Higley Center for the Performing Arts

Mark Wood explains his show:

I’ll never forget the phone call I received over 30 years ago from my dear friend and brilliant guitarist, Al Pitrelli. He shared with me that famed rock producer Paul O’Neill was putting together a rock orchestra, and they wanted ME to oversee the “orchestra” part of this metal rock band!

“Of course,” I exclaimed! I studied at Juilliard and played both rock and classical styles on my hand made electric violin. The band was to be called the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. The rest is history….

For about 15 years, I was involved with catapulting this great band into multiplatinum status as we performed 2 concerts daily in arena sized venues for 30,000+ people!

Several years later, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame created “Van Helsing’s Curse” (VHC) specifically with me in mind to be the electric string master of that stage extravaganza.

Both of these immense and important experiences led me to creating my new concert experience. I’ve done my work, and now it is time for me to share my new vision of presenting a holiday and a year-round concert experience featuring music from TSO and VHC, along with iconic and legendary rock classics.

Joining us as our lead vocalist is the incomparable Laura Kaye, who has worked with James Brown and Aretha Franklin, among others.

Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre presents the holiday classic, The Nutcracker!

Go on a magical journey with the Nutcracker and Clara as they battle oversized mice and celebrate their victory with the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Land of the Sweets. Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker is a family favorite!  Live music by Chandler Symphony Orchestra.

Under the direction of renown ballerina, Yen-Li Chen, Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre is now in their seventeenth season and excited to once again share this beloved holiday tradition with you and your family.

Tickets $32

Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre presents the holiday classic, The Nutcracker!

Go on a magical journey with the Nutcracker and Clara as they battle oversized mice and celebrate their victory with the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Land of the Sweets. Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker is a family favorite!  Live music by Chandler Symphony Orchestra.

Under the direction of renown ballerina, Yen-Li Chen, Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre is now in their seventeenth season and excited to once again share this beloved holiday tradition with you and your family.

Tickets $32

Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre presents the holiday classic, The Nutcracker!

Go on a magical journey with the Nutcracker and Clara as they battle oversized mice and celebrate their victory with the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Land of the Sweets. Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker is a family favorite!  Live music by Chandler Symphony Orchestra.

Under the direction of renown ballerina, Yen-Li Chen, Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre is now in their seventeenth season and excited to once again share this beloved holiday tradition with you and your family.

Tickets $32

Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre presents the holiday classic, The Nutcracker!

Go on a magical journey with the Nutcracker and Clara as they battle oversized mice and celebrate their victory with the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Land of the Sweets. Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre’s The Nutcracker is a family favorite!  Live music by Chandler Symphony Orchestra.

Under the direction of renown ballerina, Yen-Li Chen, Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre is now in their seventeenth season and excited to once again share this beloved holiday tradition with you and your family.

Tickets $32

Nathan Pacheco returns to the Higley Center on December 22, 2023, for a Christmas experience that will bring the whole family together.  

Nathan Pacheco is a classically trained tenor who has a passion for reaching out and uplifting people through music. He is one of the great tenor voices of his generation and has been featured globally in live performances, including touring the United States, Canada, and Mexico with Yanni; performing with Latin singing sensation Olga Tañon; touring England, Scotland, and Wales with Katherine Jenkins and the National Symphony Orchestra; performing for Prince Charles in conjunction with the British Forces Foundation and the USO; and performing with orchestras and symphonies around the US.

In the spring of 2023, Nathan released Abide with Me, a collection of his favorite hymns. Each song is carefully chosen for the sense of the sacred that it brings to the album. As the title suggests, consider this collection your chance to find an oasis of peace apart from the clamor of the world.

A Christmas with Nathan Pacheco Tour was announced in August of 2023, making stops throughout the western USA. The tour will feature Christmas favorites, original music, and other classics that will make for an unforgettable night.

A Rocky Mountain Christmas - Featuring the music of John Denver performed by Jim Curry

Jim Curry and the band are proud to return to the Higley Center, to present A Rocky Mountain Christmas!



Join Jim and the band and sing along with the holiday songs John Denver recorded on his popular Christmas albums and sang on his television specials.  Many of John’s biggest hits will also be included!  Spectacular winter scenes and videos, synchronized to the music are projected during the entire show, completing the holiday spirit!

Elisabeth Von Trapp

The granddaughter of legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp.



ELISABETH VON TRAPP’S earliest memories are the sounds of music. Born and raised in Vermont, Elisabeth is the granddaughter of legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp, whose story inspired The Sound of Music. Singing professionally since childhood, Elisabeth has performed all over the world, enchanting audiences from European cathedrals to the Kennedy Center.

In gems there are diamonds, in wines champagne, and in singing there is ELISABETH VON TRAPP’S voice. It is as pure as Alpine light, soaring with effortless elegance from smoky depths of shadow to luminous arcs of sound. Her pure tones touch our heart’s deepest secrets of love and loss, evoking joy and tears in the same breath.

Building on her famed family’s legacy, Elisabeth has created her own musical style, at once ethereal and earthy, delicate and powerful. Listeners have likened her to Judy Collins and Loreena McKennitt. Critics have called her voice “hauntingly clear,” “joyfully expressive, and “simply beautiful.”

