Chautauqua Institution

Catholic Mass
2025-08-09 17:00, 2025-08-16 17:00 (America/New_York) | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
2025-08-09 17:30, 2025-08-10 17:30, 2025-08-11 20:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s compelling biopic, the electric true story behind the rise of one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history. Co-stars Edward Norton and Elle Fanning. “Utterly fascinating, capturing a moment in time when songs had weight, when they could move the culture–even if the singer who made them was as puzzling as a rolling stone.” -Mark Kennedy, Associated Press “The performances are fantastic, all of them.” -Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic (R, 141m)

Houston Ballet with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-08-09 19:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
With over 50 years of rich history, Houston Ballet has evolved into the country’s fourth-largest ballet company with a global reach, touring in renowned theaters in Dubai, London, Paris, Moscow, Spain, Montréal, Ottawa, Melbourne, New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Tokyo and more.
Australian choreographer Stanton Welch AM has served as Artistic Director of Houston Ballet since 2003. Welch has choreographed 43 new works for Houston Ballet during his tenure while ensuring the growth of the Company’s repertoire by presenting works from George Balanchine, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, and Jerome Robbins. Welch continues the legacy of Houston Ballet being a choreographic Eden by commissioning over 30 works from world-renowned choreographers including Aszure Barton, Trey McIntyre, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Justin Peck. Julie Kent joined Welch as Artistic Director in 2023, after serving as Artistic Director of The Washington Ballet from 2016 – 2023 and following a storied career as a Principal ballerina of American Ballet Theatre – the longest-tenured dancer in ABT’s 85-year history.
Program:
Divertissements from Act I of Giselle
Grand pas de deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty
Flames of Paris pas de deux
Four Last Songs

Chautauqua Theater Company presents the world premiere of The Witnesses (formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying) (Preview)
2025-08-09 19:30, 2025-08-10 19:30, 2025-08-12 14:00, 2025-08-12 19:30 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
By C.A. Johnson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
The Witnesses compels us to question not only if we can change but if we have time to do so while the world appears to be ending.
Infused with C.A. Johnson’s brutal honesty, exacting humor, and heartfelt exploration of human relationships, the story pulses with urgency, vulnerability and unexpected warmth.
While an apocalyptic plague rages, five individuals unite in their weekly support group to forge a sanctuary of care and companionship. Centering on the darkly funny and wildly magnetic Millicent and her chosen family of misfits, this play explores the undeniable physical urge for human connection.
This production is recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.

BAD SHABBOS
2025-08-09 20:50, 2025-08-10 15:05, 2025-08-10 20:50, 2025-08-11 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
An engaged interfaith couple are about to have their parents meet for the first time over a Shabbat dinner when an accidental death gets in the way, in director Daniel Robbins situational comedy. “A strong ensemble cast nails the tasty dialogue and increasingly frantic action without falling into shtick.” -Alissa Simon, Variety “Neither too “oy vey” nor Weekend at Bernie’s but steeped in the best aspects of both Jewish and black comedy, Bad Shabbos is a treat any night of the week.” -Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle (NR, 84m)

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-08-10 07:45, 2025-08-17 07:45, 2025-08-24 07:45 | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Song, Prayer, Communion & Meditation
2025-08-10 08:30, 2025-08-17 08:30, 2025-08-24 08:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

United Church of Christ Worship Service
2025-08-10 09:00, 2025-08-17 09:00, 2025-08-24 09:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Episcopal Holy Eucharist
2025-08-10 09:00, 2025-08-11 07:45, 2025-08-12 07:45, 2025-08-13 07:45, 2025-08-14 07:45, 2025-08-15 07:45, 2025-08-17 09:00, 2025-08-18 07:45 and 5 more dates | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Catholic Mass
2025-08-10 09:15, 2025-08-17 09:15 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

Unity Service
2025-08-10 09:30, 2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

Quaker Worship Service
2025-08-10 09:30, 2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Quaker House
Quaker Worship Sevice

Unitarian Universalist Service
2025-08-10 09:30, 2025-08-17 09:30, 2025-08-24 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Sunday School
2025-08-10 10:15 | Children’s School, Children's School
Weekly Sunday School Program for Ages 3-11. Children of all faiths and no faith are welcome.

Rev. Dr. J. Peter Holmes
2025-08-10 10:45, 2025-08-11 09:15, 2025-08-12 09:15, 2025-08-13 09:15, 2025-08-14 09:15, 2025-08-15 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rev. Dr. J. Peter Holmes has served since 2001 as the Minister of the Congregation of the historic Yorkminster Park Baptist Church in the heart of Toronto. During this time the congregation has grown into an increasingly diverse and multi-cultural family. While the church has a long history of excellence in music, liturgy and preaching, it has also become a community centre for culture and the arts as well as many missional endeavours focussed on relieving food insecurity, providing shelter and offering housing for those who are homeless and support for refugees.
While Peter’s family roots are in Ontario, as a child of the manse he spent most of his formative years in Victoria, British Columbia where he graduated from the University of Victoria and served as Ombudsman of the university. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Wycliffe College at the University of Toronto, and a Doctor of Ministry from Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Prior to his call to Yorkminster Park, he served churches in Toronto and Montreal.
Peter approaches the pulpit as a gifted story teller with a pastoral heart. He has often led pilgrimages of sacred spaces in both Canada and the USA and is the host of Yorkminster Park’s Lester Randall Preaching Fellowship which attracts clergy from far and wide. Peter has contributed to Biblical commentaries and preached in churches in Europe, the Middle East and in both Canada and the United States.
In recognition of Peter’s leadership in ecumenical and interfaith endeavours in the city and beyond, the Toronto Commandery of the Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem named him as the recipient of their 2022 Marjorie McKinnon Ecumenical Lifetime Achievement Award. Peter was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee medal and the King Charles Coronation medal, both awarded to “honour significant contributions and achievements by Canadians.” In 2016 Peter was named an Honorary Lifetime Fellow of Acadia Divinity College and in 2024 awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from the same school. He serves as Chaplain to the Royal Commonwealth Society, and a board member of the House of Compassion
Peter is married to Janet and they have two daughters, a son and one delightful granddaughter. In his spare time Peter loves to garden, cycle, walk and cheer for the Leafs, Blue Jays and Buffalo Bills.

Chabad Jewish House - Kosher BBQ
2025-08-10 12:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Rabbi Zalman Vilenkin-In the Miller park near the Bell Tower, (across the road, On the side of the road that is closer to the lake)
B&G-Please provide:
16 Folding Tables
75 Folding Chairs
10 Trash Cans

Twelve Step Meeting
2025-08-10 12:15, 2025-08-13 12:15, 2025-08-15 12:15, 2025-08-17 12:15, 2025-08-20 12:15, 2025-08-22 12:15, 2025-08-24 12:15 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

Friends of Chautauqua Writers' Center: Literary Arts Contests Awards Ceremony
2025-08-10 14:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Chautauqua School of Dance: Student Gala II
2025-08-10 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua School of Dance presents an outstanding mixed repertoire matinee of new and established works featuring the most exceptional young talent in the country. Under the leadership of Sasha Janes,
Bonnefoux McBride Artistic Director of Chautauqua School of Dance, the school continues its long tradition of excellence as a top-tier summer training program focused on bringing the next generation of dance stars from the studio to the stage.

Shonda Buchanan and Joy Priest
2025-08-10 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Eight — Featuring Shonda Buchanan (Creative Non-Fiction) and Joy Priest (Poetry)
Kalamazoo, Michigan native Shonda Buchanan is a twice Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee, Oxfam Ambassador and a PEN Emerging Voices Fellow and PEN America Mentor. A professor in the Department of English at Western Michigan University and Alma College’s MFA Program in Creative Writing, Shonda is the author of three collections of poetry, Who’s Afraid of Black Indians?, Equipoise: Poems from Goddess Country and the forthcoming, The Lost Songs of Nina Simone, as well as the award-winning memoir, Black Indian, chosen by PBS NewsHour as a “Top 20 books to read to learn about institutional racism.” Former Board President for Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center and Board member of the Kalamazoo Poetry Festival and the Kalamazoo Arts Council, Shonda has published in The Mississippi Review, the Los Angeles Times, the LA Weekly, LA Times Magazine, AWP’s The Writer’s Chronicle, Indian Country Today, Red Ink Journal, LA Parents Magazine and freelanced for the International Review of African American Art, Westways, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the Daily Press and Sisters of AARP.
Shonda’s forthcoming essay collection, Children of the Mixed Blood Trail, explores mixed-race migration in North America. An English Language Specialist with the Department of State, Shonda is currently shopping a Black Lives Matter book of poetry, America’s Bloodflowers: Poems, as well as Artificial Earth: Poems and Essays, about the first founding mixed race “settlers” of Los Angeles and California Indians. Descendant of the African Mende nation of Sierra Leone, and in North America, the Coharie, Choctaw and Eastern Band Cherokee, and Europeans, Shonda writes on Chumash/Tongva lands in Los Angeles and in the Midwest on Ojibwe/Anishinaabe, Ottawa and Potawatomi lands. Shonda has taught creative writing, research and BIPOC/American literature for the past 24 years.
Joy Priest (she/her) is a writer from Louisville, KY. She is the author of HORSEPOWER (Pitt Poetry Series, 2020), selected by the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, and the editor of Once a City Said: A Louisville Poets Anthology (Sarabande, 2023). Priest is the recipient of a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, a 2019-2020 Fine Arts Work Center fellowship, the Imprint Paul Verlaine Prize in Poetry, and the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from the American Poetry Review.
Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Atlantic, Boston Review, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others, as well as in commissions for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Her essays have appeared in The Bitter Southerner, Poets & Writers, ESPN, and The Undefeated.
Priest received her bachelor’s in Print Journalism from the University of Kentucky, her MFA in Poetry with a certificate in Women & Gender Studies from the University of South Carolina, and her doctorate from the University of Houston where she was an Imprint MD Anderson Foundation fellow.
Joy has facilitated poetry workshops with incarcerated juvenile and adult women, and she is a member of the Affrilachian Poets. She is currently an Assistant Professor of African American / African Diaspora Poetry in the University of Pittsburgh’s MFA Writing Program, and the Curator of Community Programs & Practice (CCPP) at the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics (CAAPP).

Church of the Wild
2025-08-10 16:00, 2025-08-17 16:00 | Outdoor Classroom
Kriss Young Miller and her husband Gary manage the Quaker House. Kriss is a 2022 graduate of Earlham School of Religion with her Master of Arts in Peace and Social Transformation. Kriss is currently a student of Victoria Loorz in the Seminary of the Wild Earth at the Center for Wild Spirituality. She has completed Wild Church Leadership training and is deeply grateful for the opportunity to work to build connections with Chautauquans in the sacred wild.

Orientation for New Chautauquans
2025-08-10 16:30, 2025-08-17 16:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
Join us for lemonade and cookies at the Orientation for New Chautauquans, where we warmly welcome you to our vibrant community. This event is designed to acquaint you with the rich history, diverse programs, and unique experiences that Chautauqua has to offer. Meet fellow newcomers, engage with staff, and learn about the array of cultural, educational, and recreational opportunities available. Whether you’re here for a day, a week, or the entire season, this orientation will help you make the most of your visit and feel right at home.

Children's Organ Tour
2025-08-10 17:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Palestine Park Tour
2025-08-10 17:00, 2025-08-17 17:00 | Palestine Park, Palestine Park
“A Journey Through the Holy Land in the times of Jesus”

Hebrew Congregation, Shirley Lazarus Sunday Evening Lecture Series
2025-08-10 19:00, 2025-08-17 19:00, 2026-07-05 19:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Sacred Song Service - Hope: The Family of Abraham Gathers
2025-08-10 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: Larry Terkel
2025-08-11 07:45, 2025-08-12 07:45, 2025-08-13 07:45, 2025-08-14 07:45, 2025-08-15 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
Larry Terkel, along with his wife Susan, founded The Spiritual Life Society, an inter-denominational center for spiritual and holistic studies, where he teaches yoga and meditation and gives weekly talks. As its licensed minister, Larry has officiated at over 2,000 weddings for couples of all faiths. He is also the founder of Temple Beth Shalom, in Hudson, Ohio. Larry and Susan are co-authors of the book, Small Change: It’s the LITTLE Things in Life That Make a BIG Difference! (Tarcher/Penguin) a finalist for the 2004 National Books for a Better Life Award.

Daily Word Meditation
2025-08-11 08:00, 2025-08-12 08:00, 2025-08-13 08:00, 2025-08-14 08:00, 2025-08-15 08:00, 2025-08-18 08:00, 2025-08-19 08:00, 2025-08-20 08:00 and 2 more dates | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
(Programmed by Unity of Chautauqua)

Movement and Meditation with Monte Thompson
2025-08-11 08:30, 2025-08-13 08:30, 2025-08-15 08:30, 2025-08-18 08:30, 2025-08-20 08:30, 2025-08-22 08:30 | Hall of Philosophy Grove
Monte Thompson was a professional dancer, and also spent years as a restauranteur. His life was spent on his feet. Now retired, he is interested in continuing to be able to move easily and gracefully while using breathing and stretching techniques to help quiet his mind and prepare him to face each day with purpose and joy.

Catholic Mass
2025-08-11 08:45, 2025-08-12 08:45, 2025-08-13 08:45, 2025-08-14 08:45, 2025-08-15 08:45, 2025-08-18 08:45, 2025-08-19 08:45, 2025-08-20 08:45 and 2 more dates | Chapel of the Good Shepherd, Chapel of the Good Shepherd

Chautauqua Prays for Peace though Compassion
2025-08-11 08:55, 2025-08-12 08:55, 2025-08-13 08:55, 2025-08-14 08:55, 2025-08-15 08:55, 2025-08-18 08:55, 2025-08-19 08:55, 2025-08-20 08:55 and 2 more dates | Hall of Philosophy Grove

Service of Blessing and Healing
2025-08-11 10:15, 2025-08-12 10:15, 2025-08-13 10:15, 2025-08-14 10:15, 2025-08-15 10:15, 2025-08-18 10:15, 2025-08-19 10:15, 2025-08-20 10:15 and 2 more dates | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Allen Fromherz
2025-08-11 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Allen Fromherz is a professor of Middle East, Gulf and Mediterranean history at Georgia State University, where he directs the university’s Middle East Studies Center. His latest book is The Center of the World: A History of the Persian Gulf from the Stone Age to the Present, in which each chapter centers on a different port around the Gulf. From ancient Dilmun to medieval Basra to modern Dubai, The Center of the World shows how the people of the Gulf adapted to larger changes in world history, creating a system of free trade, merchant rule and commerce that connected the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean and continues to define the region today. It is this history that forms the basis for Fromherz’s Chautauqua Lecture Series appearance, opening our week on “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influence.”
Fromherz served as president of the American Institute for Maghreb Studies from 2015 until 2021. He is also the founding series editor, with Matt Buehler, of Edinburgh Studies on the Maghrib, and is North Africa senior editor for the Oxford Research Encyclopedia Africa. Since 2024, he is co-chair of the Monsoon Book Prizes, which celebrate the archaeology, history and political economy of the Indian Ocean world. The author of several other books on Gulf and Mediterranean history, including Qatar: A Modern History, Fromherz has also edited three volumes, including The Gulf in World History. He received his Ph.D. in Islamic history from St. Andrews University in St. Andrews, Scotland, and his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth.

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-08-11 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Georgia Court and Fred Zirm will lead a community discussion on our Week Eight CLSC selections The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye and the little book of e by E. Ethelbert Miller

Just the Right Climate for Metaphors! With CSO Double Bassist, Caitlyn Kamminga
2025-08-11 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
How can artists engage young people with a complex topic that is contributing to growing feelings of eco-anxiety and hopelessness, without dumbing down the stark fact that without radical change, we will literally cook the planet? In this hour-long interactive session, CSO bassist and teaching artist, Caitlyn Kamminga, explores how the arts can act as a catalyst for change and transformation.

Lecture Overflow
2025-08-11 14:00, 2025-08-18 14:00 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary

Shai Held
2025-08-11 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Shai Held, one of the most influential Jewish thinkers and leaders in America, is President and Dean of the Hadar Institute in New York City.
Rabbi Held received the prestigious Covenant Award for Excellence in Jewish Education, and has been named multiple times to Newsweek’s list of the most influential rabbis in America and to the Forward’s list of the most prominent Jews in the world.
He is the author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence (2013) and The Heart of Torah: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion (2017). His newest book, Judaism is About Love, was published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux in March 2024.

The 21st Annual Robert H. Jackson Lecture on the Supreme Court of the United States — Kim Lane Scheppele
2025-08-11 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Kim Lane Scheppele is the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. She is also a faculty fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Her primary field is the sociology of law and also works in sociological theory, comparative/historical sociology, political sociology, sociology of knowledge and human rights.
Scheppele’s research examines the rise and fall of constitutional government. After 1989, she moved to Eastern Europe, studying the way that new constitutions were being enacted and entrenched. After 9/11, she examined how constitutions fared under the stress of anti-terrorism campaigns with their repressive new laws, both in the United States and elsewhere. She has studied the way that democracies have come under stress, focusing on the rise of new autocrats, particularly those who are elected on populist political platforms and who then use the law to undermine constitutional institutions. Now, she concentrates in particular on changes within the European Union, exploring the way that the EU has had difficulty holding its own against national popular movements that brought about Brexit and the rise of illiberal autocracies among the member states.
In 2014, Scheppele received the Kalven Prize from the Law and Society Association, and in 2016 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also an elected member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and serves as a “global jurist” on the executive committee of the International Association of Constitutional Law. She served as the elected president of the Law and Society Association from 2017 to 2019. Her book, Legal Secrets, won Special Recognition in the Distinguished Scholarly Publication competition of the American Sociological Association as well as the Corwin Prize of the American Political Science Association.
Chautauqua Institution’s Robert H. Jackson Lecture is named in honor of the former Chautauquan, Jamestown lawyer, New Dealer, Solicitor General, Attorney General, Supreme Court justice, and Nuremberg chief prosecutor. Every summer the Jackson Lecture is a leading expert discussing the Supreme Court, the Justices, signal decisions, and related legal developments.
Chautauqua’s previous Jackson Lecturers have been Geoffrey Stone (2005), Linda Greenhouse (2006), Seth Waxman (2007), Jeffrey Toobin (2008), Paul Clement (2009), Jeff Shesol (2010), Dahlia Lithwick (2011), Pamela Karlan (2012), Charles Fried (2013), Akhil Amar (2014), Laurence Tribe (2015), Tracey Meares (2016), Judge Jon O. Newman (2017), Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella of Canada’s Supreme Court (2018), Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. (2019), Ruth Marcus (2020), Melissa Murray (2021), Reva Siegel (2022), Justin Driver (2023) and Kate Shaw (2024).

"Courageous Conversations on Death and Dying" Shahid Aziz
2025-08-11 15:30, 2025-08-18 15:30 | Presbyterian Chapel
Seminar

CHQ @ 150 - ALL RISE
2025-08-11 16:00, 2025-08-18 16:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Celebrate the sesquicentennial of our iconic institution, while exploring the ever-evolving definition of democracy through powerful stories and performances that have unfolded here, with a stirring performance of Wynton Marsalis’ All Rise and appearances by Kathryn Hahn, Kwame Alexander, Misty Copeland and more. (NR, 55m)

Play CHQ: Art and Nature Meet
2025-08-11 16:00, 2025-08-18 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Play CHQ invites families to discover, create, and play together all season long! Enjoy a variety of engaging activities including games, crafts, STEM experiments, and more at pop-up locations throughout the Chautauqua grounds.
In case of inclement weather, all Play CHQ events will be relocated to Sheldon Hall of Education, Room 202.

CHQ Mystic Heart: Suzanne Watters
2025-08-11 16:45 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Suzanne Watters is a Pratt Institute MFA graduate with a concentration in painting/drawing. Her art practice centers around woven pieces made with found textiles painted with pigments and/or dyed with food waste and other organic matter. She has attended training in New York City and received a certification in sound meditation from the Sound Healing Academy. She has also done additional sound healing training at a retreat and session with Wyatt Mylius at Rooted In Sound in Pittsburgh, PA (trained with Peter Hess) and with indigenous sound healing practitioner Moises Tort in Mandarina, Mexico. Watters sees her sound meditation sessions as being led by an artist and guided with the relaxation tools and techniques of poetry, breath, and sound

Taize' and Tea Meditation Worship
2025-08-11 19:00, 2025-08-18 19:00 | Randell Chapel, UCC Headquarters

Music School Festival Orchestra
2025-08-11 20:15, 2026-07-13 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Comprised of top-tier students from conservatories and universities in the U.S. and abroad, Music School Festival Orchestra members participate in a variety of musical activities during their summers at Chautauqua including chamber music and private lessons along with their meticulous orchestral training. Alumni from the MSFO can be heard in many of the world’s top orchestras and chamber ensembles and can be found on music faculties worldwide. The MSFO is led by Artistic Director Timothy Muffitt, who serves as Music Director of the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Laureate of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra.

Vali R. Nasr
2025-08-12 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Vali R. Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Between 2012 and 2019 he served as dean of SAIS, and between 2009 and 2011 as senior adviser to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Nasr, who has previously contributed to Chautauqua Institution’s Middle East Update and Chautauqua Lecture Series, returns for a week on “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influence.” He’ll discuss the state of play in the Gulf States, and the role the United States is playing in the rapidly-changing map of the Middle East.
Nasr has advised world leaders and major corporations, and is the author of several books, including Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History; How Sanctions Work, Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare; The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat; The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam will Shape the Future; and Democracy in Iran. He has also written articles in scholarly journals, and commentary in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He is a member of Global Board of Trustees of Asia Society, the recipient of Carnegie Scholar Award, and the Frank Guggenheim, and MacArthur Foundation research fellowships. He was selected as Henry Alfred Kissinger Resident Scholar at Library of Congress for 2024-2025.
He received his Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University in international relations; his master’s from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in international economics and Middle East studies; and his Ph.D. from MIT in political science.

Judy Gallagher, Insects & Macrophotography
2025-08-12 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
BTG Brownbag

CHQ Mystic Heart: Larry Terkel
2025-08-12 12:30, 2025-08-14 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-12 12:30, 2025-08-13 12:30, 2025-08-19 12:30, 2025-08-20 12:30 | Presbyterian House, Presbyterian House

Mah Jongg Luncheon
2025-08-12 13:00 | Sports Club, Sports Club
Drop-in mah jongg at the Sports Club directed by PattyArmstrong

Brock Bahler
2025-08-12 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Brock Bahler is a teaching professor and director of undergraduate studies in the religious studies department at Pitt, where he advocates for more diverse syllabuses, relates religion to social issues and pushes students to think outside of the box.
He earned his PhD in Philosophy from Duquesne University and is the author of Childlike Peace in Merleau-Ponty and Levinas: Intersubjectivity as Dialectical Spiral as well as many academic articles and contributions to edited volumes.

