Press Update: September 2018 Events at UMS

Hello Writers and Editors!

UMS is back in September to kick off our 140th season.

First, we've teamed up with Michigan Engineering to present a free screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey — Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece — with live orchestral accompaniment by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The month continues with the Philadelphia Orchestra's first return to Hill Auditorium in 24 years, a dramatic reading of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman featuring Alec Baldwin and students and faculty from the U-M Theatre & Drama Department, and a screening of the National Theatre's new production Julie.

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

UMS and Michigan Engineering will present a free screening of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, 50 years after the iconic film's premiere. Live orchestral and choral accompaniment will be performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Musica Sacra.

Long recognized as one of the greatest science fiction works of all time, 2001: A Space Odyssey is celebrated for its technological realism, its innovative special effects, and its bold use of music. The film brought worldwide fame to both Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra and the music of György Ligeti. It also created one of cinema’s most memorable images, of a spaceship floating serenely through space to the strains of Johann Strauss’s waltz The Blue Danube.

This event is free, with priority given to those who register in advance for complimentary general admission tickets. A number of free events have been programmed in conjunction with the screening in celebration of technological advancements related to the themes explored in the film.

Visit ums.org/2001 for more information or to register for free tickets.

RELATED EVENTS

Tech Takeover on Ingalls Mall
Fri, Sep 21 // 5-7 pm // Ingalls Mall
Michigan Engineering has leading experts in the provocative socio-technical themes explored in the film — deep space propulsion, robotics, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interaction. Before the live screening, the community is invited to Ingalls Mall, just outside Hill Auditorium, where Michigan Engineering researchers will discuss and demonstrate how far we’ve come — from science fiction to science fact.

Pre-Performance Discussion
Imagination and Inspiration: The Impact of 2001: A Space Odyssey
Fri, Sep 21 // 6:30 pm // Location TBA
Faculty from Michigan Engineering will discuss and explore the ways in which artificial intelligence portrayed in the film has impacted and inspired their field of research and study.

Saturday Morning Physics
Opening Up the Solar System and Beyond:
The Promise of Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion
Sat, Sep 22 // 10:30 am - 12 noon // Weiser Hall, Rooms 170 & 182
In this talk, Dr. John Foster (U-M Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences) surveys propulsion technologies that can enable reduced trip times for robotic and human missions alike beyond Mars, opening up the full solar system to in-depth exploration and eventual colonization. The U-M Saturday Morning Physics Program features lectures designed for general audiences, providing an opportunity to hear physicists discuss their work in easy-to-understand, non-technical terms.

Penny Stamps Speaker Series
Ariel Waldman: Unexpected Space Exploration
Thu, Sep 27 // 5:10 pm // Michigan Theater
Ariel Waldman serves on the council for NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, a program that nurtures radical, science-fiction-inspired ideas that could transform future space missions. She is also the founder of Spacehack.org, a directory for citizen scientist participation in space exploration, and the global director of Science Hack Day, a grassroots science prototyping initiative in over 25 countries. Waldman is the 2013 recipient of the Champion of Change in Citizen Science, an honor from the Obama White House, author of the book What’s It Like in Space?: Stories from Astronauts Who’ve Been There, and co-author of a National Academy of Sciences report on the future of human spaceflight.

Exclusive Presenting Sponsor: Michigan Engineering
Media Partner: Michigan Radio

The Philadelphia Orchestra will return to the University of Michigan for the first time in 24 years. The orchestra first performed in Hill Auditorium just seven months after the hall opened in 1913 and went on to serve as orchestra-in-residence for the Ann Arbor May Festival for nearly 50 years beginning in 1936.

Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the orchestra in a stunning program that features Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, which was written for the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1940. Also on the program is a suite from Nico Muhly’s sensational opera Marnie, which receives its US premiere this fall at the Metropolitan Opera, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, performed by the Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili in her UMS debut.

This performance will be broadcast live on Interlochen Public Radio and carried on WRCJ 90.9 FM and WKAR 90.5 FM.

Presenting Sponsor: Michigan Medicine
Supporting Sponsors: Alumni Association of the University of Michigan and Sesi Lincoln
Media Partners: WRCJ 90.9 FM and WGTE 91.3 FM

A decade after Arthur Miller graduated from the University of Michigan in 1938, his play Death of a Salesman premiered on Broadway, winning both the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. Nearly 70 years later, stage and screen actor Alec Baldwin comes to the writer's alma mater to perform the lead part of Willy Loman, his first time in the role.

Baldwin will work with student and faculty actors and directors from the University of Michigan’s Department of Theatre & Drama in preparation for this dramatic reading from the stage.

UMS Student Experiences, including opportunities such as this to learn from and perform side-by-side with professional artists, are made possible through a generous leadership gift from UMS National Council Co-Chair Rachel Bendit (U-M BA '97) and University of Michigan Regent Mark Bernstein (U-M BA '93, JD and MBA '96).

Media Partners: WEMU 89.1 FM, Michigan Radio 91.7 FM, WDET 101.9 FM, Ann Arbor's 107one

Vanessa Kirby (Princess Margaret in The Crown on Netflix) and Eric Kofi Abrefa star in the cast of this brand new production, directed by Carrie Cracknell and broadcast from London's National Theatre. Writer Polly Stenham's new version of August Strindberg’s play Miss Julie remains shocking and fiercely relevant in its new setting of contemporary London.

Wild and newly single, Julie throws a late night party. In the kitchen, Jean and Kristina clean up as the celebration heaves above them. Crossing the threshold, Julie initiates a power game with Jean — which rapidly descends into a savage fight for survival.

This HD screening is presented in partnership with Michigan Theater.