Music luminaries, newly-commissioned works, Hollywood stars and adventurous artists highlight Yale Schwarzman Center’s Spring 2025 Lineup

Most Events Free and Open to the Public!

Yale Schwarzman Center’s Spring 2025 season reflects a diversity of artistic genres and perspectives highlighted by some of today’s most vibrant artists, scientists, authors and more. From jazz superstar and 2024/25 Carnegie Hall Perspectives artist Cécile McLorin Salvant and boundary-breaking voice of social consciousness soprano Julia Bullock to Diné composer, musician, and artist Raven Chacon, Yale Schwarzman Center’s free and open programming offers unparalleled opportunities to experience powerful and boundary-pushing programs that entertain, address past and present issues, and spur timely discussions.

“With multiple new commissions, Yale Schwarzman Center continues to open doors and carve out a distinctive space as a place in which both emerging and iconic artists reflect and share the transformative power of music and creativity to ignite dialogue, foster change, and unite communities,” says Executive Director Rachel Fine. “Collaborations abound this season, as we partner with artists and organizations across campus, throughout New Haven, and around the globe, ensuring that Yale Schwarzman Center’s diverse programming honors the collective spirit that fuels and propels our bold programming lineup.”

“This spring, audiences will encounter singular artists whose work extends beyond the walls of traditional performance spaces and rigorously explores the role that the arts play in our everyday lives. Artists in the spring line-up utilize somatic practices, immersive media, astrophysics, palliative care, the culinary arts, and magic to tell meaningful personal stories, defy expectations, and create unforgettable experiences,” added Associate Artistic Director Jennifer Harrison Newman.

The spring 2025 schedule includes:

Yale Schwarzman Center Co-Commissioned Opera, The Dispossessed

Composer Ted Hearne ’08 MM, ’09 MMA and librettist Chana Porter deliver a work in progress of Yale Schwarzman Center’s co-commissioned operatic adaptation of Ursula K. Le Guin’s seminal science-fiction work “The Dispossessed” and performed by Wild Up under music director Christopher Rountree. Wild Up, celebrating its 15th anniversary, is a Los Angeles-based contemporary orchestral collective committed to creating visceral, thought-provoking concerts. “The Dispossessed” is based on the award-winning novel of the same name that depicts a future utopian society, one of seven in a series the American author wrote about civilizations of humans on nearby planets and stars. January 18, 2025. 

Cécile McLorin Salvant

Three-time Grammy Award-winner, 2020 MacArthur Fellow, and Doris Duke Award honoree, Cécile McLorin Salvant is a fearless genre-blending composer, singer, and visual artist, who is “a unique voice supported by an intelligence and full-fledged musicality, which light up every note she sings” (Jesse Norman) and “that radiates authority and delivers a set with almost a dramatic arc” (The New York Times). Salvant and her trio deliver hidden gems that span jazz, vaudeville, blues, global folk traditions, theater, and baroque. Salvant is an eclectic curator, unearthing rarely recorded, forgotten songs with strong narratives, interesting power dynamics, unexpected twists, and humor. Joining McLorin Salvant in this performance are Glenn Zaleski (piano), Yasushi Nakamura (bass) and Kyle Poole (drums). Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective launches the evening with an opening set. January 25, 2025. 

Joshua Roman, cello

Cellist and composer Joshua Roman has been hailed for his “effortlessly expressive tone… and playful zest for exploration” (The New York Times); his genre-bending programs have grown out of an “enthusiasm for musical evolution that is as contagious as his love for the classics" (The Seattle Times). At Yale Schwarzman Center, Roman will perform “Immunity” for solo cello, an intimate musical exploration of his life-altering, inspiring experience of ongoing long COVID, with music ranging from J.S. Bach to George Crumb to Caroline Shaw, as well as Roman’s own compositions.  Roman will be joined by Meghan O'Rourke, author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Invisible Kingdom” and physiotherapist, David Putrino, PhD on the 29th for a timely discussion on chronic illness. January 29 & 30, 2025.

Julia Bullock: History’s Persistent Voice with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra

Grammy Award-winning American soprano Julia Bullock brings her versatile artistry, probing intellect, and commanding stage presence to her multimedia ensemble program “History’s Persistent Voice.”  The program’s focus is on the influence of pre-Emancipation voices across generations, emphasizing that era’s poetic musical traditions while centering the multifaceted identities of the Black American experience, realized through art. These works are given new life through Bullock's powerhouse vocal renditions, far-ranging connective research, and a quintet of newly commissioned compositions crafted by an esteemed roster of American women of color that features Jessie Montgomery, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Pamela Z. and Yale School of Music alumna Carolyn Yarnell ‘89.   Additional collaborators for Bullock’s Schwarzman Center performance include fellow Grammy Award-winning conductor Christian Reif, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Tony Award-winning designer and immersive visual artist Hana S. Kim.  Produced in partnership with Tony-nominated producer ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann as part of a multi-year residency and commission series with Bryce Dessner. February 7 & 8, 2025.

