U-M Creative Currents

UMS: Cayenne Harris & Mark Jacobson

• Arts Initiative • Season 4 • Episode 3

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In this episode of U-M Creative Currents, host Mark Clague interviews Cayenne Harris, Vice President for Learning & Engagement, and Mark Jacobson, Vice President for Programming and Production, both from the University Musical Society (UMS). This episode is part of a U-M Creative Currents' podcast series building excitement for the inaugural Michigan Arts Festival (September 25 - October 26, 2025). 

UMS serves as the University of Michigan's performing arts presenter, bringing world-class musicians, dance companies, and theater works to southeast Michigan. Cayenne is a nationally recognized leader in arts education and community engagement who oversees programs for students, faculty, staff, and the community. Mark oversees dance, music and theater programming with a special passion for jazz, having built U-M's ongoing partnership with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Featured Programming & Highlights include:

Cayenne and Mark discuss UMS's mission to deepen the impact of arts on campus and in the community, share what first-time concertgoers need to know about attending performing arts events, and highlight the special programming and engagement opportunities that connect audiences to world-class artists.

*Production Note: This episode is part of U-M Creative Currents' special Michigan Arts Festival podcast series which kicks off on September 25, 2025 and is produced by Jessica Jenks and edited by Sly Pup Productions.


Season 4 ep 3: Cayenne Harris and Mark Jacobson


Mark Clague (Host): 0:00  

Welcome to Creative Currents, the Michigan Arts podcast where we explore the power of collaborative creativity and the ways that arts inspire dialogue and community connection. I'm your host, Mark Clague. Today we're continuing our Michigan Arts Festival series, showcasing the people and happenings of the 2025 Michigan Arts Festival, which runs from September 25th through October 26th. In our Arts Initiative studio today, we have Cayenne Harris and Mark Jacobson from the University Musical Society, which is the performing arts presenter on the University of Michigan campus, bringing the most creative and impactful musicians, dance companies, and theater works to Southeast Michigan and our community. Cayenne is vice president for learning and engagement and a nationally recognized leader in arts education and community engagement. She oversees programs for students, faculty, staff, and the community. Mark Jacobson serves as vice president for programming and production at UMS. He oversees all of the dance, music, and theater programming, but also has a special affinity for jazz programming, having built U of M's ongoing partnership with Wynn and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. For me, UMS is one of my favorite parts of being here at the University of Michigan, one of our crown jewels, and it's such a thrill to have Cayenne and Mark on our episode of Creative Currents. Welcome.

Cayenne Harris: 1:00
Thank you so much for having us, Mark.

Mark Clague (Host): 2:00
Thank you, Mark. My pleasure. So, Mark, let's just start off a little bit with like, what is UMS and what is a performing arts presenter?

Mark Jacobson: 3:00
That's a great question. A lot of people take that for granted or don't fully understand what we do at University Musical Society. Well, first of all, we're very closely affiliated with the University of Michigan. We're actually a nonprofit organization. We're entering our 147th season.

Mark Clague (Host): 4:00
Wow, you don't look a day over 99.

Mark Jacobson: 5:00
Well, thank you very much. We were founded in 1879. So essentially our organization engages with community through the performing arts. We're a multidisciplinary performing arts presenter, which means that we are offering music, theater, and dance events to our community. We serve not only the University of Michigan campuses, but also Southeastern Michigan, Northern Ohio, and into Lansing.

Mark Clague (Host): 6:00
Great. Yeah. Yes, I think it's a little confusing sometimes that the word musical is in your name because you don't just do music. But I guess back in 1879, like putting an orchestra together or getting especially a chorus and an orchestra together to do the Messiah, which was like a thing every community wanted to do, took a lot of coordination. So I guess it started off as music, but you do a lot more than just music.

Mark Jacobson: 7:00
That's exactly right. I think that there is a misperception of, you know, that we're only presenting music concerts at Hill Auditorium. We're presenting dance residencies. We're presenting theater residencies. And we're really engaging in our community with learning and engagement with the student body throughout our adult learning in the community. We stay busy.

Mark Clague (Host): 8:00
Well, that's a perfect transition to bring Cayenne into the conversation because, I mean, it's cool to have a university musical presenter on a university campus. I guess that makes sense, right? The University Musical Society would be at the university. But, like, what does that mean? I mean, how does the university enhance or inspire maybe a different role for the arts on campus?

