Updates Announced For NJPAC's 2010-11 Season, Debuts 9/22

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center raises the curtain on an exciting, expanded 2010-11 season on September 22, 2010 when classical piano superstar Lang Lang returns to NJPAC's PrudentiAl Hall stage, which has been dubbed one of his favorite places in the world to play, as a soloist on two works, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in c, Op. 37, and Liszt's virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, led by Jacques Lacombe in his second performance as the NJSO's new Music Director. The opening week celebration continues on September 24, 2010, with television comedian Arj Barker, fresh from HBO's Flight of the Concords, and Grammy-winner for "Walking in Memphis," songster Marc Cohn on September 25, 2010. And on October 2, 2010, the Women's Association of NJPAC hosts its annual Spotlight Gala, featuring singer/actor superstar Jennifer Hudson. Single tickets for the 2010-11 season, available now, may be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark (open Monday-Saturday, noon to 6pm, and Sunday, noon to 5pm), or online at www.njpac.org.

New additions to the 2010-11 Season, added after NJPAC's original subscription series was announced in April, include:

A Metro-area exclusive, R&B leading men Jeffrey Osborne, Peabo Bryson, FrEddie Jackson and Howard Hewett, in Men of Soul (October 22, 2010);An NJPAC-exclusive, in their only New Jersey performance, Leo Kotke and Harry Manx (November 5, 2010);In their only New Jersey performances, Oleta Adams (October 29, 2010); the hilarious Celebrity Autobiography (October 30, 2010), in which comedians read aloud from the pages of big name star's autobiographies; Buddy "The Cake Boss" Valastro on the final stop of his The Bakin' with the Boss Tour (November 23, 2010);The solo, Off-Broadway hit One Man Star Wars Trilogy (June 11, 2011);Joan Baez with special guest Steve Earle (October 30, 2010); Bebe and CeCe Winans (December 17, 2010); Richie Havens with Dar Williams (April 29, 2011); and the return to NJPAC of Classic Albums Live, this season recreating The Beatles' Abbey Road (February 19, 2011); The Eagles' Hotel California (March 19, 2011); and Led Zeppelin's House of the Holy (April 22, 2011);An intimate evening or music and behind-the-scenes stories with four of Nashville's most successful songwriters, River Rutherford, Chris Wallin, Dave Berg and Jim Collins, in The Hitmakers (November 19, 2010).
Tickets for the co-presented Broadway productions under the recently announced partnership between NJPAC and Nederlander Presentations are currently available only as a subscription series. The productions include South Pacific (January 26-30, 2011), Monty Python's Spamalot (March 29-April 3, 2011), A Chorus Line (April 26-May 1, 2011) and Disney's Beauty and the Beast (June 21-26, 2011).

By choosing any three performances, throughout the entire season, ticket buyers can save up to $5 per ticket. Choose four, and they save up to $7. The savings can be as much as $10 per ticket when choosing just five performances or more.

Other 2010-11 Season highlights:

