Discover new music with this one-of-a-kind series. Debuting in 2024, this experimental program will share the talents of musicians performing in diverse musical genres. Produced by local music professionals and set against the iconic backdrop of our Queen Anne Victorian mansion, this will be an evening of musical entertainment that you can only experience at Brucemore.

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Music at the Big House: Themes of the Digital Age

Brucemore

Come see what we cook up with some of the best musicians & performers in a big melting pot of styles and forms. This show, created specifically for Brucemore, is one weekend only. In the setting of this Iowa treasure, come enjoy the camaraderie of fellow community and the talent of people you know – and don’t yet know – and be surprised, surprised, surprised by what they do!

Music in the Courtyard: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Music in the Courtyard: What’s in a Name

Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score, The Light in the Piazza will sweep you off your feet as it transports you to the summer of 1953 in sun-drenched Florence. Margaret Johnson, an elegant and strong-willed Southern woman, has taken her daughter Clara on a vacation to Italy. A fateful gust of wind blows Clara’s hat right into the hands of a young Italian gentleman, and it’s amore at first sight. But Clara isn’t quite what she appears, and soon they must all confront a secret that’s been kept in the shadows for far too long. With soaring operatic melodies, The Light in the Piazza 

The Light in the Piazza – TCR Outdoors at Brucemore

The first 2024 Artisan Studio Showcase kicks off with singer-songwriter Marcy Each telling stories through her original songs. Her first album was recorded in Nashville and her most recent album, which is being recorded right here on the Brucemore estate with co-producers Jim Coates and Brucemore Artisan-in-Residence Gerard Estella. Bring your own chair (or blanket), picnic, and beverage to enjoy great music under the stars on the Artisan Studio Lawn.

Artisan Studio Showcase: Marcy Each

Whatever you do, don’t let the Pigeon star in his own musical production! With a script by Mo Willems, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! is even more fun than staying up late and having a hot dog party! It’s not easy being the Pigeon – you never get to do ANYTHING! But when the Bus Driver has a crisis that threatens to make her passengers (gasp!) late, maybe that wily bird CAN do something.

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! – TCR Outdoors at Brucemore

Join us for a Friday Night Out with the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio at Brucemore. This workshop is for guests 21+ and participants are welcome to BYOB.

During this workshop, participants will sculpt a beautiful, fluted vase using various hand-building techniques and tools to create texture and movement in their creation. This project is perfect to personalize your potted plants!

Art at Brucemore: Friday Night Out

Music at the Big House: In the Round

Relax and reconnect with friends and neighbors at Brucemore! Join us for a cocktail party with excellent food, delicious drinks, good company, and easygoing ambience. Your ticket includes food, drinks, and fun – the best combination! Capacity is limited for this one night event.

A Night Out at Brucemore

‘ annual statewide tour shares inspiring artistry alongside interactive science activities. This year the ballet company will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Tom Mattingly’s new work Love Letters, following an afternoon of interactive STEM and arts activities. Come experience the whimsy of storytelling, the wonder of night, and the magic of our community. Community STEM programming explores the sounds and habits of nocturnal animals, constellation maps, moon cycles, and the science of sleep and dreaming.

Ballet Des Moines' Summer STEM Tour

Move from the cold of winter to the freedom of summer with this multi-disciplinary performance in Brucemore’s formal garden. Enjoy poetry, dance, and music set against a background of blossoming flowers. With new works and familiar songs, audiences will join in the artists’ exploration of mental well-being while welcoming the warmth of a new season. Featuring poets Ruth Thomas and co-producer Kelsey Bigelow, dancers Maddy Benidt and Madi Brauer and, music by Kelsey Madsen, and Gerard Estella.

Hello Summer

Satisfy your curiosity about Brucemore! This 90-minute all-access guided tour takes you across the estate and inside rarely-seen rooms of the mansion. Peek inside typically closed buildings built for servant housing or hobby use, discover the curiosities and oddities of the mansion, and get the answer to a frequently-asked question – what is behind that door?  As part of this tour, you will see the infamous mansion basement and experience the sights and sounds of a “rainstorm” in the Tahitian Room, which is an exclusive perk of the Nooks and Crannies tour!

Nooks & Crannies Tour – SOLD OUT

Discover over a century of Cedar Rapids history during Spring Break at Brucemore! From Wednesday, March 13 through Sunday, March 17, all visitors receive the student ticket rate for self-guided tours. Whether you are young or simply young at heart, everyone is a kid when they visit Brucemore during spring break. Tickets for tours of the mansion are available for advance sale on our website. Guests may also purchase tickets the day of their visit, subject to availability. Tour entry times are limited and can sell out. Following your tour, Brucemore welcomes you to explore the 26-acres of grounds and gardens on your own at no additional cost.

$5 Spring Break Tours!

A Modern Salon

In the glow of thousands of twinkling lights, enjoy a showcase of over a dozen Christmas trees and relish in the magic of the Brucemore mansion at night. Our Holiday Nights experience gives guests the opportunity for self-guided exploration of four floors of holiday splendor, including the famous basement Tahitian Room and Grizzly Bar. This breathtaking view of Brucemore is sure to bring Christmas alive for the whole family.

Holiday Nights: A Brucemore Christmas Experience

Santa Claus is coming to Brucemore, and he wants to meet all the little ones in Cedar Rapids to make sure they made the Nice List this year. So, kids, make sure to bring your wish list to share with Santa, and adults, have that camera ready for the perfect snapshot! While at Brucemore visiting Santa, check-out the other holiday activities inside the mansion, including a craft and story time.

