MUSIC OF THE KNIGHTS

from MUSIC OF THE KNIGHTS

by Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Friday, February 10, 2023 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Nicholas Buc, conductor

Kelli Rabke, vocalist

Lorinda Lisitza, vocalist

Blaine Krauss, vocalist

Scott Coulter, vocalist

John Boswell, piano and vocalist

PROGRAM TO BE ANNOUNCED FROM THE STAGE

This weekend’s media sponsor is WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO

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 on iTunes and at mso.org. MSO Binaural recordings (digital only) available at mso.org.

Guest Artist Biographies

NICHOLAS BUC

Nicholas Buc is a composer, conductor, arranger, violinist, and pianist. He studied composition with Brenton Broadstock and Dr. Stuart Greenbaum at the University of Melbourne, where he received the inaugural Fellowship of Australian Composers Award. As the recipient of the Brian May Scholarship for Australian film composers, he completed a master’s degree in scoring for film and multimedia at New York University, studying with Ira Newborn and Paul Chihara as well as receiving the Elmer Bernstein Award for Film Scoring.

He has conducted all of the major Australian symphony orchestras as well as the Minnesota Orchestra, Houston, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Austin, Grand Rapids, and Madison symphony orchestras in the U.S. He also makes regular appearances in Asia, conducting the Tokyo, Hong Kong, Malaysian, Osaka, and Taipei philharmonic orchestras.

Buc has worked with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chris Botti, Amanda Palmer, Ben Folds, and was conductor/arranger for Tina Arena on six Australian tours. He has also written arrangements for the Birds of Tokyo, Missy Higgins, Passenger, Eskimo Joe, Vera Blue, and The Whitlams, as well as working on five seasons of The Voice Australia. In 2019, he teamed up with Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, arranging their film music for a new show with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.

KELLI RABKE

Kelli Rabke got her “big break” playing the role of Dorothy in Paper Mill Playhouse’s acclaimed production of The Wizard of Oz. Shortly thereafter, she was handpicked by Andrew Lloyd Webber to play the lead role of the Narrator in the Broadway revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (U.S. cast recording). Following that, she played her dream role of Eponine in Les Misérables on Broadway. She went on to perform in regional theaters across the country in such roles as Mabel in Mack and Mabel, Christine in Phantom of the Opera, and back to Paper Mill Playhouse in Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden as Yonah (American premiere recording). She is one of only two Broadway stars in history to originate a role in both a Stephen Schwartz and an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical — a distinction for which she is incredibly honored. She has been seen and heard in tons of TV commercials and voice-overs, and was the voice of several animated characters, including Kat in the Discovery Kids series Kenny the Shark. She also played the recurring role of Bernadette on The Young and the Restless.

She performs regularly with symphony orchestras stretching from Calgary to Mazatlán and all across the country in Blockbuster Broadway!, Music of the Knights, and The Wonderful Music of Oz. Recent performing highlights include debuting an original song written by David Friedman and Kathie Lee Gifford on the Today Show, and recording the PBS American Songbook segment Stephen Schwartz and Friends, featuring the composer himself at the piano and Rabke singing one of his signature songs from Wicked, “The Wizard and I.”

LORINDA LISITZA

Lorinda Lisitza is an award-winning New York singer/actress originally from Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan, who has been part of Music of the Knights since its world premiere with the Calgary Philharmonic. In New York, she has performed Off-Broadway as a member of the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre, where she starred as Mother Courage to rave reviews and has appeared in several installments of The York Theatre’s Musicals in Mufti series. As a vocalist, she has been a part of The Town Hall’s historic Broadway by the Year series and is a founding member of the Joe Iconis Family, with whom she regularly performs in cabarets and nightclubs throughout New York for a devoted cult following. She has won three MAC Awards, a Bistro Award, and a Nightlife Award for her work in cabaret, and received the prestigious Patrick Lee Independent Theater Blogger Award for her one woman show, Triumphant Baby!, written by Joe Iconis and Robert Maddock. As a singer-songwriter, she is half of the award-winning duo The Ted and Lo Show with Ted Stafford. Lisitza has appeared on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, plays a mean harmonica, and is an avid Texas Hold’em player.

