Stanford Live has announced its 2025-26 season, Amplifying Voices, with more than 60 planned performances spanning music, dance, theater, spoken word, film, and comedy. It will be the first season led by Iris Nemani, the newly appointed McMurtry Family Director of Stanford Live. “These artists will not only entertain,” said Nemani, “but also challenge, teach, and strengthen our community with their stories, their perspectives, and their passion.” The performances, featuring multiple Grammy, Tony, and Pulitzer prize winners, will take place across four venues on the Stanford campus, including Bing Concert Hall, The Studio, Memorial Auditorium, and Memorial Church.

Celebrating Maurice Ravel

The season’s classical programming will celebrate the life and legacy of French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), whose work was inspired in part by American jazz. Works by Ravel will be featured in concerts by Grammy Award-winning pianist Michelle Cann (Oct. 8), cellist and Tchaikovsky Competition medalist Santiago Cañon-Valencia (Oct. 22), pianist and Youtuber Hayato Sumino (Oct. 26), pianist Zee Zee (Feb. 22), soprano Nadine Sierra (March 13), violinist Bomsori (April 1), and the Jerusalem Quartet (April 22).

Several other programs feature music with connections to Ravel – including a choreographed version of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, danced by the Italian company Aterballetto (Feb. 11-12), and the complete Debussy Préludes, performed by pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (May 10).

Other classical concerts include Vienna Boys Choir (Nov. 12), New Century Chamber Orchestra with violinist Simone Porter (Jan. 23), a recital by the explorative Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (Jan. 25), and three programs by Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (Dec. 7, Feb. 8, and March 15).

On the contemporary front, Sandbox Percussion and The Crossing will perform Harold Meltzer’s You Are Who I Love, exploring the undocumented immigrant experience in America (Feb. 25); and the Danish String Quartet and Danish National Girls’ Choir (April 15) premiere a Stanford Live co-commission by composer and Stanford alumnus David Lang.

Jazz, blues, and Broadway

Stanford Live’s standout jazz, blues, and Broadway programming will feature Lucía (Oct. 3), winner of the 2022 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition; Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal (Oct. 5); Morgan Freeman Presents Symphonic Blues (Nov. 19); the female jazz collective ARTEMIS (Oct. 12); Emmet Cohen celebrating the 100th anniversary celebration of Miles Davis and John Coltrane (April 8); vocalist Stella Cole; John Santos Sextet and Friends (April 19); and the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Hamilton star Renée Elise Goldsberry (May 20).

Global music

Global musical offerings include Mariza, singing Portuguese fado (Nov. 9), and Angélique Kidjo, “Africa’s premier diva” (Time magazine) and a Polar Music Prize winner, headlining Bing Fling (April 25).

Direct from Edinburgh

Stanford Live will present three productions from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the cutting-edge Scottish festival, including Pony Cam’s Burnout Paradise (Nov. 12-15), Leah Shelton’s BATSHIT (Feb. 4-7), and Blind Summit’s The Sex Lives of Puppets (Feb. 18-21). “These works offer a unique opportunity to engage with current and provocative ideas in real time,” said Nemani. “We invite our audiences to experience the thrill of discovery, and to connect with the pulse of the global creative landscape.”

Fans of dance and movement will be drawn to Humans 2.0 by Circa, an exploration of vulnerability and resilience (Nov. 1-2). The Italian digital performance collective ‘fuse*’ returns with Dökk, an immersive journey of sound and light (Dec. 5).

Hysterical comedy

The newly named Hysterical comedy series brings sharp wit and personal storytelling to The Studio. The season features Sandra Bernhard (Oct. 4), ALOK (Oct. 25), Naomi Ekperigin (Dec. 13), and Marsha Warfield (Feb. 27).

Spoken word and film

Jodi Kantor, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times who broke the story of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, will speak about her work (Oct. 9). The Malia Obomsawin Quartet will perform Obomsawin’s score live to a screening of Sugarcane, a 2024 National Geographic documentary that helped bring to light the abuses of the Canadian Indian residential school system (Nov. 7). Rob Kapilow brings What Makes it Great? back to Bing Hall, revealing the inner workings of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Standards by jazz legends Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson (Nov. 9 and Feb. 21).

Pink Martini’s holiday spectacular in Bing Concert Hall is on Dec. 10. | Eric Morgensen

Holidays at Stanford Live

The holiday season brings several seasonal celebrations, including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (Dec. 7); Pink Martini’s Holiday Spectacular (Dec. 10); A Chanticleer Christmas (Dec. 11); and Jazz Mafia: Holiday Heist (Dec. 14).