Summertime is upon us! Make the most of Chicago’s most exciting season with this eclectic sampling of concerts, exhibitions, and events!

Welcoming music and dance presentations from Chicago and beyond, the season runs from August 2025 to May 2026.

This March, celebrate the creativity and influence of women artists across music and beyond in these performances and events across Chicago.

Alan Gilbert conducts works by Ravel, Nielsen, and Tchaikovsky.

Chicago hosts a vibrant and eclectic mix of concerts and performances to honor Black artistry. Check out these events to take part in the celebrations!

As a dancer, choreographer, director and speaker, Judith Jamison’s distinguished career leaped over barriers of race and gender.

DePrince came to the United States from an orphanage in war-torn Sierra Leone and performed on some of the world’s biggest stages.

“I’m from the South Side, 99th and Throop. Went to school on the South Side, and then every day traveling downtown to go to ballet school. I’m really a Chicago boy, for sure.” 

Alan Gilbert conducts works by Ravel, Nielsen, and Tchaikovsky.

Summer arts riches — from open air concerts to music legends passing through our great city.

Featuring classical, jazz, blues, and other musical forms, the series spans from October to May.

Across three programs, the ensemble mines early music, prose, and jazz inspirations in performances in Chicago and its suburbs.

The lineup includes chamber performances, dance, family programming, and more.

The Loop’s “theatre for the people” presents music and dance titles from October to May.

Practicing in a bomb shelter means the girls can keeping dancing through the almost hourly air raid alerts.

The 2024-2025 programming is marked by elements of fantasy, world premieres, and the return of a Chicago holiday staple.

“It is a very simple dance… but at the same time it has an exceptional soul and one can express emotions in it in an exceptional way.”

Honor Black artistry with an entire month of exciting musical events — operas, chamber concerts, jazz orchestras, broadcasts, and more!

Recognizing the Chicagoans, musicians, artists, and friends of WFMT who died this past year.

Beloved, magical and dramatic Latin American works for dance.

Special events, dance, and more are on deck for the Auditorium.

This ain’t your average classical music dance playlist: dance along to new pieces, old grooves, treasured tangos, and winsome waltzes.

Dancers who have fled Ukraine — and Russia — due to the war have found a new temporary home in Berlin’s top ballet company, which helps with practice space, housing, even shoes.

An assortment of multimedia tributes — music, visual arts, poetry, and dance — to the monumental Civil Rights leader.

The danzón was scandalous in some circles but it eventually became the national dance of Cuba and spread to other countries in the region.