This week marks the final batch of shows for Interlochen Arts Festival, the annual summer entertainment series at Interlochen Center for the Arts. As one season draws to a close, though, Interlochen Arts Academy has announced its 2025-26 performance slate, which includes a major performance that will put Interlochen students onstage with legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

That performance, titled “Imagine Us: Yo-Yo Ma & Interlochen Celebrate America at 250,” is scheduled for Saturday, March 7 at Interlochen’s Corson Arena (pictured). For that show, Interlochen Arts Academy students will perform alongside not just Yo-Yo Ma, but also members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. At the March 7 show, the combined players will perform the world premiere of a new cello concerto written by famed trumpet player and jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, a nine-time Grammy winner who currently serves as the director of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Other pieces on the program include Reena Esmail’s “RE|member” and a “reimagined performance” of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, which will incorporate “multidisciplinary elements by students from all seven of the Academy’s artistic disciplines.”

The Corson performance will kick off a four-performance tour that will also take students to Detroit, Philadelphia, and Boston. According to Interlochen, Yo-Yo Ma “will work with Arts Academy students” to prepare for the tour, “and will serve as the soloist for the Marsalis concerto for the performances in Interlochen, Philadelphia, and Boston.” Joshua McClendon, an Interlochen alumnus and the cello player for the acclaimed Isidore String Quartet, will stand in for Yo-Yo Ma for the Detroit performance.

The concert tour is also intended as the start of celebrations for its 100-year anniversary, which will officially occur in 2028. Full details, including the dates of the other concerts, can be found here.

Other performances on the schedule for Interlochen Arts Academy’s 2025-26 season include:

October 3: Collage, Interlochen’s multidisciplinary student showcase.

October 23: An Evening with David Sedaris, bestselling author and humorist.

November 14-16: Interlochen’s theatre department presents 9 to 5, the hit musical featuring the music of country music legend Dolly Parton.

December 11-14: Interlochen’s annual run of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s holiday-themed ballet, The Nutcracker.

December 18-19: Sounds of the Season, Interlochen’s traditional holiday concert.

February 13-15: Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, described in Interlochen materials as “a ballet adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic with live orchestral accompaniment.”

February 21: Winterlochen, Interlochen’s family-friendly winter campus festival

March 18: Peppa Pig: My First Concert, described as an “interactive introduction to music.”

May 8-10: Interlochen’s theatre department presents The Who’s Tommy, a musical based on the 1969 double-LP rock opera from the famed English band.

In addition to these performances, which will all take place on Interlochen’s campus, Interlochen Arts Academy will also continue its “Interlochen In Town” series, which features performances in and around Traverse City. Those shows include:

October 16: Musical Theatre at the City Opera House

December 6: Interlochen’s Jazz Orchestra plays Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite at The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay

February 5: A showcase performance by Interlochen’s “Singer-Songwriter & Popular Music Ensemble” at the City Opera House

February 28: Ty Chiko & Ya-Ju Chuang play Schubert’s Winterreise at The Alluvion

April 10: Lauren Hunt Trio at The Alluvion

April 16: An Interlochen jazz showcase at the City Opera House

Ticketing information can be found on Interlochen’s website.