U-M Life Sciences Orchestra

05/13/2026

One of our longtime members, cellist Curtis Kuo, is profiled in the new issue of the Michigan Medicine magazine! Though he had to take time off from the LSO while finishing the Ph.D. part of his M.D./Ph.D. program (also called the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Michigan Medical School ), he says in the article that he'll be auditioning again this fall as he enters his final year of the M.D. program!

Oh, and he created the magazine's first crossword puzzle...

Medicine, music, and the magazine's first-ever crossword puzzle!

05/08/2026

Last night, some of our members gathered to bid farewell to Nicholas Bromilow Conductor as he marks the end of his U-M doctoral journey and returns to England. We wish him well!

We will have official news soon about who'lll be taking up the baton as LSO Music Director for next season!

Keep following our page for news of this fall's auditions and next winter's and spring's concerts.

05/06/2026

Calling all woodwinds, brass and percussion!

CALLING ALL WIND BAND MUSICIANS!
Be part of a single-day program playing Sousa favorites at Sousapalooza on Sunday, June 21 from 4:30-5:30 PM at Ann Arbor Summer Festival: Top of the Park! The band will be led by Colonel Jason Fettig, former Director of the Marine Band and Director of Bands at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

🎺 All levels of experience are welcome to participate. Details at aadl.org/makemusic

04/23/2026

Wow! Nearly 2,500 people have watched the video of our concert, either live or as a recording. If you're not one of them, here's the link:

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

04/16/2026

Our performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius on Sunday wasn't the first time the UMS Choral Union performed the piece.

In fact, 122 years ago next month, the predecessors of today's singers presented it as part of U-M's famous May Festival, just a year after its U.S. premiere in Chicago, and just four years after its world premiere.

Here are images of the front page of the festival program, and of the page listing the piece. You can see the entire program on the Ann Arbor District Library's archive of UMS programs here: https://aadl.org/ums/programs_19040501b

The Choral Union performed the piece again in 1912 and 1917 - the latter time on the stage of Hill Auditorium, which had opened in 1913. And according to a 1968 listing of May Festival performances, those were the only times Elgar's masterpiece was done as part of this major annual event.

The Choral Union also performed it in Toledo in 1995 with that city's symphony.

If you know of any other Ann Arbor performances of this piece since 1904, comment below!

And if you'd like to see more ensembles come together to perform it in future, comment here too!

04/15/2026

We are so grateful to Nicholas Bromilow Conductor for his leadership as our music director for the past two and a half seasons! We wish him well on his upcoming doctoral defense and look forward to following his career, wherever it takes him. Congratulations on leading such a stellar, monumental performance!

Words cannot express how grateful I am to the Life Sciences Orchestra, UMS Choral Union & Scott Hanoian, our amazing soloists Tyrese Byrd, Danielle Casós, & Paul Leland Hill, and Assistant Conductor Michael Roest. Last night's performance of Elgar's 'The Dream of Gerontius' was the perfect way to say goodbye to this incredible group of musicians and to take to the Hill Auditorium stage one last time.

"Farewell, but not forever..."

04/15/2026

Thank you to everyone who played a role in making our concert last night such a success, from the 240+ talented people on stage to all those who helped behind the scenes!

And thank you to everyone who came to hear us in person or watched online!

If you have photos to share, please upload them to the link in the comments!

04/14/2026

A packed house to hear our music director Nicholas Bromilow give his final pre-concert lecture, to help the audience recognize the leitmotifs they will hear in the Dream of Gerontius by Elgar, and understand the context for its composition.

04/14/2026

If you can’t make it to this evening’s performance in person, we have a livestream! See the comments for the link.

04/14/2026

We are so privileged to have three vocal soloists performing with us tonight on Edward Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, along with the UMS Choral Union.

All are current and former students from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance's acclaimed Voice & Opera Department.

They are:
Tyrese Byrd, tenor
Danielle Casós, mezzo-soprano
and Paul Leland Hill, bass-baritone

Hill will join us in place of Voice & Opera Chair Stephen West, who is unable to perform as previously announced.

Read about all of them in our concert program: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bm5YQ7ntlN_gUO5nSmbSkfA84xmeJSaj/view?usp=drive_link