“Place a sound on the moon. Bury a sound in the earth. Emit a sound into the sun.”

Written by composer Akari Komura, these are the instructions given to members of Regenerate! Orchestra as they rehearse “Sonic Habitat #93.” Their interpretations create a cacophony of noise on varied instruments from the flute and cello to pieces of slate, forks, and mugs, as performers search for sounds to embody the prompt.

Regenerate! is a non-traditional orchestra. Open to all, regardless of musical experience, the ensemble isn’t trying to harmonize or blend, but is instead inspired by shape note or sacred harp singing, an American folk tradition of choir music. “Everybody is trying to sound their own specific way, very loudly. And it ends up sounding messy and very alive,” explains founder and conductor Clay Gonzalez. “In the orchestra, it’s really about the ecosystem of sounds. It’s about everybody sounding different and their voice fitting in with this ecosystem of voices.”

Regenerate! Orchestra plays at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse, April 2023

Beginning as a collaboration between Clay and Peter Littlejohn on orchestra house concerts in 2018, Regenerate! has evolved overtime, centering around shared values of community building and making music a more democratic civic space. “I definitely went through a personal transformation where the world of classical music, as it is practiced, no longer felt like a home to me. And so the group definitely became a kind of refuge from the strictures of the classical music world, a place where we could explore a different system of values,” explains Clay.

Peter, who often performs vocals with the ensemble, notes that the group’s development follows Clay’s personal compositional practice, observing what was naturally happening in music spaces and encouraging particularly exciting elements. He shares a key realization that “we didn’t just have to work with our friends from music school. Honestly, this is music that was perhaps even better played by people from multiple different backgrounds and even no background in music whatsoever.”

Bryce Richardson confirms Regenerate! is unique, because “anybody can show up and play any instrument, at any skill level. If you’ve never read music before, or if you don’t even play an instrument, you can join Regenerate! and enjoy music making with a group of people.” Bryce, who has been part of the orchestra for two years, particularly enjoys Regenerate!’s flexible instrumentation. In the upcoming performances, he’ll play the bassoon, two recorders, kindling, two pieces of slate, a fork, and a glass.

Regenerate! Orchestra’s found percussion instruments

Peter adds that a highlight of Regenerate! is getting to know the participants who make music together in a meaningful way. “I think many people are incredibly alienated and live lives that are really socially starved and without much meaning or connection to other people. I want to have a richer social tapestry, and Regenerate! is a really powerful example of how that’s possible with a pretty broad pool of people.” A key component of fostering this connection and community are shared meals, which Peter cooks for each rehearsal. “We are asking people to show up and be vulnerable and try hard at something, which is a big ask. Feeding them is an essential part of that bargain.”

Shannon Rau is playing her euphonium for the first time in roughly five years. They describe Regenerate! as a vibrant, refreshing reintroduction to music, “It’s simultaneously meditative and energizing. It’s fun to have something to practice, a good reason to just sit down and play.” They especially appreciate the experimental nature of Regenerate!, jangling chains and breaking sticks in addition to playing the euphonium.

Hoda Bandeh-Ahmadi, who began performing with Regenerate! in 2022, had always wanted to play music with other people, but didn’t have many opportunities for lessons or formal training growing up. “I had picked up ukulele because it’s easier to get a cheap one and play around with YouTube tutorials. But I didn’t really think I was good enough to play anything with other people.” When Hoda heard about Regenerate!, she took a chance. “At first when I saw the way the music is written which is unconventional, I’m like, ‘Is that even gonna sound good?’ And I just loved how it all came together, the way that Clay planned it out. That felt really magical and fun. I also just loved the people. And it worked. I don’t stress so much if I’m good enough.” 

The score of “Stick Season”

The pieces are written using a specialized notation. Parts are guided by timers and written in brackets. Performers follow their bracketed instructions, which might be traditional music notation, guitar tabs, or descriptive text. This allows people at any level to participate , no matter their music practice. These scores serve as a guide, rather than a rulebook, with each iteration of the orchestra developing its own internal voice and sound.

Though anxious about performing on the flute for the first time since high school, Hazal Soyucengil enjoys the open endedness and casual nature of the orchestra, saying it’s nothing like music class or band. “I think it’s good to be in an environment where you’re not necessarily expected to know the answers.”

Over the course of rehearsals, Clay works with the orchestra to shape the pieces and guide the group into certain sounds or textures, but the end result is always a surprise — even to him. “This project is an exercise in letting go of expectations. It’s almost impossible to predict how it will sound.” 

On April 27 and 28, 2024, the orchestra will present four pieces, two by long-time members Maddy Wildman and Grey Rose Grant, one by Clay, and one from composer Akari Komura, who specializes in nature-centric text scores.

Bassoon player and UMS staff member Maddy Wildman wrote “Sugar Bush,” a piece about tapping trees for maple syrup and “embracing the sparkle of later winter.” It evokes the soundscape of a sugar bush, the forest stand of maple trees used for syrup, in spring. The performance will feature 22 performers dropping pebbles in water, mimicking the gentle sound of drops of sap falling into a bucket. Though initially written for a smaller group, Maddy says the piece will really shine with the Regenerate! Orchestra. “It was originally written for cello solo, but there are five cellists. So we’re going to spread them out around the room and have them all play the solo, slightly displaced. Yeah, this is where this piece belongs.”

Grey Rose Grant and Clay Gonzalez demonstrate the choreography of “Magical Thinking” in rehearsal.

Regenerate! is the best kind of orchestra according to Grey Rose Grant, who describes the project as deeply tied to their values. “This is such a community-forward organization. Everyone who comes gets a free meal for every rehearsal. There is no barrier to entry. There are so many ways in which people are able to engage at any level of experience or any instrument.” Grey’s composition “Magical Thinking” explores aging, life change, and death, featuring an erasure poem created from Annie Dillard’s essay on the 1979 total solar eclipse. They particularly look forward to audiences engaging with the piece. “It’s really special to see audiences sometimes be a little confused, but then realize what’s happening — to see them go from kind of reserved when it starts, maybe sitting in their seats, to then moving — walking around the space and really moving through the orchestra and listening to these tiny details.”

Peter adds that Regenerate! is an in-person, site-specific performance and explains the best seats in the house are the ones inside of the orchestra. “We’re trying to give that experience to everyone by allowing them to walk around and hear how the piece sounds different in each corner. You might be close to someone who’s making a very soft sound that that you’ll never hear across the room, but right next to them it comes into focus and unlocks a piece of the soundscape to you.”

We hope you can join us Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28 to hear Regenerate! Orchestra at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse.

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The Power of Together.

In the world of the performing arts, there are no dividing lines, but the shared rhythms and expressions of the human experience. Welcome to UMS’s 146th season.

Explore All 24/25 Events

View 24/25 Season Ticket Packages

or browse season highlights below

For Our Patrons & Season Ticketholders

Current 23/24 season subscribers can renew their series now! Learn more or flip through our interactive season brochure.

Season ticket packages go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, May 1.

Individual event tickets go on sale Tuesday, August 1.

