The University of Iowa

Hancher

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently recognized as one of the great orchestras in the world. The musicians of the CSO command a vast repertoire that spans from Baroque to new music, thrilling audiences at home and in great concert halls across the globe. Led by conductor Semyon Bychkov, the orchestra will be joined by sisters Katia and Marielle Labèque, who are according to the New York Times—“the best piano duo in front of an audience today.”

Program:
Bruch: Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, Op. 88a

Taylor Mac

Hancher was a proud commissioner and presenter of Taylor Mac’s 1846–1856 Whitman vs. Foster: Songs Popular Near the Breaking Point, a portion of the artist’s 24-Decade History of Popular Music. Now, Mac returns with a condensed version of this magnum opus.

Circa

Opus, features fourteen acrobats creating powerful and nuanced geometries with their bodies. The performers are joined on stage by the Debussy String Quartet, and the musicians’ contributions are far more than simply playing the music.

Circa

Carnival of the Animals, inspired by composer Camille Saint-Saëns’s suite of the same name, is a delightful frolic through the animal kingdom.

DakhaBrakha – CANCELLED

The band’s name means “give-take.” The band’s members call the mix of influences “ethno-chaos.” The band’s voice is singular. Built on a base of Ukrainian folk music, the sound of DakhaBraka is equal parts old and new—a punk take on established traditions stirred together with a world of grooves.

Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots is Broadway’s huge-hearted, high-heeled hit! With songs by Grammy and Tony winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this joyous musical celebration is about the friendships we discover and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind.

Mission Creek Festival

Building on a successful collaboration in 2017, Hancher will again team up with the Mission Creek Festival to present energizing and eclectic artists in 2018. The full festival lineup—including artists performing at Hancher Auditorium—will be announced in the fall and spring.

Brian Stokes Mitchell

“The last leading man” comes to Hancher Auditorium to perform with University of Iowa student musicians under the baton of Dr. William LaRue Jones. Brian Stokes Mitchell and his trio will join the UI Symphony Orchestra, which will provide a lush setting for Stokes’s luscious voice.

My Lai

Hancher has enjoyed a long and creatively fruitful relationship with both the Kronos Quartet and Rinde Eckert. For My Lai, the string quartet and the vocalist come together with multi-instrumentalist Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ to lay bare the tragedy of the 1968 massacre at My Lai.