Experience Planner
Plan your perfect Chautauqua visit.
To plan your day, week or season at Chautauqua, select the dates of your visit below and choose your interests. Our experience planner will then provide personalized recommendations to make your time with us as rewarding as possible. We hope to see you soon!
Explore the events and destinations listed on our website and click the "star image" to save your favorites and create your Chautauqua itinerary.
Explore events and destinations here. Use the "star" to save your favorites to create your itinerary.
CHQ Travels: Winter in Yellowstone
Journey deep into Yellowstone over snow-packed roads, stopping often to explore the wilderness. See the icedover Upper Falls and watch Old Faithful’s dramatic eruptions without the crowds. Hike the boardwalks and trails around the Upper Geyser Basin to see colorful thermal pools and steaming fumaroles. Drive through Grand Teton National Park and take a horse-drawn sleigh through the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, where over 7,500 elk spend each winter. Feel at one with nature.
How to Write the Best Picture Book: A Virtual Bootcamp
Join children’s book author, Ann Marie Stephens, for a one-day boot camp to boost your picture book writing! Whether you’re beginning a new story, finishing a current work-in-progress, or looking ahead to future stories, Ann Marie is ready to support and inspire! From the first line to the last word, explore techniques for out-of-the-box plotting and for creating unique characters. Learn how to leave room for an illustrator and find ways to choose the most irresistible words to bring your manuscript to the next level. You’ll discover quick and painless methods to edit without ruining your masterpiece. You’ll combat mundane middles and everyday endings to equip you with what you need to polish off your picture book. During this exciting bootcamp, Ann Marie will share mentor texts, brainstorming tips, and other valuable advice. Participants will have opportunities to interact and give input on the struggles and successes of everyday literary life, while also gaining golden nuggets of wisdom and new connections. | Flexible.
This is a two session symposium.
Session One: 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Session Two: 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. ET
Ann Marie Stephens is the author of numerous picture books including the Arithmechicks series, the CATastrophe! series, and more. Her books have been translated into several languages and have been featured on lists such as Fuse #8, Children’s Book Council, and Hot Off the Press. She is a retired, award-winning elementary teacher with over 30 years in the classroom. Ann Marie’s poetry and literacy work has been featured in Bon Appetit
Magazine and on NPR. She is represented by Emily Mitchell at Wernick & Pratt Agency. Ann Marie lives in Virginia and can be found at https://www.annmariestephensbooks.com/
Writing Your Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel
This workshop highlights elements of WHERE THE LOCKWOOD GROWS and THE EMPTY PLACE while students dig into fundamentals of worldbuilding, using considerations of their own worlds and societies. With a blend of discussion, collaboration, and hands-on writing, students will come away with a grasp on speculative fiction, as well as a better understanding of their worlds. | Flexible.
Olivia A. Cole is a writer from Louisville, KY. She is the author of many novels, which include National Book Award longlist title Ariel Crashes a Train, as well as Dear Medusa, Where the Lockwood Grows, and others. Olivia’s essays have been published at Bitch Media, Real Simple, the LA Times, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Gay Mag, and others. Olivia is represented by Patrice Caldwell of New Leaf Literary.
@ 12:00 am
CHQ Travels: Cannes Film Festival
Through special accreditation granted to the Chautauqua Institution by the Cannes Film Festival, enjoy access to dozens of screenings of some of the most daring, promising, and topical films of the year. Stay at a hotel just a short walk from the Palais des Festivals and enjoy seven days to attend as many screenings as you wish. With your Festival badge, you’ll have access to restricted areas and hear from film professionals about their craft.
June 22, 2025 @ 3:00 pm Week One (June 21–28)
Sunday Afternoon Entertainment: Jazz Ambassadors of The United States Army Field Band
Amphitheater
Sunday Afternoon Entertainment: Jazz Ambassadors of The United States Army Field Band
The Jazz Ambassadors is the official touring big band of the United States Army. Formed in 1969, this 19-member ensemble has received great acclaim at home and abroad performing America’s greatest original art form, jazz. The band’s diverse repertoire includes big band swing, bebop, Latin, contemporary jazz, standards, popular tunes, Dixieland, vocals, and patriotic selections, many of which are written or arranged by members of the band. The Jazz Ambassadors’ rigorous touring schedule and reputation for excellence has earned it the title “America’s Big Band.”
