2016-17 UMS Season: Series Brochure by UMS (University Musical Society)

Some of the greatest performers in the world. Some of the most engaging, unusual, awe-inspiring, and breathtaking. They are coming from all corners of the Earth, right here to Ann Arbor. We'd love to have you here.

Amazin things are on their way.

Kidd Pivotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Betroffenheit by Wendy D Photography

30 YEARS WITH KEN FISCHER

INTERNATIONAL THEATER SERIES 6 performances in various venues

5 WHY SUBSCRIBE

6 performances in various venues

2016-17 PERFORMANCE CALENDAR

Plus other important dates

RENEGADE

CHORAL/VOCAL MUSIC SERIES 5 performances in Hill Auditorium and St. Francis of Assisi Church

2016-17 Series 9 SPECIAL CONCERT: YO-YO MA, EDGAR MEYER & CHRIS THILE Now available only to subscribers

10 BEETHOVEN STRING QUARTET CYCLE 6 concerts in Rackham Auditorium

30 SERIES:YOU Select at least 5 events and save!

32 SUBSCRIPTIONS & SUMMER SINGS

33 THE NEW UMS.ORG

CHORAL UNION SERIES

SUPPORT

10 concerts in Hill Auditorium

Be a Victor for Excellence

DANCE SERIES

TICKET INFO

6 performances in various venues

The fine print

GLOBAL SERIES

SEAT MAPS

5 performances in various venues

18 CHAMBER ARTS SERIES 7 concerts in Rackham Auditorium

20 JAZZ SERIES 4 performances in Hill Auditorium and Michigan Theater

42 FOUNDATION AND UNIVERSIT Y SUPPORT

16 17

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

UMS salutes Ken Fischer.

UMS President Ken Fischer enters his 30th, and final, season as UMS’s president. Ken has announced that he will retire from UMS in June 2017.

This 2016-17 season has been planned with Ken’s retirement in mind and includes several events that are particularly meaningful to him and representative of many of his initiatives at UMS:

Since 1987, when Ken took over as only the sixth president since UMS was founded in 1879, UMS has grown tremendously, expanding its programming with dedicated theater, dance, jazz, and world music series and developing a highly-regarded education program that serves the entire community, from K-12 to university and community members through a wide variety of free and lowcost programs. In large part because of Ken’s initiatives, UMS moved out of the “ivory (Burton) tower” and into the community, becoming a critical part of what makes Ann Arbor Ann Arbor. His long-standing philosophy of “Everybody In, Nobody Out,” the inclusion policy of his mentor, Patrick Hayes, has opened UMS to a broad spectrum of people that transcends geographic, generational, and educational boundaries.

• The Budapest Festival Orchestra, which along with the UMS Choral Union will present Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for the very first time during Ken’s tenure.

• A Beethoven string quartet cycle, which has been done only twice before in UMS’s history. Ken has championed chamber music during his entire tenure and was awarded the 2016 Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award for significant and lasting contributions to the chamber music field.

• The winner of the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s new M-Prize, representing Ken’s constant championing of young artists as well as his desire to work collaboratively with the School of Music, Theatre & Dance and many other units within the University.

• The Berlin Philharmonic, with two different programs as part of UMS’s five-year orchestral residency program.

• An April concert of Bach trios by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. Yo-Yo Ma has always been one of Ken’s favorite artists because they share something fundamental to those who are successful in this field: a desire to bring the arts to everyone.

• A holiday program performed by the King’s Singers. Ken launched his career as an independent concert presenter with the King’s Singers at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC — it’s an epic story that takes place during an epic snowstorm, and one that Ken, a natural raconteur, is always delighted to share. It combines all of the elements that Ken loves best: his family, a crisis, a happy ending, and, of course, the King’s Singers. • Wynton Marsalis, who over the course of 17 performances since 1996 has become a friend of Ken’s and an annual visitor to UMS.

Over the course of the season, there will be several opportunities to celebrate Ken and the many gifts he has given our community. In the meantime, we hope you will enjoy this 2016-17 UMS season. Ars longa, vita brevis.

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Subscribers receive great perks including:

Access to the best seats at the best prices. Subscribers get first crack at the best seats in the house at the lowest prices of the year.

WHY SUBSCRIBE

Why subscribe?

Free ticket exchanges. We know that planning ahead isn’t always a sure bet, so we offer subscribers feefree exchanges up to 48 hours before a performance. The value of the tickets may be applied to another performance or will be held as UMS Credit until the end of the 2016-17 season. See details on page 37.

Discounts. When you subscribe, you’ll receive up to 25% off single ticket prices.

Installment billing. Your order of $300 or more placed by Friday, June 24 qualifies you for installment billing (credit card only, charged in two equal installments: when the order is received and during the first week in July).

Free parking. Order at least 8 events by Friday, June 24 and receive free parking in the Power Center structure (Fletcher Street), a close walk to most performance venues. Be sure to check the box on the order form if you wish to take advantage of this offer as parking passes are not automatically included. Note that U-M parking structures, including the Fletcher Street structure, may not be open for Michigan Theater performances.

The opportunity to purchase tickets for the Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile concert — plus the opportunity to order extra tickets to any event in the season now. As part of your subscription package, you can add on tickets for any event in the season for friends and family who may wish to join you.

And in addition to these tangible perks, subscribers also enjoy:

Personal Fulfillment. Let’s be honest — it’s hard to find those moments of personal escape, and sometimes we have to schedule them into our lives. UMS takes you to a place where the imagination is thriving, and a UMS series allows you to invest in yourself while supporting the quality of life in our community.

Building Relationships. When you attend with family or friends, you create memories with people who are important to you, whether you join up for dinner before or meet up at the performance. And even if you attend alone, you can build lasting friendships with others who love the arts.

Discovery. We hope you’ll take a chance and discover something new this year — an artist you’ve never heard of, an art form you’ve never experienced, a hands-on experience through our highly-lauded education programs…With UMS, you can count on unexpected moments that will stay with you for a lifetime.

BE PRESENT

16 17

138TH SEASON

September EARLY SEPTEMBER

Season Opening Event (to be announced) 9/23

Kamasi Washington & The Next Step

Paul McCreesh, music director and conductor Choral/Vocal, Series:You 11/16

Jake Shimabukuro Global, Series:You

9/29-10/1

11/17-20

The TEAM: RoosevElvis

portrait of myself as my father Nora Chipaumire

Rachel Chavkin, artistic director Theater, Series:You

Dance, Renegade, Series:You

October

December

10/8-9

12/3-4

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 1 & 2 Takács Quartet

Handel’s Messiah

Chamber Arts, Beethoven, Series:You

6/3/16

10/13-15

• Deadline for payment by U-M payroll deduction • Deadline for Choral Union and Chamber Arts subscribers to renew seat location • Seating priority deadline for donors and renewing subscribers

Layla and Majnun Mark Morris Dance Group The Silk Road Ensemble

• Deadline for installment billing and free parking options

Gabrieli: A Venetian Coronation 1595

Jazz, Series:You

IMPORTANT DATES!

6/24/16

11/15

Mark Morris, director and choreographer Howard Hodgkin, set and costume designer with Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, mugham vocals Dance, Global, Series:You 10/16

UMS Choral Union Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Scott Hanoian, conductor Choral/Vocal, Series:You 12/10

Holiday Concert

The King’s Singers Choral/Vocal, Series:You

January 1/7-8

Last Work Batsheva Dance Company

7/11/16

Denis Matsuev, piano

• Group sales reservations open

Choral Union, Series:You

Ohad Naharin, artistic director Dance, Renegade, Series:You

8/1/16

10/21

1/12-14

• Donor Single Ticket Day (for donors of $250+)

Dorrance Dance

8/15/16 • Single Ticket Day — tickets to all individual events on sale 9/1/16 • Student tickets on sale 9/12/16 • Kids Club tickets on sale 9/23/16 • Last day to order UMS subscriptions

Michelle Dorrance, artistic director Dance, Series:You

November 11/12-13

Two Concerts!

