UMS Concert Program, May 12, 2007: 2007 Ford Honors Gala -- Mstislav Rostropovich

to
University Musical Society
and
Ford Motor Company Fund
present
A celebration of
HSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH
and
The UHS Education Program
The Ford Honors Program
Ford Motor Company Fund
2OO7
FORD HONORS GALA
A CELEBRATION OF MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH
and the
UMS EDUCATION PROGRAM
Featuring
I CELLISTI ANN ARBOR
Anthony Elliott, Director
UM SYMPHONY BAND BRASS CHOIR
Rodney Dorsey, Conductor
PIONEER HIGH SCHOOL STRING QUARTET
Luisa Lee, Violin Jacob Joyce, Violin Cecille Elliott, Viola Chris Li, Cello
ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY "PLAYBACK" STUDENTS
Amber Wright Anthony Haynes
FOOD BY OPUS ONE
KENNETH C. FISCHER
Host
A BENEFIT FOR THE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY EDUCATION PROGRAM
Saturday Evening, May 12, 2007 at 6:00 pm Biomedical Science Research Building University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2OO7 FORD HONORS GALA
COCKTAILS AND HORS D'CEUVRES
East Vestibule Upper Atrium
Music by Pioneer High School String Quartet
American Sturgeon Caviar
Served with sour cream on black bread
HouseSmoked Whitefish Pate Served on a spinach pancake
"Chickpea Chips"
Housemade hummus on crispy pita chips
"The Best Date Ever"
Bacon wrapped dates stuffed with ParmigianoReggiano
PROGRAM
Biomedical Science Building Auditorium
Introduction
Kenneth C. Fischer, Host
Honoring Mstislav Rostropovich J.S. Bach
Suite No. 5 in c minor, BWV 1011 (Excerpt) Sarabande
Anthony Elliott, Cello
Heitor VillaLobos
Bachiana Brasileiras No. 1 for 'an orchestra of cellos' (Excerpt) Preludio Modinha
Cellisti Ann Arbor Anthony Elliott, Director
Presentation of the UMS Distinguished Artist Award
Mary Sue Coleman, President, University of Michigan James G. Vella, President, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services
Celebrating the UMS Education Program
Featuring performers from the RSC Playback, Martin Luther King, Jr. High School, Detroit
Presentation of the UMS Teacher of the Year
Alana Barter, Associate Director, VSA Arts of Michigan
Presentation of the UMS School of the Year
Mitchell Elementary, Ann Arbor Public Schools Rosalie Koenig, Vocal and Instrumental Music Teacher Kathy Scarnecchia, Principal
8:00 PM GALA DINNER
Gilbert S. Omenn Atrium Food by Opus One Music by I Cellisti Ann Arbor Anthony Elliott, Director
Prelude
Mixed Greens Salad with Baked Brie Crouton
garnished with fresh berries and grapes and finished with a mango vinaigrette
Orchestrations
PanSeared Filet of Sea Bass
with a cucumber tomato salsa, presented with steamed Yukon gold potatoes and a bundle of asparagus
Boneless Australian Rack of Lamb
three medallions of lamb (chargrilled, Dijon encrusted, and peppered) on a bed of spinach and parmesan risotto served with baby vegetables, finished with a demilamb glaze and topped with beet hay
Spinach and Three Cheese Crepes
wilted spinach with mozzarella, parmesan, and asiago cheeses in delicate crepes, served on a bed of roasted spaghetti squash; garnished with toasted cashews and sweet potato hay, finished with sauce beurre blanc
Opus One's homemade Dill Poppy Seed and Honey Wheat Rolls
Finale
Chocolate Mocha Mousse Tuile Cones
garnished with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and kiwi, spilling into a threeberry sauce with a sour cream spider web
Wine
Plan de Dieu, 2004, Domaine de L'Espigouette in Violes Chablis, 2005, Domaine Seguinot Bordet
Coffee and hot tea will be served throughout the dinner on request.
MSTISLAV ROSTROPOVICH
March 27, 1927April 27, 2007
Reprinted from the New York Times, April 28, 2007 By Allan Kozinn
M
stislav Rostropovich, the cellist and conductor who was renowned not only as one of the great instrumentalists of the 20th century but also as an outspoken champion of artistic freedom in the Soviet Union during the last decades of the cold war, died April 27, 2007 in Moscow. He was 80 and lived in Paris, with homes also in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, and Lausanne, Switzerland. The Russian Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography confirmed that Mr. Rostropovich had died in a Moscow hospital after a long illness. Mr. Rostropovich was hospitalized in Paris at the end of January, then decided to fly to Moscow, where he had been in and out of hospitals and sanitariums since early February.
He was able to attend a celebration of his 80th birthday on March 27 at the Kremlin, where President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia presented him with a state medal, the Order of Service to the Fatherland. The author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whom Mr. Rostropovich had sheltered from the Soviet authorities in the 1970s, called the death a "bitter blow to our culture," the Russian news agency ITARTass reported. "Farewell, beloved
friend," he said. After a funeral in Moscow at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Mr. Rostropovich was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, where the remains of his teachers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev also lie. His friend Boris N. Yeltsin, Russia's first elected president, was also recently buried there.
