Succop Theater Starts 2019-20 Season With A Free Concert And Ice Cream

(Butler, PA) Butler County Community College’s Succop Theater in its 2019-20 season will entertain guests with innovative ballet dancers, energetic multicultural performers, world-class brass musicians, up-and-coming international a cappella singers, and five concerts by The Pittsburgh Philharmonic – the first of which is free to visitors Aug. 25, a BC3 administrator said.

The Aug. 25 season preview show by The Pittsburgh Philharmonic – whose 40 musicians will perform pops, classical and other genres with stringed instruments such as violins, violas and cellos and with wind instruments such as flutes, oboes and bassoons – will begin at 3 p.m. and be followed by free Graeter’s Ice Cream, said Larry Stock, Succop Theater director.

A video highlighting 2019-20 Performing Arts and Pittsburgh Philharmonic series performances will be shown prior to the concert.

“There are some exciting things for guests to see this year,” Stock said, adding that the season preview is limited to seating capacity in the 442-seat Succop Theater.

“Great acoustics,” Carolyn Keller, president of The Pittsburgh Philharmonic, said of Succop Theater, whose guests Aug. 25 can hear Verdi’s “La Forza Del Destino Overture,” Bizet’s “Carmen Suite” and Copland’s “Hoedown from Rodeo” during the 90-minute concert.

“The classical favorites we have chosen are very uplifting pieces,” Keller said. “Very exciting pieces that have a lot of meaning behind them. If you are an audience member, you might hear something that is very grand and uplifting.”

Ellington medley: “Exciting and jazzy”

The Pittsburgh Philharmonic has also added to its playlist Lowden’s “Armed Forces Salute,” which, Keller said, is “to support those who are currently serving or have served in the military in the past.”

The concert will also include a Duke Ellington medley.

“It’s a lot of fun because it is very exciting and jazzy,” Keller said, “and you get to hear a lot of the things that you are familiar with.”

Guests who attend the Aug. 25 performance, sponsored by Thompson-Miller Funeral Home in Butler, will receive starting at 2 p.m. two free tickets, one to be used for a drawing for four-season passes; the other, for one free scoop of ice cream in the flavors of either black raspberry chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, or cookies and cream, Stock said.

The Bodiography Contemporary Ballet opens the Succop Theater’s 2019-20 Performing Arts Series on Sept. 28, followed by multicultural dancers and singers The Tamburitzans on Jan. 17, the River City Brass Band Octet on Feb. 28, and British a cappella singers and humorists Semi-Toned on April 8.

Tickets for each Performing Arts Series show cost $20 for general admission, $18 for seniors and $10 for students. Those who purchase a ticket for all four shows receive a $10 total discount and would pay $70.

The Pittsburgh Philharmonic Series includes “Unfinished” on Oct. 27, “Holiday Pops” on Dec. 14, “New World Sounds” on March 21, and “Symphonic Star-Crossed Lovers” on May 16.

Tickets for each Pittsburgh Philharmonic Series concert cost $15 for general admission, $13 for seniors and $10 for students. Those who purchase a ticket for all four shows receive a $10 total discount and would pay $50.

Those who purchase a ticket for all eight shows receive a 20 percent discount and would pay $112.

Tickets will go on sale Aug. 1. Tickets can also be purchased Aug. 25, or at bc3.edu/succop-theater or by calling the box office at 724-284-8505.