Thanks to a grant from the University Park Allocation Committee, Penn State students save every day on the price of tickets to Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State presentations. But for one day -- from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2 -- University Park students are eligible for an additional 15 percent discount on tickets to professional music, theater and dance performances coming in September through April.
The student sale takes place at Eisenhower only. A valid Penn State identification card is required to purchase tickets at the University Park student price. Each eligible student may buy one discounted ticket per event per ID. Friends who want to sit together should purchase their tickets at the same time.
The lineup of discounted events includes seven performances of the Tony Award-winning musical “Jersey Boys” and touring Broadway productions of “Chicago,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.”
Making their University Park debuts will be chamber music orchestra The Knights, a New York City-based ensemble whose members enjoy a range of influences, including Baroque, classical, jazz, klezmer and indie rock; Sybarite5, a string quartet known for its arrangements of British band Radiohead’s moody music; Catalyst Quartet, a string ensemble featuring top performers and alumni of the renowned Sphinx Competition that develops talent among young black and Latino classical musicians; Voces8, a British a cappella octet made up of former Westminster Abbey choristers; and the woodwind quintet Windscape.
Classical music ensembles returning to University Park include Emerson String Quartet; Apollo’s Fire, The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, performing passionate works by Handel and Vivaldi in “The Power of Love”; and the Russian National Orchestra featuring violin soloist Stefan Jackiw.
An eclectic roster of movement ensembles will include Ragamala Dance Company in “Song of the Jasmine,” Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Moscow Festival Ballet’s production of “The Sleeping Beauty.”
The Mayhem Poets—three men who met at Rutgers University—will share perspectives on hip-hop-inspired poetry, while Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky), a “trip-hop” turntablist turned National Geographic 2014 Emerging Explorer, will introduce audiences to his “Arctic Rhythms.”
Jazz concerts will include performances by Alfredo Rodríguez Trio, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Maria Schneider Orchestra and Grammy-winning jazz pianist Billy Childs reimagining music by Laura Nyro with the help of vocalists Becca Stevens and Alicia Olatuja.
The acrobats of Circa, an Australian contemporary circus troupe, will celebrate the music of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich in “Opus,” while the physical theatrics of Compagnia Finzi Pasca will bend reality in the Salvador Dali-inspired “La Verità.”
A variety of music from throughout the world will round out the season. High art intersects with low-brow musical culture in a concert by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Banjo wizards Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, who recently released their first album as a duo, bring their one-of-a-kind Americana pairing. Grammy winner Mavis Staples will team with multi-platinum recording artist Joan Osborne in “Solid Soul.” Vienna Boys Choir will perform selections from a repertoire of Austrian folk songs and waltzes, classical masterpieces, beloved pop songs, holiday favorites and medieval chant. American singer-songwriters Patty Griffin, Sara Watkins and Anaïs Mitchell will perform on stage together.
A celebration of roots music from Africa and the Americas that’s associated with pre-Lenten observances, globalFEST on the Road’s “Creole Carnival” concert will include Haitian songstress Emeline Michel, Jamaican guitarist and singer Brushy One-String and Brazilian samba band Casuarina.
The season will also feature a free concert featuring The Soul Rebels, an eight-piece brass band from New Orleans that pushes the boundaries of jazz with a high-energy concert incorporating soul, jazz, funk, hip-hop, rock and pop. Free tickets for the 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, concert at Eisenhower Auditorium—part of the artsUP celebration at Penn State—are available in person, beginning Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the ticket offices in Eisenhower, HUB-Robeson Center and the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center and on the day of the concert at Eisenhower.
Learn more about the Center for the Performing Arts events.
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Here are the presentations, dates and discounted prices available to University Park students from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 2:
Catalyst Quartet Sept. 17 $13.10
Ragamala Dance Company Sept. 22 $16.50
Alfredo Rodríguez Trio Sept. 24 $14.80
The Knights “Music from the Great War Era” Oct. 1 $16.50
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Oct. 7 $19.05
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Oct. 13 $13.10
Emerson String Quartet Oct. 15 $16.50
“Clifford the Big Red Dog Live!” Oct. 18 $13.10
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn Oct. 22 $14.80
Mavis Staples and Joan Osborne “Solid Soul” Oct. 27 $16.50
“Jersey Boys” Nov. 3, 4, 5, 7 (matinee) and 8 $42.30, $34.65, $16.80
“Jersey Boys” Nov. 6 $46.55, $38.90, $21.05
Circa “Opus” Nov. 11 $16.50
Apollo’s Fire “The Power of Love” Nov. 17 $16.50
Vienna Boys Choir Dec. 1 $16.50
Sybarite5 Jan. 22 $13.10
The Mayhem Poets Jan. 28 $8
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Feb. 2 $16.50
Billy Childs “Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro” Feb. 5 $14.80
Voces8 Feb. 11 $16.50
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” Feb. 13 $40.60, $32.95
Windscape “A Floating World: Japan and the Impressionists” Feb. 18 $16.50
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” Feb. 23 $40.60, $32.95
globalFEST on the Road “Creole Carnival” Feb. 25 $13.10
Russian National Orchestra March 3 $19.05
Patty Griffin, Sara Watkins and Anaïs Mitchell March 16 $16.50
“Arctic Rhythms” Paul D. Miller (aka DJ Spooky) March 23 $10.55
Moscow Festival Ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” March 31 $19.05
Dallas Children’s Theater “The Big Friendly Giant” April 8 $13.10
“Chicago” April 11 and 12 $40.60, $32.95
Maria Schneider Orchestra April 14 $14.80
Compagnia Finzi Pasca “La Verità” April 21 $16.50