Calendar of Events
Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
For Americana godfather David Bromberg, it all began with the blues.
His incredible journey spans five-and-a-half decades, and includes – but is not limited to – adventures with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jerry Garcia, and music and life lessons from seminal blues guitarist Reverend Gary Davis, who claimed the young Bromberg as a son. A musician’s musician, Bromberg’s mastery of several stringed instruments (guitar, fiddle, Dobro, mandolin), and multiple styles is legendary, leading Dr. John to declare him an American icon. In producing John Hartford’s hugely influential Aereo-Plain LP, Bromberg even co-invented a genre: Newgrass.
A Tribute To Rage Against The Machine
Auditions will be held at the Education Building located at 1855 Little River Road in Flat Rock on Friday, Jan. 10th and Saturday, Jan. 11th. Participants from all experience levels are welcome, from the young to the young at heart, rookies or seasoned veterans. Roles are both human and animal characters. For more information, including character lists and audition materials, visit www.flatrockplayhouse.org.
Friday, January 10 th 4pm-7pm Saturday, January 11 th 10am-2pm Callbacks will be held Tuesday, January 14th 4pm-7pm
Barber: “Summer Music”
Copland: Two Threnodies
Gould: Duo for Clarinet and Bass
Dvorak: String Quartet No. 12
Florence Price: Selections from “Five Folksongs in Counterpoint”
An eclectic cornucopia of music as diverse as the changing seasons awaits at our mid-winter offering.
You loved Beatles music when you were a kid. Now YOUR kids have a chance to experience the magic of the Beatles LIVE in concert.
Abbey Road LIVE! is well known in the Southeast for their energetic concerts at clubs, theaters and festivals. This time, the focus will be on the kids. Expect fun classics such as “Octopus’ Garden”, “Yellow Submarine”, and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”. Does your child have a a favorite Beatles tune? Abbey Road LIVE! loves to take requests, and has often been known to invite kids on stage to sing along.
This rare event will be big fun for the whole family!
We are thrilled to bring a preview of the 18th annual Asheville Fringe Arts Festival to Fleetwood’s in West Asheville on Saturday, January 11th, 7 to 9 pm (free). Get a taste of Fringe dance, installation and music from the edges, and grab one of the freshly printed festival guides! One week ahead of the festival, you’ll get a chance to talk to artists and organizers, and plan which of the 100+ shows, 55+ artists and 15+ venues you will visit. We recommend fully immersing yourself! It’s a community, an international movement, an adventure!
Do you take this performance art to be your love-fully wedded Fringe favorite? Site-specific dance troupe The Accidentals will be performing a fun, wedding-themed interactive piece.
After the wedding, enter the “Womb”, a one-on-one shadow puppetry experience with live music, created by Geneva Bierce Wilson. You are invited to be reborn in this empowering and intimate performance.
Outside Fleetwood’s you can explore the Asheville Zed “Emerge n See”, a mobile museum constructed in a converted ambulance. 20+ artists have created dioramas, interactive sculptures, multimedia projections and instagramable moments in every nook and cranny.
This awesome free event is co-hosted by Asheville FM! AshevilleFM’s DJ Avel Veeta, of Flytrap, will be spinning energized tunes from across the universe, while Fleetwood’s friendly bartender offers refreshments. Come get Fringey with us!
oin us for this energetic duo from Black Mountain! Danger Hatt consists of Randy Sarton on acoustic finger style guitar and vocals, and Bill Hattori on his booming cajon drum and various other percussion assaults. So as to the unusual name, Bill often describes Randy as dangerous on guitar, and while they do wear hats, the two T’s signify Bill Hattori’s last name. Danger Hatt is known for a style of music rooted in folk, blues, and rock. In one moment, you may be touched by the emotional tone, the next moment you are up foot stomping and fist pumping. You might say their highs and lows mirror the scenic mountain foothills where we live.
Be dangerous!
There will be a suggested donation.
