By HAYLEY BEAUCHAMP
The Honeywell Foundation

WABASH — Kicking off the holiday season at the Honeywell Center will be Mannheim Steamroller as they appear on the Ford Theater stage presenting two concerts at 3 and 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27. The shows will feature classic Mannheim Steamroller Christmas hits set to a plethora of special effects. Tickets are $32, $48 and $68.

Celebrating the 31st Anniversary of its holiday tour, Mannheim Steamroller has sold more than 40 million albums, 28 million in the Christmas genre. Their holiday CDs have become synonymous with Christmas and occupy top positions on Billboard’s Seasonal Chart every year.

In addition to being a holiday tradition for many families, the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas Tour regularly attracts repeat attendance from multi-generational guests and is one of the longest running tours in the music industry.

Chip Davis, founder and creator of Mannheim Steamroller, makes innovative music inspired by the sounds of another age. This former teacher and jingle writer founded the music industry’s largest independent recording label, “American Gramaphone,” in 1974 when industry executives said Davis’ innovative 18th century instrumental rock sound would never sell. In addition to a Grammy Award, Davis is largely credited with establishing the New Age music category. His first Christmas album in 1984, revolutionized the making and marketing of holiday music, the album’s success made Christmas records a “must do” for all music artists. With more than 28 million Christmas albums sold, Davis is the number one-selling Christmas artist of all time with Elvis coming in at a distant 17 million holiday records sold.

Davis is also one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the music industry, offering a rich array of lifestyle products on www.mannheimsteamroller.com including hot chocolate, food, apparel and novelty items. His latest achievement is creating a cutting edge psychoacoustic technology that is being used in major medical institutions such as Mayo Clinic and is also being studied by NASA for potential use in space.

Tickets may be purchased at the Honeywell Center Box Office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, by calling (260) 563-1102, or online at www.honeywellcenter.org.

The Honeywell Foundation seeks to provide artistic, social, cultural and recreational opportunities for all. The Foundation operates the Honeywell Center, Honeywell House, Eagles Theatre, Charley Creek Inn, the Dr. James Ford Historic Home and the 13-24 Drive In. All programs and activities are supported by gifts from individuals, businesses, the Indiana Arts Commission (a state agency) and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency).