Oscar winner Rita Moreno among performers visiting Denison University for Vail Series

Legendary actress, dancer, and singer Rita Moreno is coming to Denison University in March as part of the Granville university's annual Vail Series.

The Vail Series offers a captivating blend of music and artistry as it welcomes this year’s artists to campus. From string performances to a cappella brilliance, and from multidisciplinary showcases to rising stars, the 46th season is set to enthrall audiences with a range of unforgettable experiences.

Tickets are free for Denison students, faculty and staff.

A limited number of tickets are available for public sale on a first come, first served basis at $20 each. A limited number of Vail Season Passes are also available for all six concerts for $80.

The Vail Series was endowed in 1979 by a generous gift from the late Mary and Foster McGaw in honor of Jeanne Vail, class of 1946. Just as it was intended to do, the series enriches the artistic experience of the entire Denison community. Programmed creatively with the mindful pursuit of learning across traditional academic boundaries, more than 100 individual Vail Series artists have found their way to Denison’s classrooms and stages, but that doesn’t include the dozens of ensembles or full symphony orchestras that have played at Denison over the years.

Here's the complete 2024-2025 Vail Series season:

• Sept. 15, at 3 p.m.: Nathan Laube in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). International organist Nathan Laube, a leading performer and pedagogue, is cherished globally for his exceptional talent and has been invited to inaugurate important organs worldwide.
• Oct. 10, at 7 p.m.: American Patchwork Quartet in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). American Patchwork Quartet (APQ), led by multi-Grammy award-winning guitarist/vocalist Clay Ross, binds timeless American folk songs with jazz sophistication, country twang, West African hypnotics, and East Asian ornamentation. APQ’s sound is a masterful confluence of tradition and innovation, transcending culture, politics, and ideology.
• Nov. 12, at 7 p.m.: Lara Downes in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). Pianist, cultural catalyst, and New York Times Sunday Crossword clue, Lara Downes has been called “a musical ray of hope” by NBC News and “an explorer whose imagination is fired by bringing notice to the underrepresented and forgotten” (The Log Journal). She was honored as 2022 Classical Woman of the Year by Performance Today.
• Feb. 5 and 6, at 7 p.m.: Lorelei Ensemble with Pilobolus Dance Company in the Sharon Martin Hall of the Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts (240 West Broadway). Lorelei Ensemble, recognized across the globe for its bold and inventive programs that champion the extraordinary flexibility and virtuosity of the human voice, collaborates with acclaimed dance company Pilobolus to bring the world premiere of “Love Fail,” a meditation on the timelessness of love that weaves together details from medieval retellings of the story of Tristan and Isolde, with music by renowned composer David Lang.
• March 6, at 7 p.m.: Rita Moreno in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). Legendary actress, dancer, and singer, Rita Moreno is a true Hollywood and Broadway legend having been honored and recognized for her acclaimed performances during her more than 80-year career. She has won all four of the most prestigious awards in show business: an Oscar, a Tony, two Emmys, and a Grammy.
• April 2, at 7 p.m.: Merz Trio in Swasey Chapel (200 Chapel Drive). Merz Trio are passionately committed to reshaping the narrative of classical music through vibrantly dynamic programming and wide-ranging interdisciplinary collaboration. Their narrative programming style juxtaposes classical standards, new music, and their own arrangements of familiar and forgotten works, fluidly interwoven and guided with speaking from the Trio’s members.

Information submitted by Denison University.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Oscar winner Rita Moreno among performers visiting Denison University for Vail Series