The 2015-2016 season promises to be a star-studded affair

Executive and Artistic Director of the Performance Series Hollis Ashby announced the lineup Wednesday for the 2015-16 season at the Williams Center for the Arts. Lafayette College houses one of the best performing arts centers in the region, and is recognized nationally for outstanding programming, drawing some of the world’s most distinguished artists.

There are six different series within the season: Chamber Music, Jazz, World Stage, Dance, Theater, and Family Matinees.

In the Chamber Music segment there will be five events:

PRISM Quartet, Sept. 27, 2015 3 p.m.

Takàs Quartet, Nov. 17, 2015 8 p.m.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Jan. 29, 2016 8 p.m.

Vox Luminis, Feb.12, 2016 8 p.m.

Philippe Jaroussky, May 8, 2016 3 p.m.

In the Jazz segment there will be four events:

Barry Harris Trio, Sepy.11, 2015 8 p.m.

Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oct. 16, 2015 8 p.m.

The Bill Goodwin Experience, Feb. 20, 2016 8 p.m.

Bill Charlap, April 30, 2016 8 p.m.

In the World Stage segment there will be four events:

Cimarrón, Sept. 18, 2015 8 p.m.

Riyaaz Qawwali, Oct. 20, 2015 8 p.m.

Danù, Mar. 5, 2016 8 p.m.

Kenny Endo Contemporary Ensemble, Mar. 13, 2016 8 p.m.

In the Dance segment there will be three events:

Mark Morris Dance Group, Sept. 16, 2015 8 p.m.

Seán Curran Company, Oct. 14, 2015 8 p.m.

BODYTRAFFIC, Feb. 24, 2016 8 p.m.

In the Theater segment there will be four events:

A Celebration of Harold Pinter, Oct. 6, 2015 8 p.m.

Sancho: An Act of Remembrance, Dec. 14, 2015 8 p.m.

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Feb. 2, 2016 8 p.m.

New York Neo-Futurists, Mar.30, 2016 8 p.m.

And in the Family Matinees there will be two events with four performances:

The Cashore Marionettes Nov. 21, 2015 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The Pigeoning, Feb. 27, 2016, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

There was audible excitement heard as Ashby announced the schedule. After the announcement, she listed the acts that she thinks sees as the highlights.

The Mark Morris Dance Group, praised by the New York Times as “the most transportingly natural performers in the world,” tops her list.

“Mark Morris’s performances are as much music events as they are dance events, and I would come simply to hear a Lou Harrison piece,” Ashby said.

Ashby also listed French countertenor Phillipe Jaroussky, as “an artist whose distinct and uncommonly beautiful voice has taken the world’s concert stages by storm.”

She also thinks that two of the theater performances are going to be very important events; “A Celebration of Harold Pinter” with actor Julian Sands, directed by John Malkovich, and William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”.

Finally, Ashby added the Takács Quartet to her list of events to see. She calls this quartet “arguably the best of our time.”