UMS Lobby » Headline http://umslobby.org People are Talking! Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:10:28 +0000 en hourly 1 Gesualdo: Rebel or Rogue? http://umslobby.org/index.php/2012/02/gesualdo-rebel-or-rogue-7987 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2012/02/gesualdo-rebel-or-rogue-7987#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:21 +0000 Jim Manheim http://umslobby.org/?p=7987 On February 16, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Church, the University Musical Society presents the Tallis Scholars. This British group of about ten singers has spawned a whole industry of a cappella ensembles that aspire to sonic purity, contemplative calm, timelessness. What could the Tallis Scholars—Scholars!—possibly have to do with this season’s Pure Michigan Renegade Series, of which they are a part?

Let’s start with the gruesome facts associated with the composer at the center of the night’s program. Carlo Gesualdo (1566?–1613), the nephew of Counter Reformation enforcer Carlo Borromeo, was a prince and landholder in Venosa in southeastern Italy. Around 1588 his wife, the noblewoman Donna Maria d’Avalos, began an affair with a gentleman in the vicinity. In 1590 Gesualdo, using wooden copies of room keys he had had made, found the pair in bed together, stabbed them both, and hung their corpses in front of his castle for all to see. The story was retold repeatedly by poets of the day in a sixteenth-century equivalent of headline news.

Gesualdo, as a nobleman, was immune to prosecution, although he had plenty to fear from the relatives of his wife and her lover. He was never arrested, but he spent most of the rest of his life either on the road, investigating new musical developments, or, later on, locked up in his castle, writing music for concerts at which he himself was the audience.

The madrigals he wrote during his later years lay buried for three hundred years, but they fascinated musical modernists who unearthed them. Filled with hyper-expressive settings of texts about searing jealousy and betrayal, they seemed to push the boundaries of dissonance that was possible under the rules of Renaissance polyphony, and to anticipate music that was centuries in the future. The first performers of the madrigals, in fact, were mostly not early music specialists but the group of performers led by Robert Craft, the prominent American champion of Igor Stravinsky’s music.

Gesualdo wrote less sacred music, but the Tenebrae Reponsories (“tenebrae” means “shadows” and refers to Christian services celebrated in the days before Easter; a responsory is a setting of a text that contains an answering section) that he composed at the end of his life are among his very greatest works. In these pieces the thorny question of how Gesualdo’s life and music are related reaches an especially sharp point. Consider this setting of “O vos omnes” composed by Gesualdo in 1611, two years before his death:

Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday: O vos omnes by The Tallis Scholars on Grooveshark

“O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus,” says the responsory text—”O you who walk down the road, pay attention and see whether there is any sorrow like my sorrow.” The text comes from the Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah and originally described the sack of Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C.E. It was repurposed for the Passion story. But it’s hard not to think of Gesualdo himself as the subject when the words “similis sicut dolor meus” are repeated in tonal regions unthinkably distant from the piece’s home base.

*****

Was Gesualdo really a renegade as well as a murderer? Was he even a “modernist” of his time? Some would say no — his chromaticism did not lead to a new language but only explored the strangest corners of an old one. The truly new music of the first decade of the 1600s was opera, which he did not touch. Gesualdo’s music was closed up in an emotional hothouse, and one word that’s been used to describe it is Mannerist — looked at from a certain angle, the jarring contrasts in his works were musical equivalents of El Greco’s light and shade. Or perhaps his artistic counterpart was Giuseppe Arcimboldo, the Italian who painted surreal human heads made up of vegetables, plants, and even books.

Photo: Giuseppe Arcimboldo’s Vertumnus.

What is a renegade, anyway? Does change in the arts come from an avant-garde, or does it bubble up from below? Do musical traditions tend to shock most when they begin, or when they’re coming to an end?

Whatever your ultimate answers to these questions may be, the music of Don Carlo Gesualdo has lost none of its ability to shock as it enters its fifth century of existence. If you’ve never heard Gesualdo at all, or if you know him only through the few tortured madrigals that circulate among college singing groups, hear how the language of his last years was refracted through sacred texts in the magnificent Tenebrae Responsories, somber Holy Week thoughts from a prince whose life and music intertwined in profound ways.

]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2012/02/gesualdo-rebel-or-rogue-7987/feed 0 Dispatch from Fringe http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/fringe-festival-edinburgh-coverage-6535 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/fringe-festival-edinburgh-coverage-6535#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:41:02 +0000 Mary Roeder http://umslobby.org/?p=6535 Oh goodness me!  I’m back in Edinburgh!  During the Fringe!  The largest arts festival in the world!  It’s been 9 years exactly since my last (and first) visit, when I came as part of the American High School Theatre Festival.  A recent high school graduate at the time, I was tasked with running the light board for a musical version of the Ugly Duckling called Honk! Yikes!  (This is reminding me that my 10 year high school reunion is nigh.  Double yikes!!)

