Waukee Area Arts Council

Performances

The Council will continue to bring local, regional, and national artists to the area to perform or present their work. The last couple of years the Waukee Area Arts Council has presented a wide assortment of artists in a variety of venues. We hope to continue to touch and enrich our community by providing such performance opportunities.

Past Artists

Metro Arts Jazz in July concert on July 12, 2007. Featured jazz groups were Brownian Motion and the Wayne Page Quartet. Brownian Motion, a jazz trio led by Des Moines native Don Brown, opened the concert with The Wayne Page Quartet with bandleader Page, of the Des Moines Big Band and jazz instructor at Waukee Schools, followed. There was a food stand, face painting and children's art activities. Collaborating with the Waukee Area Arts Council in this event were the Waukee Public Library Friends and Foundation, Downtown Business Association, City of Waukee, Waukee Area Chamber of Commerce, Waukee Schools, and Attic Door Theatre Co.

Trio-X is an avant-garde jazz group performed on Thursday, October 5, 2006, at the Bucksbaum Theatre at Caspe Terrace in Waukee.. Trio X was organized in 1997 to play at New York City’s Vision Festival, Trio-X features bassist Dominic Duval, saxophonist and trumpeter Joe McPhee and drummer Jay Rosen. Individually, each performer in Trio-X is a major improviser in his own right. Together, Trio-X explores the possibility of collective improvisation, often taking well-known jazz standards like My Funny Valentine, Round Midnight and Blue Monk into the far reaches of the avant-garde. According to McPhee, each Trio-X performance is like a one off painting, created in the moment.

Simon Estes performed at the Waukee High School on May 5, 2006. The Friday night concert opened with the Waukee High School A Cappella choir followed with a performance by Mr. Estes and closed with the Estes Celebration Choir, a 160 member multi-age youth choir (grades 5 – 12) singing two songs with Mr. Estes. The Choir will join Mr. Estes singing “Plenty Good Room” and the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”. Simon Estes, internationally acclaimed bass baritone, is now the star of the stage at the world’s major opera houses; a long way from the Bill Riley Stage where he started as a rising young Iowa performer. Mr. Estes came from humble beginnings and grew up in Centerville, Iowa.