Introducing the 26/27 Season

By UMS

Watch our 30-second trailer

Musical giants. Groundbreaking dance. No Safety Net theater. A focus on Arts & Wellness. Welcome to UMS’s 148th season.

Explore All 26/27 Events

View 26/27 Season Ticket Packages

Or browse season highlights below.

For Patrons & Season Ticketholders

Current subscribers can renew their series starting Tuesday, April 28 at 10 am. Season ticket packages are available to the general public starting Tuesday, May 5.

Individual event tickets go on sale Tuesday, July 28, 2026.

For the Press

View Full Press Release (PDF)

Season Highlights

Orchestras & Recitalists in Hill Auditorium

Franz Welser-Möst conducting The Cleveland Orchestra

World-renowned ensembles and virtuoso soloists deliver a UMS Choral Union Series of exceptional artistry, star power, and unforgettable performances:

• The Cleveland Orchestra and music director Franz Welser-Möst return to Ann Arbor for the first time in 15 years, opening the 26/27 season. (Fri Sep 25, 2026)
• Three phenomenal pianists present solo recitals over the course of the season: Bruce Liu* (Wed Oct 28, 2026), Seong-Jin Cho (Sun Mar 14, 2027), and Yuja Wang (Thu Apr 8, 2027).
• Legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma reunites with pianist Emanuel Ax for an evening of masterful collaboration, celebrating decades of shared artistry and musical connection. (Thu Dec 10, 2026)
• Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Brass section join celebrated organist Paul Jacobs in a special performance showcasing Hill Auditorium’s Frieze Memorial Organ. (Thu Feb 4, 2027)
• As part of an extended arts and wellness residency at UMS, the London Symphony Orchestra presents two different programs led by Sir Antonio Pappano, featuring violinist Maxim Vengerov and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, respectively. (Wed-Thu Mar 3-4, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artist

Groundbreaking Dance

Marks of RED by Shamel Pitts | TRIBE

Experience visionary choreographers and boundary-defying performers in a dynamic exploration of movement, from bold new commissions to minimalist masterworks:

• Shamel Pitts | TRIBE returns with its newest work, Marks of RED, an Afrofuturistic meditation dance piece featuring the viewpoints of six women. (Sat-Sun Oct 3-4, 2026)]
• As part of the leadup to our 150th season in 28/29, UMS is commissioning a new dance work with New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns* and co-choreographers and dancers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber. (Sat-Sun Oct 23-24, 2026)
• Legendary choreographer Lucinda Childs is known for her close association with composer Philip Glass, who celebrates his 90th birthday in 2027. New Works by Lucinda Childs features a landmark new piece for 10 dancers, with music that was originally composed for, but never used in, Einstein on the Beach. (Fri-Sat Apr 2-3, 2027)
• In The Butterfly Who Flew Into the Rave, venture to Detroit’s Andy Arts Center to witness the chaotic bliss of a three-day rave, condensed into a single hour and performed by Oli Mathiesen Co* from New Zealand and Detroit’s Suburban Knight*. (Fri-Sat Apr 30–May 1, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artists

Choral and Operatic Masterworks

Joyce DiDonato

Incredible voices unite in performances of extraordinary emotional depth:

• The Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, UMS Choral Union, and outstanding soloists perform Mozart’s Requiem, widely considered one of his most sublime works. (Fri Nov 13, 2026)
• Handel’s Messiah is brought to life each year by friends and colleagues from the community who perform with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union. (Sat-Sun Dec 5-6, 2026)
• Joyce DiDonato returns with Il Pomo d’Oro and conductor Maxim Emelyanychev for a concert performance of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, also featuring tenor and U-M alumnus Nicholas Phan. (Sun Feb 7, 2027)
• Conductor Scott Hanoian leads Ralph Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, joined by soprano Christine Goerke and baritone Norman Garrett. (Sat Feb 13, 2027)
• Bach specialist Masaaki Suzuki returns to conduct J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, one of the composer’s great masterpieces, with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir. (Sat Feb 20, 2027)

No Safety Net

Zach Zucker as ‘Jack Tucker’ in Jack Tucker Comedy Standup Show

Our daring No Safety Net theater series returns, putting the spotlight on artists who fuse performance art and storytelling to explore everything from personal struggle to global injustice:

• Equal parts parody, performance art, and masterclass in comedic tension, Jack Tucker Comedy Standup Show is the misguided brainchild of Zach Zucker*, a performer who is celebrated for blending virtuosic clowning with razor-sharp satire. (Wed-Sun Nov 18-22, 2026)
• Watch Me Walk is a hilarious dark, biting, and compassionate new play about disability, pity, injustice, family mythologies, and the absurdities of the American health care system, expertly performed by Anne Gridley*. (Thu-Sun Jan 21-24, 2027)
• When I Saw the Sea is a powerful new theater work by director and choreographer Ali Chahrour that confronts Lebanon’s kafala system — a structure that binds migrant domestic workers to their employers and enables widespread exploitation, abuse, and erasure. (Fri-Sat Jan 29-30, 2027)
• Australian comedian Sam Kissajukian* transforms a deeply personal journey into 300 Paintings, a critically acclaimed show blending comedy and visual art to explore bipolar disorder, creativity, and recovery. (Thu-Sun Feb 18-21, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artists

Celebrating Wynton Marsalis

Wynton Marsalis

These performances are part of Wynton Marsalis’s final season as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center and music director of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. We celebrate Wynton and the JLCO for their dozens of magnificent performances at UMS over the past 30+ years.