I arrived only yesterday, but I feel like I’ve been here for ages.   That’s what happens when something literally takes over a city.  If you’ve never been, the Fringe is to Edinburgh as a football game at the Big House is to Ann Arbor.  But sustained for a month!  The energy is at an all-time high from morning ‘til, well, it never stops!

I’ve seen exactly 8 shows as of now, 11:37pm local time, Monday, August the 22nd.  6 of them today.  Yes.  6.  And some of them more “experience” than “show.”  Here’s a little taste.

The first show I saw was the National Theatre of Scotland’s The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart at the Ghillie Dhu, a local pub.  Written by playwright David Grieg, the story follows an uptight academic named Prudencia as she travels out of town for a conference, and learns to loosen up along the way.  How this happens is the crux of the action, the fun, and the heartache, some of which can be seen in this youtube video.  The National Theatre of Scotland has had some hits on their hands as of late—most recently in the U.S. with their production of Black Watch. If the buzz surrounding this one at the Fringe is any indication, you just might see this one at a pub near you.  I sure hope so.

Today’s marathon of shows included the premiere of a work in progress called A Reply to Kathy Acker: Minsk 2011 by incendiary political theater-makers, Belarus Free Theatre.  BFT was founded in 2005 by a husband and wife team in response to the pressure and censorship of Europe’s last surviving dictatorship.  Under constant threat of persecution, the group’s rehearsals and performances are often held in secret , and have at times been broken up by police.  In their short history, members of the company have faced harassment, beatings, and even arrest.  In this piece, the audience was given a glimpse into Minsk today from the artists’ perspective.  And it was, in a word, brutal.  They’re a brave group.  And their acting is likewise brave.  It’ll be interesting to see how the work develops.

Later in the evening, I was able to catch David Leddy’s newest work called The Untitled Love Story. Some of you may remember David’s Susurrus made an appearance in Ann Arbor this past year out at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.  Though this piece was housed in a more traditional theatrical setting, the hallmarks of David’s style of writing rang loud and clear.  His knack for weaving seemingly disparate storylines into one cohesive production is astounding and the story all the more powerful because of it.  And, as with Susurrus, the use of music is crucial—and used to great effect.   Here are the basics:  the setting is Venice.  The characters are known only as the Collector, the Historian, the Priest, and the Writer—two men and two women who have all suffered/will come to suffer great loss.  It’s not all sad though!  I promise!

The night ended with a short 15 minute “live video” experience for one called And the Birds Fell From the Sky by Brighton-based Il Pixel Rosso.  In a nutshell, I joined a group of nomadic criminal clowns (collectively known as the Faruk) for a car ride.  Crimes were committed.  Birds fell from the sky.  I was supremely freaked out.  And I totally loved it.  Logistically, it involved an impressive pair of video goggles synced up with an in-ear audio track.  An actor unseen to the audience member provided the other tactile sensations—smells, touch, movement .  All in all, a deep and bizarre Fringe experience.  The best kind.

* * *

Have you been to the Fringe? Are you at the Fringe now? Share your experiences below.

Part 2: Delinquent Dispatch from Fringe

]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/fringe-festival-edinburgh-coverage-6535/feed 0 On the Road for the Kids http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/on-the-road-for-the-kids-6455 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/on-the-road-for-the-kids-6455#comments Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:28:31 +0000 Karen Stutz http://umslobby.org/?p=6455 On Friday, September 16th at 6:30 pm, the University Musical Society (UMS) hosts its seventh annual benefit auction/dinner event, On the Road with UMS. Not only is this event an absolute blast, but the cause is near and dear to our hearts: performing arts education and community engagement. This integral portion of the UMS mission enables us to provide teacher workshops, in-class artist visits for schoolchildren, and live daytime performances programmed especially for school field-trips. In the post below, Karen Stutz — UMS volunteer, Advisory Committee Member, and 2011 On the Road Co-Chair — writes about why On the Road matters to her.

Imagine a sub-zero Ann Arbor morning in the dead of winter. Black ice, blustery winds, knee-deep snow. Without a doubt, this is the kind of morning that only a gleeful gaggle of  kids dancing to a live salsa concert can remedy. This exact sight lifted my heart when I worked as a volunteer greeter for a UMS Youth Performance by Baby Loves Salsa last winter.