Social Hour at Denominational Houses
2025-08-12 15:15, 2025-08-19 15:15 | Denominational Houses (Selected)
Social hour at the Baptist House, Catholic House, Christian Church, Everett Jewish Life Center, Episcopal Cottage, Lutheran House, Unitarian House and United Methodist House

Heritage Lecture Series: David Kinkela
2025-08-12 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Dr. David Kinkela will present “Chautauqua: A Place and an Idea in Progressive Era America”.
Dr. Kinkela is an environmental historian who explores U.S. history in a global context. His first book, DDT and the American Century: Global Health, Environmental Politics, and the Pesticide That Changed the World (2011) examined the interconnections between U.S. environmentalism and U.S. foreign policy. Currently, he is working on a number of projects, including one that explores the history of plastic waste. His research on the history of Chautauqua Institution is part of an NEH funded project and forthcoming edited book Beyond the City: Re-Placing the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (SUNY Press).

Play CHQ: Crafting by the Water
2025-08-12 16:00, 2025-08-19 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

SOULEYMANE'S STORY
2025-08-12 18:00, 2025-08-13 15:30, 2025-08-13 20:30, 2025-08-14 19:15 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Souleymane a Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker, has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure his legal residency. “Abou Sangaré is magnificent as Souleymane…He is on screen for virtually every second, and he holds your attention without fail.” -Karl Quinn, Sydney Morning Herald “If the hero’s dire situation is a ticking clock, Boris Lojkine’s intelligent and empathetic film places us right alongside him, with each cog of circumstance and each gear of good fortune grinding against him at every turn.” -Jessica Kiang, Variety “Refreshingly human.” -Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com (NR, In French with subtitles. 92m)

Labyrinth History and Meditation
2025-08-12 18:30, 2025-08-19 18:30 | Turner (Outside of Building)
Bring gate pass. Adjacent to Turner Community Center

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Classical Remix
2025-08-12 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Jaren Atherholt, oboe
Noah Kay, oboe
Join conductor Rossen Milanov for a dynamic evening of orchestral elegance, innovation, and charm. Mozart’s Idomeneo Ballet Music opens with regal grace, leading to Viet Cuong’s Extra(ordinarily) Fancy, a dazzling new concerto showcasing the brilliance of Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra oboists Jaren Atherholt and Noah Kay. The journey continues with Anna Clyne’s atmospheric This Moment before concluding with the youthful energy and lyricism of Schubert’s Symphony No. 3, making for a night of musical surprises and pure delight!
Program:
W.A. Mozart: Idomeneo Ballet Music
Viet Cuong: Extra(ordinarily) Fancy Concerto for 2 oboes and orchestra
Anna Clyne: This Moment
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 3, D. 200

SECRET MALL APARTMENT
2025-08-12 20:30, 2025-08-13 18:00, 2025-08-14 14:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside the busy Providence Place Mall and kept it going for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than just a wild prank, the secret mall apartment became an incredibly meaningful act for all the participants, at once an act of defiance against local gentrification, a boundary-pushing work of public/private art, and a 750 square foot space that sticks it to the man. “A profoundly humane portrait of creativity and community.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post (NR, 91m)

Cultural Ethics Series - Fish Stark
2025-08-13 09:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
“The New Humanism”

Robin Wright
2025-08-13 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Robin Wright is a contributing writer and columnist for The New Yorker, which she has written for since 1988. A distinguished fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, she is a former correspondent for The Washington Post, CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, and the Sunday Times of London, and has reported from more than 140 countries. A frequent Chautauqua contributor, Wright returns to the Amphitheater stage for a week on “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influence,” to discuss the evolving Middle East order.
Wright received the U.N. Correspondents Association Gold Medal for international coverage, and the Overseas Press Club Award for the “best reporting in any medium requiring exceptional courage and initiative,” for her coverage of African wars. The American Academy of Diplomacy named her journalist of the year for “distinguished reporting and analysis of international affairs.” She also won the National Press Club Award for diplomatic reporting and has been the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation grant. Her first piece on Iran won the National Magazine Award for best reporting.
Wright is the author of several books, including The Last Great Revolution: Turmoil and Transformation in Iran, Sacred Rage: The Wrath of Militant Islam, and Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East, which was selected by The New York Times and The Washington Post as one of the most notable books of 2008. Her book, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World, was selected as the best book on international affairs by the Overseas Press Club.

Organ Recitals
2025-08-13 12:15, 2025-08-20 12:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Women in Ministry
2025-08-13 12:15, 2025-08-20 12:15 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions

CLSC Young Readers Book Discussion
2025-08-13 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Suzanne Fassett-Wright and Rachel Lykins will lead a community discussion on our Week Eight CLSC Young Readers selection Grace Notes: Poems About Families by Naomi Shihab Nye

Miami of Ohio Program with Jason Rech
2025-08-13 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Climate Change and the Unfolding Water Crisis in the Middle East

Kat Armas
2025-08-13 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer and podcaster from Miami, FL. She holds a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary, where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing, and is currently pursuing a ThM at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Kat’s writing explores the intersections of women, decolonialism, faith, and identity.
Her first book, Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us About Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength, delves into the stories of marginalized women and how they offer transformative wisdom. Her second book, Sacred Belonging is a 40-Day “decolonized” devotional that focuses on creation, wisdom, spirit, the body, and the feminine. Kat’s third book, Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World is set to release in November 2025.
Kat is the creator and host of The Protagonistas, a podcast that amplifies the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other women of color in theological spaces. She is also a contributor to Voices of Lament: Reflections on Brokenness and Hope in a World Longing for Justice and has written for the National Catholic Reporter, Plough Magazine, RELEVANT, The Christian Century, Christianity Today, Sojourners, Christians for Biblical Equality, Missio Alliance, and more. Her work continues to center decolonial thought, women’s voices, and the intersection of faith and identity.

African American Heritage House Lecture: Asha Castleberry
2025-08-13 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Asha Castleberry is an adjunct fellow at the American Security Project, with more than a decade of experience in Middle East policy. In addition to being a national security and foreign policy expert, she is a U.S. Army veteran, author of Why National Security Matters, and former U.S. Congressional candidate. She served as a senior adviser in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs under the Biden-Harris Administration and held key roles in Kuwait, Iraq and Jordan.
Castleberry has participated in high-level forums, including the Erbil Security Forum and the Foreign Policy Institute Black Sea Conference. Currently a Cyrus Vance Visiting Professor at Mount Holyoke College, she has also taught at Fordham, George Washington, and Baruch College. A major in the Army Reserves, Castleberry is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and founder of the Diversity in National Security Network. Her work has garnered numerous honors, including the Middle East Policy Council’s 40 Under 40.
Castleberry is a graduate of Hampton University and Columbia University, with studies at Oxford and in China.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-13 15:30, 2025-08-20 15:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Play CHQ: STEM by the Water
2025-08-13 16:00, 2025-08-20 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

CHQ Mystic Heart: Therapeutic Gong Meditation with Kim Hehr
2025-08-13 16:45, 2025-08-20 16:45 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Kim Hehr is a lifelong Chautauquan and a certified level 2 teacher of Kundalini Yoga and Meditation. She has been a yoga and meditation practitioner for 30 years and has been teaching Kundalini Yoga and Meditation for 25 years. A retired hospice nurse, she is presently the coordinator of the CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation Program. Kim specializes in healing addictive patterns through yogic technology. Passionate about teaching meditation, performing Gong Baths, and pranayama (breath work), her objective is to help others with their anxiety and everyday stress. Her goal is to facilitate bringing more peace and self-acceptance into people’s lives.

Chautauqua Theater Company presents the world premiere of The Witnesses (formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying)
2025-08-13 18:00, 2025-08-14 14:00, 2025-08-19 14:00, 2025-08-21 14:00, 2025-08-22 14:00, 2025-08-23 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

CVA Lecture Series: Jessica Pinsky
2025-08-13 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
CVA Lecture Series: School of Art faculty
Jessica Pinsky: “Weaving pixels: Using technology to weave across generations”
Jessica Pinsky is an artist whose work bridges painting, weaving, and sculpture. Born in Akron, Ohio, Pinsky moved to Cleveland in 2011 after receiving a BFA from New York University in 2006 and an MFA from Boston University in 2009. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including a recent solo show at Hedge Gallery in Cleveland, Ohio. Her work can be found in several collections including Whidden Hospital, Everett, MA and Metro Health in Cleveland, OH. In 2012, she partnered with Cleveland Institute of Art to found Praxis Fiber Workshop, a 5,000 sq. ft studio featuring 27 floor looms, 3 large print tables, a full dye lab, and assorted equipment to meet every fiber related need. She is currently the Executive Director at Praxis and teaches at Cleveland Institute of Art. She is represented by Hedge Gallery in Cleveland, OH.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-13 18:30, 2025-08-15 12:30, 2025-08-20 18:30, 2025-08-22 12:30 | Lutheran House, Lutheran House

Chautauqua Chamber Music: Canadian Brass
2025-08-13 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Canadian Brass, the world’s most famous brass quintet, returns to Chautauqua this summer. Celebrated for their virtuosic performances and engaging stage presence, the group seamlessly blends classical, jazz, and contemporary music, making their concerts both diverse and accessible. Since its founding in 1970, Canadian Brass has released over 130 recordings, earning accolades for their artistry and creativity. Their signature style, complete with humor and flair, has delighted audiences worldwide, from grand concert halls to intimate venues. With their iconic gold-plated instruments and passion for music, Canadian Brass continues to redefine the brass ensemble experience.
Program to be announced.

Suzi Mirgani
2025-08-14 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Suzi Mirgani is editor and assistant director for publications at Georgetown University in Qatar’s Center for International and Regional Studies, where her research lies at the intersection of politics and popular culture. She joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week exploring “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influences” to discuss art, culture and identity in the region, and her work as both a scholar and an artist in this field.
Mirgani is the author of Target Markets: International Terrorism Meets Global Capitalism in the Mall; editor of both Informal Politics in the Middle East, and Art and Cultural Production in the Gulf Cooperation Council; and co-editor of Bullets and Bulletins: Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings, and Food Security in the Middle East. Recent publications include “Peeking behind the Curtain: Gulf Filmmakers Imagine the Lives of Female Migrant Domestic Workers in the Arabian Peninsula,” in Reorienting the Middle East: Film and Digital Media Where the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean Meet and “Consumer Citizenship: National Identity and Museum Merchandise in Qatar” in Middle East Journal.
Mirgani served as book review editor for the Journal of Arabian Studies from 2015 to 2022, and she publishes short stories and poetry, some of which have appeared in Mizna; International Feminist Journal of Politics; and Journeys Home: An Anthology of Contemporary African Diasporic Experience.
As a complement to her academic work, Mirgani is an award-winning filmmaker whose works include “Kamala Ishag: States of Oneness,” “Virtual Voice,” “Al-Sit,” “Caravan” and “Hind’s Dream.” She holds degrees in media studies and museum studies from University College London Qatar, and her Ph.D. in communication and media studies from Eastern Mediterranean University.

CTC Theater Chats
2025-08-14 12:15, 2025-08-21 12:15, 2026-07-02 12:15, 2026-07-09 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Theater Chats (formerly known as Brown Bags)
On selected Thursdays at 12:15 p.m., bring lunch to Smith Wilkes Hall and join special guests, including actors, designers, playwrights and more, for a look at our upcoming productions and discussions on the craft of theater-making. Free and open to the public.

CHQ Dialogue
2025-08-14 12:30, 2025-08-21 12:30 | Everett Jewish Life Center, Everett Jewish Life Center

Duplicate Bridge
2025-08-14 12:45, 2025-08-21 12:45 | Sports Club, Sports Club
Don’t have a partner? One will be provided. Game managed by Shelley Dahlie. $10/person.

Dr. Tamara Gray
2025-08-14 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Dr. Tamara Gray is a founder of Rabata, an organization dedicated to promoting positive
cultural change through creative educational experiences. As President and CEO, she focuses on
uplifting Muslim women within community and without. She has a special interest in digital
spaces in faith communities.
Dr. Gray holds a doctorate in leadership from the University of St. Thomas, a master’s degree in
Curriculum Theory and Instruction from Temple University and spent twenty years in traditional
learning spaces studying Islamic sciences, Quran, and Arabic in Damascus, Syria.
Dr. Gray is also an author and translator. Her publications range from several culturally
appropriate English language curriculum programs to translations of sacred texts. She has
authored two books: Joy Jots: Exercises for a happy heart & Project Lina: Bringing our whole
selves to Islam and co-translated the Mukhtasir al-Jami’ fi al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya by Shaykha
Samīra Zayid [Compendium of the Collection of Sources on al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya]. She is
currently working on a third book about theology and creed.
In addition to her work at Rabata, Dr. Gray also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Yaqeen Institute
and is a member of the Fiqh Council of North America. She has recently taken on the position of
Board Chair for the Minnesota Multifaith Network. Dr. Gray is Full Focus Certified Pro
exemplifying her commitment to productivity and impactful leadership.
She is a mother of three, grandmother of two, an avid reader and a lover of cultures, coffee, and road trips.

Naomi Shihab Nye and E. Ethelbert Miller
2025-08-14 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — The Tiny Journalist by Naomi Shihab Nye and the little book of e by E. Ethelbert Miller
The Tiny Journalist
Internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye places her Palestinian American identity center stage in her latest full-length poetry collection inspired by the story of Janna Jihad Ayyad, the “Youngest Journalist in Palestine,” who at age 7 began capturing videos of anti-occupation protests using her mother’s smartphone. Nye draws upon her own family’s roots in a West Bank village near Janna’s hometown to offer empathy and insight to the young girl’s reporting. Long an advocate for peaceful communication across all boundaries, Nye’s poems in The Tiny Journalist put a human face on war and the violence that divides us from each other.
Award-winning Palestinian American poet, essayist, and educator, Naomi Shihab Nye, describes herself as a “wandering poet.” She has spent more than 40 years traveling the country and the world to lead writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages. Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother and grew up in St. Louis, Jerusalem, and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian American heritage, the cultural diversity of her home in Texas, and her experiences traveling in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Middle East, Nye uses her writing to attest to our shared humanity.
Naomi Shihab Nye is the author and/or editor of more than 30 volumes of poetry, essays, and fiction for adults and children. Naomi Shihab Nye was a Lannan Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Witter Bynner Fellow (Library of Congress). She has also been the recipient of many awards and prizes including a Lavan Award, Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, four Pushcart Prizes, Robert Creeley Prize, NSK Neustadt Award for Children’s Literature, May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award, Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement, two Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, the Ivan Sandrof Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 2024 Texas Writer Award and the 2024 Wallace Stevens Award. In 2021 she was voted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Nye was affiliated with The Michener Center for writers at the University of Texas at Austin for 20 years and was also poetry editor at The Texas Observer for 20 years. In 2019-2020 she was the editor for New York Times Magazine poems. She is Chancellor Emeritus for the Academy of American Poets and is Professor of Creative Writing – Poetry at Texas State University.
the little book of e
In the little book of e poet E. Ethelbert Miller embraces the Japanese poetic form of haiku to comment on our contemporary world in a collaboration with translator Rafi Ellenson. Haiku presented in English and Hebrew is symbolic of how language can bring people together. Miller and Ellenson have given us a book that shows how Black and Jewish relations can continue to be a beacon of hope. This book is filled with words that blossom like flowers.
E. Ethelbert Miller is a literary activist and author of two memoirs and several poetry collections. He hosts the WPFW morning radio show On the Margin with E. Ethelbert Miller and hosts and produces The Scholars on UDC-TV which received a 2020 Telly Award. Miller is Associate Editor and a columnist for The American Book Review. He was given a 2020 congressional award from Congressman Jamie Raskin in recognition of his literary activism, awarded the 2022 Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award by the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and named a 2023 Grammy Nominee Finalist for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album. Miller’s latest book is the little book of e published by City Point Press. Recently Miller was awarded the Furious Flower Lifetime Achievement Award.
Exploring the various ways in which language and story bring us together, Naomi Shihab Nye and E. Ethelbert Miller will be featured together in conversation during our Week Eight CLSC lecture on Thursday, August 14, 2025, in the Hall of Philosophy.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 15:30, 2025-08-21 15:30 | United Methodist House, United Methodist House

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 15:30, 2025-08-21 15:30 | Baptist House, Baptist House

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 16:00, 2025-08-21 16:00 | AAHH African American Heritage House
The Dialogue is devoted to the AAHH Lecture on Wednesday at 3:30pm

Play CHQ: Get your Game On!
2025-08-14 16:00, 2025-08-21 16:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

GARLAND JEFFREYS: THE KING OF IN BETWEEN
2025-08-14 16:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Meet the Filmmaker Special Event! Free Admission! Hubris, anger, prejudice…doo-wop, reggae, rock…expectations, heartbreak, transformation… An enigmatic performer since his start in the Greenwich Village clubs, Garland Jeffreys never quite reached the success predicted for him. Director Claire Jeffreys film asks why, and explores how his commitment to writing about race in America is more relevant now than ever. Claire will host the screening and discussion following the film. (NR, 70m)

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-14 18:30, 2025-08-21 18:30 | Disciples of Christ House, Disciples of Christ House

Chautauqua Theater Company presents the world premiere of The Witnesses (formerly titled Tell Me You’re Dying)
2025-08-14 19:30, 2025-08-16 19:30, 2025-08-17 19:30, 2025-08-19 19:30, 2025-08-20 16:00, 2025-08-21 19:30, 2025-08-22 19:30 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
By C.A. Johnson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
The Witnesses compels us to question not only if we can change but if we have time to do so while the world appears to be ending.
Infused with C.A. Johnson’s brutal honesty, exacting humor, and heartfelt exploration of human relationships, the story pulses with urgency, vulnerability and unexpected warmth.
While an apocalyptic plague rages, five individuals unite in their weekly support group to forge a sanctuary of care and companionship. Centering on the darkly funny and wildly magnetic Millicent and her chosen family of misfits, this play explores the undeniable physical urge for human connection.
This production is recommended for audiences ages 13 and older.
This performance offers:
Pick Your Price (PYP)
CTC’s PYP program ensures theater remains accessible to all by allowing patrons to choose ticket prices based on their budget. This flexible pricing model fosters inclusivity and encourages greater community participation.
Live Audio Descriptions (LAD)
LAD provides narrated descriptions of key visual elements during pauses in dialogue, enhancing accessibility for blind and visually impaired audiences. This complimentary service also benefits neurodiverse patrons and those with attention or processing challenges.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Symphonie fantastique
2025-08-14 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Embark on a thrilling musical journey through Berlioz’s groundbreaking Symphonie fantastique. This dramatic, five-movement masterpiece will take you through the fevered imagination of an artist, filled with sweeping romance, dark fantasies, and powerful orchestral colors. Don’t miss this chance to experience one of the most vivid and exhilarating works in the classical repertoire!
Program:
Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

Thomas Friedman
2025-08-15 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Thomas Friedman is the bestselling author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century and foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times. Renowned for his direct reporting and accessible analysis of complex issues shaping the world, Friedman is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes — two for international reporting from the Middle East and a third for his columns written about 9/11 — and has covered monumental stories from around the globe for The New York Times since 1981. It is this extensive reporting and analysis that will inform his remarks as he closes our Chautauqua Lecture Series week exploring “The Middle East: The Gulf States’ Emerging Influence.”
Friedman has written seven books since 1989 that have sold 10 million copies in 40 different languages. They include From Beirut to Jerusalem (which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction), The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization, The World is Flat and, most recently, his latest bestseller Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations, in which Friedman offers a blueprint for overcoming the stresses and challenges of a world being transformed by technology, globalization and climate change.
Friedman was featured in Showtime’s climate change documentary series “Years of Living Dangerously,” executive produced by James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

CLSC Unbound Book Discussion
2025-08-15 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom
Presenters Stuart Blerch and Mary Weiser will discuss our CLSC Unbound selections, Harlem Rhapsody: A Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray and The Queens of Crime: A Novel by Marie Benedict

Introduction to Jumu'ah Muslim Prayer
2025-08-15 12:30 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
Jumu’ah introduction for visitors is at 12:30 PM. Jumu’ah Service is at 1:05 PM

Drew Jackson
2025-08-15 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, and public theologian. He is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God’s Unexpected Coming, which was a finalist for the Christian Book Award, and Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. His work has appeared in Oneing from the Center for Action and Contemplation, The Isolation Journals with Suleika Jaouad, Christianity Today, Made for Pax, The Journal from the Centre for Public Christianity, Fathom Magazine, and other publications. Drew was a contributing artist on Jon Batiste’s Grammy-nominated album World Music Radio and also appeared in the award-winning documentary American Symphony on Netflix. Drew is also a co-host of the Everything Belongs podcast from the Center for Action and Contemplation.
Drew received his B.A. in Political Science from the Univ. of Chicago and his M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He currently works as the Managing Director of Mission Integration for the Center for Action and Contemplation, and lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and daughters.

Elizabeth O'Connor
2025-08-15 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Chautauqua Prize Award Ceremony and Presentation – Whale Fall: A Novel by Elizabeth O’Connor
Chautauqua Institution presents author Elizabeth O’Connor with the 2025 Chautauqua Prize for her book Whale Fall: A Novel. Awarded annually since 2012, The Chautauqua Prize celebrates a book of fiction or literary/narrative nonfiction or a full length collection of poetry that provides a richly rewarding reading experience and to honor the author for a significant contribution to the literary arts.
Whale Fall is a striking and sensual debut that defies simple genre classification. While it is a beautiful bildungsroman and work of historical fiction, it is also a study in anthropology, ethnography and folklore. It is a rich, metaphorical examination of the bones of what makes us human — history, culture, storytelling — against a backdrop of the literal bones of a decaying whale carcass washed ashore on the coast of Wales.
In a seafaring community with a population that is slowly diminishing in the wake of industrialization and a world on the brink of World War II, it is the whale that sets the events of Whale Fall in motion. The changing tides bring not just a whale, but two ethnographers interested in recording the quiet way of life in — and preserving the traditions of — the small island town the main character, a young woman named Manod, calls home.
Since first appearing on bookshelves in May 2024, Whale Fall has been named a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker and NPR, an ALA Notable Fiction Book, and was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award.
O’Connor lives in Birmingham, England. Her short stories have appeared in The White Review and Granta, and she was the 2020 winner of the White Review Short Story Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Birmingham, specializing in the modernist writer H.D. and her writing of coastal landscapes.

