Fourteen acrobats and a chamber ensemble celebrate the music of Dmitri Shostakovich in Opus, a work of power, virtuosity, and poetry performed by Australia’s Circa and France’s Debussy String Quartet.
A banjo duo might seem like a musical concept beset by limitations. But when the banjo players are Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, it’s a different matter. He brings the virtuosic, jazz-to-classical ingenuity of an iconic instrumentalist and composer with bluegrass roots.
It only takes a little to BE BIG™! The “big, red dog,” a character beloved for generations in the Scholastic books by Norman Bridwell, comes to life on stage in a BIG way in this interactive musical.
Emerson String Quartet, an ensemble with an unparalleled list of achievements, makes its first appearance at Penn State in six years with a program featuring works by Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert—plus a piece by Lowell Liebermann co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts through it
An orchestral collective, flexible in size and repertory, The Knights strives to transform the concert experience by engaging listeners and defying boundaries. The ensemble’s programs showcase the players’ roots in classical tradition and their passion for discovery.
“You don’t generally go to a performance of Bharatanatyam, the classical South Indian dance style, expecting to want to get up and dance. The form inspires a more removed kind of reverence … ,” observes a New York Times reviewer.
The Catalyst Quartet, comprised of leading laureates and alumni of the Sphinx Competition, performs music from its debut recording, Bach/Gould Project, in its Penn State premiere performance.
“A perfect blend of calm contentment and soaring spirit” (London’s The Independent), VOCES8 makes its Penn State debut in an acoustic choral program.
Maria Schneider, who NPR describes as “a national treasure,” calls her own shots.
“CHICAGO still glitters hypnotically,” writes a New York Times critic.
