Rackham Auditorium
Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane
$15-20 student tickets available
Both Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane are respected as performers and contemporary composers whose work exists at the intersection of art and social practice.
Now, the two embark on their first large-scale collaboration after working together for more than a decade.
This new work, co-commissioned by UMS, is inspired by the magical realism of Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges’s 1939 short story, “The Library of Babel.” In this enigmatic narrative, Borges conjures a captivating and perplexing universe where the notion of infinity collides with the fragility of human understanding. Randomly arranged books, each containing exactly 410 pages, fill the Library of Babel’s infinite expanse of interlocking hexagonal rooms, encompassing all knowledge that currently exists or may exist in the future while paradoxically offering no true enlightenment. Shaw and Kahane invite audiences to contemplate the joy, grief, wonder, and bewilderment that spring from a life oversaturated in information.
Commissioned by Newman Center for the Performing Arts, San Francisco Performances, University Musical Society, Duke University, Philharmonie de Paris, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Wigmore Hall, and the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts.
PROGRAM (Thu 1/23/2025: Rackham Auditorium)
Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane Hexagons (UMS Co-Commission)
Additional works to be announced
Thank You to Our Sponsors
PERMANENTLY ENDOWED SUPPORT
- Helmut F. and Candis J. Stern Endowment Fund
MEDIA PARTNERS
Buy Tickets
Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane
Rackham Auditorium
Starting at $24 (+ fees)
$15-20 student tickets available
CHOOSE A PERFORMANCE:
Buy Student TicketsOr call the ticket office at 734-764-2538
* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship.
Gabriel Kahane is a musician and storyteller whose work increasingly exists at the intersection of art and social practice. Hailed as “one of the finest songwriters of the day” by The New Yorker, he is known to haunt basement rock clubs and august concert halls alike, where you’ll likely find him in the green room, double-fisting coffee and a book.
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