Cayenne Harris: 9:00
Well, I would say it's kind of a symbiotic relationship because we have a community here of incredibly knowledgeable people, faculty members, experts on practically every subject you can imagine. We also have, you know, a fresh crop of wonderful, curious students that are coming each year and maturing as they're here. And then UMS as an arts presenter is bringing in some of the best artists from around the world. And so, um, What we really try and do is share those resources as broadly as we can on campus. And so that can look like someone purchasing a ticket to come to a performance at Hill Auditorium. It can also mean an artist coming into a classroom and a faculty member really using a performance or a performance practice as a way to connect to the curriculum that students are learning. And so we really think broadly about the resources of UMS, the ways that these artists can share what they do, connect to students. That might be a master class. That might be kind of hands-on teaching. But in many cases, it turns into a connection that is a non-arts connection. And so it's a really fun and a joyful experience for me to think about the ways that we can create those connections on campus.

Mark Clague (Host): 10:00
Yeah, I think for me, UMS, I mean, one of the things you do is bring like incredible spectacle and delight and joy to campus. I mean, there's nothing like hearing like the New York Philharmonic do the Rite of Spring or some huge orchestral work that's just like mind-blowing. But also, I mean, I think you do something special on campus, which is you bring a new set of ideas into the mix. I mean, you bring artists who are thinking about the world around us, thinking about all these issues, you know, around, you know, the controversies of our age, right? The DEI controversy or, you know, what does it mean to be American? We're celebrating our 250th birthday next year. And I know you guys are a little thinking about that too, you know. So, you know, when you bring these amazing American artists, they start to also comment on what it means to be a part of America, what it means to be part of a community, what it means to grapple with these sort of really important issues of our day in ways that maybe we don't take the time to do. Or, you know, in the news today, it gets sort of– it's all about going viral or the meme or, you know, shocking people. When you sit down for a theater work, you sort of– you have to sort of grapple usually with some kind of conflict or some kind of really– big issue. And then you watch that play out over the course of that evening. And then you talk to people at intermission. So anyway, I know you do a lot to enhance that. But can you talk a little bit about that role of art? Or what does UMS see its sort of social commitment?

Cayenne Harris: 11:00
Yeah, absolutely. I think often people think that the arts are kind of neutral, that they don't have something to say. But of course, all art, in a way, is deeply political. And even when we look back in history at the canon of classic music, for instance, as you begin to look deeper and understand what that particular composer was responding to, often you really find that they're dealing with revolutionary ideas or responding to political leaders of the time or other cultural movements. I think in particular, we at UMS think a lot about the ways that the arts can open up dialogue around really challenging subjects. So our Artists have a way of presenting ideas through theater, through dance, through music that can actually bring people together more. It can be unifying. It can be thought provoking without it being sort of contentious necessarily. And we certainly present work, Mark can speak to this, that is, you know, intentionally provocative. And, you know, I think one of the great things about UMS is that the range of work we present, you know, if you're not If you're not into that, that doesn't have to be your first choice. But we certainly do have works on every season that I would say are dealing with climate change, are dealing with power and influence and control, are dealing with some of the issues that, of course, we're grappling with as a society.

Mark Clague (Host): 12:00
Let's talk about the works that are coming. It's not a coincidence that the Michigan Arts Festival kicks off the same weekend that UMS launches its fall season. So Mark, what are those controversial, exciting things that are coming down the pipe?

Mark Jacobson: 13:00
Thanks, Mark. Thanks for asking. Well, first of all, UMS is so excited to be able to help animate the Michigan Arts Festival and sort of give you a little bit of a through line through a snippet of what we do at UMS between September 25th and October 26th this fall. One really exciting thing is that throughout the Michigan Arts Festival, You'll be able to experience the work that UMS presents in a plethora of our venues. University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, but also Michigan Theatre. On Friday, September 26th, we're going to be opening our season really with a bang. We're going to be collaborating and presenting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the direction of their music director, Jader Bignamini. We haven't presented the DSO in some years. This concert will only take place in Ann Arbor of the mammoth, incredible, groundbreaking powerful Verdi Requiem. And

Mark Clague (Host): 14:00
that'll feature our chorus, right? The UMS Choral Union?

