blue Water Highway comes from the working class, coastal town background that has informed the work of so many of rock’s greatest writers and artists. They take their name from the roadway that links their hometown of Lake Jackson to Galveston, where the cops, the teachers, the baristas and the chemical plant workers travel to work hard and to play hard, blowing off steam, dancing to their favorite bands. The band was started by Brazoswood High School graduates Zack Kibodeaux (lead vocals, guitar) and Greg Essington (vocals/guitar).

ROOTS & BOOTS
AARON TIPPIN, SAMMY KERSHAW & COLLIN RAYE
Sponsored by STP Nuclear Operating Company
April 3, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $65 Adult; $60 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $20 Student/Child

Featuring three of country music’s top hit-makers, the Roots & Boots tour features Aaron Tippin, Sammy Kershaw and Collin Raye. The three stars have combined for 40 songs in the Top 10 of Billboard’s U.S. Country chart and nine platinum albums. For Tippin and Raye, this will be a return trip to The Clarion at Brazosport College, as Raye performed on the Clarion stage in 2010, followed by Tippin in 2013.    

CURATED SERIES:

HOTEL CALIFORNIA, A SALUTE TO THE EAGLES WITH THE BRAZOSPORT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Sponsored by The Dow Chemical Company
October 12, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $35 Adult; $30 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $10 Student/Child

Hotel California, “A Salute to the Eagles” is the only show with official authorization to perform the Eagles’ catalog of music. With authentic instrumentation and world class a cappella. This legendary southern California group is as unique as it is powerful.

GARRY KRINSKY’S TOYING WITH SCIENCE
Sponsored by Olin Corporation
November 12, 2019
9 a.m. & 1 p.m.
Tickets: $10 per person

Garry Krinsky’s Toying with Science is a fast-paced, varied and dynamic program. Commissioned and developed with the Museum of Science in Boston, this performance explores, among other things, the scientific principles of gravity, leverage, fulcrums and simple machines. Combining circus skills, mime, original music and audience involvement, Krinsky and his audience investigate basic scientific information and delve into the imaginations of scientists who explore our world. 

AUBREY LOGAN
November 22, 2019
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 Adult; $20 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $10 Student/Child

Aubrey Logan’s concerts are a mix of excellent musicality, jaw-dropping vocals, expert trombone playing, a breathtaking array of originals and unique takes on cover songs. A Seattle native trained in trombone performance at Berklee College of Music, Logan has worked with acts as disparate as the Boston Pops, Pharrell Williams, Josh Groban, Seth McFarlane and Meghan Trainor and, at the same time, amassing a huge online following thanks to her performances with the YouTube phenomenon, PostModern Jukebox.

THE KING’S SINGERS
February 25, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 Adult; $20 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $10 Student/Child

The King’s Singers were founded in 1968 by six choral scholars who had recently graduated from King’s College Cambridge. The vocal line-up was two countertenors, a tenor, two baritones and a bass, and the group has never wavered from this formation. The group has consistently been welcomed on the world’s great stages throughout its history — from London’s Royal Albert Hall to the Opera House in Sydney or New York’s Carnegie Hall. Two Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, and a place in Gramophone magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame sit among the numerous accolades bestowed upon the group.

CANADIAN BRASS
March 20, 2020
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $25 Adult; $20 Senior/BC Employee/FSA; $10 Student/Child

Canadian Brass has sold more than two million albums worldwide and has continued scoring Billboard chart positions with recordings of patriotic songs and marches. They play to packed houses throughout the U.S.A., Canada, Japan Europe, Australia, the Middle East, the Soviet Union and South America. They were the first brass ensemble from the West to perform in the People’s Republic of China, as well as the first brass group to take the main stage at the venerable Carnegie Hall.