It is going to be a Boogie Wonderland at the Lake Michigan College Mendel Center when Winter Delights returns on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023, with Shining Star: A Tribute to Earth, Wind, & Fire. The concert begins at 8 p.m. on the Mainstage. Craft beers and wines will be available beginning at 6 p.m. in the Mainstage lobby. Optional pre-show wine and chocolate sessions begin at 6 p.m.
Shining Star: A Tribute to Earth, Wind, & Fire is a group of ten highly talented vocalists and musicians who harmoniously join forces to present a celebration of the five-decade-strong success and popularity of one of the most successful musical stories ever told…EARTH, WIND, & FIRE.
Shining Star’s playlist is hailed as the definitive collection of Earth, Wind, & Fire’s chart-topping hits and includes best-loved songs such as “After the Love is Gone,” “Sing a Song,” “September,” the remake of the Beatles classic song “Got to Get you Into My Life,” the group’s namesake “Shining Star,” and disco tracks “Boogie Wonderland” and “Let’s Groove Tonight.”
Back by popular demand, wine and chocolate tasting sessions will be offered before the concert. “The World of Chocolate” and the wine tasting experience “Michigan vs. the World” will each be held twice, at 6 and 7 p.m.
During “Michigan vs The World,” LMC Wine and Viticulture Program Director Michael Moyer will lead participants 21 and older through a comparative tasting of wines from Michigan and other growing regions. Moyer has 20 years of commercial winemaking experience and holds a Master of Science in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California, Davis. He comes to Michigan most recently from Figgins Family Wine Estates in Walla Walla, Washington. Prior to that, Moyer worked as Instructor of Wine Science and Winemaker for College Cellars of Walla Walla. His early industry experience was gained in Amador, Napa, and Sonoma counties, as well as the Willamette Valley.
Join Chef Luis Amado and one of his LMC culinary students for “The World of Chocolate.” They will demonstrate some essential practices of chocolate making and guide participants through a tasting of chocolates from different regions of the world. A native of Guadalajara Mexico, Chef Amado began his career at the age of 14 as a pastry cook. He moved to the U.S. to study culinary arts and graduated from GRCC in 1992. He then traveled to Europe and worked in Spain and Belgium to develop his knowledge of classical European pastry. He was the program director for The Culinary Institute of Michigan at Muskegon, Michigan, for 22 years. He is currently the Culinary Management Program Chair at Lake Michigan College since 2016. In the summer months, he travels internationally to teach workshops and master classes to other professional chefs in Europe and Latin America.
Concert tickets are $20. Pre-show wine and chocolate session tickets are $15 each. Ticket packages with admission to the wine session, chocolate session, and concert are $40 per person. Ticket may be purchased at www.TheMendelCenter.com/events, by calling 269-927-8700, option 1, or by visiting the Mendel Center box office in person. The box office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and located in the Grand Upton Hall lobby, parking lot 3 off Yore Avenue.
This activity is supported by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About The Mendel Center at Lake Michigan College
The Mendel Center raised the curtain on its first Mainstage season performance in the fall of 1992. Since that time, it has presented Mainstage season performances to more than half a million patrons in the 1,559-seat Mendel Center Mainstage Theatre. Grand Upton Hall, first opened in 1979 and fully renovated in 2019, is a 13,700-square-foot venue serving the community as the host site for meetings, banquets, trade shows, weddings, and other celebrations. The 229-seat Hanson Theatre, which was renovated in 2020, is home to many of the Lake Michigan College Visual & Performing Arts Department performances as well as a variety of Mendel Center and community events.
The Mendel Center is 30 minutes from Niles and 40 minutes from the Kalamazoo and South Bend areas. It is located on the Lake Michigan College campus at 2755 E. Napier Avenue, Benton Harbor, Michigan, one mile east of I-94 (Exit 30) and one mile west of the US 31 Bypass (exit 24). Its GPS mapping address is 1100 Yore Avenue, Benton Harbor, MI.
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Mendel Center 2022-2023 Season Sponsors
Stage Side Sponsors: 1st Source Bank, Honor Credit Union, Huntington National Bank, Kruggel Lawton CPAs, Meijer, Silver Beach Pizza, Silver Harbor Brewing Company, Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council, Sturgis Bank, TPC Technologies, Wales Wealth Management Group, Whirlpool Corporation.
Platinum Sponsor: Brookview Montessori School, CK Catering, Hungerford Nichols CPA + Advisors, Imperial Furniture, Insurance Management Services, JVIS USA, Pier 33, Siena Heights University, United Federal Credit Union, Wolf Financial Advisory.
Media Partners: 97.5 Y Country, 98.3 The Coast, The Herald Palladium, The Lake 95.7 MailMax, News/Talk 94.9 WSJM, Rock 107 WIRX, Sunny 101.5, SuperHits 103.7
Preferred Partner Hotels: The Inn at Harbor Shores and The Boulevard Inn & Bistro
Posted December 18, 2022