Berlin Philharmonic Simon Rattle, music director and conductor Choral Union, Series:You

Idiot-Syncrasy Igor and Moreno Dance, Renegade, Series:You 1/19

Prague Philharmonia Emmanuel Villaume, conductor Sarah Chang, violin Choral Union, Series:You

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1/20

On Behalf of Nature Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble Meredith Monk, music and direction Theater, Renegade, Series:You 1/21-22

CALENDAR

March 3/4

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Jazz, Series:You

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 3 & 4 Takács Quartet

3/9-11

Beethoven, Series:You

Garry Hynes, director Theater, Series:You

1/29

Inon Barnatan, piano Anthony McGill, clarinet Alisa Weilerstein, cello

Druid The Beauty Queen of Leenane

3/11

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis

Chamber Arts, Series:You

UMS Choral Union Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Scott Hanoian, conductor Choral/Vocal, Series:You

February

3/16

2/2

Snarky Puppy

Bruckner Orchester Linz

Jazz, Series:You

Dennis Russell Davies, conductor Angélique Kidjo, vocalist Martin Achrainer, baritone Choral Union, Series:You

3/17-18

2/3

Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young Dance, Theater, Series:You

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Kaspars Putniņš, music director Choral/Vocal, Series:You 2/10

Budapest Festival Orchestra Iván Fischer, conductor Richard Goode, piano UMS Choral Union Choral Union, Series:You 2/18

Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity Ping Chong + Company Written by Ping Chong and Sara Zatz Theater, Series:You 2/19

Jelly and George Aaron Diehl and Cécile McLorin Salvant Jazz, Series:You

Betroffenheit Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre

3/30-4/1

The Encounter Complicite / Simon McBurney Directed and performed by Simon McBurney Theater, Renegade, Series:You

April 4/1

Michael Fabiano, tenor Martin Katz, piano Choral Union, Series:You 4/12

A Far Cry with Roomful of Teeth Chamber Arts, Series:You 4/15

Sanam Marvi Global, Series:You 4/21

King Sunny Adé Global, Series:You 4/22

Special Event

Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile

3/18

4/25

Steve Reich @ 80 Music for 18 Musicians

Opera in Concert

eighth blackbird and Third Coast Percussion Choral Union, Renegade, Series:You 3/24

Mitsuko Uchida, piano Choral Union, Series:You 3/25-26

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 5 & 6 Takács Quartet Chamber Arts, Beethoven, Series:You 3/29

DakhaBrakha Global, Series:You

Handel’s Ariodante Starring Joyce DiDonato The English Concert Harry Bicket, artistic director Choral Union, Series:You

The world is here.

16 17 DakhaBrakha by Tetyana Vasylenko

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SPECIAL CONCERT

Special Concert Now Available Only to Subscribers!

Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile Saturday, April 22 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

When you subscribe to any UMS series, you may purchase tickets now to the special concert by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Chris Thile. Tickets will go on sale to the general public in August. Subscribers receive top priority for this event.

This special concert at the end of UMSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s season brings together three artists who have been collaborating for the better part of a decade, APR most notably on the bestselling recording The Goat Rodeo Sessions. Yo-Yo Maâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s multi-faceted career is a testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Here, he is joined by mandolinist Chris Thile (Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek) and bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer for a special concert that brings together three string masters who come from wildly different backgrounds yet excel in virtually all genres. They pool their talents for a fresh, new perspective on brilliantly conceived music by Johann Sebastian Bach. The program includes transcriptions of excerpts from The Art of the Fugue and various keyboard works, as well as organ and viola da gamba trio sonatas. This concert is currently available only to subscribers; remaining tickets go on sale on August 15, 2016.

BE PRESENT

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle

SIX CONCERTS IN RACKHAM AUDITORIUM

Takรกcs Quartet

138TH SEASON

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TA K Á C S Q U A R T E T

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle

Takács Quartet

“They are not for you, but for a later age!” So wrote Ludwig van Beethoven about his Op. 59 quartets, which will be performed in Ann Arbor as part of a complete Beethoven string quartet cycle by the Takács Quartet over six concerts (three weekends) in the 2016-17 season. Composed against the turbulent backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and their aftermath, this radical music is as invigorating now as it was for its first performers and audiences. The Beethoven string quartet cycle has only been performed in its entirety during the course of a single season by two ensembles in UMS’s 137-year history: the Budapest String Quartet performed all 16 quartets plus the Grosse Fuge over the course of an intense five days in 1965, and the Guarneri String Quartet performed it over the course of six concerts in the 1976-77 season. During this season, the Takács Quartet will perform the complete cycle in only four venues worldwide, coinciding with the release of a book by Takács first violinist Edward Dusinberre, Beethoven for a Later Age: The Journey of a String Quartet. The book explores the inner life of a string quartet, melding music history and memoir as it explores the circumstances surrounding the composition of Beethoven’s quartets. PROGRAM (CONCERT 1: SAT 10/8)

Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2 Quartet No. 11 in f minor, Op. 95 (“Serioso”) Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 with original finale Presenting Sponsor: Ilene H. Forsyth Chamber Arts Endowment Fund, which supports an annual UMS Chamber Arts Performance PROGRAM (CONCERT 2: SUN 10/9)

Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 74 (“Harp”) Quartet No. 14 in c-sharp minor, Op. 131

PROGRAM (CONCERT 3: SAT 1/21)

Quartet No. 5 in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 Quartet No. 4 in c minor, Op. 18, No. 4 Quartet No. 15 in a minor, Op. 132 Presenting Sponsor: Helmut F. and Candis J. Stern Endowment Fund PROGRAM (CONCERT 4: SUN 1/22)

Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3 Quartet No. 8 in e minor, Op. 59, No. 2 Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127

PROGRAM (CONCERT 5: SAT 3/25)

Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 PROGRAM (CONCERT 6: SUN 3/26)

Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 with Op. 133 “Grosse Fuge”

$280 / $245 / $190 / $140

6 concerts Takacs Quartet by Ellen Appel

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

138TH ANNUAL

Choral Union Series

Two Concerts!

Berlin Philharmonic Simon Rattle, conductor Saturday, November 12 // 8 pm Sunday, November 13 // 4 pm Hill Auditorium

12-13

Returning to Hill Auditorium for the first time since 2009, the Berlin Philharmonic and music director Simon Rattle embark on their NOV last US tour together, bringing two concerts to Ann Arbor as part of an orchestral residency. For the first program, they perform Pierre Boulez’s Éclat, a tribute to the late titan's death earlier this year, paired with Mahler’s seldom-performed Symphony No. 7. The second program combines German Romanticism with early works from composers in the Second Viennese School to provide a fascinating exploration of Viennese musical evolution over the course of 40 years. PROGRAM (SAT 11/12)

Boulez Éclat Mahler Symphony No. 7 in e minor PROGRAM (SUN 11/13)

Simon Rattle by Stephan Rabold

Schoenberg Webern Berg Brahms

Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16 Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73

Presenting Sponsor: Eugene M. Grant (LSA ’38)

TEN CONCERTS IN HILL AUDITORIUM

Denis Matsuev, piano Sunday, October 16 // 4 pm Hill Auditorium

Since his triumph in 1998 at the 11th International Tchaikovsky Competition, the Siberian pianist Denis Matsuev has become a virtuoso in the OCT grandest Russian pianist tradition and has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation. He returns for his fifth UMS appearance — but only his second recital — to launch the 138th Annual Choral Union Series.