As a cellist, Mr. Rostropovich played a vast repertory that included works written for him by some of the 20th century's greatest composers. Among them were Shostakovich's Cello Concertos; Prokofiev's Cello Concerto, Cello Sonata, and SymphonyConcerto; and Britten's Sonata, Cello Symphony, and three Suites. Perhaps because his repertory was so broad, Mr. Rostropovich was able to make his cello sing in an extraordinary range of musical accents. In the big Romantic showpieces -the Dvorak, Schumann, SaintSaens, and Elgar concertos, for example -he dazzled listeners with both his richly personalized interpretations and a majestic warmth of tone. His graceful accounts of the Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello illuminated the works' structural logic as well as their inner spirituality.
"I wish with all my heart to do something for this country...I am very fond of Ann Arbor and the UM...this [1975] concert will be given for the wellbeing and continued success of the Musical Society"
Slava on his March 22, 1975 Benefit Concert for UMS and the UM School of Music in which he conducted and played with the University Symphony Orchestra
He could be a firebrand in contemporary works, and he seemed to enjoy producing the unusual timbres that modernist composers often demanded. He played the premieres of solo works by William Walton, Georges Auric, Dmitri Kabalevsky, and Nikolai Miaskovsky, as well as concertos by Alfred Schnittke, Arvo Part, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Lukas Foss, among others. As a conductor, he was an individualist. He happily molded tempos, phrase shapes, and instrumental balances to suit an interpretive vision that was distinctly his own. And if his work did not suit all tastes, it was widely agreed that the passion he brought to the podium yielded performances that were often as compelling as they were unconventional. He was at his most eloquent, and also his most freewheeling, in Russian music, particularly in the symphonies of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich.
Tall, heavyset, and bald except for a halo of white hair, Mr. Rostropovich was a commanding presence both on and off the stage. But he was also gregarious in an extroverted, Russian way. At the end of an orchestral performance, he often hopped off the podium and kissed and hugged every musician within reach. He had a mischievous sense of humor that cut through the sobriety of the concert atmosphere. He sometimes surprised his accompanists by pasting centerfolds from men's magazines into the pages of their scores. At the San Francisco Symphony's 7Othbirthday tribute to Isaac Stern, he played "the Swan" movement from SaintSaens's Carnival of the Animals attired in white tights, a ballet tutu, a swanlike headdress, and red lipstick.
Mr. Rostropovich was the music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington
from 1977 to 1994 and afterward remained close to it as its conductor laureate. He also had strong relationships with several of the world's great orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Last year Mr. Rostropovich announced that he would stop playing the cello publicly, but his conducting schedule remained as vigorous as ever. It included commemorations of the Shostakovich centenary in New York, Washington, San Francisco, Moscow, and Tokyo. In an interview in The New York Times last year, Mr. Rostropovich said of Shostakovich, "He was the most important man in my life, after my father." He added: "Sometimes when I'm conducting, I see his face coming to me. Sometimes it's not really a happy face -I conduct maybe a bit too slow. So I conduct faster, and the face disappears."
Mr. Rostropovich always said that one of the principal lures of the podium was that the orchestral repertory seemed so vast when compared with the cello repertory. But he did not confine himself to the classics. He commissioned regularly, and led the premieres of more than 50 works. Two pieces written for him during his National Symphony years -Stephen Albert's Riverrun Symphony and Morton Gould's Stringmusic -won Pulitzer Prizes. Leonard Bernstein, Jacob Druckman, Richard Wernick, Gunther Schuller, and Ezra Laderman were among the other composers who wrote for him or whose works had their world premieres under his baton.
Mr. Rostropovich, who was widely known by his diminutive, Slava (which means "glory" in Russian), was also an accomplished pianist. He was often the accompanist at recitals by his wife, the Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, whom
he married in 1955 and who survives him, as do two daughters, Olga and Elena. Mr. Rostropovich became famous beyond musical circles as a symbol of artistic conscience and his defiance of the Soviet regime.
When Mr. Solzhenitsyn came under attack by Soviet authorities in the late 1960s, Mr. Rostropovich and Ms. Vishnevskaya allowed
him to stay in their dacha at Zhukovka, outside Moscow. He was their guest for four years, and Mr. Rostropovich tried to intercede on his behalf, personally taking the manuscript of August 1914 to the Ministry of Culture and arguing that there was nothing threatening to the Soviet system in it. His efforts were rebuffed. Mr. Rostropovich's own troubles began in 1970 when, out of frustration with the suppression of writers, artists and musicians, he sent an open letter to Pravda, the staterun newspaper, which did not publish it. Western newspapers did.
"Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word," he asked in the letter. "Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him." After the letter was published, Mr. Rostropovich and Ms. Vishnevskaya were unable to travel abroad and faced dwindling engagements at home.
Occasionally, it would seem that the ban was lifted. In 1971, Mr. Rostropovich conducted and Ms. Vishnevskaya sang in Bolshoi Opera performances of Prokofiev's War and Peace in Vienna, and Mr. Rostropovich was allowed to travel to the US for concerts. But the next year, scheduled appearances in Austria and Britain were canceled without explanation. It was not until 1974 that they were allowed out of the country again. That year they were given twoyear travel visas. In the West, Mr. Rostropovich told interviewers that he missed his homeland and longed to return but that he would not do so until artists were free to speak their minds. "I will not utter one single lie in order to return," he said in 1977. "And once there, if I see new injustice, I will speak out four times more loudly than before."
The Soviet government's response was to revoke his and Ms. Vishnevskaya's citizenship in 1978. Thereafter they traveled on special Swiss documents. But they outlived the Soviet system. With President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's program of increased openness, Mr. Rostropovich began
Mstislav Rostropovich before his UMS debut, appearing with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, November 15, 1965
to renew his contacts with his homeland. He met with Mr. Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1987. In November 1989, immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, he gave an impromptu concert there.
Mr. Rostropovich's Soviet citizenship was restored in January 1990. The next month, he took the National Symphony to Moscow and Leningrad (now St. Petersburg). The event was the subject of a television documentary, Soldiers of Music: Rostropovich Returns to Russia, released on video in 1992. In 1991, when Communist hard?liners tried to topple the more open regime, Mr. Rostropovich went to Moscow to stand beside
President Yeltsin.
Two years later, during the siege of the Russian White House, Mr. Rostropovich, who was touring Russia again with the National Symphony, gave a free concert in Red Square, attended by 100,000 people. Originally planned
as a gesture to music lovers who were unable to attend the indoor concerts, the performance
was transformed into a show of support for democratization. "Russians need to be reminded
at times like this that they are a great people,"
he told a Times reporter at the time. "Events disrupt things a little sometimes, but listening to this music is a reminder that there's a great nation here." His soloist, for his 1993 Russian
tour, was Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a pianist and the son of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on March 27,
1927. His parents, Leopold Rostropovich and Sofiya Nikolaevna Fedotov, were both musicians, and his mother began teaching
him the piano when he was four. When he was eight, he went to Paris to study the cello with his father, who had been
a student of Pablo Casals. In the mid19305, the family moved to Moscow, where young Mstislav entered the
Gnesin Institute. He made his debut at 13, playing a SaintSaens Concerto in Slavyansk, Ukraine, and in 1943, when he was 16, he entered the
Moscow Conservatory as a student of Semyon Kozolupov.
Healsostudiedcompositionwith Shostakovich, and continued to
[ Rostropovich as Conductor: Quotes from the Podium, Time Magazine, October 24, 1977
do so even after the Soviet authorities condemned both Shostakovich and Prokofiev for "formalist perversions and antidemocratic tendencies." He later studied composition privately with Prokofiev, and although Mr. Rostropovich's compositions are not well known, they include two piano concertos, a string quartet, and several solo piano works.
By the late 1940s, he had won competitions in Moscow and, in his first trips outside the Soviet Union, in Prague and Budapest. He toured widely during the 1950s, and in 1956 -the year he was appointed to a professorship at the Moscow Conservatory -he made his American debut at Carnegie Hall with a recital program that included sonatas by Brahms, Shostakovich, and Bach and as the soloist in the Prokofiev Concerto with the New York Philharmonic under Dimitri Mitropoulos.
Mr. Rostropovich was fond of concerto marathons. In an eightconcert series with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1967, he played 30 works by 24 composers. In New York in 1987, celebrating his 60th birthday, he gave five concerts with three orchestras--the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony and the National
Symphony -playing 15 cello
concertos and conducting a handful of symphonies, as well as Britten's War
Requiem. As a bonus, he performed Bach's six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello.
That year President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this
country's highest civilian honor. It was one of many awards and honors Mr. Rostropovich received in his career.
Mr. Rostropovich made his conducting debut in 1968, when he led a performance of Tchaikovsky's
Eugene Onegin at the Bolshoi. He made his British conducting debut with the New Philharmonia Orchestra
in 1974. His first American conducting performances were with the National Symphony and the San Francisco Opera in 1975. "I never studied, but I had the best teachers," he said of his new career in 1975. "I played with the best
conductors of the world."
In 1977 Mr. Rostropovich accepted the directorship of the National Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Antal Dorati. For one of his first concerts, Leonard Bernstein wrote Slava!, a festive overture that captured the ebullience of Mr. Rostropovich's style. And although critics complained at first that his repertory was unduly conservative, he threw himself into contemporary works, including many composed for him and his orchestra. During his tenure he made significant improvements in the orchestra's sound and cohesiveness, partly by reseating the strings -he moved the violas to the outside and the cellists to the center, to create a richer blend -but by systematically upgrading the roster as well. He also brought the orchestra into the world spotlight, taking it on its first tours of Europe, Asia, and the Soviet Union, conducting it regularly at Carnegie Hall, and making many recordings with it.
The most frequent criticism of
Mr. Rostropovich as a
Left: Mistislav Rostropovich works with area high school cellist Paul Wingert in a 1975 master class; Right: Rostropovich conducts the 1975 University Symphony Orchestra in a rehearsal (photos from the Ann Arbor News, April 4, 1975)
conductor was that he sometimes became so carried away with the music that he let the performance get out of his control. Mr. Rostropovich objected to this analysis. "When I go to a rehearsal," he told The Times in 1985, "I have already a model in my mind for the sound of a piece, for the shape of the interpretation. Maybe I'm wrong, but if there are no special acoustical problems in the hall, I produce exactly what I want. If there is a choice, I would rather have ideas and some difficulties of technique than a perfect technique and no ideas."
For several years, Mr. Rostropovich was a director of the Britten summer festival at Aldeburgh, England, and for a few seasons beginning in 1983, he had his own festival nearby, in Snape. In addition to conducting, he continued to pursue an active recital and concerto career as a cellist. His instrument was the 1711 "Duport" Stradivarius, which he had fitted with a special bent tailpin, to make the angle at which he held the cello more comfortable.
