Festival City Symphony

Festival City Symphony’s Spring Barn Dance - Pajama Jamboree concert will be an hour-long exploration of pops favorites for classical music fans of all ages. Put on your pajamas and bring your blankets for a concert that will include James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing and, as always, conclude with a rousing rendition of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever featuring audience members conducting the orchestra! The concert will also include a performance by the Cream City Suzuki Strings.

The concert is on Wednesday, May 1 from 7:00-8:00pm in the Bradley Pavilion of the Marcus Performing Arts Center.

Admission is FREE and no reservations are required!

Doors open at 6:30pm.
https://festivalcitysymphony.org/orchestra-concert-schedule/

Classical Echoes of American Life is just over a week away! Do you have your tickets yet?
On Saturday, April 27 at 2:00pm at the Bradley Symphony Center, Festival City Symphony ends its Saturday Classics season with a portrait of the diversity of America as presented by four distinct musical voices.

Roberto Sierra’s La Salsa and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story will start and end the program, energizing audiences with their Puerto Rican rhythms. In between, works by Florence Price and Aaron Copland convey the trials, tribulations and celebrations of American ancestors in Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and Our Town Suite. Concert goers will be tapping their toes and riveted by the layered and complex harmonies that make up the fabric of American music.
Gain a better understanding of each concert’s theme and learn the secrets of the composers by attending Festival City Symphony’s pre-concert presentation, “Unlocking the Score.”

Music educator Lynn Roginske will help audience members of all ages listen for harmonies, watch for crescendos, and feel the music more deeply. All are invited to this free talk from stage, which begins thirty minutes prior to the concert start time.
Admission is free with suggested donation!

Reserve your tickets today!
https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

At our April 27 Saturday Classics concert, Classical Echoes of American Life, Festival City Symphony will perform the music of the trailblazing composer Florence Price. In 1933, Price was the first African American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed her Symphony no. 1.

Take a moment to read more about the composer and her music, and reserve your tickets to hear FCS perform Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America live.

Learn more about the concert here: https://bit.ly/3xfvpYH

“Florence Price was an American composer and pianist whose work spans three decades, during which she wrote more than 300 musical compositions. In 1933 she became the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra. In 2009 the discovery of unpublished scores and manuscripts by Price sparked renewed interest in her work…
…In 1932 the Rodman Wanamaker Foundation sponsored composing competitions in Chicago, and Price won awards for her Symphony No. 1 in E Minor and Piano Sonata in E Minor. Symphony No. 1 in E Minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on June 15, 1933, making Price the first African American woman composer to have a symphony premiered by a major American orchestra. The Chicago Daily News praised the composition as “a faultless work,…a work that speaks its own message with restraint and yet with passion. Miss Price’s symphony is worthy of a place in the regular symphonic repertory.”

Bio courtesy of https://www.britannica.com/.

On Saturday, April 27 at 2:00pm at the Bradley Symphony Center, Festival City Symphony ends its Saturday Classics season with Classical Echoes of American Life a portrait of the diversity of America as presented by four distinct musical voices.
Roberto Sierra’s La Salsa and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story will start and end the program, energizing audiences with their Puerto Rican rhythms. In between, works by Florence Price and Aaron Copland convey the trials, tribulations and celebrations of American ancestors in Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and Our Town Suite. Concert goers will be tapping their toes and riveted by the layered and complex harmonies that make up the fabric of American music.

Gain a better understanding of each concert’s theme and learn the secrets of the composers by attending Festival City Symphony’s pre-concert presentation, “Unlocking the Score.”

Music educator Lynn Roginske will help audience members of all ages listen for harmonies, watch for crescendos, and feel the music more deeply. All are invited to this free talk from stage, which begins thirty minutes prior to the concert start time.

Admission is free with suggested donation! Reserve your tickets today!

https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Happy ! We ❤️ Milwaukee!

