Lincoln Center’s 26/27 Season Celebrates Groundbreaking Connections
Global Contemporary Artistry Brings New Ideas and Perspectives,
Inviting Artists and Audiences to Meet, Discover, and Participate
in Power of Live Performance
Sweep of Free and Choose-What-You-Pay Presentations
Reflect Commitment to More Accessible and Open Campus
Multimedia assets available here
- 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 DeJesús, 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.
NEW YORK, NY – (August 5, 2026) - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) today announced its upcoming Fall/Spring season. As the institution continues its next chapter opening the campus more fully to the city through the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Lincoln Center West Initiative, the season reflects this same spirit artistically: offering groundbreaking connections—between artists and audiences, tradition and innovation, and local and global perspectives—for all New Yorkers. Programming is offered for free or Choose-What-You-Pay.
Complementing the artistry of the ten world-class 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)
Thake’s approach to curation and free and Choose-What-You-Pay programming has strengthened the institution’s commitment to building the next generation of arts audiences, resulting in more than 600,000 new audiences since her tenure began. These audiences are more reflective of the city of New York than ever before.
“Lincoln Center has been committed since our founding to putting the arts at the center of civic life. Today we do that across our campus and throughout the year, investing in exceptional and accessible programming for all. Shanta’s vibrant, contemporary vision lights the way for artists to carry us forward,” said Mariko Silver, President and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “Shanta has continually expanded the ambitious excellence that is at home here at Lincoln Center and deepened our role as one of New York’s most powerful cultural access points.”
“I am so proud of the artists, audiences, and staff that make Lincoln Center unlike anywhere else in the world. A place that can welcome anyone with open arms and offer artistic connections whether you’re a fan of grand opera, salsa dance, or are new to live performance and simply want to be in an extraordinary experience with fellow New Yorkers,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “It’s been an incredible five years working alongside the incomparable talent here at Lincoln Center. As we mark this moment, I’m proud of the season we’ve curated that delves into significant artistic connections across time and cultures, and invites audiences not to simply attend, but to be part of the extraordinary transformations the arts offer us all.”
All tickets are free or Choose-What-You-Pay, creating access for even more neighbors, New Yorkers, and visitors to share in the transformative experiences of live performance. Tickets for fall presentations go on sale Wednesday, September 9.
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Lincoln Center Presents 26/27 Season, Fall/Spring
Full Chronological Listings Here and Here
Artists and programming subject to change.
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About Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center is a premier performing arts center and iconic civic cultural campus. A beacon for the arts in New York City and around the world, Lincoln Center believes the arts are fundamental to our humanity and should be accessible to all—connecting us to one another, expanding our individual and collective imaginations, and elevating our spirit. Opened in 1962, the 16-acre campus is home to eleven resident arts organizations dedicated to uplifting the role of art and artists in our society, providing a destination for global artistic voices, training the next generation of great artists, and creating unforgettable experiences for all New Yorkers: The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Film at Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and School of American Ballet. Lincoln Center welcomes millions of people for thousands of performances each year, anchoring New York City’s legendary creative life and greatly impacting its civic and economic wellbeing.
About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring the Lincoln Center campus is a destination that welcomes all—where every visitor, whether a native New Yorker or New Yorker for a day, can find inspiration, artistic innovation, and community in the creative achievements realized on campus. Year-round, we offer robust seasons of programming, representing a broad spectrum of performing arts disciplines and complementing the artistic and educational activities of the 10 fellow resident arts organizations with whom we share a home. LCPA presents hundreds of programs each year, all offered for free or Choose-What-You-Pay, helping ensure that the arts are at the center of civic life for all.
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Contemporary Dance is made possible by the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance -
Lynne and Richard Pasculano, Founding Donors
NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
United Airlines is the Supporting Airline of Lincoln Center Presents
Steinway & Sons is the Preferred Piano Partner of Lincoln Center
Major support for Lincoln Center Presents is provided by the Mellon Foundation
Additional support is provided by Park Lane New York
We are grateful to our Board of Directors for their leadership and generous support in
making our work possible
Operation of Lincoln Center’s public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York
Programs are made possible, in part, with public funds provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, Mayor of the City of New York, the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council
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