Carolina Performing Arts announces 2025–26 season

Carolina Performing Arts at UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday announced its 2025–26 season, inviting audiences to experience the transformative power of live performance. Guided by the rallying cry “Long Live the Arts,” this season affirms CPA’s belief that performance is not a luxury — it’s a vital force for joy, health and human connection.

“Long Live the Arts is more than a slogan. It’s our promise to this campus, this community, and this moment,” says Alison Friedman, the James and Susan Moeser executive and artistic director of CPA. “Audiences are seeking experiences that are joyful, meaningful and real. This season meets them with open arms.”

The 2025–26 season brings together global icons, daring premieres and returning favorites in a dynamic lineup of music, dance and theater. Highlights include:

• Chris Thile, Grammy Award-winning mandolinist and MacArthur “genius” recipient, opens the season with an evening of virtuosic music, razor-sharp wit and spontaneous brilliance (Oct. 10).
• Renée Fleming makes her CPA debut with “Music and Mind,” a discussion with UNC-Chapel Hill neuroscientists exploring the intersection of the arts, health and brain science (Jan. 23), followed by “Voice of Nature: the Anthropocene,” a concert blending classical music and film in a meditation on the environment (Jan. 24).
• Pony Cam’s “Burnout Paradise” pushes physical and theatrical boundaries with a hilarious and poignant performance — staged entirely on treadmills — that explores exhaustion, overwork and modern life (Oct. 28–29).
• Aakash Odedra Company’s “Samsara” fuses kathak, ballet and Chinese folk dance with innovative design to explore transformation and spiritual journey (Dec. 6).

“When we curated this season, we leaned into what people told us they’re hungry for — experiences that are joyful, thought-provoking and restorative,” says Amy Kolling, senior director of artistic and production. “We see CPA as a partner in public well-being and believe we can help cultivate that kind of nourishment.”

Beloved CPA mainstays also return: The Philadelphia Orchestra performs two evenings led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Nov. 4–5), with acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax joining for the Nov. 4 performance only; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater brings its signature blend of grace and power (Feb. 24–25); Martha Graham Dance Company celebrates its centennial with “Graham at 100” (March 25); and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis returns with their iconic sound (April 24).

Access and connection

CPA continues to prioritize access, belonging and community connection across the season, with initiatives designed to welcome more audiences into the arts, including:

• $11 tickets for UNC-Chapel Hill students and all K-college students statewide for all CPA season performances
• Choose-Your-Price tickets, available 24 hours before each show
• Ongoing partnerships with campus and community organizations, including the Chapel of the Cross, the North Carolina Symphony and Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle

“The arts are essential to the University’s mission,” Friedman said. “Through community partnerships, academic collaborations and initiatives like Choose-Your-Price tickets, we’re committed to making the arts more accessible and more connected to the lives of those we serve — on campus and beyond. By placing the arts alongside academics and athletics, CPA is proud to help UNC earn its well-deserved ‘Triple A’ reputation.”

Ticket Information

• Donor presale begins at noon Aug. 5. (in person or online)
• General public on-sale begins at noon Aug. 12. (in person or online)

Tickets are available through the CPA box office, located at 140 E. Cameron Ave (Memorial Hall). Box office hours beginning Aug. 5 are Monday–Friday, 11:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., and one hour prior to performances.

For the full season schedule and ticket information, visit carolinaperformingarts.org.