Santa, Snacks, and Stories

This self-guided tour of three floors of the mansion is sure to fill you with holiday cheer! Explore our award-winning holiday experience, complete with over a dozen dazzling Christmas trees, sparkling seasonal décor, and a peek into the holiday seasons of yore at Brucemore. Follow in the footsteps of the families of Brucemore as you wander through three floors of history and holiday spirit.

A Brucemore Christmas: Self-Guided Tours

Roll up your sleeves and create a magical holiday tree! Form your tree using hand-building techniques and then use scissors and other tools to create the boughs and branches. Finally, paint on colored glaze and add decorations to your tree to create depth to your project. All materials and instructions are provided, and no experience is necessary to participate!

Art at Brucemore: Ceramic Holiday Tree

As a thank you for your generosity and support, we invite Brucemore donors to a special holiday preview the week before we open to the public. This self-guided tour of the mansion is sure to fill you with holiday cheer!

Donor Holiday Preview

Brucemore is partnering with the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio to bring a brand new ceramics workshop to the site,  just in time for spooky season! In this workshop, participants will build their own unique witch’s hat using various hand-building techniques. Once the hat is the perfect size and shape, participants can add spook-tacular decorations to their creations with colored glazes and various textures.

Art at Brucemore: Witch’s Hat

Take a peek behind the curtain and witness the artistic journey at Brucemore’s Live from the Artisan Studio series, featuring Jake Stack. Jake has spent the summer on-site at Brucemore writing, refining and recording his latest album, Prove It. Come out to enjoy his new music and hear first-hand about his experience and process within the Artisan Studio.

Live from the Artisan Studio: Jake Stack

Brucemore is partnering with the Iowa Ceramics Center and Glass Studio to bring you a project to personalize your potted plants! In this workshop, you will design your own glass plant stake to decorate your garden or planter. Participants will use geometric glass shapes to create this 3″x12″ art piece.

Art at Brucemore: Glass Plant Stake

What happens when you ask five powerhouse singers from different mediums – what songs have you always wanted to share with an audience? You get a show that is so large in scope that you need two weekends to make sure you can cover everything. Welcome to “Hear, There, and Everywhere,” featuring Jane Pini, Scott Dix, Alisabeth Von Presley, and Zane Hadish. If that isn’t big enough, they are backed by the Brucemore Boyz Band – Jim Coates, Gerard Estella, Lincoln Ginsberg, Greg Kanz, and Dave Nanke. Presenting a night of music and heart that you can sing along to. Hear the roars and the whispers, and the lows and the highs, of artists who have been here, there, and everywhere and have the t-shirts to prove it!

Music in the Courtyard: Hear, There, and Everywhere

During select Sundays this summer members of the Cedar Rapids Community Orchestra will perform in the Brucemore formal garden. Visitors are welcome to bring a seat and stay for the full performance or listen to the music while they take a stroll around the grounds. There is no charge to visit the garden, so these performances are free and open to all! While you’re here, consider completing your visit with a ticketed guided or self-guided tour of the mansion.

Music in the Garden Presented by Cedar Rapids Community Orchestra

Thursday, August 24 performance of A Little Night Music has been cancelled due to extreme heat. Current ticket holders may click here to exchange their tickets to another performance date of their choice. For questions about ticket exchanges, please contact TCR at 319-366-8591.

Theatre Cedar Rapids Live and Outdoors at Brucemore’s Peggy Boyle Whitworth Amphitheater

A Little Night Music – TCR Outdoors at Brucemore

Join Daren Barker, Lacie De Souza, and Layton White for a musical evening all about staying positive in the modern age and reveling in all the good things. A truly eclectic evening that brings together three very different performers focused on a lot of fun and thoughtful music. They will be joined by multi-instrumentalists EJ Swavv, Gerard Estella, and Dillon Rairdin.

Music in the Courtyard: Hope and Other Foolish Things

Alex the lion is the king of the urban jungle, the main attraction at New York’s Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends – Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo – have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them. Not content to leave well enough alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape – with the help of some prodigious penguins – to explore the world. Fun for the whole family!

Madagascar – TCR Outdoors at Brucemore

CR Opera Double Feature

From innocent beginnings to toxic conflict and enduring companionship, explore the many facets of romance and chemistry between two people with featured artists Caleb Woods and Melissa Tormene and musicians Jim Coates, Ethan Dix, Lincoln Ginsberg, and Dave Nanke.

Music in the Courtyard: Facets of Love

Art at Brucemore: Greek Key Terracotta Tile

Satisfy your curiosity about Brucemore! During this 90-minute all-access guided tour that takes you across the estate, peek inside typically closed buildings built for servant housing or hobby use, discover the curiosities and oddities of the mansion, and get the answer to a frequently-asked question – what is behind that door?  As part of this tour, you will see the infamous mansion basement and experience the sights and sounds of a “rainstorm” in the Tahitian Room, which is an exclusive perk of the Nooks and Crannies tour!

Nooks and Crannies Tour

The Brucemore summer season comes to a close with Hello Fall, set amid the beautiful formal garden. This original show blends music and other disciplines to creatively bid adieu to summer and celebrate the transition to autumn.

Tickets for Hello Fall will go on sale August 1. Stay tuned for more information about the performance!

Brucemore Inc

20 - 21 Sep, 2024

Hello Fall

13 - 14 Sep, 2024

Music at the Big House: Themes of the Digital Age

5 - 7 Sep, 2024

Music in the Courtyard: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Brucemore Inc