THE MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND MUSIC DIRECTOR KEN-DAVID MASUR ANNOUNCE 2025-26 CLASSICS SEASON
The MSO will celebrate the tenure of Music Director Ken-David Masur
and the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
MUSIC DIRECTOR KEN-DAVID MASUR opens the Classics Season with STEWART GOODYEAR performing Ravel’s extraordinary PIANO CONCERTO FOR THE LEFT HAND
The celebration of the MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY CHORUS’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY continues all year, beginning with BEETHOVEN’S beloved SYMPHONY NO. 9, “ODE TO JOY” and concluding with BEETHOVEN’S immense and moving MISSA SOLEMNIS
The BACH FESTIVAL returns for its third year with BACH’S ST. MATTHEW PASSION, led by MASUR and featuring the MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY CHORUS
BILL BARCLAY and CONCERT THEATRE WORKS returns for a new production
COPLAND & TWAIN: AN AMERICA250 CELEBRATION
HANDEL’S MESSIAH returns this season, conducted by Baroque expert and audience favorite NICHOLAS MCGEGAN
MASUR leads the MSO and organist PAUL JACOBS in SAINT-SAËNS’S towering “ORGAN” SYMPHONY
JOYCE YANG returns to perform TCHAIKOVSKY’S PIANO CONCERTO NO. 1 under the baton of
ASSISTANT CONDUCTOR RYAN TANI
MASUR leads the MSO and AUGUSTIN HADELICH in BRAHMS’S VIOLIN CONCERTO
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA MUSICIANS who will appear as soloists this season include
Robyn Black, Jinwoo Lee, and Ilana Setapen
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This season’s guest conductors in order of appearance include Eric Jacobsen, Rune Bergmann, Nicholas McGegan, Bernard Labadie, Jean-Marie Zeitouni, Alpesh Chauhan, Katharina Wincor, Asher Fisch,
Jader Bignamini, and Iván López Reynoso
Guest artists this season in order of appearance include Stewart Goodyear (piano), Orion Weiss (piano),
Paul Lewis (piano), Sherazade Panthaki (soprano), Key’mon Murrah (counter-tenor), Thomas Cooley (tenor), Enrico Lagasca (bass-baritone), Kerson Leong (violin), Stephen Hough (piano), Paul Jacobs (organ),
Johannes Moser (cello), Joyce Yang (piano), Augustin Hadelich (violin), Patrick Grahl (tenor),
David Fray (piano), Nancy Zhou (violin), and Giuseppe Gibboni (violin)
Milwaukee, Wis. 3/7/2025 – The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Ken-David Masur announced plans today for the 2025-26 Classics Season at the Bradley Symphony Center. Masur’s seventh season, the culmination of his remarkable tenure, is comprised of beloved masterpieces, powerful new works, and the celebration of 50 years of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. Subscriptions for the 2025-26 season are on sale now. Single tickets go on sale on August 8, 2025.
“To make music with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is an extraordinary joy,” said Masur. “From the first program to the last this coming season, my aim is simply for us to experience the orchestra’s radiant brilliance in the most beautiful works of music imaginable. This very special season will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our very own Milwaukee Symphony Chorus in powerhouse choral masterworks such as Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Bach’s towering St. Matthew Passion, and the great Missa solemnis.
“On behalf of the MSO, I look forward to each of our concerts to celebrate our common humanity. The MSO is a world-class orchestra with incredible range, nuance, curiosity, and devotion to tackle the most challenging and rewarding achievements in music. I invite you to come and join us, as we together share these moments of peace, joy, and inspiration.”
Celebrating Ken-David Masur’s tenure as the MSO’s music director
After seven extraordinary years as music director of the MSO, Masur’s tenure will conclude with a season filled with monumental works, including Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, “Ode to Joy,” Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Reformation,” Saint-Saëns’s Symphony No. 3, “Organ,” Brahms’s Symphony No. 3, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis. Masur will also showcase exciting living composers, including Edmund Finnis, Detlev Glanert, Gabriela Ortiz, and Andrea Tarrodi.
Celebrating the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus’s 50th Anniversary
The 2025-26 season marks the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, directed by Cheryl Frazes Hill. The chorus’s season will begin in the fall with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, “Ode to Joy,” and will also include Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. It will conclude with Beethoven’s immense and moving Missa solemnis.
The Bach Festival returns for a third season
The MSO’s Bach Festival returns for a third season in March 2026. The week will include community performances, and the finale of the week will include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, featuring the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and tenor Patrick Grahl singing the role of the Evangelist.
Partnership with Bill Barclay and Concert Theatre Works
Following the highly successful stage adaptation of Ibsen’s Peer Gynt with music by Edvard Grieg in 2022, the MSO and Masur are once again partnering with Artistic Director Bill Barclay and Concert Theatre Works for Copland & Twain: An America250 Celebration. This new theatrical concert marries Aaron Copland’s incidental music with Mark Twain’s observations of a changing America. Copland’s Music for Movies and Music for the Theatre meet excerpts from Twain’s essays, apocryphal stories, speeches, and articles. The orchestra will be joined by costumed actors and projected visuals. The merging of artistry of two pillars of American identity provides a though-provoking take on the polarizing questions vexing our body politic today.
