Hill Auditorium
Nkeiru Okoye’s
When the Caged Bird Sings
Individual event tickets go on sale Aug 1.
This collaboration between UMS and the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance features a new commission and world première by American composer Nkeiru Okoye. When the Caged Bird Sings fuses elements of oratorio, theater, and opera in a multi-movement musical ceremony of sorts, which Okoye describes as “a gathering” 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. Partly in tribute to the activist and poet laureate Maya Angelou, the work celebrates the transformative ability of Black women, commemorating those who have paved a path for future generations in many fields of human endeavor.
Presented in collaboration with the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.
Commissioned by the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance as part of its Michigan Orchestra Repertoire for Equity initiative.
Buy Tickets
Nkeiru Okoye’s
When the Caged Bird Sings
Hill Auditorium
Season ticket packages are on sale now.
Individual event tickets go on sale Aug 1.
CHOOSE A PERFORMANCE:
Or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538
* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
Thank You to Our Sponsors
FUNDED IN PART BY
- a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan
Nkeiru Okoye is an American-born composer of African American and Nigerian ancestry. She was born in New York, NY and raised on Long Island. After studying composition, music theory, piano, conducting, and Africana Studies at Oberlin Conservatory, she pursued graduate studies at Rutgers University and became one of the leading African American women composers. An activist through the arts, Okoye creates a body of work that welcomes and affirms both traditional and new audiences.
Director of orchestras and professor of conducting at the University of Michigan since 1995, Kenneth Kiesler is a GRAMMY nominee (2014), recipient of the American Prize in Conducting (2011), and Conductor Laureate of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, where – as its music director from 1980 to 2000 – he led debuts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, founded the Illinois Symphony Chorus and Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and won several state and national awards. He was also the orchestra’s music advisor for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMY® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE, Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.).
Love great music, theater, and dance?
Surely your inbox has room for one more email... Sign up for notifications on new digital and live performances, plus season updates.