Press Update: October Events at UMS

Hello Writers and Editors!

UMS is thrilled to present a robust lineup of classical music, jazz, dance, and theater in October.

The Jerusalem Quartet kicks the month off with a special concert that features husband-and-wife duo Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth in a program of works for string sextet.

Pianist Yuja Wang makes a stop at UMS to perform a new program with percussionist Martin Grubinger before it debuts as her first Carnegie Hall "Perspectives" series concert two days later.

We'll also enjoy guitar master Pat Metheny's return to UMS, an all-Berlioz program from Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, a performance by the Aizuri Quartet (winner of the 2018 M-Prize chamber music competition), two different programs by the renowned modern dance company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and the HD broadcast of the National Theatre's production of Frankenstein with Benedict Cumberbatch.

Read on for more details about these events. Press images are always available at ums.org/press, or they can be downloaded by clicking the respective "Press Photos" buttons below.

As always, don't hesitate to reach out if I can help enhance your story with interviews, quotes, or additional photos.

Cheers,

Mallory Shea
mschirr@umich.edu
734.647.4020

The Jerusalem Quartet will take the stage with husband-and-wife duo Pinchas Zukerman and Amanda Forsyth for a concert of string sextets by Richard Strauss, Schoenberg, and Tchaikovsky.

Since the ensemble formed in 1996, the Israeli musicians of the Jerusalem Quartet have gone through a maturing process that now allows them to draw on a broad repertoire and sonic depth, without renouncing their energy and their curiosity for new things. The quartet's recordings have been honored with numerous awards such as the Diapason d'Or and the BBC Music Magazine Award for chamber music.

With a celebrated career encompassing five decades, Pinchas Zukerman is renowned as a virtuoso, admired for expressive lyricism, singular beauty of tone, and impeccable musicianship, which can be heard throughout his discography of over 100 albums. During the 2018-19 season, Zukerman marks his 10th season as principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and his fourth as artist-in-association with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in Australia.

Born in South Africa, cellist Amanda Forsyth moved to Canada as a child and began playing cello at age three. She became a protégé of William Pleeth in London, later studied at The Juilliard School, and went on to garner international recognition performing with orchestras and chamber ensembles across the globe. Ms. Forsyth performs on a rare 1699 Italian cello by Carlo Giuseppe Testore.

Recently inducted as an NEA Jazz Master and into the Downbeat Hall of Fame as its youngest member and only the fourth guitarist, Pat Metheny brings an all-star ensemble to Ann Arbor for a performance that features a range of music from throughout his career.

The 20-time Grammy Award-winning artist will be joined by Antonio Sánchez, his longtime drummer and composer of the score for the Academy Award-winning film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); Malaysian/Australian bassist Linda May Han Oh; and British pianist Gwilym Simcock.

Supporting Sponsor: Tom and Debby McMullen
Funded in part by: JazzNet Endowment Fund
Media Partners: WEMU 89.1 FM, WRCJ 90.9 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, Ann Arbor's 107one, and Metro Times

Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique have been recognized as key figures in the early music revival and pioneers of historically informed performance. For their third performance under UMS auspices and their first in Ann Arbor in over 12 years, they'll present an all-Berlioz program as part of a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the composer’s death.

The program begins with Hector Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, which was written in 1830 to woo a talented young actress who repeatedly toyed with his affections; his description of the hero of the work — "a young musician of unhealthily sensitive nature and endowed with vivid imagination" — was a reasonable image of himself at the time. Obsession, madness, murder, and redemption are all portrayed in this richly Romantic score. Berlioz’s rarely-heard Lélio rounds out the program, incorporating many of the same melodic themes to tell of the hero’s awakening and his ultimate triumph as a composer.

Now in its fifth decade as one of the country’s leading contemporary dance companies, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and artistic director Glenn Edgerton will return to Ann Arbor with two unique programs.

The Friday performance features a compendium of work by choreographer Ohad Naharin, who puts together a choreographic collage every ten years, with each iteration unique to its selected company. The program, titled Decadance/Chicago, features segments from Naharin's Anaphase (1993), Zachacha (1998), Virus (2001), Three (2004), Telophaza (2006), George & Zalman (2006), Max, (2007), Seder (2007), and Sadeh21 (2011).

