‘Godmother of Soul’ Patti LaBelle headlines 2018-19 Lyceum Series at MSU

Legendary rhythm and blues artist Patti LaBelle is performing Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. as part of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s 2018-19 Lyceum Series. (Photo submitted/by Derek Blanks)

Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Musical treasure Patti LaBelle will fill Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium with her legendary rhythm and blues when she headlines the upcoming season of ��ɫ��Ƶ’s Lyceum Series.

Known as the “Godmother of Soul” and ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the “Top 100 Singers of All Time,” the Grammy Award winner will perform Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Doors open approximately 30 minutes before the curtain rises on all shows scheduled for the 2018-19 Lyceum Series, the university’s long-running performing arts program.

Former lead vocalist for Patti LaBelle and The Bluebelles, the music icon’s classic original songs and her renditions of pop and spiritual standards have created her personal platform of versatility for which she has been known and revered throughout her 50-plus year career. LaBelle’s signature songs “New Attitude” and “On My Own,” a Billboard No. 1 duet with Michael McDonald, are sure to be included in her performance, as are her show-stopping renditions of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and her 1975 original “Lady Marmalade.” First hitting the charts in 1962, she also performed with the genre-bending trio Labelle, and then began a solo career in the 1970s.

A successful entrepreneur known for her best-selling, original recipe Patti’s Good Life sweet potato pie, she’s also an advocate for adoption and finding cures for diabetes, cancer and HIV/AIDS. For more, visit .

Lyceum organizers are offering traditional season-ticket packages, which include admission to LaBelle’s concert. A mini-series ticket option also is available and features guaranteed reserved seating at a discounted rate. Mini-series purchases include attendance to three programs, except LaBelle’s concert for which a separate ticket is required.

For ongoing Lyceum patrons, July 16-20 are the season ticket renewal dates, while July 23-Aug. 3 are dates for new purchases of complete season packets. Mini-series tickets go on sale Aug. 6-17; individual tickets, Aug. 18.

General public season tickets are $165 per person; $150 for MSU employees and senior citizens. Excluding Patti LaBelle’s Nov. 15 performance, general public mini-series tickets are available for $85 and $70 for MSU employees and senior citizens. For LaBelle’s performance, general admission individual tickets for the auditorium’s first balcony are $45; $35 on the second balcony. Reserved seating individual tickets for the auditorium’s first floor front section are $65; $55 for the first floor back section.

Individual tickets for all other Lyceum events are $30 for adults; $25 for MSU employees and senior citizens; and $12 for children age 3-12 or with school I.D./uniform. MSU students with valid student I.D. must purchase tickets to attend LaBelle’s concert, but will be admitted free to all other Lyceum events. Purchases may be made online at . If available, individual tickets may be purchased at the door before each program.

Taking place at 7 p.m. in Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium, additional Lyceum events include:

—Sept. 11, Dallas String Quartet Electric concert featuring a fusion of classical music and modern pop on both traditional and electric strings. An international music sensation, DSQ Electric has continued expanding its passionate following on Pandora, Spotify and Sirius XM radio since the 2016 release of the group’s fourth album “DSQ.” Comprised of composer and violinist Ion Zanca, violinists Eleanor Dunbar and Melissa Priller, bassist Young Heo, guitarist Anthony Plant and percussionist/drummer Efren Guzman, DSQ takes its audience on a journey to the nexus of classical music and modern pop where artists like Beethoven and Bono collide. For more, visit .

—Oct. 16, Trey McLaughlin and The Sounds of Zamar, which has become sought after all over the world for its members’ expressive vocals and fresh adaptations of contemporary gospel, pop and musical theatre hits. In fall 2012, the group released its debut album, “Limitless,” with a second album anticipated for 2018. For more, visit .

—Dec. 5, a holiday show with m-pact. Hailed as “one of the best pop-jazz vocal, A cappella groups in the world” by the San Francisco Chronicle, m-pact is respected worldwide as a cutting-edge trailblazer in the realm of vocal music. Emerging from an age of auto-tune and overproduction, the Los Angeles-based ensemble is celebrating 20 years of music and touring, and has cultivated a new generation of ears hungry for the fresh, raw power of nature’s “first instrument”—the human voice. The group’s albums have been highly praised, winning a variety of a cappella awards, as well as Best Unsigned Band from Billboard Magazine. For more, visit .

—Feb. 5, Aquila Theatre’s innovative production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved and witty comedies. Full of memorable characters including Puck, Oberon, Hermia and Nick Bottom, the famous “play within a play” deals with the universal theme of love. With its signature physical theatre style of expressive movement, combined with music and song and some of today’s most accomplished Shakespearean acting, Aquila Theatre takes audiences to the heart of an enchanted forest while witnessing the injustice of the Athenian court and the political strife of the fairy kingdom. For more, visit .

—Feb. 19, Russian National Ballet’s production of the classic tale, “Cinderella.” Featuring Prokofiev’s symphonic score, the ballet features familiar characters—the wicked step-sisters and fairy godmother—along with the bells chiming at midnight and the lost slipper in a full-length evening of music and dancing sure to enchant audiences of all ages. The Russian National Ballet was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union’s ballet institutions were exercising their newfound creative freedom. They started new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian Ballet, but also to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world. For more, visit .

In addition to six primary performances, the 2018 Lyceum schedule includes a free play presented Sept. 25-26 by students in MSU’s Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College.

As part of an annual Classical Week observance celebrating Greek, Roman and other ancient cultures, Shackouls honors students will deliver their version of “Oedipus,” a Greek tragedy by Sophocles. Staging will begin at 6 p.m. each day in the back courtyard of Griffis Hall, home of the honors college.

For additional MSU Lyceum Series information, contact the Center for Student Activities at 662-325-2930, visit , email lyceum@msstate.edu, and follow on Facebook @MSULyceumSeries and Twitter and Instagram @MSU_Lyceum, using hashtag #MSULyceum. Contributions to the Lyceum Series can be made via the MSU Foundation by contacting Lynn Durr at 662-325-8918.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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