It’s official! The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s 20th-anniversary 2024/2025 Presenting Series season begins next week.
First announced with a sneak peek this spring, the complete season now features 26 performances. An anniversary festival celebration on Thursday, September 19, 2024, opens a lineup with multiple returning stars from past years.
Why is September 19 significant?
September 19 was the first Presenting Series performance in 2004. Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis was a sellout, including seats behind the stage in the Leighton Concert Hall’s Choral Terrace.
“While we consider September 19 the center’s birthday, I believe I speak for all DPAC staff when I say that this anniversary season is not about us. It’s about the connections, understanding, and collective inspiration built with each instance of welcome since opening in 2004 and particularly since 2020, after which—together—we rekindled the promise of the performing and cinematic arts: celebrating people, our community, and the power of creative expression,” said Executive Director Ted Barron.
Who is coming to DPAC this season?
Other returning artists include the London Philharmonic Orchestra, dance-illusionists MOMIX, Celtic music’s Altan, and South Bend native Nathan Gunn performing with Broadway legend Mandy Patinkin.
Two productions by Actors From The London Stage bring Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Hamlet for multiple-night runs along with The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, a co-production with the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre. Gospel icon Fred Hammond debuts in a concert featuring a community choir. Crowd-pleasers and perennial sellouts, UZIMA! Drum and Dance Company and the A Gammage Solutions’ curated showcase, A Tribute to Motown, return to bring a wealth of local talent into the limelight of the center’s biggest stage.
The season also features several chamber ensembles, organ recitals, and art songs by the Grammy-nominated duo, soprano Laura Strickling and Notre Dame Department of Music Professor of the Practice Daniel Schlosberg on piano.
Senior Associate Director Sean Martin said of curating the season, “We aim to support the range of artistic exploration to unite people across cultures in shared experiences. For this milestone anniversary season, from September’s opening celebration to an arts festival April weekend anchored by Mandy Patinkin to the return of our former ensemble-in-residence, Third Coast Percussion with American composer Jessie Montgomery, we want people to see, hear, and feel art to remember that we are connected.”
The 2024/2025 season schedule is available online, including all artists and performances, dates, and times.
Season ticket options include Director’s Choice, six pre-selected events available through October 16, 2024, and Choose Your Own, requiring a minimum purchase of tickets to three eligible events available through April 5, 2025. Single tickets are on sale now!
September 19 at 5 p.m.
DPAC 20th Anniversary Celebration
Get ready for a micro-festival full of free concerts, dancing, free food trucks and giveaways, and special celebratory moments. Featuring performances by Jerry O’Fonics, DJ Chuck Fry, and Brollision, this night commemorates you in thanks for all the support South Bend has shown DPAC since the center opened in 2004. It’s our 20th birthday party, but you’re the special guests! Bring your boogie shoes and enjoy fun activities until twilight on DPAC’s Terrace and walkways at this all-ages event.
This event is part of the Presenting Series’ Cultural Collective, programming supporting equitable artistic development in our community.
Curated by A Gammage Solutions