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-15 15:30, 2025-08-22 15:30 | Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

CHQ Dialogues
2025-08-15 15:30, 2025-08-22 15:30 | Episcopal Cottage, Episcopal Cottage

Hebrew Congregation Evening Kabbalat Shabbat Service
2025-08-15 17:00, 2025-08-22 17:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

THE LIFE OF CHUCK
2025-08-15 17:15, 2025-08-16 20:30, 2025-08-17 14:15, 2025-08-17 20:30, 2025-08-18 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
From childhood to adulthood, Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained within all of us in director Mike Flanagan’s life-affirming, genre-bending film. “Feels like the coziest of blankets enveloping you in the theater. However, you should expect a few jolts of static…this touching, beautiful film is based on a novella by Stephen King.” -Odie Henderson, Boston Globe “A story of profound humanity, ultimately spirit-expanding.” -Nell Minow, Movie Mom (R, 110m)

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Best for Baby (a CTC Commission)
2025-08-15 18:00, 2025-08-16 14:00, 2025-08-17 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
by Sharyn Rothstein, Directed by Oliver Butler, Bratton Theater
After the birth of her child, a woman returns to work at Johnson & Johnson — America’s most trusted brand — and maker of the powder she uses on her own little girl. But can she trust it? Best for Baby portrays corporate personhood with in-your-face theatrical absurdity and blistering wit, unflinchingly examining the cost of valuing profits over people.
Best for Baby is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

A Service of Compline
2025-08-15 19:30, 2025-08-22 19:30 | Episcopal Chapel

F1: THE MOVIE
2025-08-15 20:00, 2025-08-16 17:00, 2025-08-17 17:00, 2025-08-18 20:45 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) was Formula1’s most promising driver of the 1990s until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) convinces Sonny to come back for one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world. “This movie is entirely about the driving, and the speed.” -Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times “It’s a plot as old as the horseless carriage, but in F1 it’s fuel-injected by an exceptionally appealing cast.” -Ann Hornaday, Washington Post “Exactly what summer blockbusters are supposed to be, exciting, romantic, funny, glamorous, and purely entertaining.” -Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com (PG-13, 155m)

Los Lobos
2025-08-15 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Over the course of their 50-year career, Los Lobos have crafted an unprecedented body of work and unparalleled legacy. With 100+ gigs a year, 17 studio albums, 7 live LPs, and numerous accolades—including 4 Grammys, an Austin City Limits Hall of Fame induction, and Congressional recognitions—their accomplishments are staggering. But beyond the numbers, their legacy is rooted in the tremendous heart of five blood brothers who’ve dedicated their time off-stage to helping others. Together they have penned some of the most important music of their time, turning stories of struggle into songs of hope and resilience.
Influenced by soul, R&B, blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, and their Mexican and Latin American roots, Los Lobos blend diverse musical styles, spreading cultural richness around the globe. From Antwerp to Luxor to Bulgaria, their music has connected people across continents. For half a century, they’ve done it all on their own terms, with the same founding members—David Hidalgo, Louie Pérez, Jr., Cesar Rosas, Conrad Lozano, and Steve Berlin—solidifying their place as one of the tightest, most prolific bands in history.
Experience their vibrant, genre-defying sound live at the Chautauqua Amphitheater on August 15!

Chautauqua Theater Company presents Bratton Late Night
2025-08-15 22:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater
CTC’s favorite late-night talent showcase is back by popular demand! An evening of sketches and songs featuring the extraordinary talents of our 2025 conservatory.

CHQ Mystic Heart Meditation: Carol McKiernan
2025-08-16 07:15, 2025-08-23 07:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Carol McKiernan grew up at Chautauqua and says that her love of mystical practices began here on the grounds. She was formally introduced to meditation many years ago at an off-season yoga and meditation retreat led by Subagh Singh Khalsa and has been practicing Centering Prayer daily ever since. She has attended many seminars, workshops, and retreats offered by Contemplative Outreach, founded by the late Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist Monk who was instrumental in the creation of Centering Prayer. Carol practices Centering Prayer with weekly groups in Campus Ministry at Villanova University and at St. David’s Episcopal Church outside of Philadelphia. She has led and participated in many Centering Prayer workshops and groups in the areas surrounding her hometown of Philadelphia. She is a member of the Augustinian Affiliates, the lay order of the Augustinian Friars and volunteers for the Friars in the Villanova Province. Carol is a past board member and treasurer of the Chautauqua Catholic Community.

Torah Study
2025-08-16 09:30, 2025-08-23 09:30 | Hurlbut Marion Lawrance

Chabad Jewish House, Community Shabbat Service, Rabbi Zalman Vilenken
2025-08-16 09:30, 2025-08-23 09:30 | Chabad Jewish House

Sabbath Morning Worship, Hebrew Congregation
2025-08-16 10:30, 2025-08-23 10:30 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Kiddish Luncheon
2025-08-16 11:30, 2025-08-23 11:30 | Hurlbut Truesdale

Contemporary Issues Forum: Maureen Lichtveld, M.D.
2025-08-16 15:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Maureen Lichtveld is an epidemiologist and the dean of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health, where she studies environmental public health, focusing on environmentally induced disease, health disparities, environmental health policy, disaster preparedness, public health systems, and community resilience. At the University of Pittsburgh, Lichtveld is also the Jonas Salk Professor of Population Health and professor of environmental and occupational health. The topic of her Contemporary Issues Forum program for the Chautauqua Women’s Club is “Lessons from COVID, the Imminent Avian Flu Threat, and the Certainty of Future Pandemics.”
Before joining Pitt in January 2021, Lichtveld chaired Tulane University’s Department of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also directed Tulane’s Center for Gulf Coast Environmental Health Research, Leadership, and Strategic Initiatives. She spent 18 years with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
A member of the National Academy of Medicine and a member of the board of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health, Lichtveld earned her Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Hygiene and Public Health and her medical doctorate from Anton de Kom University of Suriname and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Gershwin’s Concerto in F
2025-08-16 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano
One hundred years ago, composer George Gershwin, fresh off the successful premiere of Rhapsody in Blue, holed up in a practice cabin at Chautauqua Institution to work furiously on what became his Concerto in F. This summer, pianist Aaron Diehl joins Rossen Milanov and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the concerto’s premiere. Come hear a piece of Chautauqua’s history performed by a celebrated pianist who is redefining the lines between jazz and classical today.
Program
Antonin Dvorak: The Water Goblin, Op. 107
Carlos Simon: Four Black American Dances
George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F

Brian McLaren
2025-08-17 10:45, 2025-08-18 09:15, 2025-08-19 09:15, 2025-08-20 09:15, 2025-08-21 09:15, 2025-08-22 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good.
Brian is Dean of Faculty for the Center for Action and Contemplation. and a podcaster with Learning How to See. He is a co-host of Southern Lights. His newest books are Faith After Doubt (January 2021), Do I Stay Christian? (May 2022), and Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (2024). His co-authored children’s book Cory and the Seventh Story was released in 2023. The first book of a new science fiction trilogy, The Last Voyage, will be published in summer, 2025. He is an Auburn Senior Fellow, a contributor to We Stand With Love, and a leader in the Convergence Network, through which he is developing an innovative training/mentoring program for pastors and church planters.
He is an active and popular blogger, a musician, and a songwriter, offering a variety of resources through his website, www.brianmclaren.net.

Pilobolus: Family Friendly Performance
2025-08-17 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Pilobolus’s performances for families and students captivate young minds, with child-friendly costuming and a soft start to accommodate those unexpected delays. Audiences become part of the action with interactive engagement and enjoy laughter-filled moments that spark creativity and connection. With Pilobolus, artistry and fun take center stage—a perfect outing for students and families alike!

Ellen Crosby and Alan King
2025-08-17 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Week Nine — Featuring Ellen Crosby (Mystery Fiction) and Alan King (Poetry)
Ellen Crosby is the author of 18 mystery novels; Deeds Left Undone, her most recent book, is the 13th book in a mystery series set in a vineyard in Virginia and will be out in August 2025. She also wrote four mysteries about an international photojournalist and a standalone, Moscow Nights. Her books have been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Library of Virginia People’s Choice Award. Before writing fiction full time, she was a freelance regional reporter for The Washington Post, Moscow correspondent for ABC Radio News, and an economist at the U.S. Senate. She is on the national board of Mystery Writers of America and is also a member of the Literary Society of Washington, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers.
Alan King is a Caribbean American poet, husband, father, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. The son of Trinidadian immigrants, he has published two poetry collections, Point Blank (Silver Birch Press, 2016) and Drift (Willow Books, 2012), as well as the chapbook Crooked Smiling Light (Plan B Press, 2021). His work delves into themes of family, identity, and social justice and has earned multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net awards.
King’s poetry caught the attention of former U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, who remarked, “Alan Kingis one of my favorite up-and-coming poets of his generation. His poems are not pop and flash, rather more like a slow dance with someone you’re going to love forever.”
A Cave Canem graduate fellow, King holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Stonecoast Program at the University of Southern Maine. He was the 2018/19 Writer-in-Residence for the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society. King lives with his family in Bowie, Maryland.

Sacred Song Service - Ever Living, Ever Striving, Ever Forming
2025-08-17 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

CHQ Mystic Heart: Sharon Wesoky
2025-08-18 07:45, 2025-08-19 07:45, 2025-08-20 07:45, 2025-08-21 07:45, 2025-08-22 07:45 | Presbyterian Chapel
Mahanaya Buddhism-Mindfulness Meditation

Pilobolus Open Dance Class
2025-08-18 09:00 | Carnahan-Jackson: Verdy

Doris Kearns Goodwin
2025-08-18 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times No. 1 best-selling author, most recently of An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s, published in April 2024. With five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson, Goodwin returns to the Chautauqua Lecture Series to open a week dedicated to the theme “Past Informs Present: How to Harness History.”
Goodwin’s previous books include the critically acclaimed and New York Times best-selling Leadership: In Turbulent Times, which incorporates her five decades of scholarship studying Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. Leadership inspired the young readers book The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President, which published in September 2024, and the History Channel’s miniseries events “Abraham Lincoln,” “Theodore Roosevelt” and “FDR,” which Goodwin executive produced through her production company, Pastimes Productions.
Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in history for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. Her Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln was awarded the Lincoln Prize and was in part the basis for Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed film “Lincoln.”
Goodwin’s interest in presidential leadership was inspired by her experience as a 24-year-old White House Fellow, working directly for President Johnson in his last year in the White House, and later assisting him in the preparation of his memoirs. Her first book was the widely praised and enormously popular Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream.
Goodwin graduated magna cum laude from Colby College. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in government from Harvard University, where she taught government, including a course on the American presidency. The first woman to enter the Boston Red Sox locker room in 1979, Goodwin lives in Boston and is a devoted fan of the World Series-winning team.

CLSC Book Discussion
2025-08-18 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Ruth S. Becker and Kathryn O’Neal will lead a community discussion on our Week Nine CLSC selection The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling

Elan Babchuck
2025-08-18 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Elan Babchuck is committed to leaving behind a world that is more compassionate and connected than the one he found. In pursuit of that commitment he serves as the Executive Vice President at Clal, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, and the Founding Director of Glean Network, which partners with Columbia Business School. He was ordained in 2012, and earned his MBA that year, as well.
A sought-after thought leader, he is the co-author of Picking Up the Pieces: Leadership After Empire (2024, Fortress Press), and Meaning Making – 8 Values That Drive America’s Newest Generations (2020, St. Mary’s Press), as well as the forthcoming Move Slow and Fix Things (2026) and Tech in Search of Meaning (date TBD). He has delivered keynotes at stages ranging from TEDx to the Pentagon to innovation conferences and business schools around the world, he has been published in The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Washington Post, and Religion News Service, and he has a column for The Wisdom Daily.
He is a Founding Partner of Starts With Us, a movement to counteract toxic polarization in America, and a founding Board Member of Springtide Research Institute, which focuses on spirituality, mental health and Gen Z. He has incubated more than 200 startup companies over the past 20 years, and launched 3 of his own in that time, as well.
He lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, Lizzie Pollock, and their three children: Micah, Nessa, and Ayla. In his spare time, he is an avid rock climber and constant gardener.

Chautauqua Chamber Music: Parker Quartet
2025-08-18 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Internationally recognized for their “fearless, yet probingly beautiful” (The Strad) performances, the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation, dedicated purely to the sound and depth of their music. They are renowned for their fresh and unique approach to the great classics while being passionate ambassadors for music of our time. Inspired performances and exceptional musicianship are hallmarks of the Quartet, having appeared at the world’s most illustrious venues since its founding in 2002.
Program:
John Adams: Fellow Traveler
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, “Rosamunde”
Maurice Ravel: String Quartet in F major, M. 35

Pilobolus: Other Worlds Collection
2025-08-18 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Pilobolus’s Other Worlds Collection traverses the spaces we inhabit—from the realms within ourselves, society, and the universe—with wit, wisdom, and whimsy.
This collection features collaborations with visionaries who see the world through the lens of theatre, music, and dance, including award-winning playwright and director Aaron Posner, multi-instrumentalist and composer Stuart Bogie, choreographer and former Pilobolus dancer Gaspard Louis, original Pilobolus member Lee Harris, and composer Paul Sullivan.
Let Pilobolus take you on a journey through the multitudes of the human condition, seamlessly fusing sensuality, humor, and extraordinary physical prowess into a performance that will leave you spellbound.

Chautauqua Science Group: Allison Hrycik, Ph.D., Research Scientist Darrin Freshwater Institute and The Jefferson Project
2025-08-19 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Sold out: From Delta Roots to Symphonic Heights: Inside Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience
2025-08-19 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Experience the magic behind the music with an exclusive conversation featuring the visionary minds and passionate artists who brought the soul-stirring Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience to life. Explore the creative process with the owners of the nation’s number one blues club, Ground Zero Blues Club, the music director and conductor of this extraordinary concert series, and celebrated Delta Blues musicians. Gain unique insights into the inspirations that moved Morgan Freeman and others to shape this remarkable concept. This special session offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the artistry, collaboration, and deep musical roots driving the Symphonic Blues Experience, setting the stage for its highly anticipated performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra on the evening of August 19 in the Amphitheater.

Hovey Brock: The Art of Invasive Species
2025-08-19 12:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
BTG Brownbag: Hovey Brock: The Art of Invasive Species

CHQ Mystic Heart: Sharon Wesoky
2025-08-19 12:30, 2025-08-21 12:30 | Hall of Missions, Hall of Missions
Mahanya Buddhism-Mindfulness Meditation

Wendy Horwitz
2025-08-19 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Wendy A. Horwitz is the author of Milkweed and Honey Cake: A Memoir in Ritual Moments. Her essays have been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Afterimage, Neurology (Humanities Section), Jewish Literary Journal, Intrepid Times, and McClatchy-Tribune News Service, among others.
Originally trained as a pediatric psychologist, she has taught at Swarthmore College, Penn State Abington, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple, and Penn.
Wendy lives in Philadelphia and teaches writing and health humanities in the Philadelphia area and on Cape Cod.

SORRY, BABY
2025-08-19 14:15, 2025-08-20 20:30, 2025-08-21 15:15, 2025-08-21 20:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least. “Writer-director-star Eva Victor has made a movie that’s at once approachable, incredibly perceptive, and subtly stirring.” -Carlos Aguilar, IGN Movies “This is the kind of film that sneaks up on you, funny when least expected and affecting without being cloying. And it officially announces the arrival of Victor as a performer and filmmaker to keep on your radar.” -Aisha Harris, NPR “Bittersweet, brilliant, and heartwarmingly funny,” -Kristy Puchko, Mashable (R, 103m)

Heritage Lecture Series - Jari Villanueva
2025-08-19 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As part of the Oliver Archives Center’s 2025 Heritage Lecture Series, Jari Villanueva will present “A Blast from the Past: The Bugle in History”.
Jari Villanueva retired from the United States Air Force where he spent 23 years with The USAF Band in Washington DC. He is considered the country’s foremost expert on military bugle calls, particularly the call of Taps which is sounded at military funerals. While in the Air Force he was the Non-Commissioned Officer In Charge of The USAF Band’s State Funeral Plans and was the NCOIC of the command post at Andrews AFB which oversaw the arrival and departure ceremonies for the late Presidents Reagan and Ford. As a ceremonial trumpeter, Villanueva participated in well over 5,000 ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery, served as an assistant drum major leading The USAF Ceremonial Brass in funerals at Arlington. He was responsible for all the music performed by the USAF Bands for state funerals. Between 1998-2002 Villanueva created a display at Arlington National Cemetery highlighting the history of the military bugler. He was responsible for moving the bugle used at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral from the Smithsonian to Arlington where it is currently on display. In 2007 Villanueva was inducted into the Buglers Hall of Fame, the first active duty military bugler to be so honored.

GIANTS RISING
2025-08-19 17:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Chautauqua Bird Tree and Garden Club Special Event! Free Admission! The deeper you venture into a coast redwood forest, the more your imagination runs wild. The tallest and some of the oldest living beings on Earth, these trees are a gateway to experiencing an unparalleled sense of awe and connection. Directed by Lisa Landers and narrated by Michael Franti this documentary reveals the secrets, superpowers and saga of the redwoods. (NR, 82m)

FAMILIAR TOUCH
2025-08-19 19:30, 2025-08-20 15:30, 2025-08-20 18:00, 2025-08-21 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Writer-director Sarah Friedland’s coming-of-old-age feature compassionately follows the winding path of octogenarian Ruth’s (Kathleen Chalfant) shifting memories and desires while remaining rooted in her sage perspective. “Ruth is merely, momentously human: an older woman in need, but no less expressive of life’s fullness because of it. It’s a portrayal to remember, for as long as any of us can.” -Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times “A gorgeous drama with an open, aching heart.” -Jourdain Searles, RogerEbert.com (NR, 91m)

Morgan Freeman Presents: Symphonic Blues with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra
2025-08-19 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Martin Gellner, conductor
Morgan Freeman Presents: Symphonic Blues is a live concert experience that bridges the soul-stirring roots of the Mississippi Delta Blues with the richness of a symphony orchestra. This unique performance, narrated on video by cultural icon Morgan Freeman, takes audiences on a transformative journey through the music, culture and legacy of the Mississippi Delta – the birthplace of the Blues. Through cinematic storytelling, performances by authentic Blues musicians, and symphonic arrangements, audiences will explore the deep cultural roots of the Delta and its lasting impact on global music. This performance also highlights the Delta’s vibrant heritage and the vital role of Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, a cornerstone of Blues preservation.
Morgan Freeman appears in conversation on the Chautauqua Lecture Series on Tuesday, August 19, and serves on a panel with blues musicians in a master class on Wednesday, August 20.

Jonathan Zittrain
2025-08-20 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Jonathan Zittrain is the co-founder and director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and an expert on the exquisitely difficult problems of technology governance. He joins the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week dedicated to the ways that “Past Informs Present” to share his perspective on digital history and preservation, and lessons — and losses — from the early internet as society enters the era of AI.
At Harvard, Zittrain is also the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, director of the Harvard Law School Library, and formerly the vice dean for Library and Information Resources. His research interests include the ethics and governance of artificial intelligence; battles for control of digital property; the regulation of cryptography; new privacy frameworks for loyalty to users of online services; the roles of intermediaries within internet architecture; and the useful and unobtrusive deployment of technology in education.
A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Zittrain is the author of 2008’s The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It — predicting many contemporary digital issues — and is currently working on its sequel, Well, We Tried. He holds a bachelor’s in cognitive science and artificial intelligence from Yale University; his J.D. from Harvard Law School; and his Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

CLSC Young Readers Book Discussion
2025-08-20 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Presenters Amber Sipior and Margaret Edwards will lead a community discussion on our Week Nine CLSC Young Readers selection Light and Air by Mindy Nichols Wendell

CHQ Dialogue
2025-08-20 12:30 | Catholic House, Catholic House

Becca Stevens
2025-08-20 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Becca Stevens is a nonprofit leader, entrepreneur, priest, survivor, and founder and President of Thistle Farms. She has founded 12 nonprofits and justice enterprises, mentored another 70, and has raised over $75 million to support them. Becca has authored 12 books and sold over 300,000 copies. She has served as chaplain at St. Augustine’s Chapel on Vanderbilt’s campus for almost 30 years. Becca has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, CNN, ABC World News, named a CNN Hero, and White House Champion of Change, and holds seven honorary doctorates. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, Becca leads important conversations across the country with an inspiring message that love is the strongest force for change in the world.
Stevens founded Thistle Farms in 1997 with a single home for survivors of trafficking and addiction. Over twenty-five years later, it is a global movement for women’s freedom and a 13-million-dollar organization. Today the Nashville flagship includes a residential program that serves as a national model for women’s recovery, and three justice social enterprises that provide jobs to survivors. Stevens developed the Thistle National Network to provide tools, workshops, and conferences to support young organizations wanting to follow its holistic recovery model. There are now 92 organizations, providing over 500 beds to survivors, in its network. She also created Thistle Farms Global Shared Trade which supports 1,400 artisan survivors through 39 partners in 21 countries.
Additional enterprises Stevens has helped establish include the Center for Contemplative Justice and Larkspur Conservation in the U.S.; Escuela Ann Stevens and Sibimbe, Ecuador; Moringa Madres, Mexico; Forging Love, Israel; Love Welcomes, UK, and Love Rises, Ukraine, among others.
Stevens has been featured on PBS NewsHour, The Today Show, GMA, CNN, ABC World News and in The New York Times. Her many awards include CNN Hero, White House Champion of Change, Humanitarian of the Year by the Small Business Council of America, Tennessee Human Rights Outstanding Service Award, and induction into The Entrepreneur Center’s Hall of Fame, and Tennessee Women’s Hall of Fame. Becca attended the University of the South and Vanderbilt Divinity School, receiving alumnae distinction awards from both. Stevens has also been conferred seven honorary doctorates.
Stevens speaks to a broad range of non-profit, religious, and business audiences—often in bare feet to show solidarity with those she serves. Drawn from 25 years of leadership in mission-driven work, the courageous stories of women survivors, and wisdom from nature and healing traditions, Stevens inspires and motivates audiences everywhere with practical and loving steps to inspire change in individuals and communities. Her latest book, “Practically Divine,” is available on Harper Horizon.

African American Heritage House Lecture: Sheffield Hale
2025-08-20 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
As president and CEO of the Atlanta History Center, Sheffield Hale maintains the 175,000-square-foot museum with dedication and enthusiasm to preserve and explore Atlanta’s history. Under Hale’s leadership the center has led the Confederate Monument Initiative, and Hale has served as co-chair of the Advisory Committee on City of Atlanta Street Names and Monuments Associated with the Confederacy.
Prior to joining the Atlanta History Center in 2012, Hale served as chief counsel of the American Cancer Society and was a partner practicing corporate law in the firm of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton. He is chair of the advisory board of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, an ex-officio member of the board of the Old Salem Museums and Gardens, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of the American South. He is a past chair of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Atlanta History Center.
In 2021, Hale received the Georgia Governor’s Award for Arts & Humanities. He received his Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Georgia and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Microplastics: Solutions to Save Our Seas
2025-08-20 15:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Microplastics: Solutions to Save Our Seas
Rachael Zoe Miller is the Founder of Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean and it is for her grandmother that the project is named. She is an expedition scientist, inventor, National Geographic Explorer, Explorers Club Fellow and co-inventor of the Cora Ball, the world’s first microfiber-catching laundry ball. Rachael leads teams on expeditions whose scientific results are published in peer-reviewed journals and education programs that inspire thousands of people of all ages.

Microfibers in a whole new light: See what you're breathing and how to protect yourself. Workshop by Rachael Miller
2025-08-20 17:00 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
You are invited to investigate your own clothing at this workshop! Please bring a garment you think is high-shed and one you think is low shed (dark colors work best) as well as any you’d like to see up close (through a microscope). This is not a requirement to attend, but a fun way to get to know your own wardrobe!

Nicole Zuraitis
2025-08-20 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Nicole Zuraitis is a 2X GRAMMY® winning and 4X GRAMMY-nominated jazz singer-songwriter, pianist and arranger, New York-based bandleader, and winner of the prestigious 2021 American Traditions Vocal Competition Gold Medal. With a “heart as big as her remarkable voice,” (Jazz Police), Nicole is a trailblazing artist who is redefining vocal jazz, earning her a place as one of the top artists and “prolific songwriters” (Broadway World) to watch in jazz and beyond.
As a recording artist, Nicole has released five albums as a leader, and her sixth album, How Love Begins, co-produced with eight-time GRAMMY-winner Christian McBride, features all original music and was awarded the 2024 GRAMMY for BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM. Nicole is the only artist ever to have won this award who wrote and arranged the entire album herself. In addition to leading her quartet, Nicole performed and recorded with the Birdland Big Band as premier vocalist before taking off as a large ensemble leader of her own, co-producing the Dan Pugach Big Band and guesting for major European big bands. She has headlined the Newport Jazz Festival, along with iconic NYC jazz clubs like Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Carlyle, 54 Below and the late, great 55 Bar. She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony, and Macon Pops and has supported iconic singers like Melanie, Morgan James, Darren Criss, and Livingston Taylor on piano and vocals.

