Marking its tenth anniversary season, UtahPresents, a major performing arts presenter at the University of Utah, has a blockbuster slate for the 2025-2026 season. This includes a phenomenal four-concert jazz series, a trio of internationally acclaimed dance companies on tour, several intriguing theatrical productions touching on contemporary social issues, programs featuring some of Utah’s best-known performing artists, a dance collaboration featuring the university’s dance school and Repertory Dance Theatre, a generous offering of Utah premieres and a couple of world premieres and, a Montreal acrobatic circus theatrical group that happens to perform on top of its food truck.
The series has blossomed and matured quickly during its first decade. Chloe Jones, executive director of UtahPresents and assistant dean for art and creative engagement in the university’s College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah, said that in its driest decade, the series has served nearly one million people, including 75,000 K-12 students in 29 of 42 Utah school districts. In addition to student matinees and public performances, UtahPresents offers masterclasses, community workshops and performance opportunities for young artists. For example, this season will feature the university’s youth theater program in the Utah premiere of a 2017 musical that was commissioned by a London theatrical company.
Also, returning for its second year, UtahPresents’ Jazz Series starts off impressively, with a Sept. 4 performance featuring trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, one of the world’s most celebrated living jazz ambassadors. Meanwhile, the equally popular Stage Door Series has become a prime platform to celebrate major local performing artists.
As a sample of its programming muscle, UtahPresents was among the programming partners for the recent mariachi festival at the Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake City. Tickets were free and the house sold out in a short time, as audiences gathered to hear the headlining musicians of Flor de Toloache, a Latin Grammy Award-winning and two-time Grammy-nominated band. Local mariachi bands included Mariachi Fuego, Mariachi México en Utah, and Mariachi Sol de Jalisco.
As the below summary roundup of the entire season indicates, the programming is undoubtedly prestigious. One reason is that, earlier this year, UtahPresents became one of only 22 institutions in the elite group of Major University Presenters (MUPs). In an interview with The Utah Review, Jones said given the access to amazing abundance of talent across the globe, “we approach our curatorial objectives of knowing the world is our oyster and the challenge comes from the temptation to wanting to say yes to far more than what we can program.” This includes not only networking with agents who represent the artists, but also traveling to meet directly with some of them. This included going to Montreal to see Cirque Kikasse, which will be the season’s final offering and will be a free event.
Kingsbury Hall on the university main campus, which is the location for much of UtahPresents’ programming, has become a top draw for the performing arts series. More importantly,while total compensation for artists has more than doubled from 2015 to 2025, the average ticket price remains under $25. There are several discounted price packages as well as single-ticket options. University of Utah students can attend UtahPresents’ performances for just $5, by using their UCard (Arts Pass). For more information on the UtahPresents 2025-2026 season, see here.
The following is a summary of the impressively cosmopolitan season programming UtahPresents has curated which include several series. All performances are in Kingsbury Hall, unless otherwise noted.
JAZZ SERIES
Arturo Sandoval (Sept. 4, 7:30 p.m.)
Last season, with the support of Gordon and Connie Hanks, among others, UtahPresents launched the jazz series a year after the JazzSLC series had been discontinued. The response was triumphant in artistic impact and audience appreciation. The second edition raises the bar of excellence to even greater heights, as one of jazz’s greatest living musicians, trumpeter and flugelhorn player Arturo Sandoval takes the stage to open this season’s jazz offerings.
The Cuban-American musician has amassed an incredible legacy already: more than 30 albums, 10 Grammy Awards, six Billboard Awards, an Emmy Award, a Hispanic Heritage Award, an honorary doctorate from The University of Notre Dame, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Obama in 2013. As Raj Tawney has summarized, not only has Sandoval broken down innumerable barriers, but he also has become central to contemporary cultural in many disciplines: “Even if you haven’t heard any of his records or seen him in concert, you may have heard Arturo Sandoval’s work and not realized it. He’s created original compositions and scores for the big and small screens, including the 2000 HBO movie For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, starring Andy Garcia. He’s also worked on numerous memorable scores, including Hidden Figures, 2013’s Superman, and The Mambo Kings, based on many of the Latin American musicians who paved the way before him.”
For an in-depth interview with Sandoval, read this extensive piece from Utah’s Rhetorical Review.
Lakecia Benjamin and Phoenix (Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m.)
