With glowing reviews from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and The New Yorker, The Bad Plus was welcomed to the Weis Center by a crowd ready to hear some good jazz on an unseasonably warm Saturday evening. The jazz trio based in New York City includes a delightful mix of piano from Ethan Iverson, bass guitar from Reid Anderson, and drums from Dave King. The group began by playing several original songs. Some were melodic and piano heavy while others highlighted rhythm from the drums. Some of the most surprising yet enjoyable moments of the evening occurred in between […]

How much do you know about the Weis Center? Sure, it’s a beautiful space. The Atrium Lobby’s winding staircase and the theater’s high ceilings, wood paneling, and signature light fixtures are immediately recognizable to any student, staff, faculty or alumnus. It’s ranked as one of the country’s most beautiful university performing arts centers for a reason. However, when you dig a little deeper, there are many facts and eccentricities that make the Weis Center even more unique. Here are a few did you know?’s about Bucknell’s home for all things performing arts. The center has a “shoe box” shape. With […]

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I attended Roomful of Teeth’s performance at the Weis Center on Tuesday, Nov. 15th.  However, I was surprised and enlightened throughout the performance. Tuesday’s performance was filled with all kinds of sounds—some harmonious; some cacophonous; some beautiful; some unsettling. Through their skills in various singing techniques, the performers created sounds that redefine the traditional description of music. Each member of the group offered a unique skill or technique, such as Dashon Burton’s deep, powerful bass sounds and Caroline Shaw’s beautiful, melodious notes. When performed together, these different sounds blended together to create music […]

The GRAMMY award winning vocal performance group, Roomful of Teeth, isn’t your typical music group by any means. Through a mix of sounds from many different cultures, such as Tuvan throat singing, yodeling, belting, Inuit throat singing, Korean P’ansori, Georgian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, Hindustani music and Persian classical singing, the group has created a unique sound experience. The group’s nine members, including Williamsport, PA native Dashon Burton, will perform at the Weis Center on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m. If you’re interested in learning more about Roomful of Teeth’s unique style, make sure to arrive early for a […]

On Friday, October 14th, audiences will be able to enjoy a unique performance of opera like they’ve never seen it before, through Annie J. Randall and Paul J. Botelho’s new work, Proserpina: Two One-Act Operas. This project began when Randall, a professor of music at Bucknell, began restoring Goethe’s original composition of Proserpina through a process called transcription in order to make the work usable for today’s musicians. This will be the piece’s North American debut and its first performance since 1778 since it was thought to be lost until recently when Randall recovered the piece from the Darmstadt University […]

Merima Ključo and Miroslav Tadić filled the Weis Center Atrium Lobby with a blend of traditional Balkan and classical music on Wednesday night.  Ključo is from Bosnia and Tadić is native to Yugoslavia, so they were each able to bring their own personal background to the performance. Their duo performance, entitled Aritmia, allowed the instrumentalists to showcase their far reaching talents, performing a variety of songs from different cultures. Perhaps the most interesting element of the performance was the duo’s use of improvisation while playing traditional pieces.  Both Ključo and Tadić interjected at various points in the concert to give the audience more information about […]

What better way to kickoff Bucknell’s Coal Collections: Local, National and International Stories series than a night of Americana and bluegrass music? The year-long series, sponsored by the Weis Center and the Place Studies program of the Bucknell Center for Sustainability and the Environment will feature musical performances, film screenings, lectures and art exhibits throughout the academic year in order to share the rich history of Pennsylvania’s coal region with the community. On Thursday, September 22nd, the Coal Town Rounders and Van Wagner played to an enthusiastic crowd at the Weis Center for the opening event of the Coal Collections […]

Rajab Suleiman and Kithara rocked the Weis Center lobby on Friday night, playing to a captivated audience of all ages. Students, faculty, staff and community members filled every seat in the house, although the music brought much of the crowd to its feet, since the band encouraged dancing throughout the performance. Professor of history and international relations Dr. Cymone Fourshey, who introduced the band, taught the audience how to say, “welcome to Lewisburg” in Swahili. The group played taarab music, a style native to Zanzibar. Known for its rhythm and melody, this style of music features a variety of stringed instruments, […]

The 2016-17 season at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts at Bucknell University features 35 events from across the United States and around the world and includes Americana/folk, classical, jazz, world music, dance, a Family Discovery Series and much more. Six performances are free. The season will kick-off on Friday, August 26 at 6 p.m. with a free outdoor concert on the Weis Center Plaza by Washington, D.C.-based Americana group, The Bumper Jacksons. A second free outdoor concert will be offered on Friday, September 9 at 6 p.m. on the Weis Center Plaza by a world music ensemble from […]

Dear Friends, Welcome to the 2016-17 season at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts. We are thrilled to offer you the opportunity to engage with some of the most vibrant, ground-breaking and compelling artists of our time. We believe that art is for everyone, and we’re dedicated to creating life-changing experiences that celebrate our humanity and our capacity for artistic and creative expression. Whether it’s the timeless and angelic voice of Judy Collins, the fiery footwork of Lizt Alfonso Dance Cuba, the haunting harmonies of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, the prolific power pop sensibility of The Bad Plus […]