Saint-Saëns “Organ” Symphony

Friday, February 6 – Saturday, February 7 at the Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee
Start Time
  • 11:15a on Friday, February 6
  • 7:30p on Saturday, February 7
conductor

Ken-David Masur

organ

Paul Jacobs

Beethoven

Leonore Overture No. 3

Edmund Finnis

The Landscape Wakes (World Premiere)

Barber

Toccata Festiva

Saint-Saëns

Symphony No. 3, “Organ”

CONCERT DETAILS

"Paul Jacobs is one of the great living virtuosos … he is utterly without artifice,” declares The Washington Post. Witness the musicianship of the first and only organist to win a Grammy Award as Jacobs performs Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” Symphony, a work so expressive the composer claimed, “I have given all that I had to give.” Jacobs also performs Samuel Barber’s exuberant Toccata Festiva. Beethoven penned four unique overtures to his opera Leonore; the MSO performs the sumptuous third iteration here, as well as brand new music by composer Edmund Finnis.

What to Expect:

  • A world premiere by composer Edmund Finnis; hear his earlier Hymn (after Bird) and The Centre is Everywhere
  • A rare performance by organist Paul Jacobs; hear (and watch!) him perform a bit of Bach, especially if you’ve never seen an organ played up-close
  • Beethoven’s third version of his Leonore overture might be “the most perfect drama in itself,” but why were there so many versions in the first place?
  • You may recognize elements of Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3 from the 1995 film Babe

Support

Start Time
  • 11:15a on Friday, February 6
  • 7:30p on Saturday, February 7
conductor

Ken-David Masur

organ

Paul Jacobs

Beethoven

Leonore Overture No. 3

Edmund Finnis

The Landscape Wakes (World Premiere)

Barber

Toccata Festiva

Saint-Saëns

Symphony No. 3, “Organ”