For the Press

View Full Press Release (PDF)

Season Highlights:

Opening Week: You Decide the Winner

Fight Night by Ontroerend Goed

The 24/25 season opens with Ontroerend Goed’s Fight Night, a powerful, non-partisan theater work that speaks volumes about our current moment, human nature, and the coming election. Using a boxing ring as a metaphor for a political contest in a fun, yet thought-provoking, experience, Fight Night is part reality show, part arch commentary, and part provocation for all of us as voters and participants in our political process. (Wed-Sun, Sep 25-29, 2024)

Piano Phenoms

Isata Kanneh-Mason, Seong-Jin Cho, and Yunchan Lim

The 24/25 Choral Union Series includes three UMS solo recital debuts by a new generation of dynamic pianists who are taking the musical world by storm:

• Isata Kanneh-Mason opens the Choral Union series with a wide-ranging and eclectic recital program with works composed over a 168-year period by Austrian, German, Danish, Russian, and Polish composers (Thu, Oct 10, 2024)
• Seong-Jin Cho celebrates Ravel’s 150th birthday with a concert featuring the composer’s complete solo piano works — a monumental undertaking that will be performed in only a few select cities in 2025 (Fri, Feb 7, 2025)
• Yunchan Lim, the youngest musician to win the Van Cliburn Competition, closes the Choral Union Series in a program featuring Bach’s Goldberg Variations (Wed, Apr 23, 2025)

The Berliner Philharmoniker Returns

Hilary Hahn and Kirill Petrenko

UMS is thrilled to welcome the Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko back to Hill Auditorium in two different programs:

• In her first Ann Arbor appearance in two decades, violinist Hilary Hahn joins the Berliner Philharmoniker in Korngold’s heart-tugging violin concerto, alongside works by Rachmaninoff and Dvořák (Sat, Nov 23, 2024)
• Kirill Petrenko leads the Berliner Philharmoniker in his interpretation of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 (Sun, Nov 24, 2024)

Plus More Extraordinary Violinists

Anne-Sophie Mutter

The Choral Union Series showcases three additional outstanding violin soloists in the 24/25 Season:

• Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja makes her UMS debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and principal conductor Edward Gardner (Fri, Oct 18, 2024)
• Anne-Sophie Mutter performs her first UMS recital since 2013, featuring her longtime collaborator, pianist Lambert Orkis (Fri, Apr 4, 2025)
• Théotime Langlois de Swarte joins the early music ensemble Les Arts Florissants to celebrate the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (Wed, Apr 9, 2025)

Provocative Theater

Ulysses by Elevator Repair Service

After our opening week of Fight Night, a robust theater lineup continues across campus for the entire 24/25 Season:

• Seven performers of Elevator Repair Service present an eclectic sampling from James Joyce’s life-affirming masterpiece Ulysses, chronicling the experiences of three Dubliners on a single ordinary day in June 1904 (Sat-Sun, Oct 19-20, 2024)
• Natalie Palamides presents Nate — A One Man Show, which won wide acclaim at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018 before Amy Poehler produced it as a Netflix special (Wed-Sun, Feb 5-9, 2025)
• Peeping Tom blurs the lines between theater and dance in TRIPTYCH, a three-part dance-theater work that plunges the audience into a man’s mind within a labyrinth of missing doors, lost rooms, and hidden floors (Fri-Sat, Mar 28-29, 2025)
• Additional No Safety Net theater programming and contextual events will be announced later this year

Groundbreaking Dance

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan

Our 24/25 Dance and Dance-Theater Combined Series include:

• Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan returns to Ann Arbor for the first time since 2011 under the artistic direction of Cheng Tsung-lung, whose work 13 Tongues recalls his mother’s stories about a legendary street artist in the 1960s (Sat-Sun, Oct 26-27, 2024)
• Shamel Pitts and his arts collective TRIBE present Black Hole, in which three Black dancers share the stage in a narrative of unity, vigor, and unrelenting advancement (Fri-Sat, Mar 14-15, 2025)
• In Peeping Tom’s TRIPTYCH, created with Nederlands Dans Theater, the audience becomes the witness…or perhaps the voyeur…of what usually remains hidden and unsaid, taken into subconscious worlds to discover nightmares, fears, and desires (Fri-Sat, Mar 28-29, 2025)

Jazz Greats

Etienne Charles

Our Jazz Series is back in full force in the 24/25 Season with a lineup of living legends:

• Genre-defying composer and drummer Tyshawn Sorey and his trio, including pianist Aaron Diehl and bass player Matt Brewer, perform pieces from his album Mesmerism, which showcases the joy of improvising over songs from the Great American Songbook (Sat, Nov 16, 2024)
• Musician, composer, and storyteller Etienne Charles presents Earth Tones, a multimedia jazz performance featuring original compositions that draw attention to people and regions affected by climate change (Fri-Sat, Jan 17-18, 2025)
• Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra return to Hill Auditorium to continue to honor the rich heritage of jazz while presenting a stunning variety of new works from illustrious names (Sat, Feb 1, 2025)
• Three-time Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Branford Marsalis makes his debut with the Branford Marsalis Quartet in the Michigan Theater (Wed, Feb 19, 2025)
• Kurt Elling brings his contemporary lyricism and vocal ingenuity in celebration of Weather Report, one of jazz’s great supergroups, alongside Weather Report alumnus Peter Erskine (Fri, Apr 11, 2025)

Illuminating Perspectives

Rhiannon Giddens

• Silkroad Ensemble’s American Railroad project illuminates the impact of the Transcontinental Railroad and westward expansion on the communities it displaced, featuring new arrangements by Rhiannon Giddens and other Silkroad musicians (Fri, Nov 8, 2024)
• Third Coast Percussion and Zakir Hussain share the stage for the first time as part of a collaborative concert presentation that blends the timbres of tabla with a classically trained percussion ensemble (Sun, Feb 23, 2025)
• La Santa Cecilia, fronted by singer La Marisoul, takes the stage in a family-friendly concert featuring opening artist Sonia De Los Santos (Sun, Mar 9, 2025)
• Legendary composer, singer, and oud master Marcel Khalife returns to Ann Arbor for the first time in 20 years, joined by his son, virtuoso pianist Rami Khalife, and his nephew, cellist Sary Khalife in a concert that celebrates their musical legacy (Sat, Apr 5, 2025)

Chamber Arts Debuts

Branford Marsalis, Liz Ames, and Timothy McAllister

The six-concert Chamber Arts Series features three exciting UMS debuts:

• The New York-based Escher Quartet performs Mendelssohn’s anguished last major composition and Dvořák’s joyful final string quartet, along with Bartók’s Quartet No. 2, following their full Bartók quartet cycle in New York this spring (Sun, Nov 10, 2024)
• Saxophonist Branford Marsalis brings his classical chops to Rackham Auditorium in a chamber music evening featuring two members of the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance community: saxophone professor Timothy McAllister and collaborative pianist Liz Ames (Fri, Feb 21, 2025)
• The Rosamunde String Quartet unites esteemed musicians from renowned ensembles such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic (Wed, Mar 12, 2025)

One-of-a-Kind Collaborations

Joyce DiDonato and Kings Return

• The Ariel Quartet and cellist Alisa Weilerstein explore how folk music influences art music, with an uninterrupted suite of traditional folk music from around the world, along with pieces dating back to the origins of Western classical music (Thu, Dec 12, 2024)
• Charismatic a cappella quartet Kings Return has attracted millions of fans, including mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, who invited the group to collaborate for a special holiday program (Sat, Dec 14, 2024)
• Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane embark on their first large-scale collaboration with a new UMS co-commission that is inspired by the magical realism of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges’s 1939 short story, “The Library of Babel” (Thu, Jan 23, 2025)
• UMS presents Sergei Prokofiev’s 1938 Soviet historical drama, Alexander Nevsky, featuring the UMS Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra with conductor Scott Hanoian, performing the full score alongside the original film (Sat, Mar 22, 2025)

Annual Favorites

Takács Quartet

• Music director Scott Hanoian conducts the UMS Choral Union, four debuting vocal soloists, and the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah (Sat-Sun, Dec 7-8, 2024)
• The Takács Quartet celebrates its 50th anniversary with a program that pairs Haydn and Beethoven, two innovators of the string quartet form, with Benjamin Britten’s rarely-performed String Quartet No. 2 (Thu, Apr 24, 2025)

Discover all upcoming events at ums.org/season. Additional 24/25 Season programming — including School Day Performances, UMS Digital Presentations, and our Fall residency at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse — will be announced over the coming months.

