The second season in the University of Iowa’s new Hancher Auditorium also will be the organization’s 45th anniversary season. The celebratory lineup features an array of world-class performers who will contribute to the artistic conversation on campus, in the community, and across the state.
At the heart of the 2017–18 Hancher season is the Embracing Complexity project, a multidisciplinary approach to building understanding of contemporary Islamic cultures and Muslim identity. Artists will be in residence and will work with partners on and off campus on a range of activities, including performances, classes, exhibits, discussions, and lectures. The project also will document and explore the experiences of Muslims in eastern Iowa through sharing of local stories and oral histories.
Hancher donors at the $1,000 level and above can order tickets immediately using the order form in the season brochure. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on July 7.
West Music is the season sponsor for the 2017–18 Hancher season, which also is supported by more than 160 Hancher Partners and gifts to the Hancher Circle through the UI Foundation. A complete list of Hancher Partners can be found on the Hancher website.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in these programs, please contact the Hancher Box Office at 319-335-1158.
Embracing Complexity artists include Niyaz’s The Fourth Light Project; a lecture by novelist, memoirist, and comics creator G. Willow Wilson (in collaboration with the Iowa City Book Festival and the UI Center for Human Rights, among others); Amir ElSaffar and Rivers of Sound; Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic; and Zeshan Bagewadi and the Transistors (a collaboration with Summer of the Arts). The project is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Professionals—Building Bridges: Arts, Culture, and Identity, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.
Firsts and favorites
For the first time ever, Hancher will present the famed New York City Ballet MOVES in a performance featuring Iowa City native Miriam Miller. In addition, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one of most respected orchestras in the world, will perform at Hancher for the first time since 1982.
The season opens in late August with Club Hancher performances of Monica Bill Barnes & Co.’s Happy Hour, a unique dance experience in Hancher’s Strauss Hall. Ethan Lipton will return to Club Hancher with three different shows over two nights. The Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha also will take to the Club Hancher stage.
September will feature a lecture by famed journalist Cokie Roberts (in collaboration with the UI College of Law’s Levitt Lecture Series and the UI Lecture Series), a free outdoor performance by original Hamilton cast member Leslie Odom Jr., and a black-tie optional gala featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis.
Three Broadway shows and two circuses are on the schedule. Musicals include The King and I, Motown: The Musical, and Kinky Boots. The two circuses are Flip FabriQue performing Catch Me! and Circa performing Carnival of the Animals and Opus.
Other dance performances will include Camille A. Brown & Dancers performing ink and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan performing Formosa. Cloud Gate founder Lin Hwai-min holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
The classical music lineup is quite diverse and includes violinist Joshua Bell with pianist Alessio Bax; A Far Cry performing The Blue Hour with vocalist Luciana Souza (a Hancher commission); the Elias String Quartet (a collaboration with the UI String Quartet Residency Program); and My Lai, performed by the Kronos Quartet, UI alumnus Rinde Eckert, and Vân Ánh Vanessa Võ.
Related story
Longtime Hancher tradition returns as Youth Art Show puts community's creativity on display
Jazz artists include trumpeter Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective and the Billy Childs Quartet. Hancher holiday performances include a cappella group Straight No Chaser, as well as Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy’s A Celtic Family Christmas. Latin band La Santa Cecilia will bring its music from Los Angeles, and Taylor Mac will return to perform A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Abridged). Brian Stokes Mitchell, star of stage and screen, will perform with the UI Symphony Orchestra.
Hancher again will collaborate with Mission Creek Festival in April. Artists for that collaboration will be announced at a later date.
On Thursdays throughout the season, beginning Aug. 24, the Stanley Café in Hancher Auditorium will be open to the public from 5 to 7:30 p.m. These casual events will occur whether or not there is a performance that evening. Appetizers and beverages will be available for purchase.
Hancher again will present four Culinary Arts events throughout the season, featuring unique menus from Northside Bistro, Baroncini Ristorante, Orchard Green Restaurant and Lounge, and Trumpet Blossom Cafe. Tickets to the culinary events must be purchased in advance.
Hancher calendar of events
August
24–25 Monica Bill Barnes & Co., Happy Hour
September
13 Cokie Roberts, An Insider’s View of Washington, D.C.
14 Leslie Odom Jr.
22 The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
28 Flip FabriQue, Catch Me!
30 Niyaz, The Fourth Light Project
October
5 La Santa Cecilia
8 G. Willow Wilson, A Superhero for Generation Why
10–14 The King and I
20 Joshua Bell, violin; Alessio Bax, piano
24–25 New York City Ballet MOVES
27 Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, The Outer Space
28 Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, No Place to Go
27–28 Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra
November
16 A Far Cry, The Blue Hour with Luciana Souza
December
1 Terence Blanchard featuring The E-Collective
8 Straight No Chaser
13 Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, A Celtic Family Christmas
January
27 Camille A. Brown & Dancers, ink
February
2–3 Billy Childs Quartet
8 Amir ElSaffar and Rivers of Sound
25 Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, Formosa
March
1–4 Motown: The Musical
6 Elias String Quartet
21 My Lai—Kronos Quartet, Rinde Eckert, Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ
28 Brian Stokes Mitchell with University Symphony Orchestra
April
4 Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic
3–8 Mission Creek Festival
13–15 Kinky Boots
19 DakhaBrakha
21 Circa, Carnival of the Animals
25 Circa, Opus
28 Taylor Mac, A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Abridged)
May
6 Chicago Symphony Orchestra
25–26 Zeshan Bagewadi and the Transistors