Lord of the Dance created by Michael Flatley, a mesmerizing blend of traditional and modern Celtic music and dance, returns to Eisenhower Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17. And now, between Feb. 3 and 9, $10 of each Lord of the Dance section-one ticket sold will be donated to the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, better known as THON.

Tickets buyers who want to take advantage of the $10-per-ticket contribution for seats in the orchestra and grand tier levels must use the code word "THON" when purchasing by phone or in person. Online purchasers should use the THON buyer type to apply the $10 donation.

Drummer Tommy Igoe's Birdland Big Band, which performs on Fridays at the landmark Manhattan jazz club for which it's named, has become one of New York City's most popular weekly attractions. Igoe and his fellow musicians recreate the excitement of an evening at the club when the band performs Live at Birdland at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20, in Eisenhower Auditorium.

Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $48 for an adult, $22 for a University Park student and $39 for a person 18 and younger. Tickets are available online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255 or 800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays), Penn State Downtown Theatre Center (9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays), HUB-Robeson Center Information Desk (11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays) and Bryce Jordan Center (10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays). A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.

Two Penn State faculty members have won a national architecture award for their work on The Secret Life of Public Spaces, a project supported by a Creative Campus Innovations Grant given to the Center for the Performing Arts by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation funded the $200,000 grant, which came with an additional $51,670 in operating support for the center's presenting program.

Peter Aeschbacher, associate professor of landscape architecture and architecture, and Marcus Shaffer, assistant professor of architecture, won the 2012-13 Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Creative Achievement Award.

Two-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Kathy Mattea will make her Center for the Performing Arts debut in a concert focused on music from her Appalachian folk music album "Calling Me Home." The West Virginia native will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1, in Penn State's Eisenhower Auditorium.

"Calling Me Home," which features songs by Jean Ritchie, Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, State College native Si Kahn and others, celebrates the folk music and culture of Appalachia. Mattea, whose passionate alto voice helped her collect 15 consecutive Top 10 hits and four No. 1 singles on the country charts, has gathered songs of bravery, pride, joy and grief that speak of life in the world's oldest mountains.

In a concert based on their double-CD "Shuffle.Play.Listen," pianist Christopher O'Riley and cellist Matt Haimovitz serve up a collaboration that weaves in and out of classical, rock, jazz and pop genres. The concert, at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18, in Penn State's Schwab Auditorium, showcases the duo's virtuosity while helping to define what it means to be a contemporary artist.

Concert attendees can expect works by the likes of Johann Sebastian Bach, Radiohead, Giovanni Gabrieli, Arcade Fire, Igor Stravinsky, John McLaughlin, Leos Janacek, Cocteau Twins, Dmitri Shostakovich and Astor Piazzolla. The musicians announce the evening's selections from the stage, which enables them to share the musical context with the audience. It also helps the music to flow smoothly from one genre to the next.

Tap Dogs" -- described by a Chicago Tribune critic as "exciting, athletically feisty, fun-loving and often hilarious" -- is coming back to Penn State. Eleven years after last appearing at the Center for the Performing Arts, the rough, tough and rocking dance-theater production returns with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 6, in Eisenhower Auditorium. Tickets are available at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255 and 800-ARTS-TIX. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring a visiting artist or local expert, is offered in Eisenhower one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity, so seating is available on a first-arrival basis.

A new exhibit will offer a look at singer Kathy Mattea's upcoming celebration of Appalachian folk music and culture as well as Pennsylvania's coal history through December at the HUB-Robeson Galleries on Penn State's University Park campus. The exhibition, located in the display case on the first floor next to Heritage Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center, previews a performance and residency with two-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Kathy Mattea as she makes her Center for the Performing Arts debut in a concert focused on music from her September album, "Calling Me Home."

Mattea will perform "Calling Me Home" at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in Eisenhower Auditorium. Tickets are available by phone at 814-863-0255 or at www.cpa.psu.edu. Mattea also is scheduled to speak at the Penn State Forum at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 31 in President's Hall at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel. Tickets are required. For more information, go to www.pennstateforum.psu.edu.