Our 30th Anniversary Season is nearing its close and Saturday, April 14 marked the final in-house performance with Grammy Award-winning musical collective the Silkroad Ensemble. Silkroad redefines classical music through the presentation and celebration of artists from different nationalities and musical traditions. The group is comprised of  over three dozen musicians representing countries like Korea, Kazakhstan, China, and the United States. On Saturday we were introduced to ten ensemble members who performed with instruments unique to their cultures including the Spanish bagpipe, the pipa, the violin, the piano, and the gong. Listing all of these instruments as a part of one […]

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Classical music is a Weis Center specialty. Our architecturally striking and acoustically excellent performance hall suits the intricacies of the genre very well and the Weis Center was able to showcase this the evening of March 22 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba. The performance featured Yekwon Sunwoo, renown South Korean pianist and gold medalist of the 15th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Sunwoo also graduated from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music and, interestingly enough, performed in the Atrium Lobby of the Weis Center back in 2014. The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba is one of the oldest and […]

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The Weis Center is no stranger to hosting talented vocal performance groups. Artists representing diverse cultures and vocal styles have graced our stage over the years and while Thursday’s March 1 Lorelei Ensemble performance may fall in the “vocal group” category, the transcendent vocal magic created by the ladies of Lorelei belongs in a category of its own. Lorelei consists of nine all-professional female vocalists whose individual talents and experiences help to define the groups’ sound. Established in 2007 in Boston, Lorelei performs under the direction of artistic director and founder Beth Willer and has commissioned and premiered an impressive […]

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Music fans young and old were in for a treat Saturday evening Feb. 3 when globalFEST On The Road made its stop in Lewisburg. globalFEST is a nonprofit musical venture that puts on an annual New York City festival highlighting acclaimed artists of various genres from around the world. Formally titled globalFEST On the Road: The Golden Age of Latin Music, this winter 2018 leg is a curated touring program based off of that very festival and showcases artists Orkesta Mendoza and Las Cafeteras, coheadliners that evening, as well as Mariachi Flor De Toaloache, who rocked the Weis Center this past […]

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What a way to welcome the holiday season! Grammy-winning, all-women, African American a capella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock returned to the Weis Center (they performed in 1992) for a December 1 performance that had everyone “Celebrating the Holydays.” Founded in 1973, and with a few member changes over its forty years, Sweet Honey in the Rock has a mission to educate, entertain, and empower through powerful a capella vocal dynamics and American Sign Language. The current lineup consists of vocalists Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil and Shirley Childress, an American Sign Language Interpreter who has […]

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It is very rare to witness a multitude of moving artistic parts come together so ingeniously in the name of creating one body of work. This is just what occurred at the Weis Center on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 9 with an exquisite performance of a piece entitled the “The Blue Hour” by A Far Cry string orchestra and vocals from Brazilian jazz singer Luciana Souza. The piece was a creative collaboration that came to fruition from the works of five notable female composers – Rachel Grimes, Angélica Negrón, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw and Sarah Kirkland Snider – and featured […]

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We welcomed the first dance performance of our 30th anniversary season Thursday, October 12 with a dazzling production by the Alonzo King LINES Ballet company. The San Francisco contemporary ballet company boasts dancers that move with such fluidity across the stage that one number seamlessly blends into the next. The show consisted of two acts that each contained one extended piece choreographed solely by King. The first piece, entitled Biophony, was an exceptional and unique collaboration between King, soundscape artist Bernie Krause, and composer Richard Blackford. The audio played during the piece was from Krause’s recording of various ecosystems and creatures from […]

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It was a memorable evening of colorful music and dancing as Latin Grammy nominees Mariachi Flor De Toloache captivated the Weis Center audience with their fresh and unique take on traditional Mexican Mariachi music. The five piece ensemble, along with a vibrant female dancer, took the stage with their instruments in traditional Mariachi garb to perform their very untraditional take on the music genre. The all-female group upend cultural and ethnic traditions in what can be considered a classically male-dominated style of music. All of the members pride themselves on their diverse cultural backgrounds and represent countries like Cuba, Dominican […]

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In the Weis Center’s second free outdoor performance of the season, audiences were treated to the lively, upbeat, and spiritual music of Charleston, S.C.’s own Ranky Tanky. In a pre-performance talk, the band explained the importance behind their church and family influences and how they work to keep Gullah culture alive. Ranky Tanky certainly has a rock and roll vibe to their performance style, a testament to their playing of modern developed instruments, but it is clear that listeners can hear the ghost of older instruments and sounds reminiscent of early Gullah culture. Ranky Tanky began the performance in the Weis Center […]

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As the Weis Center kicks off its 30th Anniversary season and celebration, we wanted to begin an online celebration of our own by exploring the history and stories behind this historic venue. We thought it best to begin by looking into the events leading up the Center’s inaugural performance on April 4, 1988. The Sigmund and Claire Weis Center for the Performing Arts was constructed between 1985 and early 1988 with a projected total cost of approximately $9.7 million. The bulk of the funds came from a generous trust given by the estate of Claire Weis, mother of former Bucknell chairman of […]

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