A collection of more than 50 world-class artists from Romania, India, North Carolina, and beyond will highlight the 2012-13 Duke Performances season. Season and multiple concert tickets packages are now on sale.
This season's artists use both the pragmatic, rugged vernacular of folk traditions and the crisp, refined elegance of high art concert halls to make bold claims about the past, present, and future of performance.
Duke Performances will continue to expand its off-campus offerings, setting concerts in Durham venues including First Presbyterian Church downtown, PSI Theatre in the Durham Arts Council, Motorco Music Hall, and co-presentations at Carolina Theatre.
For the first time, Duke Performances will stagger ticket availability. Multiple concert ticket packages include the Pick Four 25 percent discount on purchases of four or more concerts at one time and our classical series discounts, including Essential Classics, Recital Series, Chamber Arts Society Series, and Ciompi Quartet Series worth discounts of up to 35 percent for the season.
Single tickets will go on sale Tuesday, July 17, at 11 am, and $10 Duke student tickets will go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 21, at 11 am.
Among the highlights of the season are three spectacular contemporary gospel performers in concert in two of Durham's best venues. John P. Kee and The New Life Community Choir start things off Sept.14 and 15 at the Hayti Heritage Center. The Mighty Clouds of Joy continue this exploration of gospel on Nov. 16 and 17, also at the Hayti Heritage Center. The series closes with the great Richard Smallwood and Vision on March 30, at the Carolina Theatre.
The season also features a series of five jazz concerts in downtown Durham nightclubs, including The Bad Plus, Sept. 21 and 22, at Motorco Music Hall; Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, Oct. 12 and 13, at Casbah Durham; Fred Hersch Trio, Jan. 25 and 26, at Casbah Durham; Tarbaby, with Orrin Evens, Nasheet Waits, Eric Revis, and Oliver Lake, March 1 and 2, at Casbah Durham; and Gretchen Parlato Quartet, April 12 and 13, at Motorco Music Hall.
Exceptional dance and theater also are highlighted with comedian Reggie Watts on October 26, a long-term residency Meredith Monk and The House Foundation in October and November, acclaimed tap-dancer Savion Glover on Jan. 23, monologist Mike Daisey Jan. 30 through Feb. 3, Diavolo Dance Theater February 8 and 9, and cabaret artists Meow Meow Feb. 12 -14.
The season also continues a long tradition of offering the best classical music in the area. This year the Essential Classics series offers three concerts by world-class ensembles: Tenebrae Choir, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and China National Symphony Orchestra.
The popular Piano Recital Series expands to include performances by a solo guitarist, Eliot Fisk, and a solo violinist, Leila Josefowicz, as well as piano recitals by Rafal Blechacz, Piotr Anderszewski, Joyce Yang, and Angela Hewitt.
The Chamber Arts Society series returns with Schumann Trio, Emerson String Quartet, Belcea Quartet, JACK Quartet with Steven Mackey, St. Lawrence String Quartet with Stephen Prutsman, Faure Quartett, Takacs Quartet, and Alexander String Quartet.
With these and other offerings on the season, the season stands to be another banner year for Duke Performances.
Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.dukeperformances.org, by phone at 919-684-4444, and at the University Box Office on the top level of the Bryan Center.
For a complete performance schedule, click here.