I was first exposed to live classical music earlier this semester when I went to see Kronos Quartet. Since then, my appreciation has simply grown for classical music. I could not picture anyone singing along with classical music and having it sound as beautiful as it did in Hill. The orchestra performed seamlessly (at least to me!) together to create a beautiful show for the audience.

That being said, my experience would not have been the same without the translation provided by UMS. If it hadn’t been for these translations, which helped me follow along, I may have had trouble focusing and been bored. The translations helped me understand the music and gave reason to the tone of the music and the singers.

I could not agree more! I would love to see the soloists together again performing a different piece in Ann Arbor. Their presence was felt and voices were simply magnificent.

The music just made me want to move! There was so much energy in the show. I’m not sure what it was about the music but there’s no better way for me to describe it than it made me want to get off my feet. While I did think it was a little loud at times and in the second half they had some sound issues it didn’t take away from the performance too much. All in all I couldn’t be happier I got exposed to this music and can’t wait to show it to my friends!

I could not agree more wit your comments. The end was my favorite part of the performance. I would say that the first portion seemed a bit more delicate and feminine and the second more acrobatic and masculine.

I walked in and immediately was drawn into a story that took me on an adventure I never thought I would have experienced. The scene was set and it sounded like I was watching an old school movie reel struggle to play something. The first half seemed to be…less lively than the second. To be honest, I thought the first half was cool but there were times when I was tempted to check my phone and see when it would be over. During the intermission I had discussions with other patrons and their thoughts were similar. Then, I went back to my seat and the second half blew me away. The acrobatic moves of the performers and the utilization of the cups and water to “rebuild” what was “torn down” was so powerful and they made it look so easy. This part was active, got the crowd excited, and was my favorite part of the performance by far. I think the performance would have been much better if it was more acrobatic and the story was easy to follow like it was in the second half.

I’ve never been to see a quartet before. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen classical music performed live. I didn’t know what the proper decorum was for the event? When do I clap? How do I talk about the work? Needless to say, I was a little intimidated by the show. When I thought of classical music my brain became flooded with the memory of my elementary school teacher playing the music during math exercises because it was “good for us”.

I struggled with “Cupertino”. I didn’t like how the recordings paired with what sounded like the plucking of the instruments’ strings. This part of the performance did not have the same feeling that the rest did.

At one point, I removed my glasses and simply listened. I found that by removing one of my senses, the others were heightened and this gave me a different view of the show, literally and figuratively. I wouldn’t recommend doing this for an entire performance but it is nice to do for a small portion of a show.

My favorite part of the show was the last piece the Quartet played. The music drew me in as I went along with the ups and downs. I realized what it meant when something “took your breath away”. When someone asked me about the encore I did not know what to say other than that it was beautiful and I felt connected to the music as it was being played.