MUSIC KNOWS NO BORDERS Series And More Announced for The Soraya's 2025-26 Season & 15th Anniversary

The Soraya’s 15th Anniversary Season was unveiled last evening at the annual Executive Director’s Dinner held at the award-winning performing arts center on the CSUN campus.

xecutive and Artistic Director Thor Steingraber shared details of the 2025– 26 Season which includes 41 performances across 32 events, and will run from Sept. 13, 2025, to Apr. 25, 2026.

“Each of The Soraya’s performance seasons is a journey, an exploration of new or novel themes, as well as a return to timeless ideas,” said Steingraber. “The Soraya’s 2025–26 Season—our 15th— encompasses diverse experiences including the nightlife of Lisbon, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City; 

the daily life of West Africa; the spiritual realms explored by Alice Coltrane and Duke Ellington; the masterworks of Brahms and the megahits of Quincy Jones; and much more.”

Continuing a Soraya tradition, the new season features events from nearly every performing arts genre — jazz, dance, classical, Broadway, film, and more, along with original productions found only at The Soraya. The season also includes returning favorites, 11 artists making their Soraya debuts, and Tony® Award-winner Steven Skybell as Tevye, along with the original Off-Broadway cast, in The Soraya’s Opening Weekend concert production of National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene’s Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish; three performances from Sept. 13–14.

Milestones include the culmination of the Martha Graham Dance Company centenary with three monumental pieces on Oct. 4– a rarely seen work based on the myth of Oedipus, Graham’s 1947 Night Journey; a 2024 creation inspired by her longstanding socio-political critique - We the People by Jamar Roberts with a folk score by Rhiannon Giddens; and a world premiere which extends The Soraya’s commitment to Graham’s collaborations with composers. This new commission is the first–ever pairing of two giants — Graham and Leonard Bernstein. Wild Up performs Christopher Rountree’s newly commissioned arrangement of Bernstein, as well as William Schuman’s composition for Night Journey. 

The Soraya’s 15th Anniversary Celebration is another highlight with two significant concerts bookending the venue’s original opening day on Jan. 29, 2011. Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti makes his Soraya debut conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 on Jan. 22, 2026. Then, the Duke Ellington Concert of Sacred Music will take place on Feb. 1, 2026. For the February event, pianist Gerald Clayton leads a big band orchestra and choir as they explore Ellington’s lesser-known Sacred Concerts, originally performed in churches between 1965 and 1973. 

Few artists in any field have had an impact as great as the legendary Quincy Jones. On Oct. 18, conductor Chris Walden pays tribute to his mentor by leading the Pacific Jazz Orchestra as they present Fly Me to the Moon, A Tribute to Quincy Jones. Pianist Yuja Wang returns to The Soraya on Apr. 25, this time leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra for a program featuring Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2.

The Oscar and GRAMMY Award-winning music of Randy Newman returns to The Soraya with the 30th anniversary live-to-film concert of Disney and Pixar’s groundbreaking hit film, Toy Story. CSUN’s Symphony Orchestra brings the beloved score to life for two performances on Oct 11 and 12.

The 2025–26 Season Includes:

• The fifth-annual Jazz at Nazfestival. Recently named by DownBeat magazine as one of the world’s top jazz venues of 2025 and the winner of “Best Festival” in San Francisco Classical Voice’s 2024 Audience Choice Awards, the February 2026 festival includes Concert of Sacred Music with Gerald Clayton (Great Hall), Arturo O'Farrill Trio (Jazz Club), Cécile McLorin Salvant (Jazz Club), Anat Cohen Quartetinho (Jazz Club), Pacific Jazz Orchestra with Veronica Swift (Great Hall), Preservation Hall Jazz Club (Great Hall), and Alonzo King LINES Ballet with Ode to Alice Coltrane (Great Hall).

• The Classical Music series with the Soraya debut of violinist Ray Chen (Oct. 30; Onstage Concert); the return of Joshua Bell and Academy of St Martin in the Fields (Feb. 26, 2026), and The Soraya debut of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Yuja Wang (Apr. 25, 2026).

• The Hecho en Las Américas series returns for its 11th edition with 10 performances that feature the diverse music and dance forms of Mexico, and Central America. In their Soraya debut, Mariachi Herencia de México with Leonardo Aguilar opens the series on Sept. 26. The series includes Lila Downs (Oct. 24); four performances of The Soraya original Nochebuena: A Christmas Spectacular (Dec. 20-22); the Villalobos Brothers (Mar. 14, 2026); Ballet Hispánico: CARMEN.maquia (Mar. 28, 2026); and Chavela y Sus Mujeres: Un Homenaje a Chavela Vargas (Apr. 18-19), featuring Ofelia Medina, Eugenia León, and more in a celebration of the musical icon.

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