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 Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. Its conductor is

John DeMain John DeMain is an American conductor, currently in his 29th year as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin, as well as serving as artistic director of Madison Opera. He was music director and principal conductor of Houston ...

, who began his 28th season with the orchestra in the fall of 2022. The orchestra was founded in 1925 as a small community ensemble and is now a full-sized orchestra.

Overture Hall

The Madison Symphony 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 M.S.O. patrons Jerome Frautschi and his wife,

Pleasant Rowland Pleasant Thiele 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 brand. She is also notable for her efforts to re ...

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 federal ...

". 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 The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. 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. It 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, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

' "

Also sprach Zarathustra ', Op. 30 (, ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' or ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'') is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra''.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 ...

References

External links

Madison Symphony Orchestra official site
{{authority control American orchestras Musical groups established in 1925 Culture of Madison, Wisconsin Performing arts in Wisconsin Musical groups from Wisconsin