Wednesday, August 27, 1969 THE MICHIGAN GAILY % Page Mine Wednesday, August 27, 1969 THE MICHIGAN DAILY ~Page Nine music UMS By R. A. PERRY Contributing Editor Although big enoughsto ex- hibit many of the sins of American urban life and still small enough to be ruled by a rural paranoid mentality, Ann Arbor is neither a- very swing- ing nor enlightening city. As a university town, it lacks the fe- brile intellectualism that is the ambient of Cambridge and is too mid-western to admit the colorful and open-air life styles of Berkeley. Ann Arbor is a one Pat Olezku town. Most of the movie houses here dedicate themselves to the worst trips Casting pearls before available, exciting shopping is limited to the flashing red light at K-Mart, and student creative endeavors are often curtailed by the high cost of doing anything in this All-American city. So, unless you are a freak or a frat, both poles being rather monochromatic and predictable, there are only four cultural and entertaining possibilities in Ann's arborial gardens: 1) the presentations of the University Musical Society, 2) the perform- ances of the APA company, 3) the letters to the editor in the Ann Arbor News, and 4) your own private hashish dreams. 300 concerts: A 1l for free The music school does something that no other school, has been known to do: It entertains. Throughout the year, the school sponsors over 300 concerts, including faculty performances, student recitals, and performances by the many University musical groups. These groups include two full symphony orchestras; seven bands, one a jazz band; and several choral groups, notably the Choral Union, with hundreds of members, and the Chamber Choir, which was invited as choir-in-residence for last year's Spoleto Festival in Italy. In addition, the school sponsors three fully staged operas and an opera workshop performance. And faculty members in- dividually have spun off into many fine groups, like the Stanley Quartet, the Baroque Trio, the Duo Concertante and the Woodwind Quintet. One of the highlights of the music year is the Contemporary Directions Series of concerts, featuring the Contemporary Direc- tions Ensemble, a University group which last year received a supporting Rockefeller Foundation grant. Modern or premiere works are featured, and the series also includes special performances by well-known musicians in the Contemporary Music Festival con- certs. The school also boasts its own composer-in-residence, Ross Lee Finn ey. There is something happening almost every day in the music school, and best of all, everything is free. A complete list of al coming events in the music school is published every month and posted around campus. Students can also pick up copies in the Union and in the lobby of the music school on North Campus. This brief disquisition concerns the University Musical Society. Gail Rector, president of the UMS, believes that his organi- zation helped put Ann Arbor on the map, and in many ways he is correct. In its 91 years of ex- istence, the UMS has brought to town just about every famous performing musician who ever lived or was lured to America. Hill Aud. has resounded to the voices of Calve, Gadski, Flag- stad, Rethberg, Ponsell, Bjoer- ling, Gigli, Martinelli (nine times), Melchior, McCormack, Kipnis, and Pinza, to name but a few. Pianists Gabrilowitsch, Hofmann, Paderewski, Rach- maninoff, and Schnabel, not to mention just about every con- temporary pianist of renown, have appeared under the aus- pices of UMS. Violinists Elman, Enesco, Heifetz, Kreisler, and Szigeti came to Ann Arbor be- cause of the UMS, as did the greatest cellist of all time, Emanuel Feuermann. Leopold Stokowski appeared as organist in 1936. If one could travel back in time, 1940 would have been a good year to be in Ann Arbor: Schnabel, Szigeti, Feuermann, Kipnis, Pons, and Maynor all graced the town. The amazing insistence on musical quality continues to dominate the UMS concert ser- ies. For the coming 1969-1970 season, Rector has signed up Vladimir Ashkenazy, Joan Suth- erland, Andre Watts, Jean- Pierre Rampal, Misha Dichter. the New York Pro Musica, and more esoteric but no less anti- cipated ensembles as the Phak- avali Dancers from Bangkok, the NHK Symphony Orchestra from Japan. the Osipov Bala- laika Orchestra from Russia, and the Chamber Orchestra of Prague. A Dance Series prom- ises, among other groups, the Jose Limon Company and the' NationalBallet of Canada. So hooray for the UMS and all that, except it is not quite that simple, not by a long shot. The UMS faces two very serious problems, problems which have already caused the death of the Chamber Music Festival and caused the reduction from 53 musical events in the 1967-68 season to about 35 this year,; inclusive of the prestigious if, creaking May Festival and the Summer Piano Series. The first problem is one which faces all of us in the "grocery-bill world," but which faces the UMS more portentous- ly: soaring costs. In 1950, Rec- tor could engage a pianist for about $1,800 and an orchestra for approvimately $2,750; today these fees are $6,000 and $7,000, with headliners like Van Cli- burn or Serkin at considerably steeper charges. Simultaneous- ly, the charge for services ren- dered by thehUniversity Plant Department have risen, and it is one of the shocking aspects of this under-financed Univer- sity that the UMS, which con- tributes so importantly to the cultural life of the area and which contributed so heavily to the School of Music in past years, receives no special dis- pensation on services. These cost problems are com- plicated by the fact that ticket prices can only absorb a minis- cule part of the inflation. A series ticket that cost $12 in 1950 costs $15 in 1969, and that $15 (for ten concerts in the Choral Union Series) offers the best entertainment bargain in the city. The second problem is more complex and no less depressing: how do you get students, whose previous education never thought of training aesthetic prerogatives, to attend concerts? Even though the ticket