New venues attracting new acts to North Central College
With three new performance venues on campus, North Central College's fine arts lineup is bigger than ever this year.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, country singer Clint Black, jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, violinist Rachel Barton Pine and Tony Award winner Patti LuPone are among the performers who will take the stage at the college in Naperville.
Brian Lynch, the college's fine arts director, said he was aiming for a variety of performers with an emphasis on Chicago artists.
"I wanted to feature the best of the best of Chicago and bring them to the suburbs and let Naperville know we can have that same quality of Chicago here," he said.
Musicians, dancers, actors and artists will have brand new venues at the college where they can perform their craft.
North Central's $29.2 million Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave., is scheduled to open in September. It will include the 605-seat Wentz Concert Hall and 150-seat Bartley and Maricela Madden Theatre along with the new Schoenherr Art Gallery.
Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., also has been renovated and features a new 240-seat theater with a thrust stage allowing visitors a close-up view of the action.
Lynch said the new facility helped in signing big performers this year when he attended a booking convention.
"They were catching onto the excitement," he said. "This is a new world-class venue close to a major metropolitan area in an underserved population and they were going to be invited to be some of the first to perform here."
For a full schedule and ticket information, visit www.northcentralcollege.edu/show or call (630) 637-7469.
North Central College highlights
• Clint Black, 8 p.m. Sept 20, Pfeiffer Hall
• "Celebration of Peace Through the Arts," 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2, Meiley-Swallow Hall
• Collected works of Chicago painter Nancy Rosen, Oct. 12-Nov. 14, The Gallery of Oesterle Library
• "Bare Soundz" featuring Savion Glover, 8 p.m. Nov. 11, Pfeiffer Hall
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 8 p.m. Nov. 15, Wentz Concert Hall
• Kurt Elling, 8 p.m. Jan. 23, 2009, Wentz Concert Hall
• "Our Town," presented by North Central College Theatre, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 12-14, 2 p.m. Feb. 15, Meiley-Swallow Hall
• Rachel Barton Pine, 2 p.m. March 29, Wentz Concert Hall
• Patti LuPone, 8 p.m. April 25, Pfeiffer Hall