The Office of the Arts at Georgia Tech announces its 2014-15 Ferst Center Presents performance season, featuring one of the city’s most diverse line-ups with audience favorites from around the globe.

The 23rd season is filled with contemporary dance, jazz, other music genres and unique artist residency programs. The season maintains the tradition of presenting popular performances while also introducing new artists to the Atlanta community.  In addition to the regular performance series, the season features three free concerts and artist residency programs that deepen the arts experience with constituent audiences including local artists, Georgia Tech students and  K-12 students at Drew Charter School, Centennial Place Elementary and Grady High School.

In selecting the season, Office of the Arts Interim Director Dedra Gillett states: “For me, the new season is all about bringing in new audiences while serving our existing, long-time patrons. So while audiences will see some new artists grace the Ferst Center stage, the music and dance that we are well known for will still be there.”

Special 2014-15 five-show ticket packages – at a 15 percent discount off individual ticket prices – are now on sale and may be ordered from the Ferst Center Box Office at 404-894-9600. Single tickets go on sale on August 12 and Georgia Tech student tickets go on sale at the Arts Open House on September 11. Information can also be found at www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu.

The 2014-15 Season, listed by genre, includes:**

Jazz:  Robert Glasper Experiment, Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Allen Toussaint, A Charlie

Brown Christmas with David Benoit, Diane Schuur, Earl Klugh: "Jazz and the Movies"

Theatre and Dance:  H.M.S. Pinafore by New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players, Kyle Abraham / Abraham.In.Motion, Jonah Bokaer

More Music:  A Rockapella Christmas, Arlo Guthrie, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Jake Shimabukuro

Fun:  National Acrobats of China, Mummenschanz

Free Concert Series: Montana Skies, Sybarite5, The Honeycutters

Residency Programs:  Georgia Tech and Young Guru present The Atlanta Sound Project with audio engineer Finis “KY” White, Crowd Source with Jonah Bokaer, HandPicked with Earl Klugh

The 2014-15 Ferst Center Presents Season, listed by date, includes:** 

H.M.S. Pinafore by New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players
Friday, September 12 at 8 p.m.

Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore is setting sail in this faithful production – complete with live orchestra and full sets – by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. The story finds the captain's daughter in love with an ordinary sailor, but her father has a more sophisticated suitor in mind. Gilbert and Sullivan's first blockbuster is among the most crowd-pleasing comic musicals in history.

Robert Glasper Experiment
Friday, September 26 at 8 p.m.

American jazz pianist and record producer Robert Glasper won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album in 2013 for Black Radio, in which he explores fusions of jazz and hip hop.  He performs with drummer Mark Colenburg, saxophonist/vocalist Casey Benjamin and bassist Derrick Hodge as an electronic act that defies genre norms from any single discipline.

National Acrobats of China
Sunday, October 12 at 5 p.m.

The National Acrobats of The People’s Republic of China delivers an eye-popping spectacle with its awesome array of acrobats, contortionists, martial artists, drummers and dancers. Using bicycles, tables, chairs, poles and ladders, this unforgettable troupe thrills audiences of all ages with their dazzling showmanship.

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Allen Toussaint
Friday, November 7 at 8 p.m.

New Orleans music icon Allen Toussaint joins forces with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for an evening of legendary music making.  Named after the music venue located in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter, the band has traveled worldwide spreading their mission to nurture the art form of New Orleans Jazz.

Kyle Abraham / Abraham.In.Motion
Friday, November 14 at 8 p.m.
MacArthur Fellow and Bessie Award-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham makes his Ferst debut with his new work Pavement. The stage transforms into the abstract metaphor of a basketball court suspended in time and place in this penetrating look at African-American history and culture.

A Charlie Brown Christmas with David Benoit
Friday, December 5 at 8 p.m.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…and what better way to get into the holiday spirit than by enjoying the classic Vince Guaraldi Christmas tunes performed by David Benoit, one of the greatest contemporary jazz pianists.

A Rockapella Christmas
Friday, December 12 at 8 p.m.

Rockapella shares holiday joy with stunning, world-class voices. The group has taken the genre of a cappella music to a new level - Rockapella's astonishing full-band sound seems to be impossible coming from just five guys with microphones.

Diane Schuur
Friday, January 30 at 8 p.m.
In a recording career that spans three decades – and includes two Grammy Awards – jazz vocalist and pianist Diane Schuur has explored nearly every corner of the 20th century American musical landscape, and on her new recording she pays tribute to Frank Sinatra and Stan Getz.

Arlo Guthrie
Saturday, January 31 at 8 p.m.

