TEEN CHORAL PARTNERS Fantastic Fauré
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Olivia Pogodzinski, soprano
Germantown High School
Jonathan Brooks, director
Hartford Union High School
Ernest Brusubardis III, director
Milwaukee High School of the Arts
Raymond Roberts, director
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Allen-Bradley Hall February 28, 2024 10:15 AM
Gabriel Fauré Masques et bergamasques, Opus 112
I. Ouverture
Gabriel Fauré Requiem, Opus 48
I. Introït et Kyrie
II. Offertoire
III. Sanctus
IV. Pie Jesu
V. Agnus Dei
VI. Libera me
VII. In paradisum
The MSO thanks the following funders for their generous annual support that makes Teen Choral Partners possible: the United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), the Herzfeld Foundation, and the Eleanor N. Wilson and Irene Edelstein Memorial Funds as administered by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation.
Teen Choral Partners is also supported in part by grants from the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Milwaukee Arts Board, and Milwaukee County CAMPAC. All MSO education programs are supported in part by an endowment from the Hearst Foundations.
Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipzig Volkszeitung), Ken-David Masur is celebrating his fifth season as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra. He has conducted distinguished orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, l’Orchestre National de France, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, the National Philharmonic of Russia, and others throughout the United States, France, Germany, Korea, Japan, and Scandinavia.
Masur’s tenure in Milwaukee has been marked by innovative thematic programming, including a festival celebrating the music of the 1930s, when the Bradley Symphony Center was built, and the Water Festival, which highlighted local community partners whose work centers on water conservation and education. He has also instituted a multi-season artist-in-residence program, and he has led highly-acclaimed performances of major choral works, including a semi-staged production of Peer Gynt. This season, he begins a residency with bass-baritone Dashon Burton and leads the MSO in an inaugural city-wide Bach festival, celebrating the diverse and universal appeal of J.S. Bach’s music in an everchanging world.
Last season, Masur made his New York Philharmonic debut in a gala program featuring John Williams and Steven Spielberg. He also debuted at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and at Classical Tahoe in three programs that were broadcast on PBS, and he led the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Branford Marsalis, and James Taylor at Tanglewood in a 90th birthday concert for John Williams. The summer of 2023 marked Masur’s debuts with the Grant Park
ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR
Ken-David Masur
Festival and the National Repertory Orchestra; later this season, he returns to the Baltimore Symphony and the Kristiansand Symphony.
Previously, Masur was associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. During his five seasons there, he led numerous concerts at Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. For eight years, Masur served as principal guest conductor of the Munich Symphony, and he has also served as associate conductor of the San Diego Symphony and as resident conductor of the San Antonio Symphony.
Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has conducted orchestras and led masterclasses at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Chamber Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, and The Juilliard School, where he leads the Juilliard Orchestra this fall.
Masur is passionate about contemporary music and has conducted and commissioned dozens of new works, many of which have premiered at the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer festival in New York City founded and directed by Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur. The Festival, which celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2024, has been praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and by Time Out NY as an “impressive addition to New York’s cultural ecosystem.”
Masur and his family are proud to call Milwaukee their home and enjoy exploring all the riches of the Third Coast.
ABOUT THE MSO
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Ken-David Masur, is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural institution in Wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee.
The MSO’s full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. A pioneer among American orchestras, the MSO has performed world and American premieres of works by John Adams, Roberto Sierra, Philip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Marc Neikrug, and Matthias Pintscher, as well as garnered national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes. Now in its 52nd season, the orchestra’s nationally syndicated radio broadcast series, the longest consecutive-running series of any U.S. orchestra, is heard annually by more than two million listeners on 147 subscriber stations in 38 of the top 100 markets.
In January of 2021, the MSO completed a years-long project to restore and renovate a former movie palace in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. The Bradley Symphony Center officially opened to audiences in October 2021. This project has sparked a renewal on West Wisconsin Avenue and continues to be a catalyst in the community.
