A remarkable array of events unfolds across the University of Iowa’s campus from late-summer 2024 to early-spring 2025. Events include 80+ artist engagements at Hancher Auditorium, a five-play mainstage series at the Department of Theatre Arts, a range of student and visiting artist works at the Department of Dance, and an ongoing calendar of free performances at the School of Music’s Voxman Music Building. These events will welcome world-renowned artists and celebrate faculty and student work—all in service to the UI campus, the surrounding community, and the performing arts field.
Together, this work exemplifies the university’s Performing Arts at Iowa collaboration among Hancher, the School of Music, the Department of Dance, the Department of Theatre Arts, and the Performing Arts Production Unit.
Tickets for Hancher’s 2024-2025 season will go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 29 at 10 a.m. Tickets for Dance, Music, and Theatre Arts department events go on sale Monday, August 19 at 10 a.m.
“This upcoming season reflects our continued evolution into one of the most dynamic performing arts campuses in America,” said André Perry, executive director of the UI’s Hancher Auditorium and the Office of Performing Arts and Engagement. “These performances highlight myriad perspectives in the professional arts landscape as well as the voices of tomorrow through the incredible amount of student and faculty work featured on our collective stages.”
Hancher’s 52nd season includes the previously announced Broadway series, the return of Riverdance in its 30th year, the second edition of the Infinite Dream festival, and a robust lineup of dance, music, and theater events. The intimate Club Hancher series expands to 13 performances featuring jazz, alternative music, and stand-up comedy presented in the 180-seat capacity Strauss Hall at Hancher Auditorium. Chamber music and recital events take place in an intimate setup where audiences and artists share space on the grand Hadley Stage.
Hancher season highlights include the free, outdoors Fall Welcome Concert featuring Cory Wong, Dawes, and Reyna Tropical; a concert by the legendary Chaka Kahn; cultural icon Patti Smith as the keynote performer at the Infinite Dream festival; a new collaboration by Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham; a week of events with internationally-acclaimed percussionist and UI School of Music alumnus Steven Schick; dance performances by Twyla Tharp Dance Company (staging a Hancher commission) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre; The Acting Company performing plays by August Wilson and William Shakespeare; and large-ensemble classical programs by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
The UI Department of Dance will present its annual Dance Gala at Hancher Auditorium featuring UI faculty and students. The department will also share its fall performance, E/Merge, in collaboration with residents of the International Writing Program.
Highlights from the UI School of Music include its fall and spring operas (Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and a double feature of Donizetti’s Rita and Gounod’s La colombe), the annual Band Extravaganza, and an ongoing schedule of recitals and ensemble work featuring 365+ free annual concerts in the Voxman Music Building. Additionally, the UI School of Music and Hancher will collaborate on a series of touring chamber ensemble presentations through its String Quartet Residency Program, an engagement with Steven Schick and UI Percussion, and a performance with touring choral group The Crossing and Kantorei, the UI’s own choral group.
The Department of Theatre Arts will host five mainstage theater productions including Marie Antoinette—written by former Iowa Playwrights Workshop student David Adjmi who won a 2024 Tony Award for his play Stereophonic. The mainstage productions feature Theatre Arts students on stage and behind the scenes supported by industry-leading creative and technical theater faculty and Performing Arts Production Unit staff.
Perry said, “Through our upcoming 2024-2025 performances we continue our commitment to hosting world-class artists and nurturing the next generation of creative thinkers, makers, and performers. It all adds up to a campus and community with an electrifying culture—a place where it feels like something is happening wherever you go.”
The Hancher Box Office provides ticketing services for all Performing Arts at Iowa events. The box office is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Tickets can be purchased in person or by phone (319-335-1100 or 800-HANCHER) during those hours. Tickets are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week at hancher.uiowa.edu and hbotix.hancher.uiowa.edu. All patrons are encouraged to ensure they are at one of those two websites—and no others—when purchasing tickets online.
Explore the full listing of events at performingarts.uiowa.edu/events.