TILLES CENTER’S 25TH YEAR

2005/2006 — A Season of Seasons

Highlights Include Itzhak Perlman, Miami City Ballet,
Bill Cosby, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Eartha Kitt,
Jerusalem Symphony, Bocca Tango, Savion Glover,
Four Broadway Shows and Three Fully-Staged Operas

Bernadette Peters Stars in Gala XXV

June 24, 2005 - Brookville, NY - Tilles Center for the Performing Arts based on the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, celebrates its 25th year with the completion of its major renovation, a sweeping in - and outdoor undertaking which has resulted in a thoroughly new and contemporary look for Long Island’s cultural showplace. With a quarter-century of serving as Long Island’s home for the arts, Tilles Center looks back at the masters and masterworks of the past and forward, to some of the most exciting young talents of today. Several concerts highlighting the genius of Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky are counterpointed by performances that introduce Tilles Center audiences to lesser-known composers such as Arensky and Martinü. The season features performers who have gifted audiences with their talents over several decades, such as Bill Cosby, Itzhak Perlman and Ravi Shankar, and also presents younger talents such as Savion Glover, Chris Botti, Tierney Sutton and Deborah Gibson.

Tilles Center’s 25th season features 15 subscription series, six nonseries specials and Gala XXV for a total of 66 performances.

During the 2005/06 season, Tilles Center continues to honor its commitment to presenting the classics with three different series in North Fork Hall featuring the world’s most distinguished classical instrumentalists and symphony orchestras, and a chamber music series in Hillwood Recital Hall. Grand Duo features a recital by the treasured violinist, Itzhak Perlman (sponsored by Ronna & Dr. Bernard Telsey), and a performance by flutist Sir James Galway with the Polish Chamber Orchestra. The Concerto series includes the New York Philharmonic conducted by Charles Dutoit with violinist Sarah Chang (sponsored by PROHEALTH Care Associates, LLP), Academy of St. Martin in the Fields with violin soloist Gil Shaham, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur and Camerata Salzburg conducted by Sir Roger Norrington. The four performances of the Orchestral Variations present Philippe Entremont conducting the Munich Symphony in an All-Beethoven program, Charles Dutoit conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (sponsored by Kimco Realty Corporation), Leon Botstein conducting the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and Bramwell Tovey conducting the New York Philharmonic.

In the intimate Hillwood Recital Hall, Music at Hillwood, Tilles Center’s original series of chamber music with commentary by artistic director Caroline Stoessinger, devotes its 17th season to Mozart’s greatest chamber music. Called The Mystery and Majesty of Mozart: Prodigy of Nature, the Hillwood series features performances by the Tokyo String Quartet, Blaeu String Quartet, Prague Mozart Trio and Skampa String Quartet.

The Gala, Tilles Center’s major annual fundraiser, is always an eagerly-awaited event of the Long Island social season. Gala XXV features New York City’s own Bernadette Peters, the dazzling multiple Tony Award winner who has starred in memorable Broadway productions of Gypsy, Annie Get Your Gun, Into the Woods, Mack and Mabel and Sunday in the Park with George, among many others.

A Night at the Opera features sumptuous, fully-staged productions of La Bohéme by Opera Verdi Europa, Die Fledermaus by Helikon Opera and The Magic Flute by Mozart Festival Opera. As always, operas at Tilles Center are performed with live orchestra and are accompanied by supertitles. This series is sponsored by Koeppel Martone & Leistman, LLP.

The PALL Dance series presents the dynamic Savion Glover in Classical Savion, Julio Bocca’s exciting Bocca Tango and the return of a favorite of Tilles Center audiences, the Miami City Ballet. PALL Dance is sponsored by Pall Corporation. The varied Showcase series includes the Broadway icon, Eartha Kitt, Long Island native Deborah Gibson in Red Hot Broadway, the trumpet master Wynton Marsalis, comedian Bill Cosby, the Miami City Ballet and Sing! Sing! Sing!, a recreation of Benny Goodman’s famed 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.

Tilles Center’s fully-staged Broadway series has expanded to include four productions: Deborah Gibson in Red Hot Broadway, The Full Monty, Oklahoma (sponsored by The Garden City Hotel) and The Will Rogers Follies. Reckson Jazz & Blues specials, sponsored by Reckson Associates, include great blues artist John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Robben Ford and Eric Bibb; The Robert Cray Band and contemporary jazz musician Chris Botti.