Sabrina Lynn Motley & Jeffrey Rosen
2025-08-21 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Sabrina Lynn Motley
Director, Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Jeffrey Rosen
President and CEO, National Constitution Center
10:45 a.m. Thursday, August 21, 2025
Frequent Chautauqua collaborators Sabrina Lynn Motley and Jeffrey Rosen return to Chautauqua for the penultimate Chautauqua Lecture Series program of 2025. They will contribute to our discussion of “Past Informs Present: How to Harness History” by sharing in conversation their two prominent national institutions’ approaches to considering, commemorating and celebrating America’s semiquincentennial, as the birthday year approaches in 2026, along with their perspectives generally on the curation and presentation of history in physical spaces.
Sabrina Lynn Motley is the director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Before joining the center in 2013, she was the senior director of programs and exhibitions at Asia Society Texas Center in Houston. Under Motley’s leadership, the Texas Center expanded its public offerings and strengthened its collaborative approach to program creation and implementation. Through performances, lectures, exhibitions, and workshops, its programming reflected Houston’s rapidly changing demographics and its role as a gateway to Asia. While at the Texas Center, Motley oversaw the mounting of several critically acclaimed exhibitions, including “Universe Is Flux: The Art of Tawara Yusaku,” organized by the Indianapolis Museum, and “Weavers’ Stories from Island Southeast Asia,” organized by the Fowler Museum at UCLA.
Motley’s most recent exhibitions speak to her interest in the creative lives of women and the role of traditional arts in contemporary life. As a world music aficionada, for more than five years she was a popular host of “The Global Village,” KPFK 90.7 FM’s flagship music program. As a teacher, she has taught cultural anthropology at the Art Center College of Design and the Otis Institute for Art and Design. Motley earned her bachelor’s degree from the World Arts & Cultures Program and master’s degree in African studies at UCLA. She is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at UCLA, where she conducted research on the interplay between religious faith, doubt and social activism.
Jeffrey Rosen is president and chief executive officer of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the U.S. Constitution. His latest book, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, was the basis for his most recent Amphitheater appearance in 2024; he also appeared as part of the 2025 Chautauqua Forum on Democracy in June, where he was publicly announced and recognized for the first time as the newly appointed 2025–26 Chautauqua Perry Fellow in Democracy.
In addition to his roles of president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, which he has held since 2013, Rosen is also a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic. He was previously the legal affairs editor of The New Republic and a staff writer for The New Yorker. At the National Constitution Center, he is the host of “We the People,” a weekly podcast of constitutional debate.
Rosen’s forthcoming book The Pursuit of Liberty How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America, to be published in October. He is the author of seven other books, including the New York Times bestseller Conversations with RBG: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, as well as biographies of Louis Brandeis and William Howard Taft. He is a graduate of Harvard College; Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar; and Yale Law School.

Decision Making in the Age of Plastics: A choose-your-own-adventure style guide to purchasing while balancing your health, the planet and your budget.
2025-08-21 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom
Did you know that microplastics are in our food, in our water and in our brains (among other places)?! Have you sat staring at a shopping cart on your screen or at an item in a shop and experienced a moment (or several moments) of a modern sort of existential panic thinking, “Should I buy this?”
In Decision-Making in the Age of Plastics, Cora Ball Co-inventor, National Geographic Explorer and Chief Ocean Lover, Rachael Zoe Miller takes you through an easy-to-use, interactive process that mixes knowledge with practical considerations about items that present frequent conundrums, from fleece jackets to take-away food packaging, laundry detergent, and more. You will be guided through a 5-question framework that helps you make purchases (or decisions not to purchase) that you will feel good about.
The goals of this choose-your-own-adventure style guidebook are to help protect you and your family’s health, to protect the ocean, to protect the planet, to save you money or help you spend it wisely, to eradicate buyer’s remorse, and to inject a heap of learning and some fun along the way.
This event is the official launch of this high-impact book. Copies will be available at the Chautauqua Bookstore by August 13 and on the day of the event.

Haroon Moghul
2025-08-21 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Haroon Moghul is the Founder and President of Queen City Diwan, a company that educates and empowers people of all ages and backgrounds through global tours, retreats and leadership journeys. With Joey Taylor, he co-hosts a new podcast, Avenue M, that explores meaning, masculinity, culture and family from the perspective of two Midwestern men of faith.
In 2023 and 2024, EqualityX named him one of the fifty most influential Muslims in the Americas. A one-time standup comic in New York City (literally, just that one time) and award-winning journalist and opinion columnist, Haroon has been published by The New York Times, NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN, NBC News, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Al Jazeera, and The Guardian, among many others.
Haroon has appeared on all major US news networks as an expert commentator on Islam, the Muslim world, and U.S. foreign policy. He has taught at universities, conferences, think tanks, and houses of worship on five continents. Haroon is the author of How to be a Muslim: An American Story (2017) and Two Billion Caliphs: A Vision of a Muslim Future (2022), which was recently translated into Albanian.
Previously, he was the Fellow in the National Security Studies Program at the New America Foundation and a Fellow in Muslim Politics and Societies at the Center on National Security at Fordham Law. Haroon lives with his wife and family in Cincinnati, where he teaches classes on leadership, literature, and character for more than three dozen middle and high school students You can follow his teaching on his Substack, Sunday Schooled.

CVA Open Studios
2025-08-21 14:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
We are excited to invite you to CVA Open Studios, occurring prior to the annual 2-week Resident Group Exhibition. Celebrate the work our resident artists have created during their time at Chautauqua Visual Arts. This event is free and open to the public.

CVA Two Week Residency exhibition reception
2025-08-21 15:00 | CVA: Arts Quad
We are excited to invite you to celebrate our 2-week resident artists at the Resident Group Exhibition! Join us to see the work our residents have created during their time at Chautauqua Visual Arts. This event is free and open to the public.

Debra Magpie Earling
2025-08-21 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel by Debra Magpie Earling
Among the most memorialized women in American history, Sacajewea served as interpreter and guide for Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. In this visionary novel, acclaimed Indigenous author Debra Magpie Earling brings this mythologized figure vividly to life, casting unsparing light on the men who brutalized her and recentering Sacajewea as the arbiter of her own history.
Here, the young Sacajewea is bright and bold, growing strong from the hard work of “learning all ways to survive.” When her village is raided, Sacajewea is kidnapped and then gambled away to Charbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper. Heavy with grief, she learns how to survive at the edge of a strange new world. When Lewis and Clark’s expedition party arrives, Sacajewea knows she must cross a vast and brutal terrain with her newborn son, the white man who owns her, and a company of men who wish to conquer and commodify the world she loves.
Written in lyrical, dreamlike prose, The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is an astonishing work of art and a powerful tale of perseverance—the Indigenous woman’s story that hasn’t been told.
Debra Magpie Earling was born in Spokane, Washington. She received her BA from the University of Washington in Seattle and her MA and MFA in Fiction from Cornell University. From 1991 to 1998, Earling held positions in both Native American Studies and Creative Writing at the University of Montana in Missoula. Currently, she is an associate professor in the English Department there and teaches Fiction and Native American Studies.
Perma Red (Blue Hen Books 2002) was her first novel. It received the Western Writers Association Spur Award for Best Novel of the West in 2003, the Mountain and Plains Bookseller Association Award, WWA’s Medicine Pipe Bearer Award for Best First Novel, a WILLA Literary Award, and the American Book Award. It is a Montana Book Award Honor Book and was chosen by Barnes & Noble as part of its Discover Great New Writers series.
Her latest novel (May 2023), The Lost Journals of Sacajewea is a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea.

Guest Chef Dinner
2025-08-21 17:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
Join President’s Cottage Chefs Ben Shropshire & Dan Wongprapan for a tasting dinner. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres with dinner seating at 6 p.m.
Ben Shropshire and Dan Wongprapan have spent years working together in a diverse array of food service establishments throughout the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. This is their third season devising, preparing, and executing events at the President’s Cottage of the Chautauqua Institution. They prioritize fresh ingredients, creativity, and a comfortable environment for their staff and co-workers. In the fall they will be going to Louisville, KY as private chefs and are available for delicious and personable private events.
Menu:
First: Bahn Mi Toast, Smoked Mussel Pâté, Pickled Roots, Cilantro, Jalapeño Crema
Second: Bucatini Pad Kee Mao, Hanging Beef Tenderloin, Garlic Braised Broccolini, Wild Mushroom
Third: King Crab Coconut Lime Ceviche
Fourth: Lobster Yellow Curry, Orzo, Cauliflower, Roasted Corn, Tomato Jam
Fifth: Matcha Panna Cotta, White Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Coulis, Lemon Torta
Our Chef’s Tasting Menu is a thoughtfully curated experience that highlights the creative vision of our culinary teams. We are unable to accommodate modifications or dietary restrictions for this menu.

The Band Perry
2025-08-21 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Kimberly Perry (lead vocals, guitar), Reid Perry (bass guitar), Johnny Costello (mandolin, guitar)
Grammy® Award-winning The Band Perry burst onto the scene as an unstoppable presence in modern Country music, selling two and a half million albums, twelve million singles, and racking up over a billion total song streams. Written by Kimberly Perry, their groundbreaking crossover 9X Platinum #1 single “If I Die Young” off their self-titled debut album (released October 12, 2010) reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and Hot AC charts, Top 15 on the Billboard 100 and garnered more than 100 million video views and counting. The album also featured the #1 hit “All Your Life” and Top 5 (#2) hit “You Lie.”
Their follow up album-Pioneer-reached #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and #2 on the Billboard 200 and featured “Better Dig Two,” “Done,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely,” and “Chainsaw,” cementing the band’s status domestically and internationally.
With sold-out world tours, six No. 1 singles, numerous Platinum and Gold singles, award wins and nominations, the Grammy® Award winning band reunited in 2025 with original band members Kimberly and Reid Perry, adding celebrated musician and fellow family member Johnny, and are set to release new music in 2025-timed to the band’s 15th year anniversary since their debut album.

Ella Al-Shamahi
2025-08-22 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Ella Al-Shamahi is a National Geographic Explorer, palaeoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist (and stand-up comic) who specializes in Neanderthals, caves, and expeditions in hostile, disputed, and unstable territories. In closing a week dedicated to the ways that past informs present — and the 2025 Chautauqua Lecture Series season — Al-Shamahi will take the audience on a transformative journey into the world of human evolution, using her expertise in our shared human history to explain why we need to understand our recent ancestors’ failures in order to chart a better future.
In addition to her work in the field, Al-Shamahi is a television presenter and producer. Her latest project, produced by BBC Studios Science Unit and co-produced by PBS, is “Human,” the story of how humanity went from being just one of many hominin species to the dominant form of life on earth. Coming to PBS in 2025, “Human” uses a combination of archaeology, storytelling, and reconstruction to tell the story of how we became “us” (modern humans).
Other work includes the BBC’s recently launched seven-year diary titled “Our Changing Planet”; the BBC Two’s science series “Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors,” as well as “Horizon: Body Clock – What Makes Your Body Tick”; a National Geographic show on Viking warrior women; and, with her journalist brother Abubakr Al-Shamahi, a five-part BBC World Service radio series commemorating and reflecting on the 10-year anniversary of the Arab Spring.
The author of The Handshake: A Gripping History, Al-Shamahi holds a Bachelor of Science in genetics from University College London, a Master of Science in taxonomy and biodiversity from Imperial College London/Natural History Museum, and is currently undertaking a Ph.D. in Neanderthal rates of evolution at University College London.

Summer on the Steps with Chautauqua Literary Arts: A Tribute to Nikki Giovanni
2025-08-22 12:15 | Alumni Hall Porch, Alumni Hall Porch
Join Chautauqua Literary Arts for an open mic tribute to the late poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator, Nikki Giovanni.

Russell Moore
2025-08-22 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Russell Moore is Editor in Chief of Christianity Today.
Moore is the author of several books, including Losing Our Religion: An Alter Call for Evangelical America; The Courage to Stand: Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul; Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel and The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home.
The Wall Street Journal has called Moore “vigorous, cheerful, and fiercely articulate.” He was named in 2017 to Politico Magazine’s list of top fifty influence-makers in Washington and has been profiled by such publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and the New Yorker.
Moore was a Fellow at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and currently serves on the board of the Becket Law and as a Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum in Washington, D.C.
He also hosts the weekly podcast The Russell Moore Show and is a senior commentator of Christianity Today’s weekly news and analysis podcast, The Bulletin.
An ordained Baptist minister, Moore was President of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2013 to 2021. Prior to that role, he served as provost and dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also taught theology and ethics.
A native Mississippian, he and his wife Maria are the parents of five sons. They live in Nashville, where he teaches the Bible regularly at their congregation, Immanuel Church.

Heritage Lecture Series: Jon Schmitz
2025-08-22 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Guest Chef Dinner - Joe Bucci & Brian Baccus
2025-08-22 17:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
Join Sysco Chefs Brian Barcus & Joe Bucci for a tasting dinner. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. with passed hors d’oeuvres with dinner seating at 6 p.m.
Brian Barcus is an enthusiastic and driven chef who loves all aspects of the food service industry. His two decades of experience in various food service outlets gives him an array of skills and techniques from many different cuisines. Born in raised in the Pittsburgh Area, his career started professionally, after completing the one-year program at The University of Indiana Pennsylvania Academy of Culinary Arts. He is versed in large scale banquets, ala carte service, fine dining, special themed collaborative dinners, and farm fresh products from the area. He worked for a few of the finest chefs in the region at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort & Spa, Oakmont Country Club, Hotel Monaco Pittsburgh to name a few. Brian shifted his professional focuses to the sales world, joining Sysco in July of ’22
Joe Bucci has been working in the food industry for over 25 years and has a fierce love affair with food. His culinary experience ranges from cooking pizzas in a wood-burning oven, to executing fine dining in a Michelin starred restaurant in Chicago, to representing the finest specialty food ingredients in the world right here in Western New York. It’s all been driven by his passion for making people happy through exceptional food.
Menu:
First: Antipasti – Golfetta, Caponata, Peppernata, Artichoke, Pecorino Pistachio, pull apart bread
Second: Hamachi Crudo, Pickled Watermelon, Sicilian Oli Cured Olive, Grapefruit, San Guiliano EVO
Third: Hand Cut Tagliatelle Pasta, Guanciale, Wild Mushroom, Truffle Bure Monte, Cured Egg Yolk
Fourth: Duck Breast with Roasted Peach, Braised Fennel, Argidolce, Duck Confit Potato Pave
Fifth: Dubai Chocolate Tart
Our Chef’s Tasting Menu is a thoughtfully curated experience that highlights the creative vision of our culinary teams. We are unable to accommodate modifications or dietary restrictions for this menu.

PERFECT DAYS
2025-08-22 17:45, 2025-08-23 20:30, 2025-08-24 17:45, 2025-08-25 20:30 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Hirayama (Kôji Yakusho) seems utterly content with his simple life as a cleaner of Tokyo public toilets in director Wim Wenders’ deeply moving and poetic reflection on finding beauty in the everyday world around us. “It’s all about finding the simple joys in your daily existence.” -Christy Lemire, Breakfast All Day “Jonathan Livingston Lavatory Cleaner. Zen and the Art of Lavatory Maintenance. But better than that. Sharper, less sentimental, less aphoristic. A film to live your life by.” -Donald Clarke, Irish Times “Perhaps, in its polite and unassuming way, the film advocates not just a new way of looking, but also a new way of living.” -Wendy Ide, Observer (UK) (PG, In Japanese with subtitles. 124m)

O.A.R.: Lost Weekend Tour
2025-08-22 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
O.A.R. might just be music’s biggest, best kept secret. The platinum-certified Rockville, MD band has quietly sold out multiple shows at Madison Square Garden, filled Red Rocks Amphitheater a dozen times, earned platinum and gold plaques, lit up the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, and built one of the most committed fanbases in the country. The group—Marc Roberge [lead vocals, guitar], Richard On [lead guitar, backing vocals], Chris Culos [drums], Benj Gershman [bass], and Jerry DePizzo [saxophone, guitar, backing vocals] accompanied by Mikel Paris [keys, backing vocals, percussion], and Jon Lampley [trumpet, backing vocals]—most recently embarked on a headlining US tour with special guests Fitz and the Tantrums and Ripe.

EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE GREAT
2025-08-22 20:45, 2025-08-23 18:00, 2025-08-24 20:45, 2025-08-25 18:00 | Chautauqua Cinema, Chautauqua Cinema
Buddy Smart (Bryan Cranston) wrestles with his over-sized showbiz dreams. His wife Macy (Allison Janney) struggles to keep their family afloat. As they grapple with identity and belonging, they share a humorous and heartfelt journey of self-discovery, learning the power of owning your spotlight no matter what stage of life you’re in. Director “Jon S. Baird’s kind and cutting drama about a family trying, failing, and trying all over again to make it in the theater is a heartening drama and a great big smile of a comedy.” -William Bibbiani, TheWrap (R, 95m)

Sweet Honey in the Rock® “Celebrating 50 Years”
2025-08-23 20:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Grammy-nominated African American vocal ensemble SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® marks its 50TH ANNIVERSARY in November 2023 with a powerful three-year celebration that will honor its storied past and set the course for the future of the group, which has been described as, “one of the most dynamic, versatile and still relevant musical collectives today.”
Since its inception in Washington, D.C. (1973), Sweet Honey in the Rock has thrived as a performance ensemble founded on the missions of empowerment, education, and entertainment.
Their current roster includes vocalists Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Aisha Kahlil, Nitanju Bolade Casel, and Rochelle Rice, with Romeir Mendez on upright acoustic/electric bass, and American Sign Language interpreter, Barbara Hunt.
Throughout five decades, the ensemble members have worked to create engaging and socially conscious music that consistently takes an active stance toward making our planet a better place for all in which to live. Their musical landscape embraces multiple genres/generations and addresses civil & human rights, women’s issues, gun violence, death, love, spirituality, children’s songs and so much more.

Bishop Eugene Sutton
2025-08-24 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rt. Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton is the senior pastor of Chautauqua Institution. Formerly the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral, where he directed the Cathedral’s Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. Sutton has also served as a college chaplain, parish priest, and professor of homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. Sutton is a frequent leader of retreats focused on spirituality, nonviolence, and social justice, including multiple missions to South Africa. He co-founded Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington, an ecumenical network of churches and individuals committed to centering prayer and renewing the contemplative gospel for daily living. He is a prolific writer, and has contributed to multiple books, including “The Diversity of Centering Prayer” and “Reclaiming the Gospel of Peace: Challenging the Epidemic of Gun Violence.” Bishop Sutton has been named by the Center for American Progress as one of “Fourteen Faith Leaders to Watch” for his faith-led efforts to promote nonviolent solutions to conflicts.

The Great Massey Movie: "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"
2025-08-24 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
In this beloved annual event, come hear the mighty Massey Memorial Organ accompany classic silent film, played by Joshua Stafford, prize-winning organist and Director of Sacred Music at Chautauqua Institution. This summer’s selection for screening, 1920’s “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”, will delight film buffs and new fans alike.

Church of the Wild
2025-08-24 16:00 | Outdoor Classroom
Kriss Miller

Blessing of the Animals
2025-08-24 16:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Weather Permitting

Closing Sacred Song and Three Taps
2025-08-24 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Bonnie Raitt with special guest Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band
2025-09-05 19:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chautauqua Institution is thrilled to welcome the iconic Bonnie Raitt to our Amphitheater! A singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose unique style blends blues, R&B, rock, and pop, after 20 years as a cult favorite, Raitt broke through to the top in the early 90s with her GRAMMY-award-winning albums, Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw, which featured hits, “Something To Talk About” and “I Can’t Make You Love Me” among others. The thirteen-time GRAMMY winner (and Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awardee) was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and Rolling Stone named the slide guitar ace one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and one of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Raitt received another incredible accolade being recognized for her lifetime of artistic achievement as part of the Kennedy Center’s 47th Class of Honorees in Washington, DC in December 2024.
Raitt is as known for her lifelong commitment to social activism as she is for her music, and has long been involved with the environmental movement, performing concerts around oil, nuclear power, mining, water, and forest protection since the mid-‘70s. She was a founding member of MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy), which produced the historic concerts, album and film NO NUKES (1979,) as well as a founding member of The Rhythm and Blues Foundation, which works for royalty reform and recognition of generations of pioneer R&B artists. She continues to work on safe energy issues in addition to environmental protection, social justice, Native American and human rights, as well as artist’s rights and music education.

The Colors of India
2025-09-25 00:00
Join Chautauqua Travels and Chautauqua Institution’s Chief IDEA Officer Amit Taneja on a colorful 9-day journey
through northern India and experience a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, and scents unlike anywhere else in the
world. Begin in the bustling metropolis of Delhi, where ancient traditions blend seamlessly into everyday modern
life, with visits to classic landmarks such as the Red Fort, Jama Masjid, India Gate, and Parliament House. Travel
to Agra and witness the timeless alure of the Taj Mahal, then continue to Jaipur, known for its historic and palatial
cotton-candy-colored buildings that dot the skyline. Dig deeper into the complexities of India and see the Golden
Triangle in a new light as you meet with skilled artists and performers, have candid conversations with local
businesswomen, and participate in a unique community service experience at one of the largest food pantries in
the world. Your travels in India culminate as Jaipur comes alive with a celebration of Dussehra, an annual Hindu
festival that marks the triumph of good over evil with dazzling parades, sparkling fireworks, and symbolic burning
of effigies.

Preview Performance of the feath3r theory
2025-09-25 16:00 | Carnahan-Jackson: McBride/Verdy, Carnahan-Jackson: McBride/Verdy
Experience one of New York City’s most daring dance-theatre ensembles as they share a work-in-progress showing of their latest creation.
Join the New York City–based dance-theatre-media collective the feath3r theory (TF3T) for an exclusive preview of their bold new work A Body of Dangerous Ideas. Conceived by Artistic Director Raja Feather Kelly, the piece investigates how bodies absorb and resist the ideas projected onto them, exploring violence—how it appears in the body, how it is carried, and how it transforms us. With Kelly’s signature engagement with pop culture, the work interrogates how media desensitizes us to danger while shaping our sympathies for it, expanding from the personal body to the global stage.
Following the presentation, join the artists for an informal meet-and-greet on the porch of Carnahan-Jackson Dance Studios.
About A Body of Dangerous Ideas
At its core, A Body of Dangerous Ideas investigates how bodies are shaped by the ideas projected onto them — and how they resist, embody, or rupture under that weight. The work asks: What makes an idea dangerous? And how does a body respond to that danger? I’m examining violence — what it looks like in the body, how we carry it, and how it transforms us. With my ongoing engagement with pop culture, I’m exploring how media both desensitizes and shapes our sympathies for violence and danger — particularly when experienced from a distance. As we zoom out from the individual, the work also asks how danger operates across borders, identities, and social constructs. What does the future look like in a world where thought, expression, and intimacy are all perceived as threats?
About the feath3r theory (TF3T)
the feath3r theory (TF3T) is a New York City based dance-theatre-media company that produces the work of Artistic Director and Choreographer Raja Feather Kelly. As a collaboration of dancers, actors, filmmakers, musicians, photographers, and designers, our mission is to broaden the space for unheard voices and repressed histories, to bring into the theatre those sometimes left out, and to use theatre to provoke much-needed public conversations. the feath3r theory does this by challenging its audience and its creators to collectively interrogate – and celebrate – its shared relationship to human empathy and personal ethics as expressed in and distorted by popular media. By unabashedly appropriating the structures, themes, and aesthetics of reality television, celebrity culture, social media and the internet, the work of TF3T synthesizes dance, visual media, fashion, and narrative theatre into virtuosic, expansive, radical and surreal large scale pop-culture phenomena or an overwhelming, over-saturated ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ in which artists and audience alike experience their shared humanity. We are committed to addressing pressing social issues through Dance, Theatre, and Media.