Emmanuel Villaume, conductor Sarah Chang, violin Thursday, January 19 // 7:30 pm Hill Auditorium

Founded just over 20 years ago, in 1994, the Prague Philharmonia demonstrates a tremendous love for the music it performs. Their sparkling passion JAN makes every listener return home from its concerts full of joie de vivre. This all-Czech program features some of classical music’s most beloved scores. PROGRAM

PROGRAM

Beethoven Schumann Liszt Tchaikovsky Prokofiev

Prague Philharmonia

Sonata No. 31 in A-flat Major, Op. 110 Symphonic Etudes, Op. 13 Mephisto Waltz, S. 514 Meditation, Op. 72, No. 5 Sonata No. 7 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 (“Stalingrad”)

Smetana Dvořák Dvořák

“Die Moldau” from Má vlast Violin Concerto in a minor, Op. 53 Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88

Presenting Sponsor: Ilene H. Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund, which supports an annual UMS Choral Union Performance

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CHORAL UNION SERIES

Bruckner Orchester Linz

Mitsuko Uchida, piano

Dennis Russell Davies, conductor Angélique Kidjo, vocalist Martin Achrainer, baritone Thursday, February 2 // 7:30 pm Hill Auditorium

Friday, March 24 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

This unlikely mashup features an Austrian orchestra performing works by composers who wrote about the FEB experience of Africans and African-Americans. The program includes Alexander Zemlinsky’s Africa Sings, which was written in 1929 and features poetry by Langston Hughes and other prominent writers from the Harlem Renaissance. The program also features Phillip Glass’s recent collaboration with the Beninese singer Angélique Kidjo based on three poems of Ifé, one of the most important Yorùbán kingdoms. PROGRAM

Gershwin Zemlinsky Ellington Glass

Porgy and Bess Suite (arr. Morton Gould) Symphony Songs from Africa Sings, Op. 20 Black, Brown, and Beige Suite Ifé: Three Yorùbá Songs

Budapest Festival Orchestra Iván Fischer, conductor Richard Goode, piano UMS Choral Union Friday, February 10 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

Pianist Richard Goode joins the Budapest Festival Orchestra for this all-Beethoven program, which also features the UMS Choral Union in a performance of FEB Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The BFO was cofounded by the charismatic conductor Iván Fischer in 1983, and their past performances in Hill Auditorium have left audiences mesmerized. PROGRAM

Beethoven Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 Symphony No. 9 in d minor, Op. 125

Supporting Sponsor: Karl V. Hauser and Ilene H. Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund, which partially supports an annual UMS Choral Union Performance

Steve Reich @ 80 Music for 18 Musicians eighth blackbird and Third Coast Percussion Saturday, March 18 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

Renowned for her interpretations of Mozart and Schumann, the legendary pianist Mitsuko Uchida has also illuminated the music of new composers and will MAR perform the US premiere of a new work by the German composer Jörg Widmann in her first UMS concert since her 1998 debut. PROGRAM

Mozart Schumann Widmann Schumann

Sonata in C Major, K. 545 Kreisleriana, Op. 16 New Work for Piano Solo (US premiere) Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17

Michael Fabiano, tenor Martin Katz, piano Saturday, April 1 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

A University of Michigan alumnus, Michael Fabiano received the 2014 Richard Tucker Award and the APR 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award, the first-ever winner of both awards in the same year. “A marvel… Fabiano’s sound was so beautiful, and the transition from the bottom to the top of his range so seamless as to proclaim him ‘the’ tenor that we have all been waiting for.” (San Francisco Classical Voice)

Opera in Concert

Handel’s Ariodante Starring Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano The English Concert Harry Bicket, artistic director Tuesday, April 25 // 7:30 pm Hill Auditorium

Contemporary opera composer Jake Heggie enthused in Gramophone magazine, “The staggering, joyful artistry of Joyce DiDonato reminds APR us that in any generation there are a few giants… Those who know her repertoire are in awe of her gifts, and those who know nothing of it are instantly engaged.” DiDonato enchants audiences across the globe with her 24-carat voice and performances that “leave one bereft of superlatives.” (The Telegraph) This concert opera with The English Concert and conductor Harry Bicket will be performed in only two places in the country: Hill Auditorium and Carnegie Hall.

The Guardian in London asserts, “There’s just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history, MAR and Steve Reich is one of them.” Reich, who has been called “our greatest living composer” (New York Times), celebrates his 80th birthday in 2016, and the year also marks the 40th anniversary of the premiere of Music for 18 Musicians, considered by many to be his greatest composition. Two of Chicago’s world-class ensembles, eighth blackbird and Third Coast Percussion, team up to perform this seminal composition.

MAIN FLOOR

$740 / $650 / $590

10 concerts

MEZZANINE

$570 / $490

B A L C O N Y

$390 / $320 / $240 / $145

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

26TH ANNUAL

Dance Series

Kidd Pivot’s Betroffenheit by Wendy D Photography

S I X P E R F O R M A N C E S I N VA R I O U S V E N U E S

Layla and Majnun

Mark Morris Dance Group The Silk Road Ensemble Mark Morris, director and choreographer Howard Hodgkin, set and costume designer James F. Ingalls, lighting designer with Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, mugham vocals Thursday, October 13 // 7:30 pm Friday, October 14 // 8 pm Saturday, October 15 // 8 pm Power Center

13-15

Mark Morris returns with his company of 15 dancers for a new, large-scale production that receives its world premiere OCT in September. Layla and Majnun is an Arabian love story that originated as a poem in ancient Persia and is well known among many Middle Eastern and sub-continental cultures. In love from childhood, Layla and Majnun (the name means “possessed”) are not allowed to unite. Majnun, mad in his obsession with Layla, becomes a hermit when she is married off to another man. He devotes his life to writing verses about his profound love for Layla, and although they attempt to meet, they die without ever realizing their relationship. The music for this highly anticipated collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Silk Road Ensemble is by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli and performed by the revered singer Alim Qasimov and his daughter, Fargana. Co-presented with Michigan Opera Theatre.

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Dorrance Dance Michelle Dorrance, choreographer Friday, October 21 // 8 pm Power Center

Former STOMP member and 2015 MacArthur “Genius” Grant awardee Michelle Dorrance honors tap dance’s uniquely beautiful history by OCT pushing the form rhythmically, aesthetically, and conceptually. The innovative choreographer creates an imaginative world of sound, movement, and the forces that join them. Her UMS debut will feature an explosive show that blasts open our notions of tap with every stomp, stamp, and shuffle. “One of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today…” (The New Yorker)

portrait of myself as my father

Nora Chipaumire Thursday, November 17 // 7:30 pm Friday, November 18 // 8 pm Saturday, November 19 // 8 pm Sunday, November 20 // 2 pm Location TBA

17-20

“Chipaumire has become a rock star of downtown dance, with a majestic quality that blows everything else out of the NOV water.” (Dance Magazine) The Zimbabwean choreographer Nora Chipaumire made her UMS debut as a member of Urban Bush Women in 2008 and now brings her latest work, portrait of myself as my father, to Ann Arbor. The performance celebrates and critiques masculinity, manhood, and ideas around the “African male.” The two performers — Senegalese dancer Kaolack joins Chipaumire — are tethered together in a makeshift boxing ring, battling their shadows and their ancestors and reflecting on what it is about the Black African male body that both intimidates and intrigues us.

Last Work

Batsheva Dance Company Ohad Naharin, artistic director Saturday, January 7 // 8 pm Sunday, January 8 // 2 pm Power Center

7-8

UMS presents the North American premiere of Last Work, a new evening-length piece by Ohad Naharin performed by one of the world’s preJAN eminent dance companies. Using the company’s famous Gaga technique, a movement language developed by Naharin, Last Work offers a political meditation on futility, shifting from sustained and meditative movement to frenzied, destabilizing bursts of energy that run through a huge range of emotion.

DANCE SERIES

Idiot-Syncrasy

Igor and Moreno Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas, creators Thursday, January 12 // 7:30 pm Friday, January 13 // 8 pm Saturday, January 14 // 8 pm Arthur Miller Theatre

12-14

The Urban Dictionary describes “idiotsyncracy” as “any method or procedure based in ritual or dogma JAN that continues by force of momentum beyond the limits of common sense.” That’s certainly what’s in store when Igor and Moreno take the stage. Beginning by singing a Sardinian folk song, they proceed to bounce —literally — for the duration of the piece. Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas say that when they set out to create Idiot-Syncrasy they wanted to “change the world.” Recognizing that this would likely not be possible through a performance, they started jumping, singing, and testing different things that require perseverance, while exploring the immediacy of action as a vehicle for meaning, ideas, and desires. Direct from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the two London-based dancers take audiences on a unique journey of self-discovery, exploring both togetherness and solitude. “Idiot-Syncrasy feels very human. More than that: humane…I left feeling an expanded person.” (LondonDance)

Betroffenheit

Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young Friday, March 17 // 8 pm Saturday, March 18 // 8 pm Power Center

