The Lied Center for Performing Arts is offering educators and students (pre-K through 12th grade) from across Nebraska the opportunity to attend low-cost, matinee performances. The matinees are offered to expand students’ cultural awareness and exposure to the arts.

Student matinee tickets are $4 each and available for the 1 p.m. March 26 performance of the Soweto Gospel Choir or the 10:30 a.m. April 16 recital by the April Verch Band.

“A major objective of the Lied Center’s mission is to educate the people of Nebraska through the performing arts,” said Bill Stephan, executive director of the Lied Center. “One of our biggest thrills is witnessing a student’s first exposure to the performing arts. Our hope is that offering access to a world class performance will not only enrich a young person’s education, but that their experiences at the Lied Center will leave a lasting impression on their entire lives.”

The Soweto Gospel Choir travels all the way from its native South Africa to share the power of the human voice. Students will have the rare opportunity to hear this Grammy award-winning gospel groups’ unique and heartfelt blend of African gospel, Negro spirituals, reggae and American popular music. Soweto Gospel Choir has performed for and has been praised by audiences all around the world, and now students can share in the multicultural experience of this performance taking place on the Lied Center’s Main Stage. The performance is recommended for elementary, middle school and high school students. Curriculum connections are in cultural studies, language arts, music and social studies.

April Verch will mesmerize and inspire through her capacity to simultaneously play intricate rifts on the fiddle and perform exhaustive and elaborate step dancing. The April Verch Band introduces several unique sources of musical inspiration from which the group draws including the music of Quebecois to the Appalachians, from Ottawa Valley to Brazilian, from Celtic to jazz and folk to bluegrass. The performance is recommended for upper elementary, middle school and high school students. Its curriculum connections are in cultural studies, dance, language arts, music and social studies.

The 2013-14 student matinee brochure and order form is available on the Lied Center’s website, http://www.liedcenter.org. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the downloadable order form. For inquiries about education resources or ticket availability, contact Nancy Engen-Wedin at nengenwedin2@unl.edu or 402-472-4707.