University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra Performs at Stern Auditorium

On Friday May 30, 2025, at 8 PM, the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra will present a concert at Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall conducted by Kenneth Kiesler featuring soloists Karen Slack, soprano, Goitsemang Lehobye, soprano, and Daniel Washington, bass.

Leonard Bernstein's On the Waterfront Symphonic Suite elevated film music to serious concert status, capturing the film's urban grit while standing alone as art. Gershwin's Porgy and Bess selections represent a groundbreaking fusion of classical, jazz, and folk traditions into a distinctly American operatic language. After traveling to Africa, composer William Dawson infused the rich traditions of African folk music into his Negro Folk Symphony, conveying the unique story of African Americans. Its 1934 premiere in Philadelphia and at Carnegie Hall received rare critical acclaim and sparked widespread public excitement. 

Three traditional spirituals, arranged by Bonds, Davis, and Smith respectively, demonstrate how these essential American musical treasures have been preserved through thoughtful arrangements that honor their emotional depth and cultural significance.  In dialogue with the spirituals woven into Dawson’s symphony, and in homage to the unforgettable 1993 concert by Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, these spirituals will be performed by the acclaimed guest artists: Goitsemang Lehobye, Daniel Washington, and Karen Slack—fresh off her GRAMMY win for Best Solo Vocal Album just weeks ago. 

Kenneth Kiesler, Director of Orchestras and Professor of Conducting, says, “These performances are not just concerts—they’re conversations across time, place, and culture.” The orchestra will be bringing that spirit with them as they arrive in New York City directly from a 12-day tour of South Africa. Together, these works form a crucial lineage of American music bridging classical traditions with Black American musical heritage.

At University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra's most recent appearance at Carnegie Hall, they performed Mahler’s Fifth Symphony alongside the New York premiere of The Old Burying Ground, a haunting and deeply moving song cycle by Evan Chambers.

Tickets are $16-70 and are available at carnegiehall.org, the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, or by calling Carnegie Hall at 212-247-7800. Carnegie Hall is located at 881 Seventh Avenue in New York City.          

Kenneth Kiesler, GRAMMY nominee and winner of the 2024 American Prize National Arts Award “honoring a very few artists whose philosophy and exceptional professional accomplishments are evidence of sustained artistic excellence…” has led over 100 orchestras across six continents, including the Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, Utah Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, Detroit Symphony, New Jersey Symphony. Osaka Philharmonic, Queensland Symphony, and Chamber Orchestra of Paris, and the Meadowbrook, Atlantic and Aspen Music Festivals. His many opera performances include Britten’s Peter Grimes and Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Bright Sheng’s The Silver River at the Victoria Theatre in Singapore. As music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra (1980–2000), he led debuts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and was named Conductor Laureate for life. Kiesler has given dozens of premieres, and founded MORE (Michigan Orchestra Repertoire for Equity), the ten-year commissioning initiative now in its 6th year. His many recordings include Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle which was nominated for a GRAMMY Award, and James P. Johnson’s De Organizer and The Dreamy Kid which won a coveted place among The New York Times Best Classical Music Albums of 2023. Kiesler’s teachers included Carlo Maria Giulini, Pierre Boulez, Erich Leinsdorf, John Nelson, Fiora Contino, Julius Herford, and James Wimer. He was director of the conducting programmes of Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Orchestre de chambre de Paris. He leads the renowned orchestral conducting programs at the University of Michigan and the Conductors Retreat at Medomak.

The University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, led by its music director Kenneth Kiesler since 1995, has been recognized by its 2005 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Album (William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience); The American Prize in Orchestral Performance in 2011; two Adventurous Programming Awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP); GRAMMY nomination for its 2014 premiere recording of Darius Milhaud’s L’Orestie d’Eschyle, critical acclaim for its recording of music by Vítězslava Kaprálová, and when its recording of James P. Johnson’s operas De Organizer and The Dreamy Kid earned a coveted place among the “New York Times Best Classical Albums of 2023.”