He also continued to make superb recordings of the great cello works. Yet it was not until 1991, when he was 63, that he decided to record all six of the Bach Suites, a set he considered the
crowning glory of the instrument's literature. It was a project over which he maintained complete control. He chose the site, the Basilique SainteMadeleine, in the Burgundian village of Vezelay, France, because he considered the church's acoustics perfect and the simplicity of its architecture inspiring. He produced and edited the recordings himself and paid for the sessions so that if he were dissatisfied, he would be free to destroy the tapes. As it turned out, he was pleased with the results, which were released on CD and video in 1995. Mr. Rostropovich frequently presided over cello master classes, and in 1997 he began offering a regular series of such classes, as well as performances, in his hometown, Baku.
In 2004 the house in Baku where his family lived from 1925 to 1931 was opened as the Leopold and Mstislav Rostropovich HomeMuseum.
Copyright O 2007 the New York Times Co. Reprinted by permission.
UMS Archives
M
stislav Rostropovich was a cultural figure of many dimensions--cellist, conductor, humanitarian--all of which were represented in his many visits to UMS and the University of Michigan. Well before his censure, the revocation of his citizenship by the Soviet regime and his emigration to the US in 1974, Mr. Rostropovich made his UMS debut on November 15, 1965 at a Choral Union Series concert in Hill Auditorium where he performed Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote Variations with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Kiril Kondrashin. It was the first of 10 UMS concerts culminating on January 10, 1993 in a solo cello recital with pianist Sara Wolfensohn.
Within the span of his UMS appearances, he gave five solo recitals (one of which was accompanied on the piano by his daughter Elena, October 12,1980); made another appearance with orchestra playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto (1967 May Festival with the Philadelphia Orchestra); returned three times as conductor; and even appeared once as both conductor AND cellist on a program with the UM Symphony Orchestra where he conducted Glinka and Prokofiev and played the first SaintSaens Cello Concerto (1975). In 1996 at May commencement exercises, Mr. Rostropovich was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree by the University of Michigan for his stature as "a musician and a defender of human rights and artistic freedom."
EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
U
MS's Education and Community Engagement Program supports nearly 150 programs annually focusing on K12 students, teachers, teens. University students, families, adults, and cultural and ethnic communities every season. The programs offered support the UMS core values of education, diversity, partnership, community engagement, and commitment to the University and the region.
YOUTH, TEEN, AND FAMILY PROGRAMS
Each year, the UMS Youth Education program serves over 25,000 schoolchildren and educators in southeastern Michigan, giving most students their first opportunities to experience the live performing arts. UMS has the largest series of diverse, artisticallydriven daytime youth performances in the state of Michigan. These performances, coupled with extensive teacher training and curriculum development, led to a "Best Practice" award in 2004 by ArtServe Michigan and the Dana Foundation. UMS is viewed as a national leader in K12 arts programs.
The UMS Youth Education program is enhanced by official partnerships with the Ann Arbor Public Schools, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, and UMS's affiliation with the Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program. Moreover, we receive advice and counsel from a 50member Teacher Advisory Committee to make sure our programs are responsive to the ongoing challenges faced in publicprivate education.
UMS is also an active supporter of youth development initiatives for teens, such as our yearly collaboration with Neutral Zone on the teendriven performance of Breakin' Curfew. We also have many opportunities for families to participate in the arts through our specially designed family performances, Ann Arbor Family Days programming, and our Classical Kids Club.
K12 Youth Performance Series
UMS offered nine acclaimed onehour, specially designed intheater performances for students, featuring seven different artists, including the Royal Shakespeare Company. This program allowed nearly 16,000 students to attend these performances. Over 100 schools from 21 districts participated in UMS's youth performance series.
UMS Teacher Workshop Series
Along with parents, UMS believes that teachers are instrumental in the development of the arts in our children. UMS is part of the Kennedy Center Partners in Education Program, offering worldclass Kennedy Center workshop leaders, as well as workshops designed by local arts experts, to our community. Nearly 300 teachers attended 10 different workshops in the 0607 season. From book clubs to spokenword workshops, to a day?long participatory immersion on Mexican culture, UMS provided a year's worth of professional development for teachers to utilize immediately in their classrooms.
UMS Curriculum Packets
UMS creates teacher curriculum packets, CDs, and DVDs for all of the schools participating in UMS's Youth Education Program. These guides have garnered national attention and are used throughout the performing arts industry. The guides are recognized as essential tools for connecting the classroom and performance experience.
UMS K12 School Enrichment
UMS has expanded its efforts to engage students in schools by providing additional support to the classroom teacher. Trained arts professionals visit classrooms to provide context, workshops, and a firsthand perspective on the arts. Over the course of the past season, UMS has facilitated over 50 of these classroom visits, affecting nearly 2000 students.
Breakin' Curfew 2007
Celebrating the artistic voice of the local teen community is important to UMS. Through a partnership with the Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor's teen center, Breakin' Curfew allows over 20 teen curators and 150 local teens to create, perform,
MetLife Foundation Award
for Arts Access in Underserved Communities
This year, UMS was honored with the inaugural Arts PresentersMetLife Foundation Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities at the Association of Performing Arts Presenters annual conference in New York. This award honors an organization that is dedicated to innovative strategies, increasing access to the arts for people in underserved communities.
