Arts & Culture

This weekend, the PPL Center in Allentown hosts Cirque du Soleil's "Corteo," the tale of a clown imagining his funeral as a spectacle of incredible carnival acts.

More than 350 young students throughout the Greater Lehigh Valley participated in a mural painting event at Lehigh Valley Children's Center in Allentown on Thursday.The completed mural will appear on an exterior wall of the new Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown. The center is slated for a May 22 opening.

Mayfair Festival of the Arts, the Memorial Day weekend festival, will return to Cedar Crest College for a sixth year May 24-26.

Lehigh University's Dr. Larry Snyder has taken a lifelong love of word puzzles to the next level by becoming a New York Times-grade crossword constructor.

“Corteo,” which premiered in Montreal in April 2005, has performed before 10 million spectators in 20 countries on four continents. It will perform six shows March 28-31 at the PPL Center in Allentown.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Plush, which has had the Top 40 Mainstream Rock chart hits “Hate” and “Left Behind,” will perform at Maingate nightclub, it was announced.

Local nonprofit Lehigh Valley Girls Rock's adult camp is set to return this year, finally returning the full slate of programming since the pandemic began.

Devon Koch, a 2022 Liberty High School graduate, is a sophomore at Kutztown University and helped student broadcasters win gold for an on-air pledge drive.

The event, which will feature at least 17 local, national and international distillers and distributors, will be 1-4 p.m. (11 a.m. for premium access) June 9 in Musikfest Café at the ArtsQuest Center.

Alumni celebrated the PBS39 quiz show's 50-year run at the Iacocca Conference Center at Lehigh University on Friday. The celebration continued Saturday with a screening of a documentary at the Univest Public Media Center on the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem.

Steep Canyon Rangers at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 22, stop at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks. Tickets, at $39 and $49, remain available.

On Juneteenth, Allentown rapper and producer Red Mcfly and Pas Simpson presented "Hip Hop on the Wall" a new exhibition featuring pieces by local talent and well-known creatives at Art Haus. The exhibition will run through July 11.

About 900 feet above sea level, the nearly 100-foot-high beacon atop South Mountain sports 238 brand-new LEDs and a jump in wattage from 5.5 to 7 per lamp, according to Bethlehem Electrical Bureau Chief Greg Cryder.

Celebrate the start of summer with traditional folk dance and son jarocho music at the Charles A. Brown Ice House on Saturday, June 21.

ArtsQuest's new Movie Trivia Mayhem, a tournament-style movie trivia showdown, is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas in ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

The Smashing Pumpkins founder and frontman Billy Corgan played a two-hour, 22-song set with his new band The Machines of God before a near-sellout crowd of perhaps 1,500 at Allentown's Archer Music Hall.

A cappella group Straight No Chaser, best known for its viral internet video of “Twelve Days of Christmas” mashed with Toto’s “Africa,” will perform at the theater Dec. 7. And Wizards of Winter, the popular rock-music-holiday show, will return at 3 p.m. Dec. 21.

The five-story cultural hub, which will replace the Banana Factory, will house a recording studio, a 125-seat theater, STEAM classes, a glass studio and programming in English and Spanish.

Crumb has started a short tour that brings it later this week to Allentown's Archer Music Hall. Tickets, at $41.80 for general admission standing, with pop band Kassie Krut as opening, remain available for the Thursday show.

The fair said Monday that Ace Frehley, former guitarist for KISS, and 1980s hard rockers Quiet Riot and Great White will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 30.

"Rooted: A Story of Artists Embracing Place" debuted on Sunday at Zoellner Arts Center. It is produced by Doug Roysdon, Dave Fry, Bill George, and Bridget George. The riveting film features interviews with Bethlehem's community leaders, directors, and arts advocates.