Hancher welcomes back our entire community for a free music festival-style event on our front lawn. The event opens with Reyna Tropica and ends with Cory Wong. Dawes is the headliner for this event.
A former Acting Solicitor General of the United States and the only minority attorney to have argued as many as 45 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, Neal Katyal will share fascinating stories about the inner workings of the nation’s highest court.
Chaka Khan brings her irresistible charisma and her sparkling catalog of hits—including “Sweet Thing,” “You Got the Love,” “I Feel For You,” and “Tell Me Something Good”—to the Hancher stage for an unmissable night of celebration.
Guitarist Julian Lage brings a top-shelf quintet—including Dave King on drums and Jorge Roeder on bass—to Club Hancher for two sets featuring music from Speak to Me, his fourth Blue Note album.
Music
Julia Bullock and Conor Hanick
Olivier Messiaen's Harawi (Chant d'amour et de mort)
Friday, September 20, 2024
Music
Julia Bullock and Conor Hanick
Olivier Messiaen's Harawi (Chant d'amour et de mort)
Friday, September 20, 2024
Pianist/composer Conrad Tao and dancer/choreographer Caleb Teicher explore harmonic, rhythmic, and theatrical counterpoints through a striking blend of sound and movement.
John Moreland's musical elixir of Americana and alt-country is spiced with flavors of country, the blues, and rock-n-roll. With lyrics at once introspective and universal, Moreland invites everyone to join him as he pursues elusive answers to timeless questions.
Music | Festival
Music | Festival
Meshell Ndegeocello
No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin
Thursday, September 26, 2024
Ndegeocello and her funky, bluesy, soulful, hip-hop inflected band delve deeply into the author’s message and spirit in his centenary.
Hari Kondabolu is a comedian you can find on all the best “best of” lists. His high-wattage intelligence, and his hard-hitting punchlines come together to hilarious effect each time he steps on stage.
As part of “Infinite Dream,” Patti Smith will read from her acclaimed poetry at The Englert Theatre.
A mix of comedy, cabaret, circus, drag, dance, music, and magic, Stamptown is completely different every time the troupe takes the stage. Hosted by Zach Zucker—a clown with a reputation—Stamptown is a see-it-to-believe-it spectacle.
A new collaboration connecting two top-flight musicians.
Patti Smith stoked the spirit of punk music, pulling out soul and guts and complexity and landscape and language. As part of “Infinite Dream,” Smith will read from her acclaimed poetry at The Englert Theatre (Friday, September 27) and perform with her band (Saturday, September 28) at Hancher Auditorium.
Free
Music
Steven Schick A Hard Rain: The Case for Complex Music
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Music
Steven Schick A Hard Rain: The Case for Complex Music
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Steven Schick will present a lecture and recital that explores the importance of engaging with complex music.
Music
Music
Brooklyn Rider
Temples of Resonance: The String Quartets of Philip Glass
Thursday, October 3, 2024
Brooklyn Rider rode into the universe of exceptional string quartets 20 years ago, bringing rock star energy to classical and contemporary music. The quartet’s “Temples of Resonance” program features four of Philip Glass’s sparkling works, including String Quartet No. 5.
Free
Music | Lecture
Steven Schick Born in Iowa: The Iowa Legacy of Contemporary Music
Part of the Steven Schick Residency (Lecture & Recital)
Friday, October 4, 2024
Music | Lecture
Steven Schick Born in Iowa: The Iowa Legacy of Contemporary Music
Part of the Steven Schick Residency (Lecture & Recital)
Friday, October 4, 2024
Schick reflects on the rich history of contemporary music at the University of Iowa. Alongside this rumination, he'll play virtuosic solo percussion pieces that received early and important performances here in Iowa City.
Free
Music
Concert: Steven Schick with Iowa Percussion
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Saturday, October 5, 2024
Music
Concert: Steven Schick with Iowa Percussion
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Saturday, October 5, 2024
In celebration of Steve Schick’s residency, Iowa Percussion will present a gala concert.
Steven Schick will explore the music of John Luther Adams and the ways contemporary music engages the natural world and works to raise climate-consciousness.
Inuksuit comes to Iowa City where Schick will be joined by nearly a hundred percussionists from around the Midwest to celebrate this music and its legacy.
Free
Music
Steven Schick with UI Center for New Music Sinfonietta
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Music
Steven Schick with UI Center for New Music Sinfonietta
Part of the Steven Schick Residency
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Steve Schick will perform with the Center for New Music Ensemble for the first time in nearly three decades, in a program featuring two major compositions which will bring together acoustic and electronic media.