UMS received this award for its work in creating opportunities and removing barriers to encourage participation in the arts by as many people as possible. The informal staff mantra "EINO" is one of access: Everybody In, Nobody Out. To address specific issues of arts access for underserved audiences, UMS has taken what it has learned from over 15 years of building genuine, respectful, and reciprocal relationships with diverse community groups into creating a global programming initiative. The initiative is a structured plan to ensure continuity and depth in UMS's community engagement, with a special focus on four cultural communities of special importance to our region.
UMS focuses its curatorial efforts in global programming every year on one specific population to deepen engagement through education and outreach initiatives. These programs are communityled and communitydriven, focusing specifically on the African African American, Arab American, Mexican Latino, and Asian populations in the region. This initiative has two major goals: to increase and ensure arts access for four culturallyspecific communities in southeastern Michigan, and to contribute to the better understanding and appreciation of these traditions for the community at large. UMS looks forward to sustaining relationships with these communities, building broad and receptive audiences for the continued presentation of diverse art forms from around the world.
produce, and market a professional performance at the Power Center for the Performing Arts. Breakin' Curfew is unique to the city of Ann Arbor and is an exciting showcase for emerging teen talent.
UMS Family Series
The UMS Family Series is designed to allow parents and their children to share a meaningful bonding and artistic experience. UMS is committed to worldclass family programming, and nearly 4200 people attended our specially designed familyoriented events. UMS teamed up with other area cultural organizations to present the third annual Ann Arbor Family Days. This twoday event offered free and lowcost familyfriendly cultural events to members of the Ann Arbor area community in multiple venues throughout the city.
ADULT EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMS
The UMS Adult Education and Community Engagement Programs serve many different audiences through a variety of educational programs. With over 100 unique regional, local, and universitybased partnerships each season, UMS has launched initiatives for the area's ArabAmerican, African, MexicanLatino and AfricanAmerican audiences, including the NETWORK: African American Arts Advocacy Committee, a program that celebrates worldclass artistry by today's leading African and AfricanAmerican performers.
UMS celebrates diversity in all of its forms, a value represented by both the performances UMS presents and the communities with which
it engages. UMS has earned national acclaim for its work with diverse cultural groups, thanks to its proactive stance on partnering with and responding to individual community needs. Though based in Ann Arbor, UMS Community Engagement programs proactively reach out to the entire southeastern Michigan region, developing deep and meaningful relationships with as many community and educational groups as possible. This year, UMS received the inaugural Arts PresentersMetLife Foundation Award for Arts Access in Underserved Communities (see p. 13)
UMS is also very proud of all of its popular educational and residency programs that are created for general audiences to engage more deeply in the arts. Through planned artist interviews, panel discussions, symposiums, social receptions, workshops, and informal dialogues, to name a few, UMS creates a rich assortment of value
added programs designed specifically to enhance the performance experience. These programs help to provide context for each audience member, inspire creativity, and enhance knowledge. UMS activities also help audiences to stay connected to friends and family through active participation in the arts.
Artist Residencies
Artists presented by UMS are frequently working both on and offstage. UMS encourages artists to be actively engaged in the community. UMS facilitated and managed major residency activities with various artists throughout this past season, including the Royal Shakespeare Company (see p. 19), Martha Graham Dance Company, Sekou Sundiata, Tamango's Urban Tap, the artists from
Teacher of the year
UMS would like to congratulate Alana H. Barter as the 2007 "UMS Teacher of the Year." Ms. Barter received this award for her expressed, deep, and consistent commitment to arts education and the students of the Detroit Public Schools. She is the Associate Director of VSA Arts of Michigan (VSAMI), which promotes creative power in people with disabilities. She is also the Program Coordinator of both artsJAM (Jobs And Mentoring) Detroit! and VSAMI's ArtistslnResidence programs in Highland Park, Michigan. As the founder of Arts Quest: Long Distance Dances, Ms. Barter is a free?lance performer, choreographer, and teacher of traditional, contemporary, and theatrical dance styles. She has served on the dance faculties of the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, Eastern Michigan University, Marygrove College, Oakland Community College, and other educational and cultural arts institutions throughout Michigan. Ms. Barter teaches master classes during statewide festivals and professional seminars, and has served as an arts consultant to schools in Wayne, Oakland, and Washtenaw counties.
" For the past decade I have coordinated field trips to performances and events sponsored by the University Musical Society. These
trips have provided an opportunity for thousands of students and their teachers to experience the magic and magnificence of the performing arts.
The UMS Board, administration, and staff have created model programs that allow citizens of our region the opportunity to access worldclass artists and performances. As an educator, I want my students to experience the best the world has to offer and annually, UMS brings it to our doorstep. I can hardly wait to receive the UMS Teacher Resource Guide, created and provided by the UMS staff in advance of each performance. Everything my students need to know in advance, in order to fully understand the presentations, is included. My greatest joy in life is derived from bringing children and artists together and UMS makes this an easy task. When I asked my students today, "What did you think of the performance by the Trinity Irish Dance Company" and they responded, "Outstanding," and "Tremendous," I know my longtime partnership with UMS has once again been successful. For all you have done and continue to do, BRAVO! UMS." --Alana Barter, Associate Director, VSAMI
School of the year
UMS would like to honor and congratulate Mitchell Elementary School, of the Ann Arbor Public School District, as the 2007 "UMS School of the Year." Mitchell Elementary teachers and staff have made an extraordinary commitment to include creative arts education in their curriculum. Each year, every classroom takes part in a musical production throughout the course of the school year, and every effort is made to connect the content of these performances to grade level curriculum. Also, every student is given the opportunity and encouraged to have a speaking role in these performances. Mitchell is also known for expanding the core curriculum with enrichment opportunities for elementary students. Science Olympiad, Academic Games, Math Pentathlon, Electronic Portfolio Presentations, Performing Arts, Wild Swan Theater, and a robust partnership with UMS are just some of the exciting options. Because of the thoughtful, childcentered ways that Mitchell incorporates the arts, community, and family involvement into their school philosophy, they set the standard for other schools to follow.
