WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA’S 2024-’25 SEASON
Before getting to the who and the what of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s 2024-’25 season, give it up for the how many. The MSO is adding classical series concerts next season, going up to 20 different programs from recent annual slates of 18 programs. That’s not at the expense of the Pops series: The orchestra plans to announce a robust Pops schedule in the near future. Music director Ken-David Masur’s programming theme for next season is storytelling, and the relationship of words and music. That fits smoothly with the return of bass-baritone Dashon Burton for a second season as the MSO’s artistic partner. He will sing music by Mahler (Oct. 4-5), Bach (March 21-23, 2025) and Brahms (April 11-13, 2025). Burton is the rare kind of singer who is both able and interested “in exploring everything from art song to the large symphonic vocal repertoire,” Masur said. In keeping with his season’s thematic concept, Masur has programmed two different composers’ musical portraits of a legendary storyteller — Scheherazade, the heroine of the collection of Middle Eastern stories known as “One Thousand and One Nights.” MSO will open the season with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” (Sept. 27-29), then later play Ravel’s “Shéhérazade” (Oct. 25-26).
Variations on ‘Romeo and Juliet’
MSO will offer three different takes on the famous “star-crossed lovers,” including Tchaikovsky’s tone poem (Jan. 24-25), Prokofiev’s orchestral score “Romeo and Juliet” (Feb. 28-March 1, 2025) and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story” (May 30-31, 2025).
Tone poems, Masur explained, are essentially musical poetry without words, inspired by stories that might be literary, theatrical, legendary or mythological.
Bach is back, in regular and Christmas flavors
With the MSO’s 2024 Bach Fest still on his mind, Masur said he plans to make Bach programs with related community events a recurring thing, with next season’s planned Bach Celebration weekend program scheduled for March 21-23, 2025.
But before that, Masur will lead the orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Chorus in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Nov. 22-24), a classical subscription series program shortly before Thanksgiving that will herald the MSO’s holiday programs.
Bach’s full Christmas Oratorio is a collection of six cantatas, each for a specific feast day during the holiday period. The whole oratorio would take about three hours. MSO and Chorus will perform the first three cantatas, which commemorate the birth of Jesus, the annunciation to shepherds and the adoration of the shepherds.
MSO will not perform Handel’s “Messiah” during the 2024 holiday period as it has in past years, Masur said.
Featuring hometown soloists
Once again, the MSO will feature orchestra members as soloists in the coming season.
Jinwoo Lee, currently in his inaugural season as the orchestra’s concertmaster, will make his featured concerto soloist debut next season in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor (Jan. 24-25, 2025).
Clarinetist Todd Levy will perform Richard Danielpour’s Martin Luther King Jr.-inspired concerto “From the Mountaintop” (Feb. 21-22, 2025). Associate concertmaster Jeanyi Kim and assistant principal oboist Kevin Pearl will be featured in Bach’s Concerto for Violin & Oboe (March 21-23, 2025). And principal cellist Susan Babini will play Aaron Jay Kernis’ concert “Colored Field” (June 6-7. 2025), which Kernis composed after visits to the death camps at Auschwitz and Birkenau. (”Colored Field” began its life and was recorded as an English horn concerto, then Kernis created a new version featuring cello.)
Familiar faces on the podium
The popular Yaniv Dinur, who served as MSO assistant and then resident conductor for eight seasons through 2022-’23, returns to conduct Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (April 26-27, 2025).
Dinur’s successor Ryan Tani, who’s finishing his first season as MSO assistant conductor, will lead an eclectic program (April 4-5, 2025) including Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and contemporary composer Kevin Puts’ Marimba Concerto, featuring
dynamic young percussionist Ji Su Jung.
2024-’25 Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra classical concert schedule
Here is a chronological list of Milwaukee Symphony classical concerts during the 2024-’25 season; all programs and soloists are subject to change. Concerts will take place at the Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. For subscription and other info, call (414) 291-7605 or visit mso.org. Single tickets go on sale Aug. 12.
Sept. 27-29: Ken-David Masur, conductor; Simon Trpčeski, piano; “Orpheus’ Comet,” Dobrinka Tabakova; Piano Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninoff; “Scheherazade,” Rimsky-Korsakov.
