Lied Center: Nebraska’s Home for the Arts

Kicks Off 18/19 Season with Broadway Superstar Laura Osnes

Since 1990, the Lied Center for Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has been affectionately called “Nebraska’s Home for the Arts.” Nebraskans place high value on arts and culture and the richness it adds to their lives. From popular, to classical music, to dance, to musical theater, the Lied Center’s commitment to bringing great artists to Nebraska has never been stronger. 

The Lied 2018/19 Season is filled with world-class artists, diversity and our biggest Broadway season yet. We welcome some of the hottest names in entertainment including: GRAMMY^®Award-winning trumpeter Chris Botti, the Ukulele 
Orchestra of Great Britain, multi-talented Paul Shaffer and Nebraska Jazz Orchestra, the hilarious Tim Allen, A Celtic Celebration with Irish music and dance, the incredible Laura Osnes singing some of our favorite Broadway tunes and Famfest with the children’s show The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Eric Carle Favorites.

The Lied Center’s Broadway programming continues to get bigger and better every season, thanks to the generosity of University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumnus Glenn Korff, who bestowed a $4 million gift upon the Lied Center, establishing the Glenn Korff Broadway Series. This year the Glenn Korff Broadway Series will bring some of Broadway’s hottest titles to the Lied Center, including Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I, Rent 20th Anniversary Tourand Something Rotten!

The dance lineup includes Complexions Contemporary Ballet, led by former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater virtuosos and features choreography set to David Bowie’s best-loved songs. Rennie Harris Puremovementcombines gospel music and hip-hop culture, and TAP DOGSis defined as part theater, part rock concert with part construction site, all rounding out a season with high-energy entertainment and truly something for every taste.

This season’s classical programming offers numerous causes for celebration. After sold-out performances last year with American Ballet Theatre and the St. Louis Orchestra, we are thrilled to continue the Lied Center’s storied tradition of presenting the finest orchestras in the world—this season with the San Francisco Symphony. This is the final year with the incomparable Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the San Francisco Symphony, so this is a performance you won’t want to miss. GRAMMY^®Award-winning Emanuel Ax returns to the Lied for the first time since 2012. Truly it is a classical music lineup sure to captivate and inspire you.

We also have two world-class tribute shows: Purple Reign, direct from Vegas, including the hits When Doves Cry, Little Red Corvetteand Kiss, and the first tribute act to ever appear as the musical guest on the Late Show with David Letterman. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the release of Abbey Road,RAINwill bring the greatest Beatles hits to life. This mind-blowing performance takes you back in time with the legendary foursome delivering a note-for-note theatrical event. After a sold-out Lied performance in 2009, RAIN returns to celebrate the world’s most iconic band.

Beyond presenting dozens of world-class artists year after year, the Lied Center is also committed to providing local students with opportunities to engage with professional touring artists during their time in Lincoln. Because the Lied Center is a proud affiliate organization of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska students are often among the first to receive these unforgettable opportunities.

Lied Center artists enrich the lives of Nebraska students through educational lectures, master classes, residencies and more. Students have the opportunity to work with cast members from multiple national tours of Broadway musicals, participate in master classes with world-renowned musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and engage in an intensive residency with Rennie Harris’ Puremovement dance company, among many others. Lied Center artists not only perform on the stage, they enlighten young people in the classroom and transform the lives they touch forever.

“When you purchase a ticket to a Lied Center performance, not only are you helping to bring the greatest artists in the world to Lincoln, you are supporting life-transforming moments in the classroom that will change the lives of the individuals touched by these opportunities forever,” said Bill Stephan, executive director of the Lied.

The Lied Center’s full 2018/19 season listing can be found below. For more information on each performance, including videos of the artists, visit LiedCenter.org.

January

Paul Shaffer & Nebraska Jazz Orchestra

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
& Other Eric Carle Favorites

Laura Osnes and The Broadway Princess Party

Susan Werner

Rennie Harris Puremovement

February

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I

Chris Botti

My Ántonia

Emanuel Ax, Piano

Dutchman

A Celebration of Music & Milestone

Tim Allen

March 

RENT 20th Anniversary Tour

A Celtic Celebration

Delfeayo Marsalis and The Uptown Jazz Orchestra

Purple Reign

HAIR

San Francisco Symphony

April

RAIN

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Tap DogS

Something Rotten!

Red Green