Kathy Scarnecchia is the Principal of Mitchell. Rosalie Koenig, Music Teacher, serves as the liaison between UMS and Mitchell Elementary. Since 1991, when she began teaching music in Ann Arbor, she has built yearround outings to UMS youth concerts into her curriculum. "Mitchell School is not a school with unlimited funds. We struggle and scrimp for every field
trip, every "extra" that could enrich the lives of our students. But UMS trips have always been a 1 priority for our PTO and school funds. They began years ago
with just the fourth graders attending the NYC opera performances (Madame Butterfly and Carmen stand out in my mind), and from there we've grown in our appreciation of and commitment to the extraordinary resources offered by UMS. Our children have, over the years, seen and heard Alvin Ailey dancers, Kodo drummers, dancers from Brazil, drama from France, Jazz from Lincoln Center, the Harlem Boys Choir, The Harlem Nutcracker, Dan Zanes, the Children of Uganda, and the Sphinx Junior Division Finals. This year we applied for and won a grant from the Ann Arbor Public Schools Foundation so that we could take the entire school to the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, which kicked off our Hispanic Culture focus for this school year. Every one of these concerts has inspired monthlong teaching to prepare the children for the cultural and musical experiences, followed by analysis and letters of thanks. The UMS curriculum guides, CDs, DVDs are a gold mine of information and guidance. I cannot begin to express my thanks for the richness that is at our doorstep." --Rosalie Koenig, Music Teacher, Mitchell Elementary School
Bright Sheng's Silver River, Time for Three, and Rahim AlHaj.
The NETWORK: African American Arts Advocacy Committee
The NETWORK is an initiative launched by UMS three seasons ago to create an opportunity for African Americans and the broader community to celebrate the worldclass artistry of today's leading African and AfricanAmerican performers and creative artists. Over 500 NETWORK members connected, socialized, and networked with the
AfricanAmerican community through attendance at UMS events and free postconcert receptions.
Partnership and Collaboration
UMS Education has received nationwide attention through its commitment to partnering and collaborating with regional individuals and organizations. UMS works with over 100 community, service, and arts organizations each season to increase engagement in the arts and education.
The Royal Shakespeare Company
The 2006 Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) residency was the largest residency project undertaken by UMS in its 128year history.
By the Numbers:
Attendance for the 21 regular performances was just shy of 27,000.
Over 3000 students attended three dress rehearsals, some coming from as far away as the Interlochen Arts Academy. Hundreds more were impacted by the educational events happening in their classrooms, libraries, and theaters.
UMS made available 2500 discounted student tickets for the public performances, many purchased by students enrolled in the 13 UM courses created specifically for the RSC residency.
People came from 39 states and four countries to see the plays and engage in residency events.
UMS worked for more than a year with over 40 partners throughout southeast Michigan planning and carrying out the residency events. These partners included 25 units of the University of Michigan and 50 individual UM faculty members.
The 40 public and 100 private educational events reached over 10,000 people.
The three exhibitions in the public libraries and Power Center lobby, were viewed by nearly 60,000 people.
RSC Actor Julian Bleach [R] works with students from the UM Residential College [L]
Continued on p. 21...
...The Royal Shakespeare Company continued
The Residency Activities:
With the RSC in residence for a full month, and with many community partners willing to share their expertise prior to their arrival, the 140 events of the 2006 Residency spanned from September 11 through December 11, 2006. The depth and breadth of the company's engagement while in Ann Arbor touched the lives of high school students and teachers, college students and faculty, children and adults alike. Some highlights:
Playback three Detroit high schools (King, Cass Tech, and University Prep) performed their own version of Julius Caesar using the techniques of capoeira dance, African drumming, and Lecoq theory that they learned from area artists, all under the direction of Assistant Director Gemma Fairlie from the RSC.
Sonnet Slam UM students performed their own interpretations of Shakespeare's sonnets using blues, hiphop, and violin music; dance; and video projections. Actors from the RSC provided verbal feedback and judged the competition.
Ralph Williams opened his class devoted to the three plays to the public, allowing the entire community the opportunity to explore the works performed by the RSC.
Area teachers participated in a twoday intensive workshop on Teaching Shakespeare, bringing theatrical practices and games into the classroom to make these texts more meaningful for students.
Workshops, lectures, and classroom visits with UM students broadened their understanding of the plays and shed light on the workings of one of the world's preeminent theater companies.
