ENCORE
Yes, there
field trips. And yes, we try to ditch the
Yes, there
field trips. And yes, we try to ditch the
Volume 42 No. 1
15 September 22 & 24 — Classics
Beethoven 5
21 September 29 - 30 — Classics
Brahms, Stravinsky & Prayer for Ukraine
27 October 3 — Special Violent Femmes
31 October 6 - 8 — Pops
Gershwin Celebration
with Marcus Roberts Trio
39 Ocober 20 - 22 — Classics
Josefowicz & Boléro
5 Orchestra Roster
7 Music Director
8 Music Director Laureate
11 Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
This program is produced and published by ENCORE PLAYBILLS. To advertise in any of the following programs:
• Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
• Florentine Opera
• Milwaukee Ballet
• Marcus Performing Arts Center Broadway Series
• Skylight Music Theatre
• Milwaukee Repertory Theater
• Sharon Lynne Wilson Center please contact: Scott Howland at 414.469.7779 scott.encore@att.net
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
212 West Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53203
414.291.6010 | mso.org
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A BETTER AUDIO AND HOME THEATER EXPERIENCE ULTRAFIDELIS.COM WAUWATOSA, WI
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 40,000 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 programing. 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.
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 VIOLINS
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
Allison Lovera
Lijia Phang
Yuanhui Fiona Zheng
SECOND VIOLINS
Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Second Violin Chair
Timothy Klabunde, Assistant Principal
John Bian, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Glenn Asch
Lisa Johnson Fuller
Paul Hauer
Hyewon Kim
Alejandra Switala**
Mary Terranova
VIOLAS
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
Samantha Rodriguez, Assistant Principal (3rd chair)*
Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Elizabeth Breslin
Nathan Hackett
Erin H. Pipal
Helen Reich
CELLOS
Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Cello Chair
Nicholas Mariscal, Assistant Principal *
Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus
Madeleine Kabat
Shinae Ra
Peter Szczepanek
Peter J. Thomas
Adrien Zitoun
BASSES
Jon McCullough-Benner, Principal, Donald B. Abert Bass Chair *
Andrew Raciti, Associate Principal
Nash Tomey, Assistant Principal (3rd Chair)
Brittany Conrad
Teddy Gabrieledes **
Peter Hatch *
Paris Myers
HARP
Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Harp Chair
FLUTES
Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Flute Chair
Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
PICCOLO
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
OBOES
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
CLARINETS
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 **
BASSOONS
Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family Bassoon Chair
Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal
Beth W. Giacobassi
CONTRABASSOON
Beth W. Giacobassi
HORNS
Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family French Horn Chair
Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal
Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair
Darcy Hamlin
Kelsey Williams**
TRUMPETS
Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Trumpet Chair
David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal
Trumpet Chair
Alan Campbell, Fred Fuller Trumpet Chair
TROMBONES
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
TIMPANI
Dean Borghesani, Principal
Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Robert Klieger, Principal
Chris Riggs
PIANO
Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair
PERSONNEL MANAGERS
Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Constance Aguocha, Assistant Personnel Manager
LIBRARIANS
Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair
Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian & Media Archivist
PRODUCTION
Tristan Wallace, Technical Manager & Live Audio Supervisor
Paolo Scarabel, Stage Technician & Deck Supervisor
* Leave of Absence 2023.24 Season
** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2023.24 Season
Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego UnionTribune) 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 ever-changing 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 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 TimeOutNY 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.
Throughout his long and illustrious career, renowned Dutch conductor Edo de Waart has held a multitude of posts with orchestras around the world, including music directorships with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, New Zealand Symphony, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and a chief conductorship with the De Nederlandse Opera and Santa Fe Opera.
Edo de Waart is principal guest conductor of the San Diego Symphony, conductor laureate of both the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, and music director laureate of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. This season he returns to Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and the Milwaukee, San Diego, and Fort Worth symphony orchestras.
As an opera conductor, de Waart has enjoyed success in a large and varied repertoire in many of the world’s greatest opera houses. He has conducted at Bayreuth, Salzburg Festival, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra Bastille, Santa Fe Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera. With the aim of bringing opera to broader audiences where concert halls prevent full staging, he has, as music director in Milwaukee, Antwerp, and Hong Kong, often conducted semi-staged and opera in concert performances.
A renowned orchestral trainer, he has been involved with projects working with talented young players at the Juilliard and Colburn schools and the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.
Edo de Waart’s extensive catalogue encompasses releases for Philips, Virgin, EMI, Telarc, and RCA. Recent recordings include Henderickx’s Symphony No.1 and Oboe Concerto, Mahler’s Symphony No.1, and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, all with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic.
Beginning his career as an assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein at the New York Philharmonic, de Waart then returned to Holland where he was appointed assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Edo de Waart has received a number of awards for his musical achievements, including becoming a Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion and an Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.
Ryan Tani is in his first season as assistant conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. In 2021, he completed his two-year tenure as the Orchestral Conducting Fellow for the Yale Philharmonia under Music Director Peter Oundjian, where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Prize for artistic excellence in his graduating class. Committed to meaningful community music-making in the state of Montana, Tani has directed the Bozeman Chamber Orchestra, Bozeman Symphonic Choir, Second String Orchestra, and MSU Symphony Orchestras. He frequently serves as cover conductor for the St. Louis, Colorado, and Bozeman symphonies and also recently served on the faculty at the Montana State University School of Music.
Tani recently concluded his tenure as music director of the Occasional Symphony in Baltimore. A fierce advocate of new music, Tani curated over 20 commissions from Baltimore-based composers during his four-year directorship of OS. As resident conductor of the New Music New Haven series, he has collaborated, under the guidance of Aaron Jay Kernis, with Yale University composition students and faculty.
Tani is also a graduate of the Peabody Institute where he studied conducting with Marin Alsop and Markand Thakar, and of the University of Southern California, where he studied voice with Gary Glaze. In 2015, he was declared the winner of the
Conducting Competition at their national conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to his studies at Yale and Peabody, Tani has also studied conducting with Larry Rachleff, Donald Schleicher, Gerard Schwarz, Grant Cooper, and José-Luis Novo. Tani currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he can be found in the park with his dog, playing board games with friends and family, in the library with a good book, or in the practice room with his violin.
Cedar Community announces a new definition of distinction for adults 55 and better–The Lofts at Cedar Lake. Carefree, private residences ranging in size from 1,100 to 2,000 square feet offer the opportunity to enjoy, explore, and embrace your best life.
Located 40 minutes north of Milwaukee on 245-acres of wooded campus, the independent residences offer resort-like living on Big Cedar Lake. Shopping, fine dining, entertainment, cultural events, and an award-winning farmer’s market are minutes away.
Every detail has been thoughtfully designed to provide comfort, peace, and spaciousness–while showcasing the property’s amazing views–all year round. Discover lake living in the heart of the Kettle Moraine—surrounded by lakes and prairies, hiking trails, and forests.
Amenities included:
· Outdoor green space, trails, and lake access
· Spacious design and wooded views
· Exercise atrium
· Lounge and gathering spaces
· Pet friendly
· Secure, private storage
· Indoor parking garages
The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, founded in 1976, is known and respected as one of the finest choruses in the country. Under the direction of Dr. Cheryl Frazes Hill, the 2023.24 chorus season with the MSO includes works by Beethoven, Bach, Debussy, and Orff, as well as Handel’s Messiah and the Holiday Pops performances.
The 150-member chorus has been praised by reviewers for “technical agility,” “remarkable ensemble cohesion,” and “tremendous clarity.” In addition to performances with the MSO, the chorus has appeared on public television and recorded performances for radio stations throughout the country. The chorus has performed a cappella concerts to sold-out audiences and has made guest appearances with other performing arts groups including Present Music, Milwaukee Ballet, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The chorus has also made appearances at suburban Chicago’s famed Ravinia Festival.
The Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair was funded by a chorus-led campaign during the ensemble’s 30th anniversary season in 2006, in honor of the founding chorus director, Margaret Hawkins.
Comprised of teachers, lawyers, students, doctors, musicians, homemakers, and more, each of its members brings not only musical quality, but a sheer love of music to their task. “We have the best seats in the house,” one member said, a sentiment echoed throughout the membership. Please visit mso.org/chorus for more information on becoming a part of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus.
