BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A light-rock duo featuring a Golden Globe Award winner, and an Academy Award winner guiding a journey through the Mississippi blues will kick off Zoellner Arts Center's 2025-26 season.
Also featured in the season will be a YouTube sensation group that has been described as “pop music in a time machine,” iconic orchestras and choirs and a concert based on a favorite 1980s film.
Tickets for fall shows or season passes are on sale at Zoellner Arts Center website, at the Zoellner box office at 420 E. Packer Ave. Bethlehem, by email at inzactix@lehigh.edu or phone 610-758-2787, Ext. 0.Zoellner Arts Center
The Bacon Brothers, which features renowned actor Kevin Bacon of “Footloose," “A Few Good Men,” and “Mystic River” fame and who has won Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, with his brother Michael, will kick off the new season Sunday, Sept. 7.
Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience will follow Friday, Sept. 12, with the Academy Award-winner on stage, narrating a cinematic journey through the heart of the Mississippi Delta, where the Blues was born.
Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox, which reinterprets contemporary hit songs as jazz, ragtime and swing music, will perform Thursday, Nov. 13.
The world-renowned Philharmonic Orchestra will perform works of Tchaikovsky, Bartók and Prokofiev on Sunday, Oct. 26; the Vienna Boys Choir on Friday, Dec. 19; and the famed Tommy Dorsey Orchestra on Sunday, March 22.
World music will be celebrated with Kurbasy from Ukraine on Oct. 5, Soweto Gospel Choir on Oct. 11, Vienna Boys Choir on Dec. 9, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on April 10 and Seán Heely’s Celtic Christmas on Dec. 20.
A live band and singers will accompany a showing of the remastered version of the beloved 1987 movie "Dirty Dancing" on a full-size cinema screen on March 6.
And the season will close with the joyful rhythms of the NYC Ska Orchestra on May 15.
Tickets for fall shows or season passes are on sale at the Zoellner Arts Center website, at the Zoellner box office at 420 E. Packer Ave. Bethlehem, by email at inzactix@lehigh.edu or phone 610-758-2787, Ext. 0.
Single tickets for spring shows go on sale Oct. 23.
To become a season subscriber, picking three shows from the entire season and save up to 20% off ticket prices.
Full season
Here is the full season:
The Bacon Brothers, 6 p.m. Sept. 7; $60/$50 (Price includes $1 donation to sixdegrees.org.
Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12; $75/$65.
Noli Timere, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 20; $39/$29
A soaring aerial performance featuring a custom-designed, voluminous sculpture and eight multidisciplinary performers in a fusion of contemporary dance and avant-garde circus, art installation. Noli Timere is Latin for "be not afraid."
Sphinx Virtuoso, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 3; $25
A string orchestra that has performed at Carnegie Hall.
Kurbasy: Songs of the Ukrainian Forest, 4 p.m. Oct. 5; $25
Avant-garde musical project of the renowned Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine.
Soweto Gospel Choir, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 11; $35-$45
The multi-Grammy and Emmy Award-winning choir performs a program of South African freedom songs, traditional spirituals and music of Aretha Franklin, Harry Belafonte, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen and more.
Mark Morris Dance Group: The Look of Love, an evening of dance to the music of Burt Bacharach, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17; $49/$59
From the creators of the Beatles tribute Pepperland comes a wistful and heartfelt homage to the chart-topping songs of Burt Bacharach with singer, actress and Broadway star Marcy Harriell on lead vocals.
Philharmonic Orchestra with Marin Alsop, 4 p.m. Oct. 26; pre-show event 2 p.m.; $45/$55
Two days before their performance at Carnegie Hall, revered American conductor Marin Alsop leads London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in a program of symphonic staples. The pre-show event will feature former Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and Alsop in an arts conversation.
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!, 10 a.m. Nov. 1; $18, $12 child.
A fun time for young ones with PBS39, Just Born, Crayola and more with free activities, treats and giveaways, followed by the musical on stage.
Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, 7 p.m. Nov. 13; $59/$69.
The group played a 10th anniversary show at Easton's State Theatre in July 2024.
Academy of Vocal Arts Le Nozze di Figaro, 4 p.m. Nov. 23; $20
Classic opera with Mozart's comic masterpiece, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia trains young artists with tremendous potential as international opera soloists.
Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s The Nutcracker, noon and 4 p.m. Dec. 13 and 14; $35-$59
Vienna Boys Choir, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19; $45/$55
Yuletide program of Baroque classics, contemporary popular hits, Christian hymns, Austrian folk tunes, polkas, waltzes and more.
Seán Heely's Celtic Christmas, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20; $45
Champion Scottish fiddler Seán Heely and a cast of Celtic performers on a musical journey through Scotland and Ireland during the holidays.
Drum Tao, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23; $39/$49
Wadaiko drums, interwoven with melodies of Japanese flutes and harps.
Bugs by Kaki King, 1 and 4 p.m. Feb. 1; $18, $12 child general admission.
Blends music and technology with fun-filled story about bugs, beetles, critters and all things sugar. Inspired by her children, Kaki King created a concert that combines music, light and imagery to encourage children to think about nature, ecology, and the animal kingdom.
Sangjaru, 7 p.m. Feb. 5; $20
Korean folk fusion band that merges the energy of traditional Korean music with the rhythms of gypsy swing, funk, rock, and improvisation.
Traveling While Black, select dates February through April.
A film and artistic installation that recreates the setting of Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C., with a virtual reality experience
Akropolis Reed Quintet, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14; $25
Grammy Award-winning group whose last three albums have hit Billboard's Classical Charts — the latest No. 2 in 2024.
The Jane Austen Playlist: Love and the music of Regency England, 4 p.m. Feb. 15; $20 general admission
A historical music project featuring the music of the Jane Austen family in digitized notations, companion recordings, and dramatically narrated performances.
Grimmz Fairy Tales, 4 p.m. March 1; $18/$12 child general admission
A new play for children that centers on two modern-day street performers, Jay and Will, who bring the time-honored stories of the Brothers Grimm to life with a contemporary urban spin.
Dirty Dancing in Concert, Have the Time of Your Life! 7:30 p.m. March 6; $49/$55
The classic film’s first live film-to-concert experience. A showing of the digitally remastered movie with a live band and singers performing the soundtrack.
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, 4 p.m. March 22; $35
Click, Clack, Moo, 4 p.m. March 29; $18/$12 child general admission.
Children's musical play about Farmer Brown, whose cows discover an old typewriter in the barn and they start protesting their working conditions.
The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, 7:30 p.m. April 10; $35/$45
Plays versions of famous rock songs and film themes, sometimes changing them to subvert the audience's expectations.
The Tallis Scholars in Packer Memorial Church; 7:30 p.m. April 11; $35
Renowned choral group presenting concert in memory of Frederick W. Graf, organist and choirmaster, 1954-92, Cathedral Church of the Nativity.
Compagnie Multicorps/Marcel Gbeffa
DIDę: Rise up, 7:30 p.m. April 17; $20
Didę is a contemporary dance performance in the mystical Gèlèdé tradition, where each dancer becomes a messenger of transfigured feminine energy.
NYC Ska Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. May 15; $25/$35
An 18-piece big band that blends Big Band-era jazz with Jamaican roots music. Led by trumpeter and vocalist Kevin Batchelor and conga player/vocalist Larry MacDonald, who recorded and/or performed with Jamaican music greats Peter Tosh, Bob Marley and more.