RSC Actor Chris Jarman [L] coaches UM students [R] in a scene from Julius Caesar
The Ford Honors Program
T
he Ford Honors Program is a University Musical Society gala event that honors a worldrenowned artist or ensemble with whom UMS has maintained a longstanding and significant relationship. In one evening, UMS pays tribute to the artist with the UMS Distinguished Artist Award and hosts a dinner in the artist's honor. The 2007 Ford Honors Gala celebrates the 12th anniversary of the UMS Distinguished Artist Award. Previous awardees are Van Cliburn (1996), Jessye Norman (1997), Garrick Ohlsson (1998), Canadian Brass (1999), Isaac Stern (2000), Marcel Marceau (2001), Marilyn Home (2002), Christopher Parkening (2003), Sweet Honey In The Rock (2004), the Guarneri String Quartet (2005), and Dave Brubeck (2006). Ford Motor Company's leadership grant to UMS, along with the additional support UMS receives from individuals and organizations participating in this evening's event, provides significant support to UMS's nationally recognized Education Program.
Kenneth C. Fischer is the
President of the University Musical Society (UMS) of the University of Michigan, a position he has held since 1987. He has contributed to the performing arts presenting field as a speaker, workshop leader, writer, consultant, panelist, and cultural ambassador
under US State Department auspices to Brazil, China, Lithuania, and Mexico. He currently serves on the boards of directors of Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Arts Midwest, and ArtServe Michigan. He is also active with the Major University Presenters Network, Classical ActionPerforming Arts Against AIDS, Chamber Music America, and International Society for the Performing Arts from whom he received the Patrick Hayes Award in 2003 for his career achievements. Before joining UMS, Mr. Fischer was a management consultant, independent concert presenter, and association executive in Washington, DC. He is active with Ann Arbor Rotary and volunteers with several local nonprofit organizations. Mr. Fischer grew up in nearby Plymouth, attended the Interlochen Arts Camp, and has degrees from The College of Wooster in Ohio and the University of Michigan. He is married to flutist Penelope Peterson Fischer, and they have one son, Matthew, who is married and lives in San Francisco.
Mary Sue Coleman
has led the University of Michigan since being appointed its 13th president in August 2002. As president, she has unveiled several major initiatives that will have an impact on future generations of students, the intellectual life of
the campus, and society at large. These include initiatives that will examine student residential life, the interdisciplinary richness of the UM, ethics in our society, and issues related to health care.
Under her leadership, UM has launched "The Michigan Difference," an ambitious capital campaign for the future of the institution. With a $2.5 billion goal, this campaign will enhance programs across the campus, including new scholarships and fellowships for students and endowed chairs for faculty.
She holds degrees from Grinnell College and the University of North Carolina.
James G. Vella is the
President, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. In this role he leads all philanthropic and community service
related activities, including coordination of volunteer efforts by Ford employees and all activities of the
Ford Motor Company Fund, a separate philanthropic organization funded largely by Ford Motor Company profits.
Ford Fund's primary focus is education, and it also supports organizations and innovative programs that promote automotive safety education and assist communities with a variety of needs.
Mr. Vella, a native of Detroit, Ml, holds a bachelor's degree in Communications from the University of DetroitMercy. He serves on the board of directors for the Automotive Hall of Fame, Detroit Public Television, and the Henry Ford Academy. He also serves on the Board and Executive Committee of Detroit Renaissance, the Board of Advisors for the Henry Ford Heart and Vascular Institute, and is a trustee and Chairman of the Ford Motor Company Fund.
Anthony Elliott is a
Professor of Cello at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Professor Elliott, a protege of Janos Starker and of Frank Miller, won the Feuermann International Cello Solo Competition, which was followed by a highly successful New York
recital. Mr. Elliott has given master classes at most leading American conservatories. He is a frequent soloist with major orchestras, including those of Detroit, Minnesota, Vancouver, CBC Toronto, and the New York Philharmonic. His compact disc of Kabalevsky, Martinu, and Shostakovich sonatas received a rave review from Strad Magazine of London and was named a "Best Buy of 1991" by the Houston Post. Forthcoming releases include works by French and Russian composers.
In demand as a chamber musician, Mr. Elliott has been a guest artist at the Sitka (Alaska) Summer Music Festival, the Seattle and Texas chamber music festivals, New York's Blossom Music Festival, Houston's Da Camera Series and the Victoria International Festival. He has performed as a member of Quartet Canada and as a guest artist with the Brunswick, Lyric Art, and Concord string quartets. He devotes his summers to teaching and performing at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
Rodney Dorsey is
an Assistant Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He is currently the Associate Director of Bands at the University of Michigan where he conducts the Concert
Band, teaches undergraduate conducting, and conducts the Michigan Youth Band. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Dorsey served on the faculties of DePaul and Northwestern Universities. He received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Florida State University and Masters and Doctor of Music degrees in conducting from Northwestern University. He studied conducting with Dr. James Croft, Mr. John P. Paynter, and Dr. Mallory Thompson. He was a clarinet student of Mr. Fred Ormand and Dr. Frank Kowalsky. Dorsey gained extensive experience teaching in the public schools of Florida and Georgia.
Letter From the Ford Honors Gala Chairs
W
e are extremely honored and pleased to have been asked to be the cochairs of the Ford Honors Gala paying tribute to Mstislav Rostropovich. We had great respect for Maestro Rostropovich, as a cellist, conductor, and for his very significant humanitarian endeavors.
We are also pleased to be able to help raise funds for the UMS Education Program through the income from the gala. These programs are very important in introducing youth to the great variety of cultures and performing arts from around the world. Because of diminished state funding, it is even more imperative that we are able to help support these activities.
The success of the gala would only be possible with the high level of support and effort we received from the gala committee members and subcommittee chairs, as well as the UMS staff. Thank you all.
