Boston Conservatory at Berklee Announces Center Stage Performances for 2025–2026 Season
Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s curated performance collection Center Stage returns with a 2025–2026 season featuring innovative new works and dynamic stagings of beloved favorites across dance, music, and theater. Audiences will be treated to a remarkable range of student performances, from the hilarious Broadway sensation Legally Blonde to the moving collegiate premiere of faculty member Laura Kaminsky’s latest opera Time to Act. This year’s lineup also includes a Boston Conservatory Orchestra concert at Symphony Hall, a production of the Tony Award–winning satire Urinetown, and exciting new works by notable guest choreographers and composers, including a piano concerto written by From the Top host Peter Dugan and his brother Leonardo.
Fall 2025
The fall Center Stage series opens on Saturday, September 20 with Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble—Autumn Walk, part of the 2025 Brass Festival Weekend. Presented at Boston Conservatory Theater, the free concert will feature works that challenge the audience to appreciate autumn’s beauty. The program is a leaf-peeper’s delight, with works by Kevin Charoensri, Alexandre Kosmicki, and Julian Work, as well as David Maslanka’s monumental Symphony No. 7. The Conservatory’s wind ensemble will be joined by the Belmont High School Wind Ensemble and guest artist Adam Unsworth, principal horn of the Ann Arbor Symphony, for a portion of the performance.
From October 16 to 19, contemporary dance students will take to the stage for Fall Dance Concert: From the Ground Up at Boston Conservatory Theater. The lineup will feature stylistically diverse world premieres choreographed by renowned guest artists Nicole von Arx, Catherine Coury, William Isaac, and Omar Román de Jesús, and by Dance Division faculty members.
The fabulously fun musical Legally Blonde will take place at Boston Conservatory Theater from November 6 through 9. Based on the beloved hit film, the story centers around sorority president Elle Woods, who seems to have it all—beauty, popularity, and the perfect boyfriend. But when the love of her life dumps her and takes off for Harvard Law School, she embarks on a madcap adventure, determined to get him back. Along the way, she confronts epic obstacles, crushes stereotypes, and learns the best lesson of all: that being true to yourself never goes out of style.
The fall Center Stage season concludes with the opera Little Women, taking place from November 20 to 23 at Boston Conservatory Theater. With lyrical beauty and emotional depth, Marc Adamo’s acclaimed opera brings Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel to vibrant life. Following the spirited March sisters as they come of age during the American Civil War, Little Women explores love, loss, and the bonds of family. Adamo’s lush, contemporary score captures the depth of their journey with soaring melodies and intimate detail, making this opera a modern classic since its premiere in 1998. Featuring evocative period costumes and a cinematic set design, this production promises an unforgettable evening.
Spring 2026
The spring 2026 Center Stage season will begin with the Commercial Dance BFA Concert at the Huntington Theatre from February 6 to 7. This special evening features all of Boston Conservatory’s commercial dancers performing world premieres by choreographers Ray Mercer, Marcus Allen Cobb, and Dance Division faculty, plus a reconstruction of an iconic Bob Fosse work.
On Sunday, February 22, Boston Conservatory Orchestra will be joined by acclaimed pianist, composer, and From the Top radio host Peter Dugan to present the educational premiere of a new piano concerto written by Dugan and his brother Leonardo, and commissioned by Boston Conservatory and the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Alongside this important premiere, the performance will feature three graduating conductors as they progress from Boston Conservatory’s conducting studio to iconic Symphony Hall. Students Julian Dürr, Christine Le, and Simon Sadikovič will conduct works by American composers George Gershwin and Howard Hanson, and by Russian composers Alexander Borodin and Igor Stravinsky.
From April 9 to 12, Boston Conservatory musical theater students will present the razor-sharp satire Urinetown at Boston Conservatory Theater. A wickedly funny reflection on corporate greed, social irresponsibility, and musical theater itself, Urinetown tells the story of a dystopian city plagued by drought, where private toilets are outlawed and citizens must pay to use public amenities controlled by a powerful corporation. When a humble everyman sparks a revolution against the system, chaos and hilarity ensue as the boundaries between hero and villain blur. Following its acclaimed off-Broadway premiere and celebrated Broadway run, this uproarious musical has become a modern classic, delighting audiences with bold wit, an unforgettable score, and subversive storytelling that challenges the conventions of the genre. Boston Conservatory at Berklee’s production is directed by assistant professor De’Lon Grant.
The Center Stage season will conclude with the collegiate and New England premiere of a new opera by Laura Kaminsky and Crystal Manich, Time to Act, running April 16 to 18 at the Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion. Set in a high school as theater students prepare for a staging of Antigone, this gripping contemporary opera explores how young people confront grief, violence, and the urgent need for change in the face of school shootings. Fresh from its world premiere at Pittsburgh Opera in March 2026, Time to Act will be performed by Boston Conservatory as part of a groundbreaking national consortium with Opera Montana, Opera Santa Barbara, and Pittsburgh Opera. With raw emotion and musical immediacy, this must-see premiere speaks directly to the world we live in—and the future we must shape. Associate professor Andrew Bisantz will conduct the production, with direction by associate professor David Gately. Following its Boston run, Time to Act will travel to National Sawdust in Brooklyn, New York (April 22–23, 2026) for a semi-staged public performance and professional live recording, to be released nationally by the acclaimed label Bright Shiny Things.
Center Stage is a perfect way for audiences to sample a curated selection of Boston Conservatory’s finest performances. In addition to Center Stage, Boston Conservatory offers arts lovers hundreds of free and low-cost events across dance, music, and theater, including musicals, operas, choral concerts, dance shows, ensembles, faculty recitals, student recitals, and several special series. The 2025–2026 Opera Innovators Series—in partnership with Boston Lyric Opera—will feature master classes with opera greats Anne Bogart, Brenda Rae, Maestro Riccardo Frizza, and alum Melanie Bacaling as well as a special recital with Karen Slack. Artistry in Action will present Piano Master Series guests Dinara Klinton, Eric Lu, Sean Chen, and Terrence Wilson, and String Master Series guests Leland Ko, Phoebe Carrai, Curtis Stewart, and Michael Casimir, as well as Chamber Series concerts featuring Boston Conservatory faculty artists.
Tickets for fall performances can be purchased online any time at bostonconservatory.berklee.edu/events or in person at the Berklee Box Office at 136 Massachusetts Avenue. The box office is operating on reduced summer hours of Wednesday and Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and will resume regular semester hours of Tuesday through Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 2. If you have questions about purchasing tickets, please email boxoffice@berklee.edu or call +1 617-747-2261. Tickets for spring 2026 performances will be available in December 2025.