2026 looks bright for arts and entertainment happenings – InForum

2026 looks bright for arts and entertainment happenings – InForum

FARGO — A new year gives us time to look forward to some of the big events coming up ahead.

Of course, it’s only early January now and not everything has been announced yet, like the complete lineups at the Red River Valley Fair or the Bluestem Concert Series.

These are some things that we’re most looking forward to seeing.

Theatre NDSU-Glory-Justin Eiler-1.jpg

Jillian Schotters, Gabrielle Mowery, Paige Holbrook, and Ava Borgerding star as the Preston Rivulettes in Theatre NDSU’s “Glory.”

Justin Eiler / Contributed

While this play ran for two weekends in early December, the North Dakota State University production was up against some stiff competition for scheduling with holiday events. Still, the people that did make it out to see this stylish depiction of a

woman’s hockey team playing against all odds in the 1930s

loved the show. That’s including two representatives from Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, who selected the show to be staged at the Region 5 event in Rochester, Minnesota, Jan. 18 through 24.

As a fundraiser, the show will be produced again at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 16 at Akanase Auditorium with tickets available at the door for a freewill donation.

Guerrilla Girls go ape at the Plains Art Museum

2 GGirlspic.jpeg

Feminist artists and activists Guerrilla Girls speak about gender and racial inequity in the art world and museums at the Plains Art Museum on Jan. 22.

Contributed

The Plains Art Museum’s

current exhibit, “Women Artists: Four Centuries of Creativity,”

asks viewers to consider the role women played in art over the last 400 years. When the Guerilla Girls come on Jan. 22, they won’t ask anything, but rather force guests to examine gender and racial disparities in art and museums. The group of anonymous feminist artists and activists has confronted inequality in the art world for 40 years and will talk about the issue at a ticketed talk.

Heart and Lucinda Williams rock the rink

Photo Apr 07 2024, 5 27 11 PM.jpg

Sisters Nancy (second from left) and Ann (fourth from left) will bring the latest lineup of their band Heart to Scheels Arena on March 11.

Contributed / Ryan David

It’s been 23 years since

Heart played the area, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers will return, bringing the hits to Scheels Arena on March 11.

Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson will bring another iconic singer/songwriter to open, Americana legend Lucinda Williams.

Fargo Theatre throws a big birthday party

Fargo Theatre. David Samson / The Forum

The Fargo Theatre turns 100 in 2026.

Forum file photo

The countdown has started for the Fargo Theatre’s 100th birthday party. The celebration on March 15 will be just days before the annual Fargo Film Festival and while a slate of events hasn’t been announced yet, one highlight will be the restoration of the Art Deco theater, including

new seats,

paint, improved HVAC system and more. The main theater will be closed starting in January to allow for the work.

Nate Bargatze brings the laughs back to the Fargodome

Nate Bargatze press image (2025-25 tour).png

Nate Bargatze will return to the Fargodome in 2026.

Contributed

There aren’t many bigger comedians than Nate Bargatze, who sold more than a million tickets in 2024, the first time he played the Fargodome. He returns on

April 23 with more low-key, self-effacing humor.

FM Symphony and Opera go big on joint season finale

Christopher Zimmerman, music director of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, conducts the FM Youth Symphony alongside the FM Symphony Orchestra on the song, "Rainbow Body," by Christopher Theo Fanidis, on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025, at Festival Concert Hall, NDSU.

Christopher Zimmerman, music director of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, conducts the FM Youth Symphony alongside the FM Symphony Orchestra.

Chris Flynn / Forum file photo

The Fargo-Moorhead Opera and Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra are teaming up for a doozy of a concert. Both organizations are presenting a joint production of Puccini’s one-act show, “Il Tabarro.” The April 25 and April 26 shows will also include notable arias, duets and other powerful numbers from the opera canon. It’s a momentous way for both groups to end their seasons.

Alison Krauss comes down to the river to play

AKUS_Press Shot_ Approved.jpg

Alison Krauss & Union Station will play Bluestem Amphitheater in June.

Contributed

While she broke out nationally in 1995 with “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” and “When You Say Nothing at All,” Alison Krauss still has never come to the area. The long wait ends on June 16 when the

singing fiddler plays Moorhead’s Bluestem Amphitheater

with Union Station Featuring Jerry Douglas.

Becky Gulsvig returns to Trollwood

BeckyandStars (1).jpg

Becky Gulsvig (right) works with CeCe Bedore and Evan Froslie in Moorhead High School’s 2023 production of “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”

John Lamb / Forum file photo

When

Michael Walling announced he was leaving Trollowood

after the 2025 mainstage musical, the performing arts school needed a veteran director used to working with high school students to helm next summer’s “Frozen: The Broadway Musical.” Cue Becky Gulsvig. The

Moorhead native returns to Trollwood

where she starred in three musicals from 1998 through 2000. In the meantime she’s made a name for herself on and off Broadway as a musical actor, so she’s got the chops for the job. The show runs July 20 through Aug. 1.

Foo Fighters land at Fargodome

EM_01318-full-res-3400x1400.jpg

Foo Fighters will play the Fargodome on Sept. 12.

Contributed

After a relatively quiet concert year at the Fargdome, the buzz started early when it was announced that

Foo Fighters would make their Dome debut on Sept. 12.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are one of the biggest rock acts on the road and ticket sales are off to a strong start.

Concordia College cues up its 100th Christmas Concert

The Concordia College choirs and orchestra perform for the annual Concordia Christmas Concert on Dec. 6, 2025, at Concordia College Memorial Auditorium.

The Concordia College choirs and orchestra perform for the annual Concordia Christmas Concert on Dec. 6, 2025, at Concordia College Memorial Auditorium.

Chris Flynn / Forum file photo

The Fargo Theatre isn’t the only local institution with a big birthday coming up. Concordia College will celebrate its 100th Christmas Concert in December. It’s hard to imagine the annual event getting much bigger with more than 350 student musicians performing, but every year the show expands and improves in some way.

John Lamb

For almost 30 years John Lamb has been covering arts and entertainment in the Red River Valley. He started writing for the High Plains Reader in 1997 and moved to The Forum in 2002. He is an Annenberg fellow, an occasional judge for talent shows and food contestants and co-hosts the weekly “Gardening Together: The Podcast.” He’s rubbed shoulders with Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, drank with National Book Award winner Colm McCann, had coffee with Grammy-winning classical musician Peter Schickele and interviewed countless other artists, actors, musicians, writers and assorted interesting people. Contact John at [email protected].


link