John Mark Rafacz, Town&Gown

It’s an almost 7,000-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean and the United States to get from Seoul to State College. But pianist Seong-Jin Cho, who makes his Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State premiere October 28, has taken an even longer route — by way of Poland — to get to his first…

Pianist Ramsey Lewis has appeared at Eisenhower Auditorium three times in the last quarter century. He’s performed in a duo with the great Billy Taylor, been backed by Penn State’s Essence of Joy choir, and shared billing with the legendary Dave Brubeck. When Lewis returns to the university October 13, he’ll be celebrating the…

Life for a teenager is often awkward. In Shadowland, Pilobolus Dance Theater’s newest production, it’s also surreal. Created by Pilobolus dancers and directors in collaboration with Steven Banks, lead writer for the animated TV series SpongeBob SquarePants, Shadowland is an imaginative detour from the traditional coming-of-age story. “Our protagonist is a girl who…

The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State 2016-17 season begins with a set of café doors swinging open on an exhilarating evening in the mythical Wild West. Cirque Éloize (Cirkopolis, iD, Rain) rustles up a mix of theater, music, acrobatics, and emotion in its new production, Saloon. Co-commissioned by the Center for…

The sixth season of the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State’s Classical Music Project features six ensembles, including performances by Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra with Chopin International Piano Competition winner Seong-Jin Cho and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s J.S. Bach: The Circle of Creation. The project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, aims to…