Much of the composer’s work was forgotten or lost. Now she’s starting to receive the recognition she deserves.

Born in Arkansas in 1887, Florence Price was the first African-American woman composer to have her work performed by a major orchestra. Her Symphony No. 1 in e minor caught the attention of conductor Frederick Stock after it won first prize in the Rodman Wanamaker Competition. Stock premiered the work with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1933 as part of the Chicago World’s Fair exhibition. Price’s harmonic writing and arresting orchestration prompted the Chicago Daily News to declare it “a faultless work, a work that speaks its own message with restraint and yet with passion,” and “worthy of a place in the regular symphonic repertory.”

Price composed over 300 works, including four symphonies, four concertos, and chamber, choral, piano, and organ pieces. Her music is often influenced by folk music, church hymns, and spirituals. As music historian A. Kori Hill describes, “Hers was a conscientious practice of close study and subtle innovation in a style that incorporated African American folk idioms in Western classical forms. Price’s aesthetic…made her a central figure in the classical arena of the Black Chicago Renaissance.” She was also well-known for her arrangements of Spirituals. Contralto Marian Anderson concluded her landmark 1939 concert at the Lincoln Memorial with Price’s arrangement of “My Soul’s Been Anchored in De Lord,” a work she also used to close her UMS recital debut in 1937 and her appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1938.

“I have two handicaps — those of sex and race.”

Price often struggled to get her music performed because of discrimination. In a 1943 letter to Serge Koussevitzky, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, she famously wrote, “To begin with, I have two handicaps — those of sex and race. I am a woman; and I have some Negro blood in my veins. I should like to be judged on merit alone.” He declined to program her music. While her work remained celebrated in music programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, it largely disappeared from the classical scene following her death in 1953.

However, a 2009 discovery sparked new interest in the composer. An estimated 200 manuscripts were found in her abandoned Chicago home. These works, previously thought to be lost, included her fourth symphony and two violin concertos. This revelation prompted major cultural institutions to reexamine the composer and her work.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin have championed Florence Price in their repertoire, breathing new life into her compositions with a commitment to record her works. Their 2021 album of Price’s first and third symphonies received the Grammy Award for “Best Orchestral Performance.”

In response to the win, Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin declared:

“Though we can’t erase the prejudices of the past, we can work together to build a more equitable future for classical music — one in which all voices are heard, where everyone sees themselves on our stages, and where artists like Florence do not fade into obscurity. It is our hope that Florence Price becomes a staple in the classical music canon and that recordings of her works will be GRAMMY contenders — and winners — for many years to come.”

The Philadelphia Orchestra now brings Price’s majestic Fourth Symphony, which was never performed in her lifetime, to Hill Auditorium on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Tickets start at just $14, and $12-20 student tickets are available.

More Info & Tickets

Preview and stream Florence Price’s majestic Symphony No. 4 in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s latest recording on Apple Music or Spotify.

UMS’s 23/24 season comes to a triumphant end on April 21 with a performance of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). Hill Auditorium will be packed with more than 200 performers on stage, featuring the return of The Philadelphia Orchestra with music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the full might of the UMS Choral Union, and two phenomenal singers making their UMS debuts. Meet soprano Ying Fang and baritone Will Liverman:

Ying Fang, soprano

Soprano Ying Fang has been praised as “indispensable at the Met in Mozart” (The New York Times) and for “a voice that can stop time, pure and rich and open and consummately expressive” (Financial Times).

In the 23/24 season, Ms. Fang returns to Opéra National de Paris as Zerlina in Don Giovanni conducted by Antonello Manacorda, Dutch National Opera as Poppea in Agrippina and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte conducted by Riccardo Minasi, the Metropolitan Opera in her role debut as Euridice in Orfeo ed Eudidice, and Santa Fe Opera in her role debut as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. On the concert stage, she reunites with conductor Raphaël Pichon in the Mozart Requiem on tour with Ensemble Pygmalion (a project which also features a recording by the Harmonia Mundi label), and joins Maestro Pichon for Mozart’s C Minor Mass in her debut with the Munich Philharmonic. She joins Noord Nederlands Orkest (and the Philadelphia Orchestra at UMS) in Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s 4th symphony with Susanna Mälkki, and sings Carmina Burana with the St. Louis Symphony under the baton of Stéphane Denève with the Orchestra of St. Lukes at Carnegie Hall.

A native of Ningbo, China, Ms. Fang is the recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award, the Hildegard Behrens Foundation Award, the Rose Bampton Award of The Sullivan Foundation, The Opera Index Award, and First Prize of the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition. In 2009, she became one of the youngest singers to win one of China’s most prestigious awards — the China Golden Bell Award for Music. She has been hailed as “the most gifted Chinese soprano of her generation” by Ningbo Daily.

Ms. Fang holds a Master’s degree and an Artist Diploma in Opera Study from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She is a former member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Watch her breathtaking performance of “Aria Deh vieni, non tardar” from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, with the Dutch National Opera:

Will Liverman, baritone

Called “a voice for this historic moment” (Washington Post), GRAMMY Award-winning baritone Will Liverman is the recipient of the 2022 Beverly Sills Artist Award by The Metropolitan Opera and the co-creator of The Factotum — called “mic-drop fabulous good” (Opera News) — which premiered at the Lyric Opera Chicago in 2023. Described as “nothing short of extraordinary” (Opera News) with a “beaming, high baritone that easily asserts” (LA Times), Liverman has been hailed by critics for his versatility in dramatic and comedic roles, as well as on concert stages in North America and internationally, and his dedication and vision as a composer, artist, and advisor helping to evolve and push the performing arts industry forward.

This season sees Liverman’s return to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Anthony Davis’ groundbreaking and influential work, and the third opera by a Black composer in the company’s history, to be conducted by Kazem Abdullah in its newly revised score. Liverman was previously seen on the Met stage opening its 2021-22 season in a widely celebrated, “breakout performance” (New York Times) as Charles in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones, which won the 2023 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording. He later reprised the role at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a “rich leading performance” (Chicago Tribune) described as a “beautifully vocalized […] gripping portrayal” (Opera News).

Liverman just released a new album, Show Me the Way, with pianist Jonathan King in March 2024 on International Women’s Day. The album celebrates women’s contributions to music, and includes works by composers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Jasmine Barnes, and Florence Beatrice Price. It also features five world-premiere recordings by living composers such as Jasmine Barnes and Libby Larsen, with appearances by renowned singers J’Nai Bridges and Renée Fleming.

Preview the album below and learn more in this NPR feature.

Will Liverman will also be on the University of Michigan campus in early April for a residency with the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, culminating with a free recital on Sunday, April 7.

Hear Ying Fang and Will Liverman perform Brahms’s German Requiem with The Philadelphia Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union, Sunday, April 21 in Hill Auditorium.

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Today, on April 1, 2024, UMS is delighted to announce our latest innovation…Tiny Series Brochures, arriving just in time for our new season announcement!

Tiny brochures. BIG season. Stay tuned for the full 24/25 season reveal on Thursday, April 18.

Special thanks to The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Inc. and the Louis Armstrong House Museum for the photo of Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. Please visit louisarmstrongfoundation.org for more information.

If forced to name one artist as the most consequential musician of the 20th century, we could make an extremely compelling case for Louis Armstrong. His brilliantly shining trumpet sound, breathtaking virtuosity, and effortless swing certainly place him at the forefront of instrumentalists; just as crucially, his flowing singing paired with his ability to perfectly rewrite melodies to fit his voice has inspired every singer since to take similar liberties. Without Louis, we have no Bing Crosby, no Billie Holiday, no Ella Fitzgerald, no Frank Sinatra.