Oktoberfest
2025-10-25 17:00 | Athenaeum Hotel, Athenaeum Hotel
Experience a night of German splendor at the Athenaeum Hotel! Savor an indulgent German feast while being serenaded by The Bergholz German Band, direct from Niagara Falls (NY). Clad in vibrant, traditional garb, this band brings the essence of German Folk tradition to life with their infectious oom-pah rhythms and joyful melodies. Their full wind ensemble delivers a rich, harmonious sound that embodies the cheerful spirit of Gemütlichkeit, a tradition they’ve delighted audiences with for 50 incredible years.
Come just for the evening, or book our Oktoberfest Overnight Hotel Package.
Package price starts at $257 for two people, $56 per person for dinner only.
Package includes:
Lodging at the historic Athenaeum Hotel located on Chautauqua Lake
German feast on Saturday
Breakfast on Sunday
Make your night extra special with an overnight stay at the Athenaeum Hotel. Book your room today online or by calling 716-357-4444.
*Does not include tax or gratuity. Subject to availability. Rates are based on double occupancy. Single occupancy rates are available upon request.

CHQ Travels: London Theater: Page to Stage
2025-11-10 00:00 - 2025-11-15 00:00
Join Chautauqua Theater Company’s producing artistic director Jade King Carroll on an immersive journey into the heart of London’s theater scene. Unravel the mysteries of storied theaters and delve into the play development and writing processes. You will have the opportunity to go backstage literally and figuratively as you meet with
theater professionals who all have a hand in making sure that the show goes on. As you learn about some of the building blocks that go into producing theater, each day will be punctuated by captivating performances on some of London’s most iconic stages.

Jaquira Díaz
2025-11-20 16:30 | Zoom, Zoom
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Unbound Selection – This is the Only Kingdom: A Novel by Jaquira Díaz
This Fall, Chautauqua Literary Arts invites you to join us for the second CLSC Unbound program via Zoom Webinar to discuss Jaquira Díaz’s debut novel, This is the Only Kingdom, to take place November 20, 2025.
Register for the free Zoom Webinar here.
From the Whiting Award-winning author Jaquira Díaz, an epic novel of a mother and daughter wrestling with the aftermath of a murder, set against the backdrop of a tightknit, working-class barrio in Puerto Rico.
When Maricarmen meets Rey el Cantante, beloved small-time Robin Hood and local musician on the rise, she begins to envision a life beyond the tight-knit community of el Caserío, Puerto Rico – beyond cleaning houses, beyond waiting tables, beyond the constant tug of war between the street hustlers and los camarones. But breaking free proves more difficult than she imagined, and she soon finds herself struggling to make a home for herself, for Rey, his young brother Tito, and eventually, their daughter Nena. Until one fateful day changes everything.
Fifteen years later, Maricarmen and Nena find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation as the community that once rallied to support Rey turns against them. Now Nena, a teenager haunted by loss and betrayal and exploring her sexual identity, must learn to fight for herself and her family in a world not always welcoming. For lovers of the Neapolitan novels, This is the Only Kingdom is an immersive and moving portrait of a family – and a community – torn apart by generational grief, and a powerful love letter to mothers, daughters, and the barrios that make them.
Born in Puerto Rico, Jaquira Díaz was raised between Humacao, Fajardo, and Miami Beach. She is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize.
The recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, the Alonzo Davis Fellowship from VCCA, two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from MacDowell, the Kenyon Review, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, Díaz has written for The Atlantic, The Guardian, Time Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Fader, and her stories, poems, and essays have been anthologized in The Best American Essays, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, Best American Experimental Writing, and The Pushcart Prize anthology. In 2022, she held the Mina Hohenberg Darden Chair in Creative Writing at Old Dominion University’s MFA program and a Pabst Endowed Chair for Master Writers at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

Horse-Drawn Carriage Rides
2026-01-03 13:00, 2026-01-04 13:00, 2026-01-10 13:00, 2026-01-11 13:00, 2026-01-17 13:00, 2026-01-18 13:00, 2026-01-24 13:00, 2026-01-25 13:00 and 9 more dates | Bestor Plaza, Bestor Plaza
The Stateline Horseman’s Association will provide sleigh and wagon rides around the grounds every weekend starting Saturday, Jan. 4 and continuing every Saturday and Sunday (weather permitting) until Feb. 28. The rides will take place from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Chautauqua Bookstore, with prices as follows: $5 for individuals aged 13 and older, $3 for youth aged 2 to 12, and free for those under 2 years old.
If weather conditions seem adverse, call the Bookstore ahead of your visit at 716-357-2151.

Mother's Day Brunch
2026-05-10 10:00 | Athenaeum Hotel, Athenaeum Hotel
This event is sold out.
$62.00 per person, plus tax, plus gratuity
(1) Free Mimosa for mom
$22.00 per person (Ages 5-11)
Free (Under 4 years old)

CLSC Unbound: Jimin Han
2026-05-11 16:30 | Zoom, Zoom
Chautauqua Literary & Scientific Circle (CLSC) Unbound – Dreamt I Found You: A Novel by Jimin Han
From the critically acclaimed author of The Apology comes a contemporary retelling of Korea’s Romeo & Juliet, as the cousin of the star-crossed lovers helps them avoid a tragic fate.
When Dahee Shin was nine years old, she made a promise to protect her favorite cousin, Channing, who has always been like a sister to her. Now, at thirty, Dahee has found herself in a Korean American community in a New England beach town, once more running to the rescue of her debt-ridden relative. Ever the idealist, Channing—who has spent her life haunted by the tragic story of Chunhyang and Mongryong, Korea’s parallel Romeo & Juliet—has fallen in love with Minjae Oh, all the while fending off the advances of powerful, manipulative Kent Cho, a local politician. As Channing and Minjae’s romance blossoms, and as Kent’s suspicion and obsession grow, Dahee begins to realize that it may be up to her to make sure her cousin and beloved escape Chunhyang and Mongryong’s doomed end.
For fans of Hello Beautiful, Dreamt I Found You is a wondrous, tender retelling of Korea’s most classic love story, steeped in the travails of a rigid class system, the power of premonition, and shot through with Korean folklore and magic.
Jimin Han was born in Seoul, South Korea, and grew up in Providence, Rhode Island; Dayton, Ohio; and Jamestown, New York. She is the author of A Small Revolution and The Apology. She has written for NPR’s Weekend America, Poets and Writers Magazine, Catapult Magazine, Platypus Press, and Citric Acid Literary Journal, among others. She teaches at Sarah Lawrence College and Pace University, as well as at community writing centers. She lives outside New York City.
Jimin Han will join Stephine Hunt (Interim Michael I. Rudell Director of Literary Arts) in conversation on Monday, May 11, 2026, as part of our CLSC Unbound programming to discuss the significance of classic retellings, sharing South Korean stories, and her most recent novel – and 2026 CLSC selection – Dreamt I Found You (forthcoming April 28, 2026 from Little, Brown and Company).
Register for the free Zoom Webinar here.

Wilco Concert Buffet Dinner
2026-06-14 16:30 | Heirloom (at Athenaeum)
Enjoy a relaxed yet refined dining experience featuring comforting classics, seasonal ingredients, and creative nods to Wilco’s iconic catalog. Guests will enjoy a prime rib carving station, maple-mustard glazed salmon, herb-roasted chicken, stuffed portobello caps, along with a variety of hearty sides and fresh salads — each dish prepared to be both familiar and unexpected, much like the music itself. From rich, soulful flavors to bright, vibrant accompaniments, the menu offers something for every palate.

An Evening with Wilco
2026-06-14 19:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
For 30 years, Wilco has been a pioneering force in independent music. The Chicago rock band has released 13 studio albums and won multiple Grammy Awards. They have founded their own record label, dBpm Records, and the renowned Solid Sound Festival.
The sextet — comprised of Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Glenn Kotche, Pat Sansone, Nels Cline and Mikael Jorgensen — continues to be regarded as a live powerhouse. As described by NPR, “To see Wilco on stage is to hear the best of the best.”
The band’s newest album, Cousin, was released in 2023, followed by 2024’s Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP.

Wynonna Judd and Melissa Etheridge: Raised On Radio
2026-06-27 18:30 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Grammy Award winning icons, Melissa Etheridge and Wynonna Judd, have just announced dates for their co-headlining Raised On Radio Tour. These
two musical trailblazers are teaming up for an unforgettable tour, bringing fans their chart-
topping hits and signature sounds that made them two of the most celebrated artists of all
time.
“I’ve spent my entire adult life onstage, but before any of that, I was just a girl sitting close to a radio speaker, hanging on every word. That’s where it all started for me,” says Judd. She continues, “Raised On Radio isn’t just a tour name—it’s my roots and wings. It’s late nights with the dial turned low, chasing distant stations through the static. It’s songs that felt like they understood me before I understood myself. The radio was my teacher, my comfort, my escape.
The songs playing through that radio shaped me as a dreamer and an artist. This tour is about going back to that feeling and sharing it with you.” Etheridge adds,
“I was literally raised on the radio, growing up in Leavenworth I listened to WHB. They played every kind of music from rock and soul to R&B and country music. It helped shape me to become the versatile writer and musician that I am today.”
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominee, Etheridge stormed the rock scene with her confessional
lyrics and signature vocal rasp on “Bring Me Some Water,” “Come to My Window,” “Bein’ Alive”
and “The Other Side of Blue” with Chris Stapleton from her new album Rise (2026).
Judd, a five-time Grammy winner and Country Music Hall of Fame Member, first rose to fame as
one-half of the legendary Country music duo, The Judds. She cemented her stardom through
countless chart-topping solo hits in the ‘90s and 2000s, including “No One Else on Earth,” “I Saw
The Light,” and “She Is His Only Need.”
Fans can sign up for early access to tickets for the Raised On Radio Tour, including exclusive VIP
packages, by visiting Wynonna.com and MelissaEtheridge.com. Artist presales start Tuesday,
March 10th at 10:00am local time, with public on-sale to follow on Friday, March 13th at
10:00am local.

Three Taps
2026-06-28 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
2026-06-28 11:00, 2026-06-29 09:15, 2026-06-30 09:15, 2026-07-01 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde serves as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. In this role, she serves as spiritual leader for the congregations and Episcopal schools in the District of Columbia and four Maryland counties that comprise the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. The first woman elected to this position, she also serves as the chair and president of the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, which oversees the ministries of the Washington National Cathedral and Cathedral schools.
Budde is committed to the spiritual vitality and public witness of the congregations in her care. She is proud to serve a diocese committed to justice and mercy. She cherishes her friendship with interfaith leaders in the Washington Metro Area and their joint endeavors in service to the common good.
Budde was consecrated as the ninth bishop of Washington in 2011. Prior to her election, she served for 18 years as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. Her sermons have been published in several books and journals. Budde is the author of three books including the New York Times bestseller How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, which has been adapted as a Young Adult book, We Can Be Brave: How We Learn to Be Brave in Life’s Decisive Moments as well as a picture book for young children, I Can Learn to Be Brave, forthcoming in July 2026.
She earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at the University of Rochester, graduating magna cum laude. She earned both a Master in Divinity and Doctor of Ministry from Virginia Theological Seminary.

"Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists" Exhibition: June 28–July 22
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists” exhibition runs June 28 – July 22. This exhibition is linked to Chautauqua’s week one’s lecture theme Icons and Instigators: Women who Changed the World. Six prominent artists are featured in this exhibition in the Main Gallery of Strohl Art Center: Tiffany Calvert, Lisa Hoke, Sarah Jacobs, Judy Pfaff, Patty Warashina, and Adero Willard. Each of these accomplished artists bring a unique, personal dynamic to their current work, while also standing on the shoulders of other women who pushed them forward. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Lexie Loader" Exhibition: June 28–July 23
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows” exhibition runs June 28-July 23. With a soft gaze, Lexie Loader paints interior and exterior spaces, exploring the relationships we have with memories, places, and objects. Her paintings bring the mundane and ordinary to life with a glow of familiar light and melancholic undertones. These works investigate the narratives provided by quiet and forgotten scenes. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Erika Diamond.

"Forest for the Trees" Exhibition: June 28–August 9
2026-06-28 13:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Forest for the Trees” exhibition runs June 28 – August 9. “Forest for the Trees” is a sylvan-themed exhibition with a focus on the positive impact of forest ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Each artist focuses on different bionetworks on the forest floor or within the trees. Using paint, textiles, sculpture, and light-based processes, they also remind us to consider the bigger picture of what is at stake if we disrupt our woodlands. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Addyson Aftanas, Colby Caldwell, Joan Elliott, Anna Johnson, Colleen Toledano, Melissa Webb, Tali Weinberg

"Twisted" Exhibition: June 28–August 24
2026-06-28 13:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Twisted” exhibition runs June 28-August 24. All works in this craft-based exhibition are literally and figuratively twisted into shapes by carving, turning, squeezing and trimming their materials. The result is an array of beautifully designed sculptures, ranging in sizes that cohesively exist together. See the intricate handwork, using a variety of materials from Atticus Adams, Vivian Chiu, Kyle Cottier, Andrew Hayes, Terumi Saito and Philip Soucy. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Gary & Willow Brost. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Sculpture Garden 2026" Exhibition: June 28–August 26
2026-06-28 13:00 | Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden, Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden
“Sculpture Garden 2026” exhibition runs June 28-August 26. Featuring outdoor sculptures by Page Henry and Ed Parrish. Curated by Judy Barie.

"Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists" Exhibition Opening Reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center: Main Galleries
“Here and Now: Contemporary Feminists” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – July 22. This exhibition is linked to Chautauqua’s week one’s lecture theme Icons and Instigators: Women who Changed the World. Six prominent artists are featured in this exhibition in the Main Gallery of Strohl Art Center: Tiffany Calvert, Lisa Hoke, Sarah Jacobs, Judy Pfaff, Patty Warashina, and Adero Willard. Each of these accomplished artists bring a unique, personal dynamic to their current work, while also standing on the shoulders of other women who pushed them forward. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows" Exhibition Opening Reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Lexie Loader: Warm Light, Cool Shadows” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – July 23. With a soft gaze, Lexie Loader paints interior and exterior spaces, exploring the relationships we have with memories, places, and objects. Her paintings bring the mundane and ordinary to life with a glow of familiar light and melancholic undertones. These works investigate the narratives provided by quiet and forgotten scenes. This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Friends of CVA. Curated by Erika Diamond.

"Forest for the Trees" Exhibition Opening Reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center: 1st Floor
“Forest for the Trees” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28 – August 9. Forest for the Trees is a sylvan-themed exhibition with a focus on the positive impact of forest ecosystems and the need to preserve them. Each artist focuses on different bionetworks on the forest floor or within the trees. Using paint, textiles, sculpture, and light-based processes, they also remind us to consider the bigger picture of what is at stake if we disrupt our woodlands. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Kay Hardesty Logan Foundation. Curated by Erika Diamond.
Artists: Addyson Aftanas, Colby Caldwell, Joan Elliott, Anna Johnson, Colleen Toledano, Melissa Webb, Tali Weinberg

"Twisted" Exhibition Opening Reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Strohl Art Center 2nd Floor
“Twisted” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28-August 24. All works in this craft-based exhibition are literally and figuratively twisted into shapes by carving, turning, squeezing and trimming their materials. The result is an array of beautifully designed sculptures, ranging in sizes that cohesively exist together. See the intricate handwork, using a variety of materials from Atticus Adams, Vivian Chiu, Kyle Cottier, Andrew Hayes, Terumi Saito and Philip Soucy. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Gary & Willow Brost. Curated by Judy Barie, the Susan & John Turben Director of CVA Galleries.

"Sculpture Garden 2026" Opening Reception
2026-06-28 15:00 | Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden, Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden
“Sculpture Garden 2026” opening reception. Exhibition runs June 28-August 26. Featuring outdoor sculptures by Page Henry and Ed Parrish. Curated by Judy Barie.

The United States Army Field Band and Soldiers' Chorus
2026-06-28 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Concert Band & Soldiers’ Chorus are the oldest and largest of The U.S. Army Field Band’s performing components. Founded in 1946 and 1957 respectively, these two ensembles combine to present joint concerts on their national tours. They have performed in all 50 states and 30 foreign countries for audiences totaling hundreds of millions. The 60-member Concert Band and 29-member Soldiers’ Chorus perform regularly in some of the most famous concert halls in the world, and just as often in the humblest auditoriums in the smallest of communities. The joining of these two ensembles allows them to offer unparalleled versatility of programming, ranging from orchestral masterworks and operatic arias to Sousa marches, jazz classics, and Broadway musicals. The band and chorus also perform independently, and have recently shared the stage with such ensembles as the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. In addition to their national tours, formal concerts, chamber recitals, and educational outreach, members of the Concert Band & Soldiers’ Chorus frequently represent the Army at formal and ceremonial functions, including the Presidential Inaugural Parade, presidential funerals, the Army All-American Bowl, and diplomatic efforts overseas.

Stephanie Ginese and Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh
2026-06-28 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Featuring Stephanie Ginese (Poetry) and Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh (Prose)
Stephanie Ginese is an author, instructor, and stand-up comedian from South Lorain, Ohio. Her literary work has been featured in Las Palabritas Journal at Harvard University, The Pinch Journal at the University of Memphis, Cleveland Review of Books, and elsewhere. Her debut collection of poetry, Unto Dogs, was released in July of 2022 on Grieveland. She is a 2023 Cleveland Arts Prize winner and a 2024 Creative Impact Fund awardee. Currently, she lives in Cleveland with her two children. She can be found at www.sginese.com or on Sundays at Dunlap’s Corner Bar where she co-hosts the Con Tú Variety Show.
Annmarie Kelly-Harbaugh is the author of Here Be Dragons, a memoir about the wonderful misery of raising children with someone you love. She also hosts Wild Precious Life, a literary podcast about making the most of the time we have. Annmarie teaches writing at Stanford, Cuyahoga Community College, and Ashland University where she works with incarcerated students trying to obtain their degrees. Her essays have appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered, in Today Parenting, Black Fork, Gordon Square Review, and The New York Observer, among others and her work has been staged with the Cleveland Humanities Festival and Listen to Your Mother Pittsburgh. She’s received support from the Ohio Arts Council, Martha’s Vineyard Institute, Tin House, and Il Monasterino della Conoscenza, and was recently named both the Hemingway-Pfeiffer and Erma Bombeck Writer-in-Residence. In her non-writing moments, Annmarie loves kickboxing, karaoke, dogs, ping-pong, books that make her laugh, movies that make her cry, and salads other people make her eat. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio, where she is currently writing a book with the ghost of her father.

Church of the Wild with Kriss Miller
2026-06-28 16:00, 2026-07-05 16:00, 2026-07-12 16:00 | Outdoor Classroom

School of Music: Opera Conservatory Sing-In
2026-06-29 13:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

English Lawn Bowling Tips
2026-06-29 13:00 | Sports Club, Sports Club

Diana Butler Bass
2026-06-29 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and commentator on religion and contemporary spirituality. Her latest book, A Beautiful Year, won the 2026 Wilbur Prize, her unprecedented third.
Diana’s passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world—from informing the public about spiritual trends, challenging conventional narratives about religious practice, and entering the fray of social media with spiritual wisdom and smart theology, to writing books to help readers see themselves, their place in history, and God differently. She does this with intelligence, joy, and a good dose of humor as noted by Glennon Doyle, John Fugelsang and the late Marcus Borg among other admirers.
Diana is the author of twelve books, and her bylines include The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, The Atlantic, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader’s Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has been seen on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, and in TIME, Newsweek and Rolling Stone among many international outlets. Her weekly religion column (1993-2003) was distributed nationally by The New York Times Syndicate. Diana currently co-hosts “The Convocation Unscripted,” a podcast on religion and politics, and writes The Cottage, a top-five Substack newsletter in “Faith & Spirituality.”
Diana holds a doctorate in religious studies from Duke University and her work has received numerous awards across many organizations and universities including Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Book of the Year. She and her husband live in Alexandria, Virginia, with their dog, Paddy, and their sometimes-successful backyard garden.

School of Music: Piano Program Play-in
2026-06-29 14:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Chamber Music: ChamberFest Cleveland
2026-06-29 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Launched in 2012 by Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinet emeritus Franklin Cohen and daughter Diana Cohen, concertmaster of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, ChamberFest Cleveland burst onto the scene with a Big Bang! Steeped in a lifetime of participation in music festivals, the Cohens dreamt of bringing a world-class chamber music festival to the Cleveland community. ChamberFest Cleveland is now the region’s only such festival, creating thematic programming for unique chamber music experiences in a variety of venues around town.
Since its inaugural festival, CFC has grown from a five-concert festival to a multifaceted concert series spanning three weeks. The festival is known not only for its musical excellence and international roster of the world’s finest players, but also for its fun and innovative approaches to programming, choice of venues, and inclusion of exceptional young artists. Through its critically acclaimed performances, pre- and post-concert activities, and warm interactions between musicians and concertgoers, ChamberFest Cleveland has developed an extraordinarily loyal, enthusiastic, supportive, and expanding audience to its festival events.