Anna Aiuppa
Mia Akers
Laura Albright-Wengler
* James B. Anello
u Thomas R. Bagwell
Barbara Barth Czarkowski
Scott Bass
Marshall Beckman
Zachary Beeksma
Yacob Bennett
* JoAnn Berk
Edward Blumenthal
u Scott Bolens
Robert Bortman
Neil R. Brooks
Heather Brown
Michelle Budny
Ellen N. Burmeister
Gabrielle Campbell
Gerardo Carcar
Elise Cismesia
Ian Clark
Sarah M. Cook
Amanda Coplan
Sarah Culhane
Phoebe Dawsey
Colin Destache
Emma DeVries
Becky Diesler
Rebeca Dishaw
Megan Kathleen Dixson
Rachel Dutler
u James Edgar
Joe Ehlinger
Jay Endres
Amanda Swygard
Fairchild
Katelyn Farebrother
Michael Faust
Catherine Fettig
Marty Foral
Robert Friebus
Karen Frink
Maria Fuller
William Gesch
Samantha Gibson
Jessica Golinski
* Mark R. Hagner
Eric W. Hanrehan
Beth Harenda
u Karen Heins
Mary Catherine Helgren
Kurt Hellermann
Martha Hellermann
Sara E. Herrick
Eric Hickson
Michelle Hiebert
Laura Hochmuth
Matthew Hunt
Stan Husi
u Tina Itson
• Christine Jameson
Paula J. Jeske
Andrew Johnson
John Jorgensen
Heidi Kastern
u Michelle Beschta Klotz
Robert Anton Knier
Jill Kortebein
Kaleigh KozakLichtman
u Joseph M. Krechel
Julia M. Kreitzer
Savannah Grace
Kroeger
Harold Krueger
Benjamin Kulhmann
Cheryl Frazes Hill, chorus director
Timothy J. Benson, assistant director
Christina Williams, chorus manager
Kayoko Miyazawa, rehearsal pianist
Darwin J. Sanders, language/diction coach
Pamela Lembke
Alexandra Lerch-Gaggl
Noah Liermann
Nicholas Lin
Robert Lochhead
Kristine Lorbeske
Grace Majewski
Douglas R. Marx
Joy Mast
Justin J. Maurer
Kathryn McGinn
Shannon McMullen
Kathleen Ortman Miller
Megan Miller
Victor Montañez Cruz
Bailey Moorhead
Jennifer Mueller
* Matthew Neu
Kristin Nikkel
Jason Niles
Alice Nuteson
Robert Paddock
R. Scott Pierce
u Jessica E. Pihart
Ubaldo Piña-Martinez
Olivia Pogodzinski
Gabriel Poulson
Kaitlin Quigley
Mary E. Rafel
* Jason Reuschlein
Rehanna Rexroat
James Reynolds
Marc Charles Ricard
Amanda Robison
* Bridget Sampson
James Sampson
Darwin J. Sanders
Jenny E. Sanders
Alana Sawall
Autumn Schacherl
John T. Schilling
Sarah Schmeiser
Rand C. Schmidt
Randy Schmidt
u Allison Schnier
Trinny Schumann
Bob Schuppel
Matthew Seider
Bennett Shebesta
u Hannah Sheppard
David Siegworth
Bruce Soto
Joel P. Spiess
* Todd Stacey
u Donald E. Stettler
Scott Stieg
* Donna Stresing
Ashley Ellen Suresh
Joseph Thiel
Dean-Yar Tigrani
Clare Urbanski
Jessica Wagner
Tess Weinkauf
Emma Mingesz Weiss
Samantha Wells
Michael Werni
Erin Weyers
Cameron Wilkins
Christina Williams
Emilie Williams
Sally Witte
Kevin R. Woller
Rachel Yap
* Jamie Mae Yu
Michele Zampino
Katarzyna Zawislak
Stephanie Zimmer
u Section Leader
* Mentor
• Librarian
Dr. Cheryl Frazes Hill is now in her seventh season as director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. In addition to her role in Milwaukee, she is the associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Frazes Hill is Professor Emeritus at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she served for 20 years as director of choral activities. During the 2032.24 season, Frazes Hill will prepare the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus for classical performances of Beethoven’s Meeres Stille und Glückliche Fahrt and Choral Fantasy, Bach’s Magnificat, Debussy’s Nocturnes, and Orff’s Carmina Burana, as well as for holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah.
In her role as the Chicago Symphony Chorus associate conductor, she has prepared the chorus for Maestros Alsop, Boulez, Barenboim, Conlon, Levine, Mehta, Salonen, Tilson Thomas, and many others. Recordings of Frazes Hill’s chorus preparations on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra label include Beethoven, A Tribute to Daniel Barenboim and Chicago Symphony Chorus: A 50th anniversary Celebration.
Under her direction, the Roosevelt University choruses have been featured in prestigious and diverse events including appearances at national and regional music conferences and performances with professional orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Illinois Philharmonic. The Roosevelt Conservatory Chorus received enthusiastic reviews for their American premiere of Jacob Ter Velduis’ Mountaintop. Other recent performances have included the internationally acclaimed production of Defiant Requiem and three appearances with The Rolling Stones during a recent United States concert tour.
Frazes Hill received her Master of Music and Doctorate degrees in conducting from Northwestern University and undergraduate degrees in voice and music education from the University of Illinois. An accomplished vocalist, she is a featured soloist in the Grammynominated recording CBS Masterworks release Mozart, Music for Basset Horns. An award-winning conductor/educator, Frazes Hill recently received the ACDA Harold Decker Conducting Award, the Mary Hoffman Music Educators Award, and in recent years the Commendation of Excellence in Teaching from the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Governor’s Award, Roosevelt University’s Presidential Award for Social Justice, the Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award, and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Chicago, among many others.
Frazes Hill’s recently released book, Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer, a biography of the famed female conductor, received a commendation from the 2023 Midwest Book Awards. The book is available on Amazon and in bookstores. Frazes Hill is nationally published on topics of her research in music education and choral conducting. A frequent guest conductor and guest speaker, Frazes Hill has recently collaborated with Maestro Marin Alsop at Ravinia Festival’s Breaking Barriers: Women on the Podium.
Friday, September 22, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, September 24, 2023 at 2:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
DANIEL KIDANE
Be Still
ELEANOR ALBERGA
The Soul’s Expression
George Eliot: “Blue Wings”
Emily Brontë: “The Sun Has Set”
George Eliot: “Roses”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “The Soul’s Expression”
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
FRANZ SCHUBERT
Entr ’acte No. 2 in D Major from Rosamunde, D. 797
FRANZ SCHUBERT
IIIb., Romanze from Rosamunde, D. 797
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
FRANZ SCHUBERT/orch. Max Reger
Du bist die Ruh’, D. 776; Opus 59, No. 3
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
FRANZ SCHUBERT/orch. Max Reger
Erlkönig, D. 328; Opus 1
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Dashon Burton, bass-baritone
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Opus 67
I. Allegro con brio
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro
IV. Allegro
The 2023.24 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.
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.
Born 1986; Great Britain
Be Still
First performance: 19 January 2021; Manchester, United Kingdom
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: percussion (crotales); strings
Approximate duration: 8 minutes
Born to a Russian mother and an Eritrean father, Daniel Kidane grew up in Britain. Although Kidane’s official bio says that he began his musical studies on the violin at age eight, he has said in interviews that his first music-making experiences were actually on the recorder as a young boy. He sang in the English National Opera’s children’s chorus, later choosing to focus on composition when he entered the Royal Northern College of Music, from which he graduated in 2012. He also traveled to his mother’s homeland to study at the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
By 2016, Kidane had received a commission from the BBC Philharmonic to create his “Sirens” as one of five short pieces that the orchestra performed to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Various commissions followed, and his works began gaining a wider and wider audience, including his orchestral work, Woke, which received its premiere performance by the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the last night of the Proms in 2019.
Although the COVID-19 shutdown put a halt to live premieres of new works, several of Kidane’s pieces received online premieres while theaters were dark, including The Song of the Thrush and The Mountain Ash, written for the Huddersfield Choral Society.
Be Still, which was commissioned and premiered by the Manchester Camerata on 19 January 2021, is scored for strings and crotales, which are sometimes called antique cymbals.
Kidane wrote of the piece:
“Written towards the end of 2020, Be Still is a reflective piece on the year gone by. In a year where lockdowns became a thing, the idea of time became more apparent to me as everyday markers, such as meeting with friends and family, traveling, or attending concerts vanished.”
Kidane has said that he had the first lines of T.S. Eliot’s “Burnt Norton” (the first poem of his Four Quartets) in his thoughts:
Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future, And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
Born 30 September 1949; Kingston, Jamaica
First performance: 22 July 2017; Wales
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: strings
Approximate duration: 17 minutes
Jamaican-born, British composer Eleonor Alberga is the definition of a multifaceted musician. She was just five years old when she announced she wanted to become a concert pianist. By age 10 she was composing piano pieces, and at 19 she won the biennial Royal Schools of Music Scholarship for the West Indies, which allowed her to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London. From this point on, her musical interests began to compete a bit. She studied piano and singing at the Royal Academy of Music, becoming one of three finalists in the International Piano Concerto Competition in Dudley, England. Just a few years later, she landed a position at the London Contemporary Dance Theatre, where she became well known for her improvisations during ballet class. She was eventually commissioned to write works for the company, which led to her becoming the company’s musical director. In that position, she conducted, composed, and performed on many of the company’s tours. Alberga ended her performing career in 2001 to focus her energies on composition.
In Alberga’s music, one can hear elements of her Jamaican background, along with jazz influences, repeated rhythmic patterns, and a good deal of tonal writing. She began to incorporate increasingly atonal elements in her later works. Her works include orchestral, chamber, piano, vocal, and choral pieces, along with scores for film and stage.
The Soul’s Expression, written for baritone and strings, is built upon four poems by Victorian-era, British women: Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “The Soul’s Expression,” Emily Brontë’s “The Sun Has Set,” and “Blue Wings” and “Roses” by George Elliot (the pen name for Mary Ann Evans, the English novelist, journalist, poet, and translator who is well-remembered for her novels: The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, and Middlemarch). Within the piece, the four poems are separated by interludes that condemn evil, specifically evil words.