17-18

Some questions are impossible to answer and some experiences too personal to express. Crystal Pite, the choreographer who MAR brought The Tempest Replica to Ann Arbor four seasons ago, is back with her 2015 work for Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre: Betroffenheit, which means a sort of shock, speechlessness, and bewilderment. This searing work has its roots in a deeply personal tragedy, the deaths of writer Jonathon Young’s teenage daughter and two cousins in a fire. With unflinching honesty, it achieves broad resonance as it touches on themes of loss, trauma, addiction, and recovery through a boundary-stretching hybrid of theater and dance. “A stunning testament to what can happen when life turns into art.” (The Globe and Mail)

MAIN FLOOR

$255 / $235 / $160

6 performances

B A L C O N Y

$235 / $215

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538. Interested in subscribing to both the Dance Series and the International Theater Series? See the combined option on the order form.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Global

F I V E P E R F O R M A N C E S I N VA R I O U S V E N U E S

Series

DakhaBrakha by Olga Zakrevska

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Layla and Majnun

Mark Morris Dance Group Mark Morris, director and choreographer Howard Hodgkin, set and costume designer James F. Ingalls, lighting designer with Alim Qasimov and Fargana Qasimova, mugham vocals Thursday, October 13 // 7:30 pm Friday, October 14 // 8 pm Saturday, October 15 // 8 pm Power Center

13-15

Mark Morris returns with his company of 15 dancers for a new, large-scale production that receives its world premiere in OCT September. Layla and Majnun is an Arabian love story that originated as a poem in ancient Persia and is well known among many Middle Eastern and subcontinental cultures. In love from childhood, Layla and Majnun (the name means “possessed”) are not allowed to unite. Majnun is perceived to be mad in his obsession with Layla, becoming a hermit when she is married off to another man. He devotes his life to writing verses about his profound love for Layla, and although they attempt to meet, they die without ever realizing their relationship. The music for this highly anticipated collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Silk Road Ensemble is by the Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli and performed by the revered singer Alim Qasimov and his daughter, Fergana. Copresented with Michigan Opera Theater.

Jake Shimabukuro Wednesday, November 16 // 7:30 pm Hill Auditorium

The ukulele is an adaptation of a stringed instrument that traveled with Portuguese immigrants who came to work in Hawaii’s sugarcane fields, and it's now NOV synonymous with Hawaiian music and culture. Jake Shimabukuro comes from that same process of mixing both island and outside influences; he’s combined the qualities of a long line of virtuoso ukuele players with modern rock to create a sound that’s uniquely his own but still firmly grounded in Hawaiian tradition. Known for his lightning-fast fingers and innovative style, Shimabukuro saw his career skyrocket when his video of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was posted on YouTube without his knowledge and became one of the first viral videos on the site. In addition to traditional ukulele material, his singular approach combines elements of jazz, blues, funk, rock, bluegrass, classical, swing, and flamenco.

GLOBAL SERIES

DakhaBrakha Wednesday, March 29 // 7:30 pm Michigan Theater

Drones and beats, crimson beads, and towering black lambswool hats all serve as a striking backdrop for an unexpected, refreshingly novel MAR vision of Eastern European roots music. This hit Ukrainian folk-punk quartet stirs up a mesmerizing sound that melds traditional Ukrainian folk music, African grooves, Eastern colors, and a contemporary, trans-national sensibility that the band calls “ethno-chaos.” With one foot in the urban avant-garde and the other in Ukrainian village culture, DakhaBrakha made NPR music host Bob Boilen’s “Top 10 Events of 2015” — no small feat given the 506 concerts he attended that year. Rolling Stone’s report on their Bonnaroo appearance was equally enthusiastic: “Ukrainian folkdrone Björkpunk quartet DakhaBrakha ended up with one of the most receptive crowds of the weekend… turning the tent into a happy menagerie.”

Sanam Marvi Saturday, April 15 // 8 pm Rackham Auditorium

With compelling interpretations that draw deeply from one of the world’s great music traditions, Sanam Marvi is Pakistan’s next inspiring diviner of South APR Asia’s Sufi texts. A vocal warrior for tolerance and peace, this contemporary daughter of the Sindh province is a brilliant interpreter of South Asia’s spiritual, folk, and classical poetry. Her performances balance immediacy and elegant ornamentation, lending new light to her well-loved repertoire of sufi, ghazal, qawwali, and folk songs. An indemand performer too rarely heard outside émigré circles, she makes her first extended tour to the US.

King Sunny Adé Friday, April 21 // 8 pm Michigan Theater

Since the evolution of jùjú music in Nigeria in the 1930s, no one has made a more lasting impact in the genre than King Sunny Adé. As a singer, composer, APR and guitarist, this pioneer of modern world music has succeeded in taking Nigerian social music to international heights. Adé formed his first band in 1967 and has been in the limelight in Nigeria ever since. Singing in his native Yorùbá language, Adé went on to define the terms “Afropop” and “World Beat” and to open the door to the West for other African musicians. King Sunny Adé & His African Beats last toured North America in 2005. He will lay down his trademark mix of talking drum-driven grooves, multi-guitar weaves, lilting vocal harmonies, and pedal steel guitar accents, taking the audiences on an intoxicating journey.

MAIN FLOOR

$210 / $175

5 performances

B A L C O N Y

$190 / $150

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

54TH ANNUAL

Chamber Arts

SEVEN CONCERTS IN RACKHAM AUDITORIUM

Series

Roomful of Teeth by Bonica Ayala

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CHAMBER ARTS SERIES

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle

Takács Quartet

Saturday, October 8 // 8 pm Sunday, October 9 // 4 pm Rackham Auditorium

Saturday, March 25 // 8 pm Sunday, March 26 //4 pm Rackham Auditorium

8-9

“Commenting to a friend on the startling originality of his late quartets, Beethoven explained, ‘Art demands of us that we do not OCT stand still.’ No other composer has posed so many questions about the form and emotional content of a string quartet, and come up with so many different answers. The need we feel to revisit our interpretations of the quartets is inspired in part by the spirit of exploration that runs through them.” (Ed Dusinberre, violinist with the Takács Quartet, in his book Beethoven for a Later Age) The first two and last two of this six-concert series are included in the 54th Annual Chamber Arts Series; the middle two concerts are available as a subscriber add-on below. PROGRAM (CONCERT 1: SAT 10/8)

Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 74 (“Harp”) Quartet No. 14 in c-sharp minor, Op. 131

Inon Barnatan, piano Anthony McGill, clarinet Alisa Weilerstein, cello Sunday, January 29 // 4 pm Rackham Auditorium

This powerhouse trio brings together some familiar faces — Inon Barnatan was the featured piano soloist with the New York Philharmonic last fall, JAN Anthony McGill is the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist, and Alisa Weilersten has performed on both the Choral Union Series and the Chamber Arts Series in recent years. This concert of beloved clarinet trios includes a new work by Joseph Hallman, a prolific young composer based in Philadelphia, which was cocommissioned by UMS as part of the Music Accord commissioning consortium. PROGRAM

Beethoven Hallman Brahms

Clarinet Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11 Trio for Clarinet, Cello, and Piano (UMS co-commission) Clarinet Trio in a minor, Op. 114

25-26 MAR

PROGRAM (CONCERT 5: SAT 3/25)

Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 PROGRAM (CONCERT 6: SUN 3/26)

Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1

Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 with Op. 133 “Grosse Fuge”

A Far Cry with Roomful of Teeth Wednesday, April 12 // 7:30 pm Rackham Auditorium

A Far Cry stands at the forefront of an exciting new generation in classical music. The 17-member, selfconducted chamber music collective joins forces APR with virtuosic vocalists Roomful of Teeth to create a sonic patchwork that is ever-changing with its fleeting burst of colors, timbres, and visions. The program opens with the lush writing of Caroline Shaw (2013 Pulitzer Prize winner), with the second half devoted to two raw, energetic, and captivating works by Ted Hearne. PROGRAM

Shaw Prokofiev Hearne Hearne

Music in Common Time Visions Fugitives New Work Law of Mosaics

M-Prize Winner Concert date to be announced Rackham Auditorium The grand prize winner of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s inaugural M-Prize will be featured on the UMS Chamber Arts series. The ensemble will be identified at the M-Prize finals on May 19, and a date for their UMS concert announced in late June. M-Prize is an international chamber arts competition for musicians under the age of 40, launched by new SMTD Dean Aaron Dworkin. Chamber Arts subscribers will be notified as soon as a date is determined for the winning ensemble’s UMS appearance. Presenting Sponsor: Carl Cohen, whose bequest will establish an endowment to support a Chamber Arts performance in perpetuity

