Madison Symphony Orchestra Concerts – The Madison Symphony Orchestra
This story highlights coverage that showcases the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-2026 season repertoire. The articles below detail special events and artists that breathe this centennial to life. Thank you to all our partners for highlighting this special season! We encourage you to check each article linked under their respective section. Enjoy!
The Channel 3000
Madison Symphony Orchestra unveils 2025-2026 season schedule
By Samantha Calderon | April 30, 2025
MADISON, Wis. — The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) announced its 2025-2026 season schedule on Wednesday, featuring beloved performances such as “Toy Story” and “A Madison Symphony Christmas.” This season is particularly significant as it marks the orchestra’s 100th season.
To commemorate this milestone, the orchestra will host two Centennial Opening Weekend Concerts in September at the Overture Center for the Arts. The regular concert season will commence in October and conclude in May 2026. The season will culminate with a Centennial Closing Weekend Festival, showcasing performances from local artists.
Current and new subscribers can subscribe now, with options ranging from five to eight concert priced between $90 to $660. Single ticket prices for the Centennial Celebration concerts and MSO at the Movies range from $30 to $100, while subscription concerts single ticket prices are priced between $20 and $115.
Channel3000.com has complied a list of the featured shows:
“Pure Joy Opening Night: Magical Tchaikovsky & Maestro’s Dinner“
- Sept. 19
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Olga Kern – Piano
“Soar with Cirque de la Symphonie & Party into the Night“
- Sept. 20
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Cirque de la Symphonie – Special guest artists
“Disney and Pixar, Toy Story in Concert“
- Oct. 5
- Kyle Knox – Conductor
- Oct. 17-19
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Christopher Taylor – Piano
- Jeni Houser – Soprano
- Emily Fons – Mezzo-Soprano
- Madison Symphony Chorus, Beverly Taylor – Director
“Radiance“
- Nov. 21-23
- Robert Moody – Guest conductor
- Alban Gerhardt – Cello
“A Madison Symphony Christmas 2025“
- Dec. 5-7
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Alexandra LoBianco – Soprano
- Kyle Ketelsen – Bass-baritone
- Madison Symphony Chorus, Beverly Taylor – Director
- Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, Tamera and Leotha Stanley – Directors
- Madison Youth Choirs, Michael Ross – Artistic director
- Jan. 23-25, 2026
- Kazem Abdullah – Guest conductor
- Yefim Bronfman – Piano
- Feb. 20-22, 2026
- Tania Miller – Guest Conductor
- Rachel Barton Pine – Violin
- March 20-22, 2026
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Emanuel Ax – Piano
“Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark™ Live in Concert“
- March 28-29, 2026
- Kyle Knox – Conductor
- April 10-13, 2026
- Laura Jackson – Guest conductor
- Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
- May 1-3, 2026
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Ailyn Pérez – Soprano
- Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, Tamera and Leotha Stanley – Directors
- Madison Youth Choirs, Michael Ross – Artistic Director
“A Community Gift and Dream — for the Love of Music“
- June 13-14, 2026
- John DeMain – Conductor
- Julian Rhee – Violin
- Madison Symphony Orchestra Chorus, Beverly Taylor – Director
Madison Symphony Orchestra unveils 2025-2026 season schedule | News | channel3000.com
Symphony – League of American Orchestras
Madison Symphony Announces 2025-26 Season, Its 100th
June 3, 2025
In Friday’s (5/30) Cap Times (Wisconsin) Matt Ambrosio writes, “The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 100th season will boast concerts and events designed to celebrate the past, present and future of the ensemble and engage the community that has supported it over the past century. The centennial season starting in September promises fun community programs, invigorating guest conductors, Madison-favorite soloists, multimedia concerts and a commissioned world premiere…. From its humble beginnings as the Madison Civic Symphony in 1926, the MSO is now a world-class professional orchestra, with a budget of just over $6 million…. The MSO owes much of its current success to the efforts of long-standing music director John DeMain, who, after 32 years, is set to step down from his position following the centennial season…. Over the course of the current and coming seasons, the MSO will have seen seven … accomplished guest conductors … The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s centennial season will feature the world premiere of ‘Earth: A Choral Symphony’ by Jake Heggie. The new work will also feature the Madison Symphony Chorus, the Zion Gospel Choir and the Madison Youth Choir…. To connect with the community, the MSO will close its season with a two-day festival, including a free open house on June 13 … with performances from diverse community music groups.”