The OffCenter series features The Bobs in Rhapsody in Bob, Judith Ivey in Women on Fire and singer/songwriter Loudon Wainwright III. This series is sponsored by Sandra and Howard Tytel. WorldStage, Tilles Center’s showcase for music and dance from around the globe, includes performances by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, The Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of 1st Battalion Black Watch and the Band of Welsh Guards, and the incomparable master of the sitar, Ravi Shankar, starring in Festival of India II.

The new season of Cabaret at “Club T” will see the Tilles Center debuts of Christine Ebersole (sponsored by Roslyn Savings Foundation) and Tierney Sutton. Lucie Arnaz opens the Cabaret season which goes on to include Judy Carmichal and Steve Ross in a joint performance. The cabaret season will also see return performances by Karen Mason and Tilles Center’s “First Lady of Song,” Andrea Marcovicci (sponsored by Chase), in a reprise of I’ll Be Seeing You: Love Songs of World War II, a show that she performed at Tilles Center’s Gala XIV and later brought to Avery Fisher Hall.

The Arts Start Here is comprised of two different series, each devoted to young audiences and their families. Stage One, for children aged 5 to 9 and their families, is held in the Hillwood Recital Hall and this season features the Lille Kartofler Puppet theater in Hänsel & Gretel, TheatreworksUSA in The Lion, the Witch, & The Wardrobe, Hudson Vagabond Puppets in Monkey See, Monkey Do and Paul Mesner Puppets in Anansi the Spider. Stage Two, for children of all ages and their families, is presented in Tilles Center’s North Fork Hall. This season’s Stage Two attractions include The Golden Dragon Acrobats, Gale LaJoye in Snowflake and Theater Terra in Frog and His Friends. The Arts Start Here is sponsored by Newsday and NIC Holding Corp.

Tilles Center marks its 25th year with six special events that are not a part of a series. The 25th Anniversary specials are Linda Eder in The Holiday Concert (sponsored by Chris & Jack Bransfield), Musica Sacra Chorus & Orchestra’s presentation of Handel’s Messiah, the Tchaikovsky Ballet & Orchestra in a full-length performance of Swan Lake (sponsored by Pall Corporation) and three Reckson Jazz & Blues special performances.

Subscriber Benefits
Subscriptions to series at Tilles Center carry many benefits. Subscribers get the first choice of seats and also get savings of up to 10 percent over the purchase of single tickets. Subscribers additionally receive first choice of seating for remaining tickets and for newly added events and are informed before the general public of single ticket availability. Many find that the most important benefit of being a Tilles Center subscriber is the privilege of exchanging tickets. Subscribers who find they cannot use tickets for one or more events of a series may exchange into other presentations, as available. This is only available to subscribers.

How to Buy Subscriptions
Subscriptions to all of Tilles Center’s 2005/2006 series as well as special events go on sale to the public beginning on May 25. They may be purchased in person at the box office, on the telephone through TillesCharge at (516) 299-3100 or on the Internet at www.tillescenter.org. Patrons may visit Tilles Center’s web site beginning early in May for subscription information, updates and background information on performances. Through June 11, the box office is open Monday-Saturday, 1 pm-6 pm. After June 12, the box office is open Monday-Friday, 1 pm-6 pm. During this time, tickets may only be purchased as full subscription series. There is a $5 handling fee for all subscription orders made by telephone or on the Internet. For information, a free season brochure, or subscription orders, call (516) 299-3100. For mail orders, write to Tilles Center Box Office; P.O. Box 570; C.W. Post Campus; Greenvale, NY 11548-0570.

On September 17, following the subscription campaign, remaining tickets for individual performances go on sale at Tilles Center’s box office, by telephone at TillesCharge and on the Internet, www.tillescenter.org.

Programs at Tilles Center are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts. Long Island University’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, consisting of North Fork Hall and the Hillwood Recital Hall, is located on the C.W. Post Campus, Route 25A in Brookville.

Public Information: Tilles Center Box Office (516) 299-3100

Media: Please contact Doris Meadows at meadowsd@optonline.net or (516) 609-9696
for photos of 25th Anniversary season performers or to arrange interviews.