$325 / $285 / $225 / $165

7 concerts 7 concerts + 2 additional Beethoven concerts

$421 / $371 / $291 / $213

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

F O U R P E R F O R M A N C E S I N H I L L A U D I T O R I U M A N D M I C H I G A N T H E AT E R

20 BE PRESENT 138TH SEASON

23RD ANNUAL

Jazz

Series

Kamasi Washington by Mike Park

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Kamasi Washington & The Next Step Friday, September 23 // 8 pm Michigan Theater

The 35-year-old tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington has emerged as “the most-talkedabout jazz musician since Wynton Marsalis arrived SEP on the New York scene three decades ago.” (New York Times) Born into a musical family, he recently collaborated and appeared on rapper Kendrick Lamar’s platinum album To Pimp a Butterfly and has also performed with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Gerald Wilson, Mos Def, Quincy Jones, and Chaka Khan. But while Washington and the other members of his coalition of musicians turned to hip-hop and R&B to make a living, they’ve been immersed in jazz since they were teenagers in South Central L.A. Washington recently released a groundbreaking solo album, The Epic, a 172-minute, triple-disc masterpiece, which was awarded the inaugural American Music Prize recognizing the best debut album of the previous year across all genres. “The Los Angeles saxophonist is the most audacious player in a movement making the electric flurry of 1970s fusion jazz cool again.” (Rolling Stone)

Jelly and George

Aaron Diehl & Cécile McLorin Salvant Sunday, February 19 // 4 pm Michigan Theater

Timeless classics are elevated by modern masters when gifted jazz pianist and arranger Aaron Diehl and 26-year-old vocalist extraordinaire Cécile FEB McLorin Salvant join forces to revisit and revitalize the works of George Gershwin and Jelly Roll Morton. Combining lesser-known pieces with new arrangements, this project celebrates the past while tracing a musical lineage that spans a century. Aaron Diehl, a leading force in today’s generation of jazz contemporaries, was the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival Commission Artist and spearheads a distinct union of traditional and fresh artistry. McLorin Salvant, though practically unknown to any of the judges or participants, walked away with first place at the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, and the buzz began immediately. A 2016 Grammy winner (“Best Jazz Vocal Album”), she frequently draws comparisons to the Big Three — Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald — able to bend notes to her will and get inside each song the way an actress inhabits a starring role.

JAZZ SERIES

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Saturday, March 4 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

“The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis is so far from the usual big-band cliché that it’s mind-blowing.” (Dallas) Since 1988, Wynton MAR Marsalis has led the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, which simultaneously honors the rich heritage of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong while presenting a stunning variety of new works from illustrious names, many of whom perform regularly with the ensemble. From swinging to supple, it’s all sheer jazz perfection — and no wonder these annual appearances have become a favorite of UMS audiences. “You know it’s a good gig when you can’t tell if the band or the audience is having more fun.” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

Snarky Puppy Thursday, March 16 // 7:30 pm Hill Auditorium

This once Texan, now New York-based quasicollective has gone from a best-kept secret to one of the biggest bands on the international scene. MAR Although still “underground” in many respects, the band followed up its first Grammy in 2014 (“Best R&B Performance”) with its second this past February for “Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.” They have earned high praise from critical stalwarts like the BBC, Village Voice, The Guardian, and the New York Times, as well as from the world’s most respected musicians, from Pat Metheny to Prince. Formed in 2004 at the acclaimed music school of the University of North Texas, the group was voted “Best Jazz Group” in Downbeat’s 2015 Reader’s Poll as well as “Best New Artist” in JazzTimes’s 2014 Reader’s Poll. Their music is a mixture of funk, jazz, gospel, rock, and R&B that strikes a perfect balance between pure musical virtuosity and raw soulful simplicity.

MAIN FLOOR

$168 / $144

4 performances

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

I N T E R N AT I O N A L

Theater Series

S I X P E R F O R M A N C E S I N VA R I O U S V E N U E S

RoosevElvis by Sue Kessler

RoosevElvis

On Behalf of Nature

The TEAM

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble

Rachel Chavkin, artistic director Thursday, September 29 // 7:30 pm Friday, September 30 // 8 pm Saturday, October 1 // 2 pm & 8 pm Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre

29-1

If you could swap identities, would you rather be the 26th President of the United States or the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll? It’s a question The SEP-OCT TEAM asks in RoosevElvis. On a hallucinatory road trip from the Badlands to Graceland, the spirits of Elvis Presley and Theodore Roosevelt battle over the soul of Ann, a painfully shy meat-processing plant worker, and what kind of man — or woman — Ann should become. Set against the boundless blue skies of the Great Plains and endless American highway, RoosevElvis is a playfully pointed new work about icons, gender, and nobodies and somebodies all blended into “a spirited and insightful commentary on two archetypes of American masculinity.” (New York Times) Once described as “Gertrude Stein meets MTV,” The TEAM’s work crashes American history and mythology into modern stories that illuminate our time.

Music and direction by Meredith Monk Friday, January 20 // 8 pm Power Center

For her newest music-theater work, Meredith Monk offers a poetic meditation on our intimate connection to the natural world and the fragility of JAN its ecology. Drawing inspiration from writers and researchers who have sounded the alarm on the precarious state of our global ecosystem, Monk and her acclaimed Vocal Ensemble create a space where human, natural, and spiritual elements are woven into a delicate whole, illuminating the interconnection and interdependency of us all. “A rapturous new work…some of the finest music Monk has yet written.” (Los Angeles Times)

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I N T E R N AT I O N A L T H E AT E R S E R I E S

Beyond Sacred: Voices of Muslim Identity

Betroffenheit

Ping Chong + Company

Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre

Written by Ping Chong and Sara Zatz, with Ryan Conarro Saturday, February 18 // 8 pm Power Center

Ping Chong + Company creates theater that crosses boundaries of identity, community, and form. His projects have explored a wide variety of subject FEB matter, from a hidden genocide in Africa to class struggles in America and modernization in China, but the common thread is a unifying commitment to artistic innovation and social responsibility. This interview-based theater production, part of Chong’s 25-year series entitled Undesirable Elements, explores the diverse experiences of young Muslim New Yorkers. The five participants in Beyond Sacred share the common experience of coming of age in a post-9/11 New York City, at a time of increasing Islamophobia. Participants come from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds and include young men and women who reflect a range of Muslim identities, including those who converted to Islam, those who were raised Muslim but have since left the faith, those who identify as “secular” or “culturally” Muslim, and those who are observant on a daily basis.

The Beauty Queen of Leenane

Druid Written by Martin McDonagh Directed by Garry Hynes Thursday, March 9 // 7:30 pm Friday, March 10 // 8 pm Saturday, March 11 // 8 pm Power Center

9-11

Druid, which made its acclaimed UMS debut in 2011 with The Cripple of Inishmaan, returns with a new production of Martin McDonagh’s MAR dark comedy The Beauty Queen of Leenane (pronounced lee-NAHN). As tragically funny as it is horrific, this brilliantly subversive play takes place in an economically depressed Irish village in the early 1990s, with a vicious and relentless war of wills between a manipulative, aging mother, Mag, and her plain and lonely 40-year-old daughter, Maureen. After years of caring for her ungrateful mother, Maureen has little hope of happiness or escape, especially after Mag ruins her first, and perhaps only, chance of a loving relationship. This is confrontational theater at its most potent, with characters locked in mortal combat and mutual loathing. This new production casts Marie Mullen in the role of the scheming mother; she won a Tony Award for the role of the daughter in the 1996 Broadway production.

Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young Friday, March 17 // 8 pm Saturday, March 18 // 8 pm Power Center

17-18

Some questions are impossible to answer and some experiences too personal to express. Crystal Pite, the choreographer who brought MAR The Tempest Replica to Ann Arbor four seasons ago, is back with her 2015 work for Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre: Betroffenheit, which means a sort of shock, speechlessness, and bewilderment. This searing work has its roots in a deeply personal tragedy: the deaths of writer Jonathon Young’s teenage daughter and two cousins in a fire. With unflinching honesty, it achieves broad resonance as it touches on themes of loss, trauma, addiction, and recovery through a boundary-stretching hybrid of theater and dance. “A stunning testament to what can happen when life turns into art.” (The Globe and Mail)

The Encounter

Complicite / Simon McBurney Directed and performed by Simon McBurney Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu Thursday, March 30 // 7:30 pm Friday, March 31 // 8 pm Saturday, April 1 // 8 pm Power Center

30-1

In 1969, National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre became hopelessly lost in a remote part of the Brazilian rainforest while MAR-APR searching for the Mayoruna people. His encounter tested his perception of the world, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. Threading scenes of his own life with details of McIntyre’s journey, Complicite artistic director Simon McBurney incorporates objects and sound effects into this solo performance to evoke a rainforest landscape. Transmitted directly to the audience through provided headphones, the show’s groundbreaking technology and sound design plug into the power of the imagination, questioning our perceptions of time, communication, and our own consciousness. McBurney transports us into the humid depths of the Amazon, its intense soundscape a new approach to site-specific theater.

MAIN FLOOR

$250 / $220 / $135

6 performances

B A L C O N Y

$220 / $185

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538. Interested in subscribing to both the Dance Series and the International Theater Series? See the combined option on the order form.

Captivation is on its way.

16 17 CĂŠcile McLorin Salvant by Mark Fitton

S I X P E R F O R M A N C E S I N VA R I O U S V E N U E S

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Where Curious Audiences Meet Unexpected Ideas

Artists engage daily in a creative enterprise full of risktaking, experimentation, and boundary-pushing. But artists arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t alone in this venture: many audience members seek out adventure, searching for the extreme moments of challenging artistic work that is often edgy, sometimes controversial, and always surprising. From a dance show created for a boxing ring to a theater production that lives inside your head, this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Renegade events may take you out of your comfort zone and into a whole new world of possibility. Renegade is presented with support from the Renegade Ventures Fund, established by Maxine and Stuart Frankel.

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RENEGADE

portrait of myself as my father

Nora Chipaumire Thursday, November 17 // 7:30 pm Friday, November 18 // 8 pm Saturday, November 19 // 8 pm Sunday, November 20 // 2 pm Location TBA

Last Work

Batsheva Dance Company Ohad Naharin, artistic director Saturday, January 7 // 8 pm Sunday, January 8 // 2 pm Power Center

Idiot-Syncrasy

Igor and Moreno Igor Urzelai and Moreno Solinas, creators Thursday, January 12 // 7:30 pm Friday, January 13 // 8 pm Saturday, January 14 // 8 pm Arthur Miller Theatre

On Behalf of Nature

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble Friday, January 20 // 8 pm Power Center

Steve Reich @ 80 Music for 18 Musicians Nora Chipaumire by Elise Fitte Duval

eighth blackbird and Third Coast Percussion Saturday, March 18 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

The Encounter

MAIN FLOOR

$260 / $230 / $160

6 performances

B A L C O N Y

$230 / $200

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Choral/Vocal Music Series

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir by Kaupo Kikkas

A Venetian Coronation 1595

Gabrieli

FIVE PERFORMANCES IN HILL AUDITORIUM A N D S T. F R A N C I S O F A S S I S I C H U R C H

Music by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli Paul McCreesh, music director and conductor Tuesday, November 15 // 7:30 pm St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Formerly known as the Gabrieli Consort & Players, Gabrieli is a pioneering ensemble whose innovative use of liturgy brings repertoire to life in the context NOV of the ceremony for which it was composed. Founded by Paul McCreesh in 1982, Gabrieli performs its sumptuous reconstruction of a glorious 16th century Coronation Mass at St. Mark’s in Venice. The mass evokes the grand pageantry of what was truly a magnificent event: the coronation of the Venetian Doge Marino Grimani, whose love of ceremony and state festivals fueled an extraordinary musical bounty during his reign and gave rise to the musical riches of the period. Their recording of the work won the Gramphone Early Music Award in 2013 and is “a marvelous achievement, incorporating the rapturous choral polyphony of Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli interspersed with passages of organ and period instrument arrangements of cornets, sackbuts, and shawms. It’s never less than enthralling…” (Independent)

Handel’s Messiah UMS Choral Union Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Scott Hanoian, conductor Saturday, December 3 // 8 pm Sunday, December 4 // 2 pm Hill Auditorium

3-4

An eagerly anticipated holiday season tradition, these performances are ultimately the heart and soul of UMS, dating back to the DEC organization’s founding and first concerts in the 1879-80 season. The performances connect audiences not only with the talented artists on stage, but also with the friends and family who attend each year. In a true community tradition, the performances feature the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the voices of the Grammy Award-winning UMS Choral Union, all under the direction of Choral Union music director Scott Hanoian. Soloists to be announced. Supported by the Carl and Isabelle Brauer Endowment Fund.

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CHORAL/VOCAL MUSIC SERIES

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Kaspars Putniņš, music director Friday, February 3 // 8 pm St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

When the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir landed in New York for its first North American tour in 1995 (including a stop in Ann Arbor for UMS’s FEB very first concert at St. Francis), they were known only as the performers on the best-selling CD of fellowEstonian Arvo Pärt’s austere Te Deum. The concerts showed much more — a virtuosic ensemble that could dazzle in everything from Bach to folk songs. Now they return with newly-named artistic director Kaspars Putniņš with music by Pärt, Schnittke, Ligeti, Brahms, and Tormis. “So wondrously talented…the selections and performances were so fine that they left you feeling like an ingrate, greedily hungry for more.” (New York Times)

Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis UMS Choral Union Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra Scott Hanoian, conductor Saturday, March 11 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

Holiday Concert

The King’s Singers Saturday, December 10 // 8 pm Hill Auditorium

Beethoven spent more time writing his massive Missa Solemnis than any other work he composed. Written to honor Rudolph, the Archduke of Austria, MAR who was Beethoven’s foremost patron and was to be invested as Archbishop in March 1820, the mass is eclipsed by the better-known Ninth Symphony, which premiered around the same time (and which will be performed on a UMS concert by the Budapest Festival Orchestra a month earlier). Misa Solemnis has been performed only four times in all of UMS’s history: at three May Festivals (with the Chicago Symphony in 1927 and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1947 and 1955), and most recently by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1977. The UMS Choral Union and Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Scott Hanoian, bring this monumental work to UMS audiences for the first time in 40 years. Soloists to be announced.

Acclaimed worldwide for their virtuosity, lifeaffirming energy, and charm, the King’s Singers are consummate entertainers, instantly recognizable DEC for their immaculate intonation, vocal blend, diction, incisive timing, and delightfully British wit. One of the first groups that UMS President Ken Fischer presented, during an epic 1980s snowstorm in Washington, DC, the King’s Singers return for Fischer’s final year before retiring from UMS with a special holiday program that includes works by Tchaikovsky, Lawson, and Pärt, as well as traditional seasonal songs drawn from their Christmas Songbook. “These six singers can do almost anything a full-sized chorus can do, with a degree of perfection that drops the jaw and delights the ear.” (Seattle Times)

MAIN FLOOR

$190 / $150

5 performances

MEZZANINE

$170 / $120

For further details, visit ums.org or call 734.764.2538.

BE PRESENT

Series: You Series:You is the perfect way to create and curate your own UMS experience. With Series:You, you can select a variety of performances that speak to your interests. When you purchase at least 5 different events from those listed in this brochure before Friday, September 23, 2016, you’ll receive a 10% discount. As a Series:You subscriber, you get it all: a 10% discount, access to the best seats in the house, free exchange privileges, and the opportunity to purchase additional tickets to the entire UMS season for friends or family members. And when you purchase Series:You, you’re eligible to purchase tickets to the Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile concert. For non-subscribers, these tickets won’t go on sale until August. The earlier you place your order, the better your seats will be. This concert cannot be included toward the fiveconcert minimum when purchasing Series:You.

138TH SEASON

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S E R I E S : YO U

Buy 5 or More Different Events & Save 10% Joyce DiDonato by Nick Heavican

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Series Subscriptions Every UMS experience is personal. That’s why we’ve created a number of ways for you to build your own.

Fixed Series

Marathon Series

Fixed Series subscribers commit to the packages that we’ve created, generally programmed by art form or theme. Fixed Series subscribers who wish to add on other performances on the season will receive a 10% discount on each ticket.

