Pre-Performance Talks
The Society of Disobedient Listeners
Judging by streaming service playlists, Western classical music’s primary function is one of either relaxation, sophistication, or prematurely inflating infant IQs.
Hosted by the “arrestingly unconventional” (The New Yorker) music writer and former Spektral Quartet violist Doyle Armbrust, The Society of Disobedient Listeners is an interactive pre-concert experience reconnecting listeners to the subversive, visceral, and even revolutionary elements of the evening’s program. Conceived as an anti-lecture, The Society of Disobedient Listeners draws the great music of the past into proximity with the felicities and calamities of modern life.
Upcoming Events
Pre-Performance Talk
Berliner Philharmoniker with
Hilary Hahn, violin
In the first of two concerts by the Berliner Philharmoniker, violinist Hilary Hahn makes her first Ann Arbor appearance in two decades, performing Korngold’s heart-tugging violin concerto. Also on the program: Rachmaninoff’s first orchestral masterpiece, Isle of the Dead, and Dvořák’s dramatic Symphony No. 7.
Program
Sergei Rachmaninoff Isle of the Dead, Op. 29
Erich Korngold Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
Antonín Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in d minor, Op. 70
Pre-Performance Talk
Film with Live Music
Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky
The 1938 Soviet historical drama was directed by Sergei Eisenstein with a score written by Sergei Prokofiev. It depicts the attempted invasion of Novgorod in the 13th century by Knights of the Holy Roman Empire and their defeat by Prince Alexander, aka Alexander Nevsky. The film and music were a true collaboration in that some of the film was shot to Prokofiev’s music and some of Prokofiev’s music was composed to Eistenstein’s footage.
Following his enthralling performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with Orchestre de Paris in March 2024, Yunchan Lim returns to Hill Auditorium for his UMS recital debut, performing Bach’s vibrant Goldberg Variations and Webern’s Variations for Piano.
Program
Anton Webern Variations for Piano, Op. 27
J.S. Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 998