Entertainment News

Erica Silver, a music teacher with the Allentown School District, is the youth chorale's newest conductor and Alaina Swartz is the new director of education and community engagement.

It's still more than a month before the 37th annual Celtic Classic takes over downtown with kilts and kegs, but contests for the festival that celebrates all things Irish, Scottish and Welsh already are starting.

Diana Ross, who with The Supremes had a dozen No. 1 hits in the 1960s, then a half dozen more as a solo artist in the 1970s and ’80s, will perform at the center at 8 p.m. Oct. 18.

ArtsQuest, in partnership with Trans-Bridge Lines and Penn State University, on Monday announced a new satellite parking lot will be established at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

The opening night (the fest continues 2-11 p.m. today) offered New York gospel-blues trio The Harlem Gospel Travelers as headliners, and they offered an enthusiastic set. But it was some of the supporting acts that elevated the experience.

It's been two weeks since rock band Heart canceled its opening-night headline concert at Allentown Fair, and it looks like the fair is set to announce a replacement.

Over 80 comics signed up for the first round of a new competition at the Emmaus Theatre that looks to seek the funniest in the Lehigh Valley.

For the first time, the two-day festival will feature a barbecue competition, along with 11 blues performers. It will take place Friday, July 19 and Saturday, July 20 at SteelStacks.

Through this month, the symphony is offering a 10% discount on tickets to its popular Holiday Pops concert on Dec. 21 and Repertory Dance Theatre's "Nutcracker" on Dec. 7-8, both at Miller Symphony Hall at 23 S. 6th St., Allentown.

Michael W. Smith, who has won three Grammy Awards and 45 Dove Awards and has been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21.

From June 10-16, Pocono Raceway will team up with Crayola Experience in Easton to offer both racing-related arts-and-crafts and photo ops on site throughout the week, gearing up for the raceway’s NASCAR weekend July 12-14.

Rick Springfield, best known for his hits “Jessie’s Girl,” “I’ve Done Everything for You” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers,” will perform at 8 p.m. Nov. 3. Tickets, at $39.50-$79.50, go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, June 14, at www.windcreekeventcenter.com.

The Lehigh Valley community is invited by the Allentown Symphony to contribute a short melody, chord progression, instrument timbre or rhythmic pattern to inspire the piece.

It all started with a wig, a Hannah Montana song and a sassy pose: this local vet is going above and beyond on social media to entertain and educate pet parents.

The nine-piece group, which includes a horn section, play at 7:30 p.m. today, June 8, on the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks as part of the venue's free summer concert series.

On June 29, the park will hold the 100th anniversary of Thunderhawk, which opened as The Coaster at Dorney in 1924 and continues as a popular attraction today, the park announced.

Sixth Street Shelter started providing services to unhoused people in 1984, with Thursday's block party doubling as a celebration of its four decades of work.

The "Orange is the New Black" actress was among the guest speakers at the Lehigh Valley Women's Summit. The event drew a crowd of 750 attendees and was held at Wind Creek Event Center on Thursday, June 6.

Ball players and families who are part of the South Side Baseball Program now will have a mobile food trailer at their disposal after repeated flooding of the nearby creek has taken a toll on the concession stand at Saucon Baseball Park.

ArtsQuest is soliciting vendors for The Cold Brew Hullabaloo, a new cold coffee convention set for 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sept. 15 in Musikfest Café at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

Pizzafest, which ArtsQuest calls "a celebration of all things pizza," will be held Sunday, Sept. 29, at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.

The hearing later this month in Bethlehem is the first step in the 5-year license renewal for Wind Creek Bethlehem. A second public hearing will be held at a later date in Harrisburg, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.