In conjunction with UMMA’s exhi­bi­tion Oh honey…A queer read­ing of the col­lec­tion and the 50th anniver­sary of the U‑M Spec­trum Center, the U-M Chamber Choir recently performed the oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard in UMMA’s Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Apse. 

You can watch the filmed performance during a live broadcast, presented by the Penny Stamps Speaker Series, at 8pm ET on December 9th. The performance will also air on DPTV on December 11th–check your local listings for more information.

Considering Matthew Shepard was performed under the direc­tion of award win­ning con­duc­tor Eugene Rogers, acclaimed stage direc­tor Matt Kunkel, and Emmy-award win­ning film pro­ducer Bob Berg. The Stamps Event Series’ premiere of the video will be fol­lowed by a con­ver­sa­tion between Rogers and the piece’s composer, Craig Hella John­son. 

Johnson wrote the piece as a tribute to Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who in 1998 was beaten by strangers, tied to a fence, and left for dead. Shepard’s death, along with the murder of James Byrd Jr. by white supermacists a few months earlier, led to Congress passing the Matthew Shep­ard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Pre­ven­tion Act in 2009.

The U-M Chamber Choir has had a long partnership with UMMA, and has performed multiple shows in the Apse, including Everything is Made of Light in 2019 and the little match girl passion in 2020.