Milwaukee PBS Brings Local Talent to the Bradley Symphony Center for the Milwaukee Night Market
David Lewellen
PUBLISHED
Tagged Under: Bradley Symphony Center, Milwaukee Night Market, Milwaukee PBS
The latest collaboration between the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Milwaukee PBS doesn’t even involve a camera.
The upcoming Milwaukee Night Market on West Wisconsin Avenue will feature three musicians from Milwaukee PBS’s digital series “Rhythm Café MKE” performing in the Bradley Symphony Center.
“Music and the arts are at the soul of PBS,” said Darin Malkowski, a co-producer of the series, “and Milwaukee has a great music scene, full of original artists who write their own songs.” Over three seasons, the online show has featured dozens of local singer-songwriters talking about their work and performing at Anodyne Café in Walker’s Point. “It’s a big variety of artists, not just our personal choices,” Malkowski said.
The station has released the first three seasons on its website, and the fourth season, representing ten new singer-songwriters, is in the can and waiting to roll out. If history is any guide, the publicity around the new series will bring lots of nominations for new artists to feature.
Milwaukee PBS and the MSO have a long history of collaboration. Terrell Pierce, the symphony’s vice president of orchestra operations, said that the two institutions have worked together to broadcast three concerts since the Bradley Symphony Center opened to the pubic in the fall of 2021. “To highlight local musicians in the summertime, when the symphony’s off, that’s a no-brainer,” he said.
The Milwaukee Night Market, a monthly festival in summertime between Second and Vel Phillips avenues, is an opportunity for the symphony to raise its profile. “People from all over the city are in front of our building, and they’re here to have a good time,” Pierce said. “We want the Bradley Symphony Center to be a gathering place, and featuring local artists is very important to us, too.”
The symphony will set up a stage and sound equipment on the ground floor in the Ellen & Joe Checota Gallery space, easily visible to passers-by. “We’re used to presenting other performers in that space,” Pierce said.
Cameron Risher, chief marketing officer for Milwaukee PBS, said that the station chose three Rhythm Café artists to perform as a cross-section of local talent. They include bluesman Stephen Hull; actress and singer-songwriter Rayven; and Uganda-born guitarist Ben Mulwana. “They were very engaged online, their styles are a little different, and we’ve seen them live ourselves in our personal life,” Malkowski said. Three 45-minute sets are scheduled between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
“Rhythm Café has a large audience because of all the people who have been on there before,” said Mulwana, who was featured in the third season. “It connected me with people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise” — including Hull, who will be sharing the stage with him in the Bradley Symphony Center.
“It’s a prestigious venue and a really cool space,” said Mulwana, who has attended once before as part of a celebration of local music. “I hope I’ll get a good reception and give an earworm to someone who’s never heard me before.” His set will include several songs from the album that he is currently working on.
Speaking for the symphony, Pierce said, “We love our partnership with PBS, but it’s also important to support our local broadcaster for everything they do to promote local resources.”
“We’ve been Southeast Wisconsin’s home for public television for 65 years,” Malkowski said, “and our mission is to amplify local voices and provide a hub for arts and culture.” And in that, the TV station is similar to the symphony, Risher said. “We both want to invite the community in.”