Madison Symphony Announces 2025-26 Season, Its 100th – Symphony
OperaWire
Ailyn Pérez, Kyle Ketelsen, Emily Fons, Jeni Houser, Alexandra LoBianco Headline Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 Season
By David Salazar | May 4, 2025
The Madison Symphony Orchestra has announced its Centennial Season.
Here are the vocal performances on offer.
First up is “Primal Light,” which includes Mason Bates’ “Resurrexit,” Frank’s “Symphonic Variations,” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Vocal soloists include Emily Fons and Jeni Houser.
Performance Dates: Oct. 17-19, 2025
“A Madison Symphony Christmas” will be conducted by John Demain and features soprano Alexandra LoBianco and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. Also performing are the Madison Symphony Chorus, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, and Madison Youth Chorus.
Performance Dates: Dec. 5-7, 2025
Ailyn Pérez headlines “Voices Eternal,” a concert that showcases Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony alongside Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Earth: A Choral Symphony.” John Demain conducts the performance, which also features the Madison Symphony Chorus, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, and Madison Youth Chorus.
Performance Dates: May 1-3, 2026
Isthmus
Madison’s classical scene embraces the new yet upholds tradition
By Sandy Tabachnick | Sep 4, 2025 8:00 AM
MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The upcoming season for the Madison Symphony Orchestra is bittersweet. It celebrates its 100th anniversary, but it’s also the final season for John DeMain, the MSO’s music director since 1994.
DeMain says he will continue his conducting career and, if asked, will conduct a concert here and there as a guest conductor or conductor emeritus.
The MSO’s centennial celebrations begin in Overture Hall on Sept. 19 with an all-Tchaikovsky program starring pianist Olga Kern. They continue on Sept. 20 with Cirque de la Symphonie, a mix of circus arts and film music.
The opening concert of the MSO’s 2025-2026 subscription season happens on Oct. 17-19 in Overture Hall. The concert stars UW-Madison piano professor Christopher Taylor, soprano Jeni Houser, mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, and the Madison Symphony Chorus. On the program is Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Mason Bates’s Resurrexit, which DeMain describes as “abstract, but beautiful.” César Franck’s Symphonic Variations features Taylor’s piano artistry.
Several guest artists return. Alban Gerhardt plays Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D Major on November 21-23. Yefim Bronfman plays Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 on Jan. 23-25, 2026, and Rachel Barton Pine returns on Feb. 20-22 with Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Major. On March 20-22, Emanuel Ax plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25, a charming piece that shows off Ax’s clean, delicate touch.
Spanish rhythms take center stage on April 10-12 with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.
The season features many 21st-century compositions, including a newly commissioned work by Jake Heggie. EARTH: A Choral Symphony, gets its world premiere in the final concert of the season on May 1-3.
In a 2012 interview with Isthmus Heggie said that DeMain understands his work innately because they both have backgrounds in American musical theater. DeMain, he added, is “one of the top conductors in the world.”
EARTH features the Madison Symphony Chorus, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, and the Madison Youth Choirs. “We wanted to write something for our arts partners in Madison who we have worked with,” says DeMain. It also stars Met Opera soprano Ailyn Pérez. DeMain says Gene Scheer’s libretto “recounts the evolutionary process of our extraordinary planet.”
“I didn’t want Jake to write a piece that was centennial and Madison-specific because then it would be played one time and never played again,” says DeMain. “I wanted Jake to write a piece that had legs and that other orchestras may want to perform in the future.”
DeMain will conduct his final concert as the MSO’s music director during a weekend of free centennial events at the Overture Center on June 13-14. “There will be rock groups, world music groups, and jazz as well as chamber music,” he says.
MSO’S OVERTURE CONCERT ORGAN
Greg Zelek, the MSO’s principal organist, has built a sizable and avid audience for the Overture concert organ. “I want to introduce different audiences to the organ, new people who would otherwise not come,” he says.
This season highlights the organ’s versatility: ideal for classical and sacred music, but also for jazz and folk songs.
The organ series has four concerts that run Oct. 2 to March 31, 2026. All performances are in Overture Hall.
The first concert features Zelek and the UW-Madison Concert Choir under the direction of Mariana Farah. The repertoire ranges from sacred music to Brazilian folk songs. Instrumentalists from the School of Music will also make an appearance in Eriks Esenvalds’ Trinity Te Deum.
