Brahms on the program Feb. 6 at BU

The Orquesta Sinfonica del Estado de Mexico will perform Brahms' First Symphony in C minor Friday, Feb. 6, at 8 pm at Bloomsburg University's Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for children and BU students.

Performing for more than 40 years, Orquesta Sinfonica del Estada has moved audiences around the globe with classical and contemporary music from Mexico and Spain. Led by conductor Enrique Batiz, the orchestra has been recognized for having the broadest repertoire of any philharmonic in Mexico.

Their performance at BU is part of their second U.S. tour and will feature the symphonies of Brahms and include piano soloist, Irina Chistiakova, playing Manuel Ponce’s piano concerto, “Romantic.” The orchestra will also perform Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.

Upcoming BU Celebrity Artist Series productions include:

• Tango Buenos Aires, a journey through dance and music from Argentina – Saturday, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets $30. 
• “Jekyll & Hyde,” the dazzling and dark national Broadway tour – Sunday, March 29, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $45. 
• Take 6, six voices combine to form the most awarded a cappella group in history – Thursday, April 2, 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $30. 
• Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, American Spiritual, 150 years of American music in one event – Friday, April 17, 7:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Tickets $25. 

For tickets or more information, visit www.bloomu.edu/cas or www.cas.buzz or call the box office at 570-389-4409.

BU poets to give reading Feb. 11

Two Bloomsburg University faculty members will read their poetry on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at 7 pm in Monty's Assembly Room on the university's upper campus.

Jerry Wemple, assistant professor of English and creative writing, and Shanna L. Smith, English instructor, will give the reading as part of the university's Big Dog Reading Series, which is free and open to the public. 

Wemple’s work includes three poetry collections, “You Can See It From Here,” selected by Pulitzer Prize-winner Yusef Komunyakaafor the Naomi Long Madgett poetry Award; “The Civil War in Baltimore”; and “The Artemas Poems.” Wemple has received awards for both writing and teaching, including a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Word Journal chapbook prize. His work has been included in journals and anthologies, including publications in Chile and Ireland. A Susquehanna Valley native, Wemple’s work often details the people and places of this area.

 Originally from Kentucky, Smith was featured in the 2001 documentary, “Coal Black Voices,” celebrating the Affrilachian Poets’ 10th anniversary, and performed with the group again in 2011 at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C. Her work has been published in Artists in Revolution, Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium: An Anthology of Contemporary Mid-Western Poetry and Java House Anthology. In 1999, Smith was selected to attend the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Institute for poetry and received a grant for poetry from the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

The Big Dog Reading Series is a part of the College of Liberal Arts’ Center for Visual and Performing Arts. The series will continue on Tuesday, March 24, with Domenica Ruta, author of the memoir “With or Without You.” For information, contact Wemple at jwemple@bloomu.edu.