Tickets on sale for ECU’s annual performing arts series
Sons of Serendip
Tickets for the 5600
6th season of East Carolina University’s S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series are now on sale.
The series is known for bringing classical, pops and dance attractions to eastern North Carolina.
The series opens Oct. 11 with an improvisatory comedic troupe performing “Broadway’s Next H!T Musical.” The performance, a mashup between the Tony Awards and “Whose Line is it Anyway?,” is audience-driven. Audience members place fake song titles into a fish bowl before the show begins. Actors will select titles, improvise a song based on the title, and allow the audience to select the best presentation to win a fake award. In Act II, the troupe transforms the song into a full—fake and improvised—musical.
Fans of the television program “America’s Got Talent” can hear an audience favorite, Sons of Serendip, perform selections from their album “Christmas Beyond the Lights” on Nov. 29. The four musicians met in graduate school, and through a series of serendipitous events, found their way to stages across the nation with their unique instrumentation and soulful treatment of contemporary and pops masterworks.
This season’s marquee attraction is Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the conductor-less 28-member ensemble with 70 recordings and multiple Grammy Awards to its credit. The Jan. 10 program will include Mozart’s last Piano Concerto No. 27, featuring Spanish pianist Javier Perianes.
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
On Jan. 31, the innovative sextet Mélange will ask the audience to select its program. Each guest will receive a numbered program. The musicians use a randomizer to pick an audience member who will then select the next piece to be performed. All of the pieces—transcriptions of classical masterpieces, jazz, tango and musical theatre—are between three and six minutes in duration, so the concert moves quickly and feels like the “shuffle” setting on an iPod.
International Guitar Night will be held Feb. 10. The Youtube sensation Luca Stricagnoli will perform arrangements of heavy metal and rock songs on a three-necked instrument. Sharing the stage will be the French Swing sensation Antoine Boyer, Flamenco master Samuelito and the Turkish fretless guitar master Cenk Erdogan.
The quartet M5: Mexican Brass, known for vibrant performances and showmanship, will perform Feb. 28. The group is considered one of the foremost brass quintets in the world, pairing world-class musicianship with comedic presentation.
On March 14, the dance-theatre troupe Lucky Plush Productions will perform a new work, “Rooming House,” featuring a physically and psychologically complex game of “whodunit” and stories of people whose actions resulted in potentially devastating consequences.
The series features one added attraction, VOCES8, an a cappella ensemble from Britain. The Nov. 15 program ranges from early work, including polyphony, and runs through the contemporary, such as Van Morrison’s “Moondance.” The performance will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Greenville.
Melange
All other performances will be held in ECU’s Wright Auditorium. Individual tickets, season passes and Pick-5 subscriptions and parking credentials are available now. Visit www.ecu.edu/srapas or call ECU Arts at 252-737-5444.
Individuals requesting accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) should contact the Department for Disability Support Services at least 48 hours prior to the event at 252-737-1016 (voice/TTY).
At a glance
All performances will be held at 8 p.m. in Wright Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Individual tickets are $15-$55.
Broadway’s Next H!T Musical, Oct. 11
VOCES8 (added attraction), Nov. 15, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Sons of Serendip, Nov. 29
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jan. 10
Mélange, Jan. 31
International Guitar Night, Feb. 10, matinee performance only, at 4 p.m.
M5: Mexican Brass, Feb. 28
Lucky Plush Productions, March 14
International Guitar Night
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Contact: Michael Crane, CRANEMI@ecu.edu, 252-328-5386