MIAC Live Musical Hat Trick to Close Out 2025
Trombone Shorty, Darren Criss, and Melissa Errico to perform
BEGINNING TUESDAY, NOV. 11
Can you believe it's almost time for the cold-weather holidays and the end of 2025? While the temperatures have already begun to dip, the Mercyhurst Institute for Arts and Culture (MIAC) will be keeping things hot on its campus stages with a trio of performances to round out the first half of its Live series: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue and Darren Criss this month, then Melissa Errico: The Secret Diary of Mrs. Santa in December.
Dr. Brett D. Johnson, the artistic director for MIAC, told us he's "excited for audiences to experience the incredible range these three artists represent." Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, who perform Tuesday, Nov. 11 on the Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center stage, "will bring their signature New Orleans brass-funk energy to Erie," Johnson said. The ensemble is headed by the eponymous Grammy-nominated Trombone Shorty (née Troy Andrews).
A few nights later on Nov. 13, Darren Criss, perhaps best recognized for his turn on Fox's Glee television series, will take the Mary D'Angelo stage. The Emmy and Golden Globe winner is currently starring on Broadway in the hit show Maybe Happy Ending (for which he won the 2025 Tony Award for Lead Actor in a Musical). Both Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue and Darren Criss are first-timers to the Mercyhurst campus.
Finally, Melissa Errico will perform in the Walker Recital Hall on Dec. 10, a night that will surely get audience members into a holiday frame of mind. She will, according to Johnson, "bring her elegant, emotionally rich interpretations of beloved American Songbook classics, with fresh takes on holiday favorites."
All told, the MIAC Live series is closing out 2025 by celebrating what Johnson called "the joy of being together in the same room when the lights go down and the music begins" and the series will be back in 2026 to continue the season with even more to enjoy. – Cara Suppa
Each performance begins at 7:30 p.m. // Mercyhurst University, 501 E. 38th St. // For info and tickets: miac.mercyhurst.edu
