Top Moments of 2024
2024 has been a transformative year of growth and outstanding programming at UMS! Join us as we revisit some of our favorite memories:
Starting With a Bang
Marlon Brando in The Godfather
2024 kicked off with a concert experience audiences couldn’t refuse…a film-in-concert presentation of The Godfather Live in Hill Auditorium. The Grand Rapids Symphony brought Nino Rota’s celebrated score to life, giving Francis Ford Coppola’s epic film a full sensory experience.
Snow Day School Day Performance
Mariachi Herencia de México in Hill Auditorium. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
Ann Arbor schools were shut down because of inclement weather on the same day as our much-anticipated School Day Performance by Mariachi Herencia de México. Thankfully, we were able to livestream the performance and make it available to watch and listen on demand for nearly 60 classrooms and 5,000 students!
A New World Premiere
Standing ovation after the world premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s When the Caged Bird Sings. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
A huge collaboration between UMS and the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance featured a new commission and world premiere by American composer Nkeiru Okoye. When the Caged Bird Sings fused elements of oratorio, theater, and opera in a multi-movement musical ceremony, performed live in Hill Auditorium and recorded for a future album release on the Naxos label.
Martha Graham, Martha Graham!
Martha Graham Dance Company performing Rodeo in the Power Center. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
The iconic Martha Graham Dance Company presented a novel twist on Agnes de Mille’s classic Rodeo, with Aaron Copland’s score reorchestrated for a bluegrass ensemble. Their program also included a new work, We the People, set to music by Rhiannon Giddens (perhaps foreshadowing Giddens’ return to UMS in the Fall…more on that below!).
The company immersed itself on the U-M campus and in the Ann Arbor community through masterclasses, a free You Can Dance! event for dancers of all ages and experiences, and a School Day Performance.
Two Superstar Debuts
Yunchan Lim and Klaus Mäkelä with Orchestre de Paris. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
The Orchestre de Paris returned to Hill Auditorium for the first time since 2002, featuring the UMS debuts of two young superstar artists — music director Klaus Mäkelä and Van Cliburn gold medal-winning pianist Yunchan Lim — in a thrilling program of Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky.
Weeks after their performance, Mäkelä was named music director designate of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Lim will be back in April 2025 for his UMS solo recital debut, performing J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
Undeniable Joy
Samara Joy performing in Hill Auditorium. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
The 2023 Grammy winner for Best Jazz Vocal Album AND Best New Artist made a dazzling UMS debut to a nearly sold-out crowd in Hill Auditorium. Check out this timelapse of enthusiastic audience members waiting their turn to meet Joy after her performance!
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Back to the Freighthouse
Freighthouse crowd dancing to Las Guaracheras. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
UMS presented multi-week residencies at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse in April and September, featuring an eclectic array of free or pay-what-you-wish performances and events for multi-generational audiences.
The Largest Gift in UMS History
UMS Board of Directors co-chairs Brian Willen and Christina Kim, Dick Caldarazzo and Eileen Weiser, and UMS president Matthew VanBesien
With a generous gift of $5 million, University of Michigan alumna Eileen Weiser and her husband Richard “Dick” Caldarazzo established the Weiser Caldarazzo Iconic Artists Endowment Fund at UMS. The fund supports two performances annually by significant artists or ensembles recognized as icons in today’s vibrant performing arts scene.
An Only-at-Michigan Kind of Residency
Kayhan Kalhor and Yo-Yo Ma. Photo by Eric Bronson.
Last year, Yo-Yo Ma’s management team approached UMS about an opportunity to host a one-of-a-kind musical gathering. After months of complex planning and preparation, this project came fully to life with a residency by the Orchestra of the Americas and a culminating sold-out performance with Yo-Yo Ma and Kayhan Kalhor.
Learn more about the residency or watch our recap video below:
Huge Student Turnout for Fight Night
U-M students attending Fight Night. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
Our 24/25 mainstage season began with Fight Night, an interactive theater work centered around voting and democracy. Students made up over 40% of the audience across six performances, which included class groups from a diverse range of academic disciplines across the U-M campus: College of Engineering, Ford School of Public Policy, Knight-Wallace Journalism fellows, and departments of history, psychology, and acting, just to name a few!
A New Artist-In-Residence at U-M
Rhiannon Giddens and Silkroad Ensemble in American Railroad. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
The Silkroad Ensemble, founded by Yo-Yo Ma and now led by Rhiannon Giddens, brought its American Railroad tour to Ann Arbor. The project illuminates the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on the indigenous communities it displaced and the immigrant laborers who built it, and includes commissions by jazz artist Cécile McLorin Salvant and renowned pipa player Wu Man, as well as new arrangements by Giddens and other Silkroad musicians.
Listen to Silkroad Ensemble’s new American Railroad album
Days before the concert, it was announced that Rhiannon Giddens will become the University of Michigan Arts Initiative’s inaugural U-M Artist-in-Residence. This new program aims to bring innovative artists to campus in order to create, grow and impact the world while engaging the university community in the transformative power of the arts.
Bringing Jazz to the World
Tyshawn Sorey Trio at the Blue LLama. Photo by Peter Smith Photography.
UMS collaborated with Blue LLama Jazz Club to present Pulitzer prize-winning drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey and his trio in two unique sets in the gorgeous downtown Ann Arbor space. Both sets sold out quickly, but free HD livestreams enabled us to share them with a global audience that included viewers and listeners as far away as Brazil and Finland!
A Milestone Visit
A standing ovation after Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5. Photo by Rob Davidson
The Berliner Philharmoniker has a rich history of performances in Hill Auditorium dating back to 1955 — the first year the orchestra ever toured the United States. In addition to two stunning, sold-out performances in Hill Auditorium, their return in November included extensive opportunities for audience and community engagement off the stage.
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