Oct. 4-5: Ken-David Masur, conductor; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; “Nhanderú,” Clarice Assad; “Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer),” Mahler; Symphony No. 4, Bruckner.
Oct. 11-12: Gemma New, conductor; Vadim Gluzman, violin; “Coincident Dances,” Jessie Montgomery; Symphony No. 2, Sibelius; Violin Concerto No. 2, Szymanowski.
Oct. 25-26: Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor; Joélle Harvey, soprano; Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Cheryl Frazes Hill, director; “D’un matin de printemps,” Lili Bloulanger; “Scheherazade,” Ravel; “Aux confins de l’orange,” Camille Pépin; “Gloria,” Poulenc.
Nov. 15-16: Ruth Reinhardt, conductor; Alessio Bax, piano; Overture to “Oberon,” Weber; Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven; Symphony No. 80 in D minor, Haydn; “Symphonic Metamorphosis,” Hindemith.
Nov. 22-24: Masur, conductor: Milwaukee Symphony Chorus; “Christmas Oratorio,” Bach.
Jan. 17-18, 2025: Nicholas McGegan, conductor; Saleem Ashkar, piano; Symphony No. 33 in B flat, Mozart; Piano Concerto No. 1, Mendelssohn; Incidental Music from “Zaire,” Michael Haydn; Symphony No. 100 (”Military”), Joseph Haydn.
Jan. 24-25, 2025: Masur, conductor; Jinwoo Lee, violin; “Pan and Syrinx,” Nielsen; Violin Concerto in D minor, Sibelius; “Within Her Arms,” Anna Clyne”; “Romeo and Juliet,” Tchaikovsky.
Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 2025: Rachell Ellen Wong, violin and leader; “The Four Seasons,” Vivaldi.
Feb. 21-22, 2025: Masur, conductor; Todd Levy, clarinet; “Lincoln Portrait,” Copland; “From the Mountaintop,” Richard Danielpour; Symphony No. 2, Ives.
Feb. 28-March 1, 2025: Michael Sanderling, conductor; Ingrid Fliter, piano; “Walk to the Paradise Garden,” Delius; Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, Mozart; “Romeo and Juliet,” Prokofiev.
March 7-9, 2025: David Danzmayr, conductor; Claire Huangci, piano; Piano Concerto No. 6, Beethoven; Symphony No. 3 (”Scottish”), Mendelssohn.
March 21-23, 2025: Masur, conductor; Burton, bass-baritone; Jeanyi Kim, violin; Kevin Pearl, oboe; Concerto for Violin and Oboe, Cantata “Ich habe genug,” one of the Brandenburg concerti, and Orchestral Suite No. 4, all by Bach.
April 4-5, 2025: Ryan Tani, conductor; Ji Su Jung, marimba; “Appalachian Spring,” Copland; Marimba Concerto, Kevin Puts; Symphony No. 4, Beethoven.
April 11-13, 2025: Masur, conductor, Burton, bass-baritone, Milwaukee Symphony Chorus; “Ein deutsches Requiem,” Brahms.
April 26-27, 2025: Yaniv Dinur, conductor; Alexander Korsantia, piano; Overture to “School for Scandal,” Barber; Piano Concerto No. 3, Prokofiev; Symphony No. 4, Tchaikovsky.
May 9-10, 2025: Masur, conductor; Overture to “William Tell,” Rossini; “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” Strauss; “Ácana,” Tania Leon; “Pines of Rome,” Respighi.
May 30-31, 2025: Stefan Asbury, conductor; Tai Murray, violin; “Vyšehrad” (”The High Castle”) from “Má vlast,” Smetana; Serenade after Plato’s “Symposium” and Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story,” Leonard Bernstein; “The Miraculous Mandarin,” Bartok.
June 6-7, 2025: Masur, conductor; Susan Babini, cello; “Colored Field,” Aaron Jay Kernis; Symphony No. 1, Brahms.
June 13-15, 2025: Masur, conductor; Milwaukee Symphony Chorus; “Great Moments in Grand Opera,” selections to be announced, likely including music by Wagner, Mozart and Verdi.