Café Noir, a Dallas-based, all-acoustic ensemble that blends elements of classical, jazz and world music with an emphasis on Eastern European Gypsy music, will return to The University of Texas at Dallas next month for performances on Jan. 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. in the University Theatre.

Tickets for Café Noir will go on sale Jan. 6. The cost is $15 for reserved seating and $10 to students. Tickets will be on sale Mondays to Fridays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Art & Performance Office in the Visual Arts Building on the UTD campus and will be available at the door one hour prior to show time. Tickets also are available for purchase by phone during ticket office hours by calling 972-883-2982 and charging with Visa or MasterCard.

The majority of Café Noir’s material is original, although the award-winning group commands a repertoire that ranges from Bud Powell to Paganini and from straight-ahead swing to Stravinsky. Detour Magazine has described Café Noir’s performances as leading “to a seductive state of mind, where time stands still.” L.A. Weekly called the group’s music “a gypsy-jazz-blue-grass-folk-classical hybrid,” and the Dallas Observer said its selections were “simultaneously joyous and tragic, creatively daring and passion-filled… creating emotion from the thinnest and rarest air.”

Café Noir received National Public Radio’s “Top Album of the Year” in 1988. The group also has been the recipient of many awards from the Dallas Observer, including “Best Jazz Group” for five years in a row and “Best Release of 1993” for its CD Window to the Sea. In 1994 and 1998, Café Noir was named both “Best Classical Ensemble” and “Best Experimental/Avant Garde Group.” According to The Dallas Morning News, “Window to the Sea represents a brilliant leap forward by a band that refuses to be bound by the things it has done before.”

For more information on Café Noir, please visit the group’s website at http://www.cafe-noir.com.

For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ web site at http://www.utdallas.edu/ah/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.