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Garrick Ohlsson Plays Chopin
Venue: Overture Hall
Friday, Mar. 12, 2027
Free Prelude Discussion: 6:30 p.m.
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Mar. 13, 2027
Free Prelude Discussion: 6:30 p.m.
Concert: 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Mar. 14, 2027
Free Prelude Discussion: 1:30 p.m.
Concert: 2:30 p.m.
Tickets: $22-$125
Prices include Sales Tax, Overture Center’s per-ticket facility fee and Web/Phone Fee for online or over the phone orders. To avoid the Web/Phone fee purchase in person at Overture Center’s Box Office.
It was a young, desperate love that inspired Frederic Chopin. Too shy to declare his feelings, he wrote: “I say to my piano what I would like to be saying to you…” Chopin Competition winner Garrick Ohlsson plays the impassioned First Piano Concerto. “It was beauty that emerged from the piano,” raved the Pittsburgh Tribune, “thanks, of course, to Garrick Ohlsson’s integrity and sterling technique.” Plus, Brahms’ haunting Third Symphony. And to begin, gazing towards the heavens, Caroline Shaw conceived her cosmic showpiece The Observatory, brilliantly telescoping the infinite into mere minutes of magic.
Featuring
John DeMain, Music Director Emeritus
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano
music
Caroline Shaw, The Observatory
Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 3
Frédéric Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1
Enhance Your Concert Experience
Prelude Discussion
Enjoy a 30-minute talk with special guest Michael Allsen starting one hour before each concert in Overture Hall. Free to ticket-holders.
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!
“Ohlsson emerged alone … and made it an intriguing dialogue between the bright optimism of his right hand and the gripping gravitas of his left.” — Star Tribune
“Ohlsson brought out the intimate characteristics of the piano writing, playing the many runs with distinct clarity in his still-agile fingers.” — Washington Classical Review
Meet the Artists
John DeMain, Music Director Emeritus
Garrick Ohlsson, Piano
Presenting Sponsor
Rosemarie and Fred Blancke
Major Sponsors
Irving and Dorothy Levy Family Foundation, Inc.
Stephen D. Morton
David and Kato Perlman
Additional Sponsors
Robert Benjamin and John Fields
DeWitt LLP
Ronald J. and Janet E. Johnson
Ann Lindsey, in memory of Chuck Snowdon
This organization is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Although long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson commands an enormous repertoire, which ranges over the entire piano literature. A student of the late Claudio Arrau, Mr. Ohlsson has come to be noted for his masterly performances of the works of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the Romantic repertoire. To date he has at his command more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, the most recent being “Oceans Apart” by Justin Dello Joio commissioned for him by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and now available on Bridge Recordings.
For the first time in its history, the Chopin Competition has invited an American to chair the jury, and Mr. Ohlsson assumes that role for the 19th incarnation in October 2025. He will then return as guest soloist to the Cleveland Orchestra and National Symphony (DC), followed in the winter by a duo tour with violist Richard O’Neill which takes them from Los Angeles to Charlottesville (VA), St. Paul (MN), and New York’s 92Y. In solo recital he can be heard in Vienna, London, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
An avid chamber musician, Mr. Ohlsson has collaborated with the Cleveland, Emerson, Tokyo and Takacs string quartets. His recording with latter of the Amy Beach and Elgar quintets released by Hyperion in June 2020 received great press attention. Passionate about singing and singers, Mr. Ohlsson has appeared in recital with such legendary artists as Magda Olivero, Jessye Norman, and Ewa Podleś.