DON JUAN & BEETHOVEN PIANO

Friday, April 14, 2023 at 11:15 am

Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 7:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Roderick Cox, conductor

Inon Barnatan, piano

RICHARD STRAUSS

Don Juan, Opus 20

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN

Concerto No. 4 in G major for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 58

I. Allegro moderato

II. Andante con moto

III. Rondo: Vivace

Inon Barnatan, piano

In Termission

JEAN SIBELIUS

Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Opus 82

I. Tempo molto moderato – Allegro moderato – Presto

II. Andante mosso, quasi allegretto

III. Allegro molto – Misterioso

This weekend’s concerts are dedicated to the memory of SUSAN LORIS by JULIA AND DAVID UIHLEIN.

The MSO Steinway Piano was made possible through a generous gift from MICHAEL AND JEANNE SCHMITZ The 2022.23 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND

The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours.

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout

Guest Artist Biographies

Roderick Cox

Winner of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award by the U.S. Solti Foundation, Berlin-based American conductor, Roderick Cox, has been praised as a conductor who is “paving the way” (NBC News) and recognized as a trailblazer ... a conductor who will be amongst the vanguard” (Minnesota’s Star Tribune).

Forthcoming highlights include debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Barcelona Symphony, while he returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, and Philharmonia Orchestra.

Recent highlights include his debuts with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Malmo Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, New World Symphony, and Orchestre de Paris, as well as returns to Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra.

In the theatre, Cox has recently made important debuts at the Houston Grand Opera (Pêcheurs de Perles) and San Francisco Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia), as well as recording Jeanine Tesori’s Blue with the Washington National Opera. Last season, he returned to the Opéra national de Montpellier for Rigoletto, where he is also developing a relationship on the symphonic platform.

With a passion for education and diversity and inclusion in the arts, Cox started the Roderick Cox Music Initiative (RCMI) in 2019 – a project that provides scholarships for young musicians from historically marginalized communities, allowing them to pay for instruments, music lessons, and summer camps. Cox and his new initiative will be featured in an upcoming documentary called Conducting Life.

Born in Macon, Georgia, Cox attended the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, and then later attended Northwestern University, graduating with a master’s degree in 2011. He was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival in 2013 and has held fellowships with the Chicago Sinfonietta as part of their Project Inclusion program and at the Chautauqua Music Festival, where he was a David Effron Conducting Fellow. In 2016, Roderick was appointed as associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, under Osmo Vänskä, for three seasons, having previously served as assistant conductor for a year.