Germanic Languages & Literatures

Living in Ann Arbor
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Living in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor is a cosmopolitan community that combines the culture of a large city with the many attractions of a small town. Most residents find it hard to imagine living anywhere else.

The University is conveniently located half an hour from Detroit Metro Airport, which offers several direct flights to Europe each day, including a direct Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. Chicago, Cleveland, and Toronto are within easy driving distance, as is Stratford, Ontario, with its outstanding theater. There is an Amtrak service from Ann Arbor to Chicago.

The offerings in music and film are especially rich, and recently Ann Arbor has begun to offer world-class drama. Every year the University Musical Society brings to Ann Arbor world-renowned groups and soloists such as the Berlin Philharmonic and Cecelia Bartoli. The Royal Shakespeare Company now resides in Ann Arbor for a month every other year; other troupes such as the Guthrie visit often. Two of the world's four great symphonies, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic, play in our magnificent Hill Auditorium regularly; the other two reside in nearby Chicago and Cleveland. Our School of Music is one of the finest: one can hear free recitals by the next generation of great musicians daily. Blues, folk, and jazz are also well represented here. We are home to the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest such festival in the country, now in its 42nd year. Among others, the Michigan Theater offers a full schedule of art films.

Two of the country’s top ten art museums, Detroit and Toledo, are each less than an hour away, as are the incomparable Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. The University’s own museum has a fine collection, and it mounts an ambitious schedule of temporary exhibitions. The Detroit Institute for the Arts has one of the best collections of German Expressionism in the country, and the University's own holdings are excellent. The University's entire collection is searchable online via the link below.

Home to the original Borders, Ann Arbor has (the local realtors claim) more bookstores per capita than any city in the world but Oxford, England. In 1997, the Ann Arbor Public Library was ranked first nationally.

The local schools, both public and independent, are among the very best in the country. The system of city and county parks is so fine that Outdoor Magazine cited Ann Arbor as "the best place to raise a family" in April, 1999. In 1998, Ladies Home Journal gave Ann Arbor its award as "the best place for women to live."

Music

The University Musical Society

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit

Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra

Theater

The University Musical Society

The Royal Shakespeare Company's First Residency in Ann Arbor

Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre

Arts at Michigan

Museums

University of Michigan Museum of Art (collections searchable online)