Tickets available at the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting September 1st. Adults $11 and students & seniors $8. Tickets may be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office or online at lied.ku.edu or over the phone at 785-864-2787. *Tickets purchased online or over the phone add a $5 order fee.

Susan Werner composes skillful songs that effortlessly slide between folk, jazz and pop, all delivered with sassy wit and classic Midwestern charm. Throughout her expansive career, boundless versatility has emerged as a hallmark of Werner’s talent and has proven to be a quintessential ingredient of her engrossing musical personae. Known for her engaging and energetic live show, she continues her reign as one of the most bold and creative forces on the acoustic music scene today. Dubbed by NPR as the “Empress of the Unexpected,” Werner’s album projects cover the genres of folk, rock, pop, gospel, blues and Americana. She is the composer and lyricist of Broadway’s Bull Durham, The Musical.

A singer, composer and actor, Lyle Lovett has broadened the definition of American music in a career that spans 14 albums. Coupled with his gift for storytelling, the Texas-based musician fuses elements of country, swing, jazz, folk, gospel and blues in a convention-defying manner that breaks down barriers. Lovett’s live performances show not only the breadth of this Texas legend’s deep talents, but also the diversity of his influences, making him one of the most compelling and captivating musicians in popular music. Since his self-titled debut in 1986, Lyle Lovett has evolved into one of music’s most vibrant and iconic performers. Among his many accolades, besides the four Grammy Awards, he was given the Americana Music Association’s inaugural Trailblazer Award and was named Texas State Musician. His works, rich and eclectic, are some of the most beloved of any artist working today.

Tickets available at the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting September 1st. Adults $11 and students & seniors $8. Tickets may be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office or online at lied.ku.edu or over the phone at 785-864-2787. *Tickets purchased online or over the phone add a $5 order fee.

Tickets available at the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting September 1st. Adults $11 and students & seniors $8. Tickets may be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office or online at lied.ku.edu or over the phone at 785-864-2787. *Tickets purchased online or over the phone add a $5 order fee.

Tickets available at the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting September 1st. Adults $11 and students & seniors $8. Tickets may be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office or online at lied.ku.edu or over the phone at 785-864-2787. *Tickets purchased online or over the phone add a $5 order fee.

Since 1986, Boston Brass has set out to establish a one-of-a-kind musical experience featuring colorful classical arrangements, burning jazz standards and the best of original brass repertoire. Boston Brass treats audiences to a unique brand of musical entertainment that bridges the ocean of classical formality, delighting regular concertgoers and newcomers alike with great music and boisterous fun in performances across all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries to date. As part of the KU School of Music’s Prairie Winds Festival, Boston Brass will perform with multiple ensembles including the KU Wind Ensemble (KUWE). Described by The New York Times as “one of America’s most esteemed concert bands,” the KUWE is the premier wind band at the University of Kansas. The group has several highly acclaimed performance credits for commercial CDs on the Klavier, Naxos, Ecstatic, Summit, Cantaloupe and Mark Custom labels. Their Carnegie Hall debut in 2013 was pronounced by Feast of Music as “showing amazing chops in their transitions and an impressive range of dynamics.” Besides Carnegie Hall, KUWE has performed for President Obama in 2015; the national convention of the College Band Directors National Association in 2017; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2018; the Milan, Italy Festival of Bands in 2022; the American Bandmasters Association National Convention in 2023 and was recognized as the 2023 college/university recipient of The American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance.

Chicago Tap Theatre is a vibrant dance company with a unique mission to preserve the quintessentially American dance form of tap and to take it to the next level of creativity and innovation. The company stands apart from other dance companies by bridging the gap between tap and other forms of concert dance (such as jazz, ballet and modern) by adopting a conceptual, narrative (i.e., story based) and more emotional approach to its work. Chicago Tap Theatre performs exclusively with live music provided by some of Chicago’s finest musicians, playing everything from Duke Ellington to David Bowie and many artists in between. The company has performed the works of Buster Brown, Eddie Brown and Bill Evans, and regularly performs classic, universal tap pieces, such as the BS Chorus and the Shim Sham. Chicago Tap Theatre has performed in traditional and non-traditional settings, including the historic Green Mill, Jazz Dance World Festival, the New York Musical Theatre Festival and Lollapalooza. Additionally, the company offers master classes and workshops. Artistic Director Mark Yonally is a sought-after master teacher in tap dance, improvisation, tap and jazz music history, and music theory for dancers.

