UNL Opera presents Songs for a New World with music and lyrics by Tony award-winning composer, Jason Robert Brown. Everyone's life includes soul-quickening moments that forever change who we are. These life-altering moments are celebrated in the musical, which originally premiered Off-Broadway in 1995. Songs for a New World is a series of fully sung scenes with settings ranging from 1492 to the present day set in locations as diverse as the North Pole, ships sailing to the new world and the roof of a posh Manhattan skyscraper. Each scene introduces new characters dealing with the choice of remaining in the safety of all that's familiar or stepping into an uncharted future, where one is armed with only faith, hope and dreams. Performed by School of Music graduate and undergraduate vocal students with UNL theatre professor Stan Brown making a featured guest appearance, Songs for a New World promises to be a stirring musical evening, which allows a compassionate glimpse into the lives of ordinary people surmounting the challenges of daily life with all their strengths and weaknesses in hand. The production will be staged & musically directed by Alisa Belflower, UNL’s Coordinator of Musical Theatre Studies. The musical is presented in two acts with an approximate running time of 90 minutes. Four intimate performances will be presented with the audience seated around the set on Kimball Hall's stage on February 26, 27, 28 at 7:30 p.m. & March 1 at 3:00 p.m. Advanced tickets are $20 adults, $10 student/senior and are available through the Lied Center box office at (402) 472-4747 or 800-432-3231.