• Acclaimed actor Wendell Pierce narrates Wynton Marsalis’s 2019 masterpiece The Ever Fonky Lowdown, combining droll commentary with soulful, big band-backed vocals. (Sat Apr 24, 2027)
• Join us as we celebrate the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s 28th UMS concert — and Wynton Marsalis’s 31st and final Ann Arbor appearance with the Orchestra (Sun Apr 25, 2027)

Powerhouse Jazz and Contemporary Vocalists

Samara Joy

Distinctive voices and styles offer a dynamic celebration of contemporary musical expression:

• Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers* deliver an electrifying, genre-blurring sound that moves effortlessly between rock, jazz, folk, and beyond. (Fri Oct 2, 2026)
• Jazz sensation and six-time Grammy award winner Samara Joy returns to Hill Auditorium after her sold-out 2024 UMS debut. (Fri Oct 9, 2026)
• Gregory Porter brings his unique blend of jazz, soul, and gospel to Ann Arbor for the first time since 2014. (Thu Feb 11, 2027)
• Unparalleled in the breadth and versatility of her artistry as both a singer and an actress, Audra McDonald returns to UMS for her ninth appearance since her debut in 2000. (Sun Apr 18, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artist

Arts & Wellness @ Michigan

Anne Gridley in Watch Me Walk

Explore the powerful intersections of creativity, mental health, and lived experience, bringing together performances and programs that illuminate how art can support personal and collective well-being:

• UMS is proud to partner with the London Symphony Orchestra and Michigan Medicine for a multi-day arts residency that will include numerous events, activities, demonstrations, and talks, all related to a theme of music and wellness. (March 2027)
• In Watch Me Walk, New York theater legend Anne Gridley brings her delightfully frank, gleefully experimental, and profound new work embodying the absurdity of navigating both disability and others’ perceptions of it. (Thu-Sun Jan 21-24, 2027)
• Over the course of what turned out to be a six-month manic episode, Sam Kissajukian went from being a comedian to a visual artist, creating over 300 large-scale paintings and unknowingly documenting his mental state through the process. His one-man theater piece, 300 Paintings, tells his story with humor, charm, and honesty (Feb 18-21, 2027)

Collaborative Chamber Artists

Thomas Dunford and Théotime Langlois de Swarte

Intimate performances that span centuries and styles, highlighting the richness and innovation of chamber music:

• The Sphinx Virtuosi celebrate our country’s ever-evolving story through reimagined classics and newly commissioned works, including a bold, new song cycle composed by Damien Geter and performed by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges*. (Sun Oct 18, 2026)
• Jason Vieaux* joins the Escher Quartet for a program of rarely heard music written for string quartet and guitar. (Sun Nov 8, 2026)
• Following his UMS debut last season alongside the Imani Winds, composer and percussionist Andy Akiho returns with his steelpan and the Brooklyn-based ensemble Sandbox Percussion*. (Sun Nov 15, 2026)
• The Isidore String Quartet and clarinetist Anthony McGill return to perform quintets by Brahms and Mozart, along with a new piece by U-M alumnus James Lee III. (Fri Dec 18, 2026)
• With its new cellist, Mihai Mirica, joining the ensemble following the retirement of founding member András Fejér, the Takács Quartet returns with pianist Jeremy Denk. (Fri Feb 5, 2027)
• Violinist and early music specialist Théotime Langlois de Swarte returns with lute player Thomas Dunford*, celebrating Baroque works from their album, The Mad Lover. (Wed Mar 17, 2027)
• The Rosamunde Quartet — composed of members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Kammerakademie Potsdam — unites to bring world-class artistry and a shared passion for chamber music to audiences. (Thu Apr 22, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artist

Music from the Americas

Lupita Infante

Celebrate the vibrant evolution of Latin American musical traditions, with artists who honor their cultural roots while boldly reimagining them for today’s global stage:

• Mexican American singer Lupita Infante* brings a fresh, modern voice to traditional mariachi and ranchera, carrying forward the legacy of her family while redefining it for a new generation. (Sat Oct 17, 2026)
• The C4 Trío*, a groundbreaking Venezuelan ensemble, redefines the cuatro. Led by virtuoso Héctor Molina, the group blends folk roots with jazz, Latin, and pop influences to create a uniquely rich and versatile sound. (Thu Jan 28, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artists

UMS at the Michigan Theater

Julian Lage

UMS returns to the Michigan Theater for two performances in the 26/27 season:

• Acclaimed guitarist Julian Lage* joins forces with bassist Jorge Roeder, keyboardist John Medeski, and drummer Kenny Wollesen for a dynamic quartet that blends jazz, folk, and beyond into spontaneous, deeply collaborative music. (Sat Nov 7, 2026)
• Oscar nominated filmmaker and U-M alumnus Sam Green* joins forces with writer and environmentalist Rebecca Solnit for TREES — a film documenting humankind’s relationship to our Earthly cohabitants. The film features actress Judi Dench, poet laureate Ada Limon, and is accompanied by live narration and music. (Sat Feb 27, 2027)

* indicates UMS debut artist

Discover all upcoming events. Additional 26/27 Season programming — including School Day Performances, Family and Digital presentations, plus our Fall residency at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse — will be announced over the coming months.