As the winner of NBC’s hit show Phenomenon, a finalist on America’s Got Talent, and a featured magician on Penn & Teller’s: Fool Us, Mike Super is the only magician in history to win a live magic competition on primetime U.S. network TV and be voted America’s Favorite Mystifier. Enjoy this family-friendly performance filled with illusions, intrigue, danger, anticipation, and excitement! 

Described by the Chicago Reader as a “cult classic,” “a late-night concoction,” and “a combination of audience-participation quiz show and neo-vaudeville showcase, Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blindgives the term ‘interactive’ a whole new spin.” Join us for this ensemble-driven delight directed and produced by JMU students. Contains adult content and langage.

Sphinx Virtuosi is the nation’s most dynamic, exhilarating self-conducted professional chamber orchestra comprised of eighteen of the nation’s top Black and Latinx classical soloists. “True to their name, the Sphinx Virtuosi call up…immeasurable power, unwavering command, and soulful beauty” (The Washington Post) through artistic excellence and pioneering programming.  Their sell-out performances at venues like Carnegie Hall have garnered high praise.

This engagement of Sphinx Virtuosi is made possible through the ArtsCONNECT program of Mid Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.https://www.midatlanticarts.org/

Bassist Jeremy Kurtz-Harris has a diverse musical background that includes solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. He has been the Principal Bassist of the San Diego Symphony since 2004 and has also been Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. During the 2015-16 Season, Kurtz-Harris performed with the San Francisco Symphony as Acting Associate Principal Bass. 

David Teie is one of a third generation of musicians. He studied cello with Stephen Kates and Berl Senofsky at the Peabody Conservatory, where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and the Wertheimer award for cellists. He also studied with William Pleeth in London on a Fulbright scholarship. He joined the National Symphony in 1984 and has since played 19 concerto performances with the NSO, 12 of them with Music Director Mstislav Rostropovich conducting, including performances on three U.S. tours.

Teresa Ling, violin, has performed at Garth Newel Music Center since 1998 and serves as resident violinist and co-artistic director. She has served on the faculties of the Washington Conservatory, University of the Pacific, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, University of South Dakota, and Augustana (South Dakota), Northwestern (Iowa) and Dordt Colleges, and has been a member of the Dakota String Quartet, Mariposa Piano Trio, and the Aurelian Trio. Violinist Wanchi's CDs have been excellently reviewed noting “her incisive technique and an exceptionally rich and beautiful tone." (Phil's Classical Reviews, Audio Video Club of Atlanta) She is an active performer in chamber music, solo recitals, and as a soloist with orchestras throughout North America and Asia. 

This performance is sold out.  If you would like to be added to the waiting list, please call the box office at (540) 568-7000.  You will be contacted if tickets become available. 

DRUM TAO is an international phenomenon that has reached over 9 million spectators featuring the world’s top taiko drummers! While honoring the ancient Japanese art form, they embark on an astonishing rhythmic adventure performing incredible feats on a variety of drums (some weighing up to 3 tons) and other instruments including marimba, flute, and harp.

Eric Guinivan’s music has been performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia and has received notable honors from BMI, ASCAP, Chamber Music America, the Theodore Presser Foundation, and Meet the Composer. A Grammy-nominated percussionist, Guinivan was a founding member of the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet.  He holds degrees holds degrees from University of Southern California and Indiana University and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Composition at James Madison University. 

American hornist David Byrd-Marrow is the solo horn of the International Contemporary Ensemble, a new music collective that performs internationally and serves as ensemble-in-residence at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival. Working with a uniquely wide range of performers, he has premiered works by Matthias Pintscher, Arthur Kampela, George Lewis, Tyshawn Sorey, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Du Yun, Marcos Balter, Wang Lu, Kate Soper, Miguel Zenón and Chick Corea. 

Steinway Artist Eric Ruple enjoys an active career as a solo and chamber musician, including several performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Steinway Hall in New York, and he is also pianist for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, including principal keyboard role in the ongoing “Harry Potter Live” concerts.

