From her early days as the leader of The Supremes to her landmark solo career, Diana Ross helped shape the sound of popular music, changing the landscape and paving the way for contemporary music. Don’t miss the concert event of the summer at Hancher.
Past Season Events
When Storm Large came to Club Hancher last season, she blew the doors off the place—so we’re taking the tempest outside. Bursting onto the scene on Rock Star: Supernova and then forging her own eclectic career, Large is a force of nature. From jazz standards to driving rock-n-roll, Large can do it all.
Van Jones is the founder of Dream Corps, a justice incubator with an overarching goal to close prison doors and open doors of opportunity. A Yale-educated attorney, author of three New York Times nonfiction bestsellers, and a CNN contributor, Jones worked as an adviser to the Obama White House.
Music
Music
An Evening with Audra McDonald
Songs from the American Music Theater
Saturday, September 14, 2019
The numbers alone are impressive: six Tonys, two Grammys, and an Emmy. And the honors are remarkable: a spot on Time’s 100 most influential people list and a National Medal of the Arts. Supported by her trio, Audra McDonald will share her luminous soprano in an unmissable performance.
Hair & Other Stories investigates issues of body image, race, gender identity, economic inequity, and more. Urban Bush Women—a contemporary dance company committed to pushing the boundaries of storytelling through spoken word, movement, and singing—enacts the everyday pursuit of the extraordinary.
The Grammy-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet returns with a concert featuring music by American composers and guitar virtuosos. Front and center: a new work by Pat Metheny written for LAGQ.
In 1996, an original rock musical by a little-known composer opened on Broadway and forever changed the landscape of American theatre. Two decades later, Jonathan Larson's RENT continues to speak loudly and defiantly to audiences across generations and all over the world.
Chick Corea’s 2014 triple-disc set, Trilogy, added a live masterwork to the venerated pianist’s discography. Featuring bassist Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade, the recording was a triumph. Now, Corea, McBride, and Blade are bringing the music from Trilogy back to live audiences.
An ensemble of 13 exceptional musicians—including David Finckel on cello and David Shifrin on clarinet—celebrate the intrepid (and diverse) American spirit in a performance highlighting two pairs of composers who helped shape classical music in the twentieth century.
Sold Out
Hancher's Culinary Arts Experience
Pullman Diner/St. Burch Tavern
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Executive Chef Benjamin Smart directs the award-winning team at both Pullman Diner and Saint Burch Tavern.
Menu:
For the first time in 20 years, Sankai Juku, Japan’s internationally renowned butoh dance troupe, returns to Hancher. Butoh, which has been called Japan’s most startling cultural export, is enthralling, surprising, and often deeply moving. Utsushi is the perfect introduction to the work of Sankai Juku.
In this new English translation, SITI Company invites us to Thebes where Dionysus—god of wine, ritual madness, fertility, and theater (and in this production imagined as a rock star)—is opposed by King Pentheus. SITI Company’s famed co-artistic director Anne Bogart will be on hand for a post-performance conversation.
If you’re in the mood for adventuresome jazz, the Thirsty Ear label offers plenty of options to quench your cravings—and one of the tastiest is cellist Tomeka Reid’s hard grooving quartet. Featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson (one of the hottest players to emerge in recent years), the quartet offers up a menu of musical flavors.
Dance Gala 2019 celebrates its 38th anniversary with In Motion, featuring new work created by distinguished Department of Dance faculty and guest artists of Urban Bush Women. The program will also include an appearance by the University of Iowa’s enigmatic Laptop Orchestra.
Trumpet Blossom creates plant-based comfort food that reflects the season, respects the land, and is truly sustainable using organic ingredients and making dishes from scratch.
A wellspring of joy is a weapon of resistance in the face of injustice. The urban Latin dancers of CONTRA-TIEMPO and the musicians of Las Cafeteras—all grounded in the communities of color in South Los Angeles—celebrate this fact in a work that flips the script on the usual narratives about minority communities.
Dr. Timothy Stalter, Conductor; Gyehyun Jung and Ericka Barloon, Sopranos; Colin Wilson, Tenor; Grant Lyons, Bass. Program: “Great” Mass in C Minor, K. 427 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; completed and edited by Robert D. Levin
It may be the busiest time of the year for the guy in the red suit, but he’s going to take a weekend off to share brunch with kids and their families at Hancher. It will be a festive affair with food, music, a few surprises—and, of course, Santa himself!
It will be a spicy holiday celebration as the beloved music icons of BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet heat up a winter evening. Get ready for swamp-pop takes on classic holiday tunes as well as a heaping portion of music from the long career of these multiple Grammy winners.
Music
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Big Band Holidays, featuring vocalists Denzal Sinclaire and Alexis Morrast
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Music
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Big Band Holidays, featuring vocalists Denzal Sinclaire and Alexis Morrast
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Think of it as our present to you and yours. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis returns to inject the jazz into your holidays. This winter, the band will be joined by baritone Denzal Sinclaire and Alexis Morrast. It’s a one-of-a-kind holiday celebration for the whole family.
The Color Purple is the 2016 Tony Award® winner for Best Musical Revival! This joyous American classic about a young woman’s journey to love and triumph in the American South has conquered Broadway in an all-new “ravishingly reconceived production that is a glory to behold” (The New York Times).
The Miró Quartet and soprano Kiera Duffy will explore the revolutionary music of one of Beethoven’s middle quartets—as well as music by composers he inspired: Schubert, Berg, and George Crumb.
Gina Chavez traverses boundaries—in her musical styles, her bilingual lyrics, and her work as a cultural ambassador with the U.S. State Department—and creates a welcoming space for all. Chavez created this family-friendly concert that will be the inaugural Kids Club Hancher event.