What must that have felt like for a young Louis? When your genius so fully outstrips that of your peers, perhaps it feels lonely. To be sure, we find moments in which Louis pairs with an artist whose musical prowess can match his own — Sidney Bechet and Bessie Smith as examples — but overall, when we hear Louis Armstrong in the early and middle 1920s, we hear him standing apart. 

Enter Earl Hines.

By the mid-1920s, both Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines worked out of Chicago, where inevitably their paths would cross. And cross they did, notably in Carroll Dickerson’s Savoyagers. Their musical chemistry was immediate and electric: in Hines, Armstrong found an artist whose instrumental technique rivaled his own, and together on stage and on record they cajoled each other to even loftier musical heights. Armstrong’s brilliant trumpet lines became even more sparkling; Hines’ dizzying octave runs on the piano became even more death-defying. Chicago’s audiences recognized the magic that was playing out in front of them, and listeners around the US would soon be brought up to speed.

While 1927 marks the beginning of Armstrong and Hines’ recorded output together, it was in the following year that they would reshape Jazz history together. When now-immortal classics like “West End Blues” reached audiences, the sheer power of this collaboration became clear to everyone. As 1928 wore on, Armstrong and Hines recorded scintillating fare like “Beau Koo Jack,” before turning around and delivering a career highlight in the duet “Weather Bird.”

Indeed, with “Weather Bird,” they seemed to be throwing down a gauntlet to one another and to all listeners. In two minutes and 45 seconds, these two artists seemed to dare one another to fall off of a precarious rhythmic tightrope, as each takes incredibly daring risks in their playing. Nearly a century later, hearing this sheer virtuosity can still take one’s breath away.

Like all of the best chamber music in history, the collaboration of Armstrong and Hines feels both exciting and deeply intimate. In their upcoming UMS performance, pianist Sullivan Fortner and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire step into that same space in a deeply personal musical conversation between themselves and with audiences. Drawing on works from the Armstrong–Hines partnership — as well as from other 1920’s masters like “Fats” Waller — Fortner and Akinmusire will invite audiences into their sublime musical world: listen for the intense interplay, the fully exposed risk-taking that this duet setting allows for, and hear how each artist inspires one another to greater heights.

Avoid TheHillAuditorium.com and Other Sellers in the Unauthorized Secondary Market

Unauthorized ticket resellers purchase tickets at face value from official sources with the intent of selling them for a profit on a secondary marketplace. Unfortunately, there are no federal laws that prohibit the resale of tickets, and the practice is considered illegal, without a special license, in only seven states (New York, Alabama, Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Massachusetts).

Because there is neither federal nor state protection, many Michigan nonprofit arts presenters like UMS are vulnerable to secondary ticket reselling practices that harm organizations and their audiences.

We have put together this blog post in an effort to make these harmful practices more transparent to arts consumers searching for events online.

Unauthorized ticket resellers have challenged sports, arts, and entertainment presenters in large cities for years, and are now becoming a more common occurrence here in Ann Arbor by ticket resale websites such as TheHillAuditorium.com. This particular site features the most recognized performance venue of UMS and the University of Michigan in its title and claims to be a “fan site,” but it admits in smaller type that it is “not affiliated or sponsored by Hill Auditorium” and “links to resale tickets to events at Hill Auditorium.” Those links take visitors to a commercial reselling site that sells tickets at above-market prices with exorbitant fees and may promise seating locations that cannot be honored by UMS.

How Their Unauthroized Reselling Practices Work

• Various websites with different names rely on ticket engines that scrape information from official ticket sellers and offer up generic seating locations at a premium price, often without specific seat locations (e.g., Section 10 row M, 1-6 tickets available).
• The reseller purchases the ticket from UMS at face value, then offers it to the purchaser at an inflated price. Recently, UMS has seen $14 tickets sell for $68-$300+.
• Ticket reselling sites also charge exorbitant fees that are not disclosed upfront (“junk fees”). One site recently charged $16.75 per ticket, more than double UMS’s ticket fees.

How Ticket Resellers Negatively Impact Audiences

• Audience members pay inflated ticket prices and fees, even when less expensive options are available from ums.org.
• Seat locations may not be provided and/or may be inaccurate.
• There is no guarantee that tickets are valid — the same seats could be sold multiple times through different providers, and if that happens, UMS cannot honor them.
• Audience members don’t receive customer service information from UMS about the performance, such as parking alerts, notices about late seating, extensive notes about the works being performed, etc.
• Audience members instead receive information from the ticket reseller, encouraging them to purchase other UMS tickets at inflated prices.

How Ticket Resellers Negatively Impact UMS, Artists, and Presenters

• The inflated ticket price and fees paid by fans to secondary market sellers do not benefit the performing artists and UMS.
• Lost revenue potential for arts organizations. Ticket sales already only cover 35% of our total costs, so this puts more strain on fundraising to help support the events
• UMS cannot reach customers directly with details about the performance they are attending
• UMS offers low-priced options to make performances more accessible to all; when ticket resellers purchase these tickets and resell them at inflated prices, they are taking lower-priced tickets off the market
• Some secondary resellers initiate credit card chargebacks if they are unable to sell the tickets (or even if they are), thus creating an extra administrative and financial burden for UMS
• Some ticket resellers may be using stolen credit cards to purchase the tickets from the authorized source
• It costs UMS significantly more to advertise events as we have to pay more than the reselling sites do to be listed online
• Reputational Harm: if someone purchases at an inflated price from another source, or an invalid ticket, it reflects poorly on UMS. We are not able to provide refunds to ticketbuyers who pay inflated, secondary market prices for their tickets or accommodate people who have invalid tickets.

How You Can Protect Yourself and Others

• Share this blog with your networks and other concertgoers
• New sites are popping up all the time. The ones that we are currently aware of are thehillauditorium.com, ticketsqueeze.com, eventticketscenter.com, ticketsmarter.com, and others
• ALWAYS make sure to purchase directly from ums.org and to look carefully at the url of any ticket purchasing site
• Lobby your state representatives for legislation to make this practice illegal in Michigan and federally
• If you, or someone you know, have purchased tickets through one of these sites, please reach out to us at ums-feedback@umich.edu. We would like to learn more about your experience.

The magic of live performance shouldn’t come at the cost of inflated ticket prices and exorbitant fees. Let’s work together to ensure everyone has the chance to experience the joy of live music, theater, and dance without getting taken advantage of.

Film strip of Seiji Ozawa conducting in Hill Auditorium, from the UMS archives.

UMS and the classical performing arts community mourn the passing of conductor Seiji Ozawa, who led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for nearly three decades and was one of the most recognized and important figures in classical music around the globe.

Ozawa conducted six times in UMS performance history between 1966 and 1996, in concerts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. These programs can all be explored in our UMS Rewind archives.

Ozawa has another meaningful connection to the University of Michigan community through U-M president Santa Ono. Ono shares his fond memories below.

From University of Michigan President Santa Ono:

Seiji Ozawa’s death is a massive loss for classical music. He leaves a huge legacy through his recordings, the memories of his thousands of concerts, and the countless young musicians he mentored over the years. I was fortunate to listen to the Boston Symphony during his long tenure as Music Director there and also at Tanglewood.

Seiji Ozawa in 1963

He also had a connection to our family. Ozawa and my father were prodigious emerging stars in music and mathematics when they were in Paris. Naturally, they became friends as Japanese citizens in Paris. My mother tells me they were 2 naughty young men during those days: “Ozawa was jumping parking car to car! Takashi was driving Motorcycle around City of Paris! When he came to Philadelphia to conduct, we met him after concert. Ozawa said to Takashi, Onosan! You are USA now! Then he talked about his wife and his daughter (also a pianist of Shacho at Mitsui Bussan).”

