CULTURE | SPONSORED BY THE MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
MSO OPENS VIRTUAL SEASON IN THE NEW
Bradley Symphony Center By Rick Walters
T
he Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) had hoped to open the 2020-21 season in October in spectacular fashion at the renovated 1930 Warner Grand Theater, now renamed the Bradley Symphony Center after the late philanthropists Harry and Peg Bradley. COVID-19, which has impacted nearly all performing arts groups, prevented that but is not the only factor. This summer, the building sustained millions of dollars in basement flooding damage in a storm. Delays are occurring as extensive repairs are underway concurrent with continuing construction. The most overused word of 2020 must be “pivot,” and circumstances have forced the MSO to pivot. In August, MSO announced plans for an all-virtual season performed by scaled-down ensembles. MSO president and executive director Mark
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Shepherd Express
Niehaus stated, “While we wish we could be together sooner, we look forward to the day when we can officially open the doors of the Bradley Symphony Center to our community. It will be well worth the wait!”
possibility of socially distanced concerts; the complete season will be announced mid-November. Some works will highlight sections of the orchestra, as well as music by under-represented composers, such as Eleanor Alberga, Jessie Montgomery, Dorothy Rudd Moore, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and James B. Wilson. More standard fare by Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Francis Poulenc, Henry Purcell and others will also be programmed.
NOT WHAT WAS ENVISIONED
Ticketed virtual performances will begin in the 1,650-seat Allen-Bradley Hall at the end of January, and MSO considers the
Choosing repertoire for a chamber orchestra or chamber ensemble is vastly different from a typical MSO season, which features large-scale works, adding as many as 25 players to the 70-musician roster, and sometimes with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus of 150-plus voices on stage. It is not the season that music director
Photos by Jonathan Kirn
