April brings a wide array of events to campus — from musical performances to theatre, including Shakespeare.
Department of Music concerts span jazz, orchestra, band, wind and choral
The Department of Music will present several concerts throughout the month. All performances are in the Stretansky Concert Hall in the Cunningham Center for Music and Art:
- The University Jazz Ensemble will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5. Under the direction of Gail Levinsky, professor of music, the concert will feature the swinging sounds of Glenn Miller to the best of contemporary big band jazz.
- The Symphony Orchestra will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12. Under the direction of Zachary Levi, assistant professor of music, the concert will feature the 2025 Concerto Competition winner along with Felix Mendelssohn’s masterpiece Symphony No. 5 Reformation.
- The Department of Music will present Opera Scenes at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23.
- Susquehanna’s combined choral ensembles, under the direction of Amy Voorhees, associate professor of music, and Amy Caron, adjunct faculty member in music, will present a concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 13.
- The University Band and Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Eric Hinton, chair and professor of music, and guest conductor Omar Thomas, will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26.
Princeton scholar to present lecture
Jill Dolan, former Dean of the College, Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theatre at Princeton University, will present Susquehanna’s Dr. Bruce L. Nary Theatre Guest Artist Lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in the Degenstein Center Theater in the Charles B. Degenstein Campus Center.
Dolan is an expert on contemporary American feminist and queer theatre and performance. She has received several awards for her teaching, and for her criticism and research in theatre and performance studies, women’s and feminist studies, LGBTQ+ studies and American studies. Her eight books include Theatre and Sexuality, Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre, The Feminist Spectator as Critic, and a critical study of the plays of Wendy Wasserstein.
Seavey Reading Series presents Terrance Hayes
Susquehanna’s Seavey Reading Series presents author Terrance Hayes at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, in Issacs Auditorium, Seibert Hall.
Hayes is the author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, winner of the 2019 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and Lighthead, winner of the 2010 National Book Award. His other poetry collections are So to Speak, How to Be Drawn, Wind in a Box, Hip Logic, and Muscular Music. He is also the author of To Float in the Space Between: A Life and Work in Conversation with the Life and Work of Etheridge Knight, winner of the 2019 Poetry Foundation Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism. His honors include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship.
Hayes is a professor of creative writing at New York University.
Artist Series presents Michelle Cann & Imani Winds
Susquehanna’s Artist Series presents Michelle Cann & Imani Winds at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, in Weber Chapel Auditorium.
Lauded as “exquisite” by The Philadelphia Inquirer and “a pianist of sterling artistry” by Gramophone, Cann has become one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. She made her debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2021 and has performed concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore and Cincinnati.
Imani Winds is the 2024 Grammy winner in the classical compendium category for Jeff Scott’s Passion for Bach and Coltrane. The three-time Grammy-nominated ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire and newly commissioned works. They regularly perform in prominent venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Their international presence includes concerts throughout Asia, Australia, Brazil, England, Europe and New Zealand.
Shakespeare Club presents Measure for Measure
Susquehanna’s Shakespeare Club will present Measure for Measure at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25 in the Degenstein Center Theater in the Charles B. Degenstein Campus Center.
First performed in 1604, the play follows Angelo, a strict deputy ruling Vienna in Duke Vincentio’s absence. In disguise, Duke Vincentio observes as Angelo sentences Claudio to death for fornication, only to become infatuated with Claudio’s chaste sister, Isabella, when she begs for her brother’s life.
This annual audience favorite is an energetic large-cast excursion into the work of the Bard, often characterized by whimsical staging and found-objects design.
Theatre stages These Shining Lives
The Department of Theatre will present the play These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 27, in the Degenstein Center Theater in the Charles B. Degenstein Campus Center.
Tickets are $10 for adults, and $8 for seniors and non-SU students.
These Shining Lives chronicles the strength and determination of women considered expendable in their day, exploring their true story and its continued resonance. Catherine and her friends are dying, it’s true; but theirs is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense, as they refuse to allow the company that stole their health to kill their spirits — or endanger the lives of those who come after them.
Ticket information
Tickets can be purchased in person at the Degenstein Center Box Office Monday through Friday while classes are in session, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.; by calling 570-372-ARTS; or online at https://susqu.universitytickets.com/.