Edmund Finnis’s The Landscape Wakes
This season, the MSO has joined in a co-commission of The Landscape Wakes by British composer Edmund Finnis, which is currently slated to have its world premiere at the Bradley Symphony Center in February 2026. The MSO last performed Finnis’s piece in situ by during the orchestra’s virtual season in March 2021. He has written music for some of today’s leading instrumentalists (Víkingur Ólafsson, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jess Gillam, Mark Simpson, Clare Hammond, Oliver Coates, and Daniel Pioro), singers (Lucy Crowe and Ruby Hughes), and renowned ensembles such as the Britten Sinfonia, BCMG, and London Sinfonietta. Orchestras that have performed his works include the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
Sound Bites
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and its hospitality partner Resonance Food Co. present Sound Bites, a pre-concert dining experience. Music meets cuisine on select Friday and Saturday evenings with an elevated Chef’s Table culinary experience located in the Bradley Symphony Center Ellen & Joe Checota Atrium.
Below is a full listing of the MSO’s 2025.26 Classics Season
Season Opener: A Hero’s Life
Sat, Sep 13, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Sep 14, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Stewart Goodyear, piano
Andrea Tarrodi Festouvertyr
Ravel Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Strauss Ein Heldenleben
Ode to Joy: Beethoven’s Ninth
Fri, Oct 3, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Oct 4, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Oct 5, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Cheryl Frazes Hill, director
Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony
Fri, Oct 10, 2025 at 11:15 am
Sat, Oct 11, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Robyn Black, tuba
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings
Vaughan Williams Tuba Concerto
Dvořák Symphony No. 7
Mendelssohn’s Reformation
Fri, Oct 17, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Oct 18, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Orion Weiss, piano
Brahms Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn
Dohnányi Variations on a Nursery Tune
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 5, “Reformation”
Paul Lewis Plays Grieg
Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 11:15 am
Sat, Nov 15, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Rune Bergmann, conductor
Paul Lewis, piano
Rautavaara Cantus Arcticus
Grieg Piano Concerto
Nielsen Symphony No. 4, “The Inextinguishable”
Handel’s Messiah
Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 2:30 pm
Nicholas McGegan, conductor
Sherazade Panthaki, soprano
Key’mon Murrah, countertenor
Thomas Cooley, tenor
Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Cheryl Frazes Hill, director
Handel Messiah
Beethoven & Haydn
Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Jan 24, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Bernard Labadie, conductor
Kerson Leong, violin
Haydn Symphony No. 103, “Drumroll”
Beethoven Violin Concerto
Zeitouni Conducts Mozart
Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Jean-Marie Zeitouni, conductor
Stephen Hough, piano
Ligeti Concert Românesc
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21
Kodály Dances of Galánta
Mozart Symphony No. 38, “Prague”
Saint- Saëns “Organ” Symphony
Fri, Feb 6, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, Feb 7, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Paul Jacobs, organ
Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3
Edmund Finnis The Landscape Wakes (World Premiere)
Barber Toccata Festiva
Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, “Organ”
Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty
Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, Feb 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Alpesh Chauhan, conductor
Johannes Moser, cello
Anna Thorvaldsdottir Before we fall (Cello Concerto)
Tchaikovsky Selections from Sleeping Beauty
Joyce Yang Plays Tchaikovsky
Fri, Feb 27, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Feb 28, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Mar 1, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Ryan Tani, conductor
Joyce Yang, piano
Anna Clyne Color Field
Sibelius Symphony No. 6
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1
Hadelich & Brahms
Fri, Mar 6, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, Mar 7, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Augustin Hadelich, violin
Detlev Glanert Vexierbild. Kontrafaktur mit Brahms
Brahms Symphony No. 3
Brahms Violin Concerto
Bach’s St. Matthew Passion
Fri, Mar 20, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Mar 21, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Cheryl Frazes Hill, director
Milwaukee Children’s Chorus
Patrick Grahl, tenor
Bach St. Matthew Passion
Wincor Conducts Shostakovich No. 1
Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Katharina Wincor, conductor
David Fray, piano
Webern Passacaglia
Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9, “Jeunehomme”
Shostakovich Symphony No. 1
Schumann Romance
Fri, Apr 17, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sat, Apr 18, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Nancy Zhou, violin
Gabriela Ortiz Clara
Clara Schumann Three Romances
Joachim Variations for Violin and Orchestra
Schumann Symphony No. 2
Fandango & Rapsodie
Sat, Apr 25, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Apr 26, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Asher Fisch, conductor
Ilana Setapen, violin
Ravel Alborado del gracioso
Arturo Márquez Fandango
Ravel Rapsodie espagnole
Turina Danzas fantásticas
Copland & Twain: An America250 Celebration
Fri, May 8, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, May 9, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sun, May 10, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Bill Barclay, director; Concert Theatre Works
Copland Music for Movies
Copland Music for the Theatre
Stravinsky’s Firebird
Fri, May 29, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sat, May 30, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Jader Bignamini, conductor
Giuseppe Gibboni, violin
Wynton Marsalis Violin Concerto
Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnole
Stravinsky Suite from The Firebird (1919)
Rachmaninoff & Saint-Saëns
Fri, Jun 5, 2026 at 11:15 am
Sat, Jun 6, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Iván López Reynoso, conductor
Jinwoo Lee, violin
Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2
Classics Season Finale: Masur Conducts Missa Solemnis
Sat, Jun 13, 2026 at 7:30 pm
Sun, Jun 14, 2026 at 2:30 pm
Ken-David Masur, conductor
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
Cheryl Frazes Hill, director
Beethoven Missa solemnis
About the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Ken-David Masur, is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural institution in Wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee. The MSO’s 72 full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. A pioneer among American orchestras, the MSO has performed world and American premieres of works by John Adams, Roberto Sierra, Philip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Marc Neikrug, Camille Pépin, Matthias Pintscher, and Dobrinka Tabakova, as well as garnered national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes. The MSO’s standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 30,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, and Family Series.
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