I had the privilege of speaking with Ozawa on a plane on a business trip many years ago. He had just won the Kennedy Center honors. He was gracious and said that my parents should be very proud of me, just as he was of me as a Japanese citizen.

What a loss. My Aunt pointed out that it was snowing on the day he died. Ozawa apparently loved the snow, partially from the many years he enjoyed the snow in New England. He was also a huge Red Sox fan.

I said to my Aunt:

美しい自然に囲まれて死ぬことは死ではなく天国に行くことだ

When you die surrounded by nature’s beauty, you aren’t dying, you are actually entering heaven.

— Santa Ono

I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
   When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
   When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!

I know why the caged bird beats her wing
   Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For she must fly back to her perch and cling
When she fain would be on the bough a-swing;
   And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why she beats her wing!

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
   When her wing is bruised and her bosom sore,—
When she beats her bars and she would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
   But a prayer that she sends from her heart’s deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven she flings—
I know why the caged bird sings!

Adapted from the poem Sympathy (1899) by Paul Laurence Dunbar

Program Notes by Mark Clague

When the Caged Bird Sings is something new and old at the same time. Like an oratorio, it fuses orchestra and chorus into a sacred service, here bringing the sounds of the Black American church into the concert hall. Like an opera, it tells a timeless story with words, music, drama, costumes, and characters. Four powerful voices command the stage: a soprano (the mother), an alto (the daughter), a tenor (the guidance counselor), and a baritone (the father). The entire chorus speaks as the community, while a subset represents Black congregants in worship. The narrator is both sage and celebrant, timeless and all-knowing. She is an ethereal pastor—unseen by the other characters—but always at the center of the drama. The composer originally called the composition “a gathering,” signaling that it was a communal ritual, bringing people together as an act of healing, hope, and celebration. When the Caged Bird Sings is all of these.

Text and music have been created and woven together by composer Dr. Nkeiru Okoye, a woman of African American and Nigerian heritage, to explore themes of perseverance and triumph. It is the story of the transformative power of Black womanhood. It speaks of hope and possibility, while it is also a warning that past traumas will be repeated, until such a time when the community listens, learns, and is itself transformed.

Dr. Okoye’s work draws from a powerful well of Black history. Inspired by the life and work of Dr. Maya Angelou, When the Caged Bird Sings pulses with the strength of countless Black women whose courage and creativity have changed history: the poet Phillis Wheatley, abolitionists Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, journalist Ida B. Wells, entrepreneur C. J. Walker, vocalists Sissieretta Jones and Marian Anderson, author Zora Neale Hurston, dancer Katherine Dunham, activist Rosa Parks, singer Billie Holiday, politician Shirley Chisholm, athletes Althea Gibson and Serena Williams, activists Coretta Scott King and Dr. Angela Davis, actress and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and First Lady Michelle Obama. These and countless others exemplify the exceptional and everyday activism that has shaped our world. Their stories echo in Okoye’s music, in the words spoken and sung through the Black church, as acts of faith, hope, courage, and community.

Woven throughout When the Caged Bird Sings is the story of “Cerise” [Cherish], a young Black woman that the world seeks to doubt and diminish merely because of the color of her skin and braids in her hair. Cerise, whose name itself signals her parents’ love and protection, nevertheless encounters racial prejudice in her neighborhood, which is predominantly White — sometimes overt, often surreptitious, always relentless. Her family offers support and solace. At one point, she falls victim to peer pressure in an attempt to fit in. Her high school counselor intervenes. She recovers, escapes the cage of discrimination, triumphs, and gives back, adding to the legacy of Black womanhood, and adding her voice to a historical chorus of those who transformed adversity into opportunity. “She sets herself free,” as the lyrics state. Her story also parallels the composer’s own. It is the all too personal story of lived experience, but one less autobiographical than simply human and universal. As the composer has remarked, “Cerise is not a stereotype. She’s just a girl.”

When the Caged Bird Sings is organized into five parts, each titled after a Maya Angelou book or poem:

Part I

Gather Together in My Name introduces us to the cast and invokes the drama’s central question, “Who am I supposed to be?” It is a question that vexes each of the tale’s protagonists.

Part II

Now Sheba Sings the Song focuses on the first part of Cerise’s story — her mother’s joy at her birth. The tenor offers praises and what the composer calls a “valentine to all Black women.” The narrated choral number, “Sometimes Life Gets Ugly,” presents the emotional crux of the composition. It gives voice to a pernicious inner dialogue, a voice telling African American women that they are “too dark, too poor, too ugly, too broken…unworthy, subhuman.”

Part III

And Still I Rise tells the second part of Cerise’s story, of her relentless determination despite the forces holding her back. Her father laments that his new job as a junior vice president was “still not enough” to protect her.

Part IV

I Shall Not Be Moved recounts a crisis for Cerise. The tenor, representing her high school guidance counselor, recounts the story of collapse and collision. The music here is punctuated by references to the Dies Irae [Day of Wrath], a melody associated with the Requiem Mass of the Catholic Church that represents turmoil and confusion.

Part V

A Song Flung Up to Heaven depicts the triumph and transformation of Cerise, now a grown woman. Here, a lyrical flute melody represents the butterfly — a living symbol of transformation that echoes in the poetry of Maya Angelou. It serves as an example of true beauty, but a beauty that often masks the change that has made its realization possible, that masks the trauma that inspired such transformation.

Musically, When the Caged Bird Sings is rooted deep within the sounds of the Black church, couched in concert music tradition. Okoye’s compositional voice travels seamlessly between styles: the romantic, minimalist, gospel-inflected, and improvisatory. The melodic passion of a solo vocalist often foreshadows the lyrical contours of specific hymns and spirituals, shifting from minor to major and blossoming into full arrangements of traditional sacred melody, such as “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “I’ve Been ‘Buked and I’ve Been Scorned,” or “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior.”

According to the composer, the goal of When the Caged Bird Sings is to celebrate the transformative power of Black women and use the power of art to transform the world. The drama closes with an original hymn of the same title. Okoye’s lyric encapsulates the journey, traveled and envisioned:

When a caged bird sings
Despite captivity
I think it means that in her dreams
She can see
Herself
beyond the bars
And beyond her tears
beyond her scars
And beyond her fears
She is transformed
And she set herself free.

Maybe not coincidentally, the composer’s own name—Nkeiru—means “the future is greater than the past” in her Father’s native language of Igbo. In this sense, When the Caged Bird Sings envisions a world in which a parental prophecy is fulfilled. When the Caged Bird Sings is both prayer and promise. Through this work, Okoye gives voice to the hope that we, as the audience, will be changed. That we will understand our nation and world as more capacious and come to “see Black women in a different way.” Yet When the Caged Bird Sings is also Dr. Okoye’s own personal proclamation as an artist and person. With pride, it shouts to the heavens on behalf of all Black women—“we are triumphant…we are doctors, lawyers, educators, entrepreneurs, and we are FABULOUS.”

Hear additional insights from composer Nkeiru Okoye and U-M’s Kenneth Kiesler and Eugene Rogers.

UMS is delighted to welcome internationally acclaimed pianist Igor Levit to Ann Arbor on Friday, March 8. His innovative program features rarely performed piano transcriptions (arrangements of large ensemble works for solo piano) of powerful orchestral works by Mahler and Beethoven.

