SCENE II: The prophecy of the coming of Messiah and the question, despite, of what this may portend for the World
Recitative (Bass-baritone): Thus saith the Lord of hosts
Air (Countertenor): But who may abide the day of His coming
Chorus: And He shall purify the sons of Levi
SCENE III: The prophecy of the Virgin Birth
Recitative (Countertenor): Behold, a virgin shall conceive
Air (Countertenor) and Chorus: O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion
Recitative (Bass-baritone): For behold, darkness shall cover the earth
Air (Bass-baritone): The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light
Chorus: For unto us a child is born
SCENE IV: The appearance of the Angels to the Shepherds
Pifa (“Pastoral Symphony”)
Recitative (Soprano): There were shepherds abiding in the fields
Recitative (Soprano): And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them
Recitative (Soprano): And the angel said unto them
Recitative (Soprano): And suddenly there was with the angel
Chorus: Glory to God in the highest
SCENE V: Christ’s redemptive miracles on earth
Air (Soprano): Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
Recitative (Countertenor): Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened
Chorus: His yoke is easy, His burthen light
INTERMISSION
PART II
SCENE I: The redemptive sacrifice, the scourging and the agony on the cross
Chorus: Behold the Lamb of God
Air (Countertenor): He was despised and rejected of men
Chorus: Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
Chorus: And with His stripes we are healed
Chorus: All we like sheep have gone astray
Recitative (Tenor): All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn
Chorus: He trusted in God that He would deliver Him
Recitative (Tenor): Thy rebuke hath broken His heart
Air (Tenor): Behold, and see if there be any sorrow
SCENE II: His sacrificial death, His passage through Hell and Resurrection
Recitative (Tenor): He was cut off out of the land of the living
Air (Tenor): But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell
SCENE III: His Ascension
Chorus: Lift up your heads, O ye gates
SCENE V: Whitsun, the gift of tongues, the beginning of evangelism
Air (Soprano): How beautiful are the feet of them
SCENE VI: The world and its rulers reject the Gospel
Air (Bass-baritone): Why do the nations so furiously rage together?
Chorus: Let us break their bonds asunder
Recitative (Tenor): He that dwelleth in heaven
SCENE VII: God’s triumph
Air (Tenor): Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron
Chorus: Hallelujah
Continued on page 30
PART III
SCENE I: The promise of bodily resurrection and redemption from Adam’s fall
Air (Soprano): I know that my Redeemer liveth
Chorus: Since by man came death
SCENE II: The Day of Judgment and general Resurrection
Recitative (Bass-baritone): Behold, I tell you a mystery
Air (Bass-baritone): The trumpet shall sound
SCENE IV: The glorification of the Messianic victim
Chorus: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Key’mon Murrah, countertenor
Thomas Cooley, tenor
Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and
The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes.
Guest Artist Biographies
NICHOLAS MCGEGAN
In his sixth decade on the podium, Nicholas McGegan — long hailed as “one of the finest baroque conductors of his generation” (The Independent) and “an expert in 18th-century style” (The New Yorker) — is recognized for his probing and revelatory explorations of music of all periods. He is music director emeritus of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale and principal guest conductor of Hungary’s Capella Savaria. Best known as a Baroque and Classical specialist, McGegan’s approach — intelligent, infused with joy, and never dogmatic — has led to engagements with major orchestras, opera houses, and international festivals across the U.S., U.K., and Europe.
Highlights from McGegan’s 2025-26 guest appearances include a return to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale featuring Rameau’s La guirlande alongside Handel’s Dixit Dominus, a Messiah tour with the Milwaukee, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Tucson symphony orchestras, a major all-Mendelssohn program with the Seattle Symphony, Opera Lafayette’s “Queen of Hearts” Valentine’s Day Revel in Washington, D.C. and New York, and appearances at leading conservatories, including Yale, Juilliard, Colburn, and Indiana University, underscoring his ongoing commitment to education and mentorship.
