Category: 2016-17 Season

These 2015 Concert Artists Guild Competition winners will perform Franck’s Quintet in F Minor-an urgent work with one emotional height after another.

Discipline in digression may sound counterintuitive, but it’s certainly audible in the driving energy of the Verona String Quartet and the poetic exploration of pianist Daniel Hsu—statement-making musicians who follow expression and emotion wherever they lead. Convocations proudly presents these...

The Broadway revival of this enchanting musical incorporates Bob Fosse-style choreography, a big top set, and high-flying circus acrobatics.

WINNER – BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL! The enchanting musical Pippin will swing into Elliott Hall of Music with a dazzling new production based on the revival originally directed by Diane Paulus (Waitress, Hair, Porgy and Bess). Pippin won four Drama Desk...

The saxophonist and his group surged into the mainstream with David Bowie’s Blackstar. But the jazz world had long known and celebrated the work of McCaslin.

With Jason Lindner, keyboards Nate Wood, bass Mark Guiliana, drums Donny McCaslin and his group surged onto the mainstream’s radar in early 2016 with the surprise release of Blackstar—David Bowie’s brilliant, shape-shifting, and sonically mercurial final album, released just two...

The all-female Norwegian brass ensemble has rewritten the rules in brass repertoire with stylistic explorations of tone, technique, and versatility.

Rewriting centuries’ worth of rules in brass repertoire seems a revolutionary undertaking. But the boundless and boisterous stylistic explorations of tenThing, coupled with impeccable tone, technique, and versatility, have transformed this all-female Norwegian brass ensemble into an international sensation. The...

The 20th anniversary of this timeless celebration of friendship and creativity reminds us to measure our lives with the only thing that truly matters—love.

In 1996, an original rock musical by a little-known composer opened on Broadway…and forever changed the landscape of American theatre. Two decades later, Jonathan Larson’s Rent continues to speak loudly and defiantly to audiences across generations and all over the...

Carrie Hanson from Chicago-based dance company The Seldoms conducted the “Bodies on the Gears” dance workshop at Purdue.

Seventeen Purdue students have had the opportunity to participate in a residency titled “Bodies on the Gears” this week leading up to a public performance in Power Goes with Chicago based dance company, The Seldoms. The dynamic group of student...

The dazzling sights and sounds will take you on a live cinematic journey of India—evoking Bollywood’s rollicking energy and centuries of Indian culture.

A kaleidoscopic, high-energy fusion of film, dance, and music, Taj Express brings the colorful costumes and boisterous beats of Bollywood to life before your eyes. Having entertained billions worldwide for decades, India’s Bollywood film industry is among the most prolific and profitable...

As part of The Seldoms dance company artist residency, Purdue Modern Dance and Ballet classes participated in master class workshops ahead of “Power Goes”.

Purdue Convocations welcomes Chicago based dance company, The Seldoms, to campus this week. On Thursday, February 23, at 7:30 PM in Loeb Playhouse, The Seldoms will be performing Power Goes. As part of their residency, Purdue Modern Dance and Ballet classes...

WHAT I BELIEVE IS ALWAYS TRUE ABOUT POWER IS THAT POWER ALWAYS REVEALS. —Robert Caro, Lyndon Baines Johnson biographer This essay by Michael J. Kramer was originally published by Purdue Convocations in Spring 2016. Lyndon Baines Johnson was an imposing man....

David Bowie’s Blackstar swept all five of its nominations at the 2017 GRAMMYs last night in Los Angeles. Donny McCaslin Quartet performs at Purdue April 6.

David Bowie's Blackstar swept all five of its nominations at the 2017 GRAMMYs last night in Los Angeles. Donny McCaslin, saxophonist on Bowie's final opus, graciously accepted the posthumous awards on behalf of the rocker. Blackstar GRAMMY awards Blackstar, a collaboration...

Program notes for the March 2, 2017 performance: Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 in D minor with guest soloist Nikolai Lugansky.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 (1858) by Johannes Brahms (Hamburg, 1833 – Vienna, 1897) I have always thought that some day, one would be bound suddenly to appear, one called to articulate in ideal form the...

The Chicago-based dance company explores the concept of “power” itself, using former president Lyndon B. Johnson’s policies as an unlikely backdrop.

“Power is where power goes.” These five words were an ethos for Lyndon B. Johnson—one of America’s most contentious presidents but also a champion of progressive change for the public good. Those five words are also a springboard for Power...