Following a historic year of isolation, racial reckoning, fear, and love, Complexions Contemporary Ballet returns to the Staller Center with pieces of dance that dive into the layers of this time. Under the artistic direction of Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson, this “game-changing” ( The Guardian ) company redefines the medium of contemporary ballet.  This never-before combined program includes WOKE, inspired by recent headlines, employs the music of Kendrick Lamar, Logic , Drake and others to convey a message of social consciousness, and  LOVE ROCKS, set to the music of Lenny Kravitz.

Inventive, emotionally satisfying and just plain joyful, the dancers of Complexions are utterly transfixing.

-Billboard Magazine

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Saturday, April 9, 2022 7pm 

Recital Hall

The Queen’s Cartoonists play music from both classic cartoons and contemporary animation. Their performances are synchronized to video projections of the original films, and the band leads the audience through a world of virtuosic musicianship, multi-instrumental mayhem, and comedy. Behind the project is the goal of presenting a concert for everybody - regardless of age, gender, or familiarity with the concert hall. Expect the unexpected from repertoire that includes the Golden Age of animation, cult cartoon classics, and modern animation, up close and personal in the Staller Center's intimate Recital Hall!

"A tour-de-force of the Swing Era’s zaniest and most creative music, written and or adapted for classic cartoons."

Wednesday, April 13, 2022 7pm 

Recital Hall

The Emerson String Quartet has maintained its status as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles for more than four decades. “With musicians like this,” wrote a reviewer for The Times (London), “there must be some hope for humanity.” The Quartet has made more than 30 acclaimed recordings, and has been honored with nine GRAMMYs® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year” award. The Quartet collaborates with some of today’s most esteemed composers to premiere new works, keeping the string quartet form alive and relevant. 

P rogram featuring Haydn: Seven Last Words of Christ and Beethoven: op. 132.

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Thursday, April 21, 2022 7pm 

Recital Hall

Hailed "Queen of the Flute" (New York Magazine) at the outset of her now brilliant 50-year career, flutist Carol Wincenc delights audiences with her signature charismatic, high virtuosity and deeply heartfelt musicality.   A proud member of the both the Stony Brook University and The Juilliard School faculty, she has mentored and graduated countless flute stars.  Carol has appeared as soloist with major symphonies, and performed with Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma.

"Virtuosity on this order of magnitude is remarkable." -Newark Star Ledger

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Friday, April 22, 2022 8pm 

Main Stage

David Sedaris is one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. He is a master of satire and one of today’s most observant writers. While beloved for his personal essays and short stories, Sedaris has also been nominated for five Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. There are over 16 million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 32 languages. In March 2019 he was elected as a member into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2020 the New York Public Library voted Me Talk Pretty One Day one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years.

Sedaris’s droll assessment of the mundane and the eccentrics who inhabit the world’s crevices make him one of the greatest humorists writing today.

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Saturday, May 7, 2022 8pm 

Main Stage

Tracing the evolution of Doo Wop from the classic sound of five guys singing tight harmonies on a street corner to the biggest hits on the radio today, The Doo Wop Project takes audiences on a journey from foundational tunes of groups like the Crests, Belmonts and Flamingos through their influences on the sounds of Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, and The Four Seasons all the way to DooWopified versions of modern musicians like Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz and Maroon 5. Featuring stars of Broadway’s smash hits Jersey Boys and Motown: The Musical , expect the collected talent of The Doo Wop Project to knocks your socks off.

"The Doo Wop Project brings unparalleled authenticity of sound and vocal excellence to recreate—and in some cases entirely reimagine—some of the greatest music in American pop and rock history!"