Saturday's performance is a special collaboration that receives its world premiere on Thursday, September 27. It features a live performance by Grammy-award-winning Chicago music ensemble Third Coast Percussion with music composition by pop music icon Devonté Hynes (also known as Blood Orange) and choreography by cutting-edge emerging choreographers Emma Portner, Lil Buck, and Jon Boogz. The evening is divided into three sections: a work choreographed by Lil Buck and Jon Boogz, cofounders of Movement Art Is (MAI), a musical interlude by Third Coast Percussion performing a new composition by Devonté Hynes, and a piece choreographed by Emma Portner. The program is centered around themes of sustainability, the principles of Paul Stamets’ book Mycelium Running, and the ways in which the environment is affected by the social issues facing our world today.

RELATED EVENTS

UMS 101: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Fri, Oct 19 // Power Center
Class begins at 6 pm, performance begins at 8 pm
Registration fee with ticket: $59
Registration fee for workshop only: $15
How have ballet and modern dance evolved over time? What is the role of contemporary ballet and dance in our current society? This engaging class will answer these questions and provide the insight necessary to have an enriching understanding of the work of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, a company known for its exceptionally talented dancers and adventurous choreography. Register at ums.org/ums101.

Post-Performance Artist Q&A
Fri, Oct 19 & Sat, Oct 20
Must have a performance ticket to attend.

You Can Dance: Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Sat, Oct 20 // 1:35-2:50 pm // Ann Arbor YMCA (400 W Washington St)
Dancers from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago will lead an exploration of the company's movement style. No dance training or experience necessary, and all levels, ages 13 and up, are welcome. Free, but first come, first served until studio reaches capacity. Sign-up begins at 12:50 pm. Picture ID required at registration.

Supporting Sponsors: Frank Legacki and Alicia Torres
Funded in part by: Wallace Endowment Fund and Arts Midwest Touring Fund
Media Partners: Michigan Radio 91.7 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, and Ann Arbor's 107one

Hailed as one of the world's finest performers, Grammy Award-nominated pianist Yuja Wang was named Musical America’s Artist of the Year in 2017. For the 2018-19 season, she was selected to anchor one of two Carnegie Hall "Perspectives" series and given free rein to program five concerts of her choosing.

Ms. Wang's UMS concert is a warm-up for the first of these events, featuring daring arrangements of Stravinsky and Bartók with percussionist Martin Grubinger and the Percussive Planet Ensemble. The group will be in Ann Arbor for a three-day residency, putting the finishing touches on the program and working with students on campus.

The evening will feature arrangements of Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring by Grubinger’s father, who is also performing on the program.

The Aizuri Quartet combines a deep study of classical music with a naturally warm and exuberant approach to create diverse points of entry into the string quartet repertoire. The ensemble was awarded the grand prize at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance’s 2018 M-Prize competition, First Prize at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and Third Prize at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London.

Their UMS debut program features an interesting mix of composers, including Komitas Vartabed (1869-1935), an exquisitely talented Armenian composer whose music has become an enduring symbol of home and identity for a people separated from their homeland (he spent the last 20 years of his life in an asylum, driven mad by the conditions of the Armenian genocide); Béla Bartók’s second string quartet, a journey of emotional extremes that is based on folk music from his homeland; and two works written specifically for the Aizuri Quartet, Caroline Shaw’s Blueprint and Paul Wiancko’s LIFT.

Captured live in 2011 from the National Theatre stage in London, this thrilling sold-out production became an international sensation. It returns to mark the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s most famous novel.

Directed by Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire), Frankenstein features Benedict Cumberbatch (BBC’s Sherlock) and Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting).

Childlike in his innocence but grotesque in form, Frankenstein’s bewildered creature is cast out into a hostile universe by his horror-struck maker. Meeting with cruelty wherever he goes, the increasingly desperate and vengeful Creature determines to track down his creator and strike a terrifying deal.

Scientific responsibility, parental neglect, cognitive development, and the nature of good and evil are all embedded within this thrilling and deeply disturbing classic tale.

Presented in partnership with Michigan Theater.