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Many artists presented by UMS over its 132-year history have a long and rich history of performances with the organization. Soprano Beverly Sills was certainly no exception. Throughout the 1970s, Beverly Sills made numerous appearances under UMS auspices, culminating with this, her final appearance in 1977, just a few short years before announcing her retirement in 1980.

Seiji Ozawa has been in the news often lately, most recently for the celebration of his 75th birthday on September 1 this year, and on his anticipated return to the podium after battling esophageal cancer and undergoing surgery for it in January. Maestro Ozawa has performed six times at Hill Auditorium.

I’m here in Ann Arbor to present my show Susurrus in the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The gardens at the Matthaei are particularly special and I’m thrilled with how the piece works there. This is the perfect time of year too. UMS has done such a great job in presenting the piece very carefully and making sure that audiences get a great experience.

This year, the Institute for Humanities gallery opens with John Cage’s installation, “Lecture on the Weather,” a multi-media presentation based on the writings of Thoreau that brings together speech, music, lighting, and a weather soundscape. The installation sets the stage for a year of fantastic presentations and programming university-wide that will consider experimental music, dance, and performance, and the value of revisiting and re-creating time-based work.

In honor of Single Ticket Day, we dug deep into our photo archive to share photos of past Single Ticket Days with you.

Today marks the 80th birthday of Paul Taylor, artistic director of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Mr. Taylor has been dancing and choreographing for over 60 years, enjoying a career that has fundamentally shaped the development of modern dance in America. In honor of Mr. Taylor’s extensive contributions to both modern dance and dance education, and in celebration of such a landmark birthday, we’ve compiled a history of the previous appearances of the Paul Taylor Dance Company at UMS.

TN2020 is a network for action which brings together emerging leaders from Europe and North America to revitalize transatlantic and global links for the future. Aged 25 to 35, the network includes young professionals from business, civil society, the arts, science and media who are on track to lead their professions and societies by 2020. I represented UMS and the arts along with a handful of other “creative types”… actors, fashion designers, dancers and educators.

Finally–the time has come! Thanks to the Ann Arbor District Library, we launched the beginnings of the UMS digital archive!

Michigan Today presents the history of the organ in Hill Auditorium, dating back more than 100 years.