The Mondavi Center's seventh season is just a week away, and officials want to remind faculty and staff that they get a discount of at least 10 percent on all tickets.

The first opportunity to use the discount comes Oct. 4, when the new season begins with a concert by U.S. baritone Thomas Hampson. With Craig Rutenberg providing piano accompaniment, Hampson plans a program of songs by U.S. composers plus a selection of "lieder," or German art songs.

The 8 p.m. concert is more than a gala season opener. It also will be a birthday celebration for UC Davis supporter Barbara K. Jackson. The evening's venue, Jackson Hall, is named after her and her late husband, W. Turrentine Jackson, professor emeritus of history.

"It is a distinct pleasure to be able to open our 2008-09 season with Thomas Hampson, one of America's leading singers, on the occasion of the birthday of our dear friend and supporter Barbara K. Jackson," said Don Roth, the Mondavi Center's executive director. "We look forward to a great opening performance and another outstanding season."

A Mondavi Center news release states that Hampson is well-known for both the rich tone of his voice and the intelligence of his interpretations, and that he is equally at home on the opera stage and in the recital hall.

"What makes him so rewarding in opera is the same artistry he brings to lieder -- the command of music as a language, the sense of line and color, the range of effects," Opera News has written.

He has received numerous honors, including a Grammy Award for his role in a 2002 recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser.

Hampson's operatic performances on DVD include Macbeth, Don Giovanni, Simon Boccanegra and Werther.

The Mondavi Center news release states that Hampson is a leading advocate of the study of American song, and recently was named a special adviser to the Library of Congress.

"To me, the most interesting thing in learning about American song is to realize what our poets and composers have in common -- it's a driving need to tell a story about ourselves and about our becoming this American society," Hampson has said.

He is a regular performer on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center, and his program I Hear America Singing has been featured on the network's Great Performers series.

For his Mondavi Center concert, he plans a program of works by U.S. composers Stephen Foster, Henry T. Burleigh, Charles Ives, Elinor Remick Warren, Virgil Thomson, Paul Bowles, William Grant Still, Arthur Farwell, Sidney Homer, Stephen White and Aaron Copland, and "lieder" by Franz Schubert and Franz Liszt.

Faculty-staff discounts start at 10 percent for single-event tickets. Series subscriptions come with a 30 percent discount, and choose-your-own plans (five or more events) come with a 25 percent discount.

This year, the Mondavi Center is offering the discounted tickets for all seating options.

Regular prices for the Hampson concert are $65, $55 and $35. With the faculty-staff 10 percent discount, the prices are $58, $49 and $31.

Ticket prices for children and students are $32.50, $27.50 and $17.50.

Tickets: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or www.mondaviarts.org. For online purchases, the faculty-staff tickets prices are shown on the ordering page for each event.