June 23, 2025 @ 4:00 pm Week One (June 21–28)
Chautauqua Chamber Music: Sharon Isbin and Pacifica Quartet
Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall
Chautauqua Chamber Music: Sharon Isbin and Pacifica Quartet
Grammy-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin joins forces with the renowned Pacifica Quartet for a spellbinding collaboration. Known for her virtuosic technique and expressive artistry, Isbin brings a fresh perspective to classical guitar repertoire. The Pacifica Quartet, celebrated for their precision and passion, complements her brilliance with seamless ensemble work. Together, they present a program that blends timeless classics with innovative arrangements, showcasing the unique interplay of strings and guitar.
Program to be announced.
June 24, 2025 @ 2:00 pm Week One (June 21–28)
Jenan Mohajir with Rebecca Russo
Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly
Jenan Mohajir with Rebecca Russo
Jenan Mohajir is an educator, a storyteller, a mother, and a believer in building relationships across the lines that separate us. Jenan currently serves as Vice President of External Affairs at Interfaith America, where she has developed & implemented long term strategic plans, created innovative programs, and forged collaborative partnerships with philanthropic leaders and foundations. In her 18 years of leadership at IA, Jenan has trained hundreds of young leaders from diverse backgrounds to foster a vision and practice of civically engaged leadership. Jenan is deeply inspired by the stories from her family and her faith to create change at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and religion. As a natural storyteller, she performs with 2nd Story, Chicago’s premier storytelling company. Jenan proudly lives on the south side of Chicago with her children and loves to collect vintage children’s books.
Rebecca Russo, Vice President of Higher Education Strategy at Interfaith America, oversees IA’s work in higher education, partnering with colleges and universities to become laboratories where students can deepen and challenge their own worldviews and learn to build relationships across divides. She has worked at Interfaith America for nearly a decade and held previous roles as the Director of Engagement at Northwestern University’s Fiedler Hillel and Executive Director of the Campus Climate Initiative at Hillel International. Rebecca has written on the importance of bridge-building in higher education in the Journal of College and Character, Religion News Service, and Times Higher Education. Rebecca holds a B.A. in Middle East Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. Rebecca is inspired by her interfaith experiences living in Morocco and Jerusalem, and by the Talmudic concept of “these and those are words of the living God,” to work toward a society where religious diversity is engaged actively and positively. Rebecca lives in Chicago with her family and enjoys singing, hiking, and chasing around her three children.
Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
The extraordinary Alexander Gavrylyuk serves as Artist in Residence for Chautauqua Institution. His international career has included appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Scottish Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl. Following what was hailed as an “electrifying performance” broadcast at the 2017 Proms in Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Limelight magazine said “It is refreshing to experience completely new interpretations of traditional masterpieces by a monumental master of the piano who is, also, modest (and not falsely so), who is unassuming and completely dedicated to his art.”
Sian Leah Beilock
Sian Leah Beilock is the 19th president of Dartmouth College, and the first woman in the role in Dartmouth’s 255-year history. In her first year, she has positioned Dartmouth as a global leader on critical issues in higher education and beyond, including climate change and sustainability, affordability for middle-income families and championing the importance of dialogue across differences. It is this vision of creating educational environments where different ideas flourish that Beilock brings to the Chautauqua Lecture Series in a week dedicated to “Themes of Transformation: Forces Shaping Our Tomorrow.”
Under Beilock’s leadership, Dartmouth has launched the first-of-its-kind “Dartmouth Dialogues” initiative, which facilitates conversations and skills that bridge political and personal divides; creates a culture where all students are able to engage with viewpoints and perspectives different than their own; and in turn, advances meaningful debate and conversations on the most pressing issues of our time.
A distinguished cognitive scientist, Beilock is also one of the world’s foremost experts on performance under pressure. Among her honors for that work are a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as well as the author of 120 peer-reviewed papers and two critically-acclaimed books — Choke and How The Body Knows Its Mind — published in more than a dozen languages. Her 2017 TED Talk on performing under pressure has been viewed more than 2.7 million times.
Beilock earned her bachelor of science in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego, and doctorate degrees in psychology and kinesiology from Michigan State University.
Play CHQ: Tie Dye Thursdays
Play CHQ invites families Tie Dye apparel and wearables throughout the 2025 season. Apparel and wearables very in price.
Jonathan Eig
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle Presentation — King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig’s King: A Life is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.—and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family’s origins as well as MLK’s complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. King reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father—as well as the nation’s most mourned martyr.
In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history’s greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime.
