MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY PROGRAM TWO

OCTOBER — DECEMBER 2025

ENCORE

Volume 44 No. 2

14 October 31 & November 1 — Film Hocus Pocus

18 November 7 - 9 — Pops The Wizard of Oz

21 November 14 & 15 — Classics Paul Lewis Plays Grieg

28 November 21 - 23 — Classics Handel’s Messiah

39 November 28 - 30 — Film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

42 December 13 - 21 — Pops Hometown Holiday Pops

5 Orchestra Roster

7 Music Director

8 Music Director Laureate

9 Principal Pops Conductor

10 Associate Conductor

11 Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

54 MSO Endowment

Musical Legacy Society

55 Annual Fund

58 Gala Sponsors Corporate & Foundation Matching Gifts

59 Golden Note Marquee Circle Tributes

64 MSO Board of Directors

65 MSO Administration

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

• First Stage

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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The MSO and the Bradley Symphony Center have partnered with KultureCity to improve our ability to assist and accommodate guests with sensory needs. For information on available resources, visit mso.org.

MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

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, J. E. Hernández, Marc Neikrug, Camille Pépin, Matthias Pintscher, and Dobrinka Tabakova, as well as garnered national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes.

In January of 2021, the MSO completed a years-long project to restore and renovate a former movie palace in the heart of downtown Milwaukee. The Bradley Symphony Center officially opened to audiences in October 2021. This project has sparked a renewal on West Wisconsin Avenue and continues to be a catalyst in the community.

The MSO’s standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 30,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, Family Series, and Meet the Music pre-concert talks. Celebrating its 36th year, the nationally recognized ACE program integrates arts education across all subjects and disciplines, providing opportunities for students when budget cuts may eliminate arts programming. The program provides lesson plans and supporting materials, classroom visits from MSO musician ensembles and artists from local organizations, and an MSO concert tailored to each grade level. The ACE program serves 5,500 students, teachers, and administrators in the Milwaukee area every year.

Photo by Jonathan Kirn

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

Strings of Jewish Resistance and Resilience

November 5, 2025 – January 25, 2026

Curated in partnership with the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, this special exhibit is presented by Jewish Museum Milwaukee.

Join us for an extraordinary exhibition built around the internationally renowned Violins of Hope project. Each violin in this moving collection of 24 restored instruments carries a deeply personal story, paying tribute to the resilience of Jewish people who turned to music as a source of solace, survival and defiance.

This project was made possible by a grant from the Joseph & Vera Zilber Family Donor Advised Fund, the Daniel M. Soref Charitable Trust Donor Advised Fund, and an Anonymous Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation.

Image courtesy of Violins of Hope

KEN-DAVID MASUR, MUSIC DIRECTOR

Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego UnionTribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipziger Volkszeitung), Ken-David Masur is celebrating his seventh season as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra.

Masur’s tenure in Milwaukee has been notable for innovative thematic programming and bridge-building, including a festival celebrating the music of the 1930s, when the Bradley Symphony Center was built; the Water Festival, which highlighted local community partners whose work centers on water conservation and education; and a new city-wide Bach Festival, celebrating the abiding appeal of J.S. Bach’s music in an ever-changing world. 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

In the 2025-26 season, Masur will lead celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, featuring performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa solemnis, as well as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as part of the MSO’s third Bach Week. Ken-David Masur and the MSO will reunite with longtime collaborators such as Augustin Hadelich, Orion Weiss, Stewart Goodyear, Nancy Zhou, and Bill Barclay and Concert Theatre Works for a special project celebrating America’s 250th birthday with a program interweaving the music of Aaron Copland with the words of Mark Twain. In Chicago, Masur leads the Civic Orchestra, the premier training ensemble of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in a wide range of programs, including its annual Bach Marathon.

Masur has conducted orchestras around the world, including Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, l’Orchestre National de France, Kristiansand Symphony, NFM Wrocław Philharmonic in Poland, and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. He makes regular festival appearances at Ravinia, Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Verbier, the Pacific Music Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival. Masur is passionate about contemporary music and has conducted and commissioned numerous new works from living composers, including Wynton Marsalis, Augusta Read Thomas, and Unsuk Chin, among others. He has recorded with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and received a Grammy Award nomination from the Latin Recording Academy for the album Salón Buenos Aires

Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur, are founders and artistic directors of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer festival in New York City with programs ranging from Baroque and classical to contemporary and jazz, placing a special emphasis on the intersection of the culinary and visual arts. The festival celebrated its 16th anniversary in 2025 and has been praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and by Time Out New York as an “impressive addition to New York’s cultural ecosystem.”

Born and raised in Leipzig, Germany, Masur was trained at the Mendelssohn Academy in Leipzig, the Gewandhaus Children’s Choir, the Detmold Academy, and the “Hanns Eisler” Conservatory in Berlin. While an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, Masur became the first music director of the Bach Society Orchestra and Chorus, with which he toured to Germany and recorded the music of J.S. Bach and his sons.

Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has conducted orchestras and led master classes at many international conservatories and festivals.

Photo by Adam DeTour

EDO DE WAART, MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATE

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 Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and a chief conductorship with the De Nederlandse Opera and Santa Fe Opera.

Edo de Waart served as 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.

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, the 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.

Photo by Jesse Willems

BYRON STRIPLING, PRINCIPAL POPS CONDUCTOR

With a contagious smile and captivating charm, conductor, trumpet virtuoso, singer, and actor Byron Stripling ignites audiences across the globe. In 2024, Stripling was named Stein Family Foundation Principal Pops Conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also currently serves as principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and artistic director and conductor of the highly acclaimed Columbus Jazz Orchestra. Stripling’s baton has led countless orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood and the orchestras of San Diego, St. Louis, Virginia, Toronto, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Fort Worth, Rochester, Buffalo, Florida, Portland, and Sarasota, to name a few.

As a soloist with the Boston Pops, Stripling has performed frequently under the baton of Keith Lockhart, including as the featured soloist on the PBS television special Evening at Pops with conductors John Williams and Mr. Lockhart.

Since his Carnegie Hall debut with Skitch Henderson and the New York Pops, Stripling has become a pops orchestra favorite throughout the country, appearing internationally as soloist with more than 100 orchestras. He has been a featured soloist at the Hollywood Bowl and performs at festivals around the world.

An accomplished actor and singer, Stripling was chosen, following a worldwide search, to star in the lead role of the Broadway-bound musical Satchmo. Many will remember his featured cameo performance in the television movie The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and his critically acclaimed virtuoso trumpet and riotous comedic performance in the 42nd Street production of From Second Avenue to Broadway.

Television viewers have enjoyed his work as a soloist on the worldwide telecast of the Grammy Awards. Millions have heard his trumpet and voice in television commercials, TV theme songs including 20/20 and CNN, and soundtracks of favorite movies. In addition to multiple recordings with his quintet and work with artists from Tony Bennett to Whitney Houston, his prolific recording career includes hundreds of albums with the greatest pop, Broadway, soul, and jazz artists of all time.

Stripling earned his stripes as lead trumpeter and soloist with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Thad Jones and Frank Foster. He has also played and recorded extensively with the bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Herman, Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, and Buck Clayton in addition to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the GRP All-Star Big Band.

Stripling is devoted to giving back and supports several philanthropic organizations, including United Way and the Community Shelter Board. He also enjoys sharing the power of music through seminars and master classes at colleges, universities, conservatories, and high schools.

Stripling was educated at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan. One of his greatest joys is to return periodically to Eastman and Interlochen as a special guest lecturer.

A resident of Ohio, Stripling lives in the country with his wife, Alexis, a former dancer, writer, and poet and their beautiful daughters.

Photo by John Abbott

RYAN TANI, ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR

Now in his third season with the MSO and his first as its associate conductor, Ryan Tani has built a reputation for inventive programming, as well as an energetic connection with audiences in Milwaukee and beyond. At the MSO, he conducts a wide range of concerts — including education, family, pops, and classics — and has stepped in for Edo de Waart and led sold-out performances in his 2025 classics debut. He has served as cover conductor for the Minnesota Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, and Bozeman Symphony.

A committed advocate for new music, Tani was music director of Baltimore’s Occasional Symphony, commissioning over 20 works and supporting dozens of composers in just three years. At Yale, he served as conducting fellow of the Philharmonia and resident conductor of New Music New Haven, earning the Dean’s Prize for artistic excellence.

Tani’s community-focused work includes leading multiple ensembles across Montana, including the Bozeman, Missoula, Great Falls, and Montana State University symphonies. Committed to connecting with audiences off the podium, he also developed outreach programs, taught university courses, and fostered collaborations between artists and the public — efforts that continue to shape his approach today.

He holds degrees from Yale, the Peabody Institute, and the University of Southern California, and has studied with Marin Alsop, Peter Oundjian, Markand Thakar, Larry Rachleff, and Donald Schleicher. He lives in Milwaukee with his wife Bronte and his corgi Darby and enjoys cooking, reading, and playing violin.

MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY CHORUS

Photo by Jonathan Kirn

Established in 1976 as a joint effort between the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus has distinguished itself over the course of half a century as one of the preeminent choral ensembles in the United States. Celebrating their landmark 50th anniversary this season, the chorus will appear alongside the MSO in monumental masterworks by Bach, Beethoven, and Handel, as well as the MSO’s annual Holiday Pops concerts.

Founded by legendary choral pedagogue Margaret Hawkins, the chorus’s meteoric rise in the late 1970s broadened the orchestra’s repertoire and set a new standard of excellence in Milwaukee’s musical landscape. Under Hawkins’s baton, the chorus produced its first commercial recordings and made multiple appearances at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Their voices were heard in the MSO’s first radio broadcasts, receiving airtime nationally and internationally.

The chorus has made numerous guest appearances at the Ravinia Festival through the years, beginning in 1984 and as recently as 2019, performing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, singing Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand.” Other collaborations include appearances with local performing arts groups, including the Milwaukee Ballet, Milwaukee Musaik, and Present Music.

The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus’s wide range of ability has been a signature of the ensemble throughout their history. They have moved seamlessly from works by Bach and Brahms to Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, sung during a live screening of the film. Semi-staged productions of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman and Grieg’s Peer Gynt are featured alongside performances with contemporary artists, such as their recent appearance with the esteemed mandolinist Chris Thile. Their repertoire spans the centuries, regularly placing their enormous versatility on full display.

Made up of musicians from every walk of life, the 150 members of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus devote countless volunteer hours every season preparing and performing the great cornerstones of the symphonic literature with an unqualified love for their craft.

To learn more about becoming a member of the chorus, visit mso.org/chorus.