Mark Jacobson: 15:00
The UMS Choral Union, under the direction of Scott Hanoian. This is a volunteer chorus that the University Musical Society oversees and manages. We have about 150 singers who have been working on Verdi's Requiem for the good part of the last year. They are so excited and thrilled to be participating in this. Whenever you get the opportunity to, of course, sing and perform with the Detroit Symphony orchestra, one of the great orchestras of the country. It's a real honor and a privilege. We've also been able to deliver an A-list top shelf offering of vocal soloists. So the casting for this is really incredible. Vuvu Mpufu from South Africa, Shen Yang from China. It's a really diverse and enthusiastic and thrilling cast that's going to take this project kind of to the That's

Mark Clague (Host): 16:00
exciting. And then with Cayenne's mention of climate change, like one of the works I know I'm looking forward to is Nigaman Tunai. Is that how you say it? Which is like an immersive theater piece?

Cayenne Harris: 17:00
Yeah, that's right. Nigaman Tunai. It is really hard to describe. I'll do my best to give listeners an idea of what this piece is about and what the experience is. But to set the scene, I would say this will take place in the power center. But if you've seen shows in the Power Center, you're used to sitting in that fixed seating. It's a relatively large venue. In this case, we will have a much smaller audience size and audience capacity because the audience members will be seated on the Power Center stage with the performers. And really, when you go see this piece, you are stepping into what feels like a magical forest in a way. There are water elements. There's a beautiful soundscape that really helps tell the story of what's happening. And Nigamon Tunai was created by two different indigenous women from very different parts of the Americas, one from the Canadian Anishinaabe area and then another from essentially the Amazon River. And it involves movement, water, elements of turtles, which play importantly into the origins stories of both of these tribal communities. And it touches on destruction and destruction in our Great Lakes regions and how destruction comes into the experience. So it's a totally exciting, wonderful, immersive, theatrical experience. It's really unlike anything else I've seen, and I'm so excited that we're presenting it this fall.

Mark Jacobson: 18:00
This is a great example, Kyan and Mark, of how we had a the perfect space for this. And as Kyan mentioned, it actually sits and lives on the Power Center stage. So the audience is just immersed into this performance space. It's very unique. The piece really lives between performance art and a theatrical offering.

Mark Clague (Host): 19:00
Yeah, I'm excited. I have my tickets. And I also think it's cool that it really connects to the history of the university because the Anishinaabe were the people who made the initial land grant to the university. And I think that tribal area cover like a lot of Michigan and the Midwest, Minnesota, Wisconsin, as well as Canada. So, you know, of course those national boundaries don't mean anything in their millennia as they do today. So those people cross a lot of the boundaries that we've artificially created in our world. So excited about that. What else is going to happen during the festival?

Mark Jacobson: 20:00
On October 10th, on a Friday night, Micaiah McRaven, the prolific drummer, beatmaker, producer, improviser based in Chicago, is going to bring a brand new ensemble to Michigan Theater that's going to help celebrate and launch a new record release. We actually don't have the personnel and lineup yet, which is really exciting. That's sort of how Micaiah works. This is a UMS debut. What's exciting about this artist is that He's really going to connect with the University of Michigan student body. There's something about his energy, his mission that connects the tissue of students with the history of jazz. And it really introduces a lot of young people into improvised music. And that's what I really am excited about and celebrate with this UMS debut.

Mark Clague (Host): 21:00
And Ballet BC is next?

Mark Jacobson: 22:00
Ballet BC is... Canada's preeminent contemporary dance company. This will be their UMS debut over the course of the weekend of Friday, October 17th, with two performances at the Power Centre. Each night we'll have a completely unique program. The company is led by artistic director Mehdi Valareski, who is a French choreographer. He's actually been creating works for the Netherlands Dance Theatre and Ballet BC and other international dance companies throughout his career. incredibly celebrated. Sort of the level of commitment and energy and body and humanity that this company brings is now being celebrated internationally. Belcea Quartet will be performing that same weekend on Sunday afternoon, October 19th in the beautiful Rackham Auditorium. Folks love listening to chamber music at Rackham Auditorium. It's one of the hallmarks. It's so

Mark Clague (Host): 23:00
intimate. You feel like you're almost in the ensemble. And of course, I think the hall was recently restored. It's just gorgeous.

Mark Jacobson: 24:00
Yes, it's more reverberant. It serves chamber music almost perfectly. It's a very intimate space, as you allude to, Mark. And then, you know, what I like about this program is that you open with an early Webern work, and then you end with, you know, one of the great pieces in the canon, Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16, really his final opus for string quartet quartet, a hallmark of the repertoire.

