A Symphony Story: Sharifa Merchant
by Meranda Dooley, Manager of Individual Giving
Sharifa Merchant has been attending Madison Symphony Orchestra concerts since she and her late husband Saban first moved to Wisconsin in 1978. They had immigrated to the United States from India so that their son and daughter could continue into higher education. She hadn’t expected the educational opportunities and creative pursuits that she would also have.
The concert that leaves the deepest impression for Sharifa every year is the Final Forte. The final round of the Bolz Young Artist Competition, the Final Forte is a live broadcast performance where the top four high-school finalists perform as a soloist with the MSO. She has attended every Final Forte (with only one exception due to illness) since it began in 2007 and says it is “such a wonderful experience to see the young musicians so thrilled at being in a real theater with a full orchestra and an audience.”
Sharifa worked in health insurance and was able to study part time at Edgewood College while working, thanks to her employer’s tuition reimbursement program, earning her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and an MBA. Sharifa grew up with a piano in her childhood home in India and studied piano in her youth. Much later in life, she was so happy to take up the piano again through lessons at Edgewood.
Sharifa also started drawing late in life, after her husband passed away and an artist friend encouraged her to try it. Now, her home is adorned with dozens of her pieces, mostly featuring natural subjects, like butterflies, flowers, and birds. Her most beloved drawing is that of a scenic landscape in the Pheasant Branch Conservancy that Sharifa discovered by chance after going off the path into a marshy, unpaved area. She found this particular view of Frederick’s Hill to be so peaceful, she was inspired to sponsor the building of a boardwalk that leads to a viewing deck now named Saban’s Viewpoint.
After immigrating to Wisconsin, the Merchants eventually settled in Middleton in 1984, where Sharifa has since lived in their condo. In May 2024, she hosted a party at the Middleton Performing Arts Center to celebrate living in Middleton for 40 years. Inspired by the Final Forte, she coordinated with Middleton High School staff to hire the best music students in Middleton to perform. She was delighted to provide this opportunity for her friends and neighbors to enjoy music performed by young, talented musicians and to share the joy of their music with the community. She believes it’s important to celebrate life and enjoy music while one can because, as she remarked with a chuckle, “The acoustics won’t be that good in a coffin.”
Sharifa was motivated to give to the Symphony during the Covid-19 pandemic and she thought at the time, “My goodness, this is the musicians’ profession. We don’t know how long this is going to last – it could be months, years, you don’t know how long. How can they go without pay? How can they be paid if there are no performances?” She contributed to the Musicians’ Relief Fund in 2020, which provided pay to the musicians throughout the two seasons cancelled due to the pandemic, and has continued making an annual gift to the Symphony. “I continued to give even after Covid because I enjoy music and the arts, and if you support the arts, then everybody benefits: your performers, your audience, and society in general.”
Sharifa gives charitably to many causes and has been featured in publications by the Madison Community Foundation, Friends of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy, and other organizations. Thank you, Sharifa, for sharing your story here with the Madison Symphony Orchestra community.