Arizona Arts Live proudly presents its 2023-24 year, featuring an extraordinary array of world-class artists and captivating new experiences.
Audiences across Southern Arizona can expect a season filled with high-flying acrobatics, innovative installations, soul-stirring vocals, and mesmerizing dance, featuring …
- Gravity-defying spectacle Cirque Inextremiste: Exit
- Emmy-winning performance collective Manual Cinema: Frankenstein
- Three-time Grammy-winning vocalist and visual artist Cécile McLorin Salvant
- Two-time Grammy-winning and Arizona Arts Live commissioned Kronos Quartet: Five Decades
- Powerhouse Parsons Dance, featuring alumni Christian Paris Blue and Megan Garcia
- And many more. See below.
“Now in our fourth year, Arizona Arts Live invites the world’s best artists to take center stage in the heart of the Sonoran Desert,” said Chad Herzog, executive director of Arizona Arts Live, official performing arts presenter at the University of Arizona.
“We are helping write a new chapter for Tucson. One as an arts destination filled with the incredible and the amazing, the enriching and the elevating, and the unexpected. We’re calling on all arts lovers and adventurers alike to come along and join us.”
Tickets now on sale with more experiences added throughout the year.
HOCO Festival
Sept. 1-4, 2023 | Hotel Congress
Presented together with Hotel Congress
Arizona Arts Live joins the historic Hotel Congress for the final installment of HOCO Fest Labor Day weekend in Downtown Tucson. This four-day music festival features over 60 of Arizona’s best artists, a film festival, a record fair, art installations, and daytime parties across six venues in celebration of Tucson as a UNESCO City of Gastronomy.
Calexico
Sept. 2, 2023 | University of Arizona Mall
Presented together with Arizona Athletics
Tucson’s own globally beloved Calexico will perform on the University of Arizona Mall in a pre-game concert prior to Arizona Football’s home opener against Northern Arizona University. Free and open to the public.
Cirque Inextremiste: EXIT
Sept. 9, 2023 | University of Arizona Mall
See a thrilling adventure featuring tightrope walking and extreme acrobatics. This gripping tale shares the story of a group of musicians on their quest to free themselves at all costs from an insane asylum. What ensues is a hilarious spectacle featuring escape by hot air balloon and daring balancing acts on a vertical stage you must see to believe. Free and open to the public.
Michael Mwenso Ancestral Community Listening Sessions
Sept. 25-30, 2023 | Tucson, AZ
Journey on a weeklong musical adventure led by renowned jazz musician, creative producer, and racial justice advocate Michael Mwenso. In these joyful and immersive sessions, audiences explore recordings of musical forebears and are invited to share what they feel and hear. More information, including a list of community events, will be available soon.
Los Trompos
Sept. 30 – Nov. 5, 2023 | University of Arizona Mall
From the creators of Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0 get ready for a mesmerizing and interactive art installation that will transport you to a world where color collides with motion. Los Trompos features larger-than-life, three-dimensional spinning tops in a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors and intricate designs as traditionally woven by Mexican artisans. Free and open to the public.
Nano Sterns Sings Victor Jara
Oct. 12, 2023 | Hotel Congress Plaza
Explore the history of Chilean music under social regimes in a powerful performance by powerhouse artist Nano Stern who weaves together indigenous, African, and European elements into a groundbreaking sound entirely his own. Don’t miss an unforgettable evening of musical virtuosity and poetic advocacy for social justice, exclusively at Hotel Congress.
Las Cafeteras: Hasta La Muerte
Oct. 21, 2023 | John F. Kennedy Park
Death is not the end. Music, dance, theatre, and folklore combine in this enthralling new production celebrating life and death in the spirit of the Indigenous/Mexican practice known as Day of the Dead. Step into the colorful, spellbinding realm of Hasta La Muerte by the sonic explosion of Las Cafeteras.
Manual Cinema: Frankenstein
Oct. 26, 2023 | Centennial Hall
Love, loss, and creation merge in unexpected ways in this visually stunning retelling of Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic tale, Frankenstein. Join Chicago-based Manual Cinema as they imaginatively combine shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, sound effects, and hauntingly beautiful live music to take you on a twisted journey like you’ve never experienced!
Amal Walks Across America
Oct. 28, 2023 | Tucson, Ariz.
Presented together with Children’s Museum Tucson, Galeria Mitotera, and the Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill
Discover the power of art and compassion in a free, community-wide event with Amal Walks Across America. Join us in welcoming Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl, to the Old Pueblo as part of her 6,000-mile journey in search of family and friends. A full schedule of Amal’s visit to Tucson will be revealed in the coming weeks – stay tuned! Free and open to the public.
