Arts & Culture

As founder and producing director of The Black Rep, Ron Himes has worked with scores of playwrights to stage hundreds of shows, including dozens of world premieres. This spring, The Black Rep will present new plays by two celebrated young dramatists: Melda Beaty’s Coconut Cake and Kelundra Smith’s The Wash.

Violinist Karen Gomyo, “a first-rate artist of real musical command,” (Chicago Tribune) and Orion Weiss, a “brilliant pianist” (The New York Times) with “powerful technique and exceptional insight” (The Washington Post), will perform music of Mozart, Bach, Adams, Dvořák and Brahms Feb. 16 for WashU’s Great Artists Series.

Sir Stephen Hough, a “keyboard colossus” (The Guardian) and “a pianist of great subtlety” (New York Times), will perform music of Cécile Chaminade, Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin for WashU’s Great Artists Series Feb. 2.

Emmanuel Pahud, “one of today’s most dazzling interpreters of the 20th-century flute repertoire” (BBC Music Magazine), and pianist Alessio Bax, one of “the most remarkable young pianists now before the public” (Gramophone), will launch WashU’s 2025 Great Artists Series Jan. 23.

“It’s Time,” the 2024 WashU Dance Theatre performance, will take place Dec. 6-8 in Edison Theatre. The evening-length concert will feature original works by visiting choreographers MJ Imani and Stephanie Martinez and faculty choreographers Joanna Dee Das, Elinor Harrison and David Marchant.

The days grow cold and the nights grow long, but December is a busy month for WashU music lovers. Upcoming performances will feature the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, The 442s and more than 150 WashU musicians in spaces throughout the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Logan has won a grant. The project? Make 500 years of colonial pillaging accessible to school children. In other words: Write a Thanksgiving play! So begins, in meta fashion, Larissa FastHorse’s recent Broadway hit, which the Performing Arts Department will present Nov. 21-24 in the Hotchner Studio Theatre.

The Bennet daughters are stubborn, idealistic, spirited and sometimes nosy. They are also unmarried. In the early 19th-century world of “Pride and Prejudice,” which opens Oct. 25 in Edison Theatre, this presents a problem. None can inherit the family estate.

In October, the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present recitals featuring three internationally known pianists: Ingrid Jacoby (Oct. 13), Juho Pohjonen (Oct. 20) and Polina Osetinskaya (Oct. 28). Pohjonen’s performance also will feature cellist Zlatomir Fung and violinist Erin Schrieber in the St. Louis debut of “Other Pines,” a recent work by WashU composer Christopher Stark.

Internationally acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, installation artist and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Lynn Nottage will receive the 2025 International Humanities Prize from Washington University in St. Louis.