The University of Iowa Department of Dance presents a rich program of both new and restaged works by faculty members and creative collaborators. Co-produced by the University of Iowa Department of Dance and Performing Arts Production Unit.
Music | Film
Marc Ribot, “Aelita: Queen of Mars” (1924)
Film with live score performed by Marc Ribot
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Music | Film
Marc Ribot, “Aelita: Queen of Mars” (1924)
Film with live score performed by Marc Ribot
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Marc Ribot will perform his score for Yakov Protazanov’s pioneering sci-fi film “Aelita: Queen of Mars” as part of the ReFocus Film Festival.
Free
Literature
Literature
Marc Ribot
Reading from "Unstrung: Rants & Stories of a Noise Guitarist"
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Ribot will read from his book Unstrung: Rants & Stories of a Noise Guitarist as part of the Iowa City Book Festival. Note: the Iowa City Book Festival event will be free and open to the public.
Spanning classical, romantic, and contemporary music, Flemming offers a live and affecting soundtrack to a film about life itself. In the second half of the program, Fleming will perform music by Fauré, Grieg, Puccini, Jerome Kern, and Andrew Lippa.
Music
Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson
Unplugged, including excerpts from Mexodus
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Music
Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson
Unplugged, including excerpts from Mexodus
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
In this Club Hancher performance, Quijada and Robinson will play an acoustic concert that includes songs from a hip-hop remix highlighting Black and Brown unity and telling the story of those who used the Underground Railroad to escape to Mexico rather than the northern United States.
The company’s Hancher debut will feature “Bach 25,” set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and “STAR DUST,” a dazzling love letter to David Bowie set to his music and reveling in his colorful and energetic imagination.
Hancher audiences love to bring in the holiday season with the inimitable style of Straight No Chaser. Unwrap the gift of impeccable a cappella as the guys sing not only holiday favorites but their beautifully blended arrangements of popular hits.
Club Hancher hosts day one of a two-day celebration of spoken word and its power to bear witness, create community, and inspire change.
Misfit comedian Gary Gulman welcomes you to Club Hancher with his "Misfit Stand Up Tour."
Nduduzo Makhathini creates ambitious music that is at once an act of cultural reclamation and a revelatory blending of technique and creativity. A leading light of South African jazz infuses the sounds of his culture with the influence of McCoy Tyner.
A Mexican-American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist sings of love, heartbreak, and rising rents. As La Doña, San Francisco-born Cecilia Cassandra Peña-Govea composes songs that explore radical brown femininity and blend the sounds of the Caribbean, reggaeton, and hip-hop.
Music
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
with Stéphane Denève, music director, & Behzod Abduraimov, piano
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Music
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
with Stéphane Denève, music director, & Behzod Abduraimov, piano
Sunday, November 17, 2024
America’s second oldest symphony orchestra—and one of its finest—presents an exploration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s music under the baton of self-described “bon vivant” Stéphane Denève.
A celebration of the music of Hancher's 2024–2025 composer-in-residence—featuring the composer herself. Embracing improvisation, PUBLIQuartet mixes genres while shining a light on American multiculturalism.
Old Crow Medicine Show continues to explore sounds both old and new, foreign and familiar, and keep bringing audiences to their feet night after night.
The members of JACK Quartet—champions of contemporary music and musicians of prodigious talent—return to play compositions by John Luther Adams and Elliott Carter.
DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the first musical to take a groundbreaking look—from the point of view of both the parents and young people—at our complex, interconnected, and social media-filled lives.
Cécile McLorin Salvant is always exploring and charting new paths. A vocalist of startling gifts, she seems to unveil some new facet of her artistry with each project and collaboration.
As part of the 60th anniversary tour of Twyla Tharp Dance, Twyla Tharp’s “Diabelli” returns home so Hancher patrons can once again revel in the composer and choreographer’s conversation, which includes vocabulary from an array of dance styles including ballet, jazz, modern, social, and street.
Leyla McCalla’s music is a potent amalgam of history and mastery. Her music balances the heavy and the light and draws from sources across the African diaspora—including Afrobeat, Ethiopian modalities, Brazilian Tropicalismo, American blues, and Haitian folk music.
Perhaps best known as a trumpeter, Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer who has not only rethought the foundations of music, but also the techniques for making that music.