Barber: “Summer Music”
Copland: Two Threnodies
Gould: Duo for Clarinet and Bass
Dvorak: String Quartet No. 12
Florence Price: Selections from “Five Folksongs in Counterpoint”
An eclectic cornucopia of music as diverse as the changing seasons awaits at our mid-winter offering.
Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session
Sundays
1 till who knows when?
Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.
Jack of the Wood
95 Patton ave
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252.5445
The phenomenon known as Sublime, arguably the most energetic, original and uniquely eclectic band to emerge from any scene, anywhere, ended with the untimely death of lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Brad Nowell in May of 1996. But encompassing the sense of place and purpose long associated with Sublime’s music, Badfish, a Tribute to Sublime continues to channel the spirit of Sublime with a fury not felt for some time. What separates Badfish from other tribute bands is that they have replicated Sublime’s essence, developing a scene and dedicated following most commonly reserved for label-driven, mainstream acts. Badfish make their mark on the audience by playing with the spirit of Sublime. They perform not as Sublime would have, or did, but as Badfish does!
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The Branford Marsalis Quartet, first formed in 1986, remains Marsalis’ primary means of expression. In its virtually uninterrupted three-plus decades of existence, the quartet has established a rare breadth of stylistic range and a continuity of personnel. The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul, recorded in the spring of 2018, contains the mix of challenging original and classic compositions, and the range of moods from the tender to the explosive that has defined the group. With its focus on melodic strength and extrasensory interaction, the album confirms that the Branford Marsalis Quartet remains a paragon of uncompromising jazz excellence.
“I want to take people to places they haven’t been.” Jesse Cook, Juno winning master guitarist, known for his intoxicating fusion of world music, has travelled the globe looking for sounds that resonate with him. “I like finding common ground for different music traditions, a space where music from around the world can come together,” Cook explains. “A place where modern sounds can mix with ancient timbres.”
He was born in Paris, to Canadian parents. After moving back to Canada, Cook started guitar lessons. “My teacher played flamenco. Then, when I’d visit my dad in France, he was living next door to Nicolas Reyes, the singer of the Gipsy Kings. I saw gipsy kids on the corner playing that way too.” It was as if the world conspired to get me interested in this style and I was hooked.” It was when he heard the Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin album, Friday Night in San Francisco that the die was cast. “I was captivated by the sheer virtuosity and freedom, that people could play whatever they wanted, creating in that space between jazz and flamenco.”
Celebrate the new year with live bluegrass music at the library.
Free
Combining the soulful sounds of legendary American crooners with the fire and energy of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, The Black Market Trust have found their niche in the world of American pop and vocal jazz, melding two distinctly different vibes into a single cohesive, stylish sound. Hailing from Los Angeles, these five world class musicians travel the globe recording with music’s most renowned artists and delivering high-energy, crowd-pleasing performances filled with material from The Great American Songbook, infusing some of the greatest songs ever written with jazzy romance and flavor.
This class will explain how Medicare works, the enrollment process, how to avoid penalties, and ways to save money. People who are new to Medicare, caregivers, and others who help senior citizens with their Medicare insurance should consider attending this informative class. The information presented is unbiased and accurate. No products are sold, recommended, or endorsed.
Describing the Durham-based Hiss Golden Messenger is like trying to grasp a forgotten word: It’s always on the tip of your tongue, but hard to speak. Songwriter and bandleader M.C. Taylor’s music is at once familiar, yet impossible to categorize: Elements from the American song book – the steady, churning acoustic guitar and mandolin, the gospel emotion, the eerie steel guitar tracings, the bobbing and weaving organ and electric piano – provide the bedrock for Taylor’s existential ruminations about parenthood, joy, hope, and loneliness – our delicate, tightrope balance of dark and light – that offer fully engaged contemporary commentary on the present. And then there’s an indescribable spirit and movement: Hiss Golden Messenger’s music grooves. There’s nothing else quite like it.
Jack of the Wood : Sunday-Irish Session
Sundays
1 till who knows when?
Traditional Irish music is kept alive at Jack of the Wood with our unplugged Sunday session.