Clarinetist Sarunas Jankauskas joined JMU faculty in 2016. His performance engagements have taken him through Europe, Canada and across the US, while participating at the International Conservatory Week Festival, Musicalis Daunia, SoundSpace at Blanton, Chamber Music at the Barn, ICA ClarinetFests® and various new music events. His commissioning project Duos will culminate as a music album in 2020. Pianist Paulo Steinberg has performed as a soloist and as a collaborative pianist in Brazil, Canada, Iceland, and in the U.S. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Indiana University. Dr. Steinberg often serves as an adjudicator in competitions, and offers master classes, lectures, workshops and performances in the U.S. and abroad. 

Baritone Kevin McMillan has been described as an "outstanding Schubertian" whose "voice of glowing freshness and beauty is at the service of an intelligent, lively and distinctive personality." His performing career has spanned over 25 years with more than 750 concerts, 15 professional recordings, a Grammy award, a Gramophone award and numerous Juno award nominations. Pianist Gabriel Dobner has appeared with some of Europe’s leading singers in major concert venues around the world winning high praise from BBC Music Magazine, Fono Forum and the West German Radio in Cologne, who referred to him as a “master among Lieder pianists.”

Since 2019, saxophone player Chet Doxas has led The Chet Doxas Trio, which features pianist Jacob Sacks and bassist Thomas Morgan. The group highlights his original compositions, and with the absence of drums, evokes a more chamber-like aesthetic. Their debut album, You Can’t Take it With You, was heralded as “a truly personal work of art” by Downbeat Magazine and received a 4-star rating. Doxas is also part of the Brooklyn-based, group, LandLine. He is a Juno nominee and has appeared on over one hundred recordings and released eight albums as a leader and co-leader. He will perform with the JMU Jazz Collective.  

Cellist Carl Donakowski was a prize winner in the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin. His recital performances have aired on WQRS Detroit, WQXR New York and Sudwestfunk Radio Baden-Baden. As a member of the West End Chamber Ensemble, he participated in the National Endowment for the Arts/Chamber Music America Rural Residency Chamber Music Initiative. Pianist Gabriel Dobner has appeared with some of Europe’s leading singers in the major concert venues around the world. His recordings have won high praise from BBC Music Magazine, Fono Forum and the West German Radio in Cologne, who referred to him as a “master among Lieder pianists.”

Flutist Beth Chandler Cahill enjoys a performance career as soloist and chamber musician. Praised for her musical versatility and colorful sound, she has been featured at major venues, universities, and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. In demand as a pedagogue, she is the Professor of Flute at James Madison University and a recipient of both the JMU College of Visual and Performing Arts Distinguished Teacher and Distinguished Service Awards.

Sam Suggs was named New Artist of the Month by Musical America, soon after receiving 1st prize at the 2015 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition, at which he performed many of his own compositions. He was named Concert Artists Guild’s New Music/New Places Fellow at the 2016 CAG International Competition. At the 2017 Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Solo Competition, the jury invented and awarded him a prize for "Extraordinary Creativity." 

Jason Haney's music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Scotia Festival, Music2000 in Cincinnati, the Composers Inc. concert series in San Francisco, Richmond’s ChamberFest, the Staunton Music Festival, and elsewhere throughout the US, as well as in Canada, Europe and Hong Kong, and by groups such as the New Millennium Ensemble, the Chester Quartet, the Sunrise Quartet, Colloquy, and the Indiana University New Music Ensemble. 

Don’t miss this extraordinary dance experience! Boca Tuya is the New York-based dance incubator led by acclaimed choreographer Omar Román De Jesús, a 2023 Baryshnikov Arts Center inaugural fellow at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, a 2022 Princess Grace Award winner and a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography. Román De Jesús has a gift for creating captivating works that reflect his cultural heritage while highlighting rhythmic narratives through classical and contemporary dance forms, driven by an inventive movement vocabulary.