Together Ax and McGill will present a perfect mix of music for the two instruments—including a work by Jessie Montgomery, Hancher’s 2024–2025 composer-in-residence.
Music
The Crossing
Donald Nally, Music Director
Featuring the University of Iowa's Kantorei
Thursday, February 13, 2025
Music
The Crossing
Donald Nally, Music Director
Featuring the University of Iowa's Kantorei
Thursday, February 13, 2025
The Crossing and the UI choir Kantorei will perform together at the top of concert and music director Donald Nally will lead The Crossing in the performance of Lang’s “poor hymnal.”
Cyrille Aimée has perfected the intermingling of a host of traditions and styles—including the irrepressible dance rhythms of her mother’s Caribbean heritage, the vibrant and varied sounds of New Orleans and New York, the immediacy of pop music, and the accessible sophistication of jazz.
Zainab Johnson’s comedy is based on her unique point-of-view, which was shaped as she was growing up in Harlem as one of 13 siblings in a black Muslim family. She debuted on late night on NBC's “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and was one of “Variety's Top 10 Comics to Watch for 2019.”
Music
Ben LaMar Gay Ensemble and Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few
featuring Jimeta Rose
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Music
Ben LaMar Gay Ensemble and Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few
featuring Jimeta Rose
Saturday, February 22, 2025
Hancher and Feed Me Weird Things present a totally unique evening of music and food.
“Touch of RED” is the beautiful new entry in Pitts’s and TRIBE’s ongoing Red Series, which explores Black multiplicity and human connection. “Touch of RED” is a duet for Black men who come together in a boxing ring—not for a display of aggression but rather for an exploration of vulnerability, effeminacy, and healing.
MEAN GIRLS is the hilarious hit musical from book writer Tina Fey. The story of a naïve newbie who falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies, MEAN GIRLS “delivers with immense energy, a wicked sense of humor and joyful inside-jokery.” (USA Today)
The company that carries forward the name of master modern dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey is—to put it simply—simply breathtaking.
The Jerusalem Quartet brings an evening of Dmitri Shostakovich’s searingly intense music to Hancher’s intimate onstage experience. The ensemble will perform two Shostakovich quartets in the first concert and two different quartets by the composer in the second concert.
Theater
The Acting Company
August Wilson's Two Trains Running
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown
Friday, March 28, 2025
Theater
The Acting Company
August Wilson's Two Trains Running
Directed by Lili-Anne Brown
Friday, March 28, 2025
Founded in 1972 by John Houseman and Margot Harley from the first graduating class of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School, The Acting Company has launched the careers of some 400 actors, while bringing high quality professional theater to hundreds of communities from coast to coast.
Shakespeare’s quintessential comedy, this farcical tale of separated families and mistaken identities delights audiences young and old. Antipholus and his servant, Dromio, travel in search of a long-lost family member, only to get mixed up in a madcap race against the clock, love-at-first-double-take, run-ins with local law enforcement, and double trouble—times two.
Gaby Moreno’s approach to Latin Americana has won her an avid audience—and has opened doors for other voices that don’t necessarily sound like the mainstream. Moreno demonstrates just how astonishing those voices can be.
Sean Mason composes and performs highly melodic, wholly infectious music. Branford Marsalis, a jazz legend, has praised Sean’s musicality. His debut record, “The Southern Suite,” is a roadmap to his music—a map that should lead you to his Club Hancher performances.
The champion of chamber orchestras and a virtuosic violinist come together for a program of Baroque and Classical masterworks.
In the Hancher co-commissioned work “ROBESOИ,” Tines grapples with the legacy of the famed Paul Robeson—a singer, activist, and political exile.
In “Recital No. 1: MASS,” Tines offers a program of spiritual and intellectual exploration. Tines envisions his work as stretching the boundaries of what classical music can be—and what impact it can have on an audience.
The second opportunity of the season to experience Third Coast Percussion (performs with Twyla Tharp Dance) and Jessie Montgomery (performs with PUBLIQuartet), our 2024–2025 composer-in-residence. The dynamic program showcases Montgomery's enviable excellence as a visionary creator and virtuosic performer.
Since Riverdance first emerged onto the world stage, its fusion of Irish and international dance and music has captured the hearts of millions worldwide.
An uplifting comeback story like no other, TINA − The Tina Turner Musical is the inspiring journey of a woman who broke barriers and became the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Explore Performing Arts At Iowa's 2024–2025 season