prices are quite low, the majority of Hill And. audiences are com- prised of faculty members and adults from the local environs. This problem is compounded at the University, where student taste turns out 20,000 people to see the insipid Johnny Carson issue TV jokes but can not pro- duce 2,000 people to hear the Moscow State Symphony Or- chestra. Another less polite way of putting it would be to say the UMS is casting pearls before swine. Even those students who do have an interest in the music that the UMS offers often fail to attend concerts. Why? One of the reasons involves the sim- ple fact that paying $3 or $4 to hear an under-rehearsed Phila- delphia Orchestra play La Mer under ' Ormandy becomes ridi- culous when for the same amount the work can be heard on records (repeatedly) under superb performances by Boulez or Toscanini. Certainly live per- formance has a meaningfulness that canned music misses; nev- ertheless the record catalog is so rife with treasures never en- countered in the concert hall, that a student's money usually goes in the latter direction. In some ways, Gail Rector and the UMS compound these problems. A concerned but in- herently conservative man, Rec- tor has not tried sufficiently to tell students that what he offers is not High Culture but enter- tainment. Plainly, many stu- dents, potential concert goers, are traditionally put off by the solemnity that always surrounds "classical" music; if Rector is as concerned with the educa- tional role of his organization as he professes, he should more wine assiduously seek ways to mod- ernize the image, the advertis- ing, and the programming of his product. Rector has taken one very big step, after some prodding and much hesitation. For the five concerts of this past May Fes- tival, the UMS offered special "Rush Tickets" for just $1. These tickets, available during a given time the day of the con- cert, consisted of unsold seats throughout the auditorium and provided a fine way for the budget-minded or uncommitted to enjoy an evening of fine music. For the coming season, Rector will extend his "Rush Ticket" offer, and if it receives a poor response from the stu- dents of the University, it may not be long before one, of the most outstanding concert series in small town America will bow its hoary head and die. ;pf ifi III To the Men of Michigan The Store That Enjoys Having You Come in and .Browse. PICK UP YOUR FREE GIFT-PAK (A $2.00 Value) at ULRICH'S-The Student's Bookstore DON'T BUY YOUR ART and SCHOOL SUPPLIES{ until you have seen our prices {up to 25% off the list) CONSISTENTLY THE BEST PRICES IN TOWN University Discount Store Currently located at 1528 SAB but watch for our Big Move! An SGC project i. I i lu We Have Seen Many Come and Go Dur- ing the Past Forty Years, and Have Served the Grand Parents of Many in School Today with Fine Men's Wear. i We Still Maintain That Image by Of fr- ing You Clothes and Furnishings of a Qual- ity and Style You Can Be Proud of as Well as Us. I; Salelf 1/11 Ai theatre 310 S. STATE Bringing in the professionals By JUDY KAhN The University's Professional Theatre Program (PTP) has a reputation for offering students, faculty, and local citizens a di- verse selection of contemporary and classic drama. In September and October of this year, the PTP will sponsor- for the eighth consecutive year --a Fall Festival season of pre- sentations by the Association of Producing Artists (APA). This season's offering will in- clude three new productions. The first, a revival of the American classic The Time of Your Life, by Saroyan, will be presented from Sept. 16-28. The Chronicles of Hell, by Ghel- derode, follows from Sept. 30 to Oct. 12. APA calls it "a whiff of- satanical sulphur." The series will end with Gogol's "satirical farce," The Inspector General, which will be presented from Oct. 14-26. Last year's APA production of The Misanthrope, by Moliere, won praises from the New York Times during its New York run, which followed its presentation in Ann Arbor. The Times said it was "Brighter, richer, and hap- pier than anything on or off Broadway." Cock - A - Doodle Dandy and Hamlet, also pre- sented last year, received gener- ally favorable reviews in New York as well as in Ann Arbor. The ConJurer, by nationally known playwright Evan Hunter, will be presented in early No- vember. This will be the ninth premiere of a new work for the theatre to be presented by the PTP. During Ann Arbor's winter theatre season, a series of Broadway and off-Broadway shows will be presented by a touring company. Last year the series included such well-re- ceived shows as Man of La Mancha and Fiddler on the Roof. The Stratford Festival The- atre of Canada has performed in Ann Arbor for the past two years, and it is expected back again this spring. The Stratford Theatre's series last year pre- sented fine productions of ham- let and Ben Jonson's The Al- chemist. Sometime between the begin- ning of September of this year and the end of August of next year, a third major repertory company may be included in the list of events sponsored by the PTP. Subscriptions for the APA Fall Festival are currently on sale at the PTP ticket office in the Michigan League. Student discount ticketsare available. Order Your Daily Now- Phone 764-0558 i The AlP's misanthrope United Airlines' campus representative, Peter Graham, cuts air fares in half. Peter is United's new campus rep. And he can save you 50' on air fares by getting you in United's 12-21 Club. Once you're in you can fly anywhere United flies for %/2 fare. And with United's big schedule of flights that's WELCOME BACK STUDENTS! AS A WELCOMING GESTURE TO NEW STUDENTS { AND A "THANK YOU" TO RETURNING STUDENTS FOR THEIR WONDERFUL PATRONAGE IN THE PAST, WE OFFER A COMPLIMENTARY TICKET! of - mmmms coupommmn d whe n ccrnpiniedmmmmby an *. r II, IFREE ADMISSION r One person admitted free upon presentation ; of this coupon and when accompanied by a:I, person paying full adult admission expires Oct.1, 1969 just about everywhere you'd want to f ly. i I