Why Iowa?

We're a close-knit artistic community within a major research university that's famous for its arts programs. We offer world-class musical instruction, ongoing performance opportunities, state-of-the-art facilities, and solid preparation for your career.

Build a foundation

Expand your horizons

Learn from experts

Music at Iowa

It’s hard to find a school of music that delivers so many opportunities all within an undeniably individualized and inspirational setting.

Your destination for the Performing Arts

Creativity is at the heart of everything we do. We blend artistry and technology to offer a tremendous variety of ways to enjoy the performing arts.

Guest Artist Experiences

Students in the UI School of Music have the opportunity to work with 100+  guest artists each year, gaining invaluable insights from world-renowned performers and educators. Last year alone, guests included members of top-tier ensembles such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, as well as faculty from prestigious institutions like Eastman, Rice, and the Hartt School of Music. The program also welcomed international guests from France, Vienna, Colombia, Chile, and the Philippines, fostering a truly global musical experience for our students.

Jessie Montgomery

2024-25 Hancher Composer-In-Residence
Acclaimed composer Jessie Montgomery spent an incredible year working side-by-side with UI music students. Through workshops, one-on-one coaching, masterclasses, and more, more than 200 students had the unique opportunity to learn, perform, and grow through her music.

The Crossing

Ann Howard Jones Vocal Ensemble Residency Program

In February 2025, after spending a week with our students in the classroom, The Crossing hosted three remarkable events on campus. The first was a Shared Solo Recital featuring UI alumna Anika Kildegaard. This was followed by a Creative Matters Conversation with UI alumni David Lang and Ann Howard Jones, and conductor Donald Nally. The week culminated in a full performance by The Crossing featuring the University of Iowa's Kantorei.

See yourself here

You've worked hard on your music. Now you can use all that creativity and knowledge as your launch pad. If you dream of a musical career—or simply a musical life—Music at Iowa is right for you.

Write Your Story

Earn a well-rounded liberal arts education—with rigorous, personalized musical instruction at its core.

jazz performance in Recital Hall

9:1

Student-to-faculty ratio

student at piano looking into camera smiling

350 +

Annual public performances

Master class in flute classroom with student

450

Undergraduate and graduate students

Events

5/2: How Polarity Yields Five Codes of Music - A Syzygy with S/Z. Presentation 2: Texture promotional image

5/2: How Polarity Yields Five Codes of Music - A Syzygy with S/Z. Presentation 2: Texture

Monday, October 27, 2025 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building

5/2: How Polarity Yields Five Codes of Music - A Syzygy with S/Z. Presentation 2: Texture

Professor Matthew Arndt emcees the second of seven presentations of an intergalactic music poetics. Drawing together ancient wisdom and modern science, this poetics aims at transmuting one’s experience of everything as music and living joyfully even as we work confidently toward an abundant future.

There will be a première screening of a video episode produced by Rabalais Productions with artisan animation by...

Senior Recital: Jonathon Hughes, horn

Monday, October 27, 2025 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building

Senior Recital: Jonathon Hughes, horn

This concert is free and open to the public.

Horn Masterclass with Aliyah Danielle

Tuesday, October 28, 2025 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building

Horn Masterclass with Aliyah Danielle

This event is free and open to the public.

Kenny Lee, Cello | Crumb x Tan Dun promotional image

Kenny Lee, Cello | Crumb x Tan Dun

Wednesday, October 29, 2025 7:30pm
Voxman Music Building

Kenny Lee, Cello | Crumb x Tan Dun

Featuring:

Kenny Lee, Cello

Nicole Esposito, Flute

Doreen Lee, Piano

with Seamless Percussion:

Miles Bohlman, Eva Chopskie, Shaun Everson, Evan Tanner

Join us for an evening of works by two pioneers of 20th-century classical music, George Crumb and Tan Dun! The program will feature Crumb’s breathtaking Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale) and conclude with the Dun's raucous and gripping Elegy: Snow in June, Concerto for Cello and Four Percussion.

This concert will be...

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