Our Choral Union Series Returns!

By UMS

Remember that feeling you get when the lights go down and the oboe begins tuning? Or when the eagerly-anticipated recitalist comes on stage? And the feeling at the end of a concert, when you and other music lovers leave the hall exclaiming over the heart-stoppingly beautiful performance you just experienced together?

We invite you to join us next season — to live the moment and be reminded once again just how special it is to experience incredible live performances together.

We look forward to sharing performances by some of the world’s most renowned ensembles and soloists, including six great orchestras that will appear on the Hill Auditorium stage.

Packages start at just $184 (for all 11 concerts!) and as a subscriber, your concert-going experience will be made easy with perks like:

• Same seat renewal for Choral Union subscribers back to the 2019/20 season
• Access to the best seats at the best prices, before individual tickets go on sale to the general public
• Risk-free ticket returns, refunds, and exchanges
• Free parking
• Installment billing and payroll deduction options
• Great discounts on all UMS events all year long!

Subscribe to the Choral Union Series

Renew Your Choral Union Series

Listen to our Choral Union Series Playlist on Apple Music or Spotify:

Sir András Schiff, piano

Friday, October 7 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Sir András Schiff brings masterful and intellectual insights to his performances which have inspired audiences and critics alike. The program will include works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, with each selection introduced from the stage.

Principal Sponsors: Susan and Richard Gutow
Supporting Sponsors: Sid Gilman and Carol Barbour and Maurice and Linda Binkow
Patron Sponsor: Ed and Natalie Surovell

Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise

Friday, October 14 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise combines a symphony orchestra, a jazz orchestra, and a chorus in a 12-movement arc built on the structure of the Blues, moving from uplifting and energetic to dark and distressing, and finally to Marsalis’s vision of the “togetherness and ascendance” of humanity.

Residency Sponsors: Elaine and Peter Schwetizer
Supporting Sponsor: Anthony Reffells

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
with Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello

Wednesday, October 19 // 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Electrifying conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla brings the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to Ann Arbor as part of a limited US tour with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

PROGRAM

Benjamin Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Edward Elgar Cello Concerto in e minor, Op. 85
Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel Symphony
Claude Debussy La mer

Permanently Endowed Support: Ilene H. Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund

Berliner Philharmoniker
in two different programs

Friday, November 18 // 8 pm
Saturday, November 19 // 8:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

The Berlin Philharmonic’s new chief conductor, Kirill Petrenko, makes his UMS debut with this two-concert residency.

FRIDAY PROGRAM

Andrew Norman Unstuck
W.A. Mozart Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 207
Erich Korngold Symphony in F-Sharp Major, Op. 40

SATURDAY PROGRAM

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 7

Principal Sponsor: Wacker Chemical
Funded in part by Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation

Itzhak Perlman & Friends

Saturday, December 10 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

For this special performance in Hill Auditorium, superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman brings together pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet as well as the Juilliard String Quartet for a mixed chamber music program.

PROGRAM

Jean-Marie Leclair Sonata for Two Violins in e minor, Op. 3, No. 5
W.A. Mozart Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 493
Ernest Chausson Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21

Supporting Sponsor: Oxford Companies
Funded in part by Samuel and Marilyn Krimm Endowment Fund and Susan B. Ullrich Endowment Fund

Sphinx Symphony Orchestra
EXIGENCE (Eugene Rogers, music director)

Sunday, January 29 // 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra of top Black and Latinx professional musicians from around the country presents its first national tour. Tito Muñoz conducts, and Aundi Moore is the soprano soloist.

PROGRAM

Carlos Simon Motherboxx Connection
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Ballade for Orchestra
Valerie Coleman Seven O’Clock Shout
Michael Abels Delights and Dances
Traditional, arr. Augustus Hill Fix Me, Jesus
Carlos Cordero Holding Our Breath
Joel Thompson Seven Last Words of the Unarmed
John Legend / Common, arr. Eugene Rogers “Glory” from Selma

Joshua Bell, violin

Tuesday, February 7 // 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Joshua Bell returns for his fifth recital program and ninth appearance under UMS auspices since his 1989 Hill Auditorium debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Program to be announced.

Principal Sponsor: Karl V. Hauser and Ilene H. Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund

Brno Philharmonic

Friday, February 10 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Dennis Russell Davies and the Brno Philharmonic perform works from Leoš Janáček and William Bolcom alongside the UMS Choral Union, brass players from SMTD, and organist Christian Schmitt.

PROGRAM

Leoš Janáček Sinfonietta
William Bolcom Humoresk for Organ and Orchestra
Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass

Supporting Sponsor: Frances Mauney Lohr Choral Union Endowment Fund

Daniel Hope, violin
Zurich Chamber Orchestra

Friday, March 17 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

After its stunning performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons along with Max Richter’s version of the same, violinist Daniel Hope returns with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in a new program that takes a deep dive into the rich repertoire of American music, exploring its roots and distinctive qualities.

PROGRAM

Aaron Copland “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo
Duke Ellington “Come Sunday” from Black, Brown and Beige
Florence Price Adoration
Kurt Weill American Song Suite
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Aaron Copland “At the River” from Old American Songs
Philip Glass Echorus
George Gershwin Song Suite

Chineke! Orchestra

Saturday, March 25 // 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Founded in 2015 to provide career opportunities to young Black and ethnically diverse classical musicians in the UK and Europe, the Chineke! Orchestra makes its UMS debut. Andrew Grams conducts, with Elena Urioste as violin soloist.

PROGRAM

Carlos Simon Fate Now Conquers
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto in g minor
Florence Price Symphony No. 1 in e minor