Evening With the Divas features an ‘Idol’ in Carson City

The Brewery Arts Center is launching a new fundraiser and you can a get a taste of it Sunday on “American Idol.”

Grace Hayes, Reno singer and TEDx Carson City speaker, is featured on the first episode of the series relaunch on ABC tonight.

Hayes is also one of five singers who will be performing in the BAC’s new “Evening with the Divas” on April 7 to raise money for the arts organization.

Also on stage for the fundraiser will be Carson City resident Barbara D’Anneo, who will be singing songbook standards she performed in San Francisco as a professional singer.

Rounding out the evening will be Carson High School drama teacher Andie Wilkerson performing musical theater numbers, Carolyn Dolan playing harmonica and singing jazz standards, and Maria Arrigotti Wehr, whose opera roles for Western Nevada Musical Theater Company include Cosette in “Les Miserables” and Christine in “Phantom of the Opera.”

Stephanie Arrigotti, professor of music at Western Nevada College, will be the evening’s mistress of ceremonies. The Jeff Leep Band will accompany three of the performers and Eric Kao will accompany Wehr.

The event replaces BAC’s former fundraiser, “Winter Wine and All That Jazz & Spirits.”

“I saw Barb (D’Anneo) and thought it would be amazing if she’d do it,” said Gina Lopez Hill, BAC executive director. “I asked and she agreed and that got the ball rolling.”

Hill said she put on a similar event 18 years ago at the Pioneer Center in Reno as a fundraiser for Soroptimist International, modeled on the VH1 Divas Live show.

Hill is also hosting a watch party for the debut of “American Idol” featuring Hayes, who also opened for Guitar Shorty, one of the BAC’s summer concerts. The party is at Expresso Yourself, the BAC’s recently remodeled coffee bar and artisan shop.

Tickets for “Evening with the Divas” are $35 for BAC members and $40 general admission, and can be purchased online at breweryarts.org or by calling the BAC at 883-1976.

Doors at the Performance Hall will open at 6:30 p.m. for a silent auction and the performance begins at 7.