The second offering in UtahPresents’ blockbuster jazz lineup for the season, Lakecia Benjamin, an alto saxophonist, MC, and bandleader who has been nominated multiple times for a Grammy, will bring her band to the Kingsbury Hall stage.
In addition to jazz, her music incorporates Latin and Caribbean music, funk and gospel elements. In a 2024 interview with Stereogum, Benjamin explained how her music hits harder than other classical forms of jazz that can be more contemplative and subdued: “I just believe there’s music for all occasions…There’s music for some people that need to get on a dance floor. There’s music for people that are going through grief, there’s music for people that need inspiration and all of these things can exist at once. You know, we can all listen to Alice, and because she’s so intense and powerful, we can play an intense ballad, or we can play an intense, you know, meditative song, or we can play an intense, really high-energy spiritual song… I just feel that this particular stage that I’m in right now, it’s the flamethrower stage.”
Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martínez (Feb. 6, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
The third in the season’s jazz series turns the spotlight on two Cuban-born musicians who came from the legendary musical pedagogy of their homeland: Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez. Discovered by his mentor Quincy Jones at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Rodriguez studied at the classical music conservatory in Havana, mastering keyboard works and compositional techniques by Bach and Stravinsky that eventually extended to Afro-Cuban jazz and rhythmic languages.
In a 2017 interview with The Utah Review, shortly before he appeared at the Utah Arts Festival that year, Martinez talked about the batá rhythms he learned originated in Africa, once performed only for kings. The performer on the largest drum, the instrument referred to as the mother of the batá drums, leads the musical dialogue, calling out the changes in performance. In solos, the percussionist puts on a magnificent display of percussion art – a full range of improvisational effects achieved by the ways in which he places the strokes with hands, palms and fingers as well as the force he strikes on the drum.
In the Afro-Cuban cultural diaspora that now stretches to the U.S., Martinez and many of his fellow musicians who were born and raised in Cuba exemplify a virtuosic tradition. In Cuba, young aspiring musicians had two pathways available to them to develop and perfect their art. Either they were fortunate enough, by virtue of their family connections, to be sent to one of the country’s legendary conservatories or they learned it in the streets from elders and peers, many of who were adherents to Santeria, the religion that evolved as slaves were brought from Nigeria to the Caribbean nation more than 250 years ago.
Emmet Cohen Presents: Miles and Coltrane at 100 (March 12, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
A fitting cap to the season’s jazz series, pianist Emmet Cohen has coordinated a musical celebration to mark the centennial of the birth of two of the 20th century titans of the genre: John Coltrane and Miles Davis. Cohen has assembled a world-class quintet, including saxophonist Tivon Pennicott and trumpeter Jeremy Pelt for this retrospective that focuses on the current forms of jazz as they continue to expand, evolve in their expressive power. Coltrane the saxophonist and Davis the trumpeter were quintessential Yin and Yang. But in the 1950s, the musicians collaborated for nearly five years, which included the 1959 release of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album in 1959. In a 2001 Jazzwise article, Ashley Kahn summarized how each musician reflected upon their musical coalition: “How the two looked back on their time together can be divined in how each continued to look upon the other. Years after Coltrane evolved into a bandleader of renown and many disciples, Alice Coltrane recalls he still reverently called Davis ‘The Teacher’. Miles was typically more oblique. When speaking with jazz critic Ralph J. Gleason in the late 60s, the journalist noted that Davis’ music had become complex enough to demand five tenor players. Gleason recorded his response: ‘He shot those eyes at me and growled, “I had five tenor players once.” I knew what he meant.’”
Cohen has performed at the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, London’s Ronnie Scott’s, Jazzhaus Montmartre in Copenhagen, Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall, the Cotton Club in Tokyo and the Kennedy Center.
TOURING DANCE TRIO
Ballet Hispánico (Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m.)
Making a return appearance, Ballet Hispánico is a titan in the American dance community. Based in New York City, the company, which has commissioned more than 100 works, recently celebrated its 55th anniversary and has been recognized by the Ford Foundation as one of America’s Cultural Treasures. One 2025 highlight has been the acclaimed performance of Gustavo Ramírez Sansano’s full-length ballet CARMEN.maquia, choreographed to mark the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s beloved opera Carmen. Sansano’s choreography is inspired in part by the Spanish art of tauromaquia (the art of bullfighting).
Ailey II (Jan. 19, 2026, 4 p.m.)
