Forbes Center Welcomes 'Operatic Superstar' for Opening Celebration

The Forbes Center for the Performing Arts at James Madison University is celebrating the opening of the Shirley Hanson Roberts Center for Music Performance with a performance by professional opera singer Denyce Graves. Graves will perform Friday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Forbes Center. 

Recognized worldwide as one of today's most exciting vocal stars, mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves continues to gather unparalleled popular and critical acclaim in performances on four continents. She has been hailed by the USA Today as "an operatic superstar of the 21st century" and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution exclaims, "If the human voice has the power to move you, you will be touched by Denyce Graves." 

As one of the music world's most sought-after recitalists, Graves enriches audiences with a classical repertoire of German Lieder, French melodie and English art song, as well as the popular music of Broadway musicals, crossover and jazz together with American spirituals. 

Graves has become particularly well known to operatic audiences for her portrayals of the title roles in "Carmen" and "Samson et Dalila," which have brought her to the world's great opera houses and concert halls, including the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Opera National de Paris, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Washington Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opernhaus Zurich, Teatro Real in Madrid, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Los Angeles Opera and the Festival Maggio Musicale in Florence. 

All tickets are $60. For tickets, visit www.jmu.edu/JMUarts or call the Forbes Center Box Office at (540) 568-7000. 

Contact Jen Kulju, public relations/marketing specialist at the Forbes Center, at (540) 568-4394 or by e-mail at kuljuja@jmu.edu for further information. You can also visit www.denycegraves.com or www.imgartists.com.