Centre News

Centre College’s Norton Center for the Arts has recently announced a blockbuster schedule of programs for its 2010-11 performance season. Legendary artists and popular Broadway shows provide the foundation of this year’s season, including a rare U.S. appearance by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with rising-star conductor Gustavo Dudamel; singing icon Tony Bennett; award-winning Broadway shows Mamma Mia!, Blue Man Group, and Stomp; and the Reverend Al Green and Smokey Robinson. In addition, all-time favorite groups The Lettermen and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons will appear on the Newlin Hall stage, sure to have the crowd on their feet.

This year’s line-up confirms the Norton Center’s title as “Kentucky’s Home to the Stars,” says Debra Hoskins, director of programs and public relations for the Norton Center. “This year’s season is marked by the unmatched quality and great variety that have made the Norton Center central Kentucky’s leading performing arts venue.”

Series tickets went sale Monday, July 19, ensuring series subscribers the first selection of seats with the lowest discounted tickets available. Tickets to individual performances also go on sale Monday, July 19, but will be processed only after all renewing and new series subscription orders are filled.

For the 2010-11 season, the Norton Center offers five series packages: the Newlin Hall Series, the Celebrity Series, the Show Biz Series, the Musica da Camera Series and the very popular Mainstage Series, which offers patrons the Show Biz and Newlin Hall Series together with an additional discount above what is offered if the two are ordered separately. Some performances are also available as part of a PICK 6 Series, where ticket buyers can create their own personalized series. In addition, there are several special events offered as part of the Norton Center 2010-2011 season that are only available by single ticket purchases.

The Newlin Hall Series

The Newlin Hall Series begins on Thursday, Nov. 11, with a concert presented by the BBC Concert Orchestra with conductor Keith Lockhart. The repertoire for the Norton Center concert includes Stravinsky’s bold Firebird Suite and Rachmaninov’s lush Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Famed conductor Lockhart has previously held the baton at the Norton Center with the Boston Pops Orchestra.

The ultimate feel-good musical, Mamma Mia! combines ABBA’s greatest hits, with an enchanting tale of love, laughter and friendship, on Saturday, Nov. 13, and Sunday, Nov. 14.

The holidays are never complete without a performance of Tchaikovsky’s timeless classic, The Nutcracker. This year, the Moscow Classical Ballet, featuring 50 dancers, lavish sets and stunning costumes, makes this a truly magical evening.

On Tuesday, March 8, audience members will be entranced by the crystalline voices of San Francisco-based Chanticleer, called “the world’s reigning male chorus” by The New Yorker magazine.

The Newlin Hall Series concludes on Thursday, April 7, with the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet, which, at the invitation of Jacqueline Kennedy, was the first dance company to ever perform at the White House. The Joffrey expresses a unique perspective on dance reflecting the diversity of America with its company, audience, and repertoire. It was also the first dance company to appear on the cover of Time magazine.

The Celebrity Series

The Norton Center’s highly popular Celebrity Series includes three of the 2010-2011 season’s most popular artists performing in Newlin Hall. The series opens on Friday evening, Sept. 17, with ’60s music sensation Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Led by original member Frankie Valli, the group continues to perform the hits that made them famous, including “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.” A true American pop music icon, Valli’s incredible career was recently celebrated in the current Broadway hit Jersey Boys.

Smokey Robinson will take the stage at the Norton Center on Friday, Oct. 22.

The final performance in the 2010-2011 Celebrity Series features the distinctly seductive voice of the legendary ’70s singer Al Green, who set the standard for smooth soul with hits such as “Let’s Stay Together,” “Lay It Down” and “Tired of Being Alone.” The Reverend Al Green appears in concert on Saturday, Oct. 30.

The Show Biz Series

Five shows, including pop concerts, hit Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals and a contemporary bluegrass band, make up the Show Biz Series for the 2010-11 season.

Pushing the envelope of modern bluegrass, folk and country music, the Punch Brothers features über-mandolinist and Nickel Creek frontman Chris Thile. According to the Washington Post, the Punch Brothers are “some of the best string-band pickers of the new generation, and Thile…may be the most virtuosic American ever to play the mandolin.” Don’t miss the group’s fresh sounds on Thursday, Oct. 7. While brothers in musical spirit only, the Punch Brothers join their singular abilities and viewpoints into one musical force.

The touring production of Broadway’s hit musical Mamma Mia!, also part of the Newlin Hall Series, will be performed on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 13 and 14, with 3 p.m. matinee performances. There will also be a performance at 8 p.m. on Saturday night.

