Jeanine Tesori named 2025–26 Lincoln Center Visionary Artist
The Lincoln Center’s season long celebration of Tesori and her work “centers around the theme of making connections—between artists, audiences, and the arts organizations that make up Lincoln Center.”
Jeanine Tesori, Professor in the Practice of Music and of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies, is the Lincoln Center’s 2025–26 Visionary Artist.
Each season the New York City-based Lincoln Center honors “one extraordinary artist whose impact, vision, and values embody the transformative power of the arts,” celebrating their work with live performances, interactive events, and public conversations about art and performance.
The Lincoln Center’s season long celebration of Tesori and her work “centers around the theme of making connections—between artists, audiences, and the arts organizations that make up Lincoln Center.”
Tesori is an award-winning composer of musical theater, opera, and film. She is one of the first two women to be commissioned by New York’s Metropolitan Opera and is the first woman in its history to open a season. Her works include the score for Fun Home, the musical adaptation of a memoir by fellow Yale Professor in the Practice and cartoonist Alison Bechdel, as well as Kimberly Akimbo, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Caroline, and Change.
Tesori’s operas include A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck; The Lion, The Unicorn and Me; and Blue, which received the MCANA Award for Best New Opera. Her work has earned her two Tony Awards, six Grammy nominations, and the 2025 Barnard Medal of Distinction, among other honors.
Tesori was appointed Professor in the Practice in 2025 after more than a decade teaching at Yale in addition to her creative work.
Several of Tesori’s works will be staged at the Lincoln Center this season. She will also lead several interactive events for the public, including a participatory choir, and will appear in conversation with other artists and professionals in the industry.
“Program highlights include a production of her powerfully poignant opera Blue; her musical theater masterpiece Violet, performed in American Sign Language by Deaf Broadway; a film screening of West Side Story in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center; a public community choir series inviting the audience to sing; a conversation series exploring the creative threads that connect storytelling across disciplines; and so much more,” according to the Lincoln Center website.
Information about the events celebrating Tesori’s work, which are all free or pay-what-you-want, can be found on the Lincoln Center website.