A special virtual event wrapping up the University of Dubuque's “Live at Heritage Center” programming for the 2020-21 season, the May 15 concert with the esteemed members of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and world-renowned guest organist Alan Morrison will follow a dedication ceremony for the university's new custom-crafted pipe organ, a glorious instrument with more than 3,000 pipes gifted by John and Alice Butler.

Performing a livestreamed concert set spanning their works from 2015 to 2019, the Grammy-nominated indie-folk artists of The Milk Carton Kids – singer/guitarists Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan – headline a special May 13 presentation hosted by Iowa City's Englert Theatre, with the artists performing songs from their most recent recorded collaborations Monterey, All the Things That I Did & All the Things That I Didn't Do, and The Only Ones.

Returning to Davenport's Redstone Room for the first time in more than a year, Polyrhythms' popular Third Sunday Jazz Series gets an exhilarating reboot with its May 16 concert by Silversmith, a new six-piece, hard-bop jazz band that plays originals and jazz classics by artists including Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, Dexter Gordon, Kenny Dorham, Charles Mingus, and Lee Morgan.

One of the most acclaimed and electrifying stars of stage and screen will be showcased in a special, live Quad City Symphony Orchestra event on May 15, with Davenport's LeClaire Park serving as the locale for An Evening with Renée Elise Goldsberry, a night of unforgettable Broadway, pop, and soul favorites with the Tony and Grammy Award winning sensation from Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton.

Praised by The Soundboard Reviews as a band whose musicians “do justice to the concept of modern rock in a way so many of their predecessors have utterly failed at,” the alternative rockers of Badflower play an outdoor concert at East Moline's River Bend Park, the May 7 event boasting new compositions and hits from their album debut OK, I'M SICK, named by Loudwire as one of the 50 best rock albums of 2019.

Performing a special live concert at Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Event Center, the Midwestern pop-rockers of the Pork Tornadoes will deliver an eclectic assortment of hits on May 8, their energetic repertoire ranging from Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé all the way to Lizzo, The Killers, Coolio, and Phil Collins.

Performing a livestreamed concert set spanning their works from 2011 to 2014, the Grammy-nominated indie-folk artists of The Milk Carton Kids – singer/guitarists Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan – headline a special April 29 presentation hosted by Iowa City's Englert Theatre, with the artists performing songs from their first three recorded collaborations Retrospect, Prologue, and The Ash & Clay.

With the artist and his band performing the full repertoire from his most recent album Be Here Instead, alt-country and Americana musician Parker Millsap plays a virtual concert on April 23, the Englert Theatre presentation showcasing a talent who, according to NPR, “explores pop songwriting with playful magnetism,” and who SavingCountryMusic.com deemed “fearless in both what he's willing to say and how he's willing to say it.”

Taking their musical artistry to another dimension through an animated multi-media concert experience, Bruce Hecksel and Julie Patchouli headline the latest virtual presentation by the University of Dubuque's Heritage Center: the kaleidoscopic art-and-music showcase Landscape of Guitar: The Animated Painting Concert Experience featuring Patchouli and Terra Guitarra, available for streaming on April 22.

The rate at which prolific musicians in the Bandcamp era can churn out new material on a short notice will never cease to amaze me. The idea of an “album cycle” in which an artist drops one album a year, or even less frequently, and spends the time between proper releases promoting and performing based around one album’s material still exists in the upper echelons of the music industry.

Pages