ABOUT THE LIED

ABOUT THE LIED

Image of Bill Stephan sitting in the iconic red seats of the Lied Center auditorium

WORLD-CLASS PERFORMANCES, RIGHT HERE AT HOME!

Please consider this my personal invitation to join us for thrilling journeys, magical adventures, and unforgettable evenings of inspiration as Nebraska’s Performing Arts Center brings top artists from all over the world to Lincoln in the spectacular 2023-2024 Lied Center season. Featuring exceptional evenings of theater, dance, music, comedy, illusion, and much more, this season truly fulfils our promise of ‘something for everyone.’

It all kicks off with The Blues Brothers, featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi! They’re still on a mission from God, getting audiences out of their chairs and dancing with all the hits from the official Blue Brothers cannon and other favorite classics. You’ll be talking about it for years to come!

We also get to welcome back some of our most beloved Lied Center artists, including Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Bell, and Emanuel Ax. Wynton Marsalis and the always-exceptional Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra have been part of many historic moments at the Lied, including our 25th & 30th anniversary seasons. Joshua Bell will return to the Lied joined by renowned soprano Larisa Martinez for ‘Violin and the Voice,’ presenting stirring arrangements of romantic arias and modern classics. 7-time GRAMMY winner Emanuel Ax opens this year piano series, followed by VanCliburn Gold Medalists Behzod Abduraimov and Jon Nakamatsu. This season at the Lied, you’ll truly experience some of the most thrilling and beautiful music ever written.

Speaking of iconic music, Les Grands Ballet Canadiens will present Dancing Beethoven. Accompanied by the full Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, more than 50 dancers will bring Beethoven’s iconic 5th and 7th symphonies to life in a spectacular, once-in-a-lifetime collaboration.

Broadway remains the most popular art form at the Lied Center, and this season’s Glenn Korff Broadway Series is the biggest yet, featuring two full-week runs of beloved shows as part of a historic lineup. The premiere Lincoln engagement of Disney’s Aladdin kicks it all off, followed by the long-awaited return of Les Miserables, the thrillingly reimagined Jesus Christ Superstar, Academy Award® winner Aaron Sorkin’s brilliant new adaptation To Kill A Mockingbird, and much more!

And that’s not even scratching the surface of everything you’ll experience this season at the Lied! From family shows including Coco in Concert and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Live in Concert to comedy with Tom Papa and Brian Regan, Christmas with Manheim Steamroller to illusionist Rob Lake, the groundbreaking Kinetic Light to inspirational new works, we invite you to join us for an abundant year of entertainment and inspiration for all the members of your family.   

I look forward to seeing you many times at the Lied!

Sincerely,
Bill Stephan, CVE
Executive Director, Lied Center for Performing Arts

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Mission, Vision & Goals

Our mission is to educate, inspire and entertain the people of Nebraska through the performing arts.

    Goals

    • Building Artistic Programs 
    • Providing a Superior Venue and Patron Experience
    • Increasing Student Involvement
    • Enhancing Technology at Lied Center
    • Maximizing Success of Lied Center Staff
    • Enhancing Financial Health of Lied Center

      Our vision is to transform the lives of the people of Nebraska through the performing arts by:

      • Expanding the presentations of artists of great distinction representing all art forms and genres—both from Nebraska and around the world.
      • Engaging people and communities from across Nebraska with exceptional experiences
      • Providing first-hand experiences for youth and college students
      • Revitalizing our facility and investing in our human resources to take the Lied to new stages of excellence.
      • Creating new artistic works which contribute to the diverse culture of Nebraska and the world. 
      • Serving the state as an arts leader and collaborator to celebrate creativity, discovery and diversity.
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      Board Members
      & Staff

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      https://www.liedcenter.org/about-lied/board-staff
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      PRESS & NEWS

      Image of the press conference announcing the Firebird performance showing Bill Stephan at the podium in front of the Lied Center and University of Nebraska backdrop
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      https://www.liedcenter.org/news

      LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

      WE ACKNOWLEDGE that the University of Nebraska, with the Lied Center for Performing Arts, is a land-grant institution with campuses and programs on the past, present, and future homelands of the Pawnee, Usni Ponca, Juwere and Nutachi, Umon hon (or Omaha), Dakota, Lakota, Hinono’eino, Kaw, and Tsitsistas and So’taahe Peoples, as well as those of the relocated Ho-Chunk, Nemahahaki, and Báxoje Peoples.

      WE ACKNOWLEDGE that this land where the Lied Center currently sits, before it was part of the university, before it was part of the Nebraska State Fairgrounds, was a site of salt gathering and a shared resource of many of the peoples just named. The Lied Center is committed to continuing the practice of gathering and sharing with indigenous people and others.

      WE ACKNOWLEDGE that our coming together here does not usurp or counter any past, present, or future claims of Native peoples also to this space and that it behooves us to know whose lands we are about to temporarily share.

      Land acknowledgment adapted from a document created in conversation with UNL Native Studies, the Institute of Ethnic Studies, UNITE, and others. For more information or additional resources and support, please reference the following webpage entitled Recognizing the Land at: https://diversity.unl.edu/recognizing-land

      Information for this statement is courtesy of Dr. Margaret Huettl.

      Photo Credit: Ethan Freese

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