Mark Clague (Host): 25:00
One of those super giant crazy pieces that late Beethoven is all about, right? And then we have an orchestra, probably, I assume, in our historic Hill Auditorium.

Cayenne Harris: 26:00
We do. So this is the Philharmonia Orchestra of London. There are many orchestras in London, and we're excited that we've actually been able to present quite a few of them in rapid succession. People may remember that the Philharmonia Orchestra of London for many years was led by Esa-Pekka Salonen. And they have a kind of emphasis on digital and kind of technology, which is really interesting. And so their program at Hill is going to be Dynamite. We have the piano soloist, Víkingur Ólafsson, who's Icelandic, if I'm not mistaken. And they'll be performing works by Gabriela Ortiz, who's a living composer of course Beethoven who Mark just spoke about and Dmitri Shostakovich in the incredibly powerful Fifth Symphony so it's going to be a performance not to be missed we actually have a new faculty reception for the Philharmonia Orchestra performance this is on Friday October 24th and so new faculty will be invited to come gratis and there's a lovely reception beforehand so we're excited to welcome new faculty to this spectacular That's

Mark Jacobson: 27:00
great. And then Herbie

Mark Clague (Host): 28:00
Hancock, one of the legends.

Mark Jacobson: 29:00
Yeah, we are so excited to re-engage with Herbie. We haven't worked with Herbie Hancock for a decade. We are thrilled to announce sort of this all-star working band that he's going to be bringing to Hill Auditorium on Saturday night, October 25th. It's going to feature Terrence Blanchard on trumpet, James Genus from Saturday Night Live on bass, Lionel Loueke, Benin guitar and vocalist, and Jaylen Petinaud, a young, hot drummer from New York City, working with Herbie. Herbie is 85 years old. This concert celebrates his 85th year. He's a constant innovator. Of course, Mark, you're from Chicago. Herbie made his debut with the Chicago Symphony in a classical program when he was a teenager. He's a real savant and virtuoso, and He's been innovating his entire career and is still a beacon of inspiration for so many young artists.

Mark Clague (Host): 30:00
That's great. And it's so exciting to see jazz really featured during the festival. And then we sort of wrap up on the last day of the festival with the Imani Winds, which is an amazing wind chamber group. And I think we even have a U of M alum in that group, right? Mark Dover? I

Cayenne Harris: 31:00
think we do. The clarinetist, yeah. So the Imani Winds are a woodwind quintet that have really changed the landscape of chamber performance for woodwinds. They have been, over their many years of existence, they've been commissioning works by living composers and really championing those works in a way that has created a lot of great new repertoire for the field. In particular, they're going to be performing this time with percussionist and composer Andy Akiho. Andy is most closely associated with the steel drum. And the work that there are, the title of this performance is The Belonging Project, which is a new work written by Andy. And it was inspired by the sounds and protests by immigrant communities at a Brooklyn detention center over unsanitary conditions. So we talked earlier about the can lean into challenging issues and sort of present them in ways that open them up for consideration. And I think this piece is a great example of that. So they're also, they're going to be performing works by Paquito de Rivera, Jason Moran. So a really interesting, non-traditional chamber music program at Rackham, not to be missed.

Mark Clague (Host): 32:00
So, you know, I'm a music person. So of course, I'm super excited about all of these things. But if some of our listeners And I think the purpose of the Michigan Arts Festival is to get people to try something new. So maybe they've never been to a concert in Hill Auditorium or Rackham. They've never seen chamber music. They might be like, I don't know. It sounds pretty sophisticated. There are all these names I don't know how to pronounce. You know, what do you say to people who are trying this for the first time about what they need to do or what mindset they should have?

Mark Jacobson: 33:00
I think just allowing yourself to enter into this space sort of in any way that you choose. What's fascinating is that Fascinating is every patron comes to a UMS event or a performing arts event for different reasons. Some find it meditative. Some find it a quiet space sort of away from hectic life and social media. Others want something that's provocative and thought-provoking. And we offer all of that. And each individual has that luxury and is afforded the opportunity to think and experience a performance in their own way. There's no right or wrong way to experience the performing arts. One of the great things that UMS offers is our UMS student ticket program. And so this allows university students to access these events at just incredible, incredibly affordable prices at a fraction.