“Elisabeth Von Trapp’s loving interpretations of these classic songs is a wonder to behold: charming, moving and exquisite. On a cold, snowy Midwest afternoon, hundreds of patrons flocked to this sold-out show – my regret is that we didn’t have more seats for our patrons. We hope our Metropolis will become a regular stop for Elisabeth and the magnificent music she brings.“ ~ Joe Keefe, Metropolis Performing Arts Centre Arlington Heights, IL

“Before the concert is over, she will have the audience gasping with the sheer beauty of her voice.” ~ The Boston Globe

“Her voice is hauntingly clear and her lyrics tender and romantic.” ~ The New York Times

Those Were The Days ™

The Spirit & Songs Of The 60's and 70’s



An upbeat musical journey of America's greatest folk and pop songs of the 60’s and 70’s including hit songs he performed with The New Christy Minstrels.  Plus the music of Peter Paul & Mary, The Beatles, Neil Diamond, Pete Seeger, The Mamas & The Papas, and others. Presented with uplifting originals and amusing stories in a wonderful intimate show.

Gypsy Soul

A Valentine's Day Concert for those in love!

Authentic is the word most often used to describe Gypsy Soul and their music. The duo's multicultural heritage helps inform both their message and sound, attracting audiences with their soulful blend of Acoustic Rock, Pop, Blues and Jazz.

However, it's the stories about the songs and their experiences traveling the country and the world as first-generation immigrants that makes their shows so personal and memorable.  

Like its creators, their music is much like fine fusion cuisine; Italian, Irish, South African and Ukrainian to be precise. Their music is born from heartache and struggle, love and determination infused with many flavors, textures and nuance. Their message is both universal and intimate, familiar yet otherworldly. 

Their humble story as immigrants combined with their unwavering passion and independent ethos has merited Gypsy Soul’s, Cilette Swann (US/CAN) and Roman Morykit (UK), a permanent place in the hearts of their fans and continued media recognition.

Their innovative arrangements, passionate vocals, intricately woven harmonies, soaring guitars and lyrical fretless bass will transport even the most jaded listener to another place. 

British-born Morykit, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer whose musical roots go back to his childhood training in classical piano. After several years in London as a sought-after studio musician and also fretless bassist for the emerging band Raising Cain (with whom he was signed to A&M Records,) Roman relocated to Edinburgh, Scotland to pursue new musical opportunities.    

There he met Canadian-born singer/lyricist Swann, who had also recently relocated to Edinburgh after years of traveling in Europe and living in Paris, singing with famed French Jazz artist, Alain Mion. The two began writing and recording together and quickly fell in love. Love led to marriage, marriage led to relocating to Hollywood, and while in Hollywood, Gypsy Soul was born. 

Over their 25 year professional career, the pair have had a Top 40 A/C hit with “Silent Tears” and have won numerous songwriting and performance awards including: International Acoustic Music Awards, Independent Music Awards, Lilith Fair, Performing Songwriter’s Top DIY Artists, Just Plain Folks and others.   

They've earned over 1.6 million downloads and garnered Critic’s Choice in over 75 magazines and newspapers.  Road warriors for over 24 years, they have traveled over 500,000 miles, performing in venues from 200-2,000 seats.

EVIL WOMAN  - THE AMERICAN ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA

A multimedia concert celebration of the music of ELO featuring EVIL WOMAN.

Audiences are left spellbound by the flawless musicianship and vocals of EVIL WOMAN’s 12 musicians as well as the fusion of Beatlesque-Pop and classical arrangements where cellos co-exist with guitars and where classically tinged rock intersects with pop.   Mr. Blue Sky, Roll Over Beethoven and Evil Woman are among a list of over 20 instantly recognizable chart-topping hit songs.

Dinosaur World LIVE

Discover a pre-historic world of astonishing (and remarkably life-like) dinosaurs!



Looking for a fun day out with the kids? Dare to experience the dangers and delights of Dinosaur World Live in this roarsome interactive show for all the family!

Discover a pre-historic world of astonishing (and remarkably life-like) dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, including every child's favorite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Triceratops, Giraffatitan, Microraptor and Segnosaurus!

A special meet and greet after the show offers all our brave explorers the chance to make a new dinosaur friend. Don’t miss this entertaining and mind-expanding Jurassic adventure, live on stage.

Acoustic Eidolin

Their love for one another, and their passion for life, speaks through their music.



Fate has a magical way of bringing people together. Take the case of Joe and Hannah, aka Acoustic Eidolon. In 1995, Hannah, a studio cellist, received a call to play on a Boulder ensemble’s record. Hannah listened in amazement as directions to the recording studio told her to turn on a small road near her home, and then turn down her own street past her house!

Little did Hannah know that across the street and three houses away lived Joe, the greatest double-neck guitjo player in the world (OK, the only double-neck guitjo player in the world).

A few years after they met, Joe and Hannah both found themselves between full-time musical engagements. Joe called Hannah, saying he’d always wanted to hear the cello and the guitjo together. He had a feeling the harp-like sound of the guitjo, combined with the warmth of Hannah’s cello, would be beautiful together. So on a snowy day in February 1998, they got together to play for the first time. What happened next was magic. Captivated by the music they created together, Joe and Hannah immediately agreed to clear out their schedules, start rehearsing full-time, and form what would become Acoustic Eidolon.

However, fate wasn’t finished with Hannah and Joe. What started as a musical/business partnership and friendship blossomed into their marriage on October 14, 2001. Hannah and Joe (and sons Zach and Alex) became a family. Joe and Hannah joke that this was a marriage of convenience since they were already together all the time anyway! But, anyone watching them perform can feel the love that draws them together. Their love for one another, and their passion for life, speaks through their music.