Jonathan Eig is the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of King: A Life. He’s the author of six books, four of them New York Times bestsellers. The New York Times hailed King as the “definitive” biography of Martin Luther King Jr. The book was awarded the New-York Historical Society’s 2024 Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize, which is presented annually to the nation’s best work of history or biography. King was also nominated for the National Book Award.
Jonathan began his writing career at age 16, working for his hometown newspaper, The Rockland County (N.Y.) Journal News, studied journalism at Northwestern University, and went on to work as a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune, The Dallas Morning News, Chicago Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. He’s appeared on the Today Show, NPR’s Fresh Air, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. But his greatest claim to fame, according to his parents, is that his name once appeared in a Jeopardy question (which was solved correctly for $200). He lives in Chicago with his wife and children and shares office space with the laundry machines.
Diana Krall
Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered two GRAMMY® Awards, ten Juno® Awards and have earned nine Gold, three Platinum, and seven multi-Platinum albums. Her 1999 release of When I Look in Your Eyes spent an unprecedented 52 weeks in the #1 position on Billboard’s Jazz chart, won two GRAMMY® Awards, and went Platinum in the U.S. and Canada. Her most recent release, This Dream Of You, has garnered critical acclaim from fans and press alike. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time. As The New York Times recently noted, she possesses “a voice at once cool and sultry, wielded with a rhythmic sophistication.”
June 30, 2025 @ 10:45 am Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Pete Docter, Kelsey Mann & Lewis Black
Amphitheater | CHQ Assembly
Pete Docter, Kelsey Mann & Lewis Black
Early film pitches for Pixar’s Academy Award-winning “Inside Out” named comedian Lewis Black to illustrate how an iconic voice like that belonging to the “King of the Rant” could bring an emotion like “Anger” to life. Black went on to voice the character in both the 2015 film and its 2024 sequel — now the highest grossing animated film of all time; a fan of all things Pixar, Black has called the opportunity a career-defining role. Now, the Chautauqua favorite returns to the Amphitheater stage with his “Inside Out” and “Inside Out 2” directors Pete Docter and Kelsey Mann, respectively, to discuss the intersection of humor and the heartfelt. Their conversation opens a Chautauqua Lecture Series week co-curated with Black himself, and in partnership with the National Comedy Center.
Pete Docter is the Oscar-winning director of “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up,” “Inside Out” and “Soul,” and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He has served as a member of the National Comedy Center Advisory Board since 2019.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio’s third animator, Docter collaborated and helped develop the story and characters for “Toy Story,” Pixar’s first full-length animated feature film, for which he also was supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on “A Bug’s Life,” and wrote initial story treatments for both “Toy Story 2” and “WALL-E.” Docter also executive produced “Monsters University” and the Academy Award-winning “Brave.” Docter has won three Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature for “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Soul,” and has received nine Academy Award nominations, including Best Animated Feature for “Monsters, Inc.,” and Best Original Screenplay for “Up,” “Inside Out” and “WALL-E.” In 2010, “Up” also was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Kelsey Mann first came to Pixar Animation Studios in 2009 and was the story supervisor on the 2013 feature film “Monsters University.” In this capacity, he oversaw a team of story artists through the process of storyboarding the film. He also contributed ancillary material during the production of the Academy Award-winning feature “Toy Story 3.” Mann was soon tapped to direct the “Monsters University” short film “Party Central,” and he also worked as the story supervisor on “The Good Dinosaur” and “Onward.” Most recently, Mann directed Pixar’s feature film “Inside Out 2.”
Mann launched his animation career as an intern at Reelworks, a small Minneapolis-based commercial studio. From there, he moved to Los Angeles in 2000 and went on to hold a variety of positions including animation, storyboarding and directing for companies such as Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. and Lucasfilm Animation.
Known as the “King of the Rant,” Lewis Black uses his trademark style of comedic yelling and animated finger-pointing to skewer anything and anyone that gets under his skin. He’s made audiences across the world laugh at the absurdities of life, with topics that include current events, social media, politics and anything else that exposes the hypocrisy and madness he sees in the world.
In 1996, Black was tapped to create a weekly segment for Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.” The segment, a three-minute rant about whatever was bothering him at the moment, evolved into “Back in Black,” becoming one of the most popular and longest-running segments on the show.
In his comedic career, Black has released more than a dozen albums — receiving six Grammy nominations and two wins for his work — and has filmed two specials for HBO, including “Black On Broadway” and “Red, White and Screwed.” The latter was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. His most recent stand-up specials are 2020’s “Thanks for Risking Your Life” and 2023’s “Tragically, I Need You” — his 15th stand-up special.
