Secrest Artists Series
In this Issue:
- Housing webinar recording for ’29s and P’29s from this afternoon
- Secrest Artists Series – a great reason to come visit your student (starting at Family Weekend!)
Today we talk about one of the great, free cultural resources for your students (and tickets can be purchased by families!): the Secrest Artists Series. But before we get to that, one item to share for new families:
Housing webinar recording for ’29s and P’29s from this afternoon
Midday today, my colleagues from Residence Life and Housing hosted a webinar for ’29s and their P’29 parents/families about how we handle first-year housing assignments and what housing looks like throughout a student’s time at Wake. You can view that recording here. Note that there were a good number of questions from the webinar attendees, so if you had questions, the latter portion of the recording answers many of those questions.
Secrest Artists Series – a great reason to come visit your student (starting at Family Weekend!)
As a liberal arts institution, we strive to help our students become conversant in all the areas of human knowledge. The well-roundedness our students develop through taking courses in the humanities, literature, the arts, the social sciences, and math and natural sciences will not only serve them well for their ultimate careers, but also for the rest of their lives.
Appreciation of the arts is part of this liberal arts education. And that’s where the Secrest Artists Series comes in. This program brings performing artists of national and international reputation to campus and are free of charge for Wake students, faculty, and staff; tickets can be purchased at a modest fee for guests. These are celebrated performers of the highest quality, and each event normally has a pre-concert talk and/or a residency activity by the artist(s).
I know many of our families like to come to campus and visit their students at various points throughout the year, so I wanted to share the full lineup of Secrest Artists Series performances in case that might impact your travel planning. The first event in September happens the night before Family Weekend begins, so that might be a fantastic reason to come a night early and experience that with your student.
There are other series you might be interested in: our Face to Face speaker series, our University Theatre and Dance events, Wake the Arts events, or some of our athletic or club sports events, etc. I’ll try to feature some of the other options throughout the summer.
Soweto Gospel Choir: “Peace”
Thursday, September 25, 2025*
7:30 PM
Wait Chapel
With their concert entitled “PEACE,” the multi-Grammy® and Emmy Award®-winning SOWETO GOSPEL CHOIR returns to North America to perform a joyful program of South African freedom songs, traditional spirituals and some classics. Soweto Gospel Choir was formed to celebrate the unique and inspirational power of African Gospel music. The choir draws on the best talent from the many churches in and around Soweto. The choir is dedicated to sharing the joy of faith through music with audiences around the world.
* Note: this event is taking place the night before Family Weekend begins, so you ought to consider coming to town early and purchasing tickets once they go on sale in August.
Christian McBride, bass, and Brad Mehldau, piano
Tuesday, October 21, 2025
7:30 PM
Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center
Brad Mehldau’s “intimate piano voice” partners with Christian McBride’s “sophistication and swing” to create one of the most respected partnerships in contemporary jazz. This longtime friendship and musical camaraderie has led to various collaborations through the years including the albums MoodSwing (1994), RoundAgain (2020), and LongGone (2023) with Joshua Redman and Brian Blade. Brad Mehldau says, “It is a dream come true to play with Christian in this duo setting.”
Raphaël Feuillâtre, guitar
Thursday, November 13, 2025
7:30 PM
Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center
Hailed as the new face of classical guitar worldwide, Raphaël Feuillâtre fascinates audiences and critics alike with the depth of his interpretations, his dazzling virtuosity, and the richness of his repertoire. Raphaël demonstrates total mastery of the instrument; and in 2023, Raphaël Feuillâtre ranked 2nd among the world’s most listened-to classical music artists on Apple Classical.
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo soprano
Thursday, February 5, 2026
7:30 PM
Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center
Two time Grammy® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), and “calmly commanding stage presence” (The New Yorker) has been “marked out at an early stage as a singer headed for top flight” (Financial Times), gracing the world’s leading operatic and concert stages “with a voice both voluptuous and statuesque” (The New York Times).
Ms. Bridges’ concert at Wake Forest University will be an all-French program featuring works by composers such as Ravel, Bizet, Chausson, Duparc, Berlioz, and Debussy.
Pavel Haas Quartet
Wednesday, March 19, 2026
7:30 PM
Brendle Recital Hall, Scales Fine Arts Center
The Pavel Haas Quartet is revered across the globe for its richness of timbre, infectious passion and intuitive rapport. Performing at the world’s most prestigious concert halls and having won six Gramophone and numerous other awards for their recordings, the Quartet is firmly established as one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles.
Their concert will include works by Kaprálová, Martinů, and Dvořák.