The MSO’s standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 30,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, Family Series, and Meet the Music pre-concert talks. Celebrating its 34th year, the nationally-recognized ACE program integrates arts education across all subjects and disciplines, providing opportunities for students when budget cuts may eliminate arts programming. The program provides lesson plans and supporting materials, classroom visits from MSO musician ensembles and artists from local organizations, and an MSO concert tailored to each grade level. This season, more than 5,800 students and 500 teachers and faculty are expected to participate in ACE both in person and in a virtual format.
Germantown High School Concert Choir
Jonathan Brooks, director
The Germantown High School Concert Choir is pleased to be collaborating with the Milwaukee Symphony once again as part of the MSO Teen Choral Partners Program. GHS choirs have had the honor of working with the esteemed musicians of the orchestra in 2016 and 2019 singing Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis pacem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Under the direction of Mr. Jonathan Brooks, the Germantown Choirs have performed with Milwaukee’s Bel Canto Chorus, Chant Claire Chamber Choir, the Wisconsin Philharmonic, and the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall. The choirs at Germantown High School perform
an eclectic repertoire, including masterworks as well as music from around the world. The Germantown Choirs have had the pleasure to work directly with and premiere the works of several contemporary choral composers, including Jake Runestad, Joan Szymko, Andrew Steffen, and most recently, Rollo Dilworth. Germantown, Wisconsin, is a small community north of Milwaukee. The choral program consists of two curricular ensembles: a co-curricular mixed choir called the G-Tones and an award-winning competitive contemporary a cappella ensemble called Sol Town A Cappella. Check us out on Spotify!
Drew Bengtson
Andrew Berndt
Rheagan Berres
Allison Brookens
Ashlee Carter
Rylie Cha
Arjun Chopra
Riley Cowan
Leah Culli
Alex DeChant
Colton Frey
Brett Haensgen
Molly Hildebrandt
Eyad Kharoub
David Kinn
JT Kosanke
Elizabeth Kroll
Benjamin Lamb
Megan Leedle
Hunter Mattice
Jonah Miller
Sarah Miller
Noah Miller-Scherrer
Isabel Navarrete
Emily Nicol
Samantha Norris
Grace Owens
Nathan Pokorny
Ellora Rangel
JuliaJoy Reinke
Sydney Robbins
Delany Robinson
Olivia Scharfenberger
Nathan Schneider
Bethany Stevens
Chloe Stryker
Natalie Vue
Lana Wagner
D-Nasir Walker
MSO TEEN
CHORAL PARTNERS
Hartford Union High School Concert Choir
Ernest Brusubardis III, director
This 31-voice ensemble is the most advanced of the four curricular choirs at Hartford Union High School. The Concert Choir is composed of sophomores, juniors, and seniors who are selected by audition and gives five to seven major concerts per year. The HUHS Concert Choir takes a major performance tour to New York City every three years and has sung concert performances in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, St. Mark’s, St. Mary’s, St. Paul The Apostle, Trinity, and St. Paul’s Chapel.
In 2011 and 2014, the choir collaborated with MYSO in their Founders Concert and in 2015 performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in their Teen Choral Partners concert. In 2017, the HUHS Concert Choir had the distinction of being selected by composer Eric Whitacre to work with him in a master class. In 2018, the
Maddy Adams
Ellie Armbruster
Amiah Brakob
Elliott Brunner-Selsing
Titus Curtain
Christopher Daley
Gaby George
Stuart Gottfried
Lilli Hattery-Kasten
Izabella Iding
Weston Jaeger
Kenny Kaiser
Max Klockow
Audrey Labuda
Carissa Lauson
Lukas Lichtenwalner
Annie Nettesheim
Amanda Penndragon
D’Angelo Peterson
Kim Rosner
Audra Schaefer
Brady Senkbeil
choir performed Debussy’s Sirènes from his Nocturnes with the Festival City Symphony. In 2019, the Concert Choir was also invited to participate in the UWM Choral Invitational. In 2023, the choir collaborated with Bel Canto Chorus and other choirs to perform Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the Kettle Moraine Symphony. The choir has performed multiple times with the Hartford Community Chorus, Hartland Community Band, and the Wisconsin Philharmonic.
