Upcoming Purchase Season Promises Many Great Performances

World-class musicians, dancers, actors and other performing artists star in the Purchase College Performing Arts Center 2008-09 program, recently announced by Laura Kaminsky, Interim Director and Dean of the Conservatory of Music. Many artists and companies are returning; three new series will be offered.
The 31st season opens September 27 with opera superstar Denyce Graves, performing with pianist Brian Zeger. Here are some of the other season highlights.
Dance - One series includes repeat visits from two widely appreciated groups: the Paul Taylor Dance Company and Pilobolus. Additionally, Inbal Pinto Dance Company, combining modern, ballet, mime and acrobatics and the Batsheva Dance Company, co-founded by Martha Graham, come from Israel. The Shen Wei Dance Arts combines dance, theatre, Chinese opera, painting and sculpture. Another series offers tap dancer Savion Glover's “Bare Soundz”, “Tango Fire” from Argentina's tango company, Estampas Porteñas, and the Soweto Gospel Choir.
Classical Music - Orchestras featured next season will be Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and National Philharmonic of Russia. The Great Performances Series will include pianist Garrick Ohlsson, followed by violinist Hilary Hahn, and then cellist Lynn Harrell.
New to the schedule: a Wednesday chamber music series including the Claremont Trio, and “Exquisite Encounters” with three classical groups from Europe, including Britain's Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. “To celebrate the December holiday season, The Recital Hall will be the site of a performance of Brandenburg All-Stars, featuring some of New York's finest musical talents,” Kaminsky added.
Jazz – The Christian McBride Band, the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra performing selections from Duke Ellington's “Nutcracker Suite” for the holiday season, McCoy Tyner, and the Maria Schneider Orchestra fill out the bill.
Theater - Shakespeare & Company’s (Lenox, Mass.) first national tour checks in with its new production of “Hamlet”. The Aquila Theatre Company presents Homer's epic “Iliad”. During its two-day engagement, The Acting Company presents “The Spy”, based on James Fenimore Cooper's classic novel, and “King Henry V” (in association with Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater).
Great Conversations  - Isaiah Sheffer of WNYC Radio’s “Selected Shorts” hosts this new four-part series. He’ll interview actress Frances Sternhagen, author and Pulitzer Prize winner Frank McCourt, and dancer/choreographers Jacques D'Amboise and Carmen de Lavallade.
Kids Time - The five shows for young audiences are: singer/songwriter Tom Chapin & Friends, Michael Cooper, a one-man extravaganza with stories and madcap physical repertoire, “The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley”, “The Phantom Tollbooth”, and “Addy: An American Girl Story”.
Subscription renewals are underway, with new subscription sales beginning June 2. Tickets for individual events go on sale in September. A wider choice of subscription options and a “create-your-own” option that provides cost savings over single ticket prices, are available this year.     
For more information and to buy tickets, call 251-6200 or visit www.artscenter.org. The Performing Arts Center is located on the campus of Purchase College, 735 Anderson Hill Road.

– Arthur Stampleman