Performances

Elie Wiesel:Soul on Fire is an intimate documentary of the author, educator and humanitarian whose life’s work against global injustice was inspired by his experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns to Hill Auditorium for the first time in more than a decade, under the leadership of their new music director, Klaus Mäkelä.

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique

The Karajan-Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker serves as the training ground for both the next generation of musicians for the Berliner Philharmoniker, but also for orchestras around the world. This concert, part of a larger residency that will include campus engagement and learning activities, will feature several Akademie scholars alongside Philharmoniker musicians in an evening of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Bartók.

Program

Ludwig van Beethoven Septet in E-Flat Major for Winds and Strings, Op. 20
Dmitri Shostakovich Prelude and Scherzo for String Octet, Op. 11
Julia Wolfe Big Reeling
Béla Bartók Divertimento for String Orchestra, Sz. 113

Legendary fiddler Martin Hayes leads a wide-ranging, family-friendly concert celebration a few days after St. Patrick’s Day, featuring an exciting variety of special guests, traditional sean-nós singing and dancing, and modern takes on Irish traditions.

Siblings Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Isata Kanneh-Mason bring their extraordinary musical chemistry to a program that bridges Romantic lyricism and 20th-century innovation. 

Program

Felix Mendelssohn Cello Sonata No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 45
Nadia Boulanger Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
Robert Schumann Five Pieces in Folk Style, Op. 102
Rebecca Clarke Sonata for Viola (or Violoncello) and Piano

Five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo returns to Ann Arbor for the first time since 2020 with her powerhouse voice, electrifying stage presence, and joyous music.

A century after the publication of The Great Gatsby, Elevator Repair Service’s GATZ comes to Ann Arbor after its sold-out run at New York’s Public Theater in November 2024. Told over a single 8-hour production (including dinner break), GATZ is not just a retelling of the Gatsby story, but an enactment of the novel in which Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is cleverly delivered word for word.

Brooklyn-born, Basel-based choreographer Jeremy Nedd delves into the complexities of dance ownership and cultural appropriation, taking inspiration from a rapper’s copyright infringement lawsuit against a video game company.

The spring concert of the U-M Life Sciences Orchestra will feature the 150-member UMS Choral Union, and special guest solo vocalists, performing a stirring oratorio by English composer Edward Elgar.

The superlative ensemble returns in a program that includes a UMS co-commission by University of Michigan alumna Clarice Assad, plus works by Franz Joseph Haydn and Claude Debussy.

Program

Franz Joseph Haydn String Quartet No. 59 in g minor, Op. 74, No. 3 (“Rider”)
Clarice Assad New Work (UMS co-commission)
Claude Debussy String Quartet in g minor, Op. 10 (L.91)

In a rare concert performance and evening of master piano works for the 21st century, 10 outstanding pianists will perform all 20 of Philip Glass’s études on the Hill Auditorium stage.

MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner Rhiannon Giddens has made a singular, iconic career out of stretching her brand of folk music into just about every field imaginable. Join us as the U-M Arts Initiative’s inaugural artist-in-residence takes the Hill Auditorium stage with her latest musical exploration.

Short in length but limitless in imagination, all 24 of Claude Debussy’s magical Preludes for piano are performed by one of their supreme living interpreters, Jean-Yves Thibaudet.