In addition to curricular responsibilities, various small ensembles and a Vocal Jazz Ensemble are selected from the choir by audition. The Concert Choir is honored to share its love of performing with you and all those involved in this collaboration with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Dirk Smith
Sophia Stys
RJ Thomae
Grace Upthegrove
Charles Vanderhorst
Troy Westfall
Cora Wilson
Ava Wysocki
Jade Yustus
Milwaukee High School of the Arts Concert Chorale
Raymond Roberts, director
The MHSA Concert Chorale is an award-winning ensemble of students from the Vocal Music Specialty program. This ensemble performs masterworks from all time periods and musical genres and combines with the MHSA Chamber Orchestra to present major works each semester. The MHSA Concert Chorale has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on numerous occasions as part of the Teen Choral Partners concert and as a guest chorus for the Pops concert series. The Chorale has also performed at various state and regional music educator conferences, including the Wisconsin Choral Director’s Association conference (most recently in 2022), the North Central ACDA conference (2020) and the National ACDA conference (2015). The Chorale has also been featured prominently on Milwaukee’s ABC affiliate WISN’s Season
to Celebrate primetime holiday feature. Members of this ensemble are consistently recognized by such prestigious national arts competitions as YoungArts, DownBeat magazine Student Music Awards, and the NAACP ACT-SO contest.
The Chorale is comprised of singers from grades 10–12 who audition for placement in the ensemble. The ensemble members come from every neighborhood in the city of Milwaukee and beyond, including students from suburban districts who commute to the school for the intensive arts training available at MHSA. This diverse group of students endeavors to present every work with expressive interpretation and stylistic authenticity.
Dalayna Adams
Leairya Armistead
Rasauna Batemon
Johanny Batista
Makenna Bovee
Niya Brown
Ta-Nya Carrington
Jae Carter
Vineliz Chinea Quinones
Sonia Cordoba
Lex Crump
Natanael Cueto
Aaliyah Dailey
Love Davies
Jairo De Los Santos
Alani Eastman
Lily Edmond
KaMarionn Edwards
Talon Fullerton
Gregory Garcia, Jr.
Dechea Hamilton
Gabrielle Harmon
Akira Harris
Ixia Hernandez
Tajai Kelly
Alayja Kern
Alabama Kristan
Axel Laureano Charries
Ahmad Lester
Melody Marks
Cornaiya Martin
Sariiah Martin
Lanaijah McCaskill
Ner Way Ber Moo
Kerra Moore
Tavariyae Moore
Naysha Morales-Del Valle
Tyler Moten
Dystince Robertson
Jordan Rodriguez
Britney Ross
Eliezer Sanchez
Brianna Scull-Webb
MeA Thompson
Ariah Trotter
Amyrakle Turner
Jayden Tyler
Jaylen Vang
Hope Xiong
Jazmyne Zarnoth
MSO TEEN
CHORAL PARTNERS
Meet our Artistic Partner
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Hailed as an artist “alight with the spirit of the music” (Boston Globe), Dashon Burton has established a vibrant career appearing regularly throughout the U.S. and Europe. Highlights of his 2023.24 season include multiple appearances with Michael Tilson Thomas, including with the San Francisco Symphony, the New World Symphony, and the San Diego Symphony. Burton also performs Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the Washington Bach Consort, sings Handel’s Messiah with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and performs the title role in Sweeney Todd at Vanderbilt University. With the Cleveland Orchestra, Burton participates in a semi-staged version of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and he joins the Milwaukee Symphony and Ken-David Masur for three subscription weeks as their artistic partner.
A multiple award-winning singer, Burton won his second Grammy Award in March 2021 for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album with his performance featured in Dame Ethyl Smyth’s masterwork The Prison with The Experiential Orchestra (Chandos). As an original member of the groundbreaking vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, he won his first Grammy Award for their inaugural recording of all new commissions.
His other recordings include Songs of Struggle & Redemption: We Shall Overcome (Acis); the Grammy-nominated recording of Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road (Naxos); Holocaust, 1944 by Lori Laitman (Acis); and Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. His album of spirituals garnered high praise and was singled out by The New York Times as “profoundly moving…a beautiful and lovable disc.”
