Pernikoff Brothers to launch Kemper Presents

Pretty Little Empire will perform for the Kemper Presents Concert Series April 8.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will launch its annual Kemper Presents Concert Series with a performance by the Pernikoff Brothers Friday, March 4.

The series, designed to showcase the talents and diversity of contemporary St. Louis musicians, will feature seven local acts working in a variety of styles and genres, from indie-folk and a cappella to American roots music and lush, melancholic jangle-pop.

All concerts are free and open to the public and take place Friday evenings from 6 to 8 p.m. in the museum’s foyer — or, weather permitting, on the Florence Steinberg Sculpture Plaza. Free food and drink will be available.

“Now in its fourth year, the Kemper Presents Concert Series features notable St. Louis groups from across the musical spectrum,” says organizer Kimberly Singer, the museum’s manager of marketing, visitor services and events. “The concerts are something that I think our regular audience enjoys, but it also brings in new faces and allows us to engage the community in a different way.”

The Pernikoff Brothers will perform March 4.

Swinging from jazz and funk to crunchy blues-rock, the Pernikoff Brothers are led by St. Louis natives Tom and Rick Pernikoff, who attended college in Boston (Brandeis University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, respectively) and worked in Silicon Valley before trading day jobs for the music studio. Their debut album, On My Way (2010), was recorded in Nashville and has drawn comparisons to artists like Ray Lamontagne and The Avett Brothers.

The series will continue March 11, with Paper Dolls, an all-girl rock group that combines jazzy cabaret with dark wit and cascading melodies, followed March 18 by jangle-pop quintet Prune.

Next up, on March 25, will be The Mosaic Whispers, Washington University’s oldest co-ed a cappella group. (Whispers alumni recently were featured in the YouTube sensation “Flash Mob Wedding.”)

On April 1, the Kemper will welcome celebrated singer/songwriter Beth Bombara, followed April 8 by the lush harmonies and acoustic melancholy of Pretty Little Empire, whose Reasons and Rooms was named one of the 10 Best Local Albums of 2010 by the Riverfront Times.

Concluding the series, on April 15, will be local institution Bob Reuter, a singer and songwriter who, in addition to hosting Bob’s Scratchy Records on 88.1 KDHX, currently fronts both Thee Dirty South and Bob Reuter’s Alley Ghost.

The Kemper Art Museum is located near the intersection of Forsyth and Skinker boulevards. For more information, call (314) 935-4523; visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu; or e-mail kemperartmuseum@wustl.edu.