CHORUS MEMBERS & STAFF

Jahnavi Acharya

Anna Aiuppa

Mia Akers

Laura Albright-Wengler

Alexander Z. Alden

Anthony Andronczyk

James Anello

Evan Bagwell

u Thomas R. Bagwell

Scott Bass

Mary Ann Beatty

Marshall Beckman

Emily Bergeron

JoAnn Berk

Edward Blumenthal

Alice Boesky

Jillian Boes

u Scott Bolens

Madison Bolt

Neil R. Brooks

Riley Brown

Michelle Budny

Ellen N. Burmeister

Josh Bushman

Gabrielle Campbell

Gerardo Carcar

Elise Cismesia

Sarah M. Cook

Amanda Coplan

Sarah Culhane

Barbara Czarkowski

Phoebe Dawsey

Colin Destache

Rebeca A. Dishaw

Megan Kathleen Dixson

Rachel Dutler

James Edgar

Joe Ehlinger

Jack W. Ellis

Kaleigh Ellis

John Erzberger

Katelyn Farebrother

STAFF

u

Michael Faust

Catherine Fettig

Marty Foral

Madison Francis

Karen Frink

Maria Fuller

Haley Gabriel

James T. Gallup

Jonah Gaster

Jonathan Gaston-Falk

William Gesch

Samantha Gibson

Jessica Golinski

Mark R. Hagner

Mary Hamlin

Beth Harenda

u Karen Heins

Mary Catherine Helgren

Kurt Hellermann

Melissa Kay Herbst

Nathan Hickox-Young

Eric Hickson

Michelle Hiebert

Laura Hochmuth

Mara Hoffman

Amy Hudson

Matthew Hunt

John Itson

u Tina Itson

Jane Jaikumar Knight

Christine Jameson

Paula J. Jeske

Robin Jette

John Jorgensen

Heidi L. Kastern

Summer Ketchell

Christin Kieckhafer

Katherine Kondratuk

Jill Kortebein

Kaleigh Kozak-Lichtman

Kyle J. Kramer

u Joseph M. Krechel

Cheryl Frazes Hill, chorus director

Timothy J. Benson, assistant director

Darwin J. Sanders, language/diction coach

Julia M. Kreitzer

Harry Krueger

Benjamin Kuhlmann

Alexandra Lerch-Gaggl

Robert Lochhead

Grace Majewski

Rachel Maki

Douglas R. Marx

Ethan T. Masarik

Joy Mast

Justin J. Maurer

Betsy McCool

Hilary Merline

Kristine Mielcarek

Megan Miller

Bailey Moorhead

Jennifer Mueller

Matthew Neu

Kristin Nikkel

Jason Niles

Maggie Noffke

Alice Nuteson

Robert Paddock

Daniel Edward Parks

Heather Pierce

R. Scott Pierce

u Jessica E. Pihart

Bianca Pratte

Abby Prom

Kaitlin Quigley

Mary Rafel

Jason Reuschlein

Rehanna Rexroat

James Reynolds

Marc Charles Ricard

Amanda Robison

Shawn W. Runningen

u Bridget Sampson

James Sampson

Joshua S. Samson

Darwin J. Sanders

Alana Sawall

REHEARSAL PIANISTS

Melissa Cardamone

Jeong-In Kim

Terree Shofner-Emrich

Brian J. Schalk

Sarah Schmeiser

Rand C. Schmidt

Randy Schmidt

u Allison Schnier

Andrew T. Schramm

Matthew Seider

Bennett Shebesta

~Hannah Sheppard

David Siegworth

Samuel Skogstad

Bruce Soto

u Joel P. Spiess

u Todd Stacey

u Donald E. Stettler

Scott Stieg

Donna Stresing

Sara Strommen

Shannon Sweeney

Joseph Thiel

Clare Urbanski

Bobbi Jo Vandal

Matthew Van Hecke

Maria Waldkirch

Stephanie Weeden

Tess Weinkauf

Emma Mingesz Weiss

Amy Weyers

Erin Weyers

Christina Williams

Emilie Williams

Sally Witte

Kevin R. Woller

Rachel Yap

Andrew York

Ben Young

Jamie M. Yu

Katarzyna Zawislak

Stephanie Zimmer

DR. CHERYL FRAZES HILL, CHORUS DIRECTOR

Dr. Cheryl Frazes Hill is now in her ninth season as director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. During their landmark 50th anniversary season, Frazes Hill will prepare the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus for classical performances that include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis.

Frazes Hill also serves as associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In that role, she has prepared the Chorus for maestros Alsop, Boulez, Barenboim, Conlon, Levine, Mehta, Salonen, and Tilson Thomas, among 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

Frazes Hill is professor emerita at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she served for 20 years as director of choral activities and head of music education. 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 Veldhuis’s 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’s and doctoral degrees in conducting from Northwestern University and her bachelor’s degrees in voice and music education from the University of Illinois. An accomplished vocalist, she is a featured soloist in the Grammy Award-nominated recording CBS Masterworks release Mozart: Music for Basset Horns. An award-winning conductor and educator, Frazes Hill recently received the ACDA Harold Decker Conducting Award, the Mary Hoffman Music Educators Award, and in past 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.

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. Frazes Hill is nationally published on topics of her research in choral conducting and music education. A frequent guest conductor, clinician, and guest speaker, Frazes Hill regularly collaborates with maestro Marin Alsop at the Ravinia Festival’s “Breaking Barriers” series, providing seminars for Taki Alsop female conducting fellows.

HOCUS POCUS

FILM WITH ORCHESTRA

Friday, October 31, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 7:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Emil de Cou, conductor

In Concert Live to Film

Starring

Bette Midler

Sarah Jessica Parker

Kathy Najimy

Directed by Kenny Ortega

Produced by David Kirschner

Steven Haft

Screenplay by Mick Garris

Neil Cuthbert

Story by David Kirschner

Mick Garris

Executive Producer Ralph Winter

Score by John Debney

Additional Music by James Horner

Brock Walsh

“I Put a Spell on You”

Music and Lyrics by Jay Hawkins

Arranged by Marc Shaiman

Musical Arrangements by Marc Shaiman

Choreography

Peggy Holmes

Kenny Ortega

CAST

Winifred........................................................................ BETTE MIDLER

Sarah ........................................................... SARAH JESSICA PARKER

Mary ............................................................................. KATHY NAJIMY

Max ....................................................................................... OMRI KATZ

Dani .................................................................................THORA BIRCH

Allison .......................................................................... VINESSA SHAW

Emily..................................................................AMANDA SHEPHERD

Ernie (“Ice”)............................................................... LARRY BAGBY III

Jay ................................................................................ TOBIAS JELINEK

Jenny STEPHANIE FARACY

Dave ......................................................................... CHARLIE ROCKET

Billy Butcherson DOUG JONES

Headless Billy Butcherson ............................... KARYN MALCHUS

Thackery ...................................................................... SEAN MURRAY

Elijah ............................................................................ STEVE VOBORIL

Thackery’s Father .............................................. NORBERT WEISSER

Miss Olin .......................................................... KATHLEEN FREEMAN

Prints by TECHNICOLOR®

Walt Disney Pictures

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack available at Disneymusicemporium.com

Today’s performance lasts approximately 2 hours, including a 20-minute intermission. The performance is a presentation of the feature film Hocus Pocus with a live performance of the film’s score. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the end credits.

Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts © All rights reserved.

Film projectors generously donated by MARCUS CORPORATION. This weekend’s media sponsor is ONMILWAUKEE.

Guest Artist Biographies

EMIL DE COU

Emil de Cou is the music director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet and a frequent guest with leading orchestras across the country. Following his 2000 debut with the National Symphony Orchestra, he was appointed associate conductor, leading the NSO on national tours and in performances at the U.S. Capitol. He has been a familiar presence at the Kennedy Center since his first appearance there in 1988.

Renowned for his innovative programming, de Cou has conducted world premiere film-with-orchestra performances, including The Wizard of Oz, and created groundbreaking collaborations with NASA. These projects include Gustav Holst’s The Planets with newly released space imagery narrated by Leonard Nimoy and “Human Spaceflight: The Kennedy Legacy,” marking the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s call to land a man on the moon. For this work, NASA awarded de Cou its Exceptional Public Achievement Medal, making him the first musician to receive the honor.

de Cou served as conductor of the American Ballet Theatre at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov, leading performances at the Metropolitan Opera House and on national and international tours. His recordings include Elliot Goldenthal’s Othello for Varèse Sarabande, Debussy Rediscovered for Arabesque, featuring previously unrecorded works by Debussy, and the first recording of Charles Griffes’s The Kairn of Koridwen

de Cou has appeared with many of the nation’s major orchestras. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops and served as principal pops conductor of the San Francisco Symphony.

Born in Los Angeles, de Cou studied conducting with Daniel Lewis at the University of Southern California and with Leonard Bernstein at the Hollywood Bowl. He lives in San Francisco and Seattle with his husband, conductor Leif Bjaland.

Guest Artist Biographies

JOHN DEBNEY

Throughout his legendary career, composer John Debney has seen himself in equal demand for holiday classics such as Hocus Pocus and Elf, tentpoles like Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book, and The Greatest Showman, and the powerful epic The Passion of the Christ, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score. Debney’s key to success is his immense versatility, composing for comedies (Bruce Almighty, Liar, Liar), action (Predators, The Scorpion King), horror (End of Days, Dream House), romance (Marry Me, Valentine’s Day), and family films (Clifford the Big Red Dog, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) with the same confidence and panache.

His recent projects include Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids: Armageddon for Netflix, Paramount Pictures’s Tom Brady-produced 80 for Brady, Apple+ and Skydance Animation’s Luck, Universal’s Marry Me, starring Jennifer Lopez, and Disney+’s Hocus Pocus 2. Upcoming projects include Kevin Costner’s 2-part western epic Horizon: An American Saga for New Line Cinemas, Columbia Pictures’s Garfield starring Chris Pratt, Paramount Pictures’s Under the Boardwalk, Netflix’s In Your Dreams, and Amazon Prime’s Space Cadet

Born in Glendale, California, Debney studied music composition at the California Institute of the Arts and soon afterward began his career orchestrating and composing scores for Walt Disney Studios and various television series. He won his first Emmy Award in 1990 for the main theme for the series The Young Riders and has since won three additional Emmy Awards and received a total of seven nominations, with his latest being Disney+’s smash hit Hocus Pocus 2 in 2023. Debney has also worked with industry titan Seth MacFarlane on numerous episodes of his sci-fi space series The Orville, utilizing nearly 100-piece orchestras to record his bombastic adventure scores. His first foray into video game scoring — Sony’s 2007 medieval adventure Lair — resulted in a BAFTA nomination and a Best Original Score for a Video Game award from The International Film Music Critics Association.

Debney has collaborated with acclaimed directors as diverse as Jon Favreau, Kevin Costner, Robert Rodriguez, David E. Talbert, Harmony Korine, Kat Coiro, Brenda Chapman, Mel Gibson, Peggy Holmes, the late Garry Marshall, Adam Shankman, Kenny Ortega, and the late Ivan Reitman. In 2005, he was the youngest recipient of ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Career Achievement Award.

