This program is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served.

Augusta Read Thomas, one of today’s most acclaimed composers, joins U-M composer Roshanne Etezady for conversation about music, art, and the creative process. “Thomas' music… fairly explodes with an extroverted boldness of utterance audiences and musicians alike find challenging yet immediate” (Chicago Tribune).

SMTD students perform some of Thomas’ most intimate chamber works. This program is offered in conjunction with the UMMA exhibition 'Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection,' which celebrates the pioneering gallerist, Gertrude Kasle (1917–2016), who was a key figure in the formation of Detroit’s contemporary art community in the 1960s and 70s. Kasle awakened local communities to the kind of avant-garde art she experienced in New York City and advocated for regional artists that she felt likewise broke with tradition.

The SMTD@UMMA performance series is generously supported by the Katherine Tuck Enrichment Fund and the Greg Hodes and Heidi Hertel Hodes—Partners in the Arts Endowment Fund.

Lead support for 'Exercising the Eye: The Gertrude Kasle Collection' is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Michigan Medicine, and the University of Michigan CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.