MSO Musicians Share Their Excitement For 2024.25 Season
David Lewellen
PUBLISHED
Tagged Under: 2024.25 Season, MSO Musicians
As fall approaches, the Milwaukee Symphony’s musicians are winding down their summer festivals and commitments and turning their thoughts to the upcoming season in the Bradley Symphony Center.
Just like concertgoers, musicians scan the season announcement for the weeks that will be highlights for them, and several of them have shared their anticipated favorites with MSO Backstage.
In the first week of the new season, principal harp Julia Coronelli is eager to play Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. “This is an all-time favorite for me,” she said. “The famous violin solo with the response of the solo harp chords is so powerful.”
She has another reason to welcome the new season — she will be using a new harp podium that was built for her by MSO principal trumpet Matt Ernst and her husband, cellist Jake Hanegan. “And this will be the perfect first piece to use it on,” she added. A harp podium is more than just a place for the harpist to sit; a well-designed podium can increase the projection of the instrument as well as support a warm tone. “It’s literally another sound box for the instrument,” she explained.
The following week will be another highlight for her, when bass-baritone Dashon Burton joins the MSO to perform Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer. Coronelli said that Mahler is her favorite composer, “and while his symphonies are mind-blowing to play, his songs are these special little gems that get played much less frequently but are equally stunning.”
On the other end of the season, Coronelli is looking forward to Respighi’s Pines of Rome in May and to the following week’s program of Bernstein, Bartók and Smetana’s The High Castle. “All four pieces are fantastic,” she said, “including one of my favorite harp cadenzas in the Smetana.”
And Coronelli is stoked for the one-night visit of singer-mandolinist Chris Thile in March. “I loved the Punch Brothers when I was in undergrad,” she said, referring to his former group, “and Chris is a phenomenal musician. This will be my first time playing with him!”
Bassist Brittany Conrad is also looking forward to performing in the Bernstein & Bartók program in May, which she said she would also very much enjoy as a listener. “I was fortunate to play an all Bartók tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra a handful of years ago that included The Miraculous Mandarin ballet,” she said. “That experience, as well as the excitement of the score and the story, has given me a great fondness for that piece. I also really enjoy the Gershwin on the program. It’s filled with some great bass parts and tons of memorable melodies. Overall, it should make for a great week of music!”
First violinist Dylana Leung enjoyed conductor-violinist Rachell Ellen Wong’s visit last year and can’t wait for her to return to lead Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. “Historically informed performance on modern instruments is always a tall order,” Leung said, but unlike most conductors, Wong can show the orchestra what she wants instead of using words to describe it. “I feel like Rachell will be able to bridge this gap with her deep understanding of period performance practice and equal facility on a modern instrument,” Leung said.
Also, Leung is looking forward to the return of conductor Yaniv Dinur, a favorite with Milwaukee audiences and musicians alike. “The relationship and trust between musicians and Yaniv makes playing under him quite easy,” she said. “We have seen him conducting over the years, know from his body movements what he is trying to communicate, and he knows how to get out of us what he wants without much struggle. All this in record rehearsal time.” The main work on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, along with Barber’s overture to The School for Scandal and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
Leung also knows which concert she would like to experience from the audience, although she can’t: Bugs Bunny at the Symphony, part of the MSO’s pops series. “My kid will definitely be at this concert,” she said, “and I did try to take it off so that I could actually attend and enjoy it from the audience, but it requires a full section of string players.” Leung played the same concert when she was with the Syracuse Symphony, and she remembers, “I so badly wanted to watch the cartoon, but it was impossible with the sheer amount of notes I had to play. The audience was cracking up, and I was so tempted to look up at the screen, but if I did, I would get lost.”
Tickets for the entire 2024.25 season are now on sale and are available at mso.org or by calling the box office at 414-291-7605.
