The University of Iowa

Terrance Simien & the Zydeco Experience

Hancher Auditorium is proud to help bring Terrance Simien to the Iowa City Jazz Festival! Grammy-winner Simien takes his audiences on a multicultural tour of the world inspired the many countries he’s visited on tour which have informed his musical language. He creates a hypnotic blend of New Orleans funk-reggae-flavored-world-blues-American zydeco roots music that beckons you to your feet and into the groove.

Vuyo Sotashe Group

South African jazz vocalist (now based in Harlem) Vuyo Sotashe was the first male singer ever to place in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocal competition—and that’s just one of many honors he has collected.

Dan + Claudia Zanes

Grammy Award-winner (and longtime Hancher friend) Dan Zanes and Haitian-American jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes perform a mix of old and new songs from near and far in a style that has been called “all-ages social music.”

Kronos Quartet

A modern-day song cycle spun from the skin of history for string quartet, chorus, and narrator, At War With Ourselves – 400 Years of You features a text by award-winning poet Nikky Finney inspired by her 2013 poem “The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy.”