Dynamic Duo: A Conversation with Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds. Moderated by Kevin McCarthy

Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds are one of Hollywood’s most dynamic duos, collaborating on three hit films (Free Guy, The Adam Project, Wolverine) since 2019 that have collectively grossed over $1.6 billion worldwide. Each of these successful projects, directed by Levy, starring Reynolds, and co-produced by both, highlights their remarkable ability to craft films that entertain and resonate with global audiences. Levy and Reynolds have developed a strong creative synergy, with a joint ability to blend singular visual spectacle with physical and verbal comedy, creating movies packed with unique and imaginative action, resonant themes and authentic warmhearted humanism. Join Levy and Reynolds, along with film journalist, Kevin McCarthy, for a dynamic conversation about the entertainment industry, the nature of cinematic storytelling, and the unique collaborative dynamic that has fueled this prolific duo as they together build a successful and constantly evolving body of work. February 26, 2025.

Sandbox Percussion & Christopher Cerrone Album Release Party

A new album celebrating Sandbox Percussion’s (Jonathan Allen, '13 MM, '14 AD, Victor Caccese, '13 MM, Ian Rosenbaum '10 MM, '11 AD, and Terry Sweeney '15 MM) long-standing collaboration with Christopher Cerrone, DMA ‘14, MMA ‘10, MM ’09, will be released in February on Pentatone Records, including the piece “Ode to Joy,” co-commissioned by Sandbox in 2023. Yale Schwarzman Center will host a celebratory gathering in its on-site pub, The Well, with a short performance from the artists, a talk moderated by composer and professor Christopher Theofanidis and a complimentary CD for each attendee. February 12, 2025.

Inna Faliks, piano

Performing works by both well-known composers and newly commissioned works from her latest album Manuscripts Don’t Burn, pianist Inna Faliks shares some of her most personal work paying homage to her Ukrainian heritage, her hometown of Odesa, and so much more. As one of the most communicative and poetic artists of her generation, Faliks speaks to her love of dialogue between music and words. “The connections between text and sound here are not just literal but emotional, based on memory, intuition, dreams and hopes,” remarks Faliks. She will also share stories from her new memoir, “Weight in the Fingertips,” and will sign books following the event. February 15, 2025.

Shining Light on Truth: Black Lives in New Haven and at Yale

A new exhibition in partnership with Yale Schwarzman Center, “Shining Light on Truth: Black Lives in New Haven and at Yale,” will illuminate ongoing research that recovers the essential role of Black people throughout Yale and New Haven history. The exhibition puts back at the center of local storytelling people who have always been central to local history. It celebrates Black community building, resistance, and resilience on campus and in New Haven. The show will include nearly 100 images of Yale’s earliest Black students from the 1800s and early 1900s, many of whom had deep New Haven connections. The exhibit will also feature compelling reproductions of photographs of New Haveners -- the Luke, Grimes, Creed, Park, and Bassett families are among the many people key to founding and sustaining Yale. Central to the exhibit is the proposal, made and thwarted in 1831, to build a Black college in New Haven and the successful efforts of Black students in the 1960s to establish the Afro-American Cultural Center and Afro-American Studies at Yale. This exhibition follows from the exhibition, “Shining Light on Truth: New Haven, Yale and Slavery,” at the New Haven Museum. The exhibition team includes David Jon Walker ’23 MFA, lead designer, and Michael Morand ’87 ’93 M.Div., lead curator, with Timeica Bethel ’11, Rob Brown, Jennifer Coggins, Tubyez Cropper, Mohamed Diallo ’26, Regina Mason, Hope McGrath, Carlynne Robinson, and Charles Warner, Jr. Opens on March 24, 2025.

Conor Hanick, piano

Praised as one of his generation’s most inquisitive interpreters of music new and old whose “technical refinement, color, crispness and wondrous variety of articulation benefit works by any master,” (The New York Times) pianist Conor Hanick interprets Hans Otte’s rarely performed “Book of Sounds” with a voice on the piano unlike any other. The 12-movement minimalist solo piano work, written between 1979-1982, demonstrates the full range of dynamics, timbre, and resonance of the piano in a spiritual and meditative juxtaposition of sound and silence. Hanick offers two intimate performances which take full advantage of the glistening acoustics of The Dome. March 26 & 27, 2025.

Raven Chacon

Diné composer, musician, and artist Raven Chacon became the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize in music for his work, “Voiceless Mass” in 2022 and was the recipient of a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2023. Chacon’s multi-venue Yale residency features the premiere of a Schwarzman Center commissioned solo work for double bass performed by sound artist Ross Wightman, who will also lead Yale students, faculty, and guest artists including violinist Maiani da Silva of Eighth Blackbird, cellist Rhonda Rider, and vocalist Royce K. Young Wolf, PhD, in an evening of performances of Chacon’s earlier works. Other dates throughout the residency will include Chacon performing in the CCAM Sound Art Series at the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media and giving an artist talk in collaboration with the Yale University Art Gallery at the Yale Peabody Museum, showcasing his wide-ranging artistic practice that spans performance, installation and visual art. This event is presented in partnership with the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media and Yale University Art Gallery.  April 3-8, 2025.

