Jeremy Jordan and More Set for The Hylton Performing Arts Center 2025–26 Season

The Hylton Performing Arts Center has revealed its 2025–26 season of performances, featuring a wide range of artists, ensembles, and productions as part of its four main series: Hylton Presents, Hylton Family Series, American Roots Series, and Matinee Idylls. 
 
The Hylton Center also shared select 2025–26 programming for its Arts Partners, including performances by the Creative And Performing Arts Center, Manassas Ballet Theatre, Manassas Chorale, Manassas Symphony Orchestra, and Prince William Little Theatre.
 
Hylton Presents returns to the Merchant Hall stage, spotlighting artists who are in demand nationally and internationally. The series opens the 2025–26 season on September 21 with Jeremy Jordan in Concert—the Broadway, TV, and film star’s Hylton Center debut—featuring a mix of vocal styles from across genres, including Broadway, pop music, and more.
 
Other Hylton Presents highlights include the three-time Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir on October 3 in a program of South African freedom songs, traditional spirituals, and the music of Aretha Franklin, Leonard Cohen, Kate Bush, and more; the remarkable and rebellious dance company Pilobolus performs Other Worlds on October 5; the Hylton Presents debut of Mason Artist-in-Residence Time for Three, which defies convention by showcasing excellence across classical music, Americana, and other genres, on October 26; Aquila Theatre’s adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, featuring detective Sherlock Holmes, on January 25; the return of Cirque Mechanics with Tilt! A Circus Thrill Ride, set to the backdrop of a backlot in a buzzing theme park, on February 7; taiko sensation Drum Tao, showcasing its athletic take on the ancient Japanese drum form on February 14; an evening uniting the rhythms of tap, flamenco, and kathak classical Indian dance from Mason Artist-in-Residence Soles of Duende on February 21; acclaimed Spanish guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas, sharing music from his homeland on February 28; and the Washington National Opera Orchestra featuring the Cafritz Young Artists, performing works from Mozart to Verdi in a program entitled Favorite Operatic Moments, on March 1.
 
Hylton Presents also offers festive holiday programs with Making Spirits Bright by the globetrotting and virtuosic Canadian Brass on November 30; a Hylton Center favorite, country-bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent performing songs from their No.1 Billboard Bluegrass chart-topping album, Dailey & Vincent: The Sounds of Christmas, on December 7; the American Festival Pops Orchestra’s annual Holiday Pops: Songs of the Season on December 12; and Jingle Bell Swing with the Bria Skonberg Quintet on December 14, featuring trumpeter/singer/songwriter Skonberg and her quintet’s jazzy take on holiday favorites.
 
Returning Hylton Presents audience favorites include the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra, joining forces with multi-Grammy Award winner and critically acclaimed Cuban clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer Paquito D’Rivera for a night of Latin jazz on November 1; an early St. Patrick’s Day celebration with Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy and The Celtic All Stars on March 8; pianist Jeffrey Siegel and his Keyboard Conversations® on March 29 in Music of Joy and Peace, featuring uplifting and high-spirited music by Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and more; and the American Festival Pops Orchestra (AFPO) marking the 250th anniversary of America’s independence with classics of the concert stage and screen by great American composers on April 11. This AFPO performance is sponsored by George Mason University’s Veterans and the Arts Initiative, which will provide free tickets for Veterans and Servicemembers.
 
Hylton Family Series resumes in the 2025–26 season, offering quality entertainment for children and families. A beloved children’s book comes to life on stage in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom: The Musical on November 8; two sisters embark on an interactive voyage across the galaxy in Secrets of Space on February 15, from the Northern Ireland-based theater company Cahoots NI; two-time Grammy Award winners Lucy Kalantari & the Jazz Cats present a swingin’ multilingual concert for all ages on March 7; and Click, Clack, Moo, a hilarious musical about negotiation and compromise from TheaterWorksUSA, enchants audiences on April 19.
 
The American Roots Series brings the best in bluegrass, jazz, blues, and more in the 2025–26 season. On October 25, North Carolina-based quartet Chatham County Line creates “a bridge between bluegrass traditions and a fresh interpretation of those influences” (NPR); The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys have brought their music from rural bluegrass festival stages to the rock clubs of Europe, and they hit the Hylton Center stage on November 8 in a performance sponsored by George Mason University’s Veterans and the Arts Initiative; singer-songwriter Nicole Zuraitis, the only person to win a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album with entirely self-written and arranged music, performs on March 7; and Buckwheat Zydeco, Jr. and the Ils Sont Partis Band bring their signature Creole folk music that showcases blues, R&B, and funk on May 9.
 
Lastly, the Matinee Idylls series also returns in 2025–26 with hour-long chamber concerts in the early afternoon, a luncheon from a local caterer, and a coffee and dessert reception with the artists. The talented artists of Virginia Opera perform opera’s greatest hits, famous Broadway show tunes, and more in A Taste of Opera on October 14; D.C.-based harpist Abbie Palmer and Brazilian-American percussionist Lucas Ashby’s program on November 5 ranges from traditional Celtic and African to New Age and Hip-Hop music; violinist Marjory Serrano-Coyer and pianist Hsin-Yi Chen highlight the unique cultures and musical brilliance of the Americas on March 25; and on April 21, the quintet District5 presents music by Mozart, Mahler, Ravel, and Coleman, accompanied by stories that explore professional hurdles faced by composers.