Terry Gordon on Synthetic Polymers: Are we becoming plastic people?
2026-06-30 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary
Chautauqua Science Group Weekly Lecture

Alyse Nelson
2026-06-30 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Alyse Nelson is president and CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership. As the co-founder, she has been with the organization for more than 28 years, also serving as vice president and senior director of programs before assuming her current role in 2009. Under Nelson’s leadership, Vital Voices has directly served nearly 50,000 women leaders across 188 countries. Several of these leaders will join Nelson as part of a panel on Vital Voices’ work as part of Chautauqua’s opening week on “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World.”
Previously, Nelson served as deputy director of the State Department’s Vital Voices Global Democracy Initiative and worked with the President’s Interagency Council on Women at the White House. She is a regular speaker on leadership and global women’s issues, having spoken before the United Nations General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative, Fortune Most Powerful Women, Oxford Student Union, Forbes 30/50 and Women in the World, among others. She has conducted leadership training with women at the Central Intelligence Agency, DFID, the UK Development Agency, Fortune 1000 companies and at numerous conferences.
Nelson is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and served as an official Observer for the World Bank’s We-fi Initiative for Women Entrepreneurs. She serves on advisory boards of Chime for Change and Global Citizen. Fortune named Nelson one of the 55 Most Influential Women on Twitter and she was featured as one of Newsweek’s 150 Women Shaking the World. She is a recipient of the 2022 David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award, and, in 2018, Apolitical named her one of the most influential people in global gender policy. She was also honored in 2015 with a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award.
Nelson is the author of the best-selling book Vital Voices: The Power of Women Leading Change Around the World, and the editor of Vital Voices: 100 Women Using Their Power to Empower. She has been featured in various international and national media. She holds a B.A. from Emerson College and an M.A. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Gretchen Goldman CEO Union of Concerned Scientists: On Stepping Up and Being Bold: Defending Science and Making Progress in the Current Climate
2026-06-30 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Bird, Tree & Garden Club lunchtime lecture series

Diana Butler Bass and Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde
2026-06-30 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Diana Butler Bass kicks off the 2026 Interfaith Lecture Series, beginning the Summer Assembly season with a solo lecture on Monday, June 29, 2026. The following day, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, Bass will return to the Hall of Philosophy for a conversation with Bishop Miriann Edgar Budde, the Chaplain during Week One, “Women of Spirit: Leadership, Courage, and the Work of Transformation.”
Diana Butler Bass is an award-winning author, speaker, inspiring preacher and commentator on religion and contemporary spirituality. Bass’ passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world — from informing the public about spiritual trends, challenging conventional narratives about religious practice and entering the fray of social media with spiritual wisdom and smart theology, to writing books to help readers see themselves, their place in history and God differently. She does so with intelligence, joy and a good dose of humor. Bass currently co-hosts “The Convocation Unscripted,” a podcast on religion and politics, and writes The Cottage, a top-five Substack newsletter in “Faith & Spirituality.”
Her latest book, A Beautiful Year, won the 2026 Wilbur Prize, her unprecedented third. Bass has authored twelve books in total, and her bylines include The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Atlantic, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader’s Digest, Christian Century and Sojourners. She has been seen on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, and in TIME, Newsweek and Rolling Stone among many international outlets. Her weekly religion column, running from 1993-2003, was distributed nationally by The New York Times Syndicate.
Bass holds a doctorate in religious studies from Duke University and her work has received numerous awards across many organizations and universities including Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Book of the Year.

School of Music Piano Faculty Recital: Jon Nakamatsu
2026-06-30 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Now in his third decade of touring worldwide, American pianist Jon Nakamatsu continues to draw critical and public acclaim for his intensity, elegance and electrifying solo, concerto and chamber music performances. Catapulted to international attention in 1997 as the Gold Medalist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition—the only American to achieve this distinction since 1981—Mr. Nakamatsu subsequently developed a multi-faceted career that encompasses recording, education, arts administration and public speaking in addition to his vast concert schedule.

Alicia Olatuja: "Dear Lisa"
2026-06-30 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
When St. Louis native vocalist, composer, educator Alicia Olatuja sings, the world listens. Her aural artistry is a wondrous weave of jazz, blues, gospel, classical, pop and Afropop musical genres. Olatuja’s embrace of those sonic stylings have enabled her to work with a wide variety of musicians – from jazz superstars Chris Botti, Christian McBride and Michael Olatuja, to R&B and gospel legends Chaka Khan and BeBe Winans.
Olatuja grew up immersed in a kaleidoscope of musical influences in St. Louis. Inspired by Whitney Houston, Olatuja started singing at the age of 5. She sang in the Berean Seven Day Adventist Church, listened to a wide variety of Black music including jazz, R&B and soul and was classically trained as an opera mezzo-soprano singer. After double majoring in Veterinary Medicine and Music at the University of Missouri, Olatuja moved to New York City in 2005, and later earned her Masters degree in Classical Voice/Opera from the Manhattan School of Music. She made her recital debut at Carnegie Hall and her professional debut as Sacagawea at Opera Memphis.
It was at the Manhattan School of Music where she met African jazz/Afrobeat bassist Michael Olatuja. “I started working with him and some other musicians as well,” Olatuja says, “We got married in 2007, and we decided to merge our visions, as far as working together and creating music that we felt would impact people in a positive way.” She recorded on his 2009 debut recording Speak, and they collaborated as The Olatuja Project on their 2013 release, The Promise. “In 2015 we decided to go our separate ways,” Olatuja recalls, “but we always respected and loved each other, and we always believed that we were supposed to be in each other’s lives. We stayed in touch for several years… He started working on Broadway, and I started my solo career.”
In 2013 Olatuja sang “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir at President Obama’s Second Inauguration. The New York Daily News praised her as “a new musical star,” and the award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves also took notice of her performance.” I think about her as like a fairy godmother of the industry because she really championed for me,” Olatuja fondly remembers. “She saw that performance and we met. She recommended me to other musicians and artists, and that led to touring and all kinds of things.”
Reeves recommended Olatuja to her friend, multiple Grammy award winning pianist-composer Billy Childs. In 2014, he released Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, which also featured Reeves. Olatuja sang with Child’s touring ensemble performing music from that recording. Olatuja would go on to work with many other artists. She recorded on bassist Christian McBrides’ recording, The Movement Revisited: A Portrait of Four Icons; as well as, Gregory Porter’s Grammy award winning 2016 album, Take Me to the Alley. Olatuja has also worked with Hammond B-3 organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. on his Songs of Freedom, a Jazz at Lincoln Center commissioned project, which featured the music of Abbey Lincoln, Joni Mitchell and Nina Simone, Osvaldo Golijov’s Oceana, under the musical direction off Marin Alsop, and Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz Orchestra, led by trumpeter Sean Jones.
Olatuja released her debut recording, Timeless, which earned her a 4-star review from Down Beat, and featured McBride, harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret, pianist Christian Sands and alto saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, and it also featured Olatuja’s inventive take on Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature.” Olatuja’s second release, Intuition: Songs from the Minds of Women, featured selections composed by women including Sade, Linda Creed, Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman and Angela Bofill. In 2023 Olatuja also recorded The Parsonage: True Tales of Love and Anarchy at 64 East 7th St., featuring vocalist Theo Bleckmann.
In addition to her career as a performing artist, Olatuja is also an exceptional educator. She’s taught at several schools including, The University of Texas, The University of Illinois, Baylor University, Snow College, and at several schools in Turkey, Serbia and Japan when she was on tour with the musical, La Mama Cantata, based on the life of theater director/producer Ellen Stewart.
In 2021, during the pandemic, Olatuja – who is also a LPI certified Life Coach specializing in Vocal Empowerment – created the Vocal Breakthrough Academy: a 5 week online program where singers and non-singers who are looking to break through self-doubt and comparison learn how to authentically connect with themselves and others through singing so they can transform their voices while using singing as a vehicle for personal-development.
Her most recent recording project is a reunion recording with Michael Olatuja, entitled, Olatuja, which was released in 2024. Alicia Olatuja feels equally at home in both the jazz and classical genres, and continues to mesmerize audiences throughout the world.

Kerri Walsh Jennings and Tara VanDerveer
2026-07-01 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Continuing a weeklong celebration of “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change History,” Chautauqua welcomes two Olympic gold medalists for a conversation on the state of women’s sports, and the outlook for emerging generations of women and girls in amateur and professional athletics.
Kerri Walsh Jennings is a five-time Olympian, three-time gold medalist, and one of the most accomplished athletes in beach volleyball history. A standout at Stanford, she was a four-time First Team All-American and helped lead the team to two NCAA championships, before making the jump to the U.S. indoor Olympic team in 2000.
After that, Jennings shifted to beach volleyball — and the game shifted with her. Partnering with Misty May-Treanor in 2001, the duo went on an unprecedented run: three Olympic gold medals, three World Championships, and a 112-match win streak that set a new standard for excellence in the sport.
Though she stepped away from Olympic competition in 2023, Jennings’ commitment to the sport is far from over. As a co-founder of Platform 1440 and a key stakeholder in the launch of Major League Volleyball, she’s working to grow the game and expand opportunities for athletes at every level. She is deeply invested in creating systems that push people to grow — on the court and beyond.
Tara VanDerveer is the second-winningest coach in NCAA basketball history, having cemented herself over a 45-year career as one of the top coaches in the sport, both collegiately and internationally. She is a member of both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. An ambassador for both Stanford University and the sport of college basketball, VanDerveer enjoyed an unprecedented level of success through an energetic and positive approach to the game. Prior to coming to Stanford, she served as head coach for Idaho and Ohio State.
Perhaps one of VanDerveer’s most notable attributes was her ability to connect with student-athletes and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of college athletics. Considered one of the nation’s premier recruiters, VanDerveer and her staff routinely brought top classes to The Farm. VanDerveer led her Stanford teams to three NCAA Championships. She built Stanford into a national power almost immediately upon arrival and maintained an unparalleled level of success for over three and a half decades. Many of her players went on to have success at the professional level, winning numerous games and awards while playing in the WNBA.
In 1995–96 VanDerveer served as head coach of the USA Basketball National Team, leading the team to a 52-0 exhibition record and then to the Olympic gold medal with a perfect 8-0 run at the 1996 Atlanta Games. In 1997, she released her book Shooting From The Outside, which chronicled her 1996 Olympic and National Team experience. VanDerveer is a graduate of Indiana University and held one of the starting guard positions for three years on the women’s basketball team.

Organ Recitals Molly Patrick
2026-07-01 12:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Molly Patrick is an organist originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her diverse career has brought her to many different places, including six years in Anchorage, Alaska where she was the music director for an Episcopal Church, a violist in the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Alaska. She has performed in Alaska, Idaho, Minnesota, Indiana, Gloucester, U.K. and Virginia. Molly holds a master’s degree in Organ Performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Organ Performance and Literature from the same institution, where she studies with Dr. Janette Fishell. When she isn’t playing the organ, Molly can be found on a hiking trail or enjoying a good book.
Her program for Chautauqua will include works by Rachel Laurin, Pamela Decker, and Florence Price.

Chautauqua Lake Science-to-Action Update with Dr. Courtney Wigdahl-Perry and Dr. Allison Hrycik
2026-07-01 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Lake Update

Susannah Heschel
2026-07-01 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Susannah Heschel serves as the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor and chair of Jewish studies at Dartmouth College and the Gerard Weinstock Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University.

Heschel’s scholarship focuses on Jewish thought in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries, including the history of antisemitism. Her books include Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus; The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany; Jüdischer Islam: Islam und Jüdisch-deutsche Selbstbestimmung; and Jewish Studies and the Woman Question, written with Sarah Imhoff. Additionally, she has several edited and coedited books, including Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays of Abraham Joshua Heschel; Insider/Outsider: Multiculturalism and American Jews; Betrayal: German Churches and the Holocaust; The Muslim Reception of European Orientalism; and The Hasidic Sermon.

A Guggenheim Fellow, Heschel has received research grants from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Several of her residential fellowships are from the National Humanities Center, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and the Maimonides Institute in Hamburg. She has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Cape Town, Frankfurt, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Princeton and Harvard. She holds five honorary doctorates from universities in the United States, Canada, Germany and Switzerland. Recently, last November, she delivered the Yosef Yerushalmi Lecture at the University of Munich, and this fall she will deliver the Franz Rosenzweig series of Lectures at Yale University.

Masters Series Masterclass: Raleigh Ringers
2026-07-01 16:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Join the Raleigh Ringers for an engaging session that explores the artistry, teamwork, and joy behind one of the world’s premier handbell ensembles. Through discussion and live demonstration, discover how handbells create a powerful, collective musical experience that connects performers and listeners alike.

CVA Lecture Series: Guerrilla Girls
2026-07-01 18:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
For 40 years, the Guerrilla Girls are anonymous artist activists who use disruptive headlines, outrageous visuals and killer statistics to expose gender and ethnic bias and corruption in art, film, politics and pop culture. They believe in an intersectional feminism that fights for human rights for all people of all genders. They work to undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the unfair. The Guerrilla Girls have done hundreds of projects (street posters, banners, actions, books, and videos) all over the world. As well, they produce interventions and exhibitions at art museums, blasting institutions on their own walls for bad behavior and discriminatory practices, including a stealth projection on the façade of the Whitney Museum about income inequality and the super-rich hijacking art. Guerrilla Girls retrospectives, traveling exhibitions and interventions have attracted thousands at Tate Modern and Whitechapel Gallery, London; São Paulo Museum of Art; the Venice Biennale; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam; Museum of Military History, Dresden; Art Basel Hong Kong; The Getty Center and many other places. Their latest book, Guerrilla Girls: The Art of Behaving Badly collects hundreds of their projects from 1985 to 2020, and was named one of the best art books of 2020 by The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. The Guerrilla Girls’ motto: Do one thing. If it works, do another. If it doesn’t, do another anyway. Keep chipping away!

The Raleigh Ringers
2026-07-01 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Raleigh Ringers return to Chautauqua for another dazzling performance by one of America’s premier handbell ensembles. Renowned for their virtuosity and showmanship, The Raleigh Ringers bring an extraordinary range of musical styles to life—from classical masterpieces to rock favorites—on hundreds of bronze bells. Their precision, artistry, and infectious energy transform handbell ringing into a breathtaking visual and musical experience. Don’t miss this much-anticipated return engagement that promises to delight audiences of all ages.

The Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde
2026-07-02 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara
2026-07-02 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Continuing a weeklong conversation dedicated to “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” the Chautauqua Lecture Series is proud to welcome Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara, two legendary stars of stage and screen, for a conversation on their lives and careers. The joint appearance and discussion will serve as a preview of the pair’s performance with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra later that evening.
Sutton Foster is a Tony Award–winning actress, singer, and dancer who most recently starred in an acclaimed turn as Princess Winnifred in the Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress at the Hudson Theatre. Foster reprised the role after leading the critically adored adaptation at New York City Center Encores!, and traveled with the show for a limited run at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Foster previously starred as Mrs. Lovett opposite Aaron Tveit in the Tony Award–winning Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
The two-time Tony-winning actress appeared as Marian Paroo in the 2022 Broadway revival of The Music Man at the Winter Garden Theatre; her performance earned her seventh Tony award nomination and the 2022 Drama League Distinguished Performance Award. In 2021 she reprised the role of Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes at London’s Barbican Theatre, earning an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. That same year she released her debut memoir, Hooked: How Crafting Saved My Life.
Foster’s Broadway credits include Violet, Anything Goes (Tony Award), Shrek, Young Frankenstein, The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Les Misérables, Annie, The Scarlet Pimpernel and Grease. Her Off-Broadway appearances included Sweet Charity, The Wild Party, Trust and Anyone Can Whistle. On television, she led the critically acclaimed TV Land series “Younger” for seven seasons, making it the longest-running original series in the network’s history. Additional television credits include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Bunheads.” Her solo recordings include Take Me to the World, Wish and An Evening with Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle. She holds an honorary doctorate from Ball State University, where she teaches.
Kelli O’Hara is a Tony Award winner, and Emmy-, SAG- and Grammy-nominated actress. She has appeared in 12 Broadway shows for which she has garnered eight Tony Award nominations. O’Hara starred in the critically acclaimed, limited Broadway engagement of the new musical “Days of Wine and Roses.” Most recently, she starred opposite Tom Hanks in the world premiere of the Off-Broadway play “This World of Tomorrow” and can be seen in the new CBS series “Sheriff Country.” Spring 2026 marks the Broadway return of O’Hara in the revival of “Fallen Angels.”
O’Hara won the 2015 Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, along with Grammy, Drama League and Outer Critics nominations for The King and I. O’Hara’s other Broadway credits include Kiss Me Kate, The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It, South Pacific, The Pajama Game, The Light in the Piazza, Sweet Smell of Success, Follies, Dracula and Jekyll & Hyde.
O’Hara received an Emmy Award nomination for Topic’s “The Accidental Wolf,” and can currently be seen on HBO’s SAG award nominee “The Gilded Age.” Additional film and television credits include “Master of Sex,” “13 Reasons Why,” “Blue Bloods,” “All My Children,” “All the Bright Places,” “Peter Pan Live!,” “Sex & The City 2,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Key to Reserva,” “The Good Fight,” “Numb3rs” and “Car Talk.” In 2015, she was the first artist to make the crossover from Broadway to opera when she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, returning later in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte as well as Kevin Puts’ The Hours, which earned a Grammy nomination.
O’Hara is a frequent performer on PBS’s live telecasts and the Kennedy Center Honors, and performs often alongside the New York Philharmonic and the New York Pops. Along with her two Grammy nominations, her solo albums, Always and Wonder in the World, are available on Ghostlight.

Yolanda Pierce
2026-07-02 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Yolanda Pierce is a scholar, writer, womanist theologian and accomplished
administrator in higher education. She currently serves as University Distinguished
Professor of Religion and Literature and dean of the Vanderbilt Divinity School.
Pierce’s newest book is The Wounds Are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory into
Justice and Healing, which explores how Black faith traditions hold memory, confront
injustice and cultivate healing.
Pierce’s research specialties include literature and religion, womanist theology and African American religions. A widely-published author, she has written several essays and articles for academic and trade journals including: Time Magazine; The Christian Century; Theology Today; and Christianity & Literature. Her previously published books include Hell Without Fires: Slavery, Christianity, and the Antebellum Spiritual Narrative and In My Grandmother’s House: Black Women, Faith, and the Stories We Inherit.
Pierce is the creator and curator of “Touching the Sacred,” an exhibit on material religion
and the Black Church. She was appointed the founding director of the Center for
African American Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American
History and Culture. She is a member of various professional organizations,
including the Modern Language Association, the Society for the Study of Black Religion
and the American Historical Association. Pierce has also been the recipient of numerous
honors and awards, including fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon
Foundation, and the Pew Foundation. In 2023, she received the Martin E. Marty Award for
the Public Understanding of Religion from the American Academy of Religion.
As a first-generation college student, Pierce earned degrees from Cornell University and
Princeton University. She is a native New Yorker, mentor, community activist, daughter of
the Black Church, ordained minister and proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority,
Inc.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents New Play Workshop 1: Ahoy-Hoy by Jenny Stafford
2026-07-02 16:00, 2026-07-03 16:00, 2026-07-04 14:00 | Bratton Theater, Bratton Theater

Piano Faculty Master Class: Alexander Kobrin
2026-07-02 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Opera Company's 2026 Sing-In
2026-07-02 18:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Meet the 2026 Chautauqua Opera Company Young Artists! Join us and hear their voices here first!

One Night Only: An Evening with Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara
2026-07-02 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Enjoy a night with Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara inspired by the 1962 CBS special “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall”— a tribute to Broadway and beyond. Together with Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz and the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Sutton and Kelli pay homage to icons of stage and screen Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett who teamed up for that memorable concert. You’ll hear favorites from Sutton and Kelli’s Tony Award winning and nominated shows and in between, lots of bubbly banter, laughter and stories you’ll love.

Ecumenical Communion Service
2026-07-03 09:15, 2026-07-10 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Sylvia Earle
2026-07-03 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Sylvia Earle is the president and chairman of Mission Blue, an explorer at large at the National Geographic Society, founder of Deep Ocean Exploration and Research Inc. (DOER), chair of the Advisory Council for the Harte Research Institute and former chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A legendary marine biologist and trailblazer for women in science, “Her Deepness” is considered the grande dame of the oceans. She closes Chautauqua’s week on “Icons and Instigators: Women Who Change the World,” with stories and insights from her remarkable, singular career.
The author of more than 225 publications and leader of more than 100 expeditions with over 7,500 hours underwater, Earle has focused her life’s research on the ecology and conservation of marine ecosystems and development of technology for access to the deep sea. She was one of the first people to adopt scuba diving equipment in the U.S. and pioneered submersibles in the ocean.
Through her organization, Mission Blue, Earle has fostered a global network of marine protected areas called Hope Spots. Working beyond borders and ideologies, she has advised heads of state on marine protection legislation and water crisis response. Earle is the subject of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary “Mission Blue,” and is the recipient of more than 100 national and international honors and awards.
Earle was named Time Magazine’s first Hero for the Planet, a Living Legend by the Library of Congress, 2014 UNEP Champion of the Earth, Glamour Magazine’s 2014 Woman of the Year, member of the Netherlands Order of the Golden Ark, winner of the 2009 TED Prize, the Walter Cronkite Award, the 1996 Explorers Club Medal, the Royal Geographic Society 2011 Patron’s Medal, and the National Geographic 2013 Hubbard Medal. Earle is a graduate of Florida State University, with master’s and doctoral degrees from Duke University, along with 32 honorary degrees.

Anna North
2026-07-03 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Bog Queen: A Novel by Anna North
The latest from New York Times bestselling novelist Anna North—a monumental discovery sets off a clash of worlds, past and present, over the fate of the land that holds us.
When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she’s ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved.
Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there’s the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell.
As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she’s also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world. Flashing between the uncertainty of post-Brexit England and the druidic order of Celtic Europe at the dawn of the Roman era, Bog Queen brims with contemporary urgency and ancient wisdom as it connects across time two gifted, farsighted young women learning to harness their strange strengths in a landscape more mysterious and complex than either can imagine.
Anna North is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick Outlawed, America Pacifica, and Lambda Literary Award winner The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. She is a senior correspondent at Vox. She lives in Brooklyn.

School of Music Piano Faculty Recital: Alexander Kobrin
2026-07-03 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Called the “Van Cliburn of today” by the BBC, pianist Alexander Kobrin has placed himself at the forefront of today’s performing musicians. His prize-winning performances have been praised for their brilliant technique, musicality, and emotional engagement with the audience. Mr. Kobrin has taken the top prize in many international competitions, most notably the esteemed Gold Medal at the Twelfth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Though widely acclaimed as a performer, he is also a respected and inspirational teacher, currently a professor at the renowned Eastman School of Music. Mr. Kobrin is the Heintzelman Family Artistic Advisor for the Chautauqua Piano Program.

Kabbalat Shabbat Service
2026-07-03 17:00, 2026-07-10 17:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Preservation Hall Jazz Band
2026-07-03 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
At a moment when musical streams are crossing with unprecedented frequency, it’s
crucial to remember that throughout its history, New Orleans has been the point at which sounds and
cultures from around the world converge, mingle, and resurface, transformed by the Crescent
City’s inimitable spirit and joie de vivre. Nowhere is that idea more vividly embodied than in the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, which has held the torch of New Orleans music aloft for more than 65 years, all the while carrying it enthusiastically forward as a reminder that the history they were founded to preserve is a vibrantly living history.
PHJB marches that tradition forward once again on So It Is. The album redefines what New Orleans music means today by tapping into a sonic continuum that stretches back to the city’s Afro-Cuban roots, through its common ancestry with the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti and the Fire
Music of Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane, and forward to cutting-edge artists with whom the
PHJB have shared festival stages from Coachella to Newport, including legends like Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello and the Grateful Dead and modern giants like
Beck, The Foo Fighters, My Morning Jacket, and the Black Keys.

Piano Program Student Recital
2026-07-04 16:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Independence Day Celebration
2026-07-04 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Stuart Chafetz, conductor
Aubrey Logan, vocals/trombone
John Manzari, dancer/vocals
Celebrate America’s 250th year with The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s annual Independence Day Celebration. The orchestra is joined by guests Aubrey Logan and John Manzari. Under the baton of Principal Pops conductor Stuart Chafetz, enjoy patriotic classics to pay tribute to the spirit of America. Bring your family and friends to this evening of fun and entertainment.