Born 31 January 1797; Vienna, Austria
Died 19 November, 1828; Vienna, Austria
Despite his tragically short life, Austrian composer Franz Schubert produced an astonishing amount of work. Bridging the Classical and early Romantic eras, he wrote more than 600 secular vocal pieces, many of them Lieder (songs), including several song cycles. He completed seven symphonies and wrote a great deal of chamber music, as well as sacred music, operas, and incidental music.
First performance: 20 December 1823; Vienna, Austria
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 2 horns; 2 trumpets; 2 trombones; bass trombone; timpani; strings
Approximate duration: 8 minutes
Rosamunde, Fürstyn von Zypern (Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus) is a play we would probably not remember had Schubert not written its incidental music. Schubert later used some of his Rosamunde music in other pieces, but the manuscript disappeared until Sir George Grove (Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians) and Sir Arthur Sullivan (the musical half of Gilbert and Sullivan) found the manuscript in a closet while researching Schubert. Rosamunde is the story of a princess raised as a peasant who manages to claim her throne. The lovely Romanze is sung by Rosamunde’s birth mother when Rosamunde returns to Cyprus. Although written for alto, the Romanze lends itself to the baritone voice as well.
Du bist die Ruh’, D. 776; Opus 59, No. 3
First performance: Unknown; first publishing by Sauer & Leidesdorf in Vienna, 1826.
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: 2 flutes; oboe; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 2 horns; trumpet; timpani; strings
Approximate duration: 5 minutes
When Schubert set this Friedrich Rückert poem to music, it did not yet have a title, so he used the first line of the poem, “Du bist die Ruh’,” (You are the peace) as the title. Rückert later gave the poem the title “Kehr ein bei mir” (Stay with Me). With this song, Schubert created a feeling of absolute calm.
First performance: 7 March 1821, Vienna, Austria
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: flute; oboe; 2 clarinets; bassoon; 2 horns; timpani; strings
Approximate duration: 5 minutes
Erlkönig (Erl-king) is one of Schubert’s most famous Lieder. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s dramatic poem, which was also set by about 35 other composers, tells of a father racing by horseback to get help for his ailing son, who he cradles in his arms as he rides. The boy describes his fever-dreams to his father, one of which is of an Erl-king who wants to take the boy. The father finally arrives at his destination, only to find that his son has already died. Schubert’s setting not only captures the drama of the poem, but the voices of the father, his son, and the Erl-king. The racing figures in the accompaniment capture the motion of the running horse.
Born 17 December 1770; Bonn, Germany
Died 26 March 1827; Vienna, Austria
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67
Premiere: 22 December 1808; Vienna, Austria
Last MSO performance: 23 April 2017; Anu Tali, conductor
Instrumentation: 2 flutes; piccolo; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 2 horns; 2 trumpets; 3 trombones; timpani; strings
Approximate duration: 31 minutes
The opening bars of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 are among the most recognized bits of music in the symphonic repertoire. The entire piece is certainly well-loved by audiences around the world, and it remains one of the most often-played pieces in today’s orchestral repertoire. But the bold short-short-short-long theme that opens the piece and recurs throughout it seems to have been fated to take on a life of its own. Interestingly, Beethoven called the piece his Schicksalssinfonie (fate symphony), and German author E.T.A. Hoffman, who penned the story on which The Nutcracker ballet is based, referred to the theme as “fate knocking at the door.“
Beethoven wrote his Symphony No. 5 between 1804 and 1809, working on it as Napoleon was waging war on Austria and the country was hoping and praying for victory. About 20 years later, having nothing to do with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, American inventor Samuel Morse and several colleagues developed a code of short and long electrical impulses that could be transmitted by wire over great distances, assigning a short-short-short-long pattern of pulses to the letter V (the letter U is short-short-long). Fast forward a century to World War II, during which the Allied troops relied on Morse code to communicate. The short-short-short-long of the letter V led the Allies to adopt the opening bars of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 for all Allied radio broadcasts, as a “V for Victory” rallying cry in the most destructive war the world had ever known. For those in the Allied nations who had lived through the war, and certainly for those who had fought in the war or had lost loved ones to it, hearing Beethoven’s Napoleonic-era Symphony No. 5 remained a deeply stirring experience throughout their lives.
In 2022, shortly after the Russian military began its relentless war against Ukraine, orchestras around the world began performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as a means of showing solidarity with Ukraine. Quite a few orchestras have performed the symphony on programs that also included Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov’s “Prayer for Ukraine,” which will be performed by the MSO on September 29 and 30.
Friday, September 29, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 7:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Yefim Bronfman, piano
VALENTIN SILVESTROV/arr. Andreas Gies
Prayer for the Ukraine
JOHANNES BRAHMS
Concerto No. 1 in D minor for Piano, Opus 15
I. Maestoso
II. Adagio
III. Rondo: Allegro non troppo
Yefim Bronfman, piano
IGOR STRAVINSKY
Petrushka (1947 revision)
I. The Shrovetide Fair
II. Petrushka’s Cell
III. The Moor’s Cell
IV. The Shrovetide Fair (Toward Evening)
The MSO Steinway Piano was made possible through a generous gift from MICHAEL AND JEANNE SCHMITZ. The 2023.24 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION.
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 recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.
Internationally recognized as one of today’s most acclaimed and admired pianists, Yefim Bronfman stands among a handful of artists regularly sought by festivals, orchestras, conductors, and recital series. His commanding technique, power, and exceptional lyrical gifts are consistently acknowledged by the press and audiences alike.
Following summer festival appearances in Verbier, Israel, Aspen, Grand Tetons, and Sun Valley, the season begins with a European tour celebrating the auspicious 500th anniversary of the Munich Opera and Orchestra with concerts in Lucerne, Bucharest, London, Paris, Linz, Vienna, and Munich. In partnership with Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, together they will visit Japan and Korea, followed in the U.S. by return engagements throughout the season with New York Philharmonic, Boston, Kansas City, National, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, San Francisco symphonies, and Minnesota Orchestra. With the Munich Philharmonic and both Brahms concerti on the program, he will travel to Spain and Carnegie Hall followed by European engagements with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. An extensive winter/spring recital tour will begin in Ljubljana and include Milan, Berlin, Cleveland, Chicago, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, La Jolla, and culminate in Carnegie Hall in early May.
Born in Tashkent in the Soviet Union, Yefim Bronfman immigrated to Israel with his family in 1973, where he studied with pianist Arie Vardi, head of the Rubin Academy of Music at Tel Aviv University. In the United States, he studied at The Juilliard School, Marlboro School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music under Rudolf Firkušný, Leon Fleisher, and Rudolf Serkin. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, one of the highest honors given to American instrumentalists, in 2010 he was further honored as the recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane prize in piano performance from Northwestern University and in 2015 with an honorary doctorate from the Manhattan School of Music.
Born 30 September 1937; Kyiv, Ukraine
First performance: 2014 arrangement for orchestra by Andreas Gies 2 March 2022; Aalborg, Denmark
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: 2 flutes; oboe; 2 clarinets; bassoon; 2 horns; trumpet; timpani; harp; strings
Approximate duration: 6 minutes
Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov is considered a national treasure in his now-embattled homeland. He is part of a long roster of exceptional Ukrainian-born musicians that most of the world has been conditioned to think of as Russian or Soviet rather than Ukrainian. That roster includes composer Sergei Prokofiev, violinist, violist, and conductor David Oistrakh, violinist Nathan Milstein, and violinist Isaac Stern, to name just a few. Conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, the first American-born conductor to lead a major orchestra, was born to parents who emigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine.
Silvestrov is no stranger to political strife in his homeland. He wrestled with government controls and restrictions on composers during the Soviet era and was expelled from the Ukrainian Union of Composers after taking part in protests in 1970. His music began to change after 1970, moving away from what The New York Times has referred to as “noisy scores” to a much softer, gentler style of writing that many have called “consoling.”
Silvestrov wrote his hauntingly beautiful, fluid Prayer for Ukraine following the 2013 Maidan Uprising in his hometown of Kyiv and the strife that followed. The protests began on November 21 of that year and continued in waves in Kyiv’s Independence Square, eventually escalating to an encampment of thousands of protesters barricading themselves in the square. The Maidan Uprising led to the 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” and eventually resulted in the ouster of proRussia Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, who wanted to forge a closer relationship with Russia rather than sign the European Union–Ukraine Association Agreement.
Silvestrov originally wrote Prayer for Ukraine for a cappella chorus as the 13th movement of a series of songs for chorus, entitled Maidan 2014. Five of the piece’s movements were arrangements of the Ukrainian national anthem.
Silvestrov, now 86 years old, fled Kyiv in March 2022, making his way out of Ukraine, through Poland, and into Germany by bus. He is currently living and writing music in Berlin. His Prayer for Ukraine has become an anthem of solidarity with Ukraine through performances around the world.
