November & December Digital Events

By UMS

All of our digital presentations are free-of-charge to audiences everywhere, and we hope that you will share them with friends and family near and far. Please join us for these upcoming programs, and sign up to receive email notifications of new presentations and live streams.

Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall Access

Through Nov 30!

The Berliner Philharmoniker has offered one month of free access for UMS patrons to its Digital Concert Hall. Simply visit http://www.digitalconcerthall.com/tickets and enter the code DCH3UMS before the end of November for a free 30-day ticket to all content on the Digital Concert Hall website!

Digital Artist Residency: Tunde Olaniran

Song Release: WDWHI​ is the first of four singles from Tunde’s forthcoming full-length album to be released during their Digital Artist Residency with UMS.

POP BREAKDOWN

A conversation on sonic, visual, and cultural transgressions in pop music with Tunde Olaniran, Olly Alexander, Shara Nova, and Siena Liggins

Fri Nov 13 // 5:30 pm

What is the point of Pop in 2020? A talk about the social, racial, cultural intersections of pop music and performance with UMS Digital Residency Artist Tunde Olaniran, singer/songwriter Siena Liggins, producer and classically trained vocalist/instrumentalist Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond), and musician, singer-songwriter, actor and LGBTQ advocate Olly Alexander (Years & Years).

The four guests will talk about Olaniran’s newest song, WDWHI, which has roots in Motown Soul, Swedish pop, and PC Music; where they are as individual artists in 2020; and their various relationships to pop music and performance over the course of their careers. They will also answer audience questions.

Presented with support from Joe Malcoun and Caitlin Klein and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Funded in part by UMS Sustaining Directors

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan Dance-on-Camera

Beckoning — Choreography by CHENG Tsung-lung
Episode 1 — Behind the Scenes: The Making of 13 Tongues
Digital Premiere: Fri Nov 13 at 7:30 pm
Available on demand through Mon Nov 23

Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theatre presents the first of four digital episodes charting the making of and inspiration behind 13 Tongues, a signature work by the company’s new artistic director. This first episode is preceded by Beckoning, a 40-minute dance-theater work that is considered a prologue to 13 Tongues.

This Digital Arts Adventure is brought to you in part by

Patron Sponsors: Ilene Forsyth Theater Endowment Fund, the Michigan Taiwanese American Organization, and Karen Bantel and Steve Geiringer.

Digital Artist Residency: Happy Hour Listening Parties with Tarek Yamani & the Spektral Quartet

Spektral & Tarek: The Many Faces of the String Quartet
Wed Nov 18 at 5:30 pm

Tarek & Spektral: On Both Sides of the Quarter Tone
Thu Nov 19 at 5:30 pm

Tarek Yamani and the members of the Spektral Quartet open up their creative process to UMS audiences as they begin their digital artist residency journey together. These two listening parties will allow UMS audiences to get inside the artists’ musical worlds as they share music that has shaped their artistic backgrounds and formed their artistic identities with each other.

Funded in part by UMS Sustaining Directors

UMS Digital Presentation
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis: The Democracy! Suite

Digital Premiere: Fri Nov 27 at 7:30 pm
Three days only! Available on demand through Sun Nov 29

Led by trumpeter/composer Wynton Marsalis and featuring seven of jazz’s finest soloists, the concert’s unique repertoire celebrates jazz’s embodiment of freedom and democracy. Written by Wynton Marsalis during the COVID-19 crisis as a response to the political, social, and economic struggles facing our nation, The Democracy! Suite is a swinging and stimulating rumination on the issues that have recently dominated our lives, as well as the beauty that could emerge from our collective effort to create a better future.

Presenting Sponsor: The Schweitzer Family Foundation
Supporting Sponsor: Anthony Reffells
Patron Sponsor: Susan B. Ullrich Endowment Fund

UMS Digital Presentation
Messiah Mixtape

Digital Premiere: Sun Dec 6 at 2 pm
Available on demand through December

UMS Choral Union Music Director Scott Hanoian presents a special program about Handel’s Messiah, including virtual choir excerpts recorded by the UMS Choral Union and archival recordings from past performances. And just like the live performances in Hill Auditorium, you’ll still be able to sing along with the “Hallelujah” Chorus!

This Digital Arts Adventure is brought to you in part by

Patron Sponsor: Carl and Isabelle Brauer Endowment Fund

UMS Research Residency Artist
Sacramento Knoxx: Winter Solstice Concert
Manidoo-Giizisoons (Little Spirit Moon)

Mon Dec 21 at 5:30 pm

Join Sacramento Knoxx, the 2020-2021 UMS Research Residency Artist, for an interactive virtual performance through Zoom. The winter solstice marks the first public event of the residency, where audiences will gather online to reflect on the changing seasons through collective music-making. Individual audience members will be invited to contribute to the creation of a live-produced track.

Sacramento Knoxx is an interdisciplinary artist with strong roots in southwest Detroit. He produces a sound of electronic, indigenous, ghettotech, afro-latino, hip hop, soul, and rhythm & blues. His versatile background with different forms of music allows him to blend traditional and contemporary styles, creating dynamic storytelling experiences with live music performances, dancing, and video projections that take audiences on a participatory journey and a creative experience.

Funded in part by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

UMS Digital Presentation – Reprise
Takács Quartet

Available on demand Mon Dec 21 – Thu Dec 31
Including related talk by Kira Thurman, U-M Prof. of History and Germanic Languages and Literature

PROGRAM
Mozart String Quartet in d minor, K. 421/417b (Mvt. i)
Coleridge-Taylor Five Fantasiestücke, Op. 5 (Mvts. i, iii)
Price String Quartet No. 2 in a minor (Mvt. ii)
Bartók Quartet No. 1 (Mvt. iii)
Debussy Quartet (Mvts. iii, iv)

Exclusive Endowment Support: Ilene H. Forsyth Chamber Arts Endowment Fund
Patron Sponsors: Ed and Natalie Surovell