Art in the Park
2026-07-05 08:00 | Miller Park, Miller Park
Hosted by the Friends of CVA, Art in the Park is an open art fair with 70+ vendors held in Miller Park, showcasing art by members of the Chautauqua community, artists-in-residence from the School of Art, and artisans from the region around Chautauqua Institution. Items for sale include ceramics, paintings, prints, Chautauqua-themed trinkets, pieces made of up-cycled materials, homemade soaps, hand-dyed silk clothing, organic cosmetics, embellished handbags and fine jewelry. Art in the Park markets are always planned for Sundays, when admission to the grounds is free, so the markets can be accessible for Institution residents and members of the surrounding community alike.
For artist registration information, visit: https://art.chq.org/friends-of-cva/art-in-the-park/

Rev. Robert W. Henderson
2026-07-05 10:45, 2026-07-06 09:15, 2026-07-07 09:15, 2026-07-08 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
In 2008, The Rev. Robert W. Henderson was installed as the sixth senior minister and head of staff at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C. A respected pastor, preacher, and leader, Henderson is known for cultivating congregational vitality and meaningful community engagement. His ministry focuses on the centrality of worship, pastoral care, and vibrant mission programs.
Both personally and through leading his congregation, Henderson continues his active involvement in uplifting local and international communities. Within recent years, his congregation has invested more than 6 million dollars in affordable housing projects. In Greensboro, N.C., they initiated an innovative partnership with an underprivileged neighborhood.
Directly at Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson’s congregation opened a need-based child development center. The church is also home to a unique pastoral residency program for seminary graduates. Henderson enjoys seeing people grow in their personal faith and has particularly witnessed this through organizing and participating in mission trips in places such as Appalachia, Nablus, Bethlehem, Kenya, Haiti, and Mexico.
In addition to his work with the Covenant Presbyterian Church, Henderson has been leading renewal conferences for large church pastors. He is also actively involved at Davidson College serving on the board of trustees and presidential search committee.
From 1993 to 2008, Henderson served as senior pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, N.C. In Stone Mountain, Ga. he was associate pastor of Eastminster Presbyterian Church from 1988-1993.
Henderson received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and Bachelor of Arts in economics and religion from Furman University.

Kosher BBQ
2026-07-05 11:30 | Miller Park, Miller Park

Noah Falck and Sunita Puri
2026-07-05 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Featuring Noah Falck (Poetry) and Sunita Puri (Prose)
Noah Falck is the author of Exclusions (Tupelo Press, 2020) which was a finalist for the Believer Book Award and the co-authored collection Prerecorded Weather (SurVision Books, 2022) winner of the James Tate Poetry Prize. He released a limited-edition record Fatigue Performance in collaboration with artist Ariel Aberg-Riger and the band Plant Water. His poems have been published in The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, Poetry Daily, Poets.org and anthologized in Poem-a-Day: 365 Poems for Every Occasion. In 2013, he founded the Silo City Reading Series, an immersive, multimedia poetry event series that takes place inside a 120-foot-high, 100-year-old abandoned grain elevator. He works as Literary Director at Just Buffalo Literary Center and lives in Buffalo, New York.
Dr. Sunita Puri is an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, where she is the Director of the Inpatient Palliative Care Service. A 2025 Literature Fellow of the Bogliasco Foundation, she is the author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, a critically acclaimed literary memoir examining her journey to the practice of palliative medicine, and her quest to help patients and families redefine what it means to live and die well in the face of serious illness. A graduate of Yale University and the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship, her writing has appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Tricycle, Slate, Wall Street Journal, and the Journal of the American Medical Association, among other places. She and her work have been featured in the Atlantic, People Magazine, PBS’ Christian Amanpour Show, NPR, the Guardian, BBC, India Today, and Literary Hub. In 2019, the Guardian made a mini-documentary of her work with her patients, which has been viewed over 3.5 million times. She has been awarded writing residencies at the Bogliasco Foundation, MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, Mesa Refuge, and UCross. A sought-after speaker who has delivered lectures around the world, Dr. Puri is passionate about the ways that the precise and compassionate use of language can empower patients and physicians to have the right conversations about living and dying.

Yacht Club Ball
2026-07-05 18:00 | John R. Turney Sailing Center

CTC and Friends of Chautauqua Theater present Meet The Company
2026-07-05 18:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

Joanna Stern
2026-07-06 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Joanna Stern is an Emmy Award-winning technology journalist. She opens Chautauqua’s week of “Charting a New Media Landscape” with remarks inspired by her new book I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything and the launch of her own new media company. Drawing on a year of real-world experiments with AI tools — and the practical results — she will explore how generative AI is changing reporting, storytelling, editing, audience growth and the business of journalism. Stern will look at what’s gained, what’s at risk and what new rules and skills media organizations and individual journalists will need as AI blurs the lines between fact and fiction.
Previously, Stern spent 12 years at The Wall Street Journal, where her personal technology columns and video series made her one of the most-watched voices in consumer tech. Now running her own new media company, she produces videos and newsletters that help people navigate the tech reshaping daily life.
Stern’s 2021 documentary “E-Ternal” won an Emmy for Outstanding Science, Technology or Environmental Coverage. A two-time Gerald Loeb Award winner and Pulitzer finalist, she often appears on national television, radio, and podcasts such as “The Vergecast.” She previously served as a technology editor at ABC News and The Verge. Stern lives in New Jersey with her wife, sons, dog, and more gadgets than a Best Buy.

Rabbi Joshua Stanton
2026-07-06 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Rabbi Joshua Stanton is associate vice president for Interfaith and Intergroup Initiatives at Jewish Federations of North America, where he empowers leaders from 141 Jewish Federations across the continent to become bridge-builders in their regions. He also serves as spiritual co-leader of East End Temple in Manhattan.
Stanton puts Jewish learning, pastoral care, and social justice first. He loves connecting with people individually and supporting their spiritual journeys and pursuit of meaning. Stanton is coauthor with Rabbi Benjamin Spratt of Awakenings: American Jewish Transformations in Identity, Leadership, and Belonging and the forthcoming book, Revival: Portraits of America’s Spiritual Builders.
Stanton’s passion for religious pluralism and interfaith dialogue has led to his involvement and leadership internationally. His articles, media appearances, and interviews have appeared in more than a dozen languages, and he has spoken at the United Nations, White House and interfaith conferences around the world.
This Interfaith Lecture Series program is presented in collaboration with the Everett Jewish Life Center at Chautauqua.

Piano Faculty Master Class: J. Y. Song
2026-07-06 14:00 | Sherwood-Marsh 101

Chautauqua Chamber Music: Cantus
2026-07-06 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Experience the award-winning vocal ensemble Cantus in a performance of stunning harmony and heartfelt storytelling. Renowned for their rich tone and collaborative artistry, Cantus brings a diverse program spanning classical masterworks, folk traditions, and contemporary compositions. Each performance offers an intimate and dynamic musical connection with the audience. Don’t miss this captivating concert from one of America’s premier vocal groups.

Music School Festival Orchestra "Opening Night"
2026-07-06 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Dr. Michael Ackerman: The Virtual Human
2026-07-07 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

Chuck Todd
2026-07-07 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Chuck Todd is one of America’s foremost experts on American politics. A seasoned political journalist and analyst known for his sharp insight, he is the host of “The ChuckToddCast,” a weekly podcast offering in-depth interviews with political figures, experts, and thought leaders. He is currently the head of politics and host of “Sunday Night with Chuck Todd” for the Noosphere app, where he aims to continue his legacy of delivering impactful political analysis and fostering engaging conversations with leaders shaping the future of American politics. He is also the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence for the University of Southern California’s Capital Campus, in Washington, D.C., where he teaches about how Washington works. Todd joins Chautauqua’s week “Charting a New Media Landscape” to help survey the landscape of legacy national media institutions, and how forces both within and beyond their control are shaping their news-gathering operations, values and standards, and overall business models.
A six-time Emmy Award winner, Todd was NBC News’s chief political analyst and moderator of “Meet the Press” from 2014 to 2023. Known for his sharp insight and knowledge of politics, Todd has co-moderated multiple presidential debates, including the record-breaking 2019 and 2020 Democratic debates. He previously served as NBC News’s chief White House correspondent from 2008 to 2014 and hosted “The Daily Rundown” on MSNBC. In 2007, he joined NBC News as political director after 15 years at The Hotline, where he served as editor-in-chief. Todd was also the founding managing editor for The Sports Business Daily in 1994, now known as The Sports Business Journal.
Todd is the author of two books: How Barack Obama Won, co-authored in 2009, and The Stranger: Barack Obama in the White House, released in 2014. He has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Atlantic.

LGBTQ+ and Friends of Chautauqua: Discussion Group, Bring your lunch
2026-07-07 12:15 | Alumni Hall Ballroom, Alumni Hall Ballroom

Adrian Higgins, Washington Post Gardening Columnist: "Naturalism, Not Nativism"
2026-07-07 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Masters Series Masterclass: The Science of Cooperation in partnership with Arizona State University
2026-07-07 12:30 | Hall of Christ: Sanctuary
The Science of Cooperation: How Understanding Our Evolutionary History Helps Us Build a Cooperative Future. Athena Aktipis, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University, Director of the Cooperative Futures Institute, The Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative, and the The Cooperation Lab at ASU presents this compelling and timely Master Class. Athena’s work focuses on cooperation and how it makes us stronger, more adaptable, and ready for an uncertain future. She is the author of “A Field Guide to the Apocalypse.”

Elizabeth Dias
2026-07-07 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Elizabeth Dias is the national religion correspondent for The New York Times. She has reported on faith and politics for 15 years, covering religion in four presidential elections and reporting from more than 30 states and the Vatican. She writes about the shifting expressions of belief and power in American society, including the conservative Christian political movement as well as life’s biggest questions at the heart of our shared humanity.
Dias is the co-author of The Fall of Roe: The Rise of a New America, a book chronicling the political and religious campaign to end federal abortion rights, along with her New York Times colleague Lisa Lerer.
Previously, she was a reporter for Time Magazine, where she traveled with Pope Francis and interviewed the Dalai Lama.
She has a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

School of Music: Open Recital
2026-07-07 14:00, 2026-07-10 14:00, 2026-07-14 14:00 | Fletcher Music Hall, Fletcher Music Hall

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
2026-07-07 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra welcomes the return of Artist in Residence Alexander Gavrylyuk for an evening of symphonic passion. Tabakova’s Orpheus’ Comet opens the program with shimmering energy and mythic inspiration. Gavrylyuk then takes center stage in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a thrilling showcase of sweeping melody and virtuosic brilliance. The evening concludes with Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish,” a richly textured work inspired by the grandeur of the Rhineland.
Program:
Tabakova: Orpheus’ Comet
Schumann Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish”
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1

Masters Series Masterclass: Surviving AI in partnership with Arizona State University
2026-07-07 21:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor
This event is a part of Chautauqua’s partnership with Arizona State University and is hosted by comedian Shane Mauss and Athena Aktipis (featuring comedy, science & music.) Surviving AI is a comedy show that blends humor with thoughtful exploration of how humans relate to artificial intelligence and how we might build a more cooperative technological future. The evening begins with a stand-up comedy set, moves into a salon-style conversation with experts on AI and cooperation, and culminates in a live improvisational “battle” between a human artist and an AI, responding to each other in real time. Throughout the show, an LED screen displays dynamic visuals generated through human–AI collaboration, created live by AI artist Michael Strauss, inviting the audience to reflect on creativity, agency, and collaboration in an age of intelligent machines.

Jason Riley
2026-07-08 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Jason Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and the “Upward Mobility” opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, where he has written about politics, economics, education, immigration and social inequality for more than 25 years. He’s also a frequent public speaker and provides commentary for television and radio news outlets, and he joins the 2026 Chautauqua Lecture Series for the Week Two theme “Breaking the News: Charting a New Media Landscape.”
Riley is the author of six books. In 2008 he published Let Them In, which argues for more legal immigration. His second book, Please Stop Helping Us, is about government efforts to help the Black underclass and was published in 2014. In 2017 he published False Black Power?, an assessment of why Black political success has not translated into more economic advancement. In 2021 he published Maverick, a biography of the iconic economist and social theorist Thomas Sowell and narrated the documentary film “Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World.” In 2022 he published The Black Boom, an analysis of Black economic progress prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. His most recent book, The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Black Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed, was published in 2025.
Riley earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has also worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News.

"Homecoming: School of Art Alumni" Exhibition: July 8–August 16
2026-07-08 11:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
“Homecoming: School of Art Alumni” exhibition runs July 8-August 16. We welcome our School of Art residency alumni back to Chautauqua to share their talents and recent works. Co-curated by Judy Barie and Erika Diamond, this exhibition celebrates eight artists working in disparate styles and materials. They investigate domestic objects, memory, familial ties, and suburban landscapes. We celebrate their “Homecoming”. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Artists: Quinn Antonio Briceño, Melissa English Campbell, Jeremiah Ibarra, David Linneweh, Daphne Minkoff, Kelly Rossetti, Brant Weiland, and Tina Williams-Brewer.

Protecting Chautauqua County Lands: The Bear Lake Story, with the Western NY Land Conservancy and Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy
2026-07-08 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
WNYLC and CWC protecting Chautauqua County Lands: The Bear Lake Story

Naomi Riley
2026-07-08 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Naomi Schaefer Riley is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she focuses on child welfare and foster care issues. Specifically, her work analyzes the role of faith-based and community organizations in changing the foster care and adoption services landscape. She also studies how race, class and family structure affect foster care placement and services and the impact of the drug crisis on child welfare. She is concurrently a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.
Riley’s books include No Way to Treat a Child: How the Foster Care System, Family Courts, and Racial Activists Are Wrecking Young Lives and Be the Parent, Please: Stop Banning Seesaws and Start Banning Snapchat: Strategies for Solving the Real Parenting Problems. Her book, Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage Is Transforming America, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice. She was interviewed by Brian Lamb on C-SPAN about her book The Faculty Lounges: And Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Paid For.
Riley is a frequent contributor to a variety of publications, including The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. She was previously a columnist for New York Post and an editor and writer for The Wall Street Journal. Her work has also appeared in Bloomberg Opinion, The Boston Globe, Commentary, First Things, Los Angeles Times, National Review, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy, among others.
A regular guest on television, Riley’s appearances include C-SPAN, Today on NBC News, Fox News Channel, Fox Business, and CNBC.

"Homecoming: School of Art Alumni" Opening Reception
2026-07-08 15:00 | Fowler-Kellogg Art Center 2nd floor
“Homecoming: School of Art Alumni” opening reception. Exhibition runs July 8-August 16. We welcome our School of Art residency alumni back to Chautauqua to share their talents and recent works. Co-curated by Judy Barie and Erika Diamond, this exhibition celebrates eight artists working in disparate styles and materials. They investigate domestic objects, memory, familial ties, and suburban landscapes. We celebrate their “Homecoming”. This exhibition is generously sponsored by Jack Turben. Artists: Quinn Antonio Briceño, Melissa English Campbell, Jeremiah Ibarra, David Linneweh, Daphne Minkoff, Kelly Rossetti, Brant Weiland, and Tina Williams-Brewer.

Dance Preview: All-Stars Gala
2026-07-08 18:15 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

CVA Lecture Series: Kyle Hackett, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-08 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Kyle Hackett, a distinguished member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Kyle Hackett will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.
Kyle Hackett’s paintings explore race, class, and social standing through approaches to self-representation and the constructed image. Hackett (b. Still Pond, MD) earned his MFA from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art and his BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Delaware. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship, the Civil Society Institute Fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center Residency, the Ruth Katzman Scholarship at The League Residency in New York, and Best in Show at the 2014 Bethesda Painting Awards Exhibition. His work has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, The Washington Post, HuffPost, Aesthetica Magazine (UK) and is published in the British Library. Hackett received a Mayoral Salute from the City of Baltimore for his solo exhibition “Rate of Contingency.” Recent exhibitions include The Ruth Borchard 2025 Self Portrait Prize (UK); The Herbert Smith Freehills 2024 Portrait Award Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK); “Revisit/Reimagine” at the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum (Annapolis, MD) and “Circular Narratives” at Vinegar Projects (Birmingham, AL). Hackett’s work is represented by Goya Contemporary Gallery (Baltimore, MD). His work is part of collections at Ethan Cohen Gallery (New York) the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Capital One Lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport, the Soho House Art Collection, among others. Hackett is Assistant Professor and co-director of the MFA Studio Art Program at American University in Washington, DC.

Unity's Positive Path for Spiritual Living
2026-07-08 18:30, 2026-07-15 18:30 | Turner Conference Room, Turner Conference Room
Programmed by Unity of Chautauqua

All-Star Dance Gala
2026-07-08 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Curated by Sasha Janes, Bonnefoux McBride Artistic Director of Chautauqua School of Dance, the annual All-Star Dance Gala serves as a celebration of the exceptional talent consistently produced by the Chautauqua School of Dance. Artists from top-tier national companies join forces for an exciting mixed repertoire evening of contemporary and classical dance. In addition to the performance, all-stars host discussion panels and serve as School of Dance guest faculty, graciously sharing their knowledge with the next generation of Alumni All-Stars. Come celebrate the extraordinary talent that Chautauqua has nurtured from school to stage.

Rev. Robert W. Henderson
2026-07-09 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

Paula Kerger
2026-07-09 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Paula Kerger is president and chief executive officer of PBS, the nation’s largest non-commercial media organization representing more than 330 member stations throughout the country. She also serves as president of the PBS Foundation, which provides a significant source of revenue for projects that benefit the entire public television system. Kerger joins Chautauqua’s series on “Charting a New Media Landscape” to share thoughts on the state of public media in the United States nationally, regionally and locally.
As the longest serving president and CEO in PBS history, Kerger has led the transformation of PBS from a broadcaster to a multiplatform digital media organization which delivers on public television’s essential mission of education, inspiration and service to the American public. Under her leadership, PBS has grown its audiences across genres and platforms. Kerger has also deepened PBS’ impact, from providing universal access to early learning resources through the PBS KIDS broadcast and streaming channels, to empowering educators with digital resources through PBS LearningMedia. Programs on PBS are consistently recognized with the industry’s most prestigious honors, including Peabody, Emmy and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards.
Kerger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Women’s Forum. Prior to joining PBS, Kerger served for more than a decade at the Educational Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), the parent company of Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21 New York, where her ultimate position was executive vice president and chief operating officer. Kerger received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Baltimore. She has received numerous honorary doctorates. At the University of North Carolina Asheville, she received the Chancellor’s Medallion and at the Darden School at the University of Virginia, she served as a DC Fellow.

Rev. Nicole Martin
2026-07-09 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
The Rev. Nicole Martin is the president and chief executive officer of Christianity Today. She has been with the magazine since 2023, previously holding the positions of chief operating officer and chief impact officer. Martin currently serves on the executive council of the National Association of Evangelicals, the Board of Trustees at Fuller Theological Seminary, and on the National Advisory Council for the Salvation Army. She is a founding board member of the Center for Christianity and Public Life and has been inducted into the esteemed Board of Preachers at Morehouse College.
Martin is the founder and executive director of Soulfire International Ministries which accelerates thriving for pastors, churches, and younger leaders. She has decades of executive leadership experience in the church and Christian non-profits. Martin is very active at Kingdom Fellowship AME Church, her local congregation in Maryland.
In addition to writing numerous articles, Martin is also the author of two books titled, Made to Lead: Empowering Women for Ministry and Leaning In, Letting Go: A Lenten Devotional.
Martin was born and educated in Baltimore. She graduated magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a triple major in Human and Organizational Development, Educational Studies and French. Martin received her Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and earned a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

School of Music Piano Faculty Recital: HieYon Choi
2026-07-09 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Praised for her artistry and expressive depth, HieYon Choi is one of the most sought-after pianists of her generation. “One of this sonata’s greatest-ever recorded interpretations… a model of intelligent bravura” (Gramophone). She gained international recognition with prizes at the Kapell, Epinal, Busoni, and Viotti International Competitions and has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), Berlin Symphoniker, Rundfunkorchester Berlin, Seoul Philharmonic, and Korean Broadcast Symphony.
A highlight of her career was the complete Beethoven sonata cycle at Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, later followed by additional Beethoven cycles across Europe, the U.S., and Korea. Her discography includes the complete Beethoven sonatas (Decca Korea, 2025), Debussy Études, Liszt Paganini Études, and Chopin Études.
Alongside the canon of the classical piano literature such as Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Debussy, Music of 20th & 21st century forms another important part of HieYon’s career.
In 2023/24, she joined the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University after 24 years on the faculty of Seoul National University.

CVA Lecture Series: Susan Klein, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-09 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Susan Klein, a distinguished member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Susan Klein will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Toward a New World
2026-07-09 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Jaren Atherholt, oboe
Join the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for a celebration of musical exploration. John Corigliano’s Midsummer Fanfare opens the program with brilliance and energy. The orchestra then turns to Martinů’s Oboe Concerto, where soloist Jaren Atherholt brings wit, warmth, and virtuosity to the Amphitheater stage. The evening concludes with Dvořák’s iconic “New World” Symphony-one of the most powerful and beloved works in the orchestral repertoire.
Program:
John Corigliano: Midsummer Fanfare
Martinu Oboe Concerto
Dvorak Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”

Master Series Masterclass: Surviving AI in partnership with Arizona State University
2026-07-09 21:30 | Athenaeum Parlor, Athenaeum Parlor

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Scott Hamilton Kennedy
2026-07-10 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
World-renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy have twice joined forces to confront the twin crises of misinformation and science denial. Their documentaries — “Food Evolution,” which resets the GMO debate, and “Shot in the Arm,” begun in 2019 as measles resurged and transformed by COVID-19 — show how narrative can rescue facts from the fog of controversy and rekindle public trust in science. The pair will close the Chautauqua Lecture Series week dedicated to “Breaking the News: Charting a New Media Landscape” with a conversation on trust and media literacy, with lessons and tips on how to be a good consumer of information and news.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, where he has served since 1996. Collaborating with Scott Hamilton Kennedy of Black Valley Films, Tyson is the executive producer of “Shot in the Arm” and narrator of “Food Evolution.”
He is the author of 19 books, including the New York Times bestsellers Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization and Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. His latest work, Just Visiting This Planet, was released in October 2025.
Tyson is the two-time host of the beloved TV series “Cosmos” — rebooting the original 1980 series hosted by Carl Sagan. He is also the host and cofounder of the popular Emmy-nominated podcast “StarTalk,” which combines science, humor, and pop culture. 2026 marks the 17th anniversary of “StarTalk.”
Tyson is a recipient of 28 honorary degrees, the Public Welfare Medal from the National Academy of Sciences, and the Distinguished Public Service Medal from NASA. Asteroid 13123 Tyson is named in his honor. He lives in New York City.
Scott Hamilton Kennedy is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker, director, journalist and educator. He founded the production company, Black Valley Films. In addition to “Shot in the Arm” and “Food Evolution,” Kennedy’s other work includes the Oscar-nominated documentary “The Garden,” the Independent Spirit–nominated “OT: Our Town” and the fan-favorite “Fame High.”
With “Food Evolution” and “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy focused on the collision between scientific evidence and public perception, beginning his collaboration with Tyson. “Food Evolution” mapped the early contours of science denialism around food, while “Shot in the Arm” captured vaccine hesitancy and the social fractures revealed by COVID-19. Together, the films anticipated the rise of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. The filmmaker Kennedy’s work continues this trajectory with “Toxic,” investigating the machinery of disinformation, and “A More Perfect Union,” a civic-literacy initiative designed to help audiences navigate the information ecosystem and rebuild trust. Kennedy approaches all his work with the belief that storytelling is a public service—one of humanity’s most powerful tools for understanding and repairing the world.

