Duke Performances is set to launch the 2012-13 season, a collection of more than 50 world-class artists from Romania, India, North Carolina and beyond.

This season’s artists make bold claims about the past, present, and future of performance, reaching into both the pragmatic, rugged vernacular of folk traditions and the crisp, refined elegance of high art concert halls.

In addition to exploring the broad scope of performance today, Duke Performances will continue to expand its off-campus offerings, setting concerts in Durham venues including First Presbyterian Church downtown, PSI Theatre in the Durham Arts Council, Motorco Music Hall, and co-presentations at Carolina Theatre.

For the first time, Duke Performances will stagger ticket availability. Multiple concert ticket packages are available for sale now. These packages include the Pick Four 25 percent discount on purchases of four or more concerts at one time and classical series discounts, including Essential Classics, Recital Series, Chamber Arts Society Series, and Ciompi Quartet Series worth discounts of up to 35 percent for the season.

Single tickets will go on sale Tuesday, July 17, at 11 a.m., and $10 Duke student tickets will go on sale Tuesday, Aug. 21, at 11 a.m.

Among the highlights of the season are three contemporary gospel performers in concert in two of Durham’s best venues. John P. Kee and The New Life Community Choir start things off Sept.14 and 15 at the Hayti Heritage Center. The Mighty Clouds of Joy continue this exploration of gospel on Nov. 16 and 17, also at the Hayti Heritage Center. The series closes with Richard Smallwood and Vision on March 30, at the Carolina Theatre.

The season also features a series of five jazz concerts in downtown Durham nightclubs, including The Bad Plus, Sept. 21 and 22, at Motorco Music Hall; Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet, Oct. 12 and 13, at Casbah Durham; Fred Hersch Trio, Jan. 25 and 26, at Casbah Durham; Tarbaby, with Orrin Evens, Nasheet Waits, Eric Revis, and Oliver Lake, March 1 and 2, at Casbah Durham; and Gretchen Parlato Quartet, April 12 and 13, at Motorco Music Hall.

Exceptional dance and theater also are highlighted with comedian Reggie Watts on Oct. 26, a long-term residency Meredith Monk and The House Foundation in October and November, acclaimed tap-dancer Savion Glover on Jan. 23, monologist Mike Daisey Jan. 30 through Feb. 3, Diavolo Dance Theater Feb. 8 and 9, and cabaret artists Meow Meow Feb. 12 through 14.

The season also continues our long tradition of offering the best classical music in the area. This year the Essential Classics series offers three concerts by world-class ensembles: Tenebrae Choir, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and China National Symphony Orchestra.

The popular Piano Recital Series expands to include performances by a solo guitarist, Eliot Fisk, and a solo violinist, Leila Josefowicz, as well as piano recitals by Rafal Blechacz, Piotr Anderszewski, Joyce Yang, and Angela Hewitt.

The exceptional Chamber Arts Society series returns with Schumann Trio, Emerson String Quartet, Belcea Quartet, JACK Quartet with Steven Mackey, St. Lawrence String Quartet with Stephen Prutsman, Fauré Quartett, Takács Quartet, and Alexander String Quartet.

With these and many, many more offerings on the season, 2012-13 stands to be another banner year for Duke Performances.

Discounted ticket packages for Duke Performances’ 2012-13 offerings are on sale via the Duke Performances’ website dukeperformances.org, phone at 919-684-4444, and at the University Box Office on the top level of the Bryan Center on Duke’s West Campus.