McGegan’s prolific discography includes more than 100 releases spanning five decades. Having recorded over 50 albums of Handel’s music — two of which received the U.K.’s prestigious Gramophone Award — McGegan has explored the depths of the composer’s output with a dozen oratorios and close to 20 of his operas. Since the 1980s, more than 20 of his recordings have been with Hungary’s Capella Savaria on the Hungaroton label, including groundbreaking recordings of repertoire by Handel, Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Telemann, and Vivaldi. Recent releases include an album of Mozart’s violin concertos with violinist Gil Shaham and the SWR Symphonieorchester and a recording of Mozart’s double concertos with violinist Zsolt Kalló and Capella Savaria.
McGegan is committed to the next generation of musicians, frequently conducting and coaching students in residencies and engagements at Yale University, The Juilliard School, Harvard University, the Colburn School, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Sarasota Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West.
English-born, McGegan was educated at Cambridge and Oxford. He was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) “for services to music overseas.” Other awards include the Halle Handel Prize, the Order of Merit of the State of Lower Saxony, the Medal of Honor of the City of Göttingen, and a declaration of Nicholas McGegan Day by the Mayor of San Francisco in recognition of his work with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. nicholasmcgegan.com
Guest Artist Biographies
SHEREZADE PANTHAKI
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano, enjoys ongoing international collaborations with conductors Nicholas McGegan, Masaaki Suzuki, Stephen Stubbs, Nicholas Kraemer, James O’Donnell, and more. Recent engagements include early music and oratorio performances with the New York Philharmonic, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Bach Collegium Japan, Orchester Wiener Akademie, NDR Radiophilharmonie, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. Born and raised in India, Panthaki holds graduate degrees from the Yale School of Music and the University of Illinois. She is a founding member of the Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble, presenting vocal excellence alongside arts education and social justice. Panthaki is a renowned clinician, has taught voice at Yale University, and currently heads the vocal program at Mount Holyoke College. sherezadepanthaki.com
KEY’MON MURRAH
Countertenor Key’mon Murrah, heralded by Opera News for his “resplendent, voluptuous tone throughout his enormous range and phrasing with the feel of fine silk,” continues to garner international acclaim for his “vocal acrobatics” and “mature artistry.” In the 2025-26 season, he sings the European premiere of Tyshawn Sorey’s Save the Boys at the Ruhrtriennale Festival and joins the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for Handel’s Messiah. He tours Vivaldi’s Farnace in the role of Gilade with Ensemble I Gemelli, performing at Teatro Real, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Geneva’s Victoria Hall. He returns to the role of Leonardo in Gabriela Lena Frank’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego at Lyric Opera of Chicago, appears in Vivaldi’s Griselda at Opera Wuppertal, and performs in the world premiere of Angelica Negrón’s For everything you keep losing with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He also tours the U.S. and France with Les Talens Lyriques and Christophe Rousset with a program entitled “Handelian Heroes.”
Operatic highlights include roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Seattle Opera, Detroit Opera, Opéra national du Capitole de Toulouse, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. On the concert stage, he has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Grand Rapids Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, among others. A 2021 Operalia finalist and Grand Prize winner of the Premiere Opera Foundation Competition, Murrah is recognized for expanding the reach of the countertenor voice in both Baroque and contemporary repertoire.
THOMAS COOLEY
With an acclaimed international career spanning over two decades, tenor Thomas Cooley is recognized for his vivid artistry and commanding performances across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. His appearances have taken him to more than 30 U.S. states and prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Zürich’s Tonhalle, Walt Disney Hall, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Singapore’s Esplanade
Guest Artist Biographies
Hall. Cooley has sung under the batons of renowned conductors, including Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Teodor Currentzis, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Franz Welser-Möst, Harry Bicket, Bernard Labadie, Osmo Vänskä, Dame Jane Glover, Robert Spano, Thomas Søndergård, Jaap van Zweden, and Nicholas McGegan, with whom he has collaborated more than 100 times.
