The Cook-Off

SEPT 18 | 7:30 PM

SEPT 19 | 5 PM

In this new opera, chefs face off in a televised cooking contest preparing one of America’s favorite comfort foods: macaroni and cheese. But the ensuing tensions are far from comforting as the cutthroat competition reveals deeper truths about food, culture, and history.

Performed at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater

Fall Ballet

OCT 2, 3 | 7:30 PM

OCT 3 | 2 PM

Venerable faculty member Christian Claessens’ world-premiere creation with our own Jacobs Percussion Department gets things off to a pulsating start before the waltzing rhythms of Glinka and the strains of Beethoven commandeer the soundtrack for this inspiring evening of dance.

And, as if one world premiere was not enough, the newest work from a guest choreographer created with the students of our Ballet Department will be unveiled!

The Tender Land

OCT 17 | 7:30 PM

OCT 18 | 3 PM

Considered one of Copland’s finest scores and his only full-length opera, this piece was inspired by James Agee and Walker Evans’ book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Set in the Depression-era Midwest, it tells the story of an isolated girl who, on the eve of high-school graduation, must decide how to live her life.

Jazz Celebration

OCT 24 | 7:30 PM

Milestone: 100 Years of Davis and Coltrane

The year 2026 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the births of trumpeter Miles Davis and saxophonist John Coltrane, two of the biggest icons in the history of jazz and twentieth-century music. Join Jacobs jazz faculty and students as they pay homage to these two American legends.

Idomeneo

NOV 14 | 7:30 PM

NOV 15 | 3 PM

After King Idomeneo returns to Crete from the Trojan War, the high-stakes consequences of a desperate deal he struck with Neptune for safe passage reveal themselves when he must choose between his own son, Idamante, and the vow he made to the sea god, further complicated as Idamante is loved by both the Trojan princess Ilia and the jealous Greek princess Elettra.

But when divine wrath is incurred, Idamante and Ilia prove their worth, prompting Neptune’s mercy.

Mainstage in Concert – Circus Maximus

NOV 17 | 7:30 PM

John Corigliano’s massive 2005 work for large concert band is known for its intensity and theatricality as it stretches the boundaries of the wind ensemble.

Interested in immersing the audience, both spatially and metaphorically, Corigliano employs a number of techniques, and places the audience as if they were at the center of an arena, such as ancient Rome’s Circus Maximus.

The Nutcracker

DEC 4, 11, 12 | 7:30 PM

DEC 5, 6, 12 | 2 PM

Viewers across the country applauded this contemporary take on the classic ballet featuring the iconic score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky when it aired nationally on American Public Television last season.

Join Marie on her incredible adventure as she learns that magic is everywhere—even in a seemingly ordinary wooden nutcracker.

The Snowy Day

FEB 4 | 10:30 AM • FEB 5 | 7:30 PM

FEB 6 | 5 PM • FEB 7 | 3 PM

A young boy wakes to find his world magically transformed overnight—blanketed in fresh, glittering snow. Ezra Jack Keats’ 1962 book is a joyful, wonder-filled adventure through the city streets that became an equally delightful opera: the tale of Peter’s first snow day on his own.

The Snowy Day had its world premiere in 2018, following a long trajectory of a book that featured a Black child as its hero at a time when such representation in children’s literature was rare.

Stardust Turns 100: A Celebration of Hoagy Carmichael

FEB 13 | 7:30 PM

Bloomington native and IU alumnus Hoagy Carmichael wrote his legendary “Stardust” in 1927, recording it at the fabled Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana: the first of its over 1,500 recordings and the first of his 50 hit records.

This season, the Singing Hoosiers and the Jazz Studies Department join forces to celebrate the centenary of this iconic song and the man who wrote it.

The Merry Wives of Windsor

MAR 6 | 7:30 PM

MAR 7 | 3 PM

Sir John Falstaff, a notoriously drunk and womanizing has-been knight, tries to court two married women for his financial advantage. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page decide to teach the old sot a lesson, and he is the victim of a series of pranks, first by them, and then by the whole town, until he finally sees the light.

This brilliant comic romp is faithful to Shakespeare’s original story while set to fabulous music.

Spring Ballet

APR 2, 3 | 7:30 PM

APR 3 | 2 PM

An excerpt from one of the world’s most celebrated ballets opens this delightful program, followed by a world premiere from Jacobs’ own Michael Vernon and what The New York Times calls “surely the most comedic ballet in existence.”

Plus, the staging of a work for the first time outside of New York City Ballet!

Singing Hoosiers Spring Concert

APR 10 | 7:30 PM

APR 10, 11 | 2 PM

With over 90 student singers and instrumentalists from the Jacobs School of Music as well as representing over 25 majors from across the Bloomington campus, this dynamic group has been setting the bar for the performance of popular song since 1950. Make plans now to show up and watch them show out!

Performed in Auer Hall

Madama Butterfly

APR 16, 17, 24 | 7:30 PM

APR 25 | 3 PM

A young Japanese woman, who converts to Christianity, marries an American naval officer and then waits for his return—only to discover he has taken an American wife and intends to claim their child.

The opera stages, with extraordinary musical beauty, the systematic destruction of a woman who has surrendered everything—her religion, her family, her cultural identity—to a man who regards her as little more than a temporary domestic arrangement.

Mainstage in Concert - Elijah

APR 20 | 7:30 PM

Scored for eight vocal soloists, full symphony orchestra, and large chorus, this oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn depicts events in the life of the prophet Elijah from the Book of Kings.

Considered a “Classicizing Romantic” who blended Romantic emotionalism with classical structural precision and Baroque counterpoint, Mendelssohn chose Elijah’s story to work within an ordered yet emotionally charged aesthetic, striving to make Elijah a realistic human, rather than an aloof saint.

Mainstage in Concert - Berlioz Requiem

MAY 1 | 7:30 PM

When the French government commissioned him to write a requiem mass for the anniversary of the 1830 July Revolution, Berlioz completed Grande Messe des morts (the Requiem), Op. 5 in three months.

He wanted to create a profound shared experience, such as “mankind gathered together on the last day,” he wrote, where the listener would be “shaken to the depths of his soul.” The 400-plus performers at the premiere would certainly have accomplished that.