Kidd Pivot. Photo: Jorg Baumann

University Musical Society announces September events

Posted: Sept. 13, 2012 at 5:52 a.m.

ANN ARBOR - The University Musical Society brings incredible music, theater and dance to Ann Arbor in its 134th season, which opens with the modern dance company Kidd Pivot on Friday, Sept. 21 and Saturday, Sept. 22 at the Power Center. Known for their integration of movement, original music, text, and a rich visual design, Kidd Pivot performs "The Tempest Replica," a new dance piece based on motifs from Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

The following week brings a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Thursday, Sept. 27). This concert marks the first of the season in the 100-year old Hill Auditorium; UMS is celebrating the auditorium's centenary all season long. The Chicago Symphony opened Hill Auditorium in 1913 and returns to open this special Hill 100 season, with a program featuring works by Richard Wagner, Mason Bates, and César Franck.

The month closes with two performances of China's 600-year-old grand opera, "kunqu," in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre by the Suzhou Kun Opera Theater of Jiangsu Province (Friday-Saturday, Sept. 28-29). Suzhou Kun Opera Theater judiciously blends classical stories and performance practices with contemporary staging interpretations and technologies; their productions are hailed for being authentic to the traditional story, yet fresh and updated. Suzhou Kun Opera Theater of Jiangsu Province makes this special appearance as part of a collaboration with the Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan.

In addition, UMS hosts its annual auction, "On the Road," and launches this season's UMS on Film Series at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Tickets to all events are on sale now. For tickets or information, call 734-764-2538, log on to www.ums.org, purchase in person at the Michigan League (911 North University Avenue), or at the performance venue beginning 90 minutes before performance start time. Box office hours are Monday-Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., closed Sunday.

Kidd Pivot: The Tempest Replica
Friday, Sept. 21, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 22, 8 p.m.
Power Center (121 Fletcher Street, Ann Arbor)
Tickets start at $16

Integrating movement, original music, text, and rich visual design, Kidd Pivot's performance work is assembled with recklessness and rigor, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk. Kidd Pivot's distinct choreographic language - a breadth of movement fusing classical elements and the complexity and freedom of structured improvisation - is marked by a strong theatrical sensibility and a keen sense of wit and invention. "The Tempest Replica" represents a new dance piece based on motifs from Shakespeare's "The Tempest," in which artistic director Crystal Pite stages a game of revenge and forgiveness, reality and imagination.

Free related event:
Post-performance Q&A with the artists. After the Friday, Sept. 21 performance only. Must have a ticket to attend.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the artists.

Suzhou Kun Opera Theater Of Jiangsu Province
Cai Shaohua, director
Friday, Sept. 28, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 29, 8 p.m.
Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre (911 North University Avenue)
Tickets start at $30

In 2001, UNESCO declared "kunqu," the 600-year-old grand opera of China, a "Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity." The declaration not only affirms the artistic and cultural distinctions of the genre, which is known for its perfect blending of dramatic literature, soulful singing, and elegant dancing, but also creates a context for its revival in contemporary and globalized China. The genre now attracts audiences inside and outside China with performances that judiciously blend classical stories and performance practices with contemporary staging interpretations and technologies. "Kunqu" is recognized internationally for being both authentic and yet fresh and updated. In its own way, it is similar to the Royal Shakespeare Company's fresh, yet authentic, interpretations of classical English plays.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the artists.

Friday program
Qintiao (Zither Seductions)
Huozhuo (Captured Alive)
Xiaoyan (Garden Party)

Saturday program: Four scenes from "The Peony Pavilion" ("Mudanting")
Youyuan jingmeng (Strolling in the Garden and the Interrupted Dream)
Xunmeng (Pursuing the Dream)
Shihua jiaohua (The Portrait Retrieved and Examined)
Yougou (Nightly Rendezvous)