A great example of transcription is this 2020 video, in which Igor Levit demonstrates Franz Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s ninth symphony and its famous “Ode to Joy” (originally featuring a full orchestra and choir):

Beethoven’s nine symphonies were all painstakingly transcribed for solo piano in the 1800s by the famous composer and pianist Franz Liszt. But what inspired Liszt to take on such a daunting task, and what makes Liszt’s transcriptions a special treat for listeners?

Liszt started his project in 1838, when he was still a young and dazzling pianist, touring Europe and impressing audiences with his unparalleled technique and expressive power. He initially transcribed the fifth, sixth, and seventh symphonies, which were published by different publishers in Germany and Austria. Liszt then put aside his work for more than two decades, until 1863, when he received a request from the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel to transcribe the complete set of symphonies for a future publication. Liszt agreed and revised his earlier transcriptions, adding more details, indications, and fingerings.

Liszt’s motivation for undertaking this monumental task was not only his admiration for Beethoven, whom he regarded as the greatest composer of all time, but also his desire to make Beethoven’s music more accessible to the public.

At the time, orchestral concerts were rare and expensive, and most people could only hear Beethoven’s symphonies through piano arrangements. Liszt wanted to provide the most faithful and accurate versions possible, using all the resources of the modern piano, which had improved significantly since Beethoven’s time.

Liszt wrote in his preface: “Through the immense development of its harmonic power, the piano is trying increasingly to adopt all orchestral compositions. In the compass of its seven octaves it is able, with only a few exceptions, to reproduce all the characteristics, all the combination, all the forms of the deepest and most profound works of music.”

His transcriptions are not only faithful to Beethoven, but also witty, creative, and original. He does not merely copy the orchestral parts but adapts them to the idiomatic possibilities of the piano, adding embellishments, variations, or modulations to enhance the musical effect. He also uses a wide range of dynamics, articulations, and pedaling to create contrast and clarity.

Liszt’s virtuosic transcriptions are among the most technically demanding piano music ever written. They require not only speed, agility, strength, and endurance, but also finesse, sensitivity, and imagination. They offer a unique listening experience and perspective on Beethoven’s symphonies, revealing new aspects and details that might be overlooked in the orchestral version.

In a 1988 interview, famed pianist Vladimir Horowitz stated: “I deeply regret never having played Liszt’s arrangements of the Beethoven symphonies in public – these are the greatest works for the piano – tremendous works – every note of the symphonies is in the Liszt works.”

None of these transcriptions have ever been performed in UMS’s 145-year history…until now!

On March 8, Igor Levit will perform Liszt’s arrangement of Beethoven’s beloved Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica” (Heroic).

Levit is one of the most celebrated pianists of our time, whose accolades include prizes at numerous international competitions, including the Maria Callas Grand Prix in Athens, the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv. Most notably, he won the 2018 Gilmore Artist prize — the most elusive and prestigious of them all, only awarded every four years to an exceptional pianist who has the potential to make a lasting impact on the musical world.

We cannot wait to hear his own virtuosic interpretation of Beethoven’s symphony…courtesy of Franz Liszt!

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Since the start of his career in arts administration, UMS President Matthew VanBesien has had many fantastic opportunities to work with and present violinist James Ehnes. Hear VanBesien share what makes Ehnes’ musicianship unique, before his UMS recital debut with pianist Andrew Armstrong on February 16.

At UMS, we have the immense privilege to engage and host such extraordinary artists each season — it is a wealth of riches! All of our artists are truly special, and with some, we have had the opportunity to build deep relationships at UMS or throughout our careers in the arts.

Someone who definitely fits in with the latter (for me, at least!) is the wonderful violinist James Ehnes, who, at long last, makes his UMS debut here later this month. We’d previously engaged James during the pandemic but were stymied the first time around, and we are thrilled to finally welcome him — in person — to Ann Arbor and UMS.

At the start of his career, James was managed by the wonderful arts manager Walter Homburger, who also managed the career of Glenn Gould. Walter was an orchestra manager and impresario by day, and I believe he only ever managed one artist at a time until he passed away in 2019. James was an artist he fervently believed in, and I have, for many years, had the great pleasure of understanding the incredible artistry and range of this remarkable musician.

I’ve known James from the beginning of my administrative career in the arts, beginning around 2000 at the Houston Symphony. It was my first real job following my 8 years as a horn player in New Orleans, and my job in Houston at that point was to ensure James was well-cared for as an artist, look after all his transportation and accommodations, and through that work (OK, I probably also took him to my favorite pub in Houston!), we became good colleagues and friends.

In addition to James’ many appearances in Houston, he appeared as a guest soloist and chamber musician for both the Melbourne Symphony and the New York Philharmonic during my tenures there, and so when I arrived here in Ann Arbor in 2017, I was determined to make certain our UMS audiences would have the chance to enjoy him as well. As one of the musicians in the New York Philharmonic once said to me, “James is one of the very finest violinists in the world — period. And, he’s a musician’s musician — someone who truly understands his own craft, as well as ours as orchestral and chamber musicians.”

James appears at UMS this February to perform as a recitalist with his longtime collaborator Andrew Armstrong, but from the very beginning of our discussions, he was eager to collaborate with faculty and students from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance here at Michigan. Together, they will perform a chamber work by James Newton Howard, a very well-known composer in film and television who also composed a violin concerto for James in 2015.

Ehnes recorded James Newton Howard’s violin concerto with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

Lastly, it’s important to mention that I am not the only member of the UMS community who knows James well! Martha Darling and Gil Omenn have known James for many years, and have a wonderful association with him as the Artistic Director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. My wife Rosie and I are honored to join forces with Gil and Martha to support James’ performance here at UMS!

Matthew VanBesien, UMS President

Mariachi music is a rich and diverse musical tradition that originated in Mexico and has spread across the world. Combining elements of Spanish, African, Indigenous, and European musical influences, it features instruments such as violins, trumpets, guitars, harps, and the distinctive guitarrón (a large bass guitar). Mariachi is often associated with festive occasions like weddings, birthdays, religious celebrations, and national holidays, and it’s a beloved form of cultural expression and identity for many Mexican and Mexican American communities.

Mariachi Herencia de México from their latest album, Herederos

One of the most prominent and successful groups in the contemporary mariachi scene is Mariachi Herencia de México, a Grammy-winning ensemble of young musicians from Chicago. The group was founded in 2016 by César Maldonado, a former member of the Mariachi Heritage Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that promotes mariachi education in Chicago public schools. Maldonado wanted to create a professional-level group that could showcase the talent and potential of the students who participated in the foundation’s programs.

Read from NBC News: How a Chicago Schools Mariachi Group Landed a Latin Grammy Nomination

Mariachi Herencia de México made their debut with the album Nuestra Herencia (Our Heritage), which featured collaborations with renowned mariachi artists such as Lila Downs, Aida Cuevas, and Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán (all of whom UMS has presented!). The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching the top of the Latin streaming charts and earning a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Ranchero/Mariachi Album. The group followed up with Herencia de la Tierra Mía (Heritage of My Land) in 2018, which was produced by Javier Limón, a celebrated Spanish musician and producer, and featured guest appearances by Pedro Fernández, Christian Nodal, and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos.

In 2019, Mariachi Herencia de México released Esencia (Essence), a double album that showcased their versatility and range. The first volume focused on traditional mariachi songs, while the second volume explored other genres such as bolero, son jarocho, huapango, and cumbia. The following songs are from volume I and II, respectively:

In 2022, Mariachi Herencia de México released their fifth album, Herederos (The Heirs), which celebrated their legacy and evolution as a group. The album, also nominated for a Latin Grammy Award, included original songs written by the group members, as well as covers of classics by Vicente Fernández, Lola Beltrán, José José and more. The album also featured a collaboration with Camila Cabello on a bilingual version of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” The album was praised by critics and fans alike for its innovation and authenticity.

