Great Lakes Center for the Arts celebrates 5 year anniversary, announces summer lineup
BAY HARBOR — Great Lakes Center for the Arts officials said it is making a triumphant return to live entertainment following the ongoing pandemic for its five-year anniversary season.
This summer marks five years since the center's curtain first rose in 2018 and, as the center has recently announced, will be chock full of top tier performances starting on May 29.
More: Great Lakes Center for the Arts to open its doors
"Our last couple of seasons have been a little bit different than what we expected they might have been but we are very excited for this summer's lineup," said the center's associate artistic director Matthew Kacergis.
"We wanted to ensure that this summer felt like a celebration and we truly do have some of our biggest shows we've ever presented on tap for the summer," he said.
The upcoming summer series kicks off on Sunday, May 29 with Cory Wong and continues through October with returning favorites and new acts alike.
The summer highlights are as follows:
May 29: Cory Wong
June 24: Mary Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives
June 30-July 2: Godspell
July 9: 5th Anniversary Gala featuring John Fogerty
July 16: An Evening with Lyle Lovett and his Large Band
July 23: Pilobolus: Big Five-Oh!
July 27: Justin Willman: Magic for Humans
August 2-3: Bay View Music Festival Presents: Puccini’s La Bohème
August 10: Joshua Bell and Peter Dugan in Recital
August 21: Doo Wop Project
August 27: An Evening with Chris Botti
October 22: Vienna Boys Choir
"It feels like we have been triumphant in getting through the pandemic and being able to offer this season lineup," said the center's executive director Jill O'Neill. "I think this is our most exciting season yet and having some larger scale shows for 2022 is wonderful timing with our five year anniversary."
Over two of the last five years, the center was still able present a selection of shows through the pandemic, leading up to its full return to the stage this summer.
"I think we have been at the forefront of being able to present wonderful performing arts safely while still connecting live performances, artists and audiences. I'm very proud of us of persisting with that," O'Neill said.
Kacergis echoed her remarks, saying "... one thing we've also been really proud of is we've counted and we were the first performance back to the stage for 75 artists coming out of the pandemic."
Other milestone moments over the last five years include the center hosting more than 75,000 visitors including 15,000 K-12 students, presenting more than 150 events (concerts, dances, musicals and more), offering free strings music education in more than 40 schools and having hosted notable artists including Chris Thile, Pink Martini, Bob Saget, Gladys Knight and more.
Tickets for the center's upcoming 2022 season will be available in waves. The best way to secure seats is to become a subscriber, according to the center.
Subscribers can build their subscriptions before single tickets go on sale and gain access to priority ticketing next summer.
Those who do not want to become a subscriber can purchase tickets as they become available starting on May 1.
"It feels very good to be back and to be presenting such a great season," said Kacergis. "I will also say there may still be a few surprises coming everyone's way."
More information on ticketing subscriptions, ticketing in general, the center's lineup and more can be found by calling the center at (231) 439-2600 or by visiting its website at www.greatlakescfa.org.
Contact reporter Sean Miller at smiller@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @seanmillerpnr, and Instagram, @sean_everest.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Great Lakes Center for the Arts announces 5 year anniversary line up
