2021-22 Concert Series will return Sept. 30 with in-person performances
Posted: 05/20/21
On Sept. 30, the curtains in Shannon Hall will open to a live audience in the Hall’s seats.
This date will mark the beginning of the Wisconsin Union Theater’s 2021-22 Concert Series, which includes six in-person events. The Theater team anticipates that some performances will include online viewing options.
While the Theater team planned for a return to its performance spaces Shannon Hall and the Play Circle Theater at Memorial Union, it continued to hold events virtually, which provided both performing arts opportunities for patrons to enjoy and financial support for artists, including Wisconsin-based artists through its series Wisconsin Sound.
The 2021-22 Concert Series will include performances by chamber orchestra Sphinx Virtuosi on Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.; violinist Gil Shaham with Akira Eguchi on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m.; Third Coast Percussion + Movement Art Is on Jan. 27, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.; the Brentano String Quartet on Feb. 10, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.; trumpet soloist Pacho Flores with University of Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oriol Sans on March 5, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.; and soprano Renée Fleming on April 30, 2022, at 7 p.m.
Through a collaborative partnership with the Mead Witter School of Music, performances by Pacho Flores and Third Coast Percussion + Movement Art Is will take place at the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall at the Hamel Music Center. Both artists will also provide educational activities for School of Music students as part of their engagement. All other performances will occur in Shannon Hall.
The Theater team had planned to include Gil Shaham with Akira Eguchi and Renée Fleming in its 2019-20 Concert Series, but COVID-19 cut the season short. The Brentano String Quartet and Renée Fleming events are also rescheduled concerts from the virtual 2020-21 Concert Series season.
“We are looking forward to the feeling when the doors open and music once again fills Shannon Hall,” Wisconsin Union Theater Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said. “More than ever, we treasure the opportunity to share in-person performing arts experiences with our patrons.”
The Theater will take many health and safety measures, following public health and university guidelines. Specific health and safety practices for events will be announced closer to the re-opening. The team will continue to make health and safety a top priority for audiences, artists, and staff to create a safe, enjoyable theater-going experience.
The Wisconsin Union Theater team anticipates making information about additional 2021-22 season performances and ticket purchases available here in August.
This year marks the Wisconsin Union Theater’s 102nd Concert Series season. Generations of theater-goers have experienced world-class music in Madison, Wis., through this series. Past Concert Series artists include Emanuel Ax, Fritz Kreisler, Marian Anderson, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Arthur Rubinstein, and Dawn Upshaw.
At the Wisconsin Union Theater, University of Wisconsin-Madison students help select many performances, including Concert Series events, and work with the Theater director to produce programming. These students are part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee, which, along with other WUD committees and six clubs, promote and run hundreds of Wisconsin Union events annually.
The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a non-profit organization with a vision of serving as the social heart of UW–Madison, where all belong.
“I want to thank our patrons for their support in the past year of change and separation,” Snodgrass said. “Your gifts and virtual attendance helped us continue to create experiences, support artists, and provide students with unmatched, hands-on learning and leadership opportunities. We are so thankful to our arts-loving community for sticking with us during this difficult time.”
Performances by Shaham, Eguchi and the Brentano String Quartet are part of the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music series supported by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Fund. The performance by Fleming is supported in part with generous gifts from Bob and Linda Graebner and Stephen Morton. Additional support has been provided by the Mead Witter School of Music, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Wisconsin Union Theater Endowment Fund.
For more information about the Concert Series, visit union.wisc.edu/concert-series.