Arts & Culture

Reawaking the Stage: Singletary Center resumes its own programming post-pandemic

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 28, 2023) — The Singletary Center for the Arts hosts hundreds of events each year, serving as the performance home of the University of Kentucky School of Music and Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, in addition to many Lexington community arts organizations. Now fully reopened after the COVID-19 pandemic, in the 2023-24 academic year SCFA will return to its role as one of the community’s premiere curators of live performances with a series of nationally-touring artists.

“The year ahead will be all about coming together in the shared experience of live performance. It is important for both the campus community and the local community to unite under one roof to listen, laugh, and feel together, as we celebrate all the varied creative expressions that grace the SCFA stage,” says SCFA Director Matthew Gibson on returning to in-person performances. “There’s simply no substitute for being physically present at a live performance; it’s impossible to translate that same energy and immediacy through a screen.”

Throughout the pandemic SCFA continued serving as a support for its campus and community partners’ events and established the foundation for returning to programming last semester by collaborating with the UK School of Music to bring guest artists to perform alongside students — and finally, after a three-year intermission from being able to present its own artistic programming, the Singletary Center for the Arts reawakens its stage with a wide range of events for a packed season.

“I am tremendously excited to continue the Singletary Center’s storied history of bringing dynamic and engaging performances to Lexington. In the 2023-24 academic year, the Singletary Center will present everything from pop music superstars like Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, to emerging jazz phenom Makaya McCraven, and the international sounds of sitar maestro Ustad Shafaat Khan,” Gibson says on what is to come during Singletary’s 43rd season. “Our programming will be as diverse as the campus and Lexington communities that we support, and I can’t wait to welcome our audiences for these uniquely captivating performances.”

Here’s a sneak peek into the fall semester at SCFA: 

Sitar Maestro Ustad Shafaat Khan

Thursday, Aug. 31 | 7:30 p.m.

 

Nick Carter: Who I Am Tour

Wednesday, Oct. 4 | 7:30 p.m.

 

Makaya McCraven presented with Origins Jazz Series

Friday, Oct. 6 | 7:30 p.m.

 

Ruben & Clay: Twenty the Tour

Tuesday, Oct. 10 | 7:30 p.m.

 

Nurse Blake: Shock Advised Tour

Sunday, Nov. 11 | 8 p.m.

 

NUTCRACKER! Magical Christmas Ballet

Tuesday, Nov. 21 | 7 p.m.

 

Tickets for all Singletary Center events can be purchased online at SingletaryCenter.com, by phone at 859-257-4929, or visiting the SCFA Ticket Office in person. 

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