Weekend's got the beat: Five concerts offer stylistic diversity

If music, as Shakespeare said, is the food of love, play on! All of the for Five Things to Do are concerts for this post-Valentine's Day weekend, with folk, country, jazz, pop and choral music in the spotlight. Plus, Joseph Dits offers a variety of activities in his Outdoor Adventures column, and The Tribune's online events calendar has even more suggestions.

Iris DeMent performs at Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND — Iris DeMent performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at the University of Notre Dame’s DeBartolo Performing Arts Center.

In addition to her hour-long concert, DeMent will sit down for a live discussion about her life and music with Meghan Sullivan, a professor of philosophy and director of the Notre Dame Institute of Advanced Study.

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Since her 1992 debut, “Infamous Angel,” the Americana singer-songwriter has released seven studio albums, including this month’s “Workin’ on a World.”

Tickets are $30-$15.

For more information, call 574-631-2800 or visit performingarts.nd.edu.

Tracy Lawrence performs at The Lerner in Elkhart with special guest Kaseu Tyndall

ELKHART — Tracy Lawrence and Kasey Tyndall perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at The Lerner Theatre, 410 S. Main St.

In his three-decade career, the country music traditionalist has charted eight No. 1 songs, including “Sticks and Stones,” “Alibis,” “Time Marches On” and “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.”

Lawrence also hosts the award-nominated nationally syndicated radio show “Honky Tonkin’ With Tracy Lawrence” and is the co-creator of “Storming Heaven: The Musical,” a production based on the 1987 Denise Giardina novel “Storming Heaven,” about labor dispute in a West Virginia coal mine town.

Tyndall is putting her stamp on country music with her edgy, rock-infused, hard-hitting country sound with influences that range from Miranda Lambert and Alison Krauss to Avril Lavigne and Joan Jett.

Tickets are $89-$44.

For more information, call 574-293-4469 or visit thelerner.com.

Navarro performs at The Acorn in Three Oaks

THREE OAKS — Dan Navarro performs at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 at The Acorn, 107 Generations Drive.

Navarro’s career started as a songwriter, most often with Eric Lowen, for artists as diverse as Pat Benatar (the Grammy-nominated “We Belong”) The Bangles, Jackson Browne, Dave Edmunds, The Temptations, Dionne Warwick and others.

In the 1990s and 2000s, he and Lowen recorded and toured as the acoustic duo Lowen & Navarro until the former’s retirement in 2009.

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Navarro released his first true studio-recorded album, “Shed My Skin,” in 2019, followed by “Horizon Line” in August 2022.

He also has appeared in many films and TV shows as a voice actor and singer, including in “The Playmobil Movie,” Pirates of the Caribbean 5,” “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” Most recently, he sang on six Lin-Manuel Miranda songs in the Disney Film “Encanto.”

Tickets are $40-$35.

For more information, call 269-756-3879 or visit acornlive.org.

Lerman trio pays tribute to Frank Loesser at Merrimans’ Playhouse in South Bend

SOUTH BEND — The Don Lerman Trio performs at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 18 at Merrimans’ Playhouse, 401 E. Colfax Ave., Suite 135.

Led by Lerman on saxophone, the trio includes Larry Dwyer on piano and Darrel Tidaback on bass.

The program pays tribute to composer Frank Loesser and includes compositions from films, Broadway musicals, and other popular Loesser songs.

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A native of New York city, Loesser (1910-1969) was both a lyricist and composer for films, revues and stage shows, including such Broadway musicals as “Guys and Dolls,” “The Most Happy Fella” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

Some of his enduring hits include “Once in Love With Amy,” “If I Were a Bell,” “"I Believe in You” and “Never Will I Marry.”

Lerman, a native of South Bend who graduated from Riley High School, spent many years performing on sax and clarinet in big bands around the Washington, D.C., area, most notably with the Harry James Orchestra that continued after the legendary big band trumpeter’s death in 1983.

Dwyer has been principal trombonist of the South Bend Symphony Pops Orchestra and pianist with his own jazz trio. He also is associate teaching professor in jazz and assistant director of bands at the University of Notre Dame.

Tidaback is a South Bend bassist with a history of directing the IUSB Jazz Ensemble and Twin Cities Jazz Orchestra.

Tickets are $10-$5.

For more information, call 574-310-9977 or visit merrimansplayhouse.org.

Vesper Chorale and Children’s Choir present concert devoted to fostering empathy for minorities

SOUTH BEND — The Vesper Chorale and Children’s Choir of Michiana perform at 3 p.m. Feb. 19 at Kern Road Mennonite Church, 18211 Kern Road.

Titled “Let Your Song Be Heard — Music of Celebration, Praise, Lament, and Protest,” the program pricks the conscience and prods the listener toward greater empathy for the lived experience of racial minorities with the goal of educating performers and audience alike to spur themselves toward a more anti-racist world.

Music includes Adolphus Hailstork’s “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes,” Nathaniel Dett’s “The Chariot Jubilee” and Joel Thompson’s “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.”

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Guest soloists are Pierre Cooks and Joseph Oparamanuike.

A lecture precedes the concert at 2:30 p.m., and reception follows the performance.

Tickets are $15-$5.

For more information, visit musicalartsindiana.org or email info@musicalartsindiana.org.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Concerts give the weekend a beat this weekend in or near South Bend