Tech's Ferst Center brings music, dance for ‘11-12

The just-announced 2011-12 season at Georgia Tech's Ferst Center for the Arts hews to a successful formula, offering a vivid palette of American and international music and dance with some humor thrown in for leavening.

Highlights include a two-day Roots Music Festival, April 14-15, next year, featuring three bluegrass favorites: Claire Lynch, the Grascals and Dailey and Vincent. Songbird Lynch and her band will perform outdoors (weather permitting) on April 14 in the amphitheater beside the Ferst on Tech's campus, with tickets $12 and lawn seating free. In conjunction with the music, the Ferst will host a exhibit of  Tim Barnwell photographs, "Hands in Harmony: Traditional Crafts and Music in Appalachia."

The 1,159-seat Ferst will also host its second ARTech, a residency program exploring the connection between art and technology, featuring Jade Simmons. A pianist who pushes the parameters of classical music, Simmons and her group Collide will perform a Feb. 18 concert that will include a premiere work created during her residency.

Counting Simmons, the season will offer six groups either making Atlanta debuts or performing local premieres. They include the genre-hopping music ensemble Project Trio, the dance troupe Aszure Barton & Artists, the Latin-jazz pairing of Paquito d'Rivera and Brasil Guitar Duo, the theater-dance ensemble Joe Goode Performance Group and modern movers Bridgman/Packer Dance.

Georgia Tech's Ferst Center for the Arts's 2011-12 season:

• Dance: Aszure Barton & Artists (Oct. 7), Joe Goode Performance Group (Feb. 3), Bridgman/Packer Dance (Feb. 25), Pilobolus (March 16)

• Jazz: Herb Alpert and Lani Hall (Sept. 16), Paquito d'Rivera and Brasil Guitar Duo (Oct. 14), David Benoit with special guest Ethan Bortnick (Dec. 16), Sophie Milman (Feb. 4), Earl Klugh (March 3)