The Walker Art Center’s newly announced 2025-26 performing arts season “fearlessly confronts the urgent issues defining our world, brought to life through captivating movement, light, sound, projection, text and indelible stage images.”

Tickets for most performances are on sale now via walkerart.org or by calling 612-375-7600.

The four productions in January and February are part of the Walker’s Out There 2026 series. Tickets are available in packages of four, with single tickets going on sale at a later date.

Here are some highlights of the season:

“AACM@60!” (7:30 p.m. Sept. 13) >> The internationally renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians celebrates its 60th anniversary with an evening featuring composers Wadada Leo Smith (trumpet) and Amina Claudine Myers (piano) joined by Minneapolis multi-instrumentalist Douglas R. Ewart and improvisational dancer Lela Pierce.

“A a | a B : B E N D” (7:30 p.m. Sept. 18-19) >> The brainchild of choreographer Aszure Barton and trumpeter/composer Ambrose Akinmusire, this large-scale dance piece remixes ballet with vogue, jazz with electronica and analog with digital.

“Bitterness Is Not A Bridge” (7:30 p.m. Oct. 10) >> Pakistani American multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily gathers a group of collaborators that includes folk singer Beth Orton, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk.

“By Heart” (7:30 p.m. Oct. 28-29) >> Portuguese playwright Tiago Rodrigues invites 10 volunteer audience collaborators on stage to learn a sonnet live, while Rodrigues weaves in personal stories and literary references.

“An Evening with Gabriella Smith and yMusic” (7:30 p.m. Nov. 8) >> Composer/environmentalist Gabriella Smith performs selections from her album “Lost Coast” followed by the Twin Cities premiere of “Aquatic Ecology,” a 40-minute piece written for chamber ensemble yMusic.

“Dancing with Bob: Rauschenberg, Brown and Cunningham Onstage” (7:30 p.m. Nov. 11) >> The Trisha Brown Dance Company pays tribute to Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg during his centennial year by performing two works that feature Rauschenberg’s stage designs.

“Choreographers’ Evening 2025” (4 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 22) >> Minneapolis performing artist and teacher Benny Olk curated the Walker’s annual dance showcase that celebrates Minnesota’s vibrant and diverse dance communities.

Exploding Star Orchestra (7:30 p.m. Dec. 5) >> Inspired by the sounds of “meta-versal transformation,” the Chicago-based Exploding Star Orchestra is known for their varied production methods and collective improvisation.

“Symphony of Rats” (7:30 p.m. Feb. 25-27, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28) >> For the first time in 25 years, the Wooster Group returns to the Twin Cities for a reimagined production of “Symphony of Rats,” the 1988 play by fellow experimental theater artist Richard Foreman.

“L’Rain — Live at the Walker” (7:30 p.m. May 2) >> Brooklyn-based experimental pop/rock artist L’Rain assembles her full band for a show that is part concert, part cross-disciplinary video performance.

“Open Machine” (7:30 p.m. May 29-30) >> In a new Walker commission, choreographers and former Merce Cunningham dancers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener probe the relationship between human intelligence and machine intelligence, examining the role of surveillance in private and public life.

See walkerart.org for the full schedule and further details.