Mariachi Herencia have performed extensively across North America, sharing their music and culture with diverse audiences at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, the Hollywood Bowl — and now Hill Auditorium! The group has participated in SXSW, the Chicago World Music Festival, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, as well as being featured on national media outlets such as NPR, PBS, Telemundo, and Univision.

Mariachi Herencia de México is more than just a musical group — they are also ambassadors of their heritage and role models for their generation. They represent the power and beauty of mariachi music, the diversity and creativity of the Mexican American community, and proof that mariachi music is alive and thriving in the 21st century!

UMS will present the Ann Arbor debut of Mariachi Herencia de México on their Herederos tour on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 featuring special guest La Marisoul.

More Info & Tickets

La Marisoul is the stage name of Marisol Hernández, a Mexican-American singer and songwriter who is best known as the lead vocalist of the Grammy-winning band La Santa Cecilia. She is one of the most prominent voices in Mexican-American music today, creating original and innovative music that transcends borders and genres.

Before she makes her UMS debut with Mariachi Herencia de México on January 23, learn more about her distinctive and versatile voice that leaves audiences breathless.

La Marisoul was born and raised in downtown Los Angeles, where she was exposed to a diverse and vibrant musical culture. Introduced to song by her mother’s voice and her father’s love of music, she began to interpret various musical styles at an early age, ranging from traditional Mexican songs, to romantic boleros, to jazz classics and rock. Growing up part-time in Mexico and the United States created a duality of American pop culture and the roots of traditional folkloric music that shaped her unique voice.

Her voice is a reflection of her bicultural identity and her musical influences, switching between Spanish and English with ease and fluidity. (Check out her cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” below, featured in the HBO series Amsterdam.)

La Marisoul can adapt her voice to different genres and moods, from soft and sweet to powerful and passionate. She has a rich and expressive tone that can convey both joy and sorrow, love and pain, hope and despair. And, she can also improvise and scat with ease, adding her own signature flair and personality to performances.

She has collaborated with many artists from different backgrounds and genres, and he has performed with Los Lobos, Elvis Costello, Juanes, Café Tacvba, Lila Downs, Pepe Aguilar, Little Joe Hernández, and many others. Her latest album, Corazones y Canciones (Hearts and Songs) with San Antonio’s Los Texmaniacs, features a repertoire of cherished canciones rancheras and boleros that celebrate love, life, and culture.

But perhaps the most inspiring aspect of La Marisoul’s voice is her ability to connect with the audience and the message of the songs. She sings with heart and soul, putting her own emotions and experiences into the lyrics, and her charismatic and captivating presence on stage radiates warmth and energy.

We hope you can join us January 23 to hear La Marisoul’s exquisite voice for the first time on the Hill Auditorium stage, together with Mariachi Herencia de México.

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The University Musical Society (UMS) and the DTE Energy Foundation are pleased to honor Skyline High School teacher and vocal music director Lindsay CieChanski as the 2023 DTE Energy Foundation Educator of the Year.

The award recognizes and celebrates educators who value the importance of arts education and create a culture for the arts to flourish in their school communities.

CieChanski, who is a vocal music director and teacher at Skyline, has the distinction of having been nominated twice for this award, by different individuals, over the past several years.

Nominator Annemarie Dolan with Lindsay CieChanski, 2023 DTE Energy Foundation Educator of the Year

A University of Michigan graduate with a dual major in Voice Performance and Choral Music Education, a minor in Music Theory/Musicology, and a Master’s Degree in Music Education, CieChanski has experience directing concerts at several mid-Michigan schools and has led Skyline’s choirs to successful performances and tours.

The selection team was especially impressed by her commitment to inclusivity, designing her choir offerings to accommodate different levels of musical expertise, and running multiple annual fundraisers to help ensure that students with limited means can participate in extracurricular arts programs.

CieChanski also champions the inclusion of all arts disciplines in her classroom instruction, often inviting guest artists to her classes, and advocates for the arts in her school and district. The active involvement of many alumni of her vocal programs also serves as a testament to her lasting impact on students’ lives.

“We’re so thrilled to present Lindsay CieChanski with the DTE Educator of the Year Award for 2023,” said Terri Park, UMS Associate Director of Learning & Engagement. “CieChanski is not only an educator who works to expand the musical skillsets of students, but she provides a culture of the arts that is simultaneously rigorous and accessible.”

Skyline High School is the newest high school in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, having opened its doors in 2008 for a freshman class and graduating its first senior class in 2012. Its mission is to build and sustain a community that promotes personal connections, inquiry, agile minds, and determination.

As part of the award, UMS will bring an artist for a class visit or provide an opportunity to meet with the artist at a UMS School Day Performance next season in addition to a $250 award honorarium.

“The DTE Energy Foundation is proud to support the University Musical Society and to honor Lindsay CieChanski,” said Rodney Cole, President of the DTE Energy Foundation. “CieChanski’s dedication to ensuring all students have the opportunity to participate in a multitude of arts disciplines emulates all the qualities that we look for in the DTE Energy Foundation Educator of the Year.”

Pictured: Robin Bailey, Terri Park, Lindsay CieChanski, Patricia Hinojosa, Marco Bruzzano

What a year of unforgettable memories! From our No Safety Net 3.0 Festival to our Arts & Resistance theme semester events at U-M, we thank you for joining us in 2023. Enjoy a look back at some of our favorite moments of the year:

The Plastic Bag Store Opens No Safety Net 3.0

Family Day “shoppers” exploring The Plastic Bag Store

Robin Frohardt’s performance installation of The Plastic Bag Store offered more than 40 public performances throughtout UMS’s No Safety Net 3.0 Festival. In total, more than 5,000 audience members of all ages participated in No Safety Net, which featured five unique performances centered around critical topics in today’s modern world.

See more from No Safety Net 3.0

Spotlighting the Frieze Memorial Organ

Scott Hanoian with the Brno Philharmonic and the UMS Choral Union

We’re still talking about Brno Philharmonic’s epic UMS debut, which featured Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass with the UMS Choral Union, as well as a work by U-M emeritus professor and Pulitzer Prize winner William Bolcom. The program also showed off Hill Auditorium’s Frieze Memorial Organ, played by Christian Schmitt, who also filmed and recorded a special UMS Live Session digital performance.

Christian Schmitt recording on Hill Auditorium’s Frieze Memorial Organ

A New Take on Swan Lake

Ballet Preljocaj’s Swan Lake

UMS and Detroit Opera co-presented Ballet Preljocaj’s modern take on Tchaikovsky’s beloved ballet in three performances at the Detroit Opera House. In this adaptation, blending classical and new, the evil sorcerer von Rothbart was portrayed as an industrialist who wanted to exploit fossil fuels against a backdrop of unbridled capitalism, while Siegfried and Odette were two eco-conscious heroes who tried to thwart his plans.

A Stepped-Up School Day Performance

Step Afrika! performing at a sold-out School Day Performance in Hill Auditorium

UMS welcomed 3,500+ young audience members in a sold-out School Day Performance performance by Step Afrika! in Hill Auditorium. The energy of the hall was literally through the roof!

Chineke’s Debut

Violinist Elena Urioste performing with the Chineke! Orchestra

In March, UK-based Chineke! Orchestra made its much-anticipated UMS debut on the ensemble’s first-ever North American tour. The ensemble was founded in 2015 as Europe’s first majority Black and ethnically diverse orchestra. Soloist Elena Urioste stunned the audience with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s violin concerto, and maestro Andrew Grams led Florence Price’s first symphony.

First Ypsilanti Freighthouse Residency

Families and K-12 students participated in interactive breakdancing and art-making workshops led by Maurice Archer and Curtis Wallace.

