What will you hear? A concert created to showcase Hill Auditorium’s organ, which was built in Detroit in 1893.

UMS and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra have partnered together for years, bringing many moving performances to UMS audiences. This latest partnership seeks to celebrate the 100th birthday of Hill Auditorium with a concert that features the Frieze Memorial Organ. The organ was built in Detroit in 1893 and displayed at the Chicago World’s Fair: Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the New World. Shortly thereafter, the University purchased the organ, and it was a centerpiece of Albert Kahn’s design when Hill Auditorium was built.

Program:
James MacMillan: Tu es Petrus (2010)
J. S. Bach/Stokowski: Toccata and Fugue in d minor, BWV 565 (1708)
Samuel Barber: Toccata Festiva for Organ and Orchestra, Op. 36 (1960)
William Bolcom: Free Fantasia on “O Zion, Haste” and “How Firm a Foundation”
Aram Khachaturian: Symphony No. 3 in C (“Symphony-Poem”) (1947)
Program Book [PDF]

Also see:
Detroit Symphony Orchestra Website

Led by music director and internationally renowned conductor Leonard Slatkin, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra helps UMS celebrate the history of Hill. Leonard Slatkin, who led the St. Louis Symphony from 1979 until 1996, has brought with him to the DSO his passion for education and incredible musicianship.

This performance marks the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s 82nd appearance under UMS auspices. Leonard Slatkin last appeared in Hill Auditorium during the 2005-2006 season, as conductor of the Grammy Award-winning “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom.

Related UMS Education & Community Engagement Events

2/2: Hill Auditorium Celebration

Performance trailer