I’ve volunteered as a Youth Performance greeter for a few years now and one thing is always the same: from the minute the kids step off the bus, they radiate excitement that lasts until the final curtain is drawn. The Baby Loves Salsa concert was no different. Along with their teachers, the children who attended Baby Loves Salsa clapped, sang, and danced in the aisles.

Last year, I also volunteered at the Youth Performance for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Watching the students’ faces as they soaked up the performance was fascinating. They were rapt with attention as they followed the movement and choreography. The UMS Youth Performance program offers companion classroom curriculum and educational workshops for teachers; by the time the students are on-site at a UMS performance field trip, they are some of our most well-versed and informed patrons. They are ready for challenging, world-class performances. They are learning about cultures from all over the world and about how the performing arts can act as a window to better understand one another and the world at large.

Thousands of students from Southeast Michigan benefit in huge ways from seeing performances right here in Ann Arbor — I support the UMS Education & Community Engagement programs through fundraisers like On the Road because I’d like to keep it that way. Performing arts education matters to me because it matters to the kids.

Why is performing arts Education & Community Engagement important to you?

Tickets to this year’s On the Road event are $100 and must be purchased in advance. Rachelle Lesko at UMS is more than happy to help you with your ticket purchases and answer any questions: 734-764-8489 or ralesko@umich.edu. Hope to see you there!

]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/08/on-the-road-for-the-kids-6455/feed 1 VIDEO: Who do you like to go to UMS shows with? http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/video-who-do-you-like-to-go-to-ums-shows-with-6445 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/video-who-do-you-like-to-go-to-ums-shows-with-6445#comments Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:34:40 +0000 Jim Leija http://umslobby.org/?p=6445 Long time UMS subscriber Penny Schreiber puts together a group of friends every year to attend UMS performances together.

Who do you like to go to UMS shows with?

]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/video-who-do-you-like-to-go-to-ums-shows-with-6445/feed 0 Merce Cunningham Dance Company in Ann Arbor (Recap) http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/merce-cunningham-dance-company-in-ann-arbor-recap-6441 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/merce-cunningham-dance-company-in-ann-arbor-recap-6441#comments Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:09:03 +0000 Jim Leija http://umslobby.org/?p=6441 For those who enjoyed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company’s final UMS appearance in February, don’t miss this recap of all the residency activities the company participated in while they were in Ann Arbor.

]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/07/merce-cunningham-dance-company-in-ann-arbor-recap-6441/feed 0 11/12 Series Brochure – view the digital version! http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/04/just-released-1112-series-brochure-view-the-digital-version-6315 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/04/just-released-1112-series-brochure-view-the-digital-version-6315#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:52:21 +0000 Jim Leija http://umslobby.org/?p=6315

The 11/12 UMS season brochure just arrived at our office, and we’re getting it out in the mail just as soon as we can.  You can catch a sneak peek by viewing the digital version here
(click through for full screen view).


]]> http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/04/just-released-1112-series-brochure-view-the-digital-version-6315/feed 0 UMS 11/12 Season: The Complete List http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/04/ums-1112-season-the-complete-list-5469 http://umslobby.org/index.php/2011/04/ums-1112-season-the-complete-list-5469#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 00:00:14 +0000 The UMS Lobby http://umslobby.org/?p=5469 The University Musical Society announces its 11/12 season, opening Saturday, September 17, 2011, and running through Sunday, April 22, 2012. The season features 56 performances by 40 different artists/ensembles, with performances that range from cool and enigmatic to high-energy spectacle and programs that range from cutting-edge contemporary to classical favorites. So bust out your calendar and take a spin through this chronological listing of 11/12 performances; we know you’ll want to pencil in at least a few dozen events.

Subscription packages go on sale to the general public on Monday, May 9, and will be available through Friday, September 17. Current subscribers will receive renewal packets in early May and may renew their series upon receipt of the packet. Tickets to individual events will go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 22 (via www.ums.org) and Wednesday, August 24 (in person and by phone).  Not sure if you’re on our mailing list? Click here to update your mailing address to be sure you’ll receive a brochure.

Click here to download this listing as a printer-friendly PDF.