Burton received a Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College and Conservatory and a Master of Music degree from Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music. He is an assistant professor of voice at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.
Meet our Soloist
Olivia Pogodzinski, soprano
Olivia Pogodzinski is an operatic soprano based in Milwaukee. She has a degree in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied under Professor James Doing. Notable performances include singing the role of the Queen of the Night in University Opera’s production of The Magic Flute and the soprano solo in the University’s performance of Brahms’s German Requiem. She sings with numerous ensembles in the Milwaukee area, including the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, the Florentine Opera Company, Brew City Opera, and Grace Presbyterian Church. When she is not performing, Pogodzinski stays busy working as a dentist at her nearby office.
2023.24 SEASON
KEN-DAVID MASUR
Music Director, Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair
EDO DE WAART
Music Director Laureate
RYAN TANI
Assistant Conductor
CHERYL FRAZES HILL
Chorus Director, Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair
TIMOTHY J. BENSON
Assistant Chorus Director
FIRST VIOLIN
Jinwoo Lee, Concertmaster, Charles and Marie Caestecker Concertmaster Chair
Ilana Setapen, First Associate Concertmaster
Jeanyi Kim, Associate Concertmaster
Alexander Ayers
Yuka Kadota
Elliot Lee**
Ji-Yeon Lee
Dylana Leung
Kyung Ah Oh
Lijia Phang
Yuanhui Fiona Zheng
SECOND VIOLIN
Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Second Violin Chair
Timothy Klabunde, Assistant Principal (2nd Chair)
John Bian, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Glenn Asch
Lisa Johnson Fuller
Paul Hauer
Hyewon Kim
Alexandra Switala**
Mary Terranova
VIOLA
Robert Levine, Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair
Georgi Dimitrov, Assistant Principal (2nd Chair), Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri Viola Chair
Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Samantha Rodriguez, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Elizabeth Breslin
Nathan Hackett
Erin H. Pipal
Helen Reich
CELLO
Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair
Nicholas Mariscal, Assistant Principal*
Shinae Ra, Acting Assistant Principal (2nd chair)
Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus
Madeleine Kabat
Peter Szczepanek
Peter J. Thomas
Adrien Zitoun
BASS
Jon McCullough-Benner, Principal, Donald B. Abert Bass Chair*
Andrew Raciti, Acting Principal
Nash Tomey, Acting Assistant Principal (2nd Chair)
Brittany Conrad
Teddy Gabrieledes**
Peter Hatch*
Paris Myers
HARP
Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair
FLUTE
Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair
Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
PICCOLO
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
OBOE
Katherine Young Steele, Principal, Milwaukee Symphony League Oboe Chair
Kevin Pearl, Assistant Principal
Margaret Butler
ENGLISH HORN
Margaret Butler, Philip and Beatrice Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin
CLARINET
Todd Levy, Principal, Franklyn Esenberg Clarinet Chair
Benjamin Adler, Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair
Taylor Eiffert*
Madison Freed**
E FLAT CLARINET
Benjamin Adler*
BASS CLARINET
Taylor Eiffert*
Madison Freed**
BASSOON
Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair
Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal
Beth W. Giacobassi
CONTRABASSOON
Beth W. Giacobassi
HORN
Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair
Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal
Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair
Darcy Hamlin
Kelsey Williams**
TRUMPET
Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair
David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal Trumpet Chair
TROMBONE
Megumi Kanda, Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler Trombone Chair
Kirk Ferguson, Assistant Principal
BASS TROMBONE
John Thevenet, Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair
TUBA
Robyn Black, Principal, John and Judith Simonitsch Tuba Chair
TIMPANI
Dean Borghesani, Principal
Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Robert Klieger, Principal
Chris Riggs
PIANO
Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair
PERSONNEL MANAGER
Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel
LIBRARIAN
Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair
Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian and Media Archivist
PRODUCTION
Tristan Wallace, Production Manager/Live Audio
* On leave for the 2023.24 season
** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2023.24 Season