TCHAIKOVSKY’S SLEEPING BEAUTY
Friday, February 20, 2026 at 11:15 am
Saturday, February 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm
ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL
Alpesh Chauhan, conductor Francesca Dego, violin
SERGEI PROKOFIEV
Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Opus 63
I. Allegro moderato
II. Andante assai
III. Allegro, ben marcato Francesca Dego, violin
INTERMISSION
PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY
Selections from The Sleeping Beauty, Opus 66
Prologue No. 1 Introduction
No. 4 Finale
Act I No. 5 Scène
No. 6 Valse
No. 8 Pas d’action No. 9 Finale
Act II No. 19 Entr’acte symphonique et scène No. 20 Finale
Act III No. 21 Marche
No. 23 Pas de quatre
No. 30 Finale et apothéose
The 2025.26 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra can be heard on the Naxos, Telarc, Koss Classics, ProArte, AVIE, and Vox/Turnabout labels. MSO Classics recordings are available for digital streaming and download on Spotify, Apple Music, and more.
Guest Artist Biography
FRANCESCA DEGO
Italian American violinist Francesca Dego is celebrated for her compelling interpretations and flawless technique.
Recent highlights include appearances with the Houston Symphony, San Diego Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, and the National, Dallas, Detroit, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Vancouver symphony orchestras. On the world stage, Dego has performed with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, and Queensland Symphony Orchestra. Recent European highlights have included The Hallé, the Brucknerhaus in Linz, the Orchestre de Champs-Elysées, Orchestra Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the top Italian orchestras.
Dego’s 2025-26 season includes debuts with Austria’s Tiroler Festspiele Erl, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, City of Granada Orchestra, and George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. She returns to the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and Orchestra della Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice. Dego will be resident at Wigmore Hall in the 2026-27 season, where she will perform in chamber music and in recital, giving world premieres of two new works composed especially for her.
Dego is signed exclusively to Chandos Records. With a growing discography, her most recent recording of the violin concertos of Busoni and Brahms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Dalia Stasevska was released in March 2024, for which she was awarded the prestigious Franco Abbiati Prize. Her recordings of Mozart’s complete violin concertos with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by Sir Roger Norrington, received unanimous critical acclaim, including a five-star “Recording of the Month” review from BBC Music Magazine. Other releases on Chandos include the recital disc Il Cannone, and previous releases on Deutsche Grammophon include concerti by Paganini and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, as well as a complete survey of Beethoven’s violin sonatas and Paganini’s caprices.
Dego plays on a fine violin by Antonio Stradivari on loan from J & A Beare.