Born 17 May 1833; Hamburg, Germany
Died 3 April 1897; Vienna, Austria
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Opus 15
First performance: 22 January 1859; Hanover, Germany
Last MSO performance: 25 January 2014; Edo de Waart, conductor; Inon Barnatan, piano
Instrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 2 trumpets; timpani; strings
Approximate duration: 44 minutes
We tend to picture German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms as he appeared in middle age — portly, serious, and due for a haircut and beard trim. But an early photo of him gives a glimpse of the shy, 20-year-old pianist and composer who ramped up his courage and presented himself to the reigning royalty of the classical music world at the time: Robert and Clara Schumann.
The year was 1853 and the Schumanns, who were experiencing some of the last happiness they would know together, were so impressed with Brahms that they invited him to stay in their home for a time. Early the following year, Robert would attempt suicide and would be committed to an asylum. Brahms, by then close to both Robert and Clara, would hurry to provide help and support to Clara and the Schumann children, beginning a complex relationship with her that still has historians wondering about it today.
It was during this time that Brahms began his Piano Concerto No. 1, although he did not yet understand that he was writing a concerto. The piece began as a duet for two pianos, which he and Clara played quite frequently. Thinking it needed more power and color than two pianos could provide, he decided to turn it into his first symphony. But haunted by Robert’s words about being Beethoven’s successor, he decided he was not ready to write a symphony and turned the piece into a piano concerto, completing it in 1858. The 1859 premiere, with a 25-yearold Brahms at the piano, received a dismal reception at its first two performances. The third performance, with a different soloist and some adjustments to the music, was a success. The piece is still viewed and heard with awe today.
The mercurial first movement opens with big, bold sounds, moving to some espressivo writing before resuming the force of the opening. The second movement, which he wrote was a “gentle portrait” of Clara, could hardly be more of a contrast to the first movement in character and sound. Many musicologists see ties between the character-filled third movement and the finale of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
Born 17 June 1882; Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died 6 April 1971; New York City, United States
Petrushka (1947 revision)
First performance: 13 June 1911; Paris, France (original premiere)
Last MSO performance: 1 March 2014; Edo de Waart, conductor
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling on piccolo); 2 oboes; English horn; 3 clarinets (3rd doubling on bass clarinet); 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, bass drum with attached cymbals, cymbals, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam tam, tambourine, triangle, xylophone); harp; celeste; piano; strings
Approximate duration: 34 minutes
Hearing the music of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, it can be a little difficult to remember that he was once a student of Rimsky-Korsakov and that he admired Tchaikovsky quite deeply. It seems rather a long road from those two composers to the infamous melee at the 1913 premiere of his Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) in Paris. Stravinsky, who eventually held citizenships in France and the United States, was in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1910, supposedly working on Le sacre du printemps, which was slated to be his next collaboration with the Parisbased Ballets Russes impresario Serge Diaghilev, when the great impresario paid him a visit to see how the ballet was coming along. One can easily imagine Diaghilev’s surprise when Stravinsky announced he had experienced a vision of his next orchestral piece and was working on that instead of the ballet. Diaghilev gave a listen to the completed portion of the piece and thought there was a ballet lurking within it. And thus, Petrushka was born.
With Petrushka, Stravinsky pushed away from the music he had studied and admired, finding his extremely unique voice. From form and use of rhythm to tonality and orchestral colors, this was the introduction of the Stravinsky we know so well today. In fact, the chord (two major chords a tritone apart) which serves as a leitmotif for the Petrushka character was new to listeners and is still known to this day as “the Petrushka chord.” The success of the ballet, with its story about a puppet that comes to life briefly before succumbing to the consequences of his love, rage, and jealousy, and its root in Russian folk music, also gave him the confidence and momentum to finish his famous/infamous Le sacre du printemps. Legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, who would be featured in Le sacre du printemps a year later, danced the title role in the Petrushka premiere.
Stravinsky revisited Petrushka in 1946, making alterations to the orchestration and tempos, shaping the work for concert presentation, and expanding some of the piano part to create what is known as “the 1947 version.”
2023-2024 SEASON
TAKE3: WHERE ROCK MEETS BACH
September 29, 2023 • 7:30 p.m.
JUKEBOX SATURDAY NIGHT
October 29, 2023 • 2:30 p.m.
THE SOUL OF BROADWAY: IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS
Starring Terron Brooks
November 10, 2023 • 7:30 p.m.
CHRISTMAS WITH SIX APPEAL VOCAL BAND
December 9, 2023 • 2:30 p.m.
THE FOURTH WALL
February 4, 2024 • 2:30 p.m.
PIANIST SARAH HAGEN
Wonder Woman: A Celebration of Female Composers
February 25, 2024 • 2:30 p.m.
SWEET SEASONS
A Celebration of the Music and Life of Carole King
April 7, 2024 • 2:30 p.m.
For more information, tickets, and video samples visit: WLC.EDU/GUESTARTISTSERIES
Center for Arts and Performance | Schwan Concert Hall
8815 W. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Box Office: 414.443.8802
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at 7:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
Ryan Tani, conductor
Violent Femmes
Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie, Blaise Garza, and John Sparrow
GORDON GANO/Tim Jones
Violent Femmes
“Add It Up”
“Confessions”
“Prove My Love”
“Promise”
“All I Want”
“Color Me Once”
“To The Kill”
“Gone Daddy Gone”
“Look Like That”
“I Held Her in my Arms”
“American Music”
“Kiss Off”
“Please Do Not Go”
“Gimme the Car”
“Add It Up” Reprise
The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours. All programs are subject to change. Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.
The world may look different, but every generation goes through high school—or something like it.
Back in 1983, Violent Femmes documented the boredom, the anxiety, the elation, the depression, and the wonder of the high school experience, while living it on their seminal selftitled full-length debut, Violent Femmes. Akin to other totems to growing up à la The Catcher in the Rye, this album has only proven more relevant as it’s lived through the fall of the Berlin Wall, the advent of the internet, an uneventful Y2K, a very eventful turn-of-the-century, seven presidents, and one pandemic to celebrate its 40th birthday.
So, how did these tracks make it this long?
For starters, they’re real. Frontman, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Gordon Gano chronicled life as a high schooler in Milwaukee as it was happening to him (he didn’t do so years retrospectively as a twenty-something). So, his lyrics reeked of glorious awkwardness, whether it be the headscratching confession of “I stain my sheets” on opener “Blister In The Sun” or the prick principal’s warning, “I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record,” during “Kiss Off.” This was the ultimate report from the frontlines of the teenage experience—back when the drinking age was 18—before we got so used to such a thing in wantonly self-indulgent social media posts.
As the story goes, Gano, bassist Brian Ritiche, and drummer Victor DeLorenzo recorded at Castle Recording Studios in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, over the course of one weekend. For as openhearted as the lyrics may be, the single-recording takes allowed for Brian’s acoustic bass to drill through Gano’s masterfully plucky riffs in a way that gives the listener the feeling that they are witnessing the cracks and grooves of Victor’s sole snare drum to rattle your brain. The record also harbors a quirky history befitting of its unlikely legacy. Of note, their fans practically destroyed Carnegie Hall when they played there in ’86, leading to a ban for the group and every other rock band for the next 20 years!
It was also the album that enshrined Violent Femmes as folk punk progenitors. The album steadily sold a million copies in its first decade, going platinum in America by its 10th anniversary. Not surprising, a well-worn cassette of Violent Femmes and a dog-eared copy of The Catcher in the Rye were rites of passage for high school and college kids from coast to coast. To date, the album has sold over 3 million copies worldwide, placements on “greatest albums of the eighties” lists by the likes of Pitchfork, a slot on the first Lollapalooza in 1991, co-headlining Big Day Out Festival with Nirvana in 1992, prevalence in Grosse Pointe Blank in 1997, and a cover of “Gone Daddy Gone” by Gnarls Barkley [Cee Lo x Danger Mouse] on their platinum St. Elsewhere in 2006. Violent Femmes has proven to be a singular cultural artifact as it continues to be the perfect companion piece to teenage angst and pubescent aspirations.
Some of Violent Femmes’s contemporaries may have shifted tens of millions of units, received constant rotation on MTV, picked up Grammy Awards, and sold more shirts at Hot Topic, but few (if any) made an album as prescient, potent, and powerful from top-to-bottom as Violent Femmes. The master recordings may have been lost for over three decades, but the band will play it once again in its entirety on tour in 2023.
If you haven’t seen them since high school or college, bring your kids and their friends, because Violent Femmes are just as daring, dangerous, and dynamic as ever. You know high school still sucks, but Violent Femmes rule.
—Rick Florino, February 2023
—
“the
playing is impeccably elegant, earmarked by unmannered musicianship and sui generis stylistic versatility.”
