Upcoming Events

Hear singer/songwriter Elvis Perkins’ signature sound, blending contemporary folk with nostalgic Americana, in a special solo set recorded at the University of Michigan’s Blanche Anderson Moore Organ Recital Hall.

Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) makes her West End debut in Suzie Miller’s award-winning, one-woman play, captured live from the intimate Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End in 2022.

James McAvoy (X-Men, Atonement) returns to the stage in an inventive adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, captured live in 2020 from the West End in London.

Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart lead the cast in this glorious revival of Harold Pinter’s comic classic.

Ralph Fiennes leads the cast in David Hare’s searing social critique of the most powerful man in New York, a master manipulator whose legacy changed the city forever.

Experience Trevor Noah, host of Comedy Central’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show, in his first live UMS appearance!

The Emerson String Quartet returns to Ann Arbor as part of its farewell tour.

Program

Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12
Johannes Brahms String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major, Op. 67
George Walker Lyric for Strings
Antonin Dvořák String Quaret No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105

Sir András Schiff brings masterful and intellectual insights to his performances which have inspired audiences and critics alike. The program will include works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, with each selection introduced from the stage.

Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra kick off our season of in-person School Day Performances with a Big Band concert tailored for young people.

Wynton Marsalis’s All Rise combines a symphony orchestra, a jazz orchestra, and a chorus in a 12-movement arc built on the structure of the Blues, that moves from uplifting and energetic to dark and distressing to Marsalis’s vision of the “togetherness and ascendance” of humanity.

Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra honor the rich heritage of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, while presenting a stunning variety of new works from illustrious names.

Electrifying conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla brings the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to Ann Arbor as part of a limited US tour with cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Program

Benjamin Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Edward Elgar Cello Concerto in e minor, Op. 85
Thomas Adès The Exterminating Angel Symphony
Claude Debussy La mer

Pina Bausch’s pioneering work, one of the first that established her iconic approach to dance theater, is danced by a newly assembled company of dancers from more than a dozen African countries. Rite is paired with a new work created, performed, and inspired by the lives of two remarkable women: Germaine Acogny, the founder of the Senegalese company École des Sables who is widely considered “the mother of contemporary African dance,” and Malou Airuado, who performed leading roles in many of Bausch’s early works as a member of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.

In its third UMS appearance, The Danish String Quartet brings its Doppelgänger project, an ambitious four-year international commissioning project in which composers create new works in response to a masterwork by Franz Schubert.

Program

Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in d minor, D. 810 (“Death and the Maiden”)
Lotta Wennäkoski Pige
Franz Schubert “Death and the Maiden” (Schubert song arranged by the Danish String Quartet)

For this School Day Performance Aida Cuevas, known as the “Queen of Ranchera Music,” exhibits her stunning vocals and her unwavering devotion to traditional mariachi music.

With a career of over 40 years and nearly as many albums, Grammy Award-winner Aida Cuevas, “the Queen of Ranchera Music, “is joined by Mariachi Aztlán, one of the top collegiate mariachi bands in the country.

The Berlin Philharmonic’s new chief conductor, Kirill Petrenko, makes his UMS debut with this two-concert residency.

Fri Program

Andrew Norman Unstuck
W.A. Mozart Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Major, K. 207
Erich Korngold Symphony in F-Sharp Major, Op. 40

Sat Program

Gustav Mahler Symphony No. 7

Ann Arbor’s most beloved holiday tradition with the UMS Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony in Hill Auditorium.

For this special performance in Hill Auditorium, superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman brings together pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Juilliard String Quartet for a mixed chamber music program.

Program

Jean-Marie Leclair Sonata for Two Violins in e minor, Op. 3, No. 5
W.A. Mozart Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 493
Ernest Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21

When Punch Brothers and Béla Fleck come together in this special double-bill evening, one thing is certain: audiences benefit from their lifelong devotion to bluegrass as much as the musicians.

The Takács Quartet and Jeremy Denk return to Rackham Auditorium with a program featuring Fanny Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Schumann.

Program

Franz Joseph Haydn String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 1
Fanny Mendelssohn Quartet in E-Flat Major
Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44

Climate change — an issue that is frequently cited by youth as one of the most pressing issues of our time — takes center stage in this ingenious theatrical presentation.

Like its title, this performance is a palindrome that you will be able to see both forwards and backwards. A visual metaphor for this crucial moment in our future history, tracing the process of human moving towards their downfall — or their salvation.

Diehl’s new project, Mirror, showcases his fluency in both classical repertoire and dynamic jazz improvisation, connecting Bach’s counterpoint with the vocabulary of bebop.

Celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra of top Black and Latinx professional musicians from around the country presents its first national tour.

Program

Carlos Simon Motherboxx Connection
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Ballade for Orchestra
Valerie Coleman Seven O’Clock Shout
Michael Abels Delights and Dances
Traditional, arr. Augustus Hill Fix Me, Jesus
Carlos Cordero Holding Our Breath
Joel Thompson Seven Last Words of the Unarmed
John Legend / Common, arr. Eugene Rogers “Glory” from Selma

With a discography of more than 40 albums and a career spanning over 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, conductor, and music director, Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era.

Dennis Russell Davies and the Brno Philharmonic perform works from Leoš Janáček and William Bolcom alongside the UMS Choral Union, brass players from SMTD, and organist Christian Schmitt.

Program

Leoš Janáček Sinfonietta
William Bolcom Humoresk for Organ and Orchestra
Leoš Janáček Glagolitic Mass

Contemporary dance superstar Angelin Preljocaj tackles the Mount Everest of the ballet world with his new take on Swan Lake.

“Maria Schneider is a national treasure,” proclaims National Public Radio. The 2019 NEA Jazz Master, 2021 Pulitzer Prize finalist (for her 2020 album Data Lords), and seven-time Grammy winner brings her 18-member collective to Hill Auditorium for their UMS debut.

Step Afrika! introduces audiences to the importance of stepping in cultural identity and the use of body percussion as a means of communication.

Step Afrika! integrates song, dance, storytelling, humor, and audience participation in highlighting the importance of stepping in cultural identity and the use of body percussion as a means of communication.

Violinist Daniel Hope returns with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra in a new program that takes a deep dive into the rich repertoire of American music, exploring its roots and distinctive qualities.

Program

Aaron Copland “Hoe-Down” from Rodeo
Duke Ellington “Come Sunday” from Black, Brown and Beige
Florence Price Adoration
Kurt Weill American Song Suite
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings, Op. 11
Aaron Copland “At the River” from Old American Songs
Philip Glass Echorus
George Gershwin Song Suite

Farida has established a reputation throughout the Arab world for her brilliant performances of the classical maqam, a form of Arab art music traditionally sung by men.

UK-based Chineke! Orchestra makes its UMS debut, in a program featuring Florence Price’s first symphony and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Violin Concerto performed by Elena Urioste.

Program

Carlos Simon Fate Now Conquers
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto in g minor
Florence Price Symphony No. 1 in e minor

A UMS favorite since her 2017 debut, Cécile McLorin Salvant continues to defy expectations with her genre-obliterating virtuosity.

American composer, pianist, vocalist, and dancer Julius Eastman was young, gay, and Black when it was even more difficult to be young, gay, and Black in America. The Los Angeles music collective Wild Up is carrying the music of Julius Eastman forward, performing his chamber work Femenine.