Special Holiday Concert by the Celebrated Singer Linda Eder to be Held Dec. 11

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Linda Eder at 8 p.m. on Dec. 11 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the UB North (Amherst) Campus. The concert is sponsored by Different Strokes -- Paint Your Own Pottery Studio.

After bringing the house down at her concert here last April, Eder returns with her band and a 32-member choir to perform a special holiday concert. Eder is a recording artist, concert sensation and Broadway star universally acclaimed for her incredible range, both vocally and stylistically. Constant comparisons to Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and other great voices have secured her place in an elite group of singers.

Eder's story has a fairy-tale quality to it; the ease that seems to dominate her ascension is testimony to her gifts. Her first true national exposure was via Star Search in 1988, where she had an unprecedented 13 weeks of success. It was also through Star Search that Eder first met composer Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Civil War and Camille Claudel), who then was casting for Jekyll & Hyde. The show went on a 35-city tour before opening on Broadway in 1997. USA Today reviewed the Broadway version of Jekyll & Hyde, describing Linda as "a captivating presence and a Streisand-esque singing voice that elevates everything it touches." Her performance as Lucy earned her the Theatre World Award for Best Broadway Debut as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics' Circle Award Nominations for Best Actress in a Musical.

Her seven solo albums, as well as featured roles on the original Broadway Cast Albums for Jekyll & Hyde, and the original concept albums for Wildhorn's other stage musicals, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Civil War, have won Eder critical and popular accolades. Sometime in between, she realized a life-long dream: Linda performed three sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall to what The New York Times described as a "thunderously adoring audience."

Tickets for Linda Eder are $48, $44, $40, and $36. Tickets are available 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada, call 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information, call 645-ARTS. The Center for the Arts is a Ticketfast location.