The high lonesome sound of bluegrass meets the hot and lively jazz of New Orleans. In a new and thrilling collaboration, the Crescent City’s beloved Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the Appalachian-bred Del McCoury Band find a wealth of common musical ground. The bands got together to record American Legacies, a collection of instrumental and vocal gems. Now the iconic ensembles bring classics such as Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya,” the soulful “I’ll Fly Away,” and New Orleans standard “Milenberg Joys” — plus a rollicking hillbilly jazz original “Banjo Frisco” — to the concert stage. “American Legacies sounds exactly like you’d expect a joint album from Del McCoury Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band to sound,” asserts a Glide Magazine reviewer. “It’s a riverboat full of rhythmically intoxicating Dixieland, blues, bluegrass, jazz, and gospel that draws heavily on standards.”

Adult $48
University Park Student $22
18 and Younger $39

“The KLR Trio’s performances stand with the finest chamber groups of our time,” writes a Miami Herald critic. Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, violinist Jaime Laredo, and cellist Sharon Robinson made their debut as a trio at President Carter’s inauguration. Since then six presidents have come and five have gone, but the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio continues to dazzle audiences and critics. The trio members celebrated thirty-five years together by debuting three commissioned works, releasing the complete Franz Schubert trios on CD (Bridge Records), and touring extensively. The Penn State program features André Previn’s Piano Trio No. 2, a new work written for the ensemble and co-commissioned by the Center for the Performing Arts. The program also includes Ludwig van Beethoven’s youthful Piano Trio in B-flat, Johannes Brahms’ mature Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major (Revised), and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s 1987 composition Trio (also written for KLR).

Adult $42
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $32

Wanting to belong is a powerful force. It drives us to search for love, strive for fortunes, rail against injustice, and embrace happiness. The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare’s provocative comedy, begins with Bassanio’s quest for Portia. Funded by an ill-conceived loan, the road to true love will not be smooth. When plans go awry, betrayal and anger face off against a cry for compassion and a cunning lawyer in disguise. In the end, all are left to question justice, love, and the length to which we will go to fit in. Renowned British actor Patrick Stewart founded Actors From The London Stage, one of the most respected touring Shakespeare companies. The players come from prestigious companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Clever staging — using minimal props, costumes, and sets —showcases the talents of a five-member ensemble in which each actor portrays multiple characters while keeping the focus on Shakespeare’s timeless words.

Adult $32
University Park Student $16
18 and Younger $25

A Kansas City Star reviewer describes a Doug Varone and Dancers performance as “a feast of tens of thousands of individual moments.” The New York City company’s modern dance program features Oratorio, a new work set to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s La Betulia liberate. Oratorio delves into the libretto’s themes of heroism, mythmaking, duplicity, and conflict in a twenty-first century world of comic book-inspired imagery. The program also includes Lux, set to music by Philip Glass, and an excerpt from the evening-length Chapters from a Broken Novel. “Luxuriant. Lux is all about freedom,” writes a Washington Post critic. “It is what dancing really feels like, the kind of dancing I might dream about: loose and sweeping in a spirit of exultation.” A Boston Globe reviewer observes that “Chapters from a Broken Novel (2010) — with its shards of dreams and groping tenderness — cracks the human condition wide open.”

Adult $38
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $31

Renowned for their unearthly vocal blend and virtuosic ensemble singing, the four women of Anonymous 4 celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary together with a special concert featuring ancient, traditional, and modern chants and hymns. The program, with music chosen from the ensemble’s nineteen CDs, includes works that range in origin from the eleventh century to the present. Highlights include Anonymous 4’s first recorded song, “Gaude Virgo Salutata” from An English Ladymass; “Nicholai presulis” from the group’s first public performance, Legends of St. Nicholas; American folk songs; and a new work for Anonymous 4 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang.

Adult $42
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $32

“Pilobolus,” a Washington Post reporter asserts, “embodies a large part of what the best in contemporary dance is all about: discovery. Making something new with the same standard body parts the rest of us have.” Since 1971 Pilobolus Dance Theatre has been creating inventive, athletic, witty, and collaborative performance works using the human body as a medium for expression. Based in Connecticut, Pilobolus performs for stage, television, and online audiences across the globe. The troupe has performed live shows in more than sixty countries. “Classics or the brand-new, Pilobolus keeps delivering,” writes a Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer. “It’s as if,” a New York Times critic insists, “we’re being given a fleeting glimpse of the inner workings of the universe.”

A discussion among Pilobolus company members and the audience follows the performance.

Adult $38
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $31

Headlined by Béla Fleck and Tony Trischka, the 2006 Banjo Summit was one of the most memorable Center for the Performing Arts presentations of the twenty-first century. Fleck and Trischka return for more prime pickin’, joined for Banjo Summit 2 by Bill Keith, a trailblazer of melodic playing; Richie Stearns, who helped revive the old-time clawhammer style; Eric Weissberg, who performed “Dueling Banjos” for the Deliverance soundtrack; and Peter “Dr. Banjo” Wernick, a hot-picking force in bands such as Rize and Country Cooking. Fleck, generally regarded as the most accomplished master of the instrument, leads a concert that finds the banjo performed in conventional and unexpected ways. From solos and duets to full-tilt banjo blowouts with all six players, the performance features the banjo in traditional settings, including bluegrass and country, along with unconventional banjo genres such as jazz, classical, and rock.

Adult $48
University Park Student $19
18 and Younger $29

An adventure story in which three actors portray multiple characters, The Great Mountain inspires, entertains, and captures the imagination of children. Young Nuna hears things she doesn’t understand. Realizing Nuna has inherited the ability to hear the spirits of rushing rivers and soaring mountains, the girl’s grandmother takes her to the river and entrusts her to a boatman who guides her to where a glacier is melting and the spirit of a great mountain weeps. Does Nuna have the power to answer the mountain’s cry? Do young people recognize their capacity to address environmental issues? Inspired by the Northern Plains aboriginal story Jumping Mouse, Tracey Power’s action-packed play focuses on a girl who discovers the transformative power of nature and the importance of courage. Toronto’s Red Sky Performance is Canada’s leading company of world indigenous productions in dance, theatre, and music.

Adult $15
University Park Student $8
18 and Younger $15

The magic of the circus pays homage to Anton Chekhov in a show of visions, delicate equilibriums, dancers, acrobats, and jugglers. Donka is the creation of Daniele Finzi Pasca, author of unforgettable productions with Cirque Éloize and Cirque du Soleil. Finzi Pasca immerses himself in Chekhov’s public and private writings to give form to the author’s enigmatic silences. Donka, in Russian, is a small bell attached to a fishing rod. Chekhov adored fishing and the time for meditation it afforded. Finzi Pasca, inspired by Chekhov’s pastime, fishes in a pool of circus fantasy to give life to a visual poem of suspended objects and bodies. An international cast of decadent clowns, musicians, dancers, and acrobats animates the stage, while Maria Bonzanigo’s music spreads beneath like a carpet for a parade of Chekhov characters.

Adult $38
University Park Student $19
18 and Younger $31

A musician’s musician. That’s Ron Carter. In a career spanning more than half a century, the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master has been so continually in demand that he’s performed on more than 2,000 albums. He’s not only one of the most prolific bassists in jazz, he’s also one of the most influential. Carter came to fame as a member of the second renowned Miles Davis Quintet, a 1960s group that included Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Since then he’s performed, as a leader and a sideman, with a multitude of first-rank players. Carter performs at Penn State with guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Donald Vega.

A discussion among the musicians and audience members follows the performance.

Adult $32
University Park Student $16
18 and Younger $25