Under the auspices of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, the UMSO serves as a training ground for gifted young musicians, many of whom go on to significant careers in major symphony orchestras, opera houses, and chamber music ensembles, and as leading educators. The UMSO has also been at the core of U-M’s distinguished and renowned graduate program in orchestral conducting, ranked number one in the U.S. by U.S. News and World Report since 1997.

UMSO tours have included performances at the festivals of Salzburg and Evian, and at Carnegie Hall. The UMSO performed with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis in 2022, and will collaborate with them again in 2026. The UMSO has also played the American premieres of recently discovered music by Felix Mendelssohn, Josef Joachim, and Vítězslava Kaprálová, and has several recordings currently available on Naxos, Equilibrium, Pierian and Centaur. 

GRAMMY®-award winning soprano Karen Slack is celebrated as both an extraordinary performer and a change-maker in classical music. Slack has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera among others. In concert, her credits include the New York Philharmonic, Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Carnegie Hall, and Philadelphia Orchestra, among many others. Her debut album Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price on Azica Records was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY® Award in the category, Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. A native Philadelphian and graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Slack was awarded the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence. She is a faculty member at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Artist-in-Residence at both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Babson College. Learn more at www.karenslack.com.

South African soprano Goitsemang Lehobye holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan, where she also completed her Master’s and Specialist degrees under the mentorship of Professor Daniel A. Washington. Her doctoral journey featured performances in Rise for Freedom (Miranda Parker), Dinner at Eight (Carlotta Vance), Orpheus in the Underworld (Eurydice), and the new edition of Porgy and Bess (Annie/A Woman) with the University Musical Society. She was also honored with the Anna Chapekis Award from the Friends of the Opera.

Goitsemang’s love for opera was sparked by a televised performance by the Black Tie Opera Ensemble. She later trained with their “Incubator” Scheme before earning a scholarship to study at the University of Cape Town’s College of Music with Hanna van Niekerk and Prof. Kamal Khan. Her South African stage credits include roles in Merry Widow ( Hanna), Carmen (Michaela) La Bohème (Mimi), Postcard from Morocco (Lady with a cake box), Dialogues of the Carmelites (Madame Lidione) Don Giovanni (Donna Elvira), and La Traviata (Violeta). She also performed in opera galas alongside Johan Botha and Neil Shicoff and premiered works by composers Bongani Ndodana-Breen and David Earl in South Africa and the UK. 

In 2018, she joined the Minnesota Orchestra’s historic tour to South Africa, celebrating Nelson Mandela's 100 Centenary, and returned the following year to perform Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Golijov’s Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra, and Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem. Recent highlights include covering the role of Aida (Finger Lakes Opera, 2023) and appearing in Rappahannock County and Aida with Opera Maine (2024). That same summer, she covered Tosca with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra and made her Carnegie Hall debut. In January 2025, she returned to Finland for a Strauss concert marking the reopening of Finlandia Hall. She has performed as a soloist in numerous choral works, including a recent appearance with VocalEssence in Minnesota. 

Daniel A. Washington is a renowned bass-baritone and tenured Professor of Music at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, as well as an Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town. An expert in African American classical music, spirituals, and Porgy and Bess, he is an award-winning artist, teacher, and mentor with an illustrious career spanning major opera houses and concert stages worldwide.

Washington’s operatic highlights include debuts at the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Teatro Massimo in Sicily, and Theater des Westens in Berlin, as well as creating the role of Steven Biko in the world premiere of the opera Biko for the Royal Opera’s Garden Venture Project. He has also appeared at the Zürich Opera, Hamburg State Opera, and Opéra Comique in Paris. Concert appearances include performances with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, the Detroit Symphony, and the London Symphony Orchestra. His recordings feature works by Black composers, including Nobody is Somebody and spirituals, as well as operatic roles such as Pizarro in Fidelio and Tarquinio in Respighi’s Lucretia.