THE WIZARD OF OZ IN CONCERT

FILM WITH ORCHESTRA

Friday, November 7, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

David Glover, conductor

Film courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Judy Garland Dorthy Gale

Frank Morgan .................... Prof. Marvel / Emerald City doorman / The cabbie / The Wizard’s guard / The Wizard of Oz

Ray Bolger ........................................................... Hunk / The Scarecrow

Bert Lahr ....................................................... Zeke / The Cowardly Lion

Jack Haley ............................................................ Hickory / The Tin Man

Billie Burke ....................................................... Glinda, the Good Witch

Margaret Hamilton ......................... Miss Gulch / The Wicked Witch

Charley Grapewin ........................ Uncle Henry and The Munchkins

Clara Blandick ........................................................................... Auntie Em A SYMPHONIC NIGHT AT THE MOVIES

SCREENPLAY BY

Noel Langley

Florence Ryerson

Edgar Allan Woolf

DIRECTED BY

Victor Fleming

PRODUCED BY

Mervyn LeRoy

MUSIC BY

Harold Arlen (songs)

E.Y. Harburg (lyrics)

Herbert Stothart

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Producer: John Goberman

Original orchestrations reconstructed by John Wilson and Andrew Cottee

The producer wishes to acknowledge the contributions and extraordinary support of John Waxman (Themes & Variations)

A Symphonic Night at the Movies is a production of PGM Productions, Inc. (New York) and appears by arrangement with IMG Artists.

Today’s performance lasts approximately 2 hours, including a 20-minute intermission. The performance is a presentation of the feature film The Wizard of Oz with a live performance of the film’s score. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the end credits.

Film projectors generously donated by MARCUS CORPORATION. This weekend’s media sponsor is ONMILWAUKEE

Guest Artist Biographies

DAVID GLOVER

Conductor David Glover is in his fourth season as music director of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra and his fifth season as artistic director of Triangle Youth Music. Known for his captivating interpretations and engaging presence on the podium, Glover is in demand as a conductor across many genres, including classical, pops, and opera. He recently concluded his tenure as the associate conductor of the North Carolina Symphony, where he led over 250 concerts, including performances of major choral repertoire such as Carmina Burana, the opening classical concert at the symphony’s new hall in Wilmington, North Carolina, and two state-wide tours. He continues to maintain a close relationship with the North Carolina Symphony and conducts numerous performances with them throughout the year.

Glover has guest conducted numerous orchestras, including the Ensemble orchestral de Paris, Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, Muncie Symphony Orchestra, and the North Czech Philharmonic. In the past few years, he has returned numerous times to the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, including this season for their annual performances of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with the Charlotte Ballet.

Prior to his position with the North Carolina Symphony, Glover served as the associate conductor of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and as the artistic director of the Wabash Valley Youth Symphony in West Lafayette, Indiana. In addition to his work with Triangle Youth Music, Glover has lectured at North Carolina State University, where he conducts the Raleigh Civic Symphony.

His passion for cultivating a love of classical music in younger generations is evident in both his work with youth orchestras and his creation of a series of successful school-day educational programs, which have reached over 250,000 elementary school children.

PAUL LEWIS PLAYS GRIEG

Friday, November 14, 2025 at 11:15 am

Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 7:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Rune Bergmann, conductor Paul Lewis, piano

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra), Opus 61

I. The Bog

II. Melancholy

III. Swans Migrating

EDVARD GRIEG

Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 16

I. Allegro molto moderato

II. Adagio

III. Allegro moderato molto e marcato Paul Lewis, piano

INTERMISSION

CARL NIELSEN

Symphony No. 4, Opus 29, FS 76, CNW 28, “The Inextinguishable”

I. Allegro

II. Poco allegretto

III. Poco adagio quasi andante

IV. Allegro

The MSO Steinway was made possible through a generous gift from MICHAEL AND JEANNE SCHMITZ

The 2025.26 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION.

The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Guest Artist Biographies

RUNE BERGMANN

Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann is currently the music director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin and has served as the artistic director of Norway’s innovative Fjord Cadenza festival since its inception in 2010. He was the music director of Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra from the 2017-18 season through 2024-25, Switzerland’s Argovia Philharmonic from 2016-17 through 2024-25, and Poland’s Szczecin Philharmonic from 2016-17 through 2023-24.

A regular guest with the Baltimore, Colorado, Utah, Houston, Pacific, and Buffalo symphony orchestras in North America, he has collaborated with the Oslo Philharmonic, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, ADDA Simfònica Alicante, Orquesta de Valencia, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Staatskapelle Halle, and Wrocław Philharmonic, as well as the symphony orchestras of Malmö, Helsingborg, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim, Karlskrona, and Odense. Bergmann has also led performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and La traviata at the Norwegian National Opera and made his U.S. operatic debut in Yale Opera’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as staged by Claudia Solti.

He has collaborated with some of today’s most acclaimed and legendary soloists, including Truls Mørk, Leif Ove Andsnes, Yefim Bronfman, Yo-Yo Ma, Mischa Maisky, Renée Fleming, Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, James Ehnes, Branford Marsalis, Ole Edvard Antonsen, Albrecht Mayer, and Anna Fedorova, to name a few.

Bergmann’s first recording with the Szczecin Philharmonic, released in 2018, featured Mieczysław Karłowicz’s “Resurrection” symphony, a piece that has since become a major focus of Bergmann’s repertoire. He has also released recordings with the Argovia Philharmonic, including Ravel’s piano concerto in G and Mozart’s bassoon concerto.

Earlier in his career, Bergmann served as first kapellmeister and deputy music director of the Theater Augsburg, where he led performances of numerous operas, including La traviata, Der fliegende Holländer, and Die Fledermaus, and was principal guest conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony.

Bergmann studied choral and orchestral conducting under Anders Eby, Jin Wang, and Jorma Panula at Sweden’s Royal College of Music. He graduated with high honors from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where he studied conducting under chief conductor emeritus of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and former principal conductor of the Vienna Radio, Finnish Radio, and Danish National symphony orchestras, Leif Segerstam.

Guest Artist Biographies

PAUL LEWIS

Paul Lewis is one of the foremost interpreters of the Central European piano repertoire, with his performances and recordings of Beethoven and Schubert receiving universal critical acclaim. He was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to music, and the sincerity and depth of his musical approach have won him fans around the world.

This global popularity is reflected in the world-class orchestras with whom he works, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philharmonia, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, and Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras. His close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra led to his selection as the 2020 Koussevitzky Artist at Tanglewood.

Lewis often focuses on specific composers in projects that allow him to take audiences deep inside their works. In 2026 and 2027, he will tour his “Mozart+” series around the world, juxtaposing Mozart’s lesser-known piano repertoire with works by composers such as Poulenc, Chopin, and Weber, illuminating Mozart’s influence upon subsequent generations, as well as shining a light on works that are often overshadowed by his concerti. Previously, between 2022 and 2025, Lewis embarked on a Schubert piano sonata series, presenting four programs of the completed sonatas at over 40 venues around the world.

With a natural affinity for Beethoven, Lewis has performed the composer’s complete piano concerto cycle all over the world and was the first pianist to present it in a single BBC Proms season in 2010. He subsequently performed it at Tanglewood in 2022, Boston in 2023 with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and in 2025 with Eivind Aadland and the Oslo Philharmonic.

Beyond his many award-winning Beethoven and Schubert recordings, his discography with the Harmonia Mundi label also demonstrates his characteristic depth of approach in Romantic repertoire such as the music of Schumann, Mussorgsky, Brahms, and Liszt. In March 2025, he gave the world premiere of Thomas Larcher’s piano sonata in Oviedo, Italy, and he continues to perform it around the world.

In chamber music, Lewis works closely with tenor Mark Padmore in lied recitals around the world — they have recorded three of Schubert’s song cycles together — and he is co-artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, U.K. In May 2025, he was the first non-American pianist to chair the jury of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Program notes by David Jensen

EINOJUHANI RAUTAVAARA

Born 9 October 1928; Helsinki, Finland

Died 27 July 2016; Helsinki, Finland

Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra), Opus 61

Composed: 1971 – 13 March 1972

First performance: 18 October 1972; Stephen Portman, conductor; Oulu Symphony Orchestra

Last MSO performance: MSO Premiere

Instrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 2 horns; 2 trumpets; trombone; timpani; percussion (cymbals, tam-tam); harp; celesta; strings; two-channel tape player

Approximate duration: 19 minutes

One of the most chameleonic voices of his generation, Einojuhani Rautavaara rose to international prominence after winning the Thor Johnson Contest in 1954, catching the attention of Jean Sibelius, who began promoting Rautavaara’s music and granted him a scholarship to travel to America. He studied composition with Vincent Persichetti at The Juilliard School and Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, and by the 1970s, his works could already be divided into several distinct periods: his earliest efforts, written in the neoclassical style popularized by Paul Hindemith and Igor Stravinsky, gave way to experiments with twelve-tone serialism in the 1960s. After less than a decade of working in that particularly modern mode of expression, he entered what musicologists classify as his “neoromantic” period, embracing an expansive view of tonal harmony and integrating elements from an eclectic mélange of styles.

As his music took on a softer, more impressionistic quality, Rautavaara began receiving commissions from choral ensembles drawn to these newly gentled features. When the library at Oulu University sent him literature for the cantata he had been hired to compose for the institution’s commencement ceremony in 1972, he found inspiration in none of the texts he had been provided, and because the chorus slated to premiere the work was reportedly fatigued by overuse, he decided to aim for something radically different. He sourced samples of birdsong from the audio library of the Finnish Broadcasting Company and even traveled to the Liminka Bay wetlands in northern Finland to record his own, fashioning the tapes into what would become the focal point of a rather unorthodox concerto.

Cantus Arcticus renders a meditative, richly layered image of the wild world, finessing the sounds of nature to spectacular effect and interpolating aleatoric components which leave several aspects of the work’s realization up to the discretion of the performers. “Think of autumn and of Tchaikovsky” — this is the instruction given to the flautists whose winding chromatic lines introduce “The Bog.” These evocative descriptions are interspersed throughout the score, including a directive to the muted trombone to “imitate the staccato sound of the crane” heard later in the movement. From a whirl of trilling woodwinds, a plaintive theme rises from the bassoons and cellos; after reaching its peak, the phrase dissolves as the clarinet reprises the opening material. Rautavaara allows the conductor to decide where the clarinet, the strings, and the tape stop playing — and even which chord ends the movement.

“The orchestra pauses, giving the audience time enough to notice that the birds on channels 1 and 2 are imitating each other.” The song of the shore lark, lowered by two octaves, introduces

“Melancholy.” Woven of gossamer textures in the manner of Debussy and Ravel, the chorus of strings conjuring the movement’s introspective atmosphere is joined only briefly by woodwinds and brass at its shimmering climax. “Swans Migrating” begins with the call of the whooper swan and divides the orchestra into four groups, which play independently of each other as musical fragments overlap and intertwine in a cavalcade of bird-like motifs. The finale’s main theme emerges in the horns, calling to mind the swan songs of Sibelius’s fifth symphony and driving the music to its ethereal conclusion.

EDVARD GRIEG

Born 15 June 1843; Bergen, Norway

Died 4 September 1907; Bergen, Norway

Piano Concerto in A minor, Opus 16

Composed: Summer 1868; revised periodically until 21 July 1907

First performance: 3 April 1869; Holger Simon Paulli, conductor; Edmund Neupert, piano; Royal Danish Orchestra

Last MSO performance: 7 November 2021; Andreas Delfs, conductor; Olga Kern, piano

Instrumentation: 2 flutes (2nd doubling on piccolo); 2 oboes; 2 clarinets; 2 bassoons; 4 horns; 2 trumpets; 3 trombones; timpani; strings

Approximate duration: 30 minutes

Few other composers of the 19th century demonstrated the charm and originality one encounters in the music of Edvard Grieg. Born to a musical family, he received his first piano lessons from his mother, though it was the suggestion by Norwegian violin virtuoso Ole Bull, whom young Edvard met in the summer of 1858, that convinced his family of his potential as a professional musician. At the tender age of 15, the boy was shipped off to study at the Leipzig Conservatory, an institution whose sterile pedantry Grieg quickly judged to be an impediment to his musical development. The one redeeming factor of Grieg’s formal education was his exposure to the music of Robert Schumann, inculcating in the child a lifelong admiration and tapping the first wellspring of artistic influence.

