​MSO launches its season with a veritable ode to the joy of music

By Matt Ambrosio, Special to the Cap Times

by Bill Wineke

MADISON, Wis. — Christmas really doesn’t return to the Madison arts scene until the Madison Symphony Orchestra offers its annual Christmas extravaganza.
Which means, of course, that Christmas didn’t really happen last year as we were all shut down for Covid.

But this weekend the orchestra and conductor John DeMain, along with the Madison Symphony Chorus, Mount Zion Gospel Ensemble and Madison Youth Choirs were back in force and in harmony.

Overture Hall was packed as it hasn’t been since the shutdown began. And the Christmas concert always draws an eclectic crowd including stalwart music professors who haven’t missed a concert in 50 years and young adults who make this their only Overture Center visit of the year.

by Lindsay Christians

Madison greeted the symphony’s annual Christmas concert with not one but two standing ovations before the caroling finale began. It was as sure a sign as any that the holidays are here, and we’re ready for them.

Leading a full complement of players -- winds, brass and all — as well as the Madison Symphony Chorus and several other guests, maestro John DeMain allowed that they’d made “some modifications for ‘you know what’” while trying to maintain beloved traditions.

That meant all 150-some adult choristers wore matching black singer’s masks, as did the high school-aged singers in the Madison Youth Choirs. (Shaped like duck bills, singer’s masks allow performers a little more breathing room. Some boys still struggled, tugging at their faces.)

by Lindsay Christians

The Madison Symphony Christmas concert — once known as the Christmas Spectacular, held on the first weekend in December in non-“Hamilton” years — is all about tradition.

Maestro John DeMain plans his MSO seasons to be a deliberate blend of the familiar and the new. This series of three concerts in Overture Hall, playing again Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, sways toward nostalgia. There are goofy jokes and gospel carols, and violas in reindeer-antler headbands.

It’s fine if you don’t bring a Santa hat. It’s more fun if you do.

by John W. Barker

The program for the first concert this season by the UW Choral Union (below), mercifully, had nothing whatsoever to do with Christmas, and just offered great music.

There were only two works, one by Brahms and the other by Mozart. Surefire!

Johannes Brahms composed three relatively short works for chorus, without soloists, and orchestra. Of these, I wish conductors would get busy with two of them in particular. The Gesang der Parzen (Song of the Fates) and Nänie are simply superb works by one of the greatest of all choral composers.

MSO was joined by the Madison Symphony Chorus under the direction of Beverly Taylor. The integration of voices and instruments was without peer.

by Michael Muckian

The Madison Symphony Orchestra learned long ago to cap its annual concert series with a major choral work, one that brings a lot of musicians and voices together on stage for a rousing seasonal finale. This year’s choice was Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem, Op. 45 that struck one of the highest notes of what had been a stellar year for the orchestra at Overture Hall this past weekend.

by John Barker

Madison Symphony Closes Season with Surprises Galore

By Greg Hettmansberger
April 6, 2013

Even before the Madison Symphony closed its 2012–13 season, attention had shifted to the celebration of John DeMain’s impending launch of his twentieth season with the orchestra next fall (along with the same round number as music director of Madison Opera). But Friday night in Overture Hall, DeMain and his ensemble—and the Madison Symphony Chorus, three vocal soloists and the venue’s magnificent organ—managed to bring our focus back to the musical business at hand. And for good measure, we were given concertmaster Naha Greenholtz in the role of soloist in a favorite concerto.