Choral Union

UMS’s 25/26 Season opens with Verdi’s monumental Requiem, performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the UMS Choral Union, and DSO music director Jader Bignamini, with a stellar international cast of soloists.

London’s Philharmonia Orchestra returns to Hill Auditorium, with both the exciting young Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson making their UMS debuts.

Program

Gabriela Ortiz Si el oxígeno fuera verde
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“Emperor”)
Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in d minor, Op. 47

One of the foremost violinists of our time, Gil Shaham returns to UMS for the first time in a decade,  performing an all-Beethoven program with his longtime recital partner Akira Eguchi.

Program

All-Beethoven Program
Violin Sonata No. 4 in a minor, Op. 23
Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 (“Spring”)
Violin Sonata No. 9 in A Major, Op. 47 (“Kreutzer”)

Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in an all-Brahms program, joined by violinist Veronika Eberle and cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.

Program

All-Brahms Program
Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Double Concerto in a minor, Op. 102
Symphony No. 1 in c minor, Op. 68

After their roaring UMS debut in 2023, México’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería and conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto return with trumpet soloist Pacho Flores.

Program

Silvestre Revueltas Sensemayá
Franz Joseph Haydn Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major
Paquito D’Rivera Venezuelan Concerto
Alberto Ginastera Suite from Panambí, Op. 1a
Alberto Ginastera Ollantay, Op. 17
Alberto Ginastera Dances from Estancia, Op. 8a

Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be joined by orchestral musicians from the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance, in a preview performance of Marsalis’s new Symphony No. 5.

The esteemed Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir celebrates the transcendent contemporary classical music of composer Arvo Pärt, and the indelible mark he has left on music and choral singing over his 90 years.

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

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

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.

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.