FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 2, 2025
Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2025–2026
Overture Concert Organ Season Announced
Subscriptions available now — single tickets go on sale September 4, 2025
Madison, Wis. – The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) celebrates the 21st season of its Overture Concert Organ series with four performances from September 2025 through March 2026. Greg Zelek, Principal Organist and Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curator of the Overture Concert Organ has prepared programs featuring guest artists including the UW–Madison Concert Choir, trumpeter Caleb Hudson, organist Felix Hell, and An Evening of Intimate Chamber Music with nine MSO musicians for the 2025–2026 series.
“I’m really excited about the 21st season of the Overture Concert Organ series,” Greg Zelek exclaims.
“I get the opportunity to perform with the UW–Madison Concert Choir, former Canadian Brass trumpeter Caleb Hudson, and members of our own MSO to close out our season. We also feature the brilliant organist Felix Hell who will perform his arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I can’t wait to share these entertaining and exciting programs with you all!”
The season begins on Thursday, October 2, 2025 with Greg Zelek and the UW–Madison Concert Choir conducted by the UW Director of Choral Activities, Mariana Farah. The concert features works written for organ and choir. Opening with the Kyrie from Vierne’s Messe Solennelle, the audience will hear the power of the organ in tandem with these powerful voices, and other well-known classics, featuring arrangements of Amazing Grace and Barber’s Sure on This Shining Night, as well as popular arrangements of Brazilian jazz tunes.
The second concert of the season features Greg Zelek, Organ and Caleb Hudson, Trumpet on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Trumpeter Caleb Hudson has made a name for himself as one of the most virtuosic trumpet soloists, as well as a respected pedagogue. Caleb Hudson, a former member of the Canadian Brass, collaborated with Greg Zelek in 2022. Their program features multiple arrangements for organ and trumpet, such as Bartók’s Romanian Dances, as well as works written by and for Caleb himself.
The first concert in the new year brings organist Felix Hell to Overture Hall on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. He returns following a 2012 performance with a unique and brilliant program that he calls “Cathedral of Sound: The Organ as Orchestra.” The program features his own arrangement of Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony, never heard before on the Overture Concert Organ.
An Evening of Intimate Chamber Music Featuring Nine MSO Musicians & Greg Zelek wraps up the 2025–2026 Overture Concert Organ series on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The MSO is celebrating its 100th Anniversary season this year. “It seems only fitting to bring some of my MSO colleagues with me on stage to showcase their talent and our unique pairing for this performance,” Greg Zelek expresses. “While the organ can be a loud instrument, it can also be used in a softer and more subtle way. With works like Handel’s G minor Organ Concerto and movements from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Coleridge-Taylor’s Nonet, this program will demonstrate the versatility and more intimate side of our instrument. I’m also excited that the audience will get a chance to hear many individual orchestral musicians showcased, as they perform some works as soloists with the organ.”
All 2025–2026 Overture Concert Organ series performances take place in Overture Hall at 7:30 p.m. Subscriptions to all four are available now for 20% off single ticket prices, available online or via phone at (608) 257-3734. Single tickets ($25-$45) go on sale in-person at the Overture Center Box Office, 201 State Street, by phone (608) 258-4141, or online.
Discover more at https://madisonsymphony.org/25-26organ
About Greg Zelek
Praised as “extraordinary in the classical music world” (Jon Hornbacher, PBS Wisconsin Life) and a “musical star” (Bill Wineke, Channel 3000), Greg Zelek is the Principal Organist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ, where he oversees all of the MSO’s organ programming. Since September 2017, Greg has proudly held the Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curatorship.
In addition to concertizing throughout the United States, Greg regularly performs with orchestras as both a soloist and professional ensemble member, including the MET Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Florida Orchestra, New World Symphony, Ridgewood Symphony, Miami Symphony, and Madison Symphony. He regularly performs as a soloist around the country, including venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jacoby Symphony Hall with the Jacksonville Symphony, and St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, among others.
About the MSO’s Overture Concert Organ
German firm of Orgelbau Klais. It consists of 63 stops, 72 ranks and 4,040 pipes, the tallest of which is 32 feet and the heaviest weighing in at more than 1,200 pounds. The organ took nearly three years to design and build. Including its unique movable chamber, the organ weighs in at 174 tons and is believed to be the heaviest movable object in any theater in the world.
About the Madison Symphony Orchestra
The Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 100th Anniversary season in 2025–2026. 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. 2025–2026 marks John DeMain’s 32nd year and final season as Music Director. Learn more at madisonsymphony.org.
Contact: Peter Rodgers, Director of Marketing
Phone: (608) 260-8680 x226 • Mobile: (415) 713-0235
Email: prodgers@madisonsymphony.org
Web: madisonsymphony.org
MSO 25-26 Organ Season Press Photos: https://bit.ly/msorgan25-26press