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A champagne gala and a command performance by Gold Record artist Maureen McGovern will christen the inaugeral season of the new David and Carol Lackland Center for the performing arts on the campus of Centenary College in Hackettstown on September 24.
Often called “The Stradivarius Voice”, McGovern’s career includes multiple Grammy and Oscar Awards as well as a recent Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Broadway production of “Little Women – the musical”. The New York Times hailed her voice as “second to none”. The evening will include a celebratory reception beginning at 6 PM, followed by the 8 PM performance by McGovern. CSC’s major sponsors and donors will gather for a special post-show party with McGovern following the concert.
A diverse season of events follow the opening Gala, with something for every taste and more than 160 performances in the dynamic new facility over the next 12 months.
Direct from Russia, the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin has earned national and international recognition as one of Russia's finest ensembles. Their visit to the Skylands will include a special afternoon concert on Sunday, October 24th at 2:30 PM. Founded in 1991, the orchestra, comprising some of Russia's finest young string players, has carved a niche for itself under the creative baton of its founder and music director Misha Rachlevsky. The concert will feature music by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Rossini.
On Halloween weekend (Saturday October 30, 8:00PM), New Jersey Ballet makes its first visit to the new Sitnik Theater of the Lackland Center with a program marked by tales of love, loss and spooky goings-on. “Ghosts of Ballet” highlights include the hauntingAct II of Giselle, one of the great classics of all time, and the New Jersey premiere of The Raven, a dramatic re-telling of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem about love and loss by New York-based choreographer David Fernandez. The NJ Ballet has performed for audiences from Europe to Asia, and they began their 50th year anniversary season with a 7-city tour of Russia, including performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg during the fabled White Nights
The holiday season will be ushered in with style with a performance by The Pocono Choral Society, the chorus in residence at Centenary College. A special holiday concert will be offered on Sunday, December 5 at 4 PM as part of the annual ‘Tis the Season celebration .
Jazz in January is scheduled to return with three great events – the inimitable Bobby Caldwell backed by a 17-piece orchestra, The Artie Shaw Orchestra and “Three Tenors and a Baritone.”
Sounds of the Louisiana Bayou will spirit away the February chill when Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas perform on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 8 PM. Hailed as one of the most entertaining and in-demand Creole Zydeco bands from “Lafayette-Louisiana way”, Nathan Williams plays the fast and furious accordion-driven dance music of the Creole people of Southern Louisiana, an irresistible style that emerged after the Second World War. With its trademark rubboard percussion, electric guitars and R&B influences, zydeco has its own foot-stomping flavor, distinct from the fiddle-driven music of neighboring Cajuns, but just a passionate and vibrant.
CSC celebrates Black History Month with a special concert featuring the musical genre which inspired such incomparable performers as Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke. Gospel music transcends its roots in the church, and has become a profound force in American music and popular culture. Bishop Townsley’s Gospel Jubilee will perform on Saturday, Feb 12 at 8 PM, with a repertoire of African Chants, Negro Spirituals, Jubilee Songs as well as Hip Hop Gospel of today. Bishop Townsley is well known as a Pioneer of Contemporary Gospel, and yet when vocalist Sylvia Dyson Ruth soulfully leads the group in traditional song, the group is said to offer their audiences “Gospel Music at its best.”
Hailed as "…The heirs apparent to the Celtic mayhem!" [Celtic Beat Magazine], The Tartan Terrors make their Hackettstown premiere on Saturday, March 26 at 8 PM. “The crowd was on their feet for this event at the American Presenters Conference this year,” recalled CSC General Manager, Catherine Rust. Reported to be taking the Celtic scene by storm, the Tartan Terrors feature the best in music,comedy and dance . Bolstered by the “blistering” piping of a Two-Time World Champion Bagpiper, the driving tones of drums from around the world, this group claims standing-room-only audiences, and has compelled Dig This Magazine to declare, "The Terrors are one act to keep an eye on!" For total immersion in all-things-Celtic, for an additional fee concert goers to this event may also elect to join the “Robert Burns Dinner” prior to the concert.
“Your coolness quotient shoots up a few points if you’re in the know about One Ring Zero,” the Washington Post raved about one of Brooklyn auteur Michael Heart’s bands. Hearst is also the brains behind the critically acclaimed album “As Smart as They Are,” featuring lyrics by such literati as Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Dave Eggers and Rick Moody. For the Hackettstown concert, Hearst brings LEMUR (the League of Electronic Mechanical Urban Robots) and a program entitled “Songs for Unusual Creatures” to the Centenary Stage, celebrating some of the lesser-known creatures that roam the planet. With other-worldy accompaniment of the LEMUR, songs for the Australian Bilby, the deep-sea Magnopinna Squid, and the Chinese Giant Salamander are brought to life by a gaggle of bizarre sounds and instruments, including theremin, claviola, stylophone, and musical instrument robots created by musician/engineer Eric Singer. The New Yorker described the experience as “Accordions, organs, theremins, and the occasional brass horn and homemade instrument [combining] to make soundscapes that are both haunting and entertaining.” Hearst was a member of the “house band” for McSweeney’s Publishing House, has toured with The Magnetic Fields, and performed with The Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall. He has appeared on such shows as NPR's Fresh Air and This American Life”, A& E'sBreakfast With The Arts, and NBC's The Today Show. His latest project, “Songs For Ice Cream Trucks” was featured on NBC this spring. “ We scoured this year’s International Presenters Conference for the absolutely best and most exciting events, and Michael Hearst is one of them. This is a ‘must-see’ for any serious musical artist interested in exploring “what’s next” on the musical horizon!” enthused Rust. Hearst and his musical entourage will perform Saturday, April 30th at 8 PM. This event will be complemented by various Earth Day events on the campus of Centenary College on the same weekend.
Several subscription packages are available for the 2010-11 CSC season in the new Lackland Center for the Performing Arts in Hackettstown. Subscribers who take the full 11-event subscription will enjoy the greatest discounts per event, as well as flexibility to exchange tickets for alternate dates for most theatre performances.
Programs at the Centenary Stage Company, a not-for-profit Professional theatre and performing arts series in residence at Centenary College, are made possible in part through the visionary support of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the NJ State Council on the Arts, and CSC members and sponsors. Housing for concert artists for 2010-11 Lackland season is provided through a generous grant from the Residence Inn by Mariott in Mount Olive, NJ. Tickets and information about the 2010-11 season are available online atwww.centenarystageco.org , and at the CSC Box Office at 908-979-0900.
THE CAROL AND DAVID LACKLAND CENTER: Hailed as the most sophisticated performing arts venue in northwest New Jersey, the Lackland Center will include a state-of-the-art 500-seat theatre, a black box experimental theater, a dance studio, as well as the College‟s listener-supported public radio station, WNTI, and CCTV, Centenary‟s Comcast-licensed television studio. Named in honor of Carol Burgess Lackland, A Centenary graduate (Class of 1954), and her husband, David A. Lackland, a Centenary College Trustee, The David and Carol Lackland Center, has been designed to enrich student life and bring new cultural opportunities to northwest New Jersey. ##
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