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I don’t know about you, but I am a fan of Philip Glass. My iPod contains everything from his symphonies to his string quartets, his film scores and solo piano music, and of course, his operas. I listen to him in the car, while I’m cooking, while I’m thinking, at the gym… sometimes you are just in a Philip Glass kind of mood. So, you can understand why I briefly stopped breathing when I received an email from a new music-singing friend last March entitled, “Interested in Einstein Revival?”

UMS presented Audra McDonald at Hill Auditorium on Nov 4 as part of the 11/12 season. Prior to the performance, Audra met with U-M Musical Theatre students for a Q&A session.

UMS first presented Handel’s Messiah in December of 1879. In this second webisode of our Messiah Memories series, Father Timothy Dombrowski, choral union member for over forty years, remembers “The Bat out of Hill.”

Widely credited as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century, Einstein on the Beach is a rarely performed and revolutionary work launched director Robert Wilson and composer Philip Glass to international success when it was first produced in Avignon, France in 1976. Lindsay Kesselman will sing with the Phillip Glass Ensemble for the duration of the opera’s 2012-2012 international tour. She’ll also be guest blogging on umsLOBBY.

Your chance to ask the young British ensemble Stile Antico some questions. Working without a conductor, the 12 members of Stile Antico rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing artistically to the end result. Their performances have been repeatedly praised for their vitality and commitment, expressive lucidity, and imaginative response to text.

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.