But the true inflection point in Grieg’s musical maturation arrived in 1864, when he befriended the composer Rikard Nordraak. Now remembered for having authored Norway’s national anthem, Nordraak’s steadfast devotion to the musical nationalism permeating the second half of the century clarified Grieg’s aesthetic vision, instilling in the fledgling composer a determination to establish a definitively Norwegian vein of classical music. By the end of the 1860s, Grieg was one of his nation’s most prominent musical figures, collaborating on the founding of Copenhagen’s musical society, dubbed “Euterpe” (after the Greek muse), established expressly to champion Scandinavian music. The first of his Lyric Pieces for piano appeared in 1867, now marked by the rhythms and harmonies native to the folk music of his homeland — qualities which would eventually earn him the moniker “the Chopin of the North.”

Written at just 25 years old, Grieg’s only concerto is the wildly energetic product of a selfassured young artist. Rooted in the Nordic folk idiom, the work owes an obvious debt to (indeed, is explicitly modeled upon) Schumann’s piano concerto in the same key, which Grieg had heard Clara Schumann herself perform during his student days. Like Schumann’s, Grieg’s soloist begins with a theatrical flourish, introducing a motif derived from Norwegian folksong composed of a descending minor second and major third. No fewer than seven distinct themes are introduced in the first movement, interlaced in a lyrical pastiche that plays effortlessly upon the dialogue between pianist and orchestra. The concerto’s tenderhearted center is made up of enchantingly intimate music, while the vigor and fire of the finale take their cue from the halling, a folk dance

characterized by its acrobatic feats of physical prowess, culminating in a resplendent flare of orchestral color as the movement’s second theme returns, transfigured by the heightened drama of the andante maestoso.

For its profusion of folkish character, conspicuously beautiful melodies, and high-octane displays of technical flair, the concerto remains a perennial favorite of audiences and pianists everywhere. During his travels to Italy in 1870, Grieg visited Franz Liszt in Rome, who sight-read the concerto in a single sitting and gave the budding composer a glowing appraisal. In a letter to his parents, Grieg immortalized the master’s heartfelt words of encouragement: “Keep steadily on; I tell you, you have the capability, and do not let them intimidate you!”

CARL NIELSEN

Born 9 June 1865; Sortelung, Denmark

Died 3 October 1931; Copenhagen, Denmark

Symphony No. 4, Opus 29, FS 76, CNW 28, “The Inextinguishable”

Composed: Summer 1914 – 27 January 1916

First performance: 1 February 1916; Carl Nielsen, conductor; Musikforeningen Orchestra

Last MSO performance: 16 January 2010; Paul Daniel, conductor

Instrumentation: 3 flutes (3rd doubling on piccolo); 3 oboes; 3 clarinets; 3 bassoons (3rd doubling on contrabassoon); 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones; tuba; 2 timpani; strings

Approximate duration: 36 minutes

Born to a poor family in a small agrarian village, Carl Nielsen consistently underscored the centrality of his rural upbringing to his artistic identity. His father Niels, a folk musician and amateur violinist, provided his musically precocious son with an elementary education; by the age of nine, Nielsen was playing the works of Haydn and Mozart in his local orchestra, impressing upon his creative psyche the primacy of melody and rhythm as foundational elements of music. After a few academically unremarkable years at the Copenhagen Conservatory, he won a position as a violinist in Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Orchestra in 1889 and began to turn more deliberately toward composition.

By the time Nielsen began drafting his fourth symphony, he had found recognition as one of the leading symphonists of his native Denmark. Initially immersed in the language of the symphonic classicists, it was his exposure as an orchestral musician to Richard Wagner’s harmonically radical operas that infused Nielsen’s work with the chromaticism and textural subtleties which were by then defining early “modern” music. He arrived in isolation at a totally novel conception of thematic treatment, form, and extended harmony, reformulating the musical concision and stylistic clarity of the previous century into a vividly dynamic technique that prioritized an economy of line, rhythm as a propelling factor, and structural design informed by motivic development rather than the winding melodies that pervaded the high Romantic style.

The cataclysm of the “Great War” left an indelible mark on Nielsen’s musical style and psychological outlook. An ardent naturalist with a profound respect for the miracle of life, Nielsen’s letters from 1914 articulate his growing interest in giving musical expression to what he called “the elemental will to live” — writing to the Danish singer Emil Holm that summer, he spoke of “a kind of symphony in one movement, meant to evoke all that one feels and thinks about the concept of what we call life … all the way from the most elementary form of expression to the highest spiritual rapture.” Composed amid the political chaos and military violence that haunted

Europe in the late 1910s, “The Inextinguishable” — a word Nielsen himself chose — remains one of his most frequently performed works.

In four movements played without pause, a constant flow of ideas binds the whole of the traditional symphonic structure into a single iridescent musical statement. From the outset, the composer thrusts his audience into sonic tumult, juxtaposing a tonal center of D in the woodwinds against its flat seventh (a favored interval in Nielsen’s work) of C in the strings. The second theme, sounded by clarinets in thirds, furnishes the movement with the substance of its development and subsequent consummation. In lieu of the typically slow, inwardly oriented second movement, Nielsen inserts a wonderfully refined allegretto in the manner of Johannes Brahms. Scored almost exclusively for the woodwinds, its clear, contrapuntal textures epitomize the Classical ideals of balance and restraint — though not without flashes of Nielsen’s idiosyncratic approach to harmony.

The expected adagio is delayed until the third movement, which begins with a dramatic declaration from the violins accompanied only by pizzicati and punctuations from the timpani. Nielsen develops the musical line in a subtle, relatively sparse manner before allowing the full splendor of the orchestra to impel the material to its pinnacle, ending with the forlorn sound of the oboe suspended above a sea of trills in the strings. The finale, with its succession of fantastical effects and tonally adventurous episodes — including a bone-rattling “duel” between the two sets of timpani onstage — concludes with a radiant coda in E major, crowning Nielsen’s musical testament to the unconquerable will to life.

SACRA NOVA CHORALE presents:

Featuring works by Thompson, Schubert, Vivaldi, Mozart, and Beethoven; with the premiere of two new compositions

Friday, October 24 at 7:00 PM at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church & Sunday, October 26 at 4:00 PM at the Cathedral of St. John the For tickets and information on the 2025 concert season, please visit sacranovachorale.com

HANDEL’S MESSIAH

Friday, November 21, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 22, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Sherezade Panthaki, soprano

Key’mon Murrah, countertenor

Thomas Cooley, tenor

Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Cheryl Frazes Hill, director

GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL

Messiah, HWV 56

PART I

Sinfonia

SCENE I: The prophecy of Salvation

Recitative (Tenor): Comfort ye, my people

Air (Tenor): Ev’ry valley shall be exalted

Anthem (Chorus): And the glory of the Lord

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

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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

Instrumentation: 2 oboes; bassoon; 2 trumpets; timpani; harpsichord; organ; strings

Approximate duration: 2 hours and 5 minutes

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

HOME ALONE 2: LOST IN NEW YORK IN CONCERT

FILM WITH ORCHESTRA

Friday, November 28, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 29, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, November 30, 2025 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ryan Tani, conductor

20th Century Studios

Feature Film with Live Orchestra

Directed by Chris Columbus

Written & Produced by John Hughes

Original Score Composed and Arranged by John Williams

Executive Producers Mark Radcliffe, Duncan Henderson, Richard Vane CAST

Kevin McAllister ............................................ Macaulay Culkin

Harry Lime .....................................................................Joe Pesci

Marv Murchins ....................................................... Daniel Stern

Peter McAllister .......................................................John Heard

Mr. Hector ................................................................... Tim Curry

Pigeon Lady ......................................................... Brenda Fricker

Kate McAllister ............................................. Catherine O’Hara This film is rated “PG”

© 1992 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved Original Soundtrack available wherever you stream music.

©Disney

Today’s performance lasts approximately 2 hours, including a 20-minute intermission. The performance is a presentation of the feature film Home Alone 2 with a live performance of the film’s score. Out of respect for the musicians and your fellow audience members, please remain seated until the conclusion of the end credits.

Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts © All rights reserved.

Film projectors generously donated by MARCUS CORPORATION. This weekend’s media sponsor is ONMILWAUKEE.

Guest Artist Biographies

JOHN WILLIAMS

In a career spanning more than six decades, John Williams has become one of America’s most accomplished and successful composers for film and the concert stage. He remains one of our nation’s most distinguished and contributive musical voices. He has composed the music for more than 100 films, including all nine Star Wars films, the first three Harry Potter films, Schindler’s List, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, and the Indiana Jones films. He served as music director of the Boston Pops Orchestra for 14 seasons and remains their laureate conductor. He has composed numerous works for the concert stage, including two symphonies and more than a dozen concertos commissioned by some of America’s most prominent orchestras. He has received five Academy Awards and 54 Oscar nominations, seven British Academy Awards, 26 Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, and five Emmys. His other honors include the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts, an honorary KBE from Queen Elizabeth II, the Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute, Spain’s Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts, and the Gold Medal from the UK’s prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society.

Milwaukee Sings at Christmas Milwaukee Sings at Christmas

Sunday, Decmber 14, 2025

4PM | Free-Will Offering Accepted

4PM | Free-Will Offering Accepted Sunday, Decmber 14, 2025

HOMETOWN HOLIDAY POPS

Saturday, December 13, 2025 at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 14, 2025 at 2:30 pm

Friday, December 19, 2025 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, December 20, 2025 at 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Sunday, December 21, 2025 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ryan Tani, conductor

LaKisha Jones, soprano

Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble

Jana Larson, artistic director

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Timothy Benson, assistant director

TRADITIONAL/arr. Don Sebesky

A Christmas Scherzo

Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella Here We Come A-wassailing

The Holly and The Ivy

I Saw Three Ships

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O Tannenbaum

TRADITIONAL/arr. Randol Alan Bass

Joy to the World

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

FELIX BERNARD AND RICHARD BERNHARD SMITH/arr. Cy Payne

Winter Wonderland

LaKisha Jones, soprano

WALTER AFANASIEFF AND MARIAH CAREY/arr. Tedd Firth

All I Want for Christmas is You

LaKisha Jones, soprano

PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY/arr. Jeff Tyzik

Nutcracker Mini Jazz Suite

I. Dance of the Sugar Plums

III. Swing Dance á la Russe

GUSTAV HOLST

Christmas Day

TRADITIONAL/arr. John A. Behnke

Il est né [“He Is Born”]

TRADITIONAL/arr. Mack Wilberg

Four Christmas Carols

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble

III. Away in a Manger

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

BUDDY GREENE AND MARK LOWRY/arr. Randall Craig Fleischer

Mary, Did You Know?

