As part of the Hill 100 celebration, UMS is proud to present the Chicago Symphony, which opened Hill Auditorium on May 14, 1913 at the 20th Ann Arbor May Festival. This concert, conducted by CSO music director Riccardo Muti, marks the 204th Chicago Symphony program since its UMS debut, opening UMS’s 14th season in 1892.

The concert–and the Hill 100 season–opens with Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, a work that they performed at that same May Festival the season that Hill Auditorium opened. Frequently heard in the 1920s, this piece has not been programmed on a UMS concert in nearly 35 years. Cesar Franck’s most well-known work, the Symphony in d minor, dates from the same period and rounds out the program. In between, CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Mason Bates’ Alternative Energy explores the human progression through greater and more powerful forces of energy, blending electronic sounds recorded at Fermilab with percussion and orchestra.

We are thrilled to bring this very special performance to Hill, as it represents all that is UMS: proud history, brilliant performance, and a promise to inspire awe.

Program
Wagner: Overture to The Flying Dutchman (1843)
Mason Bates: Alternative Energy (2012)
Franck: Symphony in d minor (1888)