Wynton Marsalis boycotted Cincinnati, but he'll appear in Oxford with his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra next April.

        The Miami University Performing Arts Series continues a tradition of bringing major stars to Oxford. The acclaimed trumpeter Mr. Marsalis, opera diva Denyce Graves, the cutting-edge Kronos Quartet and New York's EOS Chamber Orchestra are some of the big names for the 2002-03 season.

        Concerts are held in Hall Auditorium and Millett Hall.

Moscow Circus

        The Millett Series will open Nov. 10 with the Moscow Circus' “A Winter's Tale,” with aerialists, gymnasts, clowns and more.

2002-03 SERIES TICKETS

Millett Series: $73; $66 Seniors; $33 students.     Hall Series: $58; $50 seniors; $27 students.     Family Series: $25; $21 seniors; $12 students.     (513) 529-3200 or (513) 529-6333; or visit www.tickets.muohio.edu.

        On Feb. 18, Jonathan Sheffer and his EOS Chamber Orchestra will present “Celluloid Copland,” a multimedia tribute to Aaron Copland through his film music, from Thornton Wilder's Our Town to the 1945 War Department documentary The Cummington Story.

        London City Opera visits March 24 with Puccini's Madame Butterfly.And the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mr. Marsalis performs April 6.

        Guitarist Robert Bluestone will open the Hall Series Oct. 4 in a creative pairing with his wife, Rebecca Bluestone, a fiber artist. (Her tapestries will be on exhibit in the Hiestand Galleries Oct. 2-27.)

        Oxford gets a taste of world music when Turkish percussionist Burhan Ocal and his Istanbul Oriental Ensemble perform Oct. 15.

        The celebrated Kronos Quartet, known for championing modern music, will give the world premiere of a work by Vladimir Martynov on Oct. 22.

        Ms. Graves, the mezzo-soprano who appeared in Cincinnati Opera's Aida in 2000, will perform a recital on Jan. 28. In September, she performed on the globally televised National Prayer Service in Washington, D.C.'s National Cathedral following Sept. 11.

        The 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, Russia, will be celebrated by Da Camera of Houston on Feb. 9. And on April 2, Cantus, a 12-member a cappella vocal group, is joined by the Miami University Men's Glee Club, Ethan Sperry, conductor.

        The Family Series includes Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance by Miami Opera Theatre (Nov. 15-17) and Amahl and the Night Visitors, a classic holiday opera interpreted by the James Sewell Ballet (Nov. 19). (The Moscow Circus is also part of the series.)

A new building

        If all goes as planned, the Miami University Performing Arts Series eventually will have a new home.

        In August, the school contracted a team of experts in acoustics, theater design, structure and cost control to conduct the first phase of planning. William Rawn Associates of Boston, known for its work at Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is the architect.

        The team, which includes Theatre Projects Consultants, the acoustical firm Lawrence Kirkegaard & Associates and Lorenz and Williams, a Dayton architectural firm, has visited the campus this year. Mr. Rawn will return Tuesday to present the first phase of the group's feasibility study.

        Among the decisions that have been made is to set the auditorium size at 1,400 seats, says Pamela Fox, dean of the School of Fine Arts.

        The preferred location of the new building is directly south of the Center for the Performing Arts, the site used as the practice field for the Miami University Marching Band.

        “After Phase One is completed, the university will decide if and when we will proceed with the next phase of funding and design,” she says.
       

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