INTERMISSION

LaKisha Jones, soprano

RANDOL ALAN BASS

Gloria

TRADITIONAL/arr. Lucas Richman

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Hanukkah Festival Overture

TRADITIONAL/arr. Arnold Sherman

Bell Carol Fantasy

STEVEN AMUNDSON

Glories Ring

Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble

Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble

JOHN FREDERICK COOTS AND HAVEN GILLESPIE/arr. Bill Holcombe

Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town

LaKisha Jones, soprano

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Continued on page 44

HOMETOWN HOLIDAY POPS

Continued from page 43

LEROY ANDERSON

Sleigh Ride

TRADITIONAL/arr. John Finnegan

Christmas Singalong

Jingle Bells

Joy to the World

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing Silent Night Deck the Hall

O Come, All Ye Faithful

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

ADOLPHE ADAM AND JOHN SULLIVAN DWIGHT/arr. David Clydesdale O Holy Night

LaKisha Jones, soprano

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble

Hometown Holiday Pops is sponsored by the WE ENERGIES FOUNDATION. This weekend’s media sponsor is WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO.

The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes. All programs are subject to change.

Guest Artist Biographies

TIMOTHY BENSON

Timothy Benson has been the assistant director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus since 1994 and had prepared the chorus for several of its previous Holiday Pops concerts. He has served as director of music and organist at several churches since playing his first mass at age 10. A Milwaukee native, he began playing the piano at the age of five before taking up pipe organ studies. His former teachers include S. Theophane Hytrek, Christopher Herrick, and Peter le Huray.

Graduate studies in music took Benson to England, where he studied musical composition at Cambridge University. His teachers included Paul Patterson and Robin Holloway, and he undertook private study in Wales with William Mathias. A summer session in Croydon at the Royal School of Church Music included further studies in organ with Peter Hurford and Stephen Cleobury, as well as vocal pedagogy and choral conducting with Philip Ledger and George Guest. That summer saw Benson as the guest organist in a performance of J. S. Bach’s Magnificat for Her Majesty, the Queen Mother.

Upon returning to the U.S., he joined the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, then under the directorship of its founder, Margaret Hawkins, who asked him to pursue yet further graduate studies with her at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. While there, he studied choral conducting with Hawkins, orchestral conducting with Daniel Forlano, and vocal pedagogy with Signe Quale.

Benson enjoys the life of working with the wonderful singers of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, bringing the soul-enriching beauty of music to the wider community, providing great organ music and choral direction to churches in the area, and maintaining a small but thriving number of both organ and voice students.

LAKISHA JONES

Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 season of “American Idol,” LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim center stage in music, theater, and television.

Having worked with hit-making songwriters and producers including Tony Nicholas (Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross), Ro & Sauce (Brandy, NeYo) and Greg Curtis (Keyshia Cole, Yolanda Adams), Jones’s album So Glad I’m Me featured a spirited mix of R&B and soul. A few noteworthy songs included the single “Same Song,” penned by award-winning songwriter Dianne Warren, Whitney Houston’s “You Give Good Love,” the gospel song “Just As I Am,” and Jones’s soaring ballad to her daughter, “Beautiful Girl.”

Her drive and motivation date back to her childhood in Flint, Michigan. Raised by her mother and grandmother, Jones was exposed to music by legendary singers such as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle, with her grandmother urging the young girl to “let your voice shine,” thereby prompting Jones to sing in church choirs and music programs. Joining various choral groups and a cappella choruses throughout high school, Jones entered and won the top prize at Flint’s local talent contest, The Super Show, in 1997.

Jones then went to New York to audition for American Idol and segued from Idol to the Broadway stage for The Color Purple, where she played Sophia, for which she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor. Jones participated in Khan’s 35th anniversary tour. Following her

Guest Artist Biographies

Broadway stint, Jones provided vocal coaching on MTV’s reality competition Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods, a show designed to find and hone Broadway’s next star.

A frequent soloist with orchestras around the world, Jones has performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony and Opera, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Windham Chamber Singers, Grand Rapids Symphony, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Battle Creek Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Long Bay Symphony Orchestra, and the International Music Festival Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic, among many others.

MILWAUKEE HANDBELL ENSEMBLE

The Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble is an auditioned community handbell ensemble of 14 ringers who play on 73 handbells and 73 hand chimes under the direction of Jana Larson. Over the past 23 years, the MHE has gained wide popularity in the Milwaukee community and beyond. They are known for their astonishing memorized performances, for premiering new arrangements of popular music, and for serving as the recording choir for American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR) Publishing. They have been guest performers with Midwest Vocal Express, Bel Canto Chorus, Present Music, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. The MHE has performed numerous times with the MSO at Christmas time under conductors Doc Severinsen, Stuart Chafetz, Jeff Tyzik, Andreas Delfs, and Ryan Tani. In December 2023, the MHE performed in the halftime show for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The MHE has also expanded their reach by touring and performing throughout the Midwest. The group was a featured performer at the Area 7 Handbell Festival in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2016 and at the National Seminar for the Handbell Musicians of America in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2018.

In May of 2013, the MHE became a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Their mission is “to further the art of handbell ringing by educating, inspiring, and informing others of the art form” by showcasing advanced handbell repertoire while serving as a musical resource for the Milwaukee metropolitan area and beyond.

The MHE has recorded two CDs: An American Sampler and An MHE Christmas Celebration

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PRODUCTION PACKAGE

PRODUCTION PACKAGE

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Choose a 4-seat or 6-seat package for any combination of

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VISIONARIES

Commitments of $1,000,000 and above

Two Anonymous Donors

Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation

Richard Bradley

Charles and Marie Caestecker

Concertmaster Chair

Ellen and Joe Checota

The Cudahy Foundation

Franklyn Esenberg

Herzfeld Foundation

Krause Family Principal Horn Chair

Dr. Keith Austin Larson

Principal Organ Chair

Laskin Family Foundation

Dr. Brent and Susan Martin

Andy Nunemaker French Horn Chair

Phyllis and Harleth Pubanz

Gertrude M. Puelicher Education Fund

Michael and Jeanne Schmitz

President and Executive Director Chair

John and Judith Simonitsch Tuba Chair

Stein Family Foundation

Principal Pops Conductor Chair

John Stewig

Polly and Bill Van Dyke

Music Director Chair

James E. Van Ess

Principal Librarian Chair

Thora M. Vervoren First Associate Concertmaster Chair

The Family of Evonne Winston and Paul Nausieda

PHILANTHROPISTS

Commitments of $500,000 and above

One Anonymous Donor

Donald B. Abert Principal Bass Chair

Mr. Richard Blomquist

Patrice L. (Patti) Bringe

Margaret and Roy Butter

Principal Flute Chair

Bobbi and Jim Caraway

Donald and Judy Christl

Fred Fuller Trumpet Chair

Sandra and William Haack

Douglas M. Hagerman

Mrs. Alyce Coyne Katayma

Andrea and Woodrow Leung Principal

Second Violin Chair and Fred Fuller

Dorothea C. Mayer Principal Cello Chair

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra League Principal Oboe Chair

Northwestern Mutual Foundation

Melitta S. Pick Endowed Piano Chair

Dr. Carol Pohl

Walter L. Robb Family

Principal Trumpet Chair

Robert T. Rolfs Foundation

Gertrude Elser and John Edward Schroeder Guest Artist Fund

Walter Schroeder Foundation

Principal Harp Chair

Muriel C. and John D. Silbar Family

Principal Bassoon Chair

Marjorie Tiefenthaler

Principal Trombone Chair

Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner Family Principal Viola Chair

BENEFACTORS

Commitments of $100,000 and above

Four Anonymous Donors

Patty and Jay Baker

Fund for Guest Artists

Mr. and Mrs. Frederick J.O. Blachly

Philip Blank English Horn Chair in memoriam to John Martin and his favorite cousin, Beatrice Blank

Judith and Stanton Bluestone

Estate of Lloyd Broehm

Louise Cattoi, in memory of David and Angela Cattoi

Lynn Chappy Salon Series

Terry J. Dorr

Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Charitable Trusts

Franklyn Esenberg

Principal Clarinet Chair

David L. Harrison Endowment for Music Education

Estate of Sally Hennen

Karen Hung and Robert Coletti

Richard M. Kimball Bass Trombone Chair

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Judy and Gary Jorgensen

Judith A. Keyes MSOL Docent Fund

Charles A. Krause

Donald and JoAnne Krause Music Education Endowment Fund

Martin J. Krebs

Co-Principal Trumpet Chair

Laskin Family Foundation

Charles and Barbara Lund

Mr. Peter L. Mahler

Marcus Corporation Foundation Guest Artist Fund

Annette Marra

Susan and Brent Martin

Christian and Kate Mitchell

William and Marian Nasgovitz

Estate of Jessica Nienas

John and Elizabeth Ogden

Lois and Richard Pauls

Gordana and Milan Racic

The Erika Richman MSO-MYSO

Reading Workshop Fund

Pat and Allen Rieselbach

Friends of Janet F. Ruggeri

Assistant Principal Viola Chair

Sara and Jay Schwister

Allison M. & Dale R. Smith

Percussion Fund

Estate of Walter S. Smolenski, Jr.

Bert L. & Patricia S. Steigleder

Charitable Trust

Donald B. and Ruth P. Taylor

Assistant Principal Clarinet Chair

Gile & Linda Tojek

Haruki Toyama

Mrs. William D. Vogel

Barbara and Ted Wiley

Jack Winter Guest Artist Fund

Fern L. Young Endowment Fund for Guest Artists

MUSICAL LEGACY SOCIETY

The Musical Legacy Society recognizes and appreciates the individuals who have made a planned gift to the MSO. The MSO invites you to join these generous donors who have remembered the orchestra in their estate plans.

Nine Anonymous Donors

George R. Affeldt

Dana and Gail Atkins

Robert Balderson

Bruce and Margaret Barr

Adam Bauman

Priscilla and Anthony Beadell

Mr. F. L. Bidinger

Dr. Philip and Beatrice Blank

Mr. Richard Blomquist

Judith and Stanton Bluestone

Patrice L. (Patti) Bringe

Jean S. Britt

Laurette Broehm

Neil Brooks

Anthony and Vicki Cecalupo

Lynn Chappy

Ellen and Joe Checota

Donald and Judy Christl

Mary E. and James M. Connelly

Jo Ann Corrao

Lois Ellen Debbink

Mary Ann Delzer

Robert C. and Lois K. Dittus

Julie Doneis

Terry J. Dorr

Donn Dresselhuys

Beth and Ted Durant

Rosemarie Eierman

Franklyn Esenberg

JoAnn Falletta

Donald L. Feinsilver, M.D.

Susie and Robert Fono

Ruth and John Fredericks

Brett Goodman

Roberta Gordon

Marta P. and Doyne M. Haas

Douglas M. Hagerman

Ms. Jean I. Hamann

Ms. Sybille Hamilton

Kristin A. Hansen

David L. Harrison

Judy Harrison

Cheryl H. and Roy L. Hauswirth

Cliff Heise

Sidney and Suzanne Herszenson

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Hoke

Glenda Holm

Jean and Charles Holmburg

Karen Hung and Robert Coletti

Myra Huth

William and Janet Isbister

Lee and Barbara Jacobi

Leon and Betsy Janssen

Musical Legacy Society/Annual Fund

Marilyn W. John

Faith L. Johnson

Jayne J. Jordan

Judy and Gary Jorgensen

Debra Jupka

James A. and Robin S. Kasch

Howard Kaspin

James H. Keyes

Judith A. Keyes

Richard and Sarah Kimball

Mary Krall

JoAnne and Donald Krause

Martin J. and Alice Krebs

Ronald and Vicki Krizek

Cynthia Krueger-Prost

Alice Kuramoto

Steven E. Landfried

Mr. Bruce R. Laning

Victor Larson

Tom and Lise Lawson

Andrea and Woodrow Leung

Mr. Robert D. Lidicker

Mr. and Mrs. John B. Liebenstein

Drs. John and Theresa Liu

Mr. Peter L. Mahler

Dr. John and Kristie Malone

Steven and Mary Rose Marinkovich

Ms. Kathleen Marquardt

Susan and Brent Martin

JoAnne Matchette

Rita T. and James C. McDonald

Patricia and James McGavock

Nancy McGiveran

Mark and Donna Metzendorf

Mrs. Christel U. Mildenberg

Christian and Kate Mitchell

Joan Moeller

Ms. Melodi Muehlbauer

Robert Mulcahy

Kathleen M. Murphy

William and Marian Nasgovitz

Mark Niehaus

Andy Nunemaker

Diana and Gerald Ogren

Lynn and Lawrence Olsen

Mr. and Mrs. Philip W. Orth

Lygere Panagopoulos

Deborah Patel

Gerald T. and Carol K. Petersen

Mr. and Mrs. Ronald R. Poe

Dr. Carol Pohl

Julie Quinlan Brame and Jason Brame

Ms. Harvian Raasch-Hooten

Christine Radiske and Herbert Quigley

Steve and Susan Ragatz

Catherine A. Regner

Stephen and Frances Richman

Pat and David Rierson

Pat and Allen Rieselbach

Roger B. Ruggeri and Andrea K. Wagoner

Nina Sarenac

Mary B. Schley in recognition of David L. Schley

Michael J. and Jeanne E. Schmitz

James and Kathleen Scholler

Charitable Fund

James Schultz and Donna Menzer

Mason Sherwood and Mark Franke

John and Judith Simonitsch

Margles Singleton

Lois Bernard and William Small

Dale and Allison Smith

John Stewig and Richard Bradley

Dr. Robert A. and Kathleen Sullo

Terry Burko and David Taggart

Lois Tetzlaff

Gile and Linda Tojek

E. Charlotte Theis

James E. Van Ess

Thora Vervoren

Dr. Richard O. and Judith A. Wagner

Veronica Wallace-Kraemer

Michael Walton

Brian A. Warnecke

Earl Wasserman

Alice Weiss

Carol and James Wiensch

Janet Wilgus

Rolland and Sharon Wilson

Floyd Woldt

Sandra and Ross Workman

For more information on becoming a Musical Legacy Society member, please contact the Advancement Office at 414-226-7891.

ANNUAL FUND

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra truly values the music lovers in the concert hall, and we thank our contributors to the Annual Fund for investing their time and support in this treasure. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions to the Annual Fund as of September 26, 2025.

CONDUCTOR CIRCLE

$100,000 and above

Ellen and Joe Checota

Mrs. George C. Kaiser

Donald and JoAnne Krause

Marty Krebs

Sheldon and Marianne Lubar

Charitable Fund of the Lubar

Family Foundation

Michael Schmitz

Julia and David Uihlein

$50,000 and above

Laura and Mike Arnow

Anthony and Vicki Cecalupo

Mr. and Mrs. Donald S. Wilson

$25,000 and above

One Anonymous Donor

Bobbi and Jim Caraway

Mr. and Mrs. Franklyn Esenberg

Mrs. Susan G. Gebhardt

Doug Hagerman

Judith A. Keyes

Robert and Gail Korb

Dr. Brent and Susan Martin

Maureen McCabe

Dr. Carol Pohl

Nancy and Greg Smith

Drs. George and Christine Sosnovsky

Charitable Trust

Drs. Robert Taylor and Janice McFarland Taylor

Thora Vervoren

James and Sue Wiechmann

$15,000 and above

Two Anonymous Donors

Richard Bradley

Marilyn and John Breidster

Elaine Burke

Mary and James Connelly

Dr. Deborah and Jeff Costakos

Mrs. Alyce Coyne Katayama

The Paul & Connie Flagg Family Charitable Fund

George E. Forish, Jr.

Kim and Nancy Graff

Drs. Carla and Robert Hay

Jewish Community Foundation

Eileen and Howard Dubner Donor Advised Fund

Judy and Gary Jorgensen

Charles and Barbara Lund

Dr. Ann H. and Mr. Michael J. McDonald

Teresa and Mike Mogensen

Lois and Richard Pauls

Pat Rieselbach

Sara and Jay Schwister

John and Judith Simonitsch

Allison M. and Dale R. Smith

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas R. Tiffany

Haruki Toyama

Alice Weiss

Herbert Zien and Elizabeth Levins

$10,000 and above

Two Anonymous Donors

Dr. Rita Bakalars

Robert Balderson

William and Barbara Boles

Mrs. William T. Dicus

Joanne Doehler

Jack Douthitt and Michelle Zimmer

Bruce T. Faure M.D.

Mary Lou M. Findley

Elizabeth and William Genne

Judith J. Goetz

Stephanie and Steve Hancock

Katherine Hauser

Mr. and Mrs. Eric E. Hobbs

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Hoke

Christine Krueger

Geraldine Lash

Mr. Peter L. Mahler

Mark and Donna Metzendorf

Dr. Mary Ellen Mitchanis

Bob and Barbara Monnat

Patrick and Mary Murphy

Andy Nunemaker

Julie Peay

Leslie and Aaron Plamann

Lynn and Craig Schmutzer

Tracy S. Wang, MD

Evonne Winston

Diana J. Wood

PRINCIPAL CIRCLE

$5,000 and above

Three Anonymous Donors

Fred and Kay Austermann

Thomas Bagwell and Michelle Hiebert

Natalie Beckwith

Lois Bernard

Richard and Kay Bibler

Dr. Sherry H. Blumberg

Mary and Terry Briscoe

Marcia P. Brooks and Edward J. Hammond

Roger Byhardt

Ms. Trish Calvy

Ara and Valerie Cherchian

Donald and Judy Christl

Sandra and Russell Dagon

Paul Dekker

Karen Dobbs and Chris DeNardis

Jacquelyn and Dalibor Drummer

Beth and Ted Durant

Dr. Eric Durant and Scott Swickard

Dr. and Mrs. Harry A. Easom

Dr. Donald Feinsilver and JoAnn Corrao

Stan and Janet Fox

Beth and Jim Fritz

Alison Graf and Richard Schreiner

Jean and Thomas Harbeck Family Foundation

James and Crystal Hegge

Ms. Mary E. Henke

Mark and Judy Hibbard

Peg and Mark Humphrey

James and Karen Hyde

Lee and Barbara Jacobi

Leon Janssen

Jayne J. Jordan

Lynn and Tom Kassouf

Benedict and Lee Kordus

Charmaine and James LaBelle

Mary E. Lacy

Dr. Joseph and Amy Leung

Peter and Kathleen Lillegren

Gerald and Elaine Mainman

Sara and Nathan Manning

John and Linda Mellowes

Judith Fitzgerald Miller

Rusti and Steve Moffic

Barbara and Layton Olsen

Brian and Maura Packham

Elaine Pagedas

Ellen Rohwer Pappas and Timothy Pappas

Sharon L. Petrie

Dr. and Mrs. Richard A. Pierce-Ruhland

Jim and Fran Proulx

Christine Radiske and Herbert Quigley

Jerome Randall and Mary Hauser

Dr. Donna Recht and Dr. Robert Newby

Steve and Fran Richman

Pat and David Rierson

Roger Ritzow

Mary Roberts

Gayle G. Rosemann and Paul E. McElwee

Patricia and Ronald Santilli

Mr. Daniel J. Schicker

Joan and Kevin Schultz

Mr. Thomas P. Schweda

Lynne Shaner

Joan Spector

Carlton Stansbury

Bob and Betty Streng

Jim Strey

Mrs. Frank Thometz (Kathleen)

Mrs. James Urdan

Mr. and Mrs. Francis Wasielewski

Nora and Jude Werra

Janet Wilgus

Jessica R. Wirth

$3,500 and above

One Anonymous Donor

Marlene and Bert Bilsky

David and Diane Buck

Daniel and Allison Byrne

Chris and Katie Callen

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Christie

Kurt and Rosemary Glaisner

Ginny Hall

Margarete and David Harvey

Drs. Margie Boyles and Stephen Hinkle

Barbara Hunt

David and Mel Johnson

Megumi Kanda Hemann and Dietrich Hemann

Stanley Kritzik

Norm and Judy Lasca

Tom Lindow

Lynn Marzinski

Ann Rosenthal and Benson Massey

Dr. and Mrs. Debesh Mazumdar

Dottie Rotter

Judy and Tom Schmid

James Schultz and Donna Menzer

Greg and Marybeth Shuppe

Richard and Sheryl Smith

Roger and Judy Smith

Sue and Boo Smith

Pamela and John Stampen

James and Catherine Startt

Mark Valkenburgh

Jim Ward

Jim and Sandy Wrangell

Carol and Richard Wythes

Marshall Zarem

Sandra Zingler

Leo Zoeller

ORCHESTRA CIRCLE

$2,000 and above

Two Anonymous Donors

Drs. Helmut and Sandra Ammon

Dr. Joan Arvedson

Mark and Laura Barnard

Bruce and Maggie Barr

Priscilla and Anthony Beadell

Jacqlynn Behnke

Elliot and Karen Berman

Lawrence Bialcik

Roger J. Bialcik

Jeff and Elizabeth Billings

Scott Bolens and Elizabeth Forman

Virginia Bolger

Dr. and Mrs. Squat Botley

Walter and Virginia Boyer

Cheri and Tom Briscoe

Michael and Marianna Bruch

Mike and Ericka Burzynski

Teri Carpenter

Leigh Barker-Cheesebro

Mr. and Mrs. Stephen L. Chernof

Lynda and Tom Curl

Larry and Eileen Dean

Ms. Nancy A. Desjardins

Jen Dirks

Art and Rhonda Downey

Barbara and Harry L. Drake

Steven and Buffy Duback

Sigrid Dynek and Barry Axelrood

Signe and Gerald Emmerich, Jr.