His distinguished orchestral partnerships include the New York Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra. Celebrated as a leading interpreter of Handel and J. S. Bach, especially in the role of the Evangelist, Cooley has appeared with Leipzig’s Thomanerchor, Windsbacher Knabenchor, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Handel and Haydn Society, Tafelmusik, Boston Baroque, and MusicAeterna, as well as at the Göttingen and Halle Handel festivals.
He was a principal artist with the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich from 2002 to 2006 and has portrayed more than 35 operatic roles with institutions including the Bavarian State Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Göttingen International Händelfestspiele. Cooley’s discography spans over 20 recordings on labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Carus, Sony, and Avie Records, which will release his upcoming recording of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Nicholas McGegan in 2026.
Cooley is visiting associate professor of music in voice and historical performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
ENRICO LAGASCA
Filipino-American bass-baritone Enrico Lagasca is a sought-after artist acclaimed for his “smooth, dark bass voice” and commanding stage presence. His wide-ranging repertoire spans over 100 oratorios, operatic roles, world premieres, and art song programs. His voice — featured on five Grammy Award-nominated recordings — has been praised for its emotional resonance and technical brilliance. Highlights of Enrico’s 2025.26 season include debuts with the Nashville and Milwaukee symphony orchestras, followed by a return to the operatic stage in 2026 in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Ars Lyrica Houston. Recent engagements include appearances with the Baltimore, St. Louis, and Toronto symphony orchestras, at Bachfest Leipzig with Bach Collegium San Diego, Tafelmusik, the San Francisco Symphony and Gay Men’s Chorus, and a residency as the 2023 bass soloist at the Carmel Bach Festival. A frequent collaborator and soloist with Bach Collegium San Diego, Trinity Church Wall Street, Conspirare, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and others, Enrico is praised for his vocal power and expressive depth. Critics describe his performances as “larger-than-life” and as “elegant as they are moving.” His recent recording of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was hailed for its clarity and conviction, with Gramophone noting his “warm bass voice” and standout interpretations. Born in the Philippines and now based in New York City, Enrico began his career with the world-renowned Philippine Madrigal Singers. He studied at the University of the Philippines and Mannes School of Music and maintains a thriving teaching studio alongside his performing career. enricolagasca.com
Trust Your Health to One of Milwaukee’s Most Respected Medical Practices.
It’s important to choose a physician who will listen closely to your needs and respond genuinely to your concerns. Fortunately for you and your family, our physicians have been providing exceptional care in Milwaukee and Ozaukee for over 120 years.
Unchu Ko, MD David Lucke, MD Rachel Oosterbaan, MD John Sanidas, MD Abraham Varghese, MD James Volberding, MD
Kathleen Baugrud, MD Avi Bernstein, MD John Betz, MD
Matthew Connolly, MD Kevin DiNapoli, MD
Deidre Faust, MD David Goldberg, MD Scott Jorgensen, MD
Carmen Balding, MD Camile Hexsel, MD MOHS SURGERY
Keely Browning, MD Abdullah Fayyad, MD Gene Kligman, MD Venelin Kounev, MD Srihari Ramanujam, MD Chad Stepke, MD
Amy DeGueme, MD Elaine Drobny, MD Antoni Gofron, MD
Michael Knabel, MD Valerie Lyon, MD Jack Maloney, MD Jason Rosenberg, MD
Debra Scarlett, MD
Kevin Gee, MD Christopher Kearns, MD
Jonathan Berkoff, MD Charles Chung, MD Katya Frantskevich, MD Shireen Jayne, DO Jennifer Moralez, MD
Thorsteinn Skulason, MD Heather Wells, MD
Program notes by David Jensen
GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL
Born 23 February 1685; Halle, Germany
Died 14 April 1759; London, England
Messiah, HWV 56
Composed: 22 August – 14 September 1741
First performance: 13 April 1742; George Frideric Handel, conductor; Christina Maria Avoglio, soprano; Susanna Maria Cibber, alto; Joseph Ward, alto; William Lamb, countertenor; James Bailey, tenor; John Hill, bass; John Mason, bass; Choruses of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Christ Church; Academy of Music; Fishamble Street Music Hall, Dublin
Last MSO performance: 10 December 2023; Ken-David Masur, conductor; Hannah Sheppard, soprano; Ashley Suresh, soprano; Mary Rafel, alto; Scott Bass, countertenor; Nicholas Lin, tenor; David Govertsen, bass
Of all the arts, it is perhaps music which suffers from the public’s tendency toward mythology to the greatest degree. The popular image of Handel, and in particular his Messiah, has been distorted by both the passage of time and the all-too-human compulsion to impose metaphysical narratives upon artists, and their works, which appear on the surface to occupy a place in history beyond the bounds of merely mortal endeavors. Much has been made of the sublimity of this music, its divinely inspired contents, and the extraordinary nature of its conception, but in point of fact, the work is best appreciated for what it is: a remarkably skillful production of stagecraft written within the highly codified parameters of a genre then at the height of its popularity in Great Britain.