On Nov. 18, Zelek and trumpeter Caleb Hudson, Zelek’s former colleague at the Juilliard School, play a mix of Bach and jazz. Also included are Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances, exotic little tunes that look deceptively easy to play.
Organist Felix Hell returns on Feb. 24, 2026, with his own arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Zelek says the audience will hear the Fifth in a new and exciting way.
The final concert on March 31 features Zelek and nine of his MSO colleagues in celebration of the centennial. Works of Handel, Mozart, Bach and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor bring another organ season to a rousing finale.
WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra continues its exploration into the innovative works of composers of color in a concert titled Endeavor on Oct. 10 in the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater. This is the third installment of its Musical Landscapes in Color project.
“We have a multi-generational approach to this year’s lineup,” says music director Andrew Sewell. “Autumn Maria Reed and Xavier Foley represent the younger composers, while older composers include Regina Harris Baiocchi, Eric Gould, and Omar Thomas, who are in mid-career.” This concert will be recorded live for a 2026 album release.
The WCO’s Masterworks series consists of five concerts, all in the Capitol Theater.
Masterworks I on Nov. 14 features Finnish composer Rautavaara’s Suite for Strings from 1952. The Suite’s layered textures are reminiscent of Bach, but its wispy veils of sound place it in modern times. Then Vladyslava Luchenko plays Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor.
Masterworks II on Jan. 30, 2026, features Ilya Yakushev in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Yakushev’s style is fresh and energetic, just right for the concerto’s fast pace and unpredictable twists and turns.
Masterwork III on Feb. 27 features the world premiere of Dan Cavanagh’s Concerto for Jazz Trio. Cavanagh is the director of the Mead Witter School of Music at the UW-Madison.
Concluding this concert, the WCO presents Regeneration: A Pentalogy, a symphony by local composer Michael Bell. Kanopy Dance joins the WCO in the company’s world premiere of Renascence, choreographed to Bell’s music. This will be the first time Renascence is performed in its entirety with an orchestra.
Masterworks IV and V are vastly different. For IV, violinists Eric Silberger and Gilles Apap return on March 27 as dueling violinists. Masterworks V on April 17 features pianist Salome Jordania. Sewell says Jordania is a Georgian pianist based in both the U.S. and London making her Madison debut playing Saint Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2.
MADISON OPERA
Madison Opera tackles ‘La Bohème’ with Terrence Chin-Loy, left, and Renée Richardson.
La Bohème opens the Madison Opera’s season on Nov. 7 and 9 in Overture Hall. “At its core, La Bohème is about a group of young people dealing with the realities of friendship, love, financial hardship, illness, and ultimately death,” says Kathryn Smith, general director of the Madison Opera. “In real life, everyone deals with at least some of these issues, and Puccini set it all beautifully to music.”
After its world premiere in Turin in 1896, La Bohème premiered in the United Kingdom in 1897, the same year that a murder happened across the Atlantic in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Trout Shue killed his wife. But the doctor classified her death as an “everlasting faint,” a 19th century phrase used when a woman’s cause of death is unknown. Her ghost returns to tell her mother that Trout killed her.
This true crime story is the subject of the next opera, Everlasting Faint, on Feb. 13 and 15 in the Overture Center’s Capitol Theater. Madison-based composer Scott Gendel and librettist Sandra Flores-Strand weave together an intriguing contemporary opera about a mother’s efforts to find justice for her daughter.
After Puccini’s gritty realism and Gendel’s ghost story, the season ends in Overture Hall on April 24 and 26 with Mozart’s well loved romantic comedy, Cosỉ fan tutte.
Welcome to the salon
The seasons for the MSO, WCO and the Madison Opera take place in large venues that seat hundreds, even thousands. Farley’s House of Pianos in Madison is a go-to for the Salon Piano Series of intimate piano concerts. This season’s six concerts feature international artists, award winners, and returning favorites. Opening the series on Oct. 4 is Polish pianist Tomasz Lis with works by Brahms and Chopin and the Baroque masters Bach and Scarlatti. On April 18, 2026, American pianist Angie Zhang plays the contemporary music of Philip Glass and Caroline Shaw. The final concerts on May 9-10 features Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist Bill Charlap known for his wide-ranging styles from stride piano to bebop to modern jazz.
The pianists also hold masterclasses that the public is invited to observe for free.
Madison’s classical scene embraces the new yet upholds tradition – Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin