The Westport Arts Center offers a wide range of programs in the Performing arts that bring to our community many of the finest artists in music and theater, as well as probing conversations and explorations of the arts. You'll hear great chamber music ensembles; or the best of the great American songbook; or an insightful conversation between artists; or perhaps a talented local performer--all designed to bring you face to face with the arts.

Upcoming Performing Arts events:
Sunday, February 26, 2012		Janina Fialkowska
Thursday, March 1 through Thursday, June 14, 2012		Jazz Thursdays
Sunday, May 6, 2012		Angela Clemmons with Wanda Jackson and Michael Brown - What is Gospel Music?
Sunday, May 20, 2012		Jesse Mills, Masumi Per Rostad, and Raman Ramakrishnan

The 2011-12 Chamber Music Series of the Westport Arts Center—curated by composer Russell Platt, who is an editor at The New Yorker and a Westport native—mixes favorite artists and new discoveries, with an accent on young talent.

The Westport Arts Center is also proud to support Connecticut Alliance for Music for the 40th Annual Heida Hermanns International Competition, scheduled for November 19-20, 2011. Read more about the competition on the website, http://heidahermannscompetition.org.

The Westport Arts Center’s 2011/2012 Chamber Music Series is generously supported by Howard J. Aibel, Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde Foundation, Inc., the Estate of Ruth Steinkraus Cohen and Herbert L. Cohen (Friends of Music), the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, and members of the WAC Board of Directors and Chamber Music Committee.

Several of our concerts each season are co-presented with our Arts Partner the Pequot Library in Southport, CT.

Upcoming Chamber Music events:
Sunday, February 26, 2012		Janina Fialkowska
Sunday, May 20, 2012		Jesse Mills, Masumi Per Rostad, and Raman Ramakrishnan

Jazz meets Soul: From Pulpit to Bandstand
"This season, the WAC Jazz Series will explore the spiritual connections between Jazz, Gospel and Soul music,” said Artistic Director for Jazz, Brian Torff. “Renowned musicians will perform soul, jazz, and gospel-influenced music that evolved into funk styles and beyond."

Upcoming Jazz events:
Thursday, March 1 through Thursday, June 14, 2012		Jazz Thursdays
Sunday, May 6, 2012		Angela Clemmons with Wanda Jackson and Michael Brown - What is Gospel Music?

There is a wonderful blurring of categories taking place in music today-and nowhere is it more evident than in the area we’ve called “folk.”  At the Westport Arts Center you will occasionally hear music that can still fairly be called folk but you’ll also hear musicians channeling those traditional influences while blending them with pop, jazz, rock, blues, country, classical, and international sounds.  You’ll hear some of your favorites and, we hope, take a chance on less familiar artists.  You might hear them in the funky and charming Seabury Center, or the state-of-the-art Westport Country Playhouse.  Wherever you hear them, whether it’s for the first time or the tenth, you can be sure they are singers and other artists we are excited about and eager to share with you.

Our contemporary visual arts exhibitions serve as a thematic springboard for a diverse range of unique and innovative integrated programming. WAC partners with local and regional organizations to present programs that provide a platform for creating arts experiences that contribute to individual growth and enrich the community.

Upcoming Programs events:
Friday, February 3, 2012	•	WAC Art Cafe
Thursday, February 9, 2012		Play Time / Games and Theories of Play