To be sure, it was Handel’s mastery of his craft which was responsible for ushering in the age of the English oratorio: it was in the 1730s that he began working within the form with greater frequency as Italianate opera fell from public favor. Unlike those extravagant productions of the high Baroque, marked by their elaborate set designs, opulent costumes, and highly choreographed dance sequences, the oratorio was distinguished by a dramatic reduction of theatrical elements, favoring simpler stagings, a greater emphasis on choral singing, and fewer individual characters recounting a cohesive narrative plot.
In the case of Handel’s Messiah, the libretto was prepared by Handel’s friend Charles Jennens, a wealthy landowner who, having been born to the English aristocracy, devoted his life to pursuing his literary inclinations. The text, derived from the King James Bible, divides into three parts the Biblical account of the life of Jesus Christ; in Jennens’s words, the first concerns “The prophecy and realisation of God’s plan to redeem mankind by the coming of the Messiah,” the second “The accomplishment of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ, mankind’s rejection of God’s offer, and mankind’s utter defeat when trying to oppose the power of the Almighty,” and the last “A Hymn of Thanksgiving for the final overthrow of Death.” The subject matter of individual scenes has been included in the program pages for these performances for the edification of listeners interested in the organization of these themes.
The rapidity with which Handel produced the music — he spent a mere 24 days on the score — has lent itself to the fanciful and decidedly misguided notion that it was the result of nothing less than divine intervention. The truth of the matter is that this detail is a comparatively unexceptional one in light of how Handel and his contemporaries conceived of the craft of composition. The contrapuntal, harmonic, and formal aspects of the music of the late Baroque had been so thoroughly systemized and skillfully integrated into a linguistic whole that masters of the era’s musical vernacular could swiftly (and often by means of recycling their own works, as was the case for several movements of Messiah) work out a great deal of material using the standardized formulas of their day as logical points of departure. Evidence of the haste with which Handel prepared the score remains in the myriad errors and inkblots which appear in the autograph manuscript.
One of the principal injustices Handel’s Messiah has borne since its premiere has been the persistent (and often ill-informed) tinkering by outsiders. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, musicians of all stripes insisted upon increasingly lavish orchestrations under the assertion that Handel himself would have employed such instrumental forces on the scale of the modern symphony orchestra. Even Mozart prepared his German-language iteration, Der Messias, using Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible, inserting an expanded complement of wind instruments — though he himself had the good sense to acknowledge that his adaptation was not to be understood as an improvement upon the original article. The burgeoning interest in historically informed performance, a practice which emerged and gained popularity in the late 20th century, has rectified such errors of judgment and made every effort to remain faithful to Handel’s intentions.
The Lynden Sculpture Garden works with artists, educators, students, and our community to create, support, and share experiences at the intersection of art, nature, and culture.
Lynden operates as a laboratory, offering hands-on programs that integrate our collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures and temporary installations, and our community of artists, with the natural ecology of 40 acres of park, pond, and woodland.
