The storied city of Djenné, a center of Islamic learning, study, and scholarship since the twelfth century, is the hometown of Bamako-based photographer Hamdia Traoré (b. 1992, Mali). The thirty portr...

On August 5, 2015, the rupture of the abandoned Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado, released more than three million gallons of toxic wastewater into the Animas River, turning its waters a shocki...

By Caryl Churchill Directed by Claire Bauman  Someone sneezes. Someone can’t get a signal. Someone won’t answer the door. Someone put an elephant on the stairs. Someone’s not ready to talk. Someone is...

By Sherry Kramer Directed by Rosalind Faires  Two women find that they have everything in common until the death of a brother drives them apart. Part stand-up comedy, part stand-up tragedy for two. Th...

By Caridad Svich Based on the novel by Julia Alvarez Directed by Mariana Parejo Molinares  Known as “The Butterflies,” the spirited and courageous Mirabal sisters inspired a fight for freedom in the D...

Joachim Schamberger, director; Christopher Allen, conductor; Yelisey (Eli) Zelman, graduate assistant conductor; Northwestern University Chamber Orchestra  A courtesan and mistress of the wealthy Ramb...

Part of the Skyline Piano Artist Series Winner of the Gold Medal at the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Aristo Sham is a laureate of international competitions, with first-prize wins...

Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort, conductors The Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort ensembles continue the celebration of the Miles Davis centennial with a selection of boundary-pushing compositions by the ...

With a reputation for producing some of the world’s finest young instrumentalists and vocalists, the Bienen School of Music showcases top students in the final rounds of this year’s solo competition. 

Join curator Uche Okpa-Iroha, the 2026 Block Museum Curatorial Graduate Fellow and Art History doctoral student, for an interactive conversation on how making use of research library collections (in t...

Derrick Gardner, conductor; Ari Hoenig, drums The Jazz Orchestra welcomes guest drummer Ari Hoenig for their first concert of the spring quarter. Dubbed a “postbop daredevil” (Time Out New York) for w...

Andrew Megill, A. J. Keller, and Robert Taylor, conductors Combined Bienen School choirs and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble join forces for a unique collaboration exploring music of awe, reverence, and f...

Shawn Vondran, conductor The centerpiece of the Symphonic Band’s first spring concert is Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (orchestrated by Maurice Ravel and transcribed for band by Paul L...

Darius Hampton and Joe Clark, conductors Saxophonist, bandleader, and composer John Coltrane is among the most influential figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. He began his career wo...

Each spring the Block Museum is pleased to present the work of the Masters of Fine Arts candidates in the Department of Art Theory & Practice. This year's exhibition, We can make any two stories touch...

She-e Wu, director An evening of eclectic rhythms.

A program of new works by Bienen School student composers.

Part of Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel Jeffrey Siegel, piano  Siegel closes the 2025-26 season of Keyboard Conversations with uplifting, buoyant works of Bach, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Schuma...

Marguerite Lynn Williams, director; Lynn Koschnitzke, Marin Trendel, and Madeleine Worrall, harp Solo and chamber works for harp by Damase, Debussy, Grandjany, Liszt, Renié, and Still.

By Sherry Kramer Directed by Rosalind Faires  Two women find that they have everything in common until the death of a brother drives them apart. Part stand-up comedy, part stand-up tragedy for two. Th...

Part of the Segovia Classical Guitar Series “with sparkle, clarity, and flair.” —New York Sun  Xuefei Yang’s artistic journey began after China’s Cultural Revolution, during which Western music and in...

Adam Unsworth, director A program of works by American composers, including Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story Suite featuring Bienen student soloists

Darius Hampton, conductor; Thaddeus Tukes, vibraphone The Jazz Ensemble showcases the innovators of the jazz vibraphone with a program including music by Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, and Gary Burton....

Zachary Good ('23 DMA) is the clarinetist of Eighth Blackbird, a member of Ensemble Dal Niente, and a founding co-artistic director and member of performance collective Mocrep. He has frequently perfo...

Hamdia Traoré’s “Des marabouts de Djenné” and Muslim Portraiture in Mali presents rare insight into the Qur’anic schools of Mali, and their esteemed teachers.  In this public program presented in dial...

Daniel J. Farris, conductor Director of Athletic Bands Daniel J. Farris conducts his final concert after 26 years at Northwestern, where he led the “Wildcat” Marching Band and Concert Band. Prior to h...

Anne Waller, director Music for guitar soloists, small ensembles, and full ensemble.

Stephen Alltop, conductor; Millar Choir and soloists; Baroque Music Ensemble The Millar Choir and Baroque Music Ensemble join forces for a jubilant concert of Baroque masterworks for soloists, choir, ...

Reed Capshaw, director Music written and arranged for trombones.

This webinar will provide an introduction to wall drawings conceived by Sol LeWitt (American, 1928-2007), with attention to how they are made and why the artist pursued this form of artmaking.  Sol Le...

Robert Taylor, conductor; Imran Amarshi and Michael Witt, graduate assistant conductors The Symphonic Wind Ensemble presents an evening of musical storytelling, where familiar legends and new tales co...

Ben Bolter, Alan Pierson, and Shihan Jin, conductors Music by Bienen students Matthew Mailman and Jianing Yang receives world premieres. Also featured is splitting to collapse by Bienen professor Kell...

The 2026 Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition We can make any two stories touch will be on view at the Block Museum from May 8-June 14, 2026.  The five international artists in the show, Lamia Abukha...

Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort, conductors The Derrick Gardner and Kevin Fort ensembles share new compositions and arrangements by jazz studies students.

Shawn Vondran, conductor The Symphonic Band’s second spring-quarter concert takes as its focal point George Gershwin’s Catfish Row: Symphonic Suite from Porgy and Bess, arranged for band by Donald Hun...

Donald Schleicher, conductor; Lena Ying-Ting Wong, graduate assistant conductor; Hiu Sing Fan, violin (Northwestern Concerto Competition winner) The program opens with Wagner’s romantic and sweeping P...

Luis Aguilar, graduate conductor; Lena Ying-Ting Wong and Shihan Jin, graduate assistant conductors  W. A. Mozart, Overture to Don Giovanni, K. 527  Gabriel Fauré, Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op. 80  ...

Ari Carillo, conductor Sacred and secular songs of hope, light, and comfort, by composers ranging from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi and J. S. Bach to Craig Hella Johnson and Caroline Shaw. Dolly Parton...

Darius Hampton and Joe Clark, conductors The Darius Hampton and Joe Clark ensembles share original compositions and arrangements by jazz studies students.

Derrick Gardner, conductor The Jazz Orchestra finishes the spring quarter with a concert highlighting fresh compositions and arrangements by jazz studies students and faculty.

Andrew Megill and A. J. Keller, conductors; Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble, University Chorale, University Singers, and Northwestern Camerata The combined Bienen choral ensembles present one...