@@@@Phyllis and David Herzig
Ford Honors Gala Honorary Cochairs
President Mary Sue Coleman and Dr. Kenneth M. Coleman
The University of Michigan
James G. Vella
President, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services
Gala Chairs
Phyllis and David Herzig
Gala Committee
Nishta Bhatia
Betty Byrne
Susan Gutow
Susan Fisher
Joanna McNamara
Elizabeth Palms
John Waidley
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
UMS Board of Directors
Clayton E. Wilhite,
Chair Carl W. Herstein,
Wee Chair Cynthia M. Dodd,
Secretary Michael C. Allemang,
Treasurer
Wadad Abed
Carol L. Amster
Kathleen Benton
Lynda Berg
Charles W. Borgsdorf
Robert Buckler
Mary Sue Coleman
Hal Davis
Al Dodds
Sally Stegeman DiCarlo
Aaron P. Dworkin
George V. Fornero Maxine J. Frankel Patricia M. Garcia Toni Hoover Christopher Kendall Marvin Krislov Barbara Meadows Joetta Mial Lester P. Monts Roger Newton Philip H. Power
A. Douglas Rothwell Edward R. Schulak John J. H. Schwarz Erik H. Serr Ellie Serras Joe Sesi Tony Smith Cheryl L. Soper James C. Stanley
Advisory Committee
Meg Kennedy Shaw,
Chair Andrea Smith,
Vice Chair Norma Davis,
Past Chair Mimi Bogdasarian,
Secretary Thomas Ogar,
Treasurer
Ricky Agranoff Randa Ajlouny Rula Kort Bawardi Elizabeth (Poage) Baxter Nishta Bhatia
Mary Breakey Betty Byrne Laura Caplan Cheryl Cassidy Jean Connell Phelps Connell Mary Dempsey Mary Ann Faeth Susan Fisher Joe Grimley Cathy Gust Susan Gutow Lynn Hamilton Charlene Hancock Alice Hart Kathy Hentschel
Phyllis Herzig Jean Kluge Julaine LeDuc Judy Mac Jane Maehr Mary Matthews Joann McNamara Jeanne Merlanti Liz Messiter Kay Ness Allison Poggi Lisa Psarouthakis Paula Rand Wendy Moy Ransom Stephen Rosoff Swanna Saltiel
Agnes MoySams Bev Seiford Aliza Shevrin Alida Silverman Loretta Skewes Karen Stutz Janet Torno Louise Town ley Mary Vandewiele Dody Viola Enid Wasserman Amy Weaver Mary Kate Zelenock
UMS Teacher Advisory Committee
Abby Alwin Fran Ampey Robin Bailey Greta Barfield Alana Barter Judy Barthwell Rob Bauman Kathleen Baxter Elaine Bennett Lynda Berg Ann Marie Borders Sigrid Bower
Susan Buchan Deb Clancy Karen Dudley Saundra Dunn Johanna Epstein Susan Filipiak Katy Fillion Lori Fithian Delores Flagg Joyce Gerber Jennifer Ginther Brenda Gluth
Bard Grabbe Chrystal Griffin Joan Grissing Sandy Hooker Susan Hoover Linda Jones Jeff Kass
Deborah Kirkland Rosalie Koenig Sue Kohfeldt Laura Machida Jose Mejia
Susan Miller Karin Nanos Michelle Peet Wendy Raymond Tracy Rosewarne Katie Ryan Sandra Smith Julie Taylor Dan Tolly Karen Tuttle Joni Warner Barbara Wallgren
UMS Staff
AdministrationFinance
Kenneth C. Fischer, President Elizabeth E. Jahn, Assistant to the President John B. Kennard, Jr., Director of Administration Patricia Hayes, Senior Accountant John Peckham, Information Systems Manager Beth Gilliland, Gift ProcessorInformation Systems Assistant
Choral Union
Jerry Blackstone, Conductor and Music Director Jason Harris, Assistant Conductor Steven Lorenz, Assistant Conductor Kathleen Operhall, Chorus Manager Jean Schneider, Accompanist Donald Bryant, Conductor Emeritus
Development
Susan McClanahan, Director
Lisa Michiko Murray, Manager of Foundation
and Government Grants M. Joanne Navarre, Manager of Annual Giving Mamie Reid, Manager of Individual Support Lisa Rozek, Assistant to
the Director of Development Shelly Soenen, Manager of Corporate Support Cynthia Straub, Advisory Committee and
Events Coordinator
EducationAudience Development
Ben Johnson, Director
Bree Juarez, Education and Audience
Development Manager Omari Rush, Education Manager Mary Roeder, Residency Coordinator
MarketingPublic Relations
Sara Billmann, Director
Susan Bozell, Marketing and Media
Relations Manager
Nicole Manvel, Community Relations Manager Erika Nelson, Marketing Assistant
Production
Douglas C. Witney, Director
Emily Avers, Production Operations Director
Jeffrey Beyersdorf, Technical Manager
Programming
Michael J. Kondziolka, Director
Mark Jacobson, Programming Manager
Claire C. Rice, Associate Programming Manager
Ticket Services
Nicole Paoletti, Manager Stephan Bobalik, Ticket Office Assistant Amber Marissa Cook, Group Sales Coordinator Sally A. Cushing, Ticket Off ice Associate Suzanne Davidson, FrontofHouse Coordinator Jennifer Graf, Assistant Ticket Services Manager Dennis Carter, Bruce Oshaben, Brian Roddy Head Ushers