Sorel Etrog,The Source, 1964
2025.26 SEASON
KEN-DAVID MASUR
Music Director
Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair
EDO DE WAART
Music Director Laureate
BYRON STRIPLING
Principal Pops Conductor
Stein Family Foundation
Principal Pops Conductor Chair
RYAN TANI
Associate 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, Thora M. Vervoren First Associate Concertmaster Chair
Jeanyi Kim, Associate Concertmaster
Alexander Ayers
Autumn Chodorowski
Yuka Kadota
Elliot Lee
Dylana Leung
Kyung Ah Oh
Lijia Phang
Vinícius Sant’Ana**
Yuanhui Fiona Zheng
SECOND VIOLINS
Jennifer Startt, Principal, Andrea and Woodrow Leung Principal Second Violin Chair
Ji-Yeon Lee, Assistant Principal (2nd chair)
Hyewon Kim, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd chair)
Heejeon Ahn
Lisa Johnson Fuller
Clay Hancock
Paul Hauer
Sheena Lan**
Janis Sakai**
Yiran Yao
VIOLAS
Victor de Almeida, Principal, Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair
Samantha Rodriguez, Acting Assistant Principal (2nd chair), Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri Assistant Principal Viola Chair
Alejandro Duque, Acting Assistant Principal (3rd chair)
Elizabeth Breslin
Georgi Dimitrov
Nathan Hackett
Michael Lieberman**
Erin H. Pipal
CELLOS
Susan Babini, Principal, Dorothea C. Mayer Principal Cello Chair
Shinae Ra, Assistant Principal (2nd chair)
Scott Tisdel, Associate Principal Emeritus
Madeleine Kabat
Peter Szczepanek
Peter J. Thomas
Adrien Zitoun
BASSES
Principal, Donald B. Abert Principal Bass Chair
Andrew Raciti, Acting Principal
Nash Tomey, Acting Assistant Principal (2nd chair)
Brittany Conrad Broner McCoy
Paris Myers
HARP
Julia Coronelli, Principal, Walter Schroeder Principal Harp Chair
FLUTES
Sonora Slocum, Principal, Margaret and Roy Butter Principal Flute Chair
Heather Zinninger, Assistant Principal
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
PICCOLO
Jennifer Bouton Schaub
OBOES
Katherine Young Steele, Principal, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League Principal 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 Principal Clarinet Chair
Jay Shankar, Assistant Principal, Donald and Ruth P. Taylor Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair
Besnik Abrashi
E-FLAT CLARINET
Jay Shankar
BASS CLARINET
Besnik Abrashi
BASSOONS
Catherine Van Handel, Principal, Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family
Principal Bassoon Chair
Rudi Heinrich, Assistant Principal
Matthew Melillo
CONTRABASSOON
Matthew Melillo
HORNS
Matthew Annin, Principal, Krause Family Principal
French Horn Chair
Krystof Pipal, Associate Principal
Dietrich Hemann, Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair
Darcy Hamlin
Dawson Hartman
TRUMPETS
Matthew Ernst, Principal, Walter L. Robb Family Principal Trumpet Chair
David Cohen, Associate Principal, Martin J. Krebs Associate Principal Trumpet Chair
Tim McCarthy, Fred Fuller Trumpet Chair
TROMBONES
Megumi Kanda, Principal, Marjorie Tiefenthaler Principal Trombone Chair
Kirk Ferguson, Assistant Principal
BASS TROMBONE
John Thevenet, Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair
TUBA
Robyn Black, Principal, John and Judith Simonitsch Tuba Chair
TIMPANI
Dean Borghesani, Principal
Chris Riggs, Assistant Principal
PERCUSSION
Robert Klieger, Principal
Chris Riggs
PIANO
Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair
PERSONNEL
Antonio Padilla Denis, Director of Orchestra Personnel
Paris Myers, Assistant Manager of Orchestra Personnel
LIBRARIANS
Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, James E. Van Ess Principal Librarian Chair
Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian & Media Archivist
PRODUCTION
Tristan Wallace, Production Manager/Live Audio
Lisa Sottile, Production Stage Manager
* Leave of Absence 2025.26 Season
** Acting member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra 2025.26 Season