Presented in partnership with the University of Utah’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Week events, Ailey II will perform. Founded in 1974 as the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Ailey II has advanced The legendary choreographer’s vision by giving early-career dancers the vital experience of transitioning from training as a student to becoming a professional dancer. Given the extensive development and presence of dance in Utah, this will be among the most highly anticipated events early in the new year.
MOMIX: ALICE (March 26, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
MOMIX, the critically acclaimed company of dancer-illusionists founded and directed by Moses Pendleton, is bringing its newest production ALICE, inspired, of course, by Alice in Wonderland. As Alice’s body grows and shrinks and grows again, Pendleton’s dancers extend themselves by means of props, ropes, and their fellow performers.
“I don’t intend to retell the whole Alice story” Pendleton says in a statement at the company’s website, “but to use it as a taking-off point for invention. I’m curious to see what will emerge, and I’m getting curiouser and curiouser the more I learn about Lewis Carroll, who like me was a devoted photographer.”
The Alice story is full of imagery and absurd logic – before there was surrealism there was Alice. Alice is an invitation to invent, to let imagination run and play outside. “Ask Alice,” sang Grace Slick in White Rabbit – she also said “feed your head.”
Pendleton continues, “You can see why I think Alice is a natural fit for MOMIX and an opportunity for us to extend our reach. I want to take this show into places we haven’t been before in terms of the fusion of dancing, lighting, music, costumes, and projected imagery.”
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Kurbasy (Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.)
One of the most popular avant-garde multimedia musical ventures in recent years, Kurbasy, whose roots originated in the Les Kurbas Theatre in Lviv, Ukraine, brings forward folk songs to a rejuvenated relevance amidst the backdrop of the ongoing war. Ina published statement, singer Myroslava Kyshchun-Rachynska explained the provenance of the group’s music: “When we started to think about this, we started to feel there’s something of a magic charm, something that’s not logical, to these songs… It’s something that comes from deep inside, a vibrating energy, a living organism. From that, we got the theme and concept for our performance.” She added, “We are conscious of the linkages, of one song to another, from one emotion to the next, one vocal expression to the next. Within each individual song we are building the story of the concert, and [we] are looking for the same thing in the instrumentation.”
The Lower Lights Christmas Concerts (Dec. 11, 12 and 13, 7 p.m.)
Part of a popular Kingsbury Hall holiday season tradition, The Lower Lights is a locally based gospel-folk music collective that was established in 2009 and is known for their arrangements of hymns, spirituals, and classic American songs emulating the folk, bluegrass, and Americana music traditions.
Sō Percussion (Libby Gardner Concert Hall, Jan. 13, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
Presented in part with the University of Utah School of Music, Sō Percussion will give the Salt Lake City audience the first hearing of new quartets by Grammy-winning Bryce Dessner of The National and Pulitzer and Grammy-winning Caroline Shaw, ahead of their performance later in January 2026 at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Marking its silver anniversary, this acclaimed percussion chamber ensemble is releasing 25×25 on September 26, described as “a stand-alone listening experience, featuring more than 8 hours of entirely new and previously unreleased recordings, with each piece written for, in collaboration with, and premiered by Sō Percussion.”
Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival (Feb. 18-20, 2026, 7 p.m.)
In partnership with Campus Recreation Services Outdoor Adventures at the University of Utah, The Banff Mountain Film Festival will comprise three days of outdoor and nature films curated from around the world. The festival takes place every fall (October and November) in Banff, Alberta, Canada, before going on tour. This year’s edition is the 50th anniversary.
Healthcare Stories (March 5, 2026, 7 p.m.)
Produced by the Resiliency Center, the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, and Humanities, Healthcare Stories is an annual live storytelling event. This year’s theme is “Together”— all the ways we connect with each other within communities and between communities to address shared challenges, goals, and desires.
Imaginary (March 20, 2026, 7 p.m.; March 21, 2026, 11 a.m.)
Performed by Youth Theatre at the U, the musical Imaginary, which was commissioned by the National Youth Musical Theatre in London in 2017, will be presented in a production directed by Penelope Caywood. Written by Timothy Knapman (book and lyrics) and Stuart Matthew Price (music and lyrics), the musical centers on two friends who spend all their time together, using only their imaginations to transform their world into a place of adventure and excitement. But as one of the friends is getting ready for his first day at a new school, his mother worries that the other boy is holding her son back, stopping him from growing up. School, however, brings many surprises and secrets.
