FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 1, 2024
November MSO Concerts Feature Celebrated Pianist, Garrick Ohlsson
November 15-17, 2024 in Overture Hall
Madison, Wis. – The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) 99th season continues in Overture Hall in November with “Momentum” as audience and orchestra favorite Garrick Ohlsson returns for his much anticipated eighth appearance. Guest conductor Michael Stern, hailed as “a dynamic force on the podium, conducting with exaggerated gestures and forceful mannerisms” by the Atlanta Journal, makes his MSO debut. Stern begins the program with Jonathan Leshnoff’s Rush for Orchestra, a driving and exciting work that builds a tremendous amount of energy throughout. Then, with sublime mastery, Ohlsson performs Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, a romantic masterpiece infused with the spirit of his Norwegian homeland. The concert is brought to a close with Dmitri Shostakovich’s powerful Symphony No. 5, which he humbly described as “the practical answer of a Soviet artist to justified criticism” in a subtle and bitter reaction to the Russia of Joseph Stalin.
“Momentum” performances will take place on Friday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 17 at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, 201 State Street.
Concert, Ticket and Event Details
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. The Symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations.
Single tickets begin at $15 and are on sale now through the Overture Center Box office. Tickets can be purchased online at overture.org, in-person or by phone by calling (608) 258-4141 during Box Office hours. Note that fees apply to online and phone orders. No fees for in-person purchase at the Overture Box Office, 201 State Street. More information can be found at https://madisonsymphony.org/event/momentum/
Health & Safety Precautions
Masks are optional but encouraged in the lobby, during all performances, and at the post-concert receptions. Proof of vaccination is no longer required to enter Overture Center. More information about the many safety protocols can be found at overture.org/health, and madisonsymphony.org/health.
Money Back Guarantee
The MSO will continue to offer a refund for tickets to any concert that cannot be performed for any reason. The MSO will adhere to all public health guidelines and cooperate with Overture Center for the Arts for the safety of its audiences, musicians and staff. Programs, dates, and artists subject to change.
About Michael Stern
Conductor Michael Stern has long been devoted to building and leading highly acclaimed orchestras known not only for their impeccable musicianship and creative programming, but also for collaborative, sustainable cultures that often include a vision of music as service to the community. He also is passionate about working with young musicians not only in music making, but also to incorporate the idea of “service” into their experiences as they become the artists and advocates of the future who will take classical music into the 21st century and beyond. Stern currently holds three Music Director positions: with the Kansas City Symphony, where he will be concluding his 19-year tenure at the end of the 2023-2024 season; with the National Repertory Orchestra, a summer music festival in Breckenridge, CO which, for over 60 years, has provided an intensive, unique fellowship program for aspiring young musicians, and whose alumni populate every major orchestra across the United States; and with the newly rebranded Orchestra Lumos (formerly the Stamford Symphony).
About Garrick Ohlsson
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. Also just released on Reference Recordings is the complete Beethoven concerti with Sir Donald Runnicles and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.
About the Madison Symphony Orchestra
The Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 99th season in 2024–2025. The MSO has grown to be one of America’s leading regional orchestras, providing Madison and south-central Wisconsin with cultural and educational opportunities to interact with great masterworks and top-tier guest artists from around the world. The 2024-2025 season commemorates the 20th anniversary of the opening of Overture Center for the Arts and the 20th anniversary of the MSO’s Overture Concert Organ. The MSO’s 100th anniversary season celebration will take place during the 2025-2026 season. Learn more at madisonsymphony.org.
The presenting sponsor for “Momentum” is Myrna Larson. Major funding is provided by the Irving and Dorothy Levy Family Foundation, Inc., Stephen D. Morton, and Fred Mohs, in memory of Mary Mohs. Additional funding is provided by Ronald J. and Janet E. Johnson, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, Inc., and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Contact: Peter Rodgers, Director of Marketing
Phone: (608) 260-8680 x226
Mobile: (415) 713-0235
Email: prodgers@madisonsymphony.org
Web: madisonsymphony.org