Blog

Many of us began our relationship with classical music by participating in band in elementary school, middle school, high school, college and beyond. This week, we’re celebrating this connection with a contest. Submit your best old photos. Winner (selected by a panel of UMS Staff well-versed in band photos) receives a pair of tickets to the legendary Canadian Brass! Three runners up will receive iTunes giftcards.

UMS first presented Handel’s Messiah in December of 1879. We’re kicking off a webisode series of Messiah Memories. In this episode, Jerry Blackstone, long-time Messiah conductor, forgets his jacket on the day of the performance. Comment below with your own Messiah Memories!

Editor’s Note: UMS will present “A Night in Treme:The Musical Majesty of New Orleans,” a night of New Orleans jazz featuring the Rebirth Brass Band, this Friday, November 11 at Hill Auditorium….

UMS is presenting AnDa Union from Inner Mongolia this Wednesday, November 9th. Discover this group’s incredible history, and learn more about Asia Series at UMS in the video below.

Audra McDonald performed at Hill Auditorium on Nov 4. A brief Q&A session with U-M Musical Theatre students preceded the performance. Sarah Bichsel, UMS Social Media Intern, attended and transcribed this session.

George Shirley, U of M Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Voice, discusses the rise of the countertenor and the history of castrati. UMS presents French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in with Apollo’s Fire baroque orchestra on November 3rd at Hill Auditorium.

Flamenco is a living art form. Joseph Pratt, a flamenco and classical guitarist of 20 years, guides through this extraordinary music, and introduces Diego el Cigala, one of today’s most exciting flamenco singers and musicians.

The Gate Theatre Dublin is synonymous with the works of Samuel Beckett, having toured productions throughout the world from Beijing to New York, Sydney to Toronto and London to Melbourne. Leslie Stainton interviews Gate’s artistic director Michael Colgan. Topics covered: Do actors think of Beckett as a sadist? Is theatre the art of loss? And what of Beckett’s genius?

Samuel Beckett once said about adapting from text to theater: “to ‘act’ it is to kill it.” Akiva Gottlieb explores the audacity of Gate Theatre Dublin’s adaptation, featuring Barry McGovern, of Beckett’s novel WATT.