U of U School of Dance Presents (April 17-18, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
As asserted periodically at The Utah Review, dance wears the empress crow in Utah’s performing arts and The University of Utah School of Dance’s collaboration with Repertory Dance Theatre’s (RDT) is historically significant. RDT, the nation’s longest running dance repertory company, is marking its 60th anniversary. University of Utah students will take the stage with RDT artists for a re-staging of Helen Tamiris’ Dances for Walt Whitman. The production will also feature a new work by Melissa Bobick, who ks on the university’s dance faculty.
Cirque Kikasse – SANTÉ! (April 22, 2026, times and location TBA)
What better way to close out the 10th anniversary season than with the Utah debut of Cirque Kikasse, and their jaw-dropping show, SANTÉ! The free event is a spectacle featuring jaw-dropping acrobatics, with the stage being on top of their food truck. From arranging furniture that turns into a tower 30 feet off the ground, to playfully, inefficiently cleaning the truck and trampoline, and to overflowing the popcorn machine, Cirque Kikasse promises an unforgettable punctuation point to close out the UtahPresnets season.
STAGE DOOR SERIES
To Be a God featuring Little Moon (Nov. 13-14, 7,30 p.m.)
Presented in conjunction with 801 Salon, UtahPresents’ Stage Door series continues this season with Little Moon, an indie folk rock band from Springville, Utah, which won the NPR Tiny Desk Contest in 2023. Little Moon is the project (and childhood nickname) of singer-songwriter Emma Hardyman. In this concert, she will be joined by Bly Wallentine, Bridget Jackson, Chris Shemwell, Grace Johnson, and Nathan Hardyman.
Stephanie García – Punto de Inflexión (Feb. 12-13, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
Highlighting the next of this season’s offerings in the Stage Door Series, Stephanie García, an award-winning Mexican artist, director, producer, and independent curator who is a member of the 2025 class of Guggenheim Fellows, will lead a collaborative premiere of What Have We Lost?, a movement piece evoking the aftermath and impact of catastrophe and loss. The piece will be presented by the Punto de Inflexión interdisciplinary performance company, which García and Peter Hay founded in 2019.
Last spring, García offered From the Borderlands to the Roots, presented by Punto de Inflexión as part of the ten-day Corriente Alterna festival, with PROArtes México, in Salt Lake City as part of Repertory Dance Theatre’s Link Series. As noted in a review at The Utah Review, From the Borderlands to the Roots’ power lies in its refusal to be merely political. Borderlands may be about struggle, but it also insists, over and over, on being about celebration. Each darker harrowing sequence is followed by eruptions of joy blending folk and art pop, Latinx traditional dance with the feeling that we’ve dropped into a thumping night club. The music by Ryan Ross—featuring vocals by Nora Price, Juan Pablo Villa, Nortec and Rodrigo Gallardo + Fernando Milagros—is a Trickster character unto itself, always morphing, always escaping sentiment and hurtling us into upbeat, genre-bending, aural adventure.
Arms Around America (April 9-10, 2026, 7:30 p.m.)
Closing out the season’s Stage Door Series, the Los Angeles-based theater group Dan Froot & Company’s Arms Around America is based on stories of families whose lives have been shaped by guns. Book-length oral histories of families in South Florida, Western Montana, and Southern California were transformed into audio dramas that became a podcast and eventually a live show.
In a 2024 interview with Stage Raw, Froot explained the genesis of the show, which followed the process for PANG, which dealt with oral histories collected from families living with food insecurity and how it was entangled with other issues and concerns affecting the families. For a family in Miami, the subject of gun violence was discussed. Froot said that a 2018 performance of PANG in Miami delivered a creative epiphany: “And we were experimenting with the kitchen table, which was part of Arms Around America as well. And we felt like we were coming to a kind of format with the kitchen table that was both performance and community forum, and we were really excited about that. And so we were wondering, you know, what? What might be next? We had been doing work with people living with food insecurity for a long time at that point and we were just looking for what might be the next sort of topic we would take on. And as we were closing the show in Miami, 40 miles up the road, 37 people were shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. And so we turned to each other and said, ’Okay, this is it.’ And so that was the initial spark that did it for us, as well as having done that play that looked at the intersection of gun violence and food insecurity.”