Sold Out
Hancher's Culinary Arts Experience
Hancher's Culinary Arts Experience
University Catering
Dinner with the Chefs
Wednesday, February 5, 2020
University Catering has a rich history with the University of Iowa campus and community. All University Catering events focus on serving fresh, local, and quality ingredients while creating unique experiences.
Carrying the legacy of her famous musical family forward, Rosanne Cash is one of the great singer-songwriters of our time. Pitchfork calls her latest record, She Remembers Everything, “a collection of miniatures that collectively paint a vivid, haunting portrait of the blessings and bruises of life.”
RUBBERBAND returns with Vic’s Mix, a celebration of Victor Quijada’s 15 years of making dance—not only for his own company but for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Scottish Dance Theatre as well.
Storytelling
Syed Umar Warsi, Amir Safi, and Amal Kassir
An evening of spoken word poetry
Friday, February 21, 2020
Storytelling
Syed Umar Warsi, Amir Safi, and Amal Kassir
An evening of spoken word poetry
Friday, February 21, 2020
Drawing from the wellspring of their lived experiences as Muslims, artists, and more, three spoken word poets and storytellers will present an evening of powerful and deeply felt work.
A self-described “social justice comedian,” Negin Farsad has been named one of the 10 Best Feminist Comedians by Paper magazine and one of the 50 Funniest Women by Huffington Post. She is also the writer, director, and star of the romantic comedy 3rd Street Blackout.
Performed in twelve languages (with English supertitles) with live music, poetry, and movement, The New Colossus asks: Who are we as a nation? The play explores the true stories of twelve people in the United States today because their families fled their countries of origin to escape oppression.
The Hancher Guild Youth Art Show is a longstanding Hancher tradition where we celebrate young artists in the community. The art show reception features the announcement of award winners.
One of Ireland’s most treasured musical ensembles, The Chieftains are six-time Grammy winners and incomparable instrumentalists and innovators who honor and extend the breadth and depth of traditional Irish music.
Nikolaj Busk (piano and accordion), Ale Carr (Nordic cittern), and Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (violin) view their Nordic folk roots as a point of departure rather than a fixed destination. The trio blends this adventurous attitude with outstanding musicianship to recast tradition into something startlingly original.
Dance
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Robert Battle, Artistic Director
Matthew Rushing, Associate Artistic Director
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Dance
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Robert Battle, Artistic Director
Matthew Rushing, Associate Artistic Director
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
The extraordinary dancers of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater make their first appearance on the new Hancher stage. The performance will close with Revelations, Ailey’s masterwork that is as powerful today as it was when it debuted in 1960.
Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana first picked up the alto, but an encounter with the music of Sonny Rollins led to a switch to tenor. When she was 24, she became the first female—and first South American musician—to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
Cancelled
Music | Theater
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter)
Orlando di Lasso, composer
Peter Sellars, stage director
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Music | Theater
Los Angeles Master Chorale
Lagrime di San Pietro (Tears of St. Peter)
Orlando di Lasso, composer
Peter Sellars, stage director
Saturday, March 28, 2020
A Renaissance masterpiece—depicting the grief of St. Peter after his disavowal of Christ—is brought stirringly to the concert hall by one of the country’s finest vocal ensembles. Famed director Peter Sellars crafted this dramatically staged performance piece, focusing the themes through a contemporary lens.
BEAUTIFUL – The Carole King Musical tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit songwriting team to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history. Along the way, she made more than beautiful music, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation.
Cancelled
Music
The Boston Pops On Tour
Lights, Camera…Music! Six Decades of John Williams
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
Music
The Boston Pops On Tour
Lights, Camera…Music! Six Decades of John Williams
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Tuesday, April 7, 2020
John Williams' scores for Star Wars, Schindler’s List, Harry Potter, E.T. (The Extraterrestrial), Jurassic Park, the Indiana Jones films, and many more have made him a household name. Under the baton of Keith Lockhart, the Boston Pops celebrates a nearly forty-year association with Williams.
Best known for his Emmy-winning run as Bill Nye the Science Guy, audiences revere this good-natured Renaissance Man's infectious blend of humor, intellectual curiosity, and devotion to solving some of the world's most complex challenges through science.
The members of the string quartet ETHEL and Native American artist Robert Mirabal invoked the spirit of flowing water and the power of collaboration to create The River. The work draws on influences from around the globe, reinforcing the centrality of water in all of our lives.
A collaboration with the University of Iowa College of Law. Few journalists have achieved the impact and recognition that Steve Kroft’s work has generated for 29 seasons on 60 Minutes, the most watched news program on television.
Compagnia TPO is renowned for interactive performances that bring children into the art—not as a gimmick, but as a central part of the artistry itself. Farfalle combines dance, images, digital design, and the joy and wonder of the young people in the audience.
Cancelled
Theater
Young Emil is traveling by train when a nefarious stranger makes off with the family’s hard-won money. With projections, shadow puppets, and unerring storytelling instincts, Slingsby Theatre Company will have your kids—and you, too—cheering for Emil’s band of crime solving friends.
Perhaps the most in-demand string quartet in the world today, the Danish String Quartet stand out “not because they’re shinier or plusher or pushier than the rest,” raves The Guardian, “but because of their nimble charisma, stylish repertoire, and the way their light and grainy shading can turn on a dime.”
On a quest to bring you the best wood-fired pizza you’ve ever tasted, Maggie’s Farm Wood-Fired Pizza is bringing the ovens to Hancher for a one-of-a-kind backstage dinner.