HOME | Milwaukee Day 414-Day (April 14th) is a city & statewide holiday dedicated to celebrating the city we love, while also inspiring positive proactive action in hopes of making

At our April 27 Saturday Classics concert, Classical Echoes of American Life, Festival City Symphony will perform the music of two American music legends: Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.
Enjoy this historic video of Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in a performance of Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, with none other than Copland himself in the audience!

Reserve your free tickets to hear FCS perform Copland’s Our Town Suite and Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story live at the Bradley Symphony Center.

https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK1N46dRPVg

Bernstein Conducts Copland Fanfare for the Common Man Leonard Bernstein Conducts Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, New York Philharmonic 1985

The orchestra is hard at work preparing for our next concert, Classical Echoes of American Life!

Get your tickets! 👉 https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

At our April 27 Saturday Classics concert, Classical Echoes of American Life, Festival City Symphony will perform the music of a legendary figure in American classical music, Aaron Copland.

Take a moment to read more about the composer and his music, and reserve your tickets to hear FCS perform Copland’s Our Town Suite live.

Learn more about the concert here: https://bit.ly/3xfvpYH

“Aaron Copland's name is synonymous with American music. It was his pioneering achievement to break free from Europe and create concert music that is characteristically American. In addition to writing such well-loved works as Fanfare for the Common Man, Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring, Copland conducted, organized concerts, wrote books on music, and served as an American cultural ambassador to the world.

While studying with Nadia Boulanger in Paris, Copland became interested in incorporating popular styles into his music. Upon his return to the US, he advanced the cause of new music through lectures and writings, and organized the famed Copland-Sessions concerts.

As America entered first Depression then war, Copland began to speak to the concerns of the average citizen in those times of trouble. His intentions were fulfilled as works from Billy the Kid to Lincoln Portrait to the Pulitzer Prize-winning Appalachian Spring found both popular success and critical acclaim.

Aaron Copland was one of the most honored cultural figures in the history of the United States. The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Kennedy Center Award, the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "Oscar", and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany were only a few of the honors and awards he received. In 1982, the Aaron Copland School of Music was established in his honor at Queens College of the City University of New York.”

Bio courtesy of https://www.boosey.com/

Happy Friday!

Festival City Symphony’s Spring Barn Dance - Pajama Jamboree concert will be an hour-long exploration of pops favorites for classical music fans of all ages.

Put on your pajamas and bring your blankets for a concert that will include James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing and, as always, conclude with a rousing rendition of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever featuring audience members conducting the orchestra! The concert will also include a performance by the Cream City Suzuki Strings.

The concert is on Wednesday, May 1 from 7:00-8:00pm in the Bradley Pavilion of the Marcus Performing Arts Center.

Admission is FREE and no reservations are required! Doors open at 6:30pm.
https://festivalcitysymphony.org/orchestra-concert-schedule/

Check out this free event from our friends at PianoArts Competition & Music Festival!

MasterWorks from Russia, France, & China
Muzi Zhao, 2018 competition winner, returns to Milwaukee with a powerful and virtuosic program of works that evoke an array of images and stories. The finale will feature a traditional Chinese soprano to perform the beloved "The Moon Represents My Heart".

This free MasterWorks Concert, presented and performed by Muzi Zhao, is generously sponsored by the Organization of Chinese Americans, Wisconsin Chapter.

Reserve seats by sending names and number of seats to [email protected]

Friday, April 5 @ 7:00 pm, Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church. 2366 N. 80th Street, Milwaukee.

For more information on a free open rehearsal of Faure’s Piano Violin Sonata No. 2 performed by Muzi and violinist Clayton Hancock on April 3, please contact us at [email protected].

At our April 27 Saturday Classics concert, Classical Echoes of American Life, Festival City Symphony will perform the music of a living composer, Roberto Sierra. Mr. Sierra is well-known in the Milwaukee area, having served as Composer-In-Residence with our good friends at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Take a moment to read more about the composer and his music, and reserve your tickets to hear FCS perform Roberto Sierra’s Tumbao live.

