Announcing Three Major UMS150 Commissions

By UMS

Dancer Sara Mearns, playwright Jessica Dickey, and composer Carlos Simon.

As the UMS prepares to celebrate its 150th season in 2028/29, the organization is investing in the future with three major commissions in dance, theater, and music.

The projects bring together internationally acclaimed artists, University of Michigan students, faculty, and alumni, and interdisciplinary university research partners to create new works that reflect the possibilities of artistic collaboration and the enduring importance of live performance.

The first commission, The Rose Sonata, premieres this month (on October 23-24) and features internationally-acclaimed dancers and choreographers Sara Mearns, Bobbi Jene Smith, and Or Schraiber.

A new full-length theater work by playwright Jessica Dickey, developed in partnership with the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), and the U-M Arts Initiative, will premiere during UMS’s 150th season in 2028/29 and feature SMTD theater students. The third commission, a work for orchestra and chorus by composer and U-M alumnus Carlos Simon, will premiere in late fall 2029, bringing the 16-month 150th anniversary celebration to a close.

“An anniversary of this scale is an opportunity to reflect on what UMS has meant to generations of artists and audiences, and to consider what we want the next 150 years to look like. These commissions are a true leadership moment for UMS that embodies our longstanding commitments to artists and investing in new works, to meaningful and innovative collaboration across disciplines here at the University of Michigan, and to the idea that the performing arts both celebrate our humanity and open up new ways of seeing and understanding our complex world. We’re enormously proud to celebrate this milestone by catalyzing these three ambitious new works into being.” — Matthew VanBesien, UMS president

Dance

The Rose Sonata by Lisa Spindler (@lisaspindlerstudio)

The first commission, The Rose Sonata, brings together three distinctive artistic voices: acclaimed New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns, and choreographers and performers Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber. The production will feature six dancers, including Mearns, Smith, and Schraiber, as well as two pianists who will perform live and be integrated into the choreography.

Premiering in October 2026, The Rose Sonata launches UMS’s 150th-season commissioning initiative, looking ahead to the anniversary through the creation of new work. Future tours of the work will carry UMS’s name on it in perpetuity.

“We’re thrilled to launch our commissioning initiative with a new dance work. One of UMS’s strategic goals has been to become more active in the producing space and to provide creative support directly to artists. With The Rose Sonata, UMS provided space on campus for the creative team to explore ideas and develop this new work during a three-week creative residency in Ann Arbor in June 2026 that brought together the performing company of six dancers and two pianists. Following the incubation period, the bespoke company continued to refine the work through two week-long intensive rehearsal periods in New York before setting the piece in the Power Center. It’s been exciting to watch the process of bringing together diverse yet complementary artistic perspectives and discovering what can happen when artists who work at the highest level in their respective fields collaborate to create something entirely new.” — Mark Jacobson, UMS vice president of programming & production

The Rose Sonata receives its world premiere Friday-Saturday, October 23-24 at Ann Arbor’s Power Center for the Performing Arts. The work is directed and choreographed by Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber in collaboration with dancers Jonathan Frederickson, Jessie Kovarsky, Sara Mearns, and Dan Santiago, and pianists/composers Mikael Darmanie and Yonatan Daskal. Lighting design is by Chris Gilmore, costume design by Victoria Bek, and sound design by Justin Saylor.

The production is possible thanks to support from presenting sponsors Alec Gallimore and Reates Curry, Mike and Kristie Martin, and Jon and Sandy Willen; principal sponsors Brian Willen and Monica Hakimi; and supporting sponsors David and Kiana Barfield Family Foundation, Marvin and Betty Danto Family Foundation, Steve Stancroff and Tamar Springer, and an anonymous donor.

Theater

Playwright Jessica Dickey

The second commission will bring playwright and performer Jessica Dickey to Ann Arbor to create a new full-length theater work that contends with the complex nature of firearms and gun violence in America.

The co-commission brings together UMS, the U-M Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention (U-M IFIP), U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and U-M Arts Initiative in an ambitious collaboration connecting artistic creation, academic research, and public engagement.

The work will premiere at the University of Michigan in the 2028/29 season as part of both the UMS mainstage season and the SMTD performance season, featuring SMTD theater students in the cast. The project will also include opportunities for student and community engagement, contextual learning, and dialogue informed by the university’s research and expertise.