The Gift

Presented in multiple languages, The Gift is an immersive installation that animates contemporary astrophysics research and opens metaphorical space for grief, self-care, and renewal. The Gift tells the story of two stars that are so close to one another yet so far from us that they appear as a single point of light in the sky. Participants will gather in Commons, where they will encounter a sound score and an illustrated book—based on the astrophysics research of observational astrophysicist, Natalie Gosnell, PhD—that invites both tactile and emotional responses. It is presented in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean will include new Yale Schwarzman Center translation commissions in Arabic, and Braille. This tender story and playful experience heeds the call of anthropologist Emily Martin, to “wake the sleeping metaphors of science.” The Gift is a collaborative project between multi-disciplinary artist Janani Balasubramanian, Gosnell, and observational astrophysicist Andrew Kircher, PhD. The book features artwork by Amy Myers and design by Katie Hodge. The original sound score is by Tina-Hanaé Miller with arrangement by Solomon Hoffman. The Gift is presented in collaboration with Yale University Libraries and Yale School of Public Health. April 16-17, 2025. 

Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective with special guest clarinetist David Krakauer

Founded by two celebrated musicians—violinist Elena Urioste and her husband, pianist Tom Poster—Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective is a flexible ensemble with an ever-changing roster of musicians creating bespoke programming for each venue in which the ensemble performs. The New Haven performance features internationally renowned clarinetist David Krakauer, who has been praised around the globe as a key innovator in modern klezmer, jazz, and classical music, as well as Grammy-winning tenor Karim Sulayman with Poster and others. The performance to include Golijov's “Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind,” Beethoven's “Heileger Dankgesang,” and other works exploring themes of spirituality, mindfulness, and home. In addition to their performance, Kaleidoscope member Urioste will engage the community in yoga and meditation wellness programs presented in partnership with the Good Life Center at Yale. April 24, 2025.

At The Illusionist’s Table with Scott Silven

At The Illusionist’s Table—the theatrical dining experience and international smash-hit that has mesmerized audiences and critics alike—comes to the Yale Schwarzman Center with world-renowned illusionist Scott Silven. Silven leads guests through a sumptuous meal created by Yale Schwarzman Center Hospitality. A table set for 25 invites an intimate evening of culinary delights and heartwarming storytelling, interwoven with mind-bending feats of mentalism. Senses will be deceived as candles flicker, whisky (or non-alcohol beverage) pours, and conversation stirs over a meal filled with unbelievable illusions, for guests 21 and over. May 1-9, 2025.

Beyond Performances:

Yale Schwarzman Center continues its widely-popular lunch series, Schwarzman Sessions—peer-led gatherings where conversations generate collaborations and move ideas to action. Some of this season’s featured guests include filmmaker Shawn Levy ’89 (January 16), art dealer Larry Gagosian (January 30), and Grammy-nominated composer Christopher Cerrone DMA ’14, MMA ’10, MM ’09 (February 12), among others. The full series will be announced in early 2025.

EveryBody Dances @ Yale Schwarzman Center brings local and visiting dance artists to the Center’s Dance Studio to teach public masterclasses with former Radio City Rockette Sally Hong (February 2), New Haven Ballet artistic director Lisa Kim Sanborn (February 9), Yale Dance Lab Director Emily Coates (February 23), and NY based choreographer Sidra Bell ‘01 (February 16) among several others. The full series will be announced in early 2025.

Venue and Ticket Information:

Performances and events in the Schwarzman Center’s 2024-25 season are free, except as noted on the registration pages. More details about the 2024-25 season, including a full listing of performance dates can be found at https://schwarzman.yale.edu. For the most current information on all ticket releases and the full season line-up, subscribe to the Yale Schwarzman Center newsletter.

About Yale Schwarzman Center

Based in New Haven, Connecticut, and located in the historic heart of the Yale University campus, Yale Schwarzman Center is a commons for university life where art, culinary, and wellness experiences converge to build bridges, nurture creativity, and foster kinship and belonging. Positioned at the crux of social cohesion, creativity, and self-expression, the Center includes several flexible spaces in which members of the Yale and New Haven communities engage through free, public programming that ranges from the intimate to the grand. The Center’s iconic building—constructed in 1901, rebirthed in 2022 following a renovation by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and recognized for excellence by the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art—has recently been the site for world premieres and commissions by Nathalie Joachim, Bryce Dessner, and Ash Fure, to name a few. The Center’s impact extends well beyond its walls through programming and programmatic partnerships within its home city and across the country. https://schwarzman.yale.edu