SHUFFLE ALONG Reunion Concert and More Set for Lincoln Center’s 26/27 Season

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has revealed its upcoming Fall/Spring season. Complementing the artistry of the ten resident organizations with whom LCPA shares the Lincoln Center campus, the season is anchored by a number of major initiatives drawing connections across genres and generations, including the Lincoln Center Visionary Artist series, Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival, and Legacies of San Juan Hill Festival. 

Longstanding series return, including American Songbook, Big Umbrella Festival, ¡VAYA!, Lincoln Center Moments, and more. Newer series deepen commitment to contemporary artistry, including Lincoln Center Immersive, Festival of Firsts, Unsound New York, Under the Radar, and a sweep of global programming for kids and families. Relaxed performances across the campus are available for all, especially welcoming people who are neurodivergent or families with young children. 

The institution’s expanded commitment to contemporary dance continues with the first January edition of the Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival, alongside additional presentations that engage with contemporary dance across cultures, including Jacqulyn Buglisi’s Table of Silence Project 9/11 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of 9/11; Aszure Barton and Ambrose Akinmusire’s A a | a B : B E N D; an evening honoring the legacy of Carmen De Lavallade with dancers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theatre of Harlem; and more. 

The 26/27 season marks five years for Shanta Thake as Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, having begun her tenure just as the industry was coming out of the pandemic in the fall of 2021.  In her time with Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, she has established multiple artist residencies and fellowships; spearheaded major collaborations including the Anthem to US  project with Brooklyn Public Library and in collaboration with composers Damien L. Sneed, Jaime Lozano, Martha Redbone, and Aaron Whitby; led the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*) Lincoln Center debut and most ambitious Run AMOC* Festival to date with 10 New York premieres across 12 productions; and catalyzed more than 50 new works and commissions across genres from internationally celebrated artists—all within a framework of access, belonging, and purposefully designed experiences that create close connections between artists and audiences. Commission highlights include: 

Island Prayers by David Balakrishnan, Terence Blanchard, Rhiannon Giddens, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (2023)

Soundcake: Aural Confections by Sapphira Cristál and Monét X Change (2024)

The Dream Machine Experience by Nona Hendryx (2024)

He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing by Hannah Kendall (2024)

Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra… And Their Orchestra (2024)

City of Floating Sounds by Huang Ruo (2024)

Collective Body by Sarah Silverblatt-Buser (2025)

A More Perfect Union by Billy Childs (2026)

Declaration by Lara Downes (2026)

Change Thy Course by Hannah Ishizaki (2026)

Urban Love Suite by Sekou McMiller (2026)

These Righteous Paths by Jessie Montgomery (2026)

PLAZA by Andrew Schneider (2026)

Empire at Sea by Peter Flaherty (2027)

Groundbreaking trumpeter, composer, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Founder Wynton Marsalis honored as Lincoln Center Visionary Artist, with programs spanning musical traditions.

The Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival returns for its first winter season as part of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance with a focus on U.S.-based companies in world and New York premieres, featuring works from choreographers Hannah Garner, Omar Román De Jesús, Heidi Latsky, Shamel Pitts, and Netta Yerushalmy.

The Legacies of San Juan Hill Festival celebrates the artistry of the historic neighborhood, anchored this fall by In Concert: Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed from George C. Wolfe’s acclaimed 2016 Broadway production and featuring a score by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle who premiered the original in 1921 at the 63rd Street Music Hall. The 2016 cast and creative team return for one night only, featuring Brooks Ashmanskas, Brandon Victor Dixon, Norm Lewis, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, and Adrienne Warren; direction by George C. Wolfe; and choreography by Savion Glover.

Multiple artist-led initiatives that foreground the arts and technology, including Lincoln Center Immersive featuring works with Peter Flaherty, Craig Quintero & Phoebe Greenberg, Andrew Schneider, and Yuja Wang and the third class of Collider Fellows begin a nine-month residency exploring how technology can enhance and deepen in-person performing arts experiences

The Heartbeat Summit brings together artists, scientists, and health professionals to celebrate the power of the arts to support mental health, physical wellbeing, and human connection.

Additional highlights include: Artist-in-Residence Clint Ramos curating American Songbook, exploring the perpetually unfinished and eternally evolving landscape of American music and storytelling; the Big Umbrella Festival, designed with and for neurodiverse audiences; multiple series in the David Rubenstein Atrium dedicated to genres from around the globe; an international roster of family performances for children from infants through teens; hands-on educational events and year-round programming for young people, educators, and Teaching Artists that build creative confidence, support artistic development, and explore the intersections of arts and civic engagement; Composer, artist, journalist, and creator of Radiolab Jad Abumrad joins as Artist-in-Residence; and much more.