Jack of the Wood
95 Patton ave
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252.5445
The National Forum of Music Wrocław Philharmonic is at the heart of the Polish music scene.
Founded in 1945 as both a symphony and an opera orchestra, it became the State Opera Orchestra in 1949 and held symphonic concerts sporadically until 1954, when it became an independent symphony orchestra. In 2016, the city of Wrocław (pronounced VRA-Slav) was hailed as the European Capital of Culture, and the orchestra’s performances accompanied the celebrations that season.
The NFM Wrocław Philharmonic regularly performs works commissioned by the National Forum of Music and has a growing international presence presenting classical and romantic masterworks, 20th and 21st century symphonic repertoire, and contemporary Polish composers. The orchestra has worked with all of Poland’s great 20th century composers including Witold Lutosławski, Paweł Mykietyn, Krzysztof Penderecki, Elżbieta Sikora, Stanisław Skrowaczewski, and Agata Zubel. Promoting Polish music is a special focus of the orchestra, which regularly performs in prominent venues in Poland and throughout Europe and the United States.
Program (Subject to Change)
Szymanowski: Concert Overture in E major, Op. 12 [14′]
Lutosławski: Concerto for Orchestra [28′]
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 ‘From the New World’ [40′]
Retreatants will be invited to pause, to stop running, to stop ‘doing’, to calm minds and bodies and be at ease. During this retreat, the focus is on reconciliation, transformation, healing and how to bring quantitative change in one’s life by the mindfulness practices of walking, eating and sitting meditation, connecting with ancestors, deep listening, loving speech and the practice of touching the earth. A retreat is an opportunity to let go of worry and anxiety about the past and the future, rest, and begin to be present for what is happening in the present moment.
The retreat is being led by Sister True Moon of Clear Grace, a resident nun at Heartwood who received her novice ordination in the Plum Village Vietnamese Zen tradition headed by the Venerable Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Sister Clear Grace shares that, “the practice of mindfulness has been the greatest source of insight and transformation to heal from injustices of all kinds. It has helped me to learn truths and unlearn deeply embedded beliefs that have kept me away from the liberation of such sufferings in my daily life.”
This retreat is suitable for both beginning and experienced mindfulness practitioners. Participants may register to stay at Heartwood or sign up for the commuter option. More information, registration and other retreats at www.heartwoodrefuge.org.
Sister Clear Grace is a member of the Care Taking Council for the Earth Holder Community, a mindful Earth/Social justice initiative in the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism. She is a Core member for ARISE Sangha (Awakening through Race, Intersectionality, and Social Equity), a community of mindfulness practitioners and monastics who come together to heal the wounds of racial injustice and social inequity, beginning with looking deeply within oneself and using energy of compassion, understanding, and love in action.
Heartwood Refuge and Retreat Center, located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, provides interfaith meditation and wellness retreat. Heartwood is neither defined by a single lineage, nor confined by any single sect or practice. Heartwood hosts teachers from all faiths and wisdom traditions to share teachings and activities that promote compassion and clarity, whether through traditional wisdom or new thought.
Music motivates at the most primal level.
You instinctually hum a tune in order to get pumped up in the morning, for fuel on the treadmill, to soundtrack your commute, or as the pre-game to a big night out. As much as he treasures his roles as a guitarist, composer, and producer, Cory Wong fashions himself “a hype man,” first and foremost. Living up to this classification, he slings a Stratocaster and hurls “dad jokes” from the stage with the same panache, poise, and power.
Moreover, he consistently translates motivation into seismic six-string transmissions throughout his independent third full-length record, Motivational Music for the Syncopated Soul.
“For me, it’s all about the listener’s experience,” he explains. “I want them to have a visceral response like: ‘I feel better,’ ‘That was really fun,’ or ‘I got to escape for an hour.’ You’ll hear my voice through the guitar, but I’m just a hype man. To uplift audiences with instrumental music that has no singing or lyrics is a fun challenge. I’m trying to solve the riddle. If I can get one person to feel good this way, it’s a success. So, I’m giving you Motivational Music for the Syncopated Soul.”
