The Carver Community Cultural Center has announced its 2024-2025 season for mainstage performances in the Jo Long Theatre and its locally-focused Intimate Series in the Little Carver Theatre.
Female vocalists are prominent in the new season. Grammy-winning songstress Patti Austin kicks off the new season Oct. 12, followed by R&B and soul vocalist Lady Wray. London group The Kingdom Choir, known for performing for the 2018 wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, visits Nov. 22.
In the Gullah griot of coastal South Carolina, “ranky tanky” means “get funky.” Gullah quintet Ranky Tanky will perform its mix of spirituals, gut bucket blues, jazz, gospel, funk and R&B on Jan. 17, along with Grammy-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer.
Composer, jazz singer and visual artist Cécile McLorin Salvant on April 12 and guitarist and singer-songwriter Jackie Venson, who performs with singer-songwriter Kam Franklin on June 6, round out the female vocalist mainstage performers.
Soul, modern dance and flamenco
Stalwart soul singer Lee Fields performs Jan. 25 along with California soul band Monophonics, and Chief Adjuah, the New Orleans jazz legend who has been described as a sonic architect, trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, takes the stage Feb. 15.
Contemporary modern dance company Dallas Black Dance Theatre visits March 1, and saxophonist and film and Broadway composer Branford Marsalis brings his quartet to the mainstage on Apr. 25.
Former San Antonian Tamara Adira of nonprofit performance troupe Arte y Pasión, who recently relocated to Seville, Spain, will return to present a major mainstage production, Sonidos De Libertad – A History of Punk as Told through Flamenco, on March 22.
Adira identifies the flamenco art form as a street-level reaction against oppression and a creative cry for freedom coming from the same wellspring as the international punk movement of the late 1970s.
“The precursors of flamenco started during the Spanish Inquisition, when the Roma, African, and Jewish communities were targeted for extinction,” Adira explained in a statement about the production. “These communities played key roles in the development and evolution of flamenco as we know it today; transmitting sorrow, fear, grief, joy, hope [and] pain.”
San Antonians onstage
The Little Carver Theatre is often dedicated to performers from the San Antonio area. The new season lineup includes Carbonlily, Jaime Ramirez, Favorite Son and Ruby Alexander.
Carla Fikes, who performs as Carbonlily, opened for Chris Guerrero at the Little Carver in February and will take the stage as a headliner on Nov. 15.
She described the Little Carver Theatre as “such a beautiful, intimate atmosphere, which is especially cool for musicians. We want to connect with our audience, and that space lends itself perfectly for it.”
Keyboardist Jaime Ramirez then performs as Mr. Winnebago & Friends on Dec. 13. The name of the group arose from a “silly song” he and a friend made up last year crossing under Interstate 35 in Austin walking from their parking spot to a Lila Downs show.
The short voice memo became a fleshed-out song, which inspired a group of related songs that also fit the Mr. Winnebago label, he said. While Ramirez has performed multiple times as an instrumentalist backing other singers, he now steps to the front of the stage.
“I’m always the side guy, and this is a rare front man kind of a thing, so I’m trying to embrace it,” Ramirez said.
Other Intimate Series acts include the alternative country, rock, blues, jazz and Latin blend of San Antonio rockers Favorite Son on Feb. 22 and the throwback song stylings of Ruby Alexander and The Bonafide Playboys on March 8.
Tickets for all 2024-2025 season performances are available through Ticketmaster (Jo Long Theatre and Little Carver Theatre) or at the Carver Center box office.