All About the Art
Friday, October 6, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, October 7, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 8, 2023 at 2:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
John Morris Russell, conductor
Tatiana “LadyMay” Mayfield, vocalist
Marcus Roberts Trio
Marcus Roberts, piano
Roland Guerin, bass
Jason Marsalis, percussion
GEORGE GERSHWIN
Cuban Overture
GEORGE GERSHWIN/arr. Nelson Riddle
Vocal Set with Tatiana Mayfield
“‘S Wonderful”
“The Man I Love”
“Fascinating Rhythm”
Tatiana Mayfield, vocalist
GEORGE GERSHWIN/arr. Sol Berkowitz
“Promenade - Walking the Dog” from The Real McCoy
GEORGE GERSHWIN/arr. R.R. Bennett
Porgy and Bess, A Symphonic Picture
PROGRAM CONTINUED ON PAGE 34
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Rhapsody in Blue
Marcus Roberts, piano
Roland Guerin, bass
Jason Marsalis, percussion
The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours. All programs are subject to change.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.
A master of American musical style, John Morris Russell has devoted himself to redefining the American orchestral experience. In his 13th season as conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the wide range and diversity of his work as a conductor, collaborator, and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent. As music director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, Russell leads the classical subscription series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition. In his ninth season as principal pops conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Russell has also worked as a guest conductor with many of the most distinguished orchestras in North America.
With the Cincinnati Pops, Russell leads performances at historic Music Hall, concerts throughout the region, as well as domestic and international tours — including Florida in 2014 and China/ Taiwan in 2017. His visionary leadership at The Pops created the “American Originals Project” which has garnered both critical and popular acclaim in two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) and American Originals 1918 (a tribute to the dawn of the jazz age) for which he was awarded a Grammy nomination for “Best Classical Compendium.” In 2020, the American Originals Project continued with King Records and the Cincinnati Sound with Late Night with David Letterman musical director Paul Shaffer, celebrating the beginnings of bluegrass, country, rockabilly, soul, and funk immortalized in recordings produced in the Queen City. Russell is also instrumental in the continuing development of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s wildly successful Classical Roots initiative, which he helped create nearly two decades ago to celebrate African American musical traditions.
The Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra has enjoyed unprecedented artistic growth under John Morris Russell’s leadership since 2011; concert attendance has blossomed and the orchestra has doubled its number of concerts.
Russell earned degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Williams College in Massachusetts and has studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.
Tatiana “LadyMay” Mayfield is a jazz/soul vocalist, musician, composer, and educator from Fort Worth, Texas. LadyMay has performed in various venues and festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad, which have earned her rave reviews from listeners and musicians in addition to numerous awards. In 2023, LadyMay was named as an awardee for the “Next Jazz Legacy” program created by NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington in partnership with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice and New Music USA with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Through this program, she will be mentored by pianist/vocalist/composer Patrice Rushen and jazz/soul harpist/composer Brandee Younger. Other highlights of her career include performing with the legendary Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, having a number one song on the UK Soul Chart, performing and teaching in Zhuhai, China, and being the first woman and African American person to receive a Master of Music in jazz composition from the University of Texas in Arlington. LadyMay has recorded three albums, From All Directions (2009), A Portrait Of LadyMay (2012), and The Next Chapter (2018). She has also provided vocals in various styles for several artists’ albums, television shows, and films. As an educator, Mayfield will join the faculty in the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, as the assistant professor of contemporary popular music in the fall of 2023. She has also taught at the University of Texas at Arlington (Arlington, TX), University of North Texas (Denton, TX), and Dallas College-Cedar Valley Campus (Lancaster, TX).
Pianist Marcus Roberts is known throughout the world for his many contributions to the field of jazz music and his commitment to integrating jazz and classical music to create something wholly new. Roberts has been often hailed as “the genius of the modern piano.” He grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where his mother’s gospel singing became the foundation for his musical style. He had his first piano lessons at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind and studied classical piano at Florida State University. His life and work have been featured on the CBS television show 60 Minutes.
Roberts’s critically-acclaimed legacy of recorded music reflects his tremendous artistic versatility and his unique approach to jazz performance. In addition to his renown as a performer, Roberts is an accomplished composer and arranger. He has had numerous commissions, including his most recent piano concerto, commissioned by the great Seiji Ozawa and the Saito Kinen Orchestra. Roberts has performed his groundbreaking arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue countless times over the past 25 years and each version is completely different.
Roberts holds several honorary doctoral degrees and is a professor of music at Florida State University and a distinguished professor of music at Bard College.
Roland Guerin is influenced by a wide range of musical styles, from jazz and blues to American folk and zydeco. His playing has a strong country groove with a relaxed feeling of swing. Guerin’s extensive recorded legacy includes several recordings of his own work as well as numerous recordings with other artists, including Marcus Roberts’s Grammy-nominated Portraits in Blue and the Blind Boys of Alabama’s Grammy-winning Down in New Orleans
Jason Marsalis has held the drum chair in the Marcus Roberts Trio for more than 25 years and is a founding member of Roberts’s Modern Jazz Generation band. Marsalis is widely regarded as one of the greatest drummers of his generation. His musical intellect and technical skill combined with a brilliant thematic, groove-based drum style has been a critical part of the sound and philosophy of Marcus Roberts’s bands for many years.
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Friday, October 20, 2023 at 11:15 am
Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 2:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
Matthias Pintscher, conductor
Leila Josefowicz, violin
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun]
MATTHIAS PINTSCHER
Assonanza
CLAUDE DEBUSSY
Leila Josefowicz, violin
“Ibéria,” No. 2 from Images pour orchestre
I. Par les rues et par les chemins [Through Streets and Lanes]
II. Les parfums de la nuit [The Fragrances of the Night]
III. Le matin d’un jour de fête [Morning of a Feast-Day]
MAURICE RAVEL
Boléro
The 2023.24 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION.
The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on Telarc, Koss Classics, Pro Arte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout recordings. MSO Classics recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.
Matthias Pintscher is the newly appointed music director of the Kansas City Symphony, effective from the 2024.25 season. He has just concluded a successful decade-long tenure as the music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the iconic Parisian contemporary ensemble founded by Pierre Boulez and winner of the 2022 Polar Prize. During his stewardship, Pintscher led this most adventurous institution in the creation of dozens of world premieres by cutting edge composers from all over the world and took the ensemble on tours around the globe – to Asia and North America, and throughout Europe to all the major festivals and concert halls.
The 2023.24 season will be Pintscher’s fourth year as creative partner at the Cincinnati Symphony, where he will conduct a new work by inti figgis-vizueta, as well as an immersive video-concert of Olivier Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles. He will also tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie where he is artist in residence. As guest conductor, he returns to the RAI Milano Musica, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, NDR Hamburg, Indianapolis Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony, Barcelona Symphony, Lahti Symphony, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, La Scala, and Berlin’s Boulez Ensemble. Pintscher has conducted several opera productions for the Berliner Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and the Théatre du Châtelet in Paris. He returns to the Berliner Staatsoper in 2024 for Beat Furrer’s Violetter Schnee.
Pintscher is also well known as a composer, and his works appear frequently on the programs of major symphony orchestras throughout the world. In August 2021, he was the focus of the Suntory Hall Summer Festival – a weeklong celebration of his works with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra as well as a residency by the EIC with symphonic and chamber music performances. His third violin concerto, Assonanza, written for Leila Josefowicz, was premiered in January 2022 with the Cincinnati Symphony.
Leila Josefowicz’s passionate advocacy of contemporary music for the violin is reflected in her diverse programs and enthusiasm for performing new works. A favorite of living composers, Josefowicz has premiered many concertos, including those by Colin Matthews, Luca Francesconi, John Adams, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, all written specially for her.
Artist-in-residence of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for the 2023.24 season, Josefowicz will perform Helen Grime’s Violin Concerto with Daniel Bjarnason and Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Eva Ollikainen, as well as present a solo recital at Harpa Hall. Elsewhere, Josefowicz’s season includes engagements with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Musikkollegium Winterthur, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Lahti, Milwaukee, Taipei, and Antwerp symphony orchestras. Josefowicz also presents the world premiere of Jüri Reinvere’s Concerto for Violin and Harp alongside Trina Struble and The Cleveland Orchestra, and tours Germany and Austria with Junge Deutsche Philharmonie with concerts Berlin, Vienna, and Dresden.
Josefowicz enjoyed a close working relationship with the late Oliver Knussen, performing various concerti, including his violin concerto, together over 30 times. Other premieres have included Matthias Pintscher’s Assonanza with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, John Adam’s Scheherazade.2 with the New York Philharmonic, Luca Francesconi’s Duende – The Dark Notes with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing with the BBC Philharmonic.
Together with John Novacek, with whom she has enjoyed a close collaboration since 1985, Josefowicz has performed recitals at world-renowned venues such as New York’s Zankel Hall and Park Avenue Armory, Washington DC’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Reykjavik, Trento, Bilbao, and Chicago. This season, their collaboration continues with recitals in California, appearing at Festival Mozaic, UC Santa Barbara, San Francisco Performances, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Colburn Celebrity Recital series. Josefowicz has released several recordings, notably for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips/ Universal, and Warner Classics and was featured on Touch Press’s acclaimed iPad app, The Orchestra. Her latest recording, released in 2019, features Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu. She has previously received nominations for Grammy Awards for her recordings of Scheherazade.2 with the St. Louis Symphony conducted by David Robertson, and Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto with Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
In recognition of her outstanding achievement and excellence in music, she won the 2018 Avery Fisher Prize and was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, joining prominent scientists, writers, and musicians who have made unique contributions to contemporary life.