June 30, 2025 @ 2:00 pm Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Emilie M. Townes
Hall of Philosophy | CHQ Assembly
Emilie M. Townes
Emilie M. Townes, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Religion and Black Studies at Boston University School of Theology, is an American Baptist clergywoman, and a native of Durham, North Carolina. Townes is the Dean Emerita and the former University Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School and the College of Arts and Science, becoming the first African American to serve as Dean of the Divinity School in 2013. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School and a PhD in Religion in Society and Personality from Northwestern University.
She is the former Andrew W. Mellon Professor of African American Religion and Theology at Yale University Divinity School and in the fall of 2005, she was the first African American woman elected to the presidential line of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and served as president in 2008.
She was the first African American and first woman to serve as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the Yale Divinity School. She is the former Carolyn Williams Beaird Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Social Ethics at Saint Paul School of Theology.
Editor of two collection of essays, A Troubling in My Soul: Womanist Perspectives on Evil and Suffering and Embracing the Spirit: Womanist Perspectives on Hope, Salvation, and Transformation; she has also authored Womanist Ethics, Womanist Hope, In a Blaze of Glory: Womanist Spirituality as Social Witness, Breaking the Fine Rain of Death: African American Health Issues and a Womanist Ethic of Care, and her groundbreaking book, Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil. She is co-editor with Stephanie Y. Mitchem of the Faith, Health, and Healing in African American Life and co-editor with the late Katie Geneva Cannon and Angela Sims for the Womanist Theological Ethics: A Reader done with was published in November 2011. Her most recent co-editorship is with Stacey Floyd-Thomas, Alison Gise Johnson, and Angela Sims for Walking Through the Valley: Essays: Womanist Explorations in the Spirit of Katie Geneva Cannon (2022).
Townes was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009. She was the first Black woman to serve as president of the American Academy of Religion in 2008 and served a four-year term as president of the Society for the Study of Black Religion from 2012 to 2016.
In 2022, Townes was elected to the presidential line of the Society of Christian Ethics. Her presidential year will be 2025. At that time, she will be the first Black woman to hold this office.
June 30, 2025 @ 8:15 pm Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Music School Festival Orchestra: Opening Night
Amphitheater
Music School Festival Orchestra: Opening Night
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.
July 1, 2025 @ 8:15 pm Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
Amphitheater
Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra with Alexander Gavrylyuk, piano
Stunningly virtuosic and internationally recognized pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk joins the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in this beloved annual event. Currently serving as Artist-in-Residence for Chautauqua Institution, Mr. Gavrylyuk is a First Prize and Gold Medal winner of the Horowitz, Hamamatsu and Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competitions.
July 2, 2025 @ 8:15 pm Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Lewis Black’s The Rant Is Due: Chautauqua
Amphitheater
Lewis Black’s The Rant Is Due: Chautauqua
Lewis Black brings his trademark blend of blistering humor and sharp commentary to Chautauqua with his one-of-a-kind show The Rant Is Due. The show where you, the audience, get to rant about all the things that make you go crazy, scratch your head, or explode like Lewis does! Whether it is the bizarre tendencies of your co -worker, the frustrating inadequacy of local government or your undying love of pickles, no subject is off the table. Lewis will be looking for well written, and not necessarily profanity free rants, that he (or perhaps some of our special guests that night!) can voice to the universe for you. Let Lewis be your megaphone! By using our online submission portal, you will be able to send in the final draft of your rant in the weeks and days leading up to the performance. So, join us for a unique amazing show where you can be both in the writer’s room AND the audience all at once.
Remember Chautauqua, this show is yours!
July 4, 2025 @ 8:00 pm Week Two (June 28–July 5)
Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Independence Day Celebration
Amphitheater
Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra: Independence Day Celebration
Stuart Chafetz, conductor
Capathia Jenkins, vocalist
Celebrate Independence Day in style with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra’s July 4th concert, featuring the dynamic leadership of Principal Pops Conductor Stuart Chafetz and the sensational vocals of Capathia Jenkins, a frequent guest with orchestras around the U.S. and who starred as ‘Medda’ in Newsies on Broadway. Join us for a patriotic evening of musical brilliance as we pay tribute to the spirit of America. From stirring marches to beloved Broadway hits, this concert promises a dazzling display of talent and passion that will leave audiences uplifted and inspired. Bring your family and friends and join us for a night of unforgettable music and festive fun with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra.