Ovations! is IUP’s premier performance series presenting touring artists from around the world. From Broadway tours to the best in jazz and classical music to theater and more, Ovations! presents the best in performing arts and takes you on a journey that will entertain and engage.
Helping to make Ovations! possible and keep tickets affordable are are many sponsors, donors, and partners.
View the Events Calendar for Lively Arts.
April 25, Thursday 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
The world-renowned Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company joins with the Ahn Trio, one of classical music’s most innovative ensembles, and composer Kenji Bunch in this exciting new collaboration that integrates poetry, new music, and original dance. The combination results in a mesmerizing display of sheer aural and visual beauty.
September 23 at 2:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
A family-friendly event that takes this award-winning film of an award-winning Broadway mega-hit to a different and fully participatory level. Come as yourself, or come dressed, tastefully, as your favorite character and have a blast!
October 9 at 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
From one of the top jazz clubs in the world comes this amazing band that will thrill you with new hits, old standards, and iconic jazz tunes. Under the direction of the great drummer Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band will partner with our own Jazz Ensemble for a couple of numbers.
October 23 at 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
One of the funniest and most unique groups out on tour today, this quirky ensemble will get you ROFL (translation: Rolling On the Floor Laughing) as it spins out familiar, popular, and classical tunes in a way never heard before. Their dry and quick humor is matched only by their virtuosic performance on this rapidly resurfacing instrument.
November 13 at 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
These military veterans will inspire you with their story and their music the same way they reached out to millions as a finalist on America’s Got Talent. All having served our country before falling into homelessness, this group found music to be the savior that moved their lives back into focus.
December 10 at 7:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, IUP Performing Arts Center
The entire family will be awed as everyone’s favorite ogre comes to life on stage. Throw in a feisty princess, a chatter-box donkey, a short villain, and an attitude-filled cookie, then surround that with other fairytale misfits and lots of song and dance, and you have a musical spectacular that will thrill any beast.
February 12 at 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, PAC
Before there were pirates in the Caribbean or raiders of the lost ark, there was Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, the mother of all adventure stories. Travel to 1872 and join the eccentric Phileas Fogg as he and his crew race perilously across continents and oceans, circling the world in a race against the clock.
February 21 at 8:00 p.m.; Gorell Recital Hall, second floor of Sutton Hall
One of the world’s leading jazz violinists for the past four decades, John Blake Jr. will bring his quartet and energizing sound to Gorell Recital Hall. As part of the program, Blake will perform a world premiere jazz-treated arrangement of Vivaldi’s “Violin Concerto” with and by IUP’s Stanley Chepaitis.
Back Home Again in Indiana!
March 2 at 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, PAC
One of the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, Renée Fleming returns to her birthplace—Indiana, Pennsylvania—to present a rare recital program. A four-time Grammy winner and the most significant operatic soprano performing in the world today, Ms. Fleming is also an author, educator, director, arts advocate, and spokesperson.
March 13 at 8:00 p.m.; Blue Room, first floor of Sutton Hall
Praised by the New Yorker as “a fresh and vital young participant in what is a golden age of American string quartets,” the Daedalus Quartet has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles. And, for their Indiana performance, they will be joined for one piece by members of the Litton Quartet, IUP’s resident string quartet.
April 4 at 8:00 p.m.; Gorell Recital Hall, second floor of Sutton Hall
Cimarron is the most accomplished llanera group from the plains in Colombia, South America. This seven-piece ensemble, led by harpist and composer Carlos Rojas, has been together for over 20 years performing the world over. The group explores and experiments with their rich heritage, retaining the essence of the music’s South American tradition.
Sunday, April 14, 8:00 p.m.; Fisher Auditorium, Performing Arts Center
The first great rock musical and a milestone in Broadway history, this highly decorated musical is exuberant and unapologetically open as young Americans in the ’60s search for meaning. With a trunk full of now-classic hits, its relevance is undeniable and its energy unbridled. This play contains nudity as well as language and situations to which some audience members may object. It is not recommended for children.