David Cross: Worst Daddy in the World Tour
Oct. 28, 2023 | The Rialto Theatre
Presented together with the Rialto Theatre
Emmy Award winner and two-time Grammy Award nominee David Cross returns to the Old Pueblo this Fall. An inventive performer, writer, and producer, Cross has appeared in numerous live-action, animated, and critically acclaimed television shows, including Arrested Development, Men in Black, The Post, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Parsons Dance
Nov. 5, 2023 | Centennial Hall
Known for nearly 40 years for their remarkable athleticism and stunning ensemble work, Parsons Dance brings exuberance, joy, and passion to every performance. Here’s your chance to witness the flawless grace of this internationally renowned dance company in an electric performance taking center stage at Centennial Hall. Featuring recent School of Dance graduates Megan Garcia and Christian Paris Blue.
Arturo Sandoval
Jan. 12, 2024 | The Rialto Theatre
Presented together with the Tucson Jazz Festival
10-time Grammy-winning, 19-time Grammy-nominated trumpeter, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Arturo Sandoval takes center stage this winter. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to witness a living legend in action in an extraordinary evening of jazz and musical brilliance in the heart of the Sonoran Desert.
Lewis Nash and the Soul Jazz All-Stars and Emmet Cohen Trio
Jan. 14, 2024 | The Rialto Theatre
Presented together with the Tucson Jazz Festival
Experience a powerful performance by one of jazz’s most recorded musicians, Grammy-winning drummer Lewis Nash. Nash is joined by his Soul Jazz All-Star musicians, including pianist Bobby Floyd, saxophonist Ricky Woodard, and guitarist Russell Malone. He is also accompanied by multifaceted jazz pianist Emmet Cohen, winner of the 2019 American Pianists Awards.
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Jan. 19, 2024 | Centennial Hall
Presented together with the Tucson Jazz Festival
MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy winner, Cécile McLorin Salvant has a gift for storytelling and for curating layered, evocative programs that draw connections between vaudeville, blues, international folk traditions, theater, jazz, and classical music, delivering it all with her powerfully swinging voice.
Kronos Quartet: Five Decades
Feb, 22, 2024 | Centennial Hall
After an astounding 50 years, multi-GRAMMY Award-winning Kronos Quartet returns to Tucson on their farewell tour. For five decades, the Kronos Quartet has reimagined what the string quartet experience can be. One of the most celebrated and influential groups of our era, Kronos has given thousands of concerts worldwide, released over 70 recordings, and collaborated with the world’s most accomplished composers and performers.
Mark Morris Dance Group: Look of Love
March 12, 2024 | Centennial Hall
Movement, music, and precision combine in a beautiful dance tribute to the chart-topping songs for Burt Bacharach. The evening-length production features original choreography by Morris and new musical arrangements by Ethan Iverson performed by a unique ensemble of vocals, piano, trumpet, bass, and percussion. Resounding with ingenuity and musicality, The Look of Love is a must-see for dance and music fans alike.
Sō Percussion with Caroline Shaw
March 29, 2024 | Crowder Hall
Witness a dynamic performance with internationally celebrated quartet Sō Percussion together with Pulitzer Prize-winning singer Caroline Shaw. Experience contemporary percussion and spellbinding vocals in a genre-bending program featuring scores from their recently released album “Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part.”
Urban Bush Women: Legacy + Lineage + Liberation
April 5, 2024 | Crowder Hall
Celebrate 40 years of iconic works with an unforgettable evening of strength, power, and grace as we proudly present the nationally acclaimed Urban Bush Women: Legacy + Lineage + Liberation. Prepare to be moved by their captivating performance highlighting the voices of women of color in an inspiring and healing journey live at Crowder Hall.
Urland: Bedtime Stories
April 17-21, 2024 | Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium
An immersive multimedia work, Bedtime Stories unfolds before an intimate audience in the Flandrau Science Center and Planetarium. Conceived by Dutch collective URLAND, Bedtime Stories celebrates voice and storytelling. This pitch-perfect narrated performance takes its inspiration from radio plays, using actor Thomas Dudkiewicz’s voice and well-timed sound effects to lead the audience into a strange and brilliantly dark world and to bring to life an enchanting cast of characters.
About Arizona Arts Live
Nestled in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, Arizona Arts Live curates extraordinary live events and arts experiences. A member of the Arizona Arts division at the University of Arizona, Arizona Arts Live brings the world’s greatest artists to Southern Arizona with programming that invites you to think. To feel. To discover thoughtful art and explore the unexpected.