Tickets are on sale for Bluffton University's May Day-weekend production of Meredith Willson's Tony Award-winning musical classic, "The Music Man."
Dr. Melissa Friesen, an associate professor and chair of communication and theatre at Bluffton, will direct the show, to be staged May 3-5 in Founders Hall. Drs. Crystal Sellers and Jon C. Peterson, each an assistant professor of music, are music director and conductor, respectively.
Bluffton University's baseball and softball teams will do their part to help "Strike Out Cancer" at their home games on Tuesday, April 17.
The softball team will host Anderson beginning at 3:30 p.m., while the first pitch of the baseball game against Defiance will be at 4:15 p.m. at Memorial Field.
Vocalists Jonathan Luginbill and Kim Rupert, along with composer and saxophonist Scott Troyer, all juniors in the Bluffton University music department, will present a recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15, in Yoder Recital Hall. The event is free and open to the public; a reception will follow in the lobby.
Luginbill is a baritone from Bluffton. He will perform numbers by Handel, Schumann and musical theatre's Stephen Sondheim, among others. Luginbill is a voice student of Dr. Mark Suderman, professor of music.
Bluffton University will host the annual Riley Creek Festival beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 14, on the Neufeld Hall lawn.
The event is free-except for lunch-and open to the public. Lunch, to be served from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., is $6 for adults and $4 for children.
"Away at Sea!" is the theme of this year's festival, a day of games and entertainment. A faculty/staff dunk tank and the annual rubber duck race down Riley Creek-with ducks costing $1 each-will raise money for First United Methodist Church of Ada, which was destroyed in a March 13 fire.
Bluffton University's annual Pops Concert, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, in Founders Hall, will offer a mix of music ranging from Irving Berlin to Billy Joel and Burt Bacharach. The concert is free and open to the public; donations will be accepted for program costs, with any excess funds going toward music scholarships.
The evening will begin with jazz-including Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band"-from the university's Jazz Ensemble, directed by Dr. Adam Schattschneider, professor of music.
Saturday, April 7th was a day of speed and strength as the Bluffton men's and women's track and field team took advantage of the warm weather and still breeze. Competing at the Marv Frye Invitational, hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University, the track and field team set a combined 27 personal records.
Standing out for Bluffton were three freshmen, Jenna Strauss (Bridgeport), Eric Dameron (Galion), and Rob Cook (Convoy/Crestview), as they each had three personal bests for the day.