In April 2023, UMS piloted a week of arts programming at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse, in advance of new four-week residencies that will take place at the historic Depot Town venue each Fall and Spring. The pilot week included nine unique programs — all free or Pay What You Wish — and brought together multi-generational audiences from Ypsilanti and beyond.

See more from UMS’s April 2023 Residency at the Ypsi Freighthouse

Pride Digital Presentation

Music collective Wild Up recording for their UMS Live Session

UMS presented the debut of Wild Up, a Los Angeles-based musical collective whose most recent work has been to celebrate the legacy of Julius Eastman — one of the most overlooked and underappreciated composers of the 20th century, and a trailblazer as a young, gay, and Black artist who challenged the norms and conventions of his time.

After Wild Up’s performance of Julius Eastman’s Femenine in Rackham Auditorium, we filmed LA-based music collective Wild Up in two other works by Eastman for a UMS Live Session digital presentation, which was offered for Pride month in June.

Read more about Julius Eastman and his minimalist masterpiece, Femenine.

A Powerhouse Opening Week

Standing ovation for Shakti in Hill Auditorium

The 23/24 UMS performance season opened with a powerhouse week of performances, including superband Snarky Puppy and the 50th-anniversary world tour with the legendary ensemble Shakti — a tour that also featured special guest Béla Fleck as its opening act.

Meaningful Sonic Contributions

Marcus Elliot’s Sonic Contributions at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse

Detroit-based saxophonist Marcus Elliot led a seven-piece band of musicians and artists as part of UMS’s Fall residency at the Ypsilanti Freighthouse, in Sonic Contributions — a special collaboration with the African American Cultural and Historical Museum of Washtenaw County that celebrated the history of Ypsilanti as a refuge for Black Americans dating back to the 1830s. The work was also filmed and will be released for streaming in February 2024. Sign up for our digital presentations newsletter for a reminder when it becomes available.

See more from UMS’s Fall 2023 residency at the Ypsi Freighthouse

Renée and Inon

Inon Barnatan and Renée Fleming

In addition to the world premiere of their Voice of Nature recital program, soprano superstar Renée Fleming and pianist Inon Barntan immersed themselves on the U-M campus.

Fleming led a Music and Mind panel discussion that explored the relationships between the arts and neuroscience, presented in partnership with Michigan Medicine.

Inon Barnatan’s week-long residency included a week-long series of performances and activities at the University of Michigan, with master classes at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance plus a preview solo recital of his just-released new album, Rachmaninoff Reflections.

Arts & Resistance at U-M

Ukrainian “ethno-chaos” group DakhaBrakha performing in Hill Auditorium

This fall, UMS presented performances and many campus engagement events surrounding the University of Michigan’s Arts & Resistance semester theme. Performances included the return of Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha, Ireland’s Druid Theater with SeanO’Casey’s Dublin Trilogy (including a 7-hour long immersion day!), and Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World by British-Iranian theater artist Javaad Alipoor.

NPR’s Neda Ulaby, theater maker Javaad Alipoor, and musician King Raam in a Penny Stamps lecture

See more from UMS’s campus-wide engagements in November

Minería’s Extraordinary Debut

Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería’s UMS debut

The energy and passion of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería sent the Hill Auditorium audience into rapturous applause following the ensemble’s debut UMS performance in October. Mexico’s top orchestra was led by maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto and featured pianist Gabriela Montero, who performed her own Piano Concerto No. 1, as well as an encore improvisation of a song suggested on the spot by an audience member.

Holidays in Hawai’i

Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro with students after his School Day Performance

Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro has been a favorite artist for Ann Arbor families since his UMS debut 10 years ago! This December he returned for an-in person and livestreamed School Day Performance, followed by a family-friendly holiday-themed concert in Hill Auditorium. His music and messages of kindness always warm up Hill Auditorium, no matter the time of year!

UMS gift certificates or tickets to UMS performances create unforgettable experiences for you or anyone on your holiday list! Check out our recommendations for a new year of performances to remember:

For the Film Buff

The Godfather Live
Sun Jan 7 at 3 pm // Hill Auditorium

Talk about epic family drama! With all of the plot twists, emotional outbursts, and suspenseful scenes of a true grand opera, Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece gets a full sensory experience with the Grand Rapids Symphony.

For the Piano Enthusiast

Hélène Grimaud, piano
Thu Jan 18 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

French pianist Hélène Grimaud makes her much-anticipated UMS recital debut, bringing her thoughtful and tenderly expressive sound to the stage in a program of Beethoven, Brahms, and J.S. Bach.

Igor Levit, piano
Fri Mar 8 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

Praised as “one of the most important artists of his generation” by The New York Times, pianist Igor Levit returns to the Hill Auditorium stage for the first time since 2016, performing transcriptions of Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony and the Adagio from Mahler’s unfinished 10th symphony.

For the Friend Who’s Always on the Dance Floor

LaTasha Barnes’ The Jazz Continuum
Jan 19-20 // The Power Center

LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum, a new production centering the prolific artistry of jazz music and dance as a cornerstone of Black American culture and community.

For the Whole Family

Mariachi Herencia featuring La Marisoul
Tue Jan 23 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

A new generation takes mariachi to whole new heights when Latin Grammy nominee Mariachi Herencia de México presents Herederos (the “heirs”). Los Angeles-born singer La Marisoul, the lead singer of La Santa Cecilia, fronts the Mariachi ensemble with powerful and captivating vocals.

For Those Looking for New Experiences

Nkeiru Okoye’s When the Caged Bird Sings
Sat Feb 10 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

This world première performance by composer Nkeiru Okoye fuses elements of oratorio, theater, and opera in a multi-movement musical ceremony that invokes the ritual of the concert experience as a ritual of community. Drawing inspiration from the Black church, it celebrates the spirit of rising above expectations and transforming adversity into triumph.

Weather Bird:
Sullivan Fortner, piano and Ambrose Akinmusire, trumpet
Fri Mar 22 at 7:30 pm // Rackham Auditorium

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and pianist Sullivan Fortner join forces for a program unique to UMS, inspired by the collaboration between the great Louis Armstrong and Earl “Fatha” Hines, whose unparalleled improvisations resulted in spontaneous and playful musical storytelling.

For the Midcentury Modern Collector

Martha Graham Dance Company
Feb 17-18 // The Power Center

The Martha Graham Company, recognized as a primal artistic force of the 20th century, gives a performance rooted in cultural history. These performances will include a new work choreographed by Jamar Roberts and set to music by Rhiannon Giddens, as well as Agnes DeMille’s 1942 classic Rodeo, with its iconic score by Aaron Copland reorchestrated for a bluegrass ensemble. Martha Graham’s final complete work, Maple Leaf Rag, rounds out the program.

For the Francophile

Orchestre de Paris
Thu Mar 14 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

The Orchestre de Paris returns to Hill Auditorium for the first time since 2002, featuring the UMS debuts of two young superstar artists — music director Klaus Mäkelä and Van Cliburn gold medal-winning pianist Yunchan Lim — in a program of Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Stravinsky.

For the Hard-to-Please

Samara Joy
Wed Mar 27 at 7:30 pm // Hill Auditorium

Absolutely no one can resist Samara’s voice. At 24, Samara Joy is already setting the music world on fire, winning the 2023 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album, as well as Best New Artist — only the second time in Grammy history that award has been bestowed upon a jazz musician.

For the Choir Singer

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Apr 20-21 // Hill Auditorium

The Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin close our 23/24 in two programs, including Sunday’s performance of Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem with the full force of the UMS Choral Union.

Still can’t decide?

Personalize a UMS Gift Certificate, valid for 5 years and redeemable for any UMS events.