Born 22 August 1862; Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Died 25 March 1918; Paris, France
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, L. 86 [Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun]
First performance: 22 December 1894; Paris, France
Last MSO performance: 26 February 2017; Edo de Waart, conductor
Instrumentation: 3 flutes; 2 oboes; English horn; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; crotales; 2 harps; strings
Approximate duration: 10 minutes
Although the world thinks of Claude Debussy as one of the great Impressionist composers, he wanted nothing to do with that term. It came, in part, from the French artists, painters such as Claude Monet, who were more interested in capturing subtle variations in the play of light on the subjects they were painting — impressions of those sujects — than on making smooth brush strokes and perfect likenesses of their subjects. “Impressionist” was applied to Debussy’s work in a mocking review of his piece, Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise). But today, the term is applied to French composers of Debussy’s era who employed slowly shifting harmonies and unique textures and timbres created by unusual pairings of instruments — two qualities you will hear quite clearly in his Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faun (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), the symphonic poem that opens today’s concert.
Debussy’s inspiration for this piece was a poem by the same name, written by French poet and critic Stéphane Mallarmé, whose Tuesday evening soirées Debussy began attending at age 25. Other guests at these soirées were a rather heady crowd, including Monet, the sculptor Auguste Rodin, and the writer Marcel Proust, among others. Debussy was a great fan of Mallarmé, and particularly of the epic 1876 poem for which he named this piece nearly 20 years later.
Mallarmé’s poem was a dreamy telling of the story of a faun (a mythical creature that is half man and half goat) who takes a nap in a forest, awakens, and struggles to remember the pleasant dream he had about two lovely nymphs. He is eventually lulled back to sleep by the warmth of the day and completes his dream. Mallarmé’s poem is highly sensual, yet also quite intellectual and still very ambiguous, if you can imagine that combination.
Debussy created a musical illustration of the poem, which begins with a famously free, dreamy flute solo. He said of the piece that he sought to evoke “the successive scenes in which the longings and desires of the faun pass in the heat of the afternoon.”
Born 29 January 1971; Marl, Germany
First performance: 28 January 2022; Cincinnati, United States
Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo); oboe (doubling on English horn); 2 clarinets; bass clarinet; bassoon; contrabassoon; 2 horns; 2 trumpets; trombone; percussion (bass drum, bongo drum, crotales, glockenspiel, guiro, log drum, marimba, metal wind chimes, sandpaper blocks, side drum, spring coil, suspended cymbals, tam tam, tubular bells, tuned gongs, vibraphone, waterphone); strings
Approximate duration: 28 minutes
In March 2023, German-born conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher was announced as the fifth music director of the Kansas City Symphony, with a five-year, initial term beginning with the 2024.25 season. The announcement grabbed the attention of the music world, in great part because he was offered the job after spending just a few days with the orchestra as a guest conductor — he first stepped in front of the orchestra on a Wednesday this past March and was offered the job on the following Monday.
But Pintscher wears two hats as a musician, the other as a well-respected, sought-after composer, who also teaches composition at Juilliard. When violinist Leila Josefowicz, with whom Pintscher had worked for a decade, asked Pintscher to write a violin concerto for her, he declined. He has said in interviews that he admires her and her ability to do everything entirely “in the moment,” making a fresh take on the same piece several concerts in a row, but he felt that after writing two violin concertos in a ten-year period, he simply didn’t have enough material left in him to write a third. He was also getting calls from orchestras requesting a third concerto, but he was declining those requests as well.
Then COVID-19 hit and shut down the world. Josefowicz called Pintscher and proposed that since he was sitting at home like everyone else, he could maybe write her a solo piece, which he was delighted to do, calling the project “a lifesaver.” Josefowicz live-streamed the premiere of the piece, entitled La Linea Evocative, calling Pintscher afterward and asking if he thought he now had enough material to write a concerto.
“She tricked me,” he said in an interview for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, but then acknowledged that she was right. He explained that the piece is a “resonance chamber around the soloist,” so that the orchestra “forms an acoustical space that she walks through, sending out signals, colors, timbres, and gestures.” He explained that the piece gives her a great deal of spontaneity within certain parameters, which suits her in-the-moment style of playing quite well.
Born 22 August 1862; Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Died 25 March 1918; Paris, France
“Ibéria,” No. 2 from Images pour orchestre
First performance: 20 February 1910; Paris, France
Last MSO performance: 6 October 2012; Olari Elts, conductor
Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling on 2nd piccolo); piccolo; 2 oboes; English horn; 3 clarinets; 3 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (castanets, chimes, snare drum, tambourine, xylophone); 2 harps; celeste; strings
Approximate duration: 20 minutes
Claude Debussy wrote the first set of Images, a collection of three piano pieces, between 1901 and 1905. In it he used music to depict places or ideas outside the world of music, which is a textbook definition of what we call program music, or programmatic music. He wrote the second book in 1907 and told his publisher that he was writing another Images series, this time for two pianos. He worked on the third set of Images from 1905 through 1912, changing his mind about the instrumentation along the way and turning them into pieces for orchestra (Images pour orchestre).
Debussy was an extremely visual person. His writings give us an idea of how important visual art and scenic beauty were in music. He wrote, “I like pictures almost as much as music,” and believed that music “can centralize variations of color and light within a single picture — a truth generally ignored, obvious as it is,” and defined music as being “made up of colors and rhythms.” That mindset, combined with the vividly descriptive titles of the pieces within the Images series, help to create very evocative music for listeners.
Each of the three sets of the Images series is referred to as a triptych — a term borrowed from the art world, where it refers to works of art in three panels, often hinged together. With his Images pour orchestre, Debussy gave us a triptych within a triptych by way of the three pieces included the second movement, which he titled “Ibéria” for the southern-European region of the same name, calling the set Images oubliée (Forgotten Images).
Listen to what Debussy called “the colors and rhythms” of Images pour orchestre with your imagination as much as with your ears and see where it takes you.
Born 7 March 1875; Ciboure, France
Died 28 December 1937; Paris, France
Boléro
Composed: 1928
First performance: 22 November 1928; Paris, France
Last MSO performance: 6 October 2019; Jun Märkl, conductor
Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling on 2nd piccolo); piccolo; 2 oboes (2nd doubling on oboe d’amore); English horn; 2 clarinets (2nd doubling on E-flat clarinet); bass clarinet; 2 bassoons; contrabassoon; 4 horns; 4 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; timpani; percussion (bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, tam tam); harp; celeste; sopranino saxophone; soprano saxophone; tenor saxophone; strings
Approximate duration: 13 minutes
Like his colleague and countryman Claude Debussy, French composer Maurice Ravel was often referred to during his career as an Impressionist composer. Ravel and Debussy, along with other “Impressionist” composers, rejected the designation. The term “Impressionist” came from the world of visual art and was a convenient crossover term for composers who were rejecting what they saw as the excesses of the Late Romantic composers in favor or slowly shifting harmonies and instrumental timbres blended to create unique “colors” of sound and shimmering effects.
Written in 1928, Boléro was one the last works Ravel completed. He wrote it to fulfill a commission from Russian dancer and actress Ida Rubenstein. She wanted an orchestration of six piano pieces by Isaac Albéniz, but the pieces had already been arranged by another composer, which put them under copyright restrictions. Ravel decided to orchestrate one of his own works instead, but then changed his mind and decided to write a new piece and to base it on the Spanish dance form known as the boléro.
Ravel was vacationing in southwestern France when he played a simple theme on the piano and asked a friend if he thought it had “an insistent quality.” Ravel explained that he was going to try and repeat the theme several times, without developing it in any way, but to gradually increasing the number of players as the piece progressed.
A much-publicized flap between Ravel and conductor Arturo Toscanini over the conductor’s tempo in a performance of Boléro, along with some very successful early performances and recordings of the piece, propelled it into popular culture. It was used in the 1934 motion picture Boléro, and in the 1979 romantic comedy 10, and was heard during the 1984 Olympics thanks to skaters Torvill and Dean. It was heard again at the torch-lighting ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Ironically, Ravel saw Boléro as the least important piece he had written.
For over 45 years, families have trusted Jody to take care of the many details involved in pre-need planning, cremation or a traditional funeral service. Jody has the compassion, answers and experience to guide you every step of the way.
Visit Saint Kate for a pre-show dinner at ARIA, then come back for drinks and a stroll through our art galleries.
Or, just stay the night. Either way, the fun doesn't have to end after curtain close.
