From Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Pictured above: Mariachi Herencia de Mexico.
KU Presents! is back in 2025-26 with a new director, a new website, and an exciting lineup that combines quality with both educational value and audience appeal. The series, held at Kutztown University’s Schaeffer Auditorium, will begin in October and will offer an array of performing arts with something for every age and taste.
Dr. Deborah Justice was hired in March as KU Presents’ new director. She holds a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from Indiana University, Bloomington, and previously spent nearly 10 years managing the Cornell Concert Series at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She booked more than 65 concerts that represented more than 50 musical traditions from all over the world, attracting more than 35,000 ticket holders.
“I’m excited to be back in Central Pennsylvania, where I grew up, and to position KU Presents! as an arts driver that creates social bonds and supports campus and community resilience,” Justice said.
The Performing Artists Series kicks off with the Mariachi Herencia de Mexico on Sunday, Oct. 26. With their distinctive charro suits and large sombreros, mariachi bands — associated with Mexico City and Guadalajara — have a huge following in the United States. The sounds of the trumpets, violins, guitars — including the bass guitarron — and full-throated singing have been heard in films, television, and many venues on both sides of the border, including Chicago, where Mariachi Herencia de Mexico was born and is headquartered.
This new generation of 14 mariachi musicians (ages 18 to 32) debuted their first of five albums, the Latin Grammy-nominated “Nuestra Herencia,” in 2017; “Herederos” was also nominated in 2023. They are noted for innovations such as adding Caribbean percussion and piano, and arranging songs such as the Puerto Rican anthem “Preciosa.” Their latest album is “Viva La Musica.”
The series will continue on Wednesday, Nov. 19, with Voctave, an 11-member a cappella vocal group from Florida. Since their founding in 2015 by vocalist/arranger/producer Jamey Ray, they have thrilled audiences with their exquisite harmonies. Ray’s sophisticated arrangements of popular music are heard in live performances and on 10 albums. These include Disney classics, Broadway hits, Christmas songs, and jazz standards. Ray’s vocal arrangements have been heard on albums by Pentatonix, the King’s Singers, and the Swingle Singers.
The highly praised acoustic Irish band Lunasa, considered one of Ireland’s hottest bands, will perform Friday, Dec. 5. Founded in 1997, Lunasa has followed in the footsteps of renowned innovators such as The Bothy Band and Clannad, creating a style all their own. Their complex and boundary-breaking arrangements have won them a huge audience all over the world. They have sold a quarter of a million records, including their latest, “Live in Kyoto” (2023). Lunasa features uillean piper Cillian Vallely, who has toured with Riverdance and with Bruce Springsteen. Equally virtuosic are bassist Trevor Hutchinson (The Waterboys); flutist Kevin Crawford (Moving Cloud); fiddler Sean Smyth (Coolfin); fiddler Colin Farrell (Project West, Grada); and guitarist Ed Boyd (UK folk band Flook).
The Pacifica Quartet (Feb. 12) will celebrate America’s 250th birthday year by performing three works that create a musical collage based on themes from the American experience. Works by Charles Ives, Erich Korngold, and Antonín Dvořák will reflect American hymn tunes, folk music, and Hollywood film scores. Founded in 1994 by violinist Simin Ganatra and cellist Brandon Vamos, the quartet is a multiple Grammy-winner and highly respected touring quartet, as well as quartet-in-residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. Having won all the top chamber music awards, they are considered one of the country’s finest string quartets. They are known for their performances of contemporary American composers, as well as full quartet cycles by Beethoven, Shostakovich, and others. Violist Mark Holloway was a student of the late Guarneri member Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute. Violinist Austin Hartman (who grew up in Lancaster) has diplomas from Juilliard and Yale and music degrees from the New England Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute.
For something completely different, Mnozil Brass (March 2), an Austrian brass septet, will combine virtuoso playing with Monty Python-esque humor in a program of folk, classical, jazz, and pop. Founded in 1992 in the Mnozil Pub in Vienna by graduates of the Vienna College of Music, this group will leave the audience breathless with equal parts awe and laughter.
Broadway star and recording artist Jessica Vosk (April 1) will perform Broadway songs for fans of musical theater, in what has become a tradition for KU Presents! The New Jersey native is best known for her role as Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway from 2018 to 2019, and on the national tour. She also performed on Broadway in “The Bridges of Madison County,” “Finding Neverland,” and the 2015-16 revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Renowned jazz trumpeter, bandleade,r and composer Sean Jones (April 15) will wrap up the series, performing with the Kutztown University Jazz Ensemble I. Jones, appointed by Wynton Marsalis to be the permanent lead trumpeter for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, is chair of Peabody Conservatory and artistic director of Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz Ensemble.
The three shows in the Family Series will not only introduce youngsters to new performing art forms, but will entertain adults as well. The fun will begin with the Bindelstiff Family Cirkus (Sept. 20), which re-creates American circus/vaudeville performances popular circa 1900, including juggling, sword-swallowing, and other feats of derring-do.
The White Buffalo (March 8) will feature Native American artist Delwin Fiddler Jr., telling the Lakota origin myth through song, dance, and storytelling. The Quebec-based Theatre Motus (April 26) will perform “Baobab,” a West African folktale told through music, puppetry, and storytelling.
For complete information on the KU Presents! 2025-26 season and to order tickets, visit www.kutztownpresents.org or call the KU Presents! Box Office, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday, at 610-683-4092.
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Source: bctv
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