Learn more about the concert here: https://bit.ly/3xfvpYH

“For more than four decades, the works of Grammy-nominated and Latin Grammy winner Roberto Sierra have been part of the repertoire of many of the leading orchestras, ensembles and festivals in the USA and Europe. At the inaugural concert of the 2002 world renowned Proms in London, his Fandangos was performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a concert that was broadcast by both the BBC Radio and Television throughout the UK and Europe. Many major American and European orchestras and international ensembles have commissioned and performed his works. Among those ensembles are the orchestras of Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, New Mexico, Houston, Minnesota, Dallas, Detroit, San Antonio and Phoenix, as well as the American Composers Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra of Zurich, the Spanish orchestras of Madrid, Galicia, Castilla y León, Barcelona, Continuum, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Opus One, and others.

In 2021 Roberto Sierra was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 2017 he was awarded the Tomás Luis de Victoria Prize, the highest honor given in Spain to a composer of Spanish or Latin American origin. In 2010 he was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2003 he was awarded the Academy Award in Music by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The award states: "Roberto Sierra writes brilliant music, mixing fresh and personal melodic lines with sparkling harmonies and striking rhythms. . ." His Sinfonía No. 1, a work commissioned by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, won the 2004 Kenneth Davenport Competition for Orchestral Works. In 2007 the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky International Recording Award (KIRA) was awarded to Albany Records for the recording of his composition Sinfonía No. 3 “La Salsa”. Roberto Sierra has served as Composer-In-Residence with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and New Mexico Symphony.”

Bio courtesy of https://www.robertosierra.com/.

Festival City Symphony’s next Saturday Classics concert, Classical Echoes of American Life, paints a portrait of the diversity of America as presented by four distinct musical voices: composers Roberto Sierra, Aaron Copland, Florence Price, and Leonard Bernstein.

Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing more information about each composer in a series of posts.

The concert is at 2:00pm on Saturday, April 27 at the Bradley Symphony Center and admission is free.

Reserve your tickets today!
https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Festival City Symphony’s May 1 Spring Barn Dance - Pajama Jamboree concert will feature a performance by students of the Cream City Suzuki Strings studio, directed by FCS violist Julie 'Bamberger' Roubik.

Cream City Suzuki Strings is a violin & viola program that offers Suzuki and Dalcroze-based instruction, ages 3 to adult. Students from CCSS have earned top marks at WSMA solo/ensemble, been accepted to Wisconsin All-State Honors Orchestra, the Suzuki Youth Orchestra of the Americas, and won MYSO & Racine Symphony concerto competitions. Cream City Suzuki performs all around the Milwaukee metro area, including the Milwaukee Art Museum, Chai Point, Bayshore Mall, American Family Field and Fiserv Form.

https://festivalcitysymphony.org/2024/03/27/cream-city-suzuki-strings-featured-at-may-1-pj/

FCS will be performing music from West Side Story at our April concert! Celebrate by getting your tickets!
https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Happy !!

Share your most memorable theater experiences in the comments!

[📸 Leonard Bernstein outside the National Theatre in Washington, DC, 1957. Robert H. Phillips, photographer. Courtesy of The Library of Congress Music Division.]

Festival City Symphony’s Saturday Classics concert series welcomes newcomers and established symphony enthusiasts alike. Held at the elegant yet inviting Bradley Symphony Center at 212 W Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee, this concert series makes high-quality classical music accessible to all.

Admission to Saturday Classics concerts is FREE with suggested donation.

Saturday Classics concerts begin at 2:00pm, and feature a pre-concert “Unlocking the Score” presentation on-stage at 1:30pm.

Gain a better understanding of each concert’s theme and learn the secrets of the composers by attending Festival City Symphony’s pre-concert presentation, “Unlocking the Score.” Music educator Lynn Roginske will help audience members of all ages listen for harmonies, watch for crescendos, and feel the music more deeply. All are invited to this free talk from stage, which begins thirty minutes prior to the concert start time.

https://festivalcitysymphony.org/orchestra-concert-schedule/

Our January 27 Saturday Classics concert, A Classical Affair to Remember, featured the FCS horn section performing Konzertstück by Robert Schuman and Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony. Here are some photos from that day, courtesy of Lindsay Jones Photography.

