MSO Musicians on Their Must-See Performances in the 2026.27 Season
David Lewellen
PUBLISHED
Tagged Under: 2026.27 Season, Classics, MSO Musicians
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s musicians, no less than its audience members, look forward eagerly to the release of next season’s schedule every spring. They scan the list of concerts months away, mentally noting the ones that will be a lot of work, a lot of fun, or both.
As the orchestra prepares to return to work in mid-September, we asked several of them about which concerts they are particularly looking forward to playing in the coming season — or what they would want to hear, if they were in the audience.
“I’m not normally an indecisive person,” said first violinist Yuka Kadota, “but I honestly can’t pick one program.” She noted that Brahms’s Symphony No. 2 never gets old and that she has never played Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15.
But, she added, Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 has a special place in her heart because it was the first Mahler symphony she ever performed, years ago at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, with valuable coaching from members of the NDR Orchestra. “Next season will be only my third time performing it in my career,” she said, “and I’m looking forward to the memories it will bring back, but also to performing it from the more experienced perspective I have now.”
Bass clarinetist Besnik Abrashi also mentioned Mahler’s fifth as the piece he can’t wait to play. “It is one of my favorite pieces, and Mahler writes very fun parts for every instrument in the orchestra,” he said. He also enjoys working with guest conductor Jader Bignamini, the music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and a frequent and welcome visitor to Milwaukee.
If Abrashi was in the audience, he would especially be looking forward to Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé, conducted by David Robertson. “Ravel is so good at capturing sounds of nature and painting a picture with his music,” he said. “This piece also features wordless chorus, which adds so many different colors and textures over the sound of the orchestra. It is so unique and beautiful, and there’s no other piece like it.”
Violist Erin Higuchi Pipal’s most-anticipated program is nine months in the future: the all-Strauss concert in June, the end of the season. “I hope to play the Metamorphosen,” she said, referring to Strauss’s unique work scored for 23 separate string parts. But she joked, “I might have to bribe the rotation captain to put me in, because it only uses five violas.”
She is also looking forward to hearing Julian Rhee perform Korngold’s violin concerto in October. “He’s a kid from around here who once won our concerto competition,” she remembered. “It’s really amazing to see him succeed as a professional soloist. I think many in the audience could appreciate a local kid making the big time.”
Kadota, thinking about her own indecision at choosing a favorite, said, “I think the same goes from the audience perspective. I hope they don’t just pick one to attend!” But, she said, in every concert in the coming season, “there is something familiar, something that will pique your curiosity and expand your knowledge. And, of course, your good friends on stage, who are always happy to see you.”
