Duke Performances rolls out 2011-12 season, Alexi Murdoch, Carolina Chocolate Drops & more

It's that time again. Duke Performances has rolled out their new 2011-12 season, and as always, it's an ambitious mix of folk, classical, jazz and experimental music as well as so much more.

This season, the performances have expanded farther outside Duke's campus, featuring shows presented at Carolina Theatre, Durham Performing Arts Center, Motorco Music Hall and Casbah as the series becomes more and more integrated into the wider Durham arts scene.

Here are a few shows that caught our attention that we want to highlight (the full schedule can be found at the bottom of this post in massive list form):

• R&B, jazz, soul and gospel singer, and North Carolina resident Lizz Wright will perform at the Reynolds Industries Theater on Friday, October 7. Tickets are $34 or $26.
• British singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch will play the Reynolds Theater on Saturday, October 22. Mount Moriah will open the show. Tickets are $28 or $22.
• Mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, of Punch Brothers and formerly Nickel Creek, will perform at the Carolina Theater on Sunday, November 13. Tickets are $38 or $30.
• Carolina Chocolate Drops and Luminescent Orchestrii will play Page Auditorium on Friday, December 2. Tickets are $52, $42 or $24. The two groups collaborated on a self-titled EP which was released in 2010.
• Durham resident and legendary jazz saxophonist Brandford Marsalis will play two nights at the Reynolds Industries Theater, January 13 and 14. Tickets are $52 or $44.
• Double bass phenomenon Edgar Meyer, who you may know from his work with Bela Fleck and/or Chris Thile, will perform at the Reynolds Industries Theater on Thursday, March 1. Tickets are $38 or $32.
• Legendary afrobeat group Egypt 80, now led by Seun Kuti, the son of original leader Fela Kuti, will perform at Page Auditorium Thursday, April 5.

Individual tickets for the entire season will go on sale on Wednesday, July 5 at 11 a.m. HERE or at the box office at the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus. Duke students can buy tickets to any of the shows for just $5.

Duke Performances 2011-12 schedule
09.23.11 - Joan Soriano @ Motorco Music Hall
09.24.11 - Ciompi Quartet @ Nelson Music Room
09.30.11 - Zakir Hussain & Rakesh Chaurasia @ Page Auditorium
10.01.11 - Orion String Quartet & Windscape @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.07.11 - Lizz Wright @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.14.11 - Bassekou Kouyate & Nagoni Ba @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.16.11 - Goran Bregović & His Wedding & Funeral Orchestra @ Page Auditorium
10.21.11 - Randy Weston (piano) @ Nelson Music Room
10.22.11 - Alexi Murdoch & Mount Moriah @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.26.11 - Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky with Apollo's Fire @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.28.11 - Chunky Move @ Reynolds Industries Theater
10.29.11 - Christian Tetzlaff (violin) & Lars Vogt (piano) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
11.04.11 - Ingrid Fliter (piano) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
11.05.11 - "The Great Flood" feat. Bill Frisell w/ Tony Scherr, Kenny Wolleson & Ron Miles @ Reynolds Industries Theater
11.09.11 - Schola Cantorum de Venezuela conducted by María Guinand @ Duke Chapel
11.12.11 - Ciompi Quartet @ Nelson Music Room
11.13.11 - Chris Thile @ Carolina Theatre
11.19.11 - Numero Group's Eccentric Soul Review w/ Syl Johnson, The Notations, Renaldo Domino & The Sweet Divines & the Divine Should Rhythm Band @ Carolina Theatre
12.02.11 - Carolina Chocolate Drops & Luminescent Orchestrii @ Page Auditorium
12.03.11 - André Watts (piano) @ Page Auditorium
12.10.11 - St. Lawrence String Quartet
01.13.12 - Branford Marsalis @ Reynolds Industries Theater
01.14.12 - Branford Marsalis @ Reynolds Industries Theater
01.20.12 - Simon Dinnerstein (piano) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
01.27.12 - Trio Jean Paul @ Nelson Music Room
01.28.12 - Trio Jean Paul @ Nelson Music Room
02.02.12 - Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" feat. Fiasco Theater Company @ Reynolds Industries Theater
02.03.12 - Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" feat. Fiasco Theater Company @ Reynolds Industries Theater
02.04.12 - Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" feat. Fiasco Theater Company @ Reynolds Industries Theater
02.11.12 - Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana @ Page Auditorium
02.17.12 - Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" feat. Fiasco Theater Company @ Sheafer Lab Theater
02.18.12 - Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" feat. Fiasco Theater Company @ Sheafer Lab Theater
02.18.12 - Ciompi Quartet & Borromeo String Quartet @ Reynolds Industries Theater
02.24.12 - Wayne McGregor & Random Dance @ Reynolds Industries Theater
02.25.12 - Wayne McGregor & Random Dance @ Reynolds Industries Theater
03.01.12 - Edgar Meyer (double bass) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
03.03.12 - Jerusalem String Quartet @ Reynolds Industries Theater
03.16.12 - Garrick Ohlsson (piano) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
03.17.12 - Takács Quartet & Garrick Ohlsson (piano) @ Reynolds Industries Theater
03.30.12 - Robert Glasper Trio @ Casbah
03.31.12 - Robert Glasper Trio @ Casbah
04.01.12 - Tallis Scholars conducted by Peter Phillips @ Duke Chapel
04.05.12 - Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 @ Page Auditorium
04.07.12 - Ciompi Quartet @ Nelson Music Room
04.14.12 - Anoushka Shankar @ Page Auditorium
04.19.12 - Richard Goode @ Page Auditorium
04.28.12 - Mohammad-Reza Shajarian & the Shahnaz Ensemble @ DPAC
04.28.12 - Artemis String Quartet @ Reynolds Industries Theater