October 13, 2023 at 7:30pm
October 15, 2023 at 2:30pm
Uihlein Hall, Marcus Performing Arts Center
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Guy and Mary Jo McDonald
Mr. and Mrs. Dean Mehlberg
Gregory and Susan Milleville
Richard and Isabel Muirhead
Jean A. Novy
Laurie Ocepek
Lynn and Lawrence Olsen
Susan M. Otto
Dr. and Mrs. James T. Paloucek
Gerald T. and Carol K. Petersen
Cathy P. Procton
Francis J. Randall
Philip Reifenberg
Drs. Walter and Lisa Rich
Lysbeth and James Reiskytl
Dr. and Mrs. David Y. Rosenzweig
Mr. Thomas Schneider
Lawrence and Katherine Schnuck
Kristin Shebesta
Dr. and Mrs. Kevin R. Siebenlist
Margles Singleton
Richard and Sheryl Smith
Leonard Sobczak
Joan Spector
Kathy and Salvatore Spicuzza
Mr. James Stanke
Joan Thompson
Mr. Stephen Thompson
Sara Toenes
Drs. Steven and Denise Trinkl
Mike and Peg Uihlein
Mr. and Mrs. Lynn F. Unkefer
James Van Ess
Michael Walton
Robert and Lana Wiese
Rolland and Sharon Wilson
Prati and Norm Wojtal
Lee and Carol Wolcott
Mr. William Zeidler
$1,000 and above
Three Anonymous Donors
Drs. Helmut and Sandra Ammon
Sue and Louie Andrew
Betty Arndt
James and Nora Barry
Mr. James M. Baumgartner
Jack Beatty
Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Beckman
Dianne and David Benner
Mrs. Kristine Best
Mr. Lawrence Bialcik
Karen and Geoffrey Bilda
Lynn and John Binder
Robert Borch and Linda Wickstrom
Lois and Robert Brazner
Dr. and Mrs. James D. Buck
Barbara and Dr. Henry Burko
Tom Buthod
Ms. Trish Calvy
Ms. Margaret R. Cary
David and Oksana Carlson
Ms. Carol A. Carpenter
Dr. Curtis and Jean Carter
Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Cecil
B. Lauren and Margaret Charous
Margaret Cieslak-Etlicher
Ellen Debbink
Mrs. Linda DeBruin
Ms. Kristine Demski
Thomas C. Dill
Madison Dohmen
Gloria and Peter Drenzek
Mary Ann Dude
Tom Durkin and Joan Robotham
Tina Eickermann
Jill and George Fahr
Barbara and Richard Frank
Anne and Dean Fitzgerald
Gerald Gensch and Ellen Conley
Pearl Mary Goetsch
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Dresselhuys Family Fund
Jay Kay Foundation Fund
Douglas and Margaret Ann Haag
Karleen Haberichter
Dale and Sara Harmelink
Charles W. Helscher
Jean and John Henderson
Jenny and Bob Hillis
Jeanne and Conrad Holling
Laura and James Holtz
Mr. and Mrs. James H. Hunter III
Kathryn and Alan Janicek
Amy S. Jensen
Faith L. Johnson
Rose and Dale Kaser
Robert and Dorothy King
Joseph W. Kmoch
Julie and Michael Koss
Dr. and Mrs. John Krezoski
Katherine and Ian Lambert
David and Deborah Lenz
Matt and Patty Linn
Ann Loder
Richard and Roberta London
Stephen and Judy Maersch
Mr. Peter Mamerow
Dr. Daniel and Constance McCarty
Jennifer McClure
Joni and Joe McDevitt
Theodore and Kelsey Perlick Molinari
Christine Mortensen
David and Gail Nelson
Douglas E. Peterson
William and Cynthia Prost
Mr. and Thomas Quadracci
Seth Rawson
Werner and Carol Richheimer
Dan and Anna Robbins
Kevin Ronnie and Karen Campbell
Allen and Millie Salomon
Keri Sarajian and Rick Stratton
Wilbert and Genevieve Schauer
Foundation
Mark and Deborah Schwallie
Bob and Sally Schwarz
Fred and Ruth Schwertfeger
Scott Silet
Susan Skudlarczyk
Mr. Reeves E. Smith
Ken and Dee Stein
Bonnie L. Steindorf
Sally Swetnam
David Taggart and Terry Burko
Rebecca and Robert Tenges
Tim and Bonnie Tesch
Dean and Katherine Thome
Jacquelyn and Way Thompson
Mr. and Mrs. James S. Tidey
Constance U’Ren
Ruth A. Way
Henry J. Wellner and James Cook
Jerome and Bonnie Welz
Robert and Barbara Whealon
A. James White
Linda and Dan Wilhelms
Ron and Alice Winkler
Frank and Inge Wintersberger
Melinda and Thomas Wolf
Daryl and Bonnie Wunrow
Gertrude and Richard Zauner
CORPORATE & FOUNDATION
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra truly values the generosity of musicloving patrons in the concert hall and throughout the community. We especially thank our Corporate and Foundation contributors for investing their time and support to this treasure. We gratefully acknowledge contributions from:
$1,000,000 and above
United Performing Arts Fund
$250,000 and above
Argosy Foundation
The Lynde and Harry Bradley
Foundation
Laskin Family Foundation
$100,000 and above
Herzfeld Foundation
Rockwell Automation
We Energies Foundation
$50,000 and above
Bader Philanthropies, Inc.
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Milwaukee Symphony
Orchestra Fund
Melitta S. and Joan M. Pick
Charitable Trust
$25,000 and above
Anonymous
Chase Family Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Gertrude Elser and John Edward
Schroeder Fund
Helen and Jeanette Oberndorfer
Fund
Norman and Lucy Cohn Family Fund
Johnson Controls
Krause Family Foundation
Milwaukee County Arts Fund
(CAMPAC)
Old National Bank
R.D. and Linda Peters Foundation
Schoenleber Foundation, Inc.
Wisconsin Department of Tourism
$15,000 and above
A.O. Smith Foundation, Inc.
Bert L. & Patricia S. Steigleder
Charitable Trust
Frank L. Weyenberg Charitable Trust
Komatsu Mining Corp Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
U.S. Bank
Wisconsin Arts Board
$10,000 and above
Brewers Community Foundation
Charles D. Ortgiesen Foundation
The Cudahy Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
David C. Scott Foundation
William A. and Mary M Bonfield, Jr.
Fund
Ellsworth Corporation
General Mills Foundation
Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation
Northwestern Mutual
Ralph Evinrude Foundation
William and Janice Godfrey
Family Foundation
Wispact Foundation
$5,000 and above
ANON Charitable Trust
Brico Fund
Frieda and William Hunt Memorial
Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation, Inc.
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Roxy and Bud Heyse Fund/Journal
Fund
Julian Family Foundation
Milwaukee Arts Board
Rite-Hite Corporate Foundation
Schwartz Foundation
$2,500 and above
Camille A. Lonstorf Trust
Dean Family Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
ELM II Fund
Henry C., Eva M., Robert H.
and Jack J. Gillo Charitable Fund
Margaret Heminway Wells Fund
Hamparian Family Foundation
Hydrite Chemical Co.
Richard G. Jacobus Family Foundation
Theodore W. Batterman Family
Foundation
$1,000 and above
Albert J. & Flora H. Ellinger Foundation
Anthony Petullo Foundation, Inc.
Clare M. Peters Charitable Trust
Delta Dental
Einhorn Family Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Cottrell Balding Fund
Del Chambers Fund
Eleanor N. Wilson Fund
George and Christine Sosnovsky
Fund
Irene Edelstein Memorial Fund
Mildred L. Roehr & Herbert W. Roehr
Fund
Joan and Fred Brengel Family
Foundation, Inc.
Townsend Foundation
Usinger Foundation
$500 and above
Anonymous Bell Foundation
Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Carrie Taylor & Nettie Taylor
Robinson Memorial Fund
Nancy E. Hack Fund
Robert C. Archer Designated Fund
Loyal D. Grinker
Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following corporations and foundations who match their employees’ contributions to the Annual Fund.
Abbott Laboratories
Aurora Health Care
Benevity Community Impact Fund
BMO Harris Bank
Bucyrus Foundation, Inc.
Carrier Matching Gift Program
Caterpillar Foundation
Dominion Foundation
Eaton Corporation
GE Foundation
Give Lively
Humana
Johnson Controls Foundation
Kohl’s Corp.
Northwestern Mutual
Reader’s Digest Foundation
Ross Gives Back
Stifel
Thrivent Financial
The Travelers Insurance Co.
U.S. Bank
United Way of Greater Milwaukee
and Waukesha County
Wisconsin Energy Corporation
The MSO gratefully acknowledges the following organizations for their gifts of product or services:
Becker Design
Belle Fiori – Official Event Florist of the MSO
Patrice Bringe
The Capital Grille
Central Standard Craft Distillery
Downer Avenue Wine & Spirits
Drury Hotels
Encore Playbills
GO Riteway Transportation Group
Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.
Hilton Milwaukee City Center and Milwaukee ChopHouse
Kohler Co.
Marcus Hotels & Resorts
Marcus Corporation
Ogletree Deakins
Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel –Official Hotel of the MSO
Darwin Sanders
Sojourner Family Peace Center
Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee
Studio Gear – Official Event Partner of the MSO
Thomas and Mary Wacker
THE MARQUEE CIRCLE
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra proudly partners with the following members of the 2022.23 Marquee Circle. We thank these generous partners of our annual corporate subscription program for their charitable contributions and for connecting their corporate communities with the MSO.
Ellsworth Corporation
Hupy and Abraham, S.C.
Port Washington State Bank
Walker Forge, Inc.
