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Force of Nature
Venue: Overture Hall
Friday, Mar. 20, 2026
Free Prelude Discussion: 6:30 p.m.
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 21, 2026
Free Prelude Discussion: 6:30 p.m.
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 22, 2026
Free Prelude Discussion: 1:30 p.m.
Concert: 2:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20-$110
Single tickets on sale Aug. 23rd
Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks is a mischievous tone poem that follows the antics of a legendary trickster. From daring escapades to clever pranks, the music captures Till’s irreverent spirit with virtuosic orchestral writing and humor. Emanuel Ax returns to lend his mastery and lyricism to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 — a work filled with grandeur and elegance composed at the height of his creative genius. Grammy winning composer Gabriela Ortiz grew up steeped in the indigenous music of her native Mexico. Her Téenek channels the spirit of the Huasteca region of Mexico. Respighi’s Pines of Rome is a symphonic masterpiece that paints a vivid portrait of Italy’s Eternal City through its famous pine trees — opening with a scene of children at play, and ending with a depiction of a Roman Army on the march. This work’s dramatic orchestration, including offstage brass and bird calls, creates a sensory experience like no other. You’ll feel energy, power, and sense of place in each piece of music at this concert.
John DeMain, Conductor
Emanuel Ax, Piano
music
Richard Strauss, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503
Intermission
Gabriela Ortiz, Téenek – Invenciones de Territorio
Ottorino Respighi, Pines of Rome, P.141
Enhance Your Concert Experience
Prelude Discussion
Enjoy a 30-minute conversation starting one hour before each concert in Overture Hall. Free to ticketholders.
Take Note: Drinks Allowed in Overture Hall
Please take note that drinks are allowed inside Overture Hall during all Madison Symphony Orchestra concerts. You may pre-order food and drink to be picked up in the lobby, or order at bars and concession stands located around the Overture Hall lobby before each concert and during intermission. Please enjoy food in the lobby and unwrap any candy or cough drops before the performance begins. Thank you!
“His greatness, his overwhelming authority as musician, technician and probing intellect emerges quickly as he plays. Within minutes, we are totally captured by his intensity and pianistic achievement.” –Los Angeles Times
“… brilliant interplay with the orchestra and lead instrumentalists, was astonishing. A true master at work, seemingly effortless and breathtaking. It was duet on a grand scale between Mr. Ax and Mr. DeMain. What a joy!” –MSO Subscriber
“I grew up in NYC, attending great classical performances at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, etc. and can’t imagine hearing anything better! Kudos to John DeMain for his leadership and brilliance in guiding the orchestra to such an extraordinarily high level of excellence.” —MSO Subscriber
Meet the Artists
Presenting Sponsor
Myrna Larson
Major Sponsors
Irving and Dorothy Levy Family Foundation, Inc.
David and Kato Perlman
Stephen D. Morton
Fred A. Wileman
Additional Sponsors
Dr. Thomas and Leslie France
Ronald J. and Janet E. Johnson
with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts
Endowment support for the music library collection is the gift of John & Carolyn Peterson.
The Hamburg Steinway piano is the gift of Peter Livingston and Sharon Stark in memory of Magdalena Friedman.
Born to Polish parents in what is today Lviv, Ukraine, Emanuel Ax moved to Winnipeg, Canada, with his family when he was a young boy. Mr. Ax made his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series, and in 1974 won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. In 1975 he won the Michaels Award of Young Concert Artists, followed four years later by the Avery Fisher Prize.
The 2024/25 season begins with a continuation of the Beethoven For Three touring and recording project with partners Leonidas Kavakos and Yo-Yo Ma which takes them to European festivals including BBC Proms, Dresden, Hamburg, Vienna and Luxembourg. As guest soloist he will appear during the New York Philharmonic’s opening week which will mark his 47th annual visit to the orchestra. During the season he will return to the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras, National, San Diego, Nashville and Pittsburgh symphonies and Rochester Philharmonic. A fall recital tour from Toronto and Boston moves west to include San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles culminating in the spring in Chicago and his annual Carnegie Hall appearance. A special project in duo with clarinetist Anthony McGill takes them from the west coast through the mid-west to Georgia and Carnegie Hall and in chamber music with Itzhak Perlman and Friends to Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Francisco. An extensive European tour will include concerts in Paris, Oslo, Cologne, Hamburg, Berlin, Warsaw and Israel.
Mr. Ax has been a Sony Classical exclusive recording artist since 1987 and following the success of the Brahms Trios with Kavakos and Ma, the trio launched an ambitious, multi-year project to record all the Beethoven Trios and Symphonies arranged for trio of which the first three discs have been released. He has received GRAMMY® Awards for the second and third volumes of his cycle of Haydn’s piano sonatas. He has also made a series of GRAMMY-winning recordings with Yo-Yo Ma of the Beethoven and Brahms sonatas for cello and piano. In the 2004/05 season Mr. Ax contributed to an International EMMY® Award-Winning BBC documentary commemorating the Holocaust that aired on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In 2013, Mr. Ax’s recording Variations received the Echo Klassik Award for Solo Recording of the Year (19th Century Music/Piano).
Mr. Ax is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and holds honorary doctorates of music from Skidmore College, New England Conservatory of Music, Yale University, and Columbia University.