The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an orchestra headquartered in

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

. Its conductor is

John DeMain John DeMain is an American conductor who serves as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, as well as serving as artistic director of Madison Opera. He was music director and principal conductor of Houst ...

, who began his 30th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2023. The orchestra was founded in 1925 as a small community ensemble and is now a full-sized, professional orchestra. In addition to presenting eight triple-performance subscription concerts, the MSO also offers an array of Education and Community Engagement Programming for all ages including young people's concerts, musician residency programs, and guest artist master classes.

Overture Hall

The Madison Symphony Orchestra performs in Madison's Overture Hall, one of two theaters in Madison's

Overture Center for the Arts Overture Center for the Arts is a performing arts center and art gallery in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. The center opened on September 19, 2004, replacing the former Civic Center. In addition to several theaters, the center also houses the ...

, a gift given to Madison by longtime MSO patrons W. Jerome Frautschi and his wife,

Pleasant Rowland Pleasant T. Rowland (born Pleasant Williams Thiele; March 8, 1941) is an American educator, reporter, writer, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Rowland is best known for creating the American Girl (company), American Girl brand. Rowland is known f ...

Frautschi. The Frautschis' gift held the distinction of being one of the largest gifts ever donated to the performing arts by a single donor in American history, actually exceeding the entire budget of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. Their gift in turn inspired a wave of gifts to the performing arts nationwide. Overture Hall has been described as "one of the acoustically finest halls in America" by guest artists, conductors, and visiting shows alike; and among other notable features the hall possesses the magnificent "Overture Concert Organ", custom built for the Overture Center by renowned organ builder, Johannes Klais of

Bonn, Germany Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. At twenty tons, the Klais organ is the largest movable object in any theater in America, with a capability to move forward and back into storage on a set of railroad tracks. The organ is owned and maintained by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and provides the orchestra with superior augmentation to such works as

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

' "

Also sprach Zarathustra , Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by German composer Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's 1883–1885 philosophical work of the same name.Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

's "

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

." The MSO also presents an organ performance series featuring MSO's principal organist and organ curator, Greg Zelek, and visiting organists.

References

External links

Madison Symphony Orchestra official site
{{authority control American symphony orchestras Musical groups established in 1925 Culture of Madison, Wisconsin Orchestras based in Wisconsin