Are you always looking to go that extra mile? Are you interested in experiencing the breadth of what UMS has to offer? Subscribe to the Marathon Series, which includes one ticket to each event on the UMS season, and take 25% off. You’ll have a personal representative in our ticket office to work with you on all of your Marathon Series package needs.

Series:You Series:You subscribers create their own packages of at least five events, mixing and matching across art forms. With Series:You, you become the programmer and curate your own season, customized to your specific interests and seating preferences.

A NOTE ABOUT SINGLE TICKETS As a subscriber, you may order tickets now to ANY event in our season. Non-subscribers must wait until Monday, August 15, 2016. UMS Donors ($250+ annually) may purchase tickets to individual events beginning Monday, August 1, 2016.

The UMS Choral Union invites you to take part in its 23rd season of Summer Sings, popular, participatory evenings of memorable music-making. More details will be announced in May, but you can mark your calendar for this year’s Summer Sings:

Are You Ready to Sing?

Monday, June 20 – Stamps Auditorium Monday, July 11 – Hill Auditorium Monday, August 1 – Stamps Auditorium Visit

www.ums.org/summersings for more information.

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The new UMS.org

The new UMS.org has launched, giving you a complete view into the UMS experience. BIGGER Our site now matches our vision: bold and farreaching. We encourage you to use UMS.org as a resource throughout the year as we continue to add new articles, insights, opinions, and events.

THE NEW UMS.ORG

facebook.com/UMSNews

instagram.com/UMSNews

twitter.com/UMSNews

youtube.com/UMSVideos

EASIER We've worked with users to make sure the new experience makes it simple to navigate, find content, comment, and get the information you need when you need it. We've also made it more accessible and more readable on both desktop and mobile devices. MORE CONNECTED We've brought together UMS.org, UMSLobby.org, and UMSRewind.org into one online experience. Now, you can find relevant content from all three sites under each performance page. You can comment directly on a performerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s page, search related educational events, and find historically relevant information â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all at one address.

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Be a victor for excellence.

138TH SEASON

7 3 4 . 7 6 4 . 2 5 3 8 // U M S . O R G

BE A VICTOR FOR EXCELLENCE

UMS strives to be more than a world-class presenting organization. Our vision is to connect with individuals in transformative ways that send them out into the world to invent, treat, discover, and build in ways unleashed by their creative curiosity. Thanks to your generous donations, we are realizing this vision. However, there is so much more to accomplish. We rely on our donors to help us deliver remarkable seasons like this one. We are also in the midst of the largest campaign in our history focused on the following areas: ACCESS & INCLUSIVENESS UMS will provide opportunities for anyone and everyone to discover and experience the transformative power of the performing arts through affordable tickets, free educational events, and community-building activities. ENGAGED LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS UMS will integrate the performing arts into the student experience at all levels to encourage creative thinking, collaboration, and experimentation, and to create meaningful connections between arts and life. BOLD ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP UMS will solidify our position as a recognized national and international artistic leader through bold programming, producing, and commissioning that reflect our commitment to both tradition and innovation.

Thank you for your help. A gift of any size will help ensure UMS's continued ability to deliver on these goals â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and help spark a creative fire in the next generation. Visit us online or call the UMS Development Oficce to make your gift today. NY Philhaltime Brass section at the 2015 Homecoming Game halftime show. Photo by Michigan Photography.

UMS.ORG/SUPPORT

734.764.8489

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Ticket Info

138TH SEASON

Subscription tickets will be mailed in late July. There is a $10 service charge for all subscription orders. SUBSCRIPTION TICKETS/SEATING PRIORIT Y

HOW TO ORDER WEB

ums.org PHONE

734.764.2538 Outside the 734 area code, call toll-free 800.221.1229

Please note: During the subscription renewal period, we are unable to provide specific seat locations when you purchase your subscription. Priority seating is given to renewing subscribers and donors. DONORS Donors receive the highest priority seating based on level of giving, including new subscriptions and seating upgrade requests. Donations may be included with your ticket order. Ticket orders must be received by Friday, June 3 to be eligible for seating priority. FIXED SERIES

FAX 734.647.1171

Fixed Series subscribers (for packages listed on pages 10-29 of this brochure) receive priority before Series:You subscribers and individual event purchasers. Subscriptions will be filled in the order received.

IN PERSON Visit the UMS Ticket Office on the north end of the Michigan League building (911 North University Avenue). The Ticket Office also sells tickets for all U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance productions and the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.

SERIES:YOU Series:You subscribers (those who choose at least five different events from this brochure) will receive priority seating before individual event purchasers if orders are submitted by July 29, 2016. Subscription orders must be received by September 23, 2016 to receive the 10% discount and will be filled in the order received.

MAIL UMS Ticket Office Burton Memorial Tower 881 North University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011 Summer Hours (May-August) 10 am to 5 pm Mon-Fri Closed Sat and Sun Extended hours resume after Labor Day.

GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE Groups of 10 or more people attending a single event will receive priority over individual event purchasers and save 15-25% off the regular ticket prices to most performances. For more information, contact the UMS Group Sales Office at umsgroupsales@umich.edu or 734.763.3100. UMS accepts group reservations beginning Monday, July 11, a full month before tickets to individual events go on sale to the general public. Plan early to guarantee access to great seats!

STUDENT TICKETS Specially-priced student tickets are available for students in accredited degree programs, subject to availability, beginning Thursday, September 1, 2016. All tickets cost $20 (main floor and mezzanine) and $12 (balcony). Student tickets for the Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile concert on April 22 will be available by lottery at a later date.

REFUNDS

Students may purchase subscriptions at half-price at any time and receive full subscriber benefits; please call the Ticket Office at 734.764.2538 or order online at ums.org/students.

UMS will not cancel performances or refund tickets because of inclement weather. An artist may choose to cancel a performance if weather prevents the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arrival in Ann Arbor, but that decision rests with the artist and not with UMS.

Due to the nature of the performing arts, programs and artists are subject to change. If an artist cancels an appearance, UMS will make every effort to substitute that performance with a comparable artist. Refunds will only be offered if a substitute cannot be found, or in the event of a date change. Service charges are not refundable.

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TICKET INFO

PLEASE GIVE US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

ACCESSIBILIT Y

UMS sends updated concert-related parking and late seating information via email a few days before each event. Please be sure that the Ticket Office has your correct email address on file. This information is also used to communicate event changes or cancellations. While these happen infrequently, timing is often critical and email is the fastest way to reach audiences.

Accessible parking is provided in University of Michigan parking structures for those with a state-issued disability permit or a U-M handicap verification permit. There are drop-off areas near Hill Auditorium and Rackham Auditorium and inside the Power Center structure.

Subscribers may exchange tickets free-of-charge up to 48 hours before the performance. Non-subscribers may exchange tickets for a $6 per ticket exchange fee.

All UMS venues have barrier-free entrances. Patrons with accessibility or special seating needs should notify the UMS Ticket Office of those needs at the time of ticket purchase. We will make every effort to accommodate special needs brought to our attention at the performance, but we request that these arrangements be made in advance if at all possible.

Exchanged tickets must be received by the Ticket Office (by mail or in person) at least 48 hours prior to the performance. You may also fax a photocopy of your torn tickets to 734.647.11 71, or email a photo to umstix@umich.edu.

Seating spaces for patrons with mobility disabilities and their companions are located throughout each venue, and ushers are available to assist patrons. Please let the usher know how best to assist you.

The value of the ticket(s) may be applied to another performance or will be held as UMS Credit until the end of the 2016-17 season. Credit must be redeemed by April 25, 2017. Unused credit will be converted to a donation after that date, with a receipt mailed to the address on file.

Assistive listening devices are available in Hill Auditorium, Rackham Auditorium, Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, the Michigan Theater, the Arthur Miller Theatre, and the Power Center. Earphones may be obtained upon arrival. Please ask an usher for assistance.

For information about exchanging tickets within 48 hours of the performance, please call the Ticket Office.

Further accessibility information is available at ums.org/accessibility.