BLAINE KRAUSS

Blaine Krauss recently completed a year-long run in Hamilton as the standby for both Hamilton and Burr. He was thrilled to be part of the second season of Pose while appearing in The Cher Show on Broadway. Prior to that, he was seen as Lola in Kinky Boots shortly after making his Broadway debut in the smash hit Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. He traveled the world as Simba in The Lion King and starred in the Radio City Summer Spectacular. Krauss regularly performs with symphonies around the globe and is a regular performer at Feinstein’s 54 Below. His talents led him in 2011 to be a featured performer for the largest commemoration of 9/11 outside of the U.S. at the Trocadero in Paris, France. In 2010, he was selected to be one of 20 Presidential Scholars in the Arts by the White House and Presidential Scholar Commission. This venture led to meeting President Obama and concluded with a performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He was selected to be the featured vocalist at the 2010 July 4th celebration at the U.S. National Archives, and he was a selected participant at the International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. His theatrical credits include Godspell and Spelling Bee at the West Virginia Public Theatre, Evita, Into the Woods, Civil War, Make Me a Song, Chess, and Jean Valjean in CCM’s Les Miserables. Krauss is a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

SCOTT COULTER

Scott Coulter is one of New York’s most honored vocalists. For his work in cabaret, he has received five MAC Awards (Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs), five Bistro Awards and two Nightlife Awards for Outstanding Vocalist, and has performed at most of New York’s top rooms including Birdland, 54 Below, The Oak Room at the Algonquin, and Feinstein’s at The Regency, where he spent a recordsetting eight months performing the revue 11 O’Clock Numbers at 11 O’Clock, which he also co-created, directed, and musically arranged. His self-titled debut CD won the 2003 MAC Award for Outstanding Recording and was chosen as the best recording of the year by TheatreMania and Cabaret Scenes magazines. Coulter was director and star of A Christmas Carol: The Symphonic Concert in its world premiere with the Baltimore Symphony and reprised his performance in the Emmy-nominated PBS production which premiered in December 2013. He was an Emmy nominee himself for his performance in American Song at NJPAC. Coulter regularly performs in concert both as a solo artist and with a variety of legendary performers including Stephen Schwartz, Tony-winner Ben Vereen, and Grammy-winner Sheena Easton, and he has performed with symphonies all over the world including San Francisco, Baltimore, Seattle, Phoenix, Detroit, Winnipeg, St. Louis, and Calgary.

Coulter is creator, arranger, and director of several touring shows (symphonic and non) including Music of the Knights, The Wonderful Music of Oz, Blockbuster Broadway!, and for the ASCAP Foundation, Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert. As a director, his credits include many shows for The Town Hall in New York and Broadway by the Way for The Berkshire Theatre Festival and Broadway by the Bay. Along with Michael Kerker and ASCAP, he is a regular producer/ director of Michael Feinstein’s Standard Time at Carnegie Hall. Coulter recently wrote the book for the new musical Got to Be There, which celebrates the life and music of songwriter Elliot Willensky.

JOHN BOSWELL

Pianist John Boswell has served as musical director for Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Bob Newhart, Scott Coulter, Maude Maggart, Faith Prince, Carmen Cusack, Babbie Green, Jason Graae, and a host of other fine talents. Boswell played the role of Moose in the national tour of Crazy for You and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Today Show, CBS This Morning, Regis and Kathie Lee, General Hospital and was the piano-playing hands of Nancy McKeon on the sit-com The Facts of Life. Recent concerts with orchestras have included Jerry Herman: The Broadway Legacy Concert, Blockbuster Broadway!, Sheena Easton and Scott Coulter: The Spy Who Loved Me, and Music of the Knights. Boswell has been heard singing in the shows Three Men and a Baby…Grand, Cinema Toast, Broadway Today, Wiseguys, and the New York cult hit Cashino. Broadway/Off-Broadway credits include Crazy for You, The Secret Garden, LIZA! Steppin’ Out at Radio City Music Hall, Back to Bacharach and David, and The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives. His monthly concerts in 2017 at The Gardenia in Los Angeles were crowd pleasers. Boswell has eight CDs of original piano music and a ninth on the way. While a student at UCLA, he received the Frank Sinatra Award for popular instrumentalists.