For the first time in a decade, folk icon Arlo Guthrie brings to the stage the entire blues song Alice’s Restaurant Massacree in honor of its 40th anniversary, along with many favorites from Guthrie’s song catalog. As a singer, songwriter and lifelong political activist, Guthrie carries on the legacy of his legendary father, Woody Guthrie.

Mummenschanz
Sunday, February 15 at 5 p.m.
Inspiring, captivating and playful, the performers of Mummenschanz create a magical world of possibilities, all without uttering a word. The troupe’s inventive use of forms, shadow, light and the creative manipulation of sculptural, expressive masks result in a visually stunning spectacle of visual theatre that has entertained audiences of all ages for more than 40 years.

Jonah Bokaer
Friday, Feb 20 at 8 p.m.

Jonah Bokaer has cultivated a new form of choreography whose structural supports rely on visual art and design to transform public viewing and understanding of dance. His dance company returns to the Ferst Center in this full evening of performance featuring the pieces “Why Patterns” and “Recess.” 

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy
Saturday, March 7 at 8 p.m.

Two of the world’s most celebrated fiddlers, this married couple is a whirlwind of Celtic music, dance and song.  Versatile and exciting on both the folk and Celtic music scenes, their performances are delivered with an uplifting energy felt by the musicians and audiences.

Jake Shimabukuro
Saturday, March 28 at 8 p.m.

Jake Shimabukuro has redefined what it means to play the ukulele and returns to the Ferst Center for another amazing show. Renowned for his lightning-fast fingers and revolutionary technique, this young virtuoso is a genre-demolishing artist who plays jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco and rock.

Earl Klugh
Saturday, April 18 at 8 p.m.

Grammy-winning jazz guitarist Earl Klugh treats us to one of his favorite subjects, “Jazz and the Movies,” exploring the music that Klugh has performed, recorded and enjoyed in movie soundtracks.  Solo, trio, full band performances and more will be featured in the concert exploring Klugh’s passion for film and its music, which will conclude the second year of his three-year collaboration with Georgia Tech.

Free Concert Series:
Montana Skies
Thursday, September 11 at 12 noon, Amphitheatre
This guitar and cello fusion duo performs eclectic styles combining elements of classical technique, jazz improv and the power and energy of rock n' roll.

Sybarite5
Thursday, October 9 at 7 p.m., Ferst Center Stage
Sybarite5 is a classically trained string quintet whose dynamic onstage style and contemporary set list engages the senses and redefines the rules of chamber music performance. An Atlanta Premiere.

The Honeycutters
Thursday, April 2 at 12 noon, Amphitheatre

The Honeycutters are an original country roots band from Asheville, NC. Organically grown around the songs of lead singer Amanda Anne Platt, the band has gained an audience that has stretched far beyond their mountain home.

Artist Residency Programs:
The Atlanta Sound Project – Georgia Tech and legendary audio engineer Young Guru present The Atlanta Sound Project by recording and sound engineer Finis White, known as KY. The project, described as “for Atlanta, by Atlanta” considers how different ambient sounds from different neighborhoods would fit in their own unique genre of music, and asks the question “What does the culture of a place sound like?” 

Crowd Source - Choreographer and digital media artist Jonah Bokaer continues his two-year residency exploring and engaging the campus and community in the development and testing of a new smart phone app that maps crowd movement as inspiration for the artist, and information and engagement for the audience. The project is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

HandPicked - Grammy-winning jazz artist and Atlanta resident Earl Klugh is in the second year of a three-year residency in which he explores a hand-picked arc of jazz music. Throughout this time Klugh will work with K-12 partner schools and Georgia Tech music students, in addition to presenting a concert each season. Selected students will participate in professional on-stage experiences with his group. 

Keep up with performance and residency activities all year online at www.ferstcenter.org and on Facebook.

**All programs subject to change. 

Located on the Georgia Tech campus in midtown Atlanta
349 Ferst Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0468
Ferst Center Box Office 404-894-9600
www.ferstcenter.gatech.edu

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About the Georgia Tech Office of the Arts

The Office of the Arts is a leader for the Georgia Tech community in the exploration of the arts by advocating, promoting and facilitating arts partnerships that enhance the campus arts experience, providing provocative fine arts choices on campus and creating a bridge to the larger Atlanta community. The Ferst Center Presents artist series, the major public program of the office, is dedicated to bringing world class performances and artist residency programs to the Georgia Tech campus that will enhance the total learning experience of the Georgia Tech student body, serve as a bridge to the surrounding Atlanta community and engage artists in a way that is uniquely Georgia Tech. Funding for the series is provided in part by contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. Major corporate support is provided by the Coca-Cola Company and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For information call 404-894-2787 or visit www.ferstcenter.org.