Considered as education and entertainment of the highest quality, such celebrated performers as Itzhak Perlman, Christopher Parkening, Ravi Shankar, Doc Severinsen and his Big Band, Denyce Graves, and the National Symphony with Leonard Slatkin, have appeared on the Secrest Series. Each event is usually accompanied by a pre-concert talk and/or a residency activity by the artist. Endowed in 1987 by
Marion Secrest, a local performing arts patron, in honor of her deceased husband, Willis Secrest, the future of the series is guaranteed. The mission statement of the series states that the best of the established artists in the performing arts and the most promising of the new will appear without admission charge to the students, faculty, and staff of Wake Forest University. This fact alone distinguishes this series from other college and university performing arts series. It is assumed that attendance at these first class artistic events is part of the cultural education and enhancement of students at Wake Forest University. Performances take place in Brendle Recital Hall, in the Scales Fine Arts Building, or in Wait Chapel.