September 2011

Ahmad Jamal
Saturday, September 17, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Emerson String Quartet
Sunday, September 18, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Mark Morris Dance Group
Friday, September 23, 8 pm
Saturday, September 24, 8 pm
Power Center

October 2011

John Malkovich in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer
The Vienna Academy Orchestra
Louise Fribo and Valerie Vinzant, sopranos
Saturday, October 1, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Yuja Wang, piano
Sunday, October 9, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

State Symphony Capella of Russia
Valeri Polyansky, conductor
Thursday, October 13, 7:30 pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Goran Bregovic & His Wedding and Funeral Orchestra
Saturday, October 15, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Water Stains on the Wall
Cloud Gate Dance Theater
Lin Hwai-min, artistic director
Friday, October 21, 8 pm
Saturday, October 22, 8 pm
Power Center

Schola Cantorum of Venezuela
María Guinand, conductor
Thursday, October 27, 7:30
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Watt
Gate Theatre of Dublin
Michael Cogan, director
Thursday, October 27, 7:30 pm
Friday, October 28, 8 pm
Saturday, October 29, 8 pm
Power Center

November 2011

Apollo’s Fire with Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor
Jeannette Sorrell, music director
Thursday, November 3, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Audra McDonald, soprano
Friday, November 4, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Diego El Cigala
Saturday, November 5, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

AnDa Union from Inner Mongolia
Wednesday, November 9, 7:30 pm
Michigan Theater

A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans
Rebirth Brass Band with special guests from New Orleans
Friday, November 11, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

St. Lawrence String Quartet
Saturday, November 12, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Beijing Guitar Duo with Manuel Barrueco
Sunday, November 20, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Canadian Brass
Sunday, November 27, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

December 2011

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

London Philharmonic Orchestra
Vladimir Jurowski, conductor
Janine Jansen, violin
Tuesday, December 6, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Veni Emmanuel: Tudor music for Christmas and Advent
Stile Antico
Wednesday, December 7, 7:30 pm
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

January 2012

Philip Glass & Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach
Lucinda Childs, choreographer
Friday, January 20, 7 pm
Saturday, January 21, 7 pm
Sunday, January 22, 2 pm
Power Center

Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Maurice Steger, recorder
Saturday, January 28, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

From the Canyons to the Stars
Hamburg Symphony Orchestra
Jeffrey Tate, conductor
Francesco Tristano, piano
Daniel Landau, filmmaker
Sunday, January 29, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

February 2012

Sabine Meyer and the Trio di Clarone
Saturday, February 4, 8 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Chamber Ensemble of the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra
Wang Fujian, artistic director
Thursday, February 10, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, director
Thursday, February 16, 7:30 pm
St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church

Sweet Honey in the Rock
Friday, February 17, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

FAR
Random Dance
Wayne McGregor, artistic director
Saturday, February 18, 8 pm
Power Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Wynton Marsalis, artistic director and trumpet
Wednesday, February 22, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Hagen Quartet
Thursday, February 23, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

March 2012

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Friday, March 9, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Max Raabe and Palast Orchester
Saturday, March 10, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

Denis Matsuev, piano
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

The Andersen Project
Ex Machina
Robert Lepage, artistic director
Thursday, March 15, 7:30 pm
Friday, March 16, 8 pm
Saturday, March 17, 8 pm
Power Center

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Emanuel Ax, piano
Jeremy Denk, piano
Paul Jacobs, organ
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Jessye Norman, soprano, Meredith Monk, vocalist, and Joan La Barbara, vocalist
Thursday, March 22 7:30 pm
Friday, March 23, 8 pm
Saturday, March 24, 8 pm
Hill Auditorium

American Mavericks
San Francisco Symphony Chamber Concert
Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
Meredith Monk, vocalist, and Joan La Barbara, vocalist
Sunday, March 25, 4 pm
Rackham Auditorium

April 2012

Zakir Hussain and Master Musicians of India
Thursday, April 12, 7:30 pm
Hill Auditorium

Cheikh Lô
Friday, April 13, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

Charles Lloyd Quartet
Charles Lloyd, tenor saxophone
Jason Moran, piano
Reuben Rogers, bass
Eric Harland, drums
Saturday, April 14, 8 pm
Michigan Theater

Pavel Haas Quartet
Wednesday, April 18, 7:30 pm
Rackham Auditorium

Snow White
Ballet Preljocaj
Angelin Preljocaj, artistic director
Thursday, April 19, 7:30 pm
Friday, April 20, 8 pm
Saturday, April 21, 8 pm
Power Center

Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields
Joshua Bell, leader and violin
Sunday, April 22, 4 pm
Hill Auditorium

Listing By Series

For more information about each of these performances and the series they are a part of, please click the links below:

11/12 Choral Union Series
11/12 Chamber Arts Series
11/12 Divine Voices Series
11/12 International Theater Series
11/12 Dance Series
11/12 Asia & World Series
11/12 Jazz Series
Renegade Series
11/12 Additional Events

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