· In a New Jersey Exclusive, the American Ballet Theatre returns to NJPAC for the first time in over a decade with a program that features three one-act works from three choreographers: Paul Taylor's Company B; Alexei Ratmanski's Seven Sonatas; and Benjamin Millepied's Everything Doesn't Happen at Once;
· The largest poetry event in North America, The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, features four U.S. poets laureate, Pulitzer Prize winners, plus dozens of other poets;
· Four collaborations with the NJSO: the Season Opening Event with Lang Lang; Video Games Live returns, playing some of the very best video game music from games like MarioT, ChonoCrossT and Chrono TriggerT, Final Fantasy VII®, Bioshock, and more, accompanied by video game imagery and audience interactivity; Madama Butterfly presented in collaboration with NJPAC and Opera New Jersey performed in Italian with English supertitles; a screening of Peter Jackson's full-length film, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, with live orchestral accompaniment, featuring more than 200 musicians, including a full orchestra, two choruses, soloists and a gigantic screen above the stage (being done only at NJPAC and in St. Louis);
· For the first time at NJPAC, Handel's Messiah Rocks!, a groundbreaking musical event that merges classical music with classic rock for a contemporary take on Handel's most performed oratorio;
· A Latin Jazz Festival including an NJPAC-exclusive double-bill with two Latin jazz giants, pianist-composer Danilo Perez Trio and percussionist Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Band;· For the first time at NJPAC, Drumline Live!, a choreographed production created by the same musical team behind 2002's big-screen Drumline, depicting the rich history era by era of the marching band tradition of historically black colleges and universities; · A Metro-area exclusive, FLY: Five First Ladies of Dance, with five ground-breaking dancer-choreographers, Carmen de Lavallade, Bebe Miller, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Germaine Acogny and Dianne McIntyre each appearing in a rarely-performed, signature solo work (a project of 651 Arts);
· The world's most recognized orchestras will fill PrudentiAl Hall for five evenings: The Cleveland Orchestra returns to NJPAC after over a decade with its acclaimed music director, Franz Welster-Möst, conducting Wagner's Tannhauser Overture, Strauss's epic tone-poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) and, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the piano on Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54; Valery Gergiev leads the Mariinsky (Kirov) Orchestra in Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Denis Matsuev at the piano; the Israel Philharmonic returns under the baton of Zubin Mehta in Schuber's Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("The Great"), Haydn's Symphony No. 96 in D major ("Miracle"), and Liszt's Les Préludes; James Levine conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's valedictory symphony, the "Jupiter," Mozart's "Rhenish" and another work to be announced at a later date; and the annual return of The New York Philharmonic under the baton of its former music director, Kurt Masur, in a concert that features the New Jersey premiere of the Concerto for Two Violas by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, Liszt's stirring Les Préludes and Brahms's Symphony No. 1;· An NJPAC-commissioned version of Sleeping Beauty by FamilyTime favorite musician/storyteller, David Gonzalez· The creators and stars of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 bring the concept of MST3K to NJPAC with Cinematic Titanic; · For the first time at NJPAC, charismatic baritone Max Raabe and his Palast Orchester bring the high style of 1920s and 1930s Berlin cabaret to the stage of PrudentiAl Hall, with a repertoire of German and American standards;· Three generations of iconic jazz greats: Sonny Rollins, Chris Botti and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.· In its second season, the Alternate Routes moderated discussion series Legacies & Legends features an evening with Tony award-winning modern dance choreographer and director Bill T. Jones and another with the composer Philip Glass;
· A Metro-area exclusive when the Chicago-based Luna Negra Dance Theater performs Danzón by its company founder, Eduardo Vilaro, to live music courtesy of the Grammy-winning Turtle Island Quartet and New Jersey's own Latin jazz master and an NJPAC favorite, Paquito D'Rivera;
· Spend An Afternoon with Debbie Reynolds, an American entertainment legend, in her first-ever appearance at NJPAC, as part of the cabaret series that also includes Liz Callaway, Marilyn Maye, Maude Maggart and Tyne Daly.

*A COMPLETE 2010-2011 CALENDAR IS AVAILABLE ON THE PRESS PAGE AT WWW.NJPAC.ORG

TICKETS & INFORMATION:
By creating their own series of three events, tickets buyers can save up to $5 per ticket. Choose any four and save up to $7 off the listed prices. The savings can be as much as $10 per ticket when choosing just five performances or more.

For further information about NJPAC's programming, membership, or to request a brochure, please call 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722). Visit NJPAC's website during the season for updates and additions to the schedule at www.njpac.org,

As with previous seasons, check NJPAC's website at www.njpac.org for updates and additions to the 2010-2011 season calendar.

NJPAC is grateful to the following partners for their commitment and investment in our mission: American Express; Automatic Data Processing; Bank of America; Continental Airlines; Leon & Toby Cooperman; Harrah's Entertainment Inc., Harrah's Foundation; The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey; Betty Wold Johnson; The RoBert Wood Johnson Foundation; The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation; McCrane Foundation; The MCJ Amelior Foundation; Merck Company Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; New Jersey State Council on the Arts; Panasonic Corporation of North America; Prudential Financial; PSEG Foundation; Eric & Lore Ross; The Smart Family Foundation/David S. Stone, Esq., Stone and Magnanini; The Star-Ledger/Samuel I. Newhouse Foundation; Verizon; Victoria Foundation; Wachovia; Judy & Josh Weston; and the Women's Association of NJPAC. (as of June 16, 2010)

Funding has been made possible through a grant from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State and funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States. As New Jersey's Town Square, NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the State's and the world's best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted over 6 million visitors (more than one million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents. Visit www.njpac.org for more information.

NJPAC is a wheelchair accessible facility and provides assistive services for patrons with disabilities. For more information, call 888-GO-NJPAC.