TRIBUTES
In honor of Laura and Michael Arnow’s wedding anniversary
Kathleen D. Ryan
In memory of J. Mark Baker
Laura Petrie Anderson
Juliana Fortune
Mr. Jim Gettel
Kathleen and Charles Marn
Milwaukee Chamber Choir
In memory of Dennis and Barbara Benjamin
Marie Zelmer
In honor of Warren and Wendy
Blumenthal’s 50th wedding anniversary
Laurie Schweizer
In honor of Joe and Ellen Checota, and, Andy Nunemaker and Lee
Weeks
James Stadler
In memory of Reverend Michael
Joseph Hammer
David L. Harrison, Jr.
In memory of Thomas Hausman
Jane Hausman and William G. Finley
In memory of Nancy and Arthur
Laskin
Joan J. Hardy
In memory of Dr. Keith Austin Larson
Austin Larson
Rev. Curtis A. Larson
Suzanne Zinsel
In honor of Robert Meldman
Drs. Alan and Carol Pohl
In memory of Helen Oberkirsch
Francine Cervasio
In memory of Mary G. Peterson
David J. Peterson
Gretchen Saunders
In memory of David Reber
James and Charmaine LaBelle
Gretchen Saunders
Marie and Gary Zellmer
In memory of I. Carl Romer
Beulah Romer Erickson
In memory of Elaine Saller
Theresa Klug
In memory of John Sawchuk
Daniel Sawchuk
In memory of Debra Schaefer
Karen Copper
In honor of Patrick Schley
Imogene Schley
In memory of Michael C. Schnier
Pamela Mueller
Julie Hartman
Mike Park
In honor of Bob Schuppel
Sarah Cauwels
In memory of Lynne Soto
Paul Trotter
In memory of Betty Stasson
Barbara and Dr. Henry Burko
In memory of Edie Bonness Tomsyck
Kamaile Anderwald
Beth Bonness
Maureen Bonness
Timothy Dykstal
Patty Giuffre
Mrs. Robert Gross
Chris Lambach
Robert Mueller
Guy Tomsyck
In honor of Fischer & Catherine Van Handel
Ellen Hruzek
In honor of Tom Varney
Stanley Kokotiuk
In memory of Gerald Wetter
Deborah and Gerald Wetter
In honor of Peter Wicklund and Ruby
Shemanski
Ms. Linda Jenewein
In memory of Anne T. White
A. James White
Susan Martin, Chair
Andy Nunemaker, Immediate Past Chair
David Uihlein, Honorary Co-Chair
Julia Uihlein, Honorary Co-Chair
Gregory Smith, Secretary; Chair, Governance Committee
Patrick Murphy, Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee
Douglas M. Hagerman, Chair, Chairman’s Council
Ken-David Masur, Music Director, Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair
Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair
Susan Martin, Chair
Andy Nunemaker, Immediate Past Chair
Douglas M. Hagerman Chair, Chair’s Council
Eric E. Hobbs
Robert Klieger, Chair, Players’ Council
Patrick Murphy, Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee
Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair
Maura Packham, Chair, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Task Force
Michael J. Schmitz
Gregory Smith, Secretary; Chair, Governance Committee
Dick Stoll
Haruki Toyama, Chair, Artistic Direction Committee
Kate Brewer
Jeff Costakos
Jennifer Dirks
Steve Hancock, Chair, Education Committee
Charlotte Hayslett
Alyce Coyne Katayama
Peter Mahler, Chair, Grand Future Committee
Mark A. Metzendorf, Chair, Advancement Committee
Christian Mitchell
Robert B. Monnat
Leslie Plamann, Chair, Audit Committee
Craig A. Schmutzer
Jay E. Schwister, Chair, Retirement Plan Committee
Dale R. Smith
Pam Stampen
Herb Zien, Chair, Facilities Management Committee
Sachin Chheda
Pegge Sytkowski, Chair, Marketing & Advocacy Committee
Francis Wasielewski County
Fiesha Lynn Bell
Chris Layden
Garren Randolph
Robert Klieger, Chair, Players’ Council
Ilana Setapen, Player-at-Large
CHAIR’S COUNCIL
Douglas M. Hagerman, Chair
Chris Abele
Richard S. Bibler
Charles Boyle
Roberta Caraway
M. Judith Christl
Mary Connelly
Donn R. Dresselhuys
Eileen G. Dubner
Franklyn Esenberg
Marta P. Haas
Jean Holmburg
Barbara Hunt
Leon P. Janssen
Judy Jorgensen
James A. Kasch
Lee Walther Kordus
Michael J. Koss
JoAnne Krause
Martin J. Krebs
Keith Mardak
James G. Rasche
Stephen E. Richman
Michael J. Schmitz, Immediate Past Chair
Joan Steele Stein
Linda Tojek
Joan R. Urdan
Larry Waters
Kathleen A. Wilson
Bruce Laning, Trustee Chairman
Amy Croen
Steven Etze
Douglas M. Hagerman
Bartholomew Reute
David Uihlein
PAST CHAIRS
Andy Nunemaker (2014-2020)
Douglas M. Hagerman (2011-2014)
Chris Abele (2004-2011)
Judy Jorgensen (2002-2004)
Stephen E. Richman (2000-2002)
Stanton J. Bluestone* (1998-2000)
Allen N. Rieselbach* (1995-1998)
Edwin P. Wiley* (1993-1995)
Michael J. Schmitz (1990-1993)
Orren J. Bradley* (1988-1990)
Russell W. Britt* (1986-1988)
James H. Keyes (1984-1986)
Richard S. Bibler (1982-1984)
John K. MacIver* (1980-1982)
Donn R. Dresselhuys (1978-1980)
Harrold J. McComas* (1976-1978)
Laflin C. Jones* (1974-1976)
Robert S. Zigman* (1972-1974)
Charles A. Krause* (1970-1972)
Donald B. Abert* (1968-1970)
Erhard H. Buettner* (1966-1968)
Clifford Randall* (1964-1966)
John Ogden* (1962-1964)
Stanley Williams* (1959-1962)
* deceased
Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair
Bret Dorhout, Vice President of Artistic Planning
Tom Lindow, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer
Monica K. Meyer, Vice President of Advancement
Kathryn Reinardy, Vice President of Marketing & Communications
Rick Snow, Vice President of Facilities & Building Operations
Terrell Pierce, Vice President of Orchestra Operations
Marquita Edwards, Director of Community Engagement
Cynthia Moore, Human Resources, Diversity & Inclusion Manager
Michele Fitzgerald, Executive Assistant & Board Liaison
Michael Rossetto, Senior Director of Advancement & Major Gifts
William Loder, Director of Advancement
Maggie Seer, Director of Institutional Giving
Maddy Corson, Campaign Coordinator
Kathryn Hausman, Individual Giving Manager, Research & Discovery
Elise McArdle, Grant Writer
Tracy Migon, Development Systems Manager
Leah Peavler, Institutional Giving Manager
Lindsey Ruenger, Donor Stewardship & Engagement Manager
Emma Zei, Annual Fund Manager
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Rebecca Whitney, Director of Education
Courtney Buvid, Education Manager
Cathy O’Loughlin, Controller
Jenny Beier, Senior Accountant
Alexa Aldridge, Staff Accountant
Erin Kogler, Director of Communications
Lizzy Cichowski, Senior Marketing Manager
Adam Cohen, Patron Systems Manager
David Jensen, Communications Coordinator
Zachary-John Reinardy, Lead Designer
Kerry Tomaszewski, Communications Manager
Luther Gray, Director of Ticket Operations & Group Sales
Al Bartosik, Box Office Manager
Marie Holtyn, Box Office Supervisor
Adam Klarner, Patron Services Asssistant
Rora Sanders, Tifani Ziemba
Françoise Moquin, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Kayla Aftahi, Operations Coordinator
Constance Aguocha, Assistant Personnel Manager
Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, Anonymous Donor, Principal Librarian Chair
Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian & Media Archivist
Kelsey Padron, Artistic Coordinator
Paolo Scarabel, Stage Technician & Deck Supervisor
Emily Wacker Schultz, Artistic Associate
Jeremy Tusz, Audio & Video Producer
Tristan Wallace, Technical Manager & Live Audio Supervisor
Christina Williams, Chorus Manager
Patrick G. H. Schley, Director of Event Services
Travis Byrd, Facilities Manager
Sam Hushek, Events & Volunteer Manager
Lisa Klimczak, House Manager
David Kotlewski, House Manager
Zed Waeltz, Senior House Manager
Anthony Andronczyk, Ky Catlett, Fatima Gomez, Eliana Kiltz, Roger Kocher, Klaire Maduscha, Brennan Martinez, Max McGraw, Cynthia Nord, Ashley Patin, Steve Pfisterer, Amy Rook, Anne Sempos, Michael Stebbins, Elliot White, Heather Whitmill
UPAF IS FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS that you are here to enjoy today. We’re for thousands of local artists in the spotlight and behind the scenes. We’re for you — the audience — experiencing excitement, inspiration and connection. We’re for Milwaukee, Tosa, Waukesha, Racine & beyond. We’re for being together, surrounded by the magic of music, dance, song and theater.
We’re for raising our community up.
You’re for the arts too, so please join us to ensure that our world-class performing arts groups make a full recovery.
Together, we are expanding human possibility in our communities –helping nurture the next generation of builders, makers and innovators.