Happy first day of Spring!

Vivaldi, The Four Seasons, Spring (La Primavera), 1st movement Classical Concert Chamber Orchestra & Ashot Tigranyan performing Vivaldi's emblematic Four Seasons.

Get your PJs ready!

On Wednesday, May 1, Festival City Symphony’s Spring Pajama Jamboree will be an hour-long exploration of pops favorites for classical music fans of all ages.

Put on your pajamas and bring your blankets for a concert that will include James Weldon Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing and, as always, conclude with a rousing rendition of John Philip Sousa’s featuring audience members conducting the orchestra!

On Saturday, April 27, Festival City Symphony will close its Saturday Classics season with Classical Echoes of American Life, a portrait of the diversity of America as presented by four distinct musical voices.
Roberto Sierra’s La Salsa and Leonard Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story will start and end the program, energizing audiences with their Puerto Rican rhythms. In between, works by Florence Price and Aaron Copland convey the trials, tribulations and celebrations of American ancestors in Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and Our Town Suite.

Concert goers will be tapping their toes and riveted by the layered and complex harmonies that make up the fabric of American music.

Reserve your tickets today! https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Oppenheimer composer thanks parents ‘for giving me guitars, not video games’ in Oscars speech Ludwig Göransson accepted his second Academy Award for his score to ‘Oppenheimer’ in a heartfelt speech thanking his parents for encouraging him to pursue music.

FCS is happy to welcome Girl Scouts from across Wisconsin to Saturday's concert! For the first time, patrons will have the opportunity to purchase Girl Scout cookies during intermission ($5/box)!

Troop 37868 will have Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Peanut Butter Patties, Lemonades, and Toast-Yays, and Troop 14027 will have Thin Mints, Carmel Delights, Adventurefuls, and Trefoils.

Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast Girl Scouts of Manitou Council Girl Scouts of Wisconsin - Badgerland Council Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes

Grateful to Shepherd Express for featuring our upcoming concerts in their March Spring Arts Guide.

Thank you for helping us share our passion with a wider audience.

Suite Dreams of France on Saturday, March 9 is just a few days away! Savor the fairytale charm of the French countryside with Festival City Symphony as the orchestra performs whimsical Suites by composers Emmanuel Chabrier and Darius Milhaud.

Full of fanciful charm and upbeat melodies, the opening Suites are the perfect prelude to Igor Stravinsky’s famous ballet suite from The Firebird.
The concert begins at 2:00pm at the Bradley Symphony Center and admission is free! Before the concert at 1:30pm, educator Lynn Roginske will host a “Meet the Musicians” presentation for “Girl Scout Day at the Symphony,” but all audience members are welcome to attend.

Reserve your tickets online or walk up on the day of the concert. https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Festival City Symphony’s Saturday, March 9 concert, Suite Dreams of France, will feature suites by French composers Darius Milhaud and Emmanuel Chabrier, as well as Igor Stravinsky’s suite from The Firebird.

Read more about Stravinsky’s legendary music from The Firebird in program notes written by Milwaukee’s own Roger Ruggeri here: https://festivalcitysymphony.org/2024/02/04/suite-dreams-of-france-program-notes-sat-mar-9-2024/

The concert begins at 2pm at the Bradley Symphony Center and admission is free with suggested donation. Reserve your tickets today and come hear it performed live! https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

Our next Saturday Classics concert, Suite Dreams of France, is a little over a week away! Do you have your tickets yet?

Tickets can be reserved online in advance, or you can walk up to the box office on concert day. https://festivalcitysymphony.org/order-saturday-classics-tickets/

The concert is on Saturday, March 9 at 2pm at the Bradley Symphony Center. Admission is FREE with suggested donation, and features the music of Chabrier, Milhaud, and Stravinsky!