Editor's note: This story was originally published in the 2025 Parent Guide, an IDS special publication.
The Musical Arts Center, located across the street from Read Quadrangle on Eagleson Avenue, is the Jacobs School of Music’s biggest stage. It hosts many musical events throughout the year, such as orchestra and jazz band performances, and it’s the primary home of IU’s renowned opera and ballet programs. As a visitor to campus, don’t miss out on these shows.
In the spring 2024 season, the ballet department premiered a groundbreaking reimagining of classic ballet “La Bayadère,” titled “Star on the Rise,” that was covered in a March 2024 issue of the New York Times. Last fall, Jacobs collaborated with the Metropolitan Opera to premiere a new opera on the MAC stage based on the novel “The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.”
This fall, the MAC will feature eight mainstage events, with the following six on the MAC stage. Even if opera’s not your thing, there are many great shows you can watch with your student!
Sept. 13: Mainstage in Concert—Act I of “Die Walküre”
Jacobs’ fall “Mainstage in Concert” program presents the music of Act I of “Die Walküre,” otherwise known as “The Valkyrie,” the second opera in Richard Wagner’s 15-hour “Ring” cycle. First performed in 1870, this opera follows Valkyrie Brünnhilde on her mission to protect long-lost twins Sieglinde and Siegmund against vengeful gods in a world based on Norse mythology.
Sept. 27 and 28, Oct. 3 and 4: “The Marriage of Figaro”
Jacobs students will open the opera season with “The Marriage of Figaro,” an operatic classic written by Mozart in collaboration with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. Written in 1786, the opera is based on an earlier play by Pierre Beaumarchais, “La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro,” and follows Figaro and Susanna as they outwit their aristocratic employers on their wedding day. This satirical show is an “opera buffa,” a genre of comedic opera which features two distinct comic groups of men and women and a central romantic couple.
Oct. 17 and 18: “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges”
The MAC’s second opera will be “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges,” or “The Child and the Spells,” a one-act fantasy about a young boy whose world comes to life to teach him a lesson after he misbehaves. This opera was written by Maurice Ravel, with a libretto by French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, and premiered in 1925.
Oct. 24 and 25: Fall Ballet
Ballet students’ fall mainstage performance will feature four pieces. “Chopiniana,” by Alexandra Danilova, originally premiered at the New York City Ballet in 1972 and features a minimalist dance of woodland nymphs to the music of Chopin; “Allegro Brillante,” a joyful and technically challenging piece choreographed by George Balanchine in 1956, set to Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3; “This Bitter Earth,” from Christopher Wheeldon’s “Five Movements, Three Repeats,” a pax de deux set to an 8-minute soundscape of Dinah Washington’s “This Bitter Earth” layered over “On the Nature of Daylight” by Max Richter; and finally Gianna Reisen’s “World Premiere,” an all-new collaboration between the New York City Ballet choreographer and Jacobs’ ballet department set to the music of Johann Strauss II.
Nov. 8, 9, 14 and 15: “La Bohème”
“La Bohème” was written by Giacomo Puccini, premiering in Italy in 1896, and is another opera classic. The opera is based on the 1851 novel “Scenes de la vie de Bohème” by Henri Murger and tells the story of struggling bohemian artists and their friends in Paris. It later became the inspiration for the musical “Rent.” An hour before each of the four performances, guests will have the opportunity to learn more in an Opera Insights Lecture in the MAC’s North Lobby.
Dec. 5, 6, 7, 12 and 13: “The Nutcracker”
Jacobs faculty choreographer Sasha James’s beautiful reimagining of “The Nutcracker” premiered in 2023 on the MAC stage to critical acclaim. James’s “Nutcracker” follows a young Marie and her Aunt Drosselmeier through the fantastical world of Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet, and this year will air on PBS.
Tickets
Individual tickets for any of these shows, as well as the Singing Hoosiers concerts on Nov. 1 and March 28 at Auer Hall, Jacobs Live at the Movies on Nov. 7 and 8 at the IU Auditorium and the Jazz Celebration on May 12 at the MAC, can be purchased through the MAC box office beginning July 31. Opera, ballet and MAC concert tickets, with the exception of “The Nutcracker,” are priced between $15-$47 for the general public, or $12 for any child or full-time student with a valid ID regardless of seats. Tickets for “The Nutcracker” will range from $27-$57 with no student discount. Jacobs also offers a subscription plan with choice seating, discounts and ticket exchanges, for those who wish to see four or more shows during the 2025-26 season. These build-your-own subscriptions are already available; more information can be found online at operaballet.indiana.edu.
For those who can’t make it to shows in-person, the MAC also streams most shows live online at liveatjacobs.music.indiana.edu. The website also holds an archive of show recordings that you can watch at any time, completely free.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect correct performance dates and ticket prices.