The collaboration emerged from a conversation initiated by a family of UMS and University of Michigan supporters who recognized the need for greater academic and community engagement around firearm injury and prevention in America. Despite the profound impact of firearm injury on individuals, families, and communities, relatively few theatrical works have explored the subject’s complexity, particularly for adult audiences.

Rather than wait for such a work to emerge, UMS and University of Michigan partners chose to commission one. Jessica Dickey, whose acclaimed play The Amish Project explored a schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community, was selected as playwright. Her creative process will draw on U-M’s research resources to help inform the work while placing artistic expression at the center of the project. Performances and related learning opportunities will invite audiences to engage thoughtfully with the human experiences, social realities, and questions surrounding firearm injury and prevention.

“Some of the most difficult subjects are also the ones we most need ways to talk about together. Theater can hold complexity in a way that makes room for many human experiences at once. I’m excited to explore this subject through the creative process, working with students and drawing on the knowledge of the University of Michigan community. My hope is to create a work that invites audiences to listen, question, and think more deeply — not to prescribe a single answer, but to open up a meaningful conversation.” — Jessica Dickey

The project builds on UMS’s history of bringing artists and audiences together around challenging contemporary questions. By connecting the creative process with U-M’s research expertise and opportunities for community participation, the partners hope to foster thoughtful, nonpartisan discourse and a deeper understanding of firearm injury and prevention in America.

Lead funding for this commission is provided by Neil and Annmarie Hawkins.

Music

Composer and U-M alumnus Carlos Simon

The third commission will feature a new musical work by composer Carlos Simon, a University of Michigan alumnus whose work spans orchestral, chamber, vocal, and multimedia composition.

After receiving his doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 2017, Carlos Simon has become one of today’s most in-demand classical composers, serving as composer-in-residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (21/22 through 26/27), the Boston Symphony Orchestra (24/25 through 26/27), and the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam (26/27).

Scheduled to premiere in late fall 2029, Simon’s new work will serve as one of the milestone performances that closes UMS’s 16-month 150th-season celebration. His return to the University of Michigan as a commissioned composer adds a meaningful dimension to the anniversary, connecting UMS’s history of artistic presentation with the creative lives of artists who have studied, worked, and developed their voices within the university community.

The new commission is a multi-genre musical exploration of different views of religious and spiritual perspectives that will feature a full orchestra, chorus, and vocal soloists. Inspired by UMS’s long-standing tradition of presenting Handel’s Messiah, Simon’s work will look to many numerous divine sources, including spirituals, poetry by Langston Hughes and Robert Service, and writings by Rumi, Gandhi, and others.

“Returning to the University of Michigan to create a new work for UMS is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the experiences and influences that shape an artist over time. Music allows us to bring different histories, perspectives, and emotions into a shared experience. I’m honored to contribute to this milestone in UMS’s history, and I look forward to creating something that speaks to this moment while becoming part of the organization’s continuing story.” — Carlos Simon

Lead funding for this commission is provided by Alec Gallimore and Reates Curry.

Looking Ahead to the Next 150 Years

Together, the three commissions reflect the range and ambition of UMS’s artistic vision. The Rose Sonata celebrates the creative possibilities that emerge when artists collaborate across individual practices and highlights UMS’s commission to contemporary dance. Dickey’s theater commission connects artistic expression with university research and civic dialogue around a complex contemporary issue. Simon’s new musical work brings the anniversary to a close through the voice of an artist whose own history is deeply connected to UMS and the University of Michigan.

While distinct in form and subject, the three projects share a commitment to creating something that does not yet exist — and to inviting audiences into experiences that can inspire, challenge assumptions, foster empathy, and deepen connections.

“UMS has spent nearly 150 years providing opportunities for artists and audiences to create and experience extraordinary, uncommon, and truly unique moments on our stages. These commissions are an expression of that continuing purpose. We’re not simply marking an anniversary; we’re creating and investing in new work, building new partnerships, and making space for the ideas and artists that will shape UMS’s future.” — Matthew VanBesien, UMS President

UMS’s 150th-season celebration will encompass 16 months of performances, events, and special projects, beginning in September 2028 and continuing through December 2029.