Stefan Fatsis
2026-07-10 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle — Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary by Stefan Fatsis
Words are the currency of culture—and never more than today.
Journalist and bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-training at America’s most famous dictionary publisher, Merriam-Webster, to learn how words get into the dictionary, where they come from, who decides what they mean, and how we write and think about them. As he recounts in Unabridged, he discovered the history and fascinating subculture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere “one of the most basic features of our collective humanity.”
Fatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acquired Noah Webster’s original American dictionary and reshaped the business of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America’s most successful and enduring compendium of words, withstanding intense competition and cultural controversies—only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today.
Delving into Merriam’s legendary archives and parsing its arcane rules, Fatsis learns the painstaking precision required for writing good definitions. He examines how the dictionary has handled the most explosive slurs and the revolutionary change in pronouns. Fatsis demonstrates how words are weaponized in our polarized political culture—from liberal to woke to DEI—and, in a time of insurrections and pandemics, how they can be a literal matter of life and death. Along the way, he manages to write a few definitions that crack the code and are enshrined in the pixelated dictionary.
Unabridged takes readers to the heart of an industry in flux, celebrating as it does the sheer thrill and wonder of words.
Stefan Fatsis is the author of Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, published in October by Grove Atlantic, and three other books: the New York Times bestseller Word Freak, about the world of competitive Scrabble; A Few Seconds of Panic, about life in the NFL; and Wild and Outside, about minor league baseball. In four decades as a journalist, Fatsis has written and talked for Slate, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, The New York Times, The Atlantic, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and many other outlets. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Chautauqua Opera Company workshops: Anne of Green Gables and Sarah in the Theatre
2026-07-10 15:15 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
Chautauqua Opera Company will host the first workshops of a new adaptation of Anne of Green Gables by composer Danika Lorèn and librettist Royce Vavrek (Lincoln in the Bardo). In this bold new reimagining, a fictional reality competition sets out from coast to coast to find the Canadian who most embodies the spirit of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s indelible heroine, Anne Shirley. With Lorèn in residence for the full six-week season, Chautauqua Opera Company’s young artists will collaborate closely on the creation of the first 60 minutes of new music being written for their specific voices. The season will include two public presentations of new music with piano accompaniment, giving Chautauqua audiences a unique opportunity to watch the development of this inventive work.
SARAH IN THE THEATRE
Commissioned by Odyssey Opera, Mark Adamo’s Sarah in the Theatre is a fantasy on the life and work of pioneering opera conductor, stage director and impresario Sarah Caldwell. Chautauqua Opera Company’s 16 young artists will sing all principal and ensemble roles in the first piano/vocal workshop of the opera’s second act. Following a reading of the complete act, the two-week workshop will conclude with a public presentation of excerpts and conversation with the composer/librettist. The Chautauqua audience, which saw Adamo’s first opera Little Women in 2002, will have a special window into his work dramatizing the career of a true American trailblazer.

Chautauqua Theater Company Presents FutureNow New Play Lab 1: The Bone Wars
2026-07-10 18:00, 2026-07-11 18:00, 2026-07-12 14:00, 2026-07-12 18:00 | Roe Green Theater Center
Experience new plays the moment they come to life. The FutureNow new play labs showcase original work by CTC’s inaugural class of Playwriting Fellows in collaboration with our Directing Fellows—a program developed through CTC’s newly expanded partnership with The Drama League—and brought to life in public, staged, and designed workshop readings.
Performed by CTC’s Acting Conservatory and shaped by our Design Fellows, these student workshops mark CTC’s first ticketed performances in the Roe Green Theater Center. With more artists, more fellows and more new work than ever before, audiences are invited inside the creative process as the next generation of theater makers brings fresh stories to life.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue – Let’s Go Get ‘Em Tour
2026-07-10 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Few artists embody the heart and soul of their city like Trombone Shorty. Perhaps the most recognizable ambassador for New Orleans music working today, Shorty has spent his entire life not only carrying the torch for Crescent City culture, but also propelling it forward into the 21st century with his ecstatic live performances and intoxicating blend of rock, funk, soul, jazz, blues, hip-hop, and Caribbean influences.
Born Troy Andrews, Shorty made his first appearance at New Orleans’ iconic Jazz Fest at the age of four, when he took the stage for an impromptu performance with Bo Diddley. By six, he was heading up his own brass band, and by his early twenties, he’d released the first in a string of critically acclaimed, chart-topping albums that would lead to performances everywhere from the White House and the Grammy Awards to Madison Square Garden and the 2025 Super Bowl. Along the way, Shorty would tour with artists as diverse as Jeff Beck and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; play Coachella, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, the Roots Picnic, and countless other festivals; perform alongside Juvenile on his instantly legendary NPR Tiny Desk Concert; earn his first Grammy Award; appear on The Tonight Show, The Late Show, Conan, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Good Morning America, Today, CNN, HBO’s Treme, and even an episode of The Simpsons; and collaborate with an eclectic mix of stars including Pharrell, Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Jon Batiste, Lenny Kravitz, Foo Fighters, ZHU, Zac Brown, Normani and Ringo Starr.

School of Music: Piano Program Masterclass with Alexander Gavrylyuk
2026-07-11 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Troupe Vertigo
2026-07-11 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Fusing together elements of cirque acrobatics, classical dance and contemporary theater, Troupe Vertigo brings audiences on a spellbinding journey through the world of artistic movement. Consisting of world-class aerial artists, contortionists, and ballet dancers, the Los Angeles based company was founded in 2009 by Artistic Director Aloysia Gavre, formerly of the internationally renowned Cirque du Soleil, and Technical Director Rex Camphuis, whose background is with the fabled Pickle Family Circus. Troupe Vertigo, whose “dizzying acts defy gravity and leave its lucky audiences in awe” (Los Angeles Times) has performed with major orchestras across North America.
Troupe Vertigo’s 2025-2026 season includes performances at Cincinnati Pops, National Symphony Orchestra with Steve Reineke, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Des Moines Symphony, and National Arts Center Orchestra in Canada among others. Notable conductors that Troupe Vertigo has performed with include Jack Everly, Jeff Tyzik, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, Stuart Chafetz, Byron Stripling, Michelle Merrill, Sarah Hicks, Daniel Meyer, Nicholas Hersh, and Norman Huynh.
Troupe Vertigo’s recent seasons have brought them to the San Francisco Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Kansas City Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Utah Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, and Vancouver Symphony in Canada. The company is known for their collaborative custom thematic programs with symphony orchestras from Cirque Espana, Cirque Noir, Cirque Goes to Broadway, Cirque Goes to Hollywood, Cirque Dances featuring The Firebird to complete cirque- ballet presentation of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Cinderella. Their unique perspective on the circus arts have led to a variety of speaking engagements including with The Center Theater Group Los Angeles, Directors Lab West, TEDx Talk and The Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival. As well in publications for the cover story of Dance Teacher Magazine {August 2016} and in the book Ordinary Acrobat.
The ensemble premiered its first offering, Big Top for a New Generation, in 2010 at the Ford Amphitheater and has gone on to present Nighthawks: A Film Noir Circus, inspired by American jazz, Edward Hopper paintings, and crime novels. In 2016, they brought Tableaux, featuring five women grappling with the constrictions of society, to life at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Husband and wife team, Aloysia and Rex, frequently bring their gifts and knowledge to the film
and television industry, most notably with Rebel Wilson’s aerial performance in Pitch Perfect 2 and with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz in the film Water for Elephants.
Troupe Vertigo’s facility is also home to Cirque School Los Angeles, which inspires an appreciation for the circus arts for “Anybody with Any Body.” Cirque School uses training, performance, and community outreach to foster passion for the circus arts in a supportive, non-competitive environment. Encompassing over 50 weekly classes to the public, student performances, team building workshops, pre-professional intensives and television and film projects, Cirque School thrives as the premiere cirque training program in Los Angeles.

Michael Chan
2026-07-12 10:45, 2026-07-13 09:15, 2026-07-14 09:15, 2026-07-15 09:15 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Dr. Michael Chan joined the Concordia College community in June 2022 as the executive director for faith and learning. Prior to that, he was associate professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. He joined Luther Seminary after completing his Ph.D. at Emory University and a year of research and teaching at the University of Helsinki. He is a graduate of Luther Seminary (M.A. in biblical theology) and Pacific Lutheran University (B.A. in elementary education). Dr. Chan provides leadership and support for the Campus Ministry team; the Dovre Center for Faith and Learning; and the Lorentzsen Center for Faith and Work.

Troupe Vertigo
2026-07-12 15:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater

Sony Ton-Aime and Lauren Francis-Sharma
2026-07-12 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Chautauqua Writers’ Center Faculty Reading — Featuring Sony Ton-Aime (Poetry) and Lauren Francis-Sharma (Prose)
Sony Ton-Aime is a Haitian poet, essayist, translator, and Executive Director of Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures. He is the author of the poetry collection, Konbit (2026, CMU Press), the chapbook, LaWomann (2019), the Haitian Creole translation of Olympic Hero: The Lennox Kilgour’s Story, and co-founding editor of ID13. His work has appeared and is forthcoming in Artful Dodge, Cream City Review, Idaho Review, Hunger Mountain Review, and Cleveland Review of Books, Consequence Forum, among others.
A child of Trinidadian immigrants, Lauren Francis-Sharma is the author of the critically acclaimed novels ’Til the Well Runs Dry (Picador, 2014), and Book of the Little Axe (Grove Atlantic, 2020), which was the 2020 American Library Association’s “Libraries Transform Book Pick” and finalist for the Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction. Casualties of Truth (Grove Atlantic, 2025), her most recent book, is a riveting literary novel with the sharp edges of a thriller about the abuses of history and the costs of revenge, set between Washington, D.C., and Johannesburg, South Africa.
Francis-Sharma was a MacDowell fellow and is the Assistant Director of Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at Middlebury College. She holds a BA from UPENN, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and an MFA from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She resides near Washington, DC, with her family.

Hebrew Congregation, Shirley Lazarus Sunday Evening Lecture Series: Kyle Keogh
2026-07-12 19:00 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Marcela Escobari and Charles Lane
2026-07-13 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Marcela Escobari and Charles Lane are two of the nation’s leading experts in immigration, migration and asylum policy. The pair will present in tandem, building on the Chautauqua Lecture Series theme of “The 2026 Election: What’s at Stake?,” with an examination of our national dialogue on immigration as the election approaches — and, ultimately, the impact of immigration politics and policies on real people. The program opens a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each program featuring experts from both organizations.
Marcela Escobari is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings. She has been twice confirmed by the U.S. Senate under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and most recently served in the White House National Security Council as special assistant to the president and coordinator for the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection. In this role, Escobari led efforts to promote safe, orderly and humane migration and advance a collaborative, regional response to the displacement of more than 8 million people across Latin America and the Caribbean. This regional response contributed to a more-than-70% decrease in irregular migration at the U.S. border in 2024, helping stabilize and integrate over 4.5 million migrants and refugees within Latin America.
From 2021 to 2024, Escobari was assistant administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean, a position she also held from 2016 to 2017 as the first woman to serve in this role. Previously, as a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she launched the Workforce of the Future initiative focused on identifying policies to restore opportunity and enable inclusive growth in U.S. cities and states in the wake of globalization and COVID-19.
Before joining government, Escobari was the executive director of Harvard’s Center for International Development. Her honors include Freedom House’s 2024 Mark Palmer Prize for diplomats and civil servants whose work has advanced democracy and human rights.
Charles Lane is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on American politics, American culture, and asylum policy. He also serves as a columnist for The Free Press. Before joining AEI, Lane held several positions at The Washington Post, where he was a staff writer covering the United States Supreme Court, an editorial board member and columnist, and the deputy opinion editor. He was previously the editor of The New Republic and the Berlin bureau chief, the general editor, and a San Salvador-based correspondent for Newsweek.
Lane’s writing has appeared extensively in the popular press, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, City Journal, National Affairs, The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal. He is also the author of Freedom’s Detective: The Secret Service, the Ku Klux Klan and the Man Who Masterminded America’s First War on Terror; Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself; and The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction.
Lane has a master’s degree in law from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University.

Randall Balmer
2026-07-13 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest, is the John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College. A prize-winning historian and Emmy Award nominee, he has published eighteen books, including Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right, Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter and The New York Times bestseller, America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State.
His second book, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, now in its fifth edition, was made into a three-part documentary for PBS. His commentaries on religion in America appear in newspapers across the country, including The Los Angeles Times, The Santa Fe New Mexican, The Concord Monitor, and The Des Moines Register.

Chautauqua Chamber Music: WindSync
2026-07-13 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Dynamic wind quintet WindSync returns to Chautauqua for an unforgettable afternoon of energetic and engaging chamber music. Celebrated for their virtuosity, warmth, and creative programming, WindSync performs everything from classical masterpieces to newly commissioned works. Their interactive style and seamless ensemble playing create a vibrant connection with audiences of all ages. Experience why WindSync is hailed as one of the most exciting and original wind ensembles performing today.

JD Stillwater: One Song: The Science of Oneness
2026-07-14 09:15 | Hurlbut Church sanctuary, Hurlbut Church sanctuary

James C. Capretta and Matthew Fiedler
2026-07-14 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Chautauqua Lecture Series continues its theme dedicated to “The 2026 Election: What’s at Stake?” with scholars James Capretta and Matthew Fiedler in conversation, sharing their expertise on the state of health care and health policy in the United States. The program is the second in a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each featuring experts from both organizations.
James C. Capretta is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he studies and comments on U.S. health care, entitlement, and fiscal policy. He also serves as a senior adviser to the Bipartisan Policy Center. He previously held senior staff positions at the Office of Management and Budget and in Congress, primarily at the Senate Budget Committee. He is the author of US Health Policy and Market Reforms: An Introduction, published by AEI Press in 2022, along with numerous other book chapters, papers, and articles.
Matthew Fiedler is the Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies and a senior fellow with the Center on Health Policy at Brookings. His research examines a range of topics in health care economics and health care policy. Prior to joining the Brookings Institution in January 2017, Fiedler served as Chief Economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, where he oversaw the Council’s work on health care policy, including implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance and health care payment reforms. Fiedler holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Swarthmore College.

Bob Jeffrey: Architecture of the 2026 House and Garden Tour
2026-07-14 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall

Najeeba Syeed
2026-07-14 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
El-Hibri Endowed Chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute, Augsburg University
2:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, 2026 · Hall of Philosophy
Najeeba Syeed is the Inaugural El-Bibri endowed chair and executive director of the Interfaith Institute and is a tenured and full professor of religion at Augsburg University. She is also a senior fellow at the Oxford Interfaith Forum.
Syeed has served as a visiting professor at Yale and Mercer University. She is an expert on Muslim-Jewish relations and has worked extensively on Evangelical Christian and Muslim relations throughout the country. She served as associate professor of interreligious education and director of the Center for Global Peacebuilding at Claremont School of Theology from 2010-2020.
Syeed also brings significant executive experience with organizations as an executive director focused on conflict resolution in community, higher education and government settings, including the Western Justice Center Foundation and the Asian Pacific American Dispute Resolution Center. In 2021, she served as chief of staff to an elected member of the Los Angeles City Council. She holds a law degree from Indiana University.

School of Music Piano Faculty Recital: Ilya Itin
2026-07-14 16:00 | Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Audiences throughout the world revere Ilya Itin’s unique artistry. Playing to sold out houses in Japan and in the US, he is known for his extraordinary range, power, quality of sound, and command of the piano. His Princeton recital was singled out by the Philadelphia Inquirer as a “top ten musical moment of the year” and The New York Times critic described him as “…a brilliantly insightful pianist who offered a superb recital.” Since capturing the gold medal, BBC Audience Award, and Contemporary Music Prize at the 1996 Leeds International Piano Competition, Itin has performed throughout the world bringing his powerful musical imagination and mastery to wide ranging repertoire.

Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: An Evening of Brahms
2026-07-14 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
Rossen Milanov, conductor
Sharon Roffman, violin
Jolyon Pegis, cello
An Evening of Brahms brings together two of the composer’s most expressive works, pairing the lyrical intimacy of the Double Concerto with the concentrated power of Symphony No. 3. Written late in Brahms’s career, the Double Concerto unfolds as a rich conversation between violin and cello, as CSO concertmaster Sharon Roffman and principal cellist Jolyon Pegis share the spotlight. The program concludes with Brahms’s Third Symphony, a work of striking emotional depth. Together, these works reveal Brahms at his most personal and compelling.
Program:
Brahms Concerto for Violin and Cello
Brahms Symphony No. 3

Ben Harris and James Pethokoukis
2026-07-15 10:45 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
The Chautauqua Lecture Series continues a weeklong exploration of “The 2026 Election: What’s at Stake?” with scholars Ben Harris and James Pethokoukis, sharing their expertise on the state of the economy and economic policy in the United States. The program is the third in a five-part weeklong series presented at Chautauqua in partnership with the American Enterprise Institute and Brookings Institution, each featuring experts from both organizations.
Ben Harris is the vice president and director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he also holds the Bruce and Virginia MacLaury Chair. As a scholar, Harris focuses on public finance and macroeconomics, and is widely published in academic journals, policy outlets and the popular press — including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post — and is a regular guest on cable television. With Martin Baily, he is the author of the book The Retirement Challenge: What’s Wrong with America’s System and a Sensible Way to Fix It.
Harris has extensive experience in senior public sector roles. Most recently, he was assistant secretary for economic policy and chief economist at the Treasury Department, chief economist and economic adviser to the Vice President of the United States, and a senior economist with the Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration. Harris was also the senior economist with the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee.
In addition to his public service, Harris has worked extensively in think tanks, academia and the private sector. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from George Washington University, a Master’s degree in economics from Cornell University, a master’s degree in quantitative methods from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University. He was also a Fulbright Scholar to Namibia in 2000. For his Treasury Department service, Harris was awarded the prestigious Alexander Hamilton Award by Secretary Janet Yellen.
James Pethokoukis is a senior fellow and the DeWitt Wallace Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, where he analyzes U.S. economic policy, writes and edits the “AEIdeas” blog, and hosts AEI’s “Political Economy” podcast. He is also a contributor to CNBC and writes the “Faster, Please!” newsletter on Substack. Before joining AEI, Pethokoukis was the Washington columnist for “Breakingviews,” the opinion and commentary wing of Thomson Reuters. Earlier, he was the business editor and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report.
Pethokoukis is the author of The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised. He has also written for many publications, including The Atlantic, Commentary, Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, National Review, the New York Post, The New York Times, USA Today and The Week. His numerous broadcast appearances include CNBC, CNN, Fox Business, Fox News, MSNBC, and PBS.
A graduate of Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion.

Imagining a Future Beyond Climate Change: Lessons from the Haitian Revolution, with Sony Ton-Aime
2026-07-15 12:30 | Smith Wilkes Hall, Smith Wilkes Hall
Sony Ton-Aime

Terrence Johnson
2026-07-15 14:00 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
Terrence L. Johnson is Charles G. Adams Professor of African American Religious Studies, professor of African and African American studies, and director of religion and public life at Harvard Divinity School. He is also a faculty associate of the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard and a member of the Corporation at Haverford College. His research interests include African American political thought, ethics, American religions and the role of religion in public life. Johnson’s interdisciplinary research agenda is historical, critical and constructive. He weaves together African American religions, political theory and American history to paint broad conceptual schemes for imagining religion, democracy, ethics, liberalism, justice and freedom.
In 2024-25, he was an inaugural Steven M. Polan Fellow in constitutional law and history at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute. The Polan Fellows program provides a platform for debates on the meaning and promise of the U.S. constitution.
He is the co-author of Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue, winner of the 2023 Outstanding Book award by the Association for Ethnic Studies; We Testify with Our Lives: How Religion Transformed Radical Thought from Black Power to Black Lives Matter; and Tragic Soul-Life: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Moral Crisis Facing American Democracy. He also serves as co-editor of the Duke University Press Series “Religious Cultures of African and African Diaspora People.” He is currently completing a manuscript entitled Torn Asunder: Race and Religion in the Shadow of Law and Justice, which is under contract with Columbia University Press. He is also co-writing a book on ethics and law with M. Cathleen Kaveny tentatively entitled Christian Ethics and the Trump Court.
A graduate of Morehouse College, Johnson received his M.Div. from Harvard Divinity School and Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University.

UU Cultural Ethics Series: Dr. Elías Ortega, President and Professor of Religion, Ethics, and Leadership, Meadville Lombard Theological School
2026-07-15 15:30 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy

CVA Lecture Series: Stephanie Pierce, School of Art Faculty
2026-07-15 18:30 | Hultquist 101, Hultquist 101
The Chautauqua School of Art proudly welcomes Stephanie Pierce as a member of our 2026 visiting faculty. Stephanie Pierce will participate in the School’s Summer Lecture Series, sharing insights and practices with our artistic community.
Stephanie Pierce’s paintings explore relationships between light, time, and perception as it is reconsidered over time. Her work has been exhibited at The Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; The Staten Island Museum, NY; and Asheville Art Museum, NC. Her work is represented by Jupiter Contemporary in New York City and Miami, Alpha Gallery in Boston, and Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in NYC. Stephanie received a Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant in 2018 and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant in 2014. Her work has been published in the New Yorker Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, and is included in the collections of William Dreyfus, The Boston Public Library, and The Museum of Fine Arts Boston among others. Stephanie is an Associate Professor of Painting at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
2026-07-15 20:00 | Amphitheater, Amphitheater
A stunningly virtuosic pianist, Alexander is internationally recognised for his electrifying and poetic performances. His performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.3 at the BBC Proms was described as “revelatory” by The Times and “electrifying” by Limelight. Alexander was Artist-in-Residence at Wigmore Hall for the 23/24 season.
Highlights of the 2025-26 season include debuts with Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Tonkünstler Orchestra, Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Opera North orchestra and i Solisti di Pavia. Alexander will also return to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia. Recent highlights also include Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liege, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony, Phil Zuid, Enescu Philharmonic and Taiwan National Symphony. This season also sees returns to Baerum Kulturhaus and the Piano Masters Series in Stoke-on-Trent as a recital artist along with his recital debut at Theater Heerlen.
Alexander collaborates regularly with conductors including Rafael Payer, Thomas Sondergard, Kirill Karabit, Edward Gardner, Sir Donald Runnicles, Juraj Valcuha and Gustavo Gimeno.
Born in Ukraine in 1984 and holding Australian citizenship, Alexander began his piano studies at the age of seven and gave his first concerto performance when he was nine years old. At the age of 13, Alexander moved to Sydney where he lived until 2006. He won First Prize and Gold Medal at the Horowitz International Piano Competition (1999), First Prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (2000), and Gold Medal at the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Masters Competition (2005).
As a recitalist Alexander has performed at the Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle Zurich, Victoria Hall Geneva, Southbank Centre’s International Piano Series, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Master Pianists Series, Suntory Hall, Tokyo Opera City Hall, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Cologne Philharmonie, Tokyo City Concert Hall, San Francisco, City Recital Hall in Sydney and Melbourne Recital Centre. Gavrylyuk has appeared at many of the world’s foremost festivals, including the Hollywood Bowl, Bravo! Vail Colorado, Mostly Mozart, the Ruhr Festival and the Kissinger Sommer International Music Festival. Alexander is currently Artist in Residence at Chautauqua Institution.

Michael Chan
2026-07-16 09:15 | Hall of Philosophy, Hall of Philosophy