Shirley Erwin

Joseph and Joan Fall

Kristin Fewel

Mr. and Mrs. A. William Finke

Jo Ann and Dale Frederickson

Timothy Gerend

Barbara Gill

Dale and Sara Harmelink

Millicent Hawley

Robert Hey

Howard and Susan Hopwood

Robert S. Jakubiak

Ms. Lynda Johnson

Maja Jurisic and Don Fraker

Matthew and Kathryn Kamm

Dr. Bruce and Anna Kaufman

Mr. Rick Kirby

Mr. and Mrs. F. Michael Kluiber

Kolaga Family Charitable Trust

Julilly W. Kohler

Maritza and Mario Laguna

Mr. and Mrs. Ian Lambert

Drs. Kaye and Prakash Laud

Micaela Levine and Thomas St. John

Mr. and Mrs. Mark Levy

Bruce and Elizabeth Loder

Kathleen Lovelace

Guy and Mary Jo McDonald

Mrs. Debra L. Metz

Mr. and Mrs. George Meyer

Steve and Ellie Miller

Gregory and Susan Milleville

Mark and Carol Mitchell

Melodi Muehlbauer

Ms. Mary Ann Mueller

Laurie Ocepek

Susan M. Otto

Dr. and Mrs. James T. Paloucek

Jamshed and Deborah Patel

Raymond and Janice Perry

Gerald T. and Carol K. Petersen

David J. Peterson

Kathryn Koenen Potos

Catherine Quirk

Drs. Walter and Lisa Rich

Dr. Marcia J.S. Richards

Susan Riedel

Mrs. David Y. Rosenzweig

Mr. Thomas Schneider

Rev. Doug and Marilyn Schoen

Ralph and Cheryl Schregardus

Annual Fund

Elaine and Martin Schreiber

Dr. and Mrs. Kevin R. Siebenlist

Paul Seifert

Margles Singleton

Mrs. George R. Slater

Dr. and Mrs. C. John Snyder

Leonard Sobczak

Loretto and Dick Steinmetz

Jeff and Jody Steren

Richard and Linda Stevens

Ian and Ellen Szczygielski

David Taggart and Terry Burko

John and Anne Thomas

Joan Thompson

Mr. Stephen Thompson

Joy Towell

Mike Uihlein

Linda and Lynn Unkefer

Mark Van Hecke

Nancy Vrabec and Alastair Boake

Michael Walton

Ann and Joseph Wenzler

Prati and Norm Wojtal

Lee and Carol Wolcott

Mr. Kevin R. Woller

Mr. Wilfred Wollner

William and Denise Zeidler

Mrs. Sharon S. Ziegler

$1,000 and above

Three Anonymous Donors

Donald and Jantina Adriano

Ruth Agrusa

Mr. and Mrs. James B. Anello

Sue and Louie Andrew

Betty Arndt

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Ashmore

Richard and Sara Aster

Danielle Baerwald

Paul E. Barkhaus, MD

Steve and Mary Barney

James and Nora Barry

Paul and Paula Bartel

Mr. James M. Baumgartner

Jack Beatty

Christine Beck

Dianne and David Benner

Richard Bergman

Mrs. Kristine Best

Karen and Geoffrey Bilda

Robert Borch and Linda Wickstrom

Mr. and Mrs. Darold Borree

Art and Jacinda Bouton

Dan and Peg Bresnahan

James Brown and Ann Brophy

Kathleen Burchby, MD

Tom Buthod

Karen and Harry Carlson

Ms. Carol A. Carpenter

John Chain

Edith Christian

Margaret Crosby

William Curry

Gerald and Ellen DeMers

Ms. Kristine Demski

Thomas C. Dill

Mary Paula Dix

Donald, Kathleen,

and Amy Domagalski

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dougherty

Gloria and Peter Drenzek

Dr. and Mrs. Peter Drescher

Mary Ann Dude

Thomas Durkin and Joan Robotham

Lori Erickson and John Bell

Jill and George Fahr

Helen Forster

Drs. Mark and Virginia Gennis

Jane K. Gertler

Pearl Mary Goetsch

Ralph and Cherie Gorenstein

Sarah Gramentine

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Dresselhuys Family Fund

Leesley B. and Joan J. Hardy

Jay Kay Foundation Fund

Mr. and Mrs. James Grigg

Sharon and Michael Grinker

Douglas and Margaret Ann Haag

Lawrence and Tsui-Ching Hammond

Leila and Joe Hanson

Cheryl and Roy Hauswirth

Jean and John Henderson

Elizabeth and Herodotos Ellinas

Dr. Sidney and Suzanna Herszenson

Ms. Judy Hessel

Jenny and Bob Hillis

Mr. and Mrs. Bernard C. Hlavac

Jeanne and Conrad Holling

Richard and Jeanne Hryniewicki

Barbara Hunteman

Suzanne and Michael Hupy

Myra Huth

Alice and Jerome Jacobson

Faith L. Johnson

Karen and Dean Johnson

Robert and Carlotta Johnson

Mr. Stephen Kaniewski

Rose and Dale Kaser

Allan Kasprzak and Trudi Schmitt

Dr. Jack and Myrna Kaufman

Patrick and Jane Keily

Brian and Mary Lou Kennedy

Sarajane and Robert Kennedy

Joseph W. Kmoch

Mr. and Mrs. David Leevan

John and Janice Liebenstein

Matt and Patty Linn

Xia Liu

Neill and Fran Luebke

Stephen and Jane Lukowicz

Ms. Joan Maas

Ann MacIver

Dr. John and Kristie Malone

Jeanne and David Mantsch

Mr. Jonathan March

Steven and Mary Rose Marinkovich

Dr. and Mrs. Francisco Martinez

Dr. Daniel and Constance McCarty

Mr. Brian and Lesli McLinden

Robert E. Meldman and Lila F. Silverberg

Mr. and Mrs. Dean Mehlberg

Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence P. Moon

Karen Moore

Christine Mortensen

William and Laverne Mueller

Richard and Isabel Muirhead

David and Gail Nelson

Gladys Omahen

Joseph Pabst and John Schellinger

Douglas E. Peterson

Donald A. Pollack and Adrienne Pollack-Sender

William and Cynthia Prost

John and Susan Pustejovsky

Mr. Ed Puzia

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Quadracci

Dr. Francis J. Randall

Lysbeth and James Reiskytl

Dan and Anna Robbins

Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Robbins

Emily and Mike Robertson

Roger Ruggeri and Andrea Wagoner

Drs. Larry and Polly Ryan

Michael and Mary Ryan

Ms. LindaGale Sampson

Keri Sarajian and Rick Stratton

Ronald and Judith Shapiro

Wilbert and Genevieve Schauer

Foundation

Dr. Mary Lynn Schneider and Paul Thielhelm

Lawrence and Katherine Schnuck

Mark and Marlene Schrager

Mr. and Mrs. Mark W. Schwallie

Bob and Sally Schwarz

Ronald and Judith Shapiro

Mr. Reeves E. Smith

Ken and Dee Stein

Mr. and Mrs. Roland E. Strampe

Sally Swetnam

Tim and Bonnie Tesch

Kent and Marna Tess-Mattner

Winifred Thrall

Mr. and Mrs. James S. Tidey

Joan and David Totten

Katherine Troy

Roy and Sandra Uelner

James Van Ess

Ms. Beth L. Weckmueller

Henry J. Wellner and James Cook

Mr. and Mrs. Jerome T. Welz

Ann and Joe Wenzler

Barbara Wesener

David Wesley

Lynn and Richard Wesolek

Deborah and Gerald Wetter

Bob and Barbara Whealon

A. James White

Robert and Lana Wiese

Linda and Dan Wilhelms

Jay and Madonna Williams

Michael and Mary Williams

Rolland and Sharon Wilson

Ron and Alice Winkler

Mrs. Melinda D. Wolf

Daryl and Bonnie Wunrow

Dr. Donald and Marian Yoder

Gala Sponsors/Corporate & Foundation/Matching Gifts

GALA SPONSORS

Laura and Mike Arnow

ATC

BMO Harris Bank

Brewers Community Foundation, Inc.

Brown & Brown

Ernst & Young, LLP

Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.

Interstate Parking Company

Johnson Controls, Inc.

Marietta Investment Partners

Susan and Brent Martin

Bob and Barb Monnat

Northern Trust

Northwestern Mutual

Old National Bank

SixSibs Capital

Dale and Allison Smith

We Energies Foundation

Westbury Bank

Herb Zien and Liz Levins

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 in 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

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Dr. John H. and Sara Sue Esser Fund

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Fund

Herzfeld Foundation

Rockwell Automation

We Energies Foundation

$50,000 and above

Bader Philanthropies, Inc.

Chase Family Foundation

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Norman and Lucy Cohn Family Fund

Helen and Jeanette Oberndorfer Fund

Melitta S. and Joan M. Pick

Charitable Trust

$25,000 and above

Anonymous

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Gertrude Elser and John Edward Schroeder Fund

Johnson Controls, Inc.

National Endowment for the Arts

R.D. and Linda Peters Foundation

Schoenleber Foundation, Inc.

Wintrust Financial Corporation

Wisconsin Arts Board

$15,000 and above

A.O. Smith Foundation, Inc.

ATC

Bert L. & Patricia S. Steigleder

Charitable Trust

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

David C. Scott Foundation

Krause Family Foundation

U.S. Bank

$10,000 and above

Brico Fund

Ellsworth Corporation

General Mills Foundation

Gladys E. Gores Charitable Foundation

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Donald and Barbara Abert Fund

William A. and Mary M. Bonfield, Jr. Fund

Jane Bradley Pettit Foundation

Komatsu Mining Corp Foundation

Northwestern Mutual

Ralph Evinrude Foundation, Inc.

William and Janice Godfrey Family Foundation

Wispact Foundation

$5,000 and above

Charles D. Ortgiesen Foundation

Frieda and William Hunt Memorial

Gene and Ruth Posner Foundation, Inc.

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Margaret E. Sheehan Memorial Fund

Hamparian Family Foundation

Harbeck Family Foundation

Herb Kohl Philanthropies

Joyce Foundation

Julian Family Foundation

Milwaukee Arts Board

Milwaukee County Arts Fund (CAMPAC)

Richard G. Jacobus Family Foundation

Stackner Family Foundation, Inc.

Versiti Blood Research Center

$2,500 and above

Camille A. Lonstorf Trust

Dean Family Foundation

Dorothy Inbusch Foundation, Inc.

Enterprise Holdings

Gardner Foundation

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Del Chambers Fund

Eleanor N. Wilson Fund

ELM II Fund

Henry C., Eva M., Robert H. and Jack J. Gillo Charitable Fund

Margaret Heminway Wells Fund

Mildred L. Roehr & Herbert W. Roehr Fund

PKSD Law

Theodore W. Batterman Family Foundation

Walker Forge, Inc.

$1,000 and above

Albert J. & Flora H. Ellinger Foundation

Anthony Petullo Foundation, Inc.

Clare M. Peters Charitable Trust

Curt and Sue Culver Family Foundation

Delta Dental of Wisconsin

DeWitt LLP

Educators Credit Union

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

Bechthold Family Fund

Carrie Taylor & Nettie Taylor

Robinson Memorial Fund

Cottrell Balding Fund

George and Christine Sosnovsky Fund

George and Joan Hoehn Family Fund

Irene Edelstein Memorial Fund

Gruber Law Offices LLC

Hupy and Abraham S.C.

Mars Family Foundation

Michael Koss/Koss Foundation

Loyal D. Grinker

SixSibs Foundation

Townsend Foundation

Usinger Foundation

Wealthspire Advisors

$500 and above

Barney Family Foundation

Greater Milwaukee Foundation

de Hartog Family Fund

Robert C. Archer Designated Fund

Roxy and Bud Heyse Fund/Journal Fund

Wisconsin Women’s Health Foundation

MATCHING GIFTS

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the following corporations and foundations who match their employees’ contributions to the Annual Fund.

