Carolina Performing Arts announces 2011-12 season, Mavis Staples, Herbie Hancock & much more

With the 2010-11 seasons of college performing arts winding down, it's time for the 2011-12 seasons to roll out, and Carolina Performing Arts at UNC is first up.

The schedule is full of some of the usual classical, jazz and dance performances, including trumpeter Wynton Marsalis returning on March 15, 2012, but it's the more contemporary performers that piqued our interest.

Louisiana pianist and composer Allen Toussaint will team up with legendary soul singer Mavis Staples for a performance on September 14, 2011.

Country, folk and pop singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter will grace the Memorial Hall stage on October 18, 2011.

A group of American and African musicians will pay tribute to soul singer James Brown on November 16, 2011 for a performance called Still Black, Still Proud.

Local favorites Carolina Chocolate Drops will team up with Luminescent Orchestrii on February 3, 2012. The two groups worked together on a self-titled EP released earlier this year.

Legendary and forward thinking pianist and composer Herbie Hancock will perform on March 22, 2012.

And closing out the 2011-12 series will be the original lineup of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, performing on April 12, 2012.

Check out the full and quite hefty season schedule below.

Full series suscriptions will be available starting June 6, 2011, and single show tickets as well as Pick6 tickets (which allows you to pick six performances during the season to attend) will be available starting on July 5, 2011.

Carolina Performing Arts schedule (all shows at Memorial Hall except where noted)
09.07.11 - Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen w/ Stefan Litwin (piano)
09.08.11 - Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen w/ Stefan Litwin (piano)
09.14.11 - Allen Toussaint & Mavis Staples
09.23.11 - Philadanco
09.29.11 - Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor) w/ UNC Music Faculty
10.06.11 - Water Stains on the Wall, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
10.07.11 - Water Stains on the Wall, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
10.09.11 - Babel (words), Eastman/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
10.10.11 - Babel (words), Eastman/Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui
10.16.11 - Angélique Kidjo
10.18.11 - Mary Chapin Carpenter
10.28.11 - Gil Shaham (violin)
11.02.11 - Samuel Beckett's Watt, Gate Theatre *
11.03.11 - Samuel Beckett's Endgame - Gate Theatre *
11.04.11 - Samuel Beckett's Watt, Gate Theatre *
11.05.11 - Samuel Beckett's Endgame - Gate Theatre *
11.08.11 - Shiva Ganga, Shantala Shivalingappa
11.12.11 - Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique w/ Sir John Eliot Gardiner (music director & conductor)
11.13.11 - Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique w/ Sir John Eliot Gardiner (music director & conductor)
11.16.11 - Still Black, Still Proud, An African Tribute to James Brown
12.03.11 - Nutcracker, Carolina Ballet (2 performances)
12.04.11 - Nutcracker, Carolina Ballet
01.11.12 - Brooklyn Rider & The Knights
02.03.12 - Carolina Chocolate Drops w/ Luminescent Orchestrii
02.09.12 - Four Electric Ghosts, An Opera-Masquerade by Mendi + Keith Obadike
02.10.12 - Overtone Quartet feat. Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Jason Moran & Eric Harland
02.13.12 - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
02.14.12 - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
02.17.12 - Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)
02.24.12 - Christian McBride & Inside Straight
03.13.12 - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir w/ Ton Koopman (conductor)
03.14.12 - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir w/ Ton Koopman (conductor)
03.15.12 - Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra w/ Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)
03.20.12 - Circa
03.21.12 - Circa
03.22.12 - Herbie Hancock
03.27.12 - Whispering Pines, Shana Moulton & Nick Hallett
03.28.12 - Whispering Pines, Shana Moulton & Nick Hallett
04.04.12 - Snow White, Ballet Preljocaj
04.05.12 - Snow White, Ballet Preljocaj
04.10.12 - Joshua Redman & Brad Mehldau Duo
04.13.12 - European Union Youth Orchestra w/ Vladimir Ashkenazy (music director & conductor)
04.14.12 - Cheikh Lô
04.16.12 - Göteborg Ballet
04.17.12 - Göteborg Ballet
04.22.12 - Gospels of Childhood: The Triptych, Teatr ZAR
04.23.12 - Gospels of Childhood: The Triptych, Teatr ZAR
04.25.11 - Bela Fleck & the Original Flecktones

* at Historic Playmakers Theater