The Show Biz Series continues with the energetic and mind-blowing Blue Man Group, best known for its wildly popular theatrical shows and concerts combining comedy, music and technology to produce a totally unique form of entertainment. The New York Times heralds the show as “one of the most delightful performance pieces ever staged.” Although impossible to describe, Blue Man Group offers a non-stop, laugh-out-loud, and outrageous performance experience that leaves the entire audience in a blissful, euphoric state! Blue Man Group will perform Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 22 and 23.

The Coasters and Platters will make their fourth visit to the Norton Center on Saturday, Jan. 29. Everybody’s favorite good-time concert of the year, these two classic ’50s R&B groups bring Motown to Danville. Sure to be a sell-out, some of the hits performed by these two legendary Motown groups include “This Magic Moment,” “Only You,” “Smoke Gets in Your eyes,” “Charlie Brown” and “Yakety Yak.”

The Showbiz Series concludes with two performances of the international percussion sensation, STOMP, on Feb. 22 and 23. Whether experiencing this live action-packed performance for the first or the 10th time, STOMP is explosive and sophisticated and appeals to audiences of all ages. So bring your family or impress a date. The eight-member company uses everything but conventional percussion instruments. See what all the noise is about!

Musica da Camera Series

The Norton Center’s prestigious chamber music series brings many of the world’s finest classical artists to the Bluegrass.

The Musica da Camera Series opens in Newlin Hall on Thursday, Oct. 28, with a performance by the masterful Tokyo String Quartet, an ensemble capable of creating magical and soul-moving experiences. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the quartet has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers and has a devoted international following that includes the major capitals of the world, extending to all four corners, from Australia to Estonia to Scandinavia and the Far East.

Returning to Centre College and the Norton Center, The Emerson String Quartet performs in Weisiger Theatre on Thursday, Jan. 6. The group has been dubbed American’s greatest quartet by Time magazine. Emerson cellist David Finckel and his wife, pianist Wu Han, have curated the Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass in Shaker Village since 2007.

Thrilling audiences in theaters and opera houses around the world, The American Spiritual Ensemble explores the Black experience in a varied repertoire that includes dynamic renditions of classic spirituals, jazz and Broadway selections. A sure crowd-pleaser, this will be a special Martin Luther King Jr. Day performance on Monday, January 17 in the Norton Center’s Newlin Hall.

The final program in the Musica da Camera Series features one of today’s most exciting and innovative chamber music ensembles, the American Chamber Players, in Weisiger Theatre on Tuesday, March 15. Violist, author and popular NPR music commentator Miles Hoffman is the group’s founder. The ensemble performs repertoire ranging from familiar masterpieces, to neglected gems, to newly commissioned American works. The New York Times says of the group, “They appealed to the heart and the head, offering a warm, seductively luxurious sound and an impressive precision and unity of purpose.”

Special Events

The Norton Center Season also includes three unique events, which are sure to sell out quickly. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra comes to Newlin Hall on Monday, Sept. 27, in a concert that continues the remarkable tradition of distinguished international orchestras that have performed at Centre College’s Norton Center. Under that baton of conductor Gustavo Dudamel, recently appointed conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the orchestra will present a program that includes Dvorak’s Symphony No.9 (“From the New World”), Bernstein’s Divertimento for Symphonic Band and Ravel’s Bolero. This will be the orchestra’s first American performance conducted by Dudamel.

The legendary Tony Bennett, whom Frank Sinatra called “the best singer in the business,” returns to the Norton Center’s Newlin Hall for a second visit on Monday, Oct. 4. Mr. Bennett’s concert will be held in partnership with the Alltech Fortnight Festival. The third special event will be on Saturday, Dec. 11, when The Lettermen perform in Newlin Hall. “When I Fall in Love” and “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” are only a couple of the hits The Lettermen have performed since they began in the 1960s. This performance is held in partnership with Ephraim McDowell Health.

Tickets on Sale Now

Subscriptions for the Mainstage Series, the Newlin Hall Series, the Celebrity Series, the Show Biz Series, and the Musica da Camera Series, as well as individual performances are on sale beginning Monday, July 19. Newlin Hall and Weisiger Theatre are both in the Norton Center for the Arts, located at Centre College on the southeast corner of West Walnut and College streets. For more information, call the Norton Center box office at 859-236-4692 or toll free 1-877-HIT-SHOW (448-7469). Box office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.