Single-event tickets for the 2014-15 Bluffton University Artist Series go on sale Friday, July 11. This year’s series features sand artist Joe Castillo; the Palace Theatre Big Band; harpist and Findlay, Ohio, native Bridget Kibbey; Cantus, a men’s vocal ensemble; and the Spencers, husband-and-wife illusionists.
Tickets are available on the Web, at http://tickets.bluffton.edu, or by calling 419-358-3239 or emailing [email protected]. Single-event tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for senior citizens and non-Bluffton students, $15 for Bluffton faculty and staff and $10 for children ages 6-13. Children ages 5 and under are admitted free.
Season tickets are also available, at $80 for adults, $70 for senior citizens and non-Bluffton students, and $65 for faculty and staff. A family pass is $55 with the purchase of any season ticket and admits all children in the family ages 6-18.
All performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., and the first four will be in Yoder Recital Hall, starting with Castillo on Sept. 25. A finalist on “America’s Got Talent,” he has developed a new way of telling stories that uses sand art, a light table and music. His experience in advertising—where he spent 20 years—as well as in art led him to become a motivational performing artist. He is a graduate of Florida Bible College and Asbury Theological Seminary.
The Palace Theatre Big Band will be in concert Oct. 23. The Marion, Ohio-based band is dedicated to helping listeners relive the swing-era sounds of such musicians as Glenn Miller, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Including seven current or retired music teachers, the 11-member group is directed by George Schram, also a retired music teacher, and features vocalists Johnny Steiner and Ann Schertzer.
Kibbey will return to her native northwest Ohio for a Nov. 20 performance. The recipient of a 2004 Avery Fisher Career Grant, she won the Concert Artist Guild’s 2007 International Competition and the Classical Recording Foundation’s 2012 Young Artist Award. The Juilliard School graduate—and faculty member—is often featured with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is the founding harpist of the International Contemporary Ensemble and Metropolis Ensemble.
Ringing in 2015 on Jan. 29 will be Cantus, which Fanfare magazine has called the “premier men’s vocal ensemble in the United States.” Working without a conductor, the group’s members rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the artistic process. Cantus has released 15 albums, with music from the Renaissance to today, and has received numerous awards, including Chorus America’s highest honor, the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence.
Founders Hall will be the site for the Spencers’ “Theatre of Illusion” on April 9. In one of the largest such touring productions, Kevin and Cindy Spencer present a high-tech stage show combining drama, comedy, romance and suspense with elaborate illusions and special effects. They were the International Magicians Society’s 2009 International Magicians of the Year, and were named Performing Arts Entertainers of the Year by Arts Presenters for six straight years, from 1995-2000.
