Arts & Culture

Celebrated Guitarists Raul Midón, Lionel Loueke Close Out Singletary Signature Series

Watch Midón and Lueke perform "My One and Only Love" at Paste Studios.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 19, 2020) — The University of Kentucky’s Singletary Center for the Arts will present celebrated guitarists Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke in the final concert of the 2019-20 Singletary Signature Series, celebrating the center’s 40th anniversary. These internationally renowned musicians will perform 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Singletary Center Recital Hall.

Raul Midón first began his career as a sideman singer and guitarist for artists like Shakira, Jason Mraz, Julio Iglesias and Jose Feliciano. Stepping out into his own work, Midón released his first album, titled "Gracias a la vida," in 1999. He has since released nine more studio albums as a solo artist. Midón has worked to develop a home studio that would allow him to be the sound engineer on his own albums, despite being completely blind. He has received two Grammy nominations for Best Vocal Jazz Album for his 2017 release, "Bad Ass and Blind," and his 2018 release, "If You Really Want."

Determined to defy his financial circumstance, Lionel Loueke began pursuing music as a percussionist at age 9 and began guitar as a teenager. Originally from the West African Republic of Benin, Loueke was passionate in his studies, attending four different institutions including the American School of Music in Paris and Berklee College of Music. In his professional career, Loueke has released 11 albums as a bandleader and over 30 as a sideman. Paul Simon raves that Loueke is "one of a rare handful of guitarists that move effortlessly between his West African roots and modern American jazz," and Sting cites Loueke as "one the most original, essential and inspiring musicians on our planet today.” Loueke has been a Blue Note recording artist and member of Herbie Hancock's band for the past 10 years. Praised by Hancock as “a musical painter,” Loueke combines harmonic complexity, soaring melody, a deep knowledge of African folk forms, and conventional and extended guitar techniques to create a warm and evocative sound of his own.

Tickets for the Raul Midón and Lionel Loueke concert are $18 plus processing fees. Seating is reserved. UK students may claim one free advance ticket with their student ID at the Singletary Center ticket office up through the day before the concert. Tickets can be purchased by phone at 859-257-4929, online at www.SCFAtickets.com or by visiting the Singletary Center ticket office.

A part of the College of Fine Arts and essential to the UK School of Music, the Singletary Center for the Arts presents and hosts artistic, cultural and educational events for the university community, Lexington community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Named on April 16, 1987, for the retiring eighth president of the university, the center has become a major cultural resource for the Commonwealth. From its opening on Nov. 1, 1979, the center has accomplished Singletary's wish to provide a succession of brilliant performances in its Concert and Recital Halls, which constitute impressive evidence of the University of Kentucky's continuing commitment to the arts. Hosting an average of 400 events annually, the Singletary Center has served over 3.7 million patrons in its history. The center provides professional, full-service venues for the creation, practical application, and dissemination of artistic, cultural and educational expressions by international, national, regional, university, and student performers, artists, and speakers.

photo of Raul Midon and Lionel Lueke with their guitars seated on bench

As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.   

In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.