(GLASSBORO, NJ) -- Rowan University’s College of Performing Arts, home of the Marie Rader Presenting Series, has announced its 2023 season. Full of opportunities to experience transformative performances and intimate engagements, the series brings a world-class lineup of living legends, provocateurs, and movement leaders.
The inspiration for this season reflects the University’s deep understanding of its public and campus audiences and leads them on a journey through performances, workshops, and conversations with artists. The series introduces artists to the region, who we wouldn't otherwise encounter—artists who reflect not only the future of performing arts, but who help us envision a better world, right now, right here in South Jersey.
According to Richard Dammers, Dean of the College of Performing Arts, Rowan’s presenting series is unique in how it is integrated with the academic programs of the College of Performing Arts. Most university-based presenters operate in silos from the institutions they are housed within but Rowan has cultivated an active and ongoing dialog with the faculty and students.
“As a community of artists, scholars, and cultural workers, we feel a great responsibility to Rowan, Glassboro, and South Jersey to build up arts activity to a level that accelerates not only the economic development of the region but also the cultural vibrancy,” said Dammers.
The 2023 season opens with a performance by world-renowned guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli on February 3; Flutronix and Third Coast Percussion, two ensembles that are redefining classical music for the 21st century join forces on February 15; and finally, NYC-based Phantom Limb Company will bring their family-friendly solar-powered mobile theater The Puppet Cycle: Small World Series on April 23 followed by bestselling author and composer Dan Brown’s Wild Symphony, a presentation of nearly two dozen musical portraits drawn from the animal kingdom for young audiences.
Every Marie Rader engagement not only brings an artist to campus to perform, but also offers transformative coaching opportunities for Rowan students, and meaningful exchanges with partners in the surrounding community. With this diverse, multi-disciplinary programming approach, the University is reimagining how the arts can better serve South Jersey, seizing the opportunity to establish itself as a valued destination for the arts. Rowan's acoustically-optimized, fully accessible, Pfleeger Concert Hall provides an intimate setting to see some of the most influential leaders in dance, music, and theatre—performances that would normally require travel to major cities like New York and Philadelphia.
The presenting series' larger strategic goal is to serve a large and diverse audience with year-round programming that moves cultural conversations forward and inspires the next generation to see the performing arts as an integral tool for societal well-being, understanding, and envisioning a better world.
Established in 2008, the Marie Rader Presenting Series at Rowan University brings exceptional artists to campus, enriching the university community and the Greater Southern New Jersey region through expanded performing arts programming, bolstering a robust academic program in dance, music and theatre. The series honors the institution’s legacy of serving Glassboro and the surrounding community through arts programming.
This engagement of Third Coast Percussion is made possible in part through the ArtsCONNECT program of Mid-Atlantic Arts with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The series is made possible in part through generous support from the Henry M. Rowan Family Foundation via the Marie Rader Memorial Fund and through funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
