“I feel like the Indiana Jones of the guitar world,” says the globe-trotting fingerpicker. “I’m on this wild journey, just making it up as I go, and I’m thrilled that so many people are having fun joining along with me.”

It should come as little surprise that Emmanuel’s extraordinary new album, Living in the Light, is easily the most daring—and most rewarding—collection in the Grammy-winner’s remarkable catalog. While many of the recordings are solo instrumentals, Emmanuel lends his voice to several of the album’s tracks, as well, grounding his dazzling, percussive fretwork with a poignant dose of warmth and vulnerability. The result is a record as exhilarating as it is intimate, a virtuosic blend of acoustic pop, jazz, classical, and roots music delivered by a master craftsman with a penchant for living on the edge.



Hailed as “one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world” by NPR’s World Cafe, Tommy Emmanuel got his start at the age of six, when he first began touring his native Australia with his family’s band. As a teenager, he earned a reputation as a highly sought after sideman and session player, and by his early twenties, Emmanuel was playing on chart-topping hits and performing with acts like Air Supply and Men at Work. Inspired in part by his hero, Chet Atkins (who would later become a friend, mentor, and collaborator), Emmanuel stepped out on his own as a solo artist in 1979, releasing the first in a string of acclaimed instrumental albums that would make him an unlikely celebrity in his home country and beyond. In the decades that followed, he would go on to headline everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall; tour with luminaries like Eric Clapton and John Denver; win a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement; perform for a televised audience of more than two billion at the Sydney Olympics; and collaborate with a who’s who of fellow guitar greats, including Les Paul, Mark Knopfler, Joe Walsh, Richard Thompson, Jason Isbell, and Billy Strings. 

“I never felt like I needed to prove anything,” Emmanuel muses. “I’m always trying to get better, of course, but all I’ve ever cared about is entertaining people. If the ideas are flowing and the audience is having a good time, that means more to me than any awards or reviews ever could.”

For more, visit:

• tommyemmanuel.com
• instagram.com/tommyemmanuelcgp
• facebook.com/tommyemmanuel
• x.com/tommyemmanuel
• youtube.com/@tommyemmanuel

Born from a string of unlikely coincidences, chance encounters, and surprise reunions, Jack Schneider’s stirring new album, Streets of September, is more than just a work of serendipity, it’s a deeply personal reflection on growth, change, and mortality from a master craftsman with an almost religious reverence for words and music. The songs are warm and timeless, harkening back to ’70s troubadours like James Taylor and John Denver, and the performances are raw and spacious, captured live to tape with producer/engineer Matt Andrews (T Bone Burnett, Old Crow Medicine Show) and an all-star band. The result is a touching tribute to the people and places that shaped Schneider’s journey over the last ten tumultuous years, a meant-to-be mixture of profoundly honest original material and revelatory interpretations that stand as a testament to the enduring power of storytelling in the face of loss and transcendence.

A Georgia native, Schneider got his start as a session guitarist while studying at the Clive Davis Institute at NYU. During breaks from school, he began traveling to Nashville, where he landed a summer job at Gruhn guitars and met Vince Gill, who would later invite him to join his touring band. In 2022, Schneider released his critically acclaimed debut, Best Be On My Way (which featured Gill along with David Rawlings and Stuart Duncan among others), and toured the country sharing bills with the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Ricky Skaggs.



For more visit:

• jackschneidermusic.com
• instagram.com/jackschneiderofficial
• facebook.com/jackschneidermusic
• youtube.com/channel/
• music.apple.com/us/artist/jack-schneider

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The Champaign Park District is proud to welcome Big Grove Tavern to the historic Virginia Theatre for bar service.

Located just two blocks from the Virginia in the heart of downtown Champaign, Big Grove Tavern has been providing upscale casual American classics, elevated dishes with a Latin flair, and a legendary Sunday brunch menu since 2012. Big Grove also offers an extensive bar menu of craft cocktails, regional draft beers, and curated wines to loyal locals and curious visitors to C/U alike

Big Grove Tavern brings its regional expertise and a commitment to inclusivity, seamless service, and unmatched quality to every experience. At the Virginia, you’ll find their servers in the theatre’s lobby both before the show and during intermission (when included), offering a special selection of wine, local beer, and the occasional custom-themed cocktail!

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PLEASE NOTE: The Virginia Theatre is pleased to bring diverse programming to the stage and screen. The Theatre cannot always provide advisories about subject matter for events, as sensitivities vary. Not all events may appeal to, or be appropriate for, every person. Patrons are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the shows offered in order to make informed decisions prior to purchasing tickets.

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