Editor’s Note: “This day in UMS History” is an occasional series of vignettes drawn from UMS’s historical archive. If you have a personal story or particular memory from attending the performance featured here, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

May 14-17, 1913: Twentieth Annual UMS May Festival

Featuring five concerts over five evenings, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, UMS Choral Union, and the Children’s Choir were featured on the Twentieth Annual May Festival, the opening series of concerts at Hill Auditorium. The opening concert featured works by Wagner, Beethoven, A.A. Stanley, and Brahms.

Hill Auditorium celebrated its one hundredth birthday on May 14, 2013. If you’d like to learn more about our history with the storied venue, watch our documentary A Space for Music, A Seat for Everyone.

From our archives, Yo-Yo Ma with conductor Eugene Ormandy backstage at Hill Auditorium at the 1982 UMS May Festival. Yo-Yo Ma returns to perform with Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile on April 22, 2017.

Last updated 5/2/2016.

We continue our “UMS Living Archive” with a video interview with Joyce Holmes, volunteer usher. Joyce began ushering for UMS with her husband, Ken, in 1961, the same year they met and were married. Joyce shares the importance of UMS for her and Ken, who passed away this past spring. She also recalls a great memory from the May Festival of 1984 that literally blew open the doors of Hill Auditorium.

We dedicate this video to the memory of Ken Holmes, former UMS Tickets and Door Supervisor. Ken, you are greatly missed.