Emmet Cohen is widely regarded as a leading jazz pianist of his generation and a defining force in the evolution of the art form. A virtuoso musician, producer and bandleader, he combines deep respect for jazz tradition with a singular ability to create connection, community and momentum in the modem era. Cohen has released 12 albums as a leader and is the producer and creative force behind Live From Emmet’s Place, a landmark series comprising over 140 two-hour livestream performances, featuring hundreds of musicians spanning generations and reaching more than 100 million views worldwide. The series continues from Power Station NYC, having grown from an intimate broadcast into a global cultural platform. A Mack Avenue recording artist, Cohen has performed in over 40 countries, serves as host of The Jazz Cruise and a member of its programming team, and he has been chosen as artistic partner of the 2027 American Piano Awards. He was named DownBeat Readers Poll Pianist of the Year (2025) and, in 2023, received both Pianist of the Year and Livestream Producer of the Year honors from the Jazz Journalists Association.

A Jayhawks Live! event, tickets are available through the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office (785-864-2787 or $25 adults/$14 students

Willie Jones III is one of the world’s most celebrated drummers in modern jazz. As a band leader, the “astute hard-bop drummer” (The New York Times), has sold-out series of sets at Dizzy’s Club in New York City, Club 1905 in Portland, the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles, Club Bebop in Buenos Aires and Bimhuis in Amsterdam. His band has performed for crowds at full capacity at Central Park SummerStage and the New York City Winter Jazz Festival. The Los Angeles-born musician performed in the Roy Hargrove Quintet from 1998 to 2006. He was also one of two drummers in Hargrove’s powerhouse group RH Factor. Jones has been featured on performances and tours with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and as a drummer of choice for legendary artists, including Sonny Rollins, Ernestine Anderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Frank Wess, Bill Charlap, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock and Hank Jones. Jones will perform with KU Jazz Ensemble I, led by Dan Gailey, director of Jazz Studies. Jazz Ensemble I is the flagship ensemble within the Jazz Studies program at the University of Kansas. The program has received 37 DownBeat Student Music Awards, including Jazz Ensemble I’s 2023, 2021, 2019 and 2015 awards in the Graduate Division for Best College Big Band in the United States or Canada, and their Outstanding Performance Awards in the same division in 2024, 2022 and 2017. Jazz Ensemble I has had the distinction of performing with such noted guest artists as Toshiko Akiyoshi, Clark Terry, Camila Meza, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Anat Cohen, Sean Jones, Camille Thurman, Kneebody, Renee Rosnes, Michael Dease, Steve Wilson, Tia Fuller, Dave Douglas, Louie Bellson, Jeff Coffin, Tim Ries, Peter Erskine, Vince Mendoza, Conrad Herwig, Bob Sheppard, Gary Foster, Steve Houghton, Bob Mintzer, Bobby Shew, Carl Fontana, Dick Oatts, Frank Mantooth, Ingrid Jensen, Jon Hendricks, Pete Christlieb and many others.

Known around the world for its eclectic repertoire and dazzling virtuosity, the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler, has been hailed by The Boston Globe as “breathtaking in its accuracy of intonation, purity of blend, of color and swagger of style.” Founded in San Francisco in 1978 by singer and musicologist Louis Botto, Chanticleer quickly took its place as one of the most prolific recording and touring ensembles in the world—an “orchestra of voices” performing thousands of live concerts and selling more than one million recordings. Rooted in the Renaissance, Chanticleer’s repertoire has expanded to include a wide range of classical, gospel, jazz and popular music, and the group performs its beloved A Chanticleer Christmas program on tour every December. A new Christmas album, Joy to the World, was released in fall 2025. With a deep commitment to the commissioning of new compositions and arrangements, Chanticleer foregrounds American repertoire and a distinctively American sound, complementing the group’s signature diversity in terms of membership and genre. The ensemble has dedicated much of its vast recording catalog to these commissions, garnering Grammy Awards for its recordings of Sir John Tavener’s Lamentations & Praises and the ambitious collection of commissioned works entitled Colors of Love. Chanticleer’s 2002 album, Our American Journey, was inducted into the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2025.

Tickets available at the Lied Center of Kansas Box Office starting September 1st. Adults $11 and students & seniors $8. Tickets may be purchased at the Lied Center Box Office or online at lied.ku.edu or over the phone at 785-864-2787. *Tickets purchased online or over the phone add a $5 order fee.