TICKET DONATIONS/UNUSED TICKETS

START TIME & LATECOMERS

TICKET EXCHANGES

Tickets may be donated to UMS until the published start time of the concert. A receipt will be issued for tax purposes; please consult your tax advisor. Unused tickets that are returned after the performance begins are not eligible for UMS Credit or as a donation. TICKET MAILING VS. TICKET PICK-UP Subscription tickets will be mailed in late July, before tickets to individual performances go on sale to the general public. Any ticket order received fewer than 10 days prior to the performance will be held at will-call, which opens in the performance venue 90 minutes prior to the published start time. LOST OR MISPLACED TICKETS Call the Ticket Office at 734.764.2538 to have duplicate tickets waiting for you at will-call. Duplicate tickets cannot be mailed. PARKING/PARKING TIPS Detailed directions and parking information will be mailed with your tickets and are also available at ums.org.

UMS makes every effort to begin concerts at the published start time. Latecomers will be asked to wait in the lobby and will be seated by ushers at a predetermined time in the program, which may be as late as intermission. The late seating break is determined by the artists and will generally occur during a suitable break in the program, designed to cause as little disruption as possible to other patrons and the artists on stage. Please allow extra time to park and find your seats. Occasionally, performances will have no seating break. For example, dance and theater performances often have a “no late seating” policy. UMS may not learn a specific company’s late seating policy until a couple of weeks before the performance and makes every effort to contact ticketbuyers via email if there will be no late seating. Be sure the Ticket Office has your email address on file. CHILDREN AND FAMILIES/UMS KIDS CLUB Children under the age of three will not be admitted to UMS performances. All children attending UMS performances must be able to sit quietly in their own seats without disturbing other patrons, or they may be asked to leave the auditorium. Please use discretion when choosing to bring a child, and remember that everyone must have a ticket, regardless of age. UMS Kids Club tickets, which provide discounted tickets for children in grades 3-12 and an accompanying adult, will go on sale on Monday, September 12, 2016.

The world is here.

16 17 Dorrance Dance with Nicholas VanYoung

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Seat Maps

PRICING LEVELS

HILL AUDITORIUM (H2)

S TA G E

Pricing levels apply to all venues.

HILL AUDITORIUM (H1)

S TA G E

MICHIGAN THEATER (MT)

MAIN FLOOR

MEZZANINE

MAIN FLOOR

MEZZANINE

12 18

BALCONY

11 17

BALCONY BALCONY

POWER CENTER (P)

RACKHAM AUDITORIUM (R)

LYDIA MENDELSSOHN THEATRE (LMT)

S TA G E

3 2

5 4

4 7

10 9

MAIN FLOOR

5 6 ORCHESTRA

8 BALCONY

BALCONY

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S E AT M A P S

Hill Auditorium

Rackham Auditorium (R)

Michigan Theater (MT)

825 N. University Ave.

915 E. Washington St.

603 E. Liberty St.

(H1)

Takács Quartet Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 1 & 2 Saturday-Sunday, October 8-9

Kamasi Washington & The Next Step Friday, September 23

Berlin Philharmonic Simon Rattle Saturday-Sunday, November 12-13 Prague Philharmonia Emmanuel Villaume / Sarah Chang Thursday, January 19 Bruckner Orchester Linz Dennis Russell Davies / Angélique Kidjo Thursday, February 2 Budapest Festival Orchestra Iván Fischer / Richard Goode Beethoven Symphony No. 9 Friday, February 10 (H2) Denis Matsuev, piano Sunday, October 16 Jake Shimabukuro Wednesday, November 16 Handel’s Messiah Saturday-Sunday, December 3-4 The King’s Singers Holiday Concert Saturday, December 10 Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis Saturday, March 4 Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis UMS Choral Union Saturday, March 11

Takács Quartet Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 3 & 4 Saturday-Sunday, January 21-22 Inon Barnatan, piano Anthony McGill, clarinet Alisa Weilerstein, cello Sunday, January 29 Takács Quartet Beethoven String Quartet Cycle Concerts 5 & 6 Saturday-Sunday, March 25-26 A Far Cry with Roomful of Teeth Wednesday, April 12

Jelly and George Aaron Diehl and Cécile McLorin Salvant Sunday, February 19 DakhaBrakha Wednesday, March 29 King Sunny Adé Friday, April 21

Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre (LMT) 911 N. University Ave. The TEAM: RoosevElvis Thursday-Saturday September 29-October 1

Sanam Marvi Saturday, April 15 M-Prize Winner Concert Date TBA

Power Center (P) 121 Fletcher St.

GENERAL ADMISSION

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 2250 E. Stadium Blvd.

Mark Morris Dance Group Layla and Majnun Thursday-Saturday, October 13-15

Gabrieli: A Venetian Coronation 1595 Tuesday, November 15

Dorrance Dance Friday, October 21

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir Friday, February 3

Snarky Puppy Thursday, March 16

Batsheva Dance Company Saturday-Sunday, January 7-8

Steve Reich @ 80 Music for 18 Musicians Saturday, March 18

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble Friday, January 20

Arthur Miller Theatre 1226 Murfin Ave.

Ping Chong + Company Saturday, February 18

Idiot-Syncrasy Igor and Moreno Thursday-Saturday, January 12-14

Druid: The Beauty Queen of Leenane Thursday-Saturday, March 9-11

Venue TBA

Yo-Yo Ma / Edgar Meyer / Chris Thile Saturday, April 22

Kidd Pivot and Electric Company Theatre: Betroffenheit Friday-Saturday, March 17-18

Nora Chipaumire: portrait of myself as my father Thursday-Sunday, November 17-20

Handel’s Ariodante with the English Concert and Joyce DiDonato Tuesday, April 25

The Encounter Complicite / Simon McBurney Thursday-Saturday, March 30-April 1

Mitsuko Uchida, piano Friday, March 24 Michael Fabiano, tenor Friday, April 1

BE PRESENT

138TH SEASON

Foundation & University Support RENEGADE VENTURES FUND This multi-year challenge grant created by Maxine and Stuart Frankel supports artistic, innovative, and cuttingedge programming. ANN ARBOR AREA COMMUNIT Y FOUNDATION General operating support is provided by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. COMMUNIT Y FOUNDATION FOR SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN

NEW ENGLAND FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS / NATIONAL DANCE PROJECT Mark Morris Dance Group, Nora Chipaumire, and Batsheva Dance Company are funded in part by grants from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts. UNIVERSIT Y OF MICHIGAN

The co-presentation with Michigan Opera Theatre of Mark Morris Dance Group’s Layla and Majnun is funded in part by the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, part of a three-year initiative focused on dance.

The University of Michigan provides special project support for many activities in the 2016-17 season through the U-M/UMS Partnership Program. Additional support is provided by the U-M Office of Research, the U-M Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and other individual academic units.

DORIS DUKE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION ENDOWMENT FUND

UNIVERSIT Y OF MICHIGAN HEALTH SYSTEM

Special project support for several components of the 2016-17 UMS season is provided by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Endowment Fund, established with a challenge grant from the Leading College and University Presenters Program at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a multiyear grant to UMS that supports artist residencies and other initiatives, all designed to integrate the arts more fully into the academic experience at the University of Michigan and into the life of our community. MICHIGAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION The Berlin Philharmonic residency is funded in part by a grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

The University of Michigan Health System provides multiyear support for UMS programs. WALLACE ENDOWMENT FUND RoosevElvis is funded in part by the Wallace Endowment Fund, established with a challenge grant from the Wallace Foundation to build participation in arts programs. WALLACE FOUNDATION Special project support for components of UMS Renegade is provided by a multi-year grant from the Building Audiences for Sustainability initiative at The Wallace Foundation.

UMS IS A MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF MICHIGAN ARTS CONSORTIUM, THE ARTS ALLIANCE, AND CULTURESOURCE.

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS Special project support for several performances in the 2016-17 season is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

A NON-DISCRIMINATORY, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER.

Anthony McGill by David Finlayson

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F O U N D AT I O N & U N I V E R S I T Y S U P P O R T

MEDIA PARTNERS

University Musical Society Burton Memorial Tower University of Michigan 881 North University Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1011

2014 National Medal of Arts Recipient

UMS.ORG

Cover: Sarah Chang courtesy of EMI. Publication Date: April 2016

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Ann Arbor, MI Permit No. 27