A Conversation With Imagine US Tour Devisors
Written by Alex Workman
In March of 2026, IAA is putting on a tour to celebrate both 100 years of IAC and the 250th anniversary of the United States. IAA students will be performing first on campus, and then in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Boston.
Students from all divisions of the school will be participating: Creative Writers, Musicians, Visual Artists, Dancers, and Interdisciplinary Artists, among others. The core performance of the tour is the orchestra. They will be performing Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, Re/Member by renowned composer Reena Esmail, and a cello concerto written by Wynton Marsalis to be performed alongside Yo-Yo Ma. The other art forms will be added in between movements of the Ives and during certain pieces like Re/Member.
The performance kicks off with four-year singer-songwriter Sydney Kassekert. She will be performing an original song alongside Yo-Yo Ma.
For Sydney, preparation for the tour started in October with discussions around understanding America—the beautiful, the difficult, and what it ultimately could become. It was during these discussions where she started to work on the song.
She says it is “still shifting,” and she is in the process of editing the second verse. When she was instructed to write a song for acoustic guitar and cello, Sydney took inspiration from the pop singer Madison Cunningham, who blends a lot of classical music with contemporary.
Sydney commented, “I’d been arranging stuff like that since the end of my sophomore year, so I already understood the ropes and reins of it.” Sydney is most excited about exploring the different cities and watching the performance come together.
Four-year Creative Writing major Addison Hill will be presenting some of her writing during the show. She wrote two monologues: one placed near the middle of the performance and another during the end of the performance. Addison describes how she came up with the idea to present different monologues telling different parts of American history, where different characters would talk about their own experiences and individuality.
“It’s important to show that being an American isn’t a very individual thing but is centered in togetherness,” said Addison.
In preparation for her monologue, she talks about putting herself in her character's shoes and finding similarities between her character and herself. In closing, Addison emphasizes how special and unique the performance is going to be. She stated, “I think we’re going to put on a show that really impresses a lot of people.”
Members of the IAA Orchestra have started preparation for the tour separately to ensure that each member learns their parts to the best of their abilities.
Julianne Cho, a two-year oboe major, is an important soloist in Re/Member, which makes her preparation process slightly different from the rest of the orchestra. While she is playing her solo, a video made by film students will be playing at the same time.
In the video, another IAA student dances around Julianne while she plays. She will be playing a different solo part over this video describing it as a “duet with herself.” In preparation for this solo, Julianne mentioned, “In my own practice, I record myself playing the recorded solo and then practice playing with myself to get used to that.” On her final notes, Julianne said, “This show is going to be really awesome.”
Over the next few months leading up to the performance, each of these students will be refining their presentations and working on pulling the performance together. These preparations are just the beginning as the performance will have much to offer. With all of IAA’s majors combined, it is promised to be a once in a lifetime performance celebrating the arts in America.