Performances
Calling All Curious Movers…You Can Dance! returns for another season of movement and community at Riverside Arts Center.
Lyndsey Turner directs this contemporary new staging, designed by Tony Award-winner Es Devlin (The Lehman Trilogy). Starring Erin Doherty (The Crown) and Brendan Cowell. “A gripping revival of Arthur Miller’s masterpiece.” (The Telegraph)
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.
FREE EVENTS
Come Together: An Evening of Community and Song
Saturday, April 22UMS’s Ypsilanti Freighthouse residency begins with an invitation to community members to share their voices through a Community Sing, led by Detroit native Dr. Brandon Waddles, a transcriber of Black gospel music whose choral compositions and arrangements have been performed around the world.
Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald returns to the Hill Auditorium stage for one night only!
FREE EVENTS
Power Moves:
Breakdancing, Art, and Creativity
with Maurice Archer and Curtis Wallace
In this workshop, local movement artist Maurice Archer will lead families in an interactive breakdancing demonstration and a graffiti artist will guide families through developing their b-boy and b-girl names.
Free Event
Kaleigh Wilder Trio:
The Story Cuts Across What the Map Cuts Up
Baritone saxophonist Kaleigh Wilder has performed around the world, led her first album release, and now has plans to release two more albums as a bandleader with a New York-based record label—among several other ongoing projects. Hear her perform at the Freighthouse with Jaribu Shahid on bass, drummer Ben Hall, and dancer Alexandria Davis.
The Regenerate Orchestra, which is made up of community members of every stripe, comes together to bring Ypsilanti a one-of-a-kind musical experience.
Free Event
Reconnecting Currents: A Healing at the Huron
with Marsae Lynette
In this participatory public event, Marsae Lynette presents an evening of film, performance, and community, inviting audiences to reconnect with one another and freshwater sources like the Huron River.
Bring yourself, your friends, and whatever unique creative contribution you can offer in a local artist showcase hosted by Ypsilanti resident and singer/songwriter Rochelle Clark.
Ghostly International artist Todd Osborn leads a free late-night DJ set, following Open Mic Night at the Freighthouse.
In the closing performance of UMS’s April Ypsilanti Freighthouse residency, John E. Lawrence and The Power Band take the stage for a sophisticated evening of jazz.
FREE EVENTS
Puppetry Workshop:
The Power of Light & Shadow
with the Detroit Puppet Company
Experience Detroit Puppet Company’s presentation of The Carnival of the Animals and learn how to make your own shadow puppets.
Shakespeare’s compelling tragedy of boundary-defying love is brought startlingly up-to-date by a stellar cast, including Giles Terera (Hamilton) as Othello, Rosy McEwen as Desdemona, and Pal Hilton as Iago.
With their 2023 Grammy-winning Empire Central, the genre-defying super-band Snarky Puppy returns to Ann Arbor for its third UMS appearance and its first since 2019.
Free Event
Shakti: 50th Anniversary Tour
Feat. John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, & Shankar Mahadevan
with very special guest Béla Fleck
Following word of the Summer 2023 release of This Moment – their first new studio album in 46 years – revolutionary ensemble Shakti will continue to discover and explore the musical common ground bridging East and West on an extensive U.S. tour.