Mark Clague (Host): 34:00
15 bucks,

Mark Jacobson: 35:00
20 bucks. It's just incredible. I mean, these same concerts are happening at Carnegie Hall and they're going to sound better at Hill Auditorium. But you're

Mark Clague (Host): 36:00
going to pay 200 bucks at Carnegie Hall probably.

Mark Jacobson: 37:00
Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, it's a pretty low-risk situation and high reward to take the risk and jump into the pool and attend one of these UMS concerts over the Michigan Arts Festival.

Mark Clague (Host): 38:00
I mean, I can say for me, so I'm a music historian, so, you know, I know a lot about music, teach music, but I actually almost enjoy going to the stuff at UMS that I know nothing about even more, like the theater series, the dance series. You know, when I know a lot about it, sometimes that can, you know, I mean, it's It provides different kinds of rewards. I mean, I love that too. But there is something really sort of visceral and just human about what you guys present. And I don't feel like you need to study up just to show up. You know, you just need to be there, be present, be engaged, open your eyes and ears and your mind to sort of the possibilities. And so, yeah, I just want to dispel the myth that you need to be an expert to enjoy. I

Cayenne Harris: 39:00
think that's right, Mark. And we work really hard at UMS to create a welcoming environment You know, not too many rules. You know, there's a lot of communication that comes from UMS in advance of a performance so you can prepare yourself in the ways that you'd like to to kind of come into it. And even if you just show up, I think there's a really good chance you're going to sit back in your seat and enjoy the performance. I think we talked about, you know, Ballet BC, I think is a great entry point of something that's going to be visually spectacular. I always encourage people to come see the dance that we present. Because it's just incredible. It's just incredible to see. And the musical performances tend to be a little bit more meditative. There's a little bit, but often there's something really cool to see on stage as well. So I think that there is really room for first timers to come and try something. I think that all of the performers that we've mentioned here that are going to be featured on this particular festival, I think are great. great performances to come and try for a newcomer. I can't think of anything that I think will be too challenging or off-putting. I think it's going to be a lot of fun and really impactful.

Mark Clague (Host): 40:00
So to get tickets, folks go to ums.org. And I know, so I have already gotten my tickets, or at least some of them. And one of the things I take advantage of is a cool opportunity you guys have called the Series U, Y-O-U, like you make your own series. And you have to, you pick what, so Is it three or five or a certain number of shows? And then you get a discount if you go to them. And so anyway, I really highly recommend people grab their tickets now because you can get them at the last minute if you don't know your plans. But I think it's really nice to have that on my calendar from the beginning.

Cayenne Harris: 41:00
Yeah, that's right. So Series U is probably our most popular subscription package. We also have like preset subscription packages if you know that you're a classical musician lover jazz lover that kind of thing but series you is a great way to kind of put together a sampler of things you're interested in seeing they might be really different things you can work within your schedule so that's that's a great option we talked already a little bit about student tickets but if you need that info when you go to ums.org there's actually a little icon that says student tickets and if you click on that it'll give you all the options for the 15 and 20 dollar tickets there's also some free ticket opportunities for students. So please check that out.

Mark Clague (Host): 42:00
That's great. So much fun to talk to you guys. And thank you so much for being part of the Michigan Arts Festival and really helping kick off the whole festival with a big bang with the Verdi's Requiem. And I'm so excited to have you here. And if folks are interested in learning more about UMS, one thing I can pitch is one of the very first Creative Currents episodes we did. It's season one, episode five. We talked to Matthew Van Biesen, who's the president of UMS, sort of about the big picture issues around the performing arts today. And Matthew is, of course, on the Arts Initiative executive board. So we have a very close partnership with UMS and I'm really grateful for all you guys do for the arts on campus. So thanks so much for being a guest with us today on Creative Currents. You're welcome.

Cayenne Harris: 43:00
Thanks for having us.

Mark Clague (Host): 44:00
So we've covered a lot today and so many exciting things happening at UMS. One of the things we'll do is put a lot of details in our show notes about how to get involved, where to find tickets, and the ticket student program that Cayenne mentioned. So just check out the show notes if you want to learn more. Thank you. the University of Michigan's Arts Initiative, please visit our website at arts.umich.edu. Thanks for listening and for being part of the Michigan arts community that makes our campus so fabulous. So until next time, stay curious, stay inspired, and keep your creative currents flowing.