• Center announces 2008–2009 season of events
• Ax-Perlman-Ma to debut as trio at Penn State
• Jaffes earn 2008 Distinguished Service Award
• Tickets for Lightfoot’s June 21 concert on sale

Twenty-seven Center for the Performing Arts events—to be presented September 2008 through April 2009 at Eisenhower and Schwab auditoriums—are on sale now to Center for the Performing Arts members (at the Affiliate level or higher), last-season series subscribers, sponsors, and underwriters. Eligible patrons may purchase tickets by phone, in person at Eisenhower or Penn State Tickets Downtown, or by a mail-in order form. Tickets go on sale to the general public June 2. Tickets are also on sale for Gordon Lightfoot’s June 21 concert, a promoter presentation at Eisenhower. Phone 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Or visit the box offices at Eisenhower Auditorium, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Gordon Lightfoot tickets may also be purchased online.

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Center announces 2008–2009 season of events

The Center for the Performing Arts 2008–2009 season features the world premiere performance by a trio of virtuoso musicians, touring Broadway musicals, jazz legends, an elite European orchestra, world music superstars, classical and modern dance, events for families and children, and more.

Pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma perform together for the first time in a March 30 concert at Eisenhower Auditorium. The line-up of touring musicals at Eisenhower includes CHICAGO (October 1), HAIRSPRAY (October 23), JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR starring Ted Neeley (February 3), and AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ starring 2003 American Idol winner Ruben Studdard (April 14).

The twenty-seven music, theatre, and dance presentations are on sale now to Center for the Performing Arts members (at the Affiliate level or higher), last-season series subscribers, sponsors, and underwriters. Eligible patrons may purchase tickets by phone at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX; in person at Eisenhower or Penn State Tickets Downtown; or by a mail-in order form.

Visit Events for complete details about the upcoming presentations.
Download a season brochure with order form.

Jazz offerings include the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis (October 9), the Jimmy Heath Quartet (November 20), the McCoy Tyner Quartet (February 19), and the Blue Note Records 70th Anniversary Tour featuring pianist Bill Charlap as music director, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane, and other all-star musicians (April 8). The jazz quartets perform at Schwab. The larger jazz ensembles play at Eisenhower.

Poland’s Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Antoni Wit, performs November 13 on the twenty-fifth anniversary of its last appearance at Eisenhower. Virtuoso pianist Valentina Lisitsa is the guest soloist for Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1.

Singers Angélique Kidjo (October 30), who won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album, and Mariza (February 24), who sings Portuguese fado, make their Eisenhower debuts.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of America’s great modern companies, makes a rare State College appearance November 6. The State Ballet Theatre of Russia makes its first visit to Penn State to perform Cinderella January 15. MOMIX returns in Lunar Sea March 26. All three dance events are in Eisenhower.

Family presentations include Cirque Mechanics in the fanciful Birdhouse Factory (Novemver 9) and the popular Japanese drummers KODO (March 18). Shows for kids include Dallas Children’s Theater in Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters (October 26), TheatreworksUSA in Charlotte’s Web (January 25), and Magic Tree House: The Musical (February 15).

For information about becoming a Center for the Performing Arts member, contact Dave Shaffer at 814-863-1167 orDaveShaffer@psu.edu.

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Ax-Perlman-Ma to debut as trio at Penn State

Three of the biggest names in music—pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma—make their world premiere as a trio in a once-in-a-lifetime Center for the Performing Arts presentation next March at Eisenhower Auditorium.

The trio is scheduled to perform only twice—March 30, 2009, at Eisenhower on the University Park campus and the following evening at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

Tickets for the concert are on sale now to Center for the Performing Arts members (at the Affiliate level or higher), last-season series subscribers, sponsors, and underwriters. Eligible patrons may purchase tickets by phone at 814-863-0255 or 1-800-ARTS-TIX; in person at Eisenhower or Penn State Tickets Downtown; or by a mail-in order form.

Visit Ax-Perlman-Ma for more information about the concert.
Download a season brochure with order form.

TIAA-CREF is the exclusive corporate partner with the Center for the Performing Arts in the presentation of the Ax-Perlman-Ma trio.

For information about becoming a Center for the Performing Arts member, contact Dave Shaffer at 814-863-1167 or DaveShaffer@psu.edu.

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Jaffes earn 2008 Distinguished Service Award

The Center for the Performing Arts has named a suburban State College couple as recipients of its 2008 Distinguished Service Award. Honey and Bill Jaffe are longtime supporters and members of the non-profit fine arts presenter. 

Honey Jaffe served on the Center for the Performing Arts Community Advisory Council from 1998 to 2003. Bill Jaffe, an alumnus of Penn State, has served in various volunteer positions. In 1996 he was named an Alumni Fellow, the highest award presented by the Penn State Alumni Association. The Ferguson Township residents are members of the Center for the Performing Arts at both the Director’s Circle and The Jazz Train levels.

“They are exceptional membership leaders in that respect,” says George Trudeau, director of the Center for the Performing Arts. “Bill and Honey Jaffe have been model volunteers at the Center for the Performing Arts, sharing talent, time and resources with us for many years.”

The couple’s philanthropy is extensive. In 2002 they established—through a planned gift—an endowment at the Center for the Performing Arts to support the audience development program. A year later they started giving early activation funds to finance their intentions until the endowment became mature in 2007.

Working closely with the couple to tailor a plan, Center for the Performing Arts staff members have used the endowment to support attendance at the Informances for Schools series. The series of school-time performances are presented on weekdays and are designed for elementary and secondary students from throughout central Pennsylvania. The endowment has been used to promote presentations through direct-mail marketing campaigns targeted at educators and to help schools offset the cost of transporting students to University Park to see performances.

“This subsidy means the difference for many of these schools between attending or not,” says Amy Dupain Vashaw, Center for the Performing Arts audience and program development director. “Their funding has also allowed us to reach out beyond our typical marketplace to draw schools from as much as a hundred miles away. The students in central Pennsylvania owe a debt of gratitude to Bill and Honey for their support. The center is grateful for the audience development efforts achieved through this funding.”

The Jaffes recently decided to add to their endowment, Trudeau says, and are in the process of finalizing a significant additional pledge.

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Tickets for Lightfoot’s June 21 concert on sale

Tickets are on sale for singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s 7 p.m. Saturday, June 21, performance at Eisenhower Auditorium. The legendary balladeer weaves tales of love and longing in eloquent songs that have become enduring standards.

Purchase tickets for the promoter-presented concert, which are $49 for the general public and $39 for students.

Lightfoot’s poetic journeys have been told with such timeless, thought-provoking songs as “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown,” “Early Morning Ran,” “Carefree Highway,” “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” and “Canadian Railroad Trilogy.”

Combined with his rich baritone voice and nimble guitar technique, Lightfoot’s songwriting talent has led him from the 1960s coffeehouse scene in his native Canada to American pop hits with his groundbreaking multi-platinum albums. He has earned accolades ranging from five Grammy Award nominations to seventeen Canadian Juno Awards. Canada’s Walk of Fame honored him as a charter member, and the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame recently inducted him.

Singers who have recorded his music include Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul & Mary, Barbara Streisand, Jane’s Addiction, Glen Campbell, Olivia Newton-John, Sarah McLachlan, and Nanci Griffith.

“Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever,” Bob Dylan said.

Lightfoot almost died in 2002 from an acute abdominal aneurysm that left him in a coma for six weeks, but he has fully recovered and continues to tour occasionally with his core band of talented acoustic musicians.

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