On February 8, the Rock Island Public Library, Moline Public Library, and Illinois Libraries Present will host a special virtual program in which participants will learn how to harness the power of words and storytelling for change, with the award-winning author of 36 books author taking part live in Saying Yes to Your Story: A Conversation with Kwame Alexander.

With their remarkable accomplishments including two Grammy Awards, a Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award, and 20 top-10 hits on Billboard's Latin singles charts, the Norteño and Tejano musicians of Intocable headline a February 5 concert event at Moline's Vibrant Arena at the MARK, the hugely popular group having released no fewer than two dozen albums since their debut more than three decades ago.

With the musicians' latest repertoire showcasing legendary works by equally timeless composers Johannes Brahms and Dmitri Shoshtakovich, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra continues their 2022-23 Masterworks season with Bella & Brahms, the concert's February 4 and 5 performances at Davenport's Adler Theatre and Augustana College's Centennial Hall boasting the long-awaited Quad Cities return of violin virtuoso Bella Hristova, who last performed with the ensemble in 2017.

Touring in support of his 2022 Panamá 77 debut that the Eisenberg Review deemed "a mesmerizing myriad of instrumental folk-funk sounds and psychedelic jazz texture," the Chicago-based drumming powerhouse Daniel Villarreal headlines a February 4 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, his first full-length release also lauded by the Chicago Reader as a work that "draws upon a dozen musicians and at least that many genres ... all held together by (Villarreal's) generous spirit and bountiful beats."

With his latest album Invisible Secret delivering what One Nation News deemed "lush, Latin inflected works that reflect jazz through a prism of salsa," beloved Steinway Artist and Quad Cities native Byron "BK" Davis will join his Invisible Secret band for a December 5 afternoon concert at Common Chord's Redstone Room, the Davenport venue treating audiences to the musical gifts of a master pianist who boasts more than four decades of professional accomplishments.

In celebration of one of the best-selling and most popular bands of all time, the alt-rock musicians of Nivrana: A Tribute to Nirvana will brings their grunge talents to Common Chord's Redstone Room on February 3, with the Davenport venue hosting a repertoire of hits from the platinum- and diamond-selling albums Bleach, In Utero, and the timeless Nevermind.

Boasting a lineup of veteran musicians from central Illinois taking a deep dive into the magic and complexity of the Phish songbook, the tribute artists of Birds of a Feather will headline a February 3 concert at the Rock Island Brewing Company, this musically thrilling night at RIBCO featuring the talents of Dave Littrell (The Station and Deep Hollow), Jeff Cunningham (The Station, The Blue G's, Los Injectors), Mike Tasch (Sunshine Daydream) and Ron James (the Brandon Santini Band).

With the organist lauded by Fanfare magazine as "supremely powerful" and an artist whose "virtuosity is never in doubt," Joby Bell will be the featured guest in the University of Dubuque's second-annual John and Alice Butler Pipe Organ Recital Series, his February 3 performance treating audiences to what Fanfare deemed "a special, subtle gift for clear articulation of notes and shaping of discrete phrases that brings out themes and their connections into bold relief."

Performing a rich, funny, and astonishing blend of stagecraft and silent slapstick, the gifted clowns of New York's nationally touring Broken Box Mime Theater will appear as the latest 2023 guests in Quad City Arts' Visiting Artists Series, delivering one full performance and two abbreviated ones – in addition to their numerous presentations for local students – between February 7 and 9.

A gripping drama spun from the ancient grudge between two families, and a timeless tale of star-crossed lovers who follow their passions to the ultimate end, William Shakespeare's romantic-tragedy classic Romeo & Juliet will be given a fresh interpretation at the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center on February 7, when members of the New York-based The Acting Company deliver a stirring touring production proving the Bard's story as relevant to modern society as it was four centuries ago.

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