A stellar season

The University of Georgia Performing Arts Center has announced the roster of artists for the 2016-2017 season. “As the Performing Arts Center enters its third decade of performance excellence, we are proud to offer Athens audiences a stellar season of outstanding performers from around the globe,” said George C. Foreman, director of the Performing Arts Center.

The upcoming season will include soprano superstar Renée Fleming, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Romeros Guitar Quartet, the Chieftains, the Capitol Steps, the Ten Tenors, the Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill, Alonzo King LINES Ballet and the Orchestre National de Lyon with Leonard Slatkin conducting.

One very special event will be the Athens premiere of the Mike Mills Concerto. Mills, a founding member of R.E.M., collaborated with acclaimed violinist and Georgia native Robert McDuffie to compose the Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra. Mills and McDuffie will perform the concerto with the Wordless Music Orchestra in Hodgson Concert Hall on Oct. 24.

The UGA Performing Arts Center will continue its partnership with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will perform five concerts during the season, including a December performance of The Messiah with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and a return visit on December 31 for a New Year’s Eve concert. “Last season’s New Year’s Eve concert was a rousing success and we expect this year’s event to be just as popular,” Foreman said.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will perform six concerts on the Franklin College Chamber Music Series, once again establishing UGA as home to the greatest presence for the Chamber Music Society outside of New York City. Throughout the season the musicians of CMS will take audiences on a musical journey to destinations around the world, culminating in America with Aaron Copland’s original 1944 version of Appalachian Spring.

The 2016-2017 season will open Sept. 21 with a performance by the Havana Cuba All-Stars, celebrating a new era in Cuban-American relations with their U.S. debut tour.

Subscription packages are now on sale for the 2016-2017 season with savings up to 23% off single ticket prices. For a free brochure stop by the Performing Arts Center box office or call 706-542-4400 or toll free at 888-289-8497 or visit pac.uga.edu.

Following is the 2016-2017 season of the UGA Performing Arts Center by series:

Masterworks

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Nov. 13)

State Ballet Theatre of Russia – Cinderella (Jan. 13-14)

National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine (Feb. 1)

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields (Mar. 26)

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Apr. 9)

Classics

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (Sept. 25)

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with Atlanta Symphony Chorus – Handel’s Messiah (Dec. 18)

Alonzo King LINES Ballet (Jan. 17)

Orchestre National de Lyon (Feb. 24)

Apollo’s Fire – Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering (Mar. 28)

Masterworks and Classics

Renée Fleming (Feb. 14)

Franklin College Chamber Music Series

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Folk Inspirations – Calidore String Quartet – Payne Memorial Concert (Oct. 2)

Destination Vienna (Nov. 6)

Tutto Italiano (Feb. 26)

French Virtuosity (Mar. 21)

Russian Twilight (Apr. 2)

America! (May 22)

Recitals in Ramsey

City Center Brass Quintet (Oct. 19)

Avi Avital, Mandolin – Kenneth Weiss, Harpsichord (Dec. 4)

Frank Huang, Violin – Gilles Vonsattel, Piano (Jan. 11)

Seong-Jin Cho, Piano (Feb. 17)

Lara St. John, Violin – Matt Herskowitz, Piano (Feb. 28)

International Styles

Havana Cuba All-Stars (Sept. 21)

The Romeros (Nov. 17)

Spanish Brass (Jan. 26)

Dailey & Vincent (Feb. 16)

The Chieftains (Mar. 13)

Show Biz

The Capitol Steps (Sept. 26)

The Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill, Kenny Sears, Ranger Doug Green and Paul Franklin  (Oct. 11)

The Dardanelles (Nov. 7)

Vocalosity (Jan. 30)

The Ten Tenors (Mar. 19)

Special Events

Concerto for Violin, Rock Band and String Orchestra Composed by R.E.M.’s Mike Mills for Robert McDuffie featuring the Wordless Music Orchestra (Oct. 24)

United States Marine Band “The President’s Own” (Oct. 26)

Artrageous (Nov. 16)

State Ballet Theatre of Russia – The Nutcracker in cooperation with the Classic Center (Dec. 17-18)

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra – New Year’s Eve Concert (Dec. 31)