Abbvie

ATC

Aurora Health Care

Benevity Community Impact Fund

BMO Harris Bank

Caterpillar Foundation

CyberGrants, LLC

Dominion Foundation

Eaton Corporation

GE Foundation

Google Inc.

Johnson Controls Foundation

Kohl’s Corp.

Microsoft Corp.

National Philanthropic Trust

Northwestern Mutual

Paypal Giving Fund

Renaissance Charitable Foundation

Rockwell Automation

SherwinWilliams

Stifel

Sun Life

Thrivent Financial

U.S. Charitable Gift Trust

Golden Note Partners/Marquee Circle/Tributes

United Way of Greater Milwaukee and Waukesha County

Wintrust Financial Corporation

Wisconsin Energy Corporation

GOLDEN NOTE PARTNERS

The MSO gratefully acknowledges the following organizations and individuals for their gifts of product or services:

Belle Fiori – Official Event Florist of the MSO

Beth and Michael Giacobassi

Brian and Maura Packham

The Capital Grille

Central Standard Craft Distillery

Coffman Creative Events

Downer Avenue Wine & Spirits

Drury Hotels

Encore Playbills

Eric and Brenda Hobbs

Foley & Lardner LLP

GO Riteway Transportation Group

Hilton Milwaukee

Kohler Co.

Peter Mahler

Residence Inn-Milwaukee Downtown

Susan and Brent Martin

Sojourner Family Peace Center

Steinway Piano Gallery of Milwaukee

Studio Gear – Official Event Partner of the MSO

Wisconsin Public Radio

MARQUEE CIRCLE

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra proudly partners with the following members of the 2025.26 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.

DeWitt Law Firm

Ellsworth Corporation

Hupy and Abraham, S.C.

Walker Forge, Inc.

TRIBUTES

In memory of John “Steve” Anderson

One Anonymous Donor

Mr. and Mrs. Anthony W. Asmuth III

Sara and Dick Aster

Warren, Cathy, Olin, and Everett Banholzer

Kurt and Rosemary Glaisner

Sharon, Sophia, and Sarkis at Kirkland

James and Gisela Kuist

Serigraph Incorporated

In memory of Italo Babini

Terry Burko and David Taggart

In memory of Clair Baum

Julie and Gary Anderson

Sara and Dick Aster

Barbara and Philip Bail, Jr.

Stacy Wilson-Baum

Richard Bergman

Richard and Kay Bibler

Jane Lee and William Buege

Barbara and Allen Cairns

Joan Callan

Sinikka and Gilbert Church

Joyce Cupertino

Ryan Daniel

Barbara Dobbs

Marcia Dollerschell

Carol Dolphin

Patricia and Daniel Fetterley

Louise and David Gartzke

Judith Goetz

Alison Graf and Richard Schreiner

Tonya Hennen

Joseph and Louise Hoffman

Jayne J. Jordan

Alice Kuramoto

Gerald and Joan Luettgen

Harold and Goldie Markey

Patricia Morrison

Roxy Mortvedt and Charles Lewis

J.C. Oehlschlager

Richard and Suzanne Pieper

Frederick and Patricia Rudie

Carol Ryan

Richard Schmidt

Mary Ann Schwartz

Dr. and Mrs. C. John Snyder

Judith Tarabek

Dean and Katherine Thome

Jack Warden

Kathleen and Thomas Wilson

In honor of Beth and Mike

Giacobassi

Cindy and Tim Friedmann

In memory of Carmen Haberman

Terry Burko and David Taggart

In memory of Roman Kontorovsky

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Hauer

In memory of Elaine Mainman

Ann and Mark Johnson

In memory of Dr. A. Stratton

McAllister

Dr. Caryl McAllister

In memory of Sally Prodoehl

Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Christofferson

Barbara and Daniel Dedrick

Janet Friestad

Diane Lane

Dr. William and Susan LeFeber

Michele Masters

Tracie Zoll

In memory of Dr. Thomas Roberts

Mary Roberts

In honor of Hilde Strigenz

Maria Pretzl

In honor of Dr. Robert Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor

In memory of Judith Margaret

Wagner

Steven A. and Lisa L. Wagner

Schedule a blood donation today! versiti.org

S O U N D B I T E S YOUR PRE-CONCERT DINING IN THE BRADLEY SYMPHONY CENTER

Enhance your pre-concert dining with Indulge Catering Company — A Bianchini Experience at the Bradley Symphony Center. Begin your evening with an elevated meal in the Ellen & Joe Checota Atrium and delight in a delicious selection of appetizers, salad, entrées, sides, and desserts. Located steps away from your evening’s MSO performance, this curated dining option allows for a seamless experience. Sound Bites meals are offered beginning at 6:00 pm before all Friday and Saturday night concerts.

Jewish Home & Care Center

For

Every dollar spent in the gift shop supports the Hand in Hand grant, helping to fund

to the

We offer care and compassion in a warm and welcoming

and rehabilitative

Chai Point

and staff.

Wisconsin K certified, our Café offers delicious kosher food favorites and seasonal specials with beautiful panoramic views of Lake Michigan. Located in the Jewish Home lobby, dine in or carry out!

Chai Point offers independent and assisted living apartments with spectacular views of Lake Michigan and the downtown skyline. Enjoy premier amenities, enriching activities, chefprepared meals, onsite movie theater, and so much more. Certified under the LeadingAge Wisconsin Dementia Care Designation System™, our team of dementia specialists provides memory care in a safe and supportive environment. Our innovative day programs provide a spectrum of services and support to individuals living with memory loss within a warm and welcoming community.

Kavod Terrace

MSO Board of Directors

OFFICERS

Susan Martin, Chair

Gregory Smith, Chair-Elect; Secretary; Chair, Governance Committee

David Uihlein, Honorary Co-Chair

Julia Uihlein, Honorary Co-Chair

Patrick Murphy, Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee

Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair

EX OFFICIO DIRECTORS

Douglas M. Hagerman, Chair, Chair’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

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Susan Martin, Chair

Gregory Smith, Chair-Elect; Secretary; Chair, Governance Committee

Jennifer Dirks

Douglas M. Hagerman Chair, Chair’s Council

Eric E. Hobbs

Robert Klieger, Chair, Players’ Council

Mark A. Metzendorf, Chair, Advancement Committee

Christian Mitchell

Patrick Murphy, Treasurer; Chair, Finance Committee

Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair

Michael J. Schmitz

Pam Stampen, Chair, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion (EDI) Task Force

Haruki Toyama, Chair, Music Director Search Committee

ELECTED DIRECTORS

Daniel Byrne

Jeff Costakos

Steve Hancock, Chair, Education Committee

Renee Herzing

Alyce Coyne Katayama

Peter Mahler, Chair, Grand Future Committee

Teresa Mogensen

Robert B. Monnat

Leslie Plamann, Chair, Audit Committee

Craig A. Schmutzer

Jay E. Schwister, Chair, Retirement Plan Committee

Dale R. Smith

Tracy Tavolier

Tom Zale

Herb Zien, Chair, Facilities Management Committee

DESIGNATED DIRECTORS

City

Sachin Chheda

Theodore Perlick Molinari

Pegge Sytkowski, Chair, Marketing & Advocacy Committee

County

Rene Izquierdo

Niko Ruud

PLAYER DIRECTORS

Robert Klieger, Chair, Players’ Council

Ilana Setapen, Player-at-Large

CHAIR’S COUNCIL

Douglas M. Hagerman, Chair

Chris Abele

Laura J. Arnow

Richard S. Bibler

Charles Boyle

Roberta Caraway

Judy Christl

Mary E. Connelly

Donn R. Dresselhuys*

Eileen Dubner

Franklyn Esenberg

Marta P. Haas

Jean Holmburg

Barbara Hunt

Leon Janssen

Judy Jorgensen

James A. Kasch

Lee Walther Kordus

Michael J. Koss

JoAnne Krause

Martin J. Krebs

Keith Mardak

Susan Martin

Andy Nunemaker

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

MSO ENDOWMENT & FOUNDATION TRUSTEES

Bruce Laning, Trustee Chair

Amy Croen

Steven Etzel

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

MSO 2025.26 Administration

EXECUTIVE

Mark Niehaus, President & Executive Director, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz Chair

Bret Dorhout, Vice President of Artistic Planning

Tom Lindow, Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Kelley McCaskill, Vice President of Advancement

Terrell Pierce, Vice President of Orchestra Operations

Kathryn Reinardy, Vice President of Marketing & Communications

Rick Snow, Vice President of Facilities & Building Operations

Marquita Edwards, Director of Community Engagement

Sean McNally, Executive Assistant & Board Liaison

ADVANCEMENT

Colleen Bruce, Director of Major Gifts

Leah Peavler, Director of Institutional Advancement

William Loder, Gift Officer

Julie Jahn, Campaign & Planned Giving Manager

Megan Martin, Donor Stewardship Manager

Tracy Migon, Development Systems Manager

Andrea Moreno-Islas, Advancement Manager

Abby Vakulskas, Giving Manager, Advancement Communications

EDUCATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Rebecca Whitney, Director of Education

Courtney Buvid, ACE & Education Manager

Nathan Hickox-Young, Concerts for Schools & Education Manager

FINANCE

Nicole Magolan, Controller

Jenny Beier, Senior Accountant

Ira Mody, Accounting Coordinator

Crystal Reed-Hardy, Human Resources Manager

MARKETING

Lizzy Cichowski, Director of Marketing

Erin Kogler, Director of Communications

Adam Cohen, Patron Systems Manager

Katelyn Farebrother, Marketing Coordinator

David Jensen, Publications Manager

Josh Marino, Content and Communications Manager

Zachary-John Reinardy, Lead Designer

BOX OFFICE

Luther Gray, Director of Ticket Operations & Group Sales

Al Bartosik, Box Office Manager

Marie Holtyn, Box Office Supervisor

Adam Klarner, Patron Services Coordinator

OPERATIONS

Sean Goldman, Director of Operations

Antonio Padilla Denis, Director of Orchestra Personnel

Paul Beck, Principal Librarian, James E. Van Ess Principal Librarian Chair

Maiken Demet, Assistant to the Music Director

Albrecht Gaub, Artistic Coordinator

Matthew Geise, Assistant Librarian & Media Archivist

Miles McConnell, Artistic Operations Assistant

Paris Meyers, Assistant Manager of Orchestra Personnel

Emily Wacker Schultz, Artistic Associate

Lisa Sottile, Production Stage Manager

Tristan Wallace, Production Manager/Live Audio, MSO | Technical Director, BSC

Christina Williams, Chorus Manager

FACILITIES & EVENT SERVICES

Sam Hushek, Director of Events

Anthony Andronczyk, House Manager

Donovan Burton, Facilities Manager - 2nd Shift

Travis Byrd, Facilities Manager

Lisa Klimczak, House Manager

David Kotlewski, House Manager

Steve Pfisterer, House Manager

Jenn Sorvick, Event Operations Coordinator

Zed Waeltz, Event Services Manager

INDULGE CATERING CO.

Marta Bianchini, Chief Executive Officer

Marc Bianchini, Executive Chef

Cristina Bianchini, Director of Marketing and Event Coordinator

Valentina Bianchini, Director of Operations and Event Coordinator

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