The University Musical Society Announces February Events, Including the Ariel Quartet and More

The University Musical Society (UMS) presents 13 performances by nine different performing arts groups this February, including intimate recitals, powerful orchestras, incredible world music, inspiring dance, and world-class theater.

The month opens with the UMS debut of the Ariel Quartet, performing a program of Wolf, Boccherini, and Schubert with cellist Alisa Weilerstein in Rackham Auditorium (Wednesday, February 5). The next night, Latvian conductor and violinist Gidon Kremer returns with his chamber ensemble Kremerata Baltica to perform a program featuring Pärt, Mieczys?aw Weinberg, and Britten in Hill Auditorium (Thursday, February 6). Two of Mali's most treasured musicians, Bassekou Kouyaté and Fatoumata Diawara, take the stage of the Michigan Theater a night later to perform a vibrant double-bill that unites contemporary folk, funk, and jazz with a distinctly traditional African sound (Friday, February 7). National Theatre Live rounds out the busy weekend with a high-definition cinema broadcast of Coriolanus, Shakespeare's searing tragedy of political manipulation and revenge, also in the Michigan Theater (Sunday, February 9).

Valentine's Day boasts two fantastic date-night options from UMS: the St. Lawrence String Quartet with a program of Haydn, Martin?, and Dvorák in Rackham Auditorium (Friday, February 14) and the Brazilian dance troupe Compagnie Käfig, which performs an irresistible acrobatic cocktail of athletic samba, hip-hop, and capoeira dance styles in the Power Center (Friday, February 14 and Saturday, February 15). Valentine's weekend draws to a close with a performance by violinist Joshua Bell in Hill Auditorium (Sunday, February 16). As the month continues, legendary theater director Peter Brook directs The Suit, a tender production about forgiveness and heartbreak set in apartheid-era South Africa by France's Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, presented in English in the Power Center (Wednesday-Saturday, February 19-22).

February ends with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic performing a program of Rimsky-Korsakov, Kancheli, and
Tchaikovsky in Hill Auditorium with young pianist Denis Kozhukhin, conducted by Yuri Temirkanov (Saturday,
February 22).

For more information, visit www.ums.org