Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Opens Season In New Hall With The World Premiere Of Eric Nathan's OPENING

On Friday, October 1, 2021 at 7:30pm, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra opens their 2021-2022 season with A Grand Opening, a program that begins with the world premiere of American composer Eric Nathan's Opening.

Held at the Bradley Symphony Center, the concert also includes James B. Wilson's Green Fuse, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue featuring pianist and Artistic Partner Aaron Diehl, Ellington's New World A-Comin', and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite led by MSO Music Director Ken-David Masur. The concert will be reprised on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 7:30pm and Sunday, October 3, 2021 at 2:30pm and prior to all three concerts will be a "Meet the Music" pre-concert talk where audience members will experience an engaging and informative discussion on the evening's musical works.

Eric Nathan's 8-minutes-long Opening was initially commissioned by MSO to open its 2020-2021 season and inaugurate its new home, the Bradley Symphony Center. After the pandemic and with the return of in-person performances for the 2021-2022 season, the long-awaited premiere of Opening has made Nathan consider the meaning and significance of a full orchestra and audience finally meeting in their new concert hall for live music and embarking on a highly-anticipated musical journey together. Masur says, "Eric is one of the great composers of the next generation... he also can be poignant for the moment that we're in."

"Composing this piece was itself a willful act of hope," explains Nathan. "Opening juxtaposes music of stillness and activity in a series of broadening gestures that unfurl over the course of its eight-minute trajectory. It asks us to listen to ourselves in the space that we inhabit together. Solo players are placed around the hall surrounding the audience, participating in intimate dialogues that reach across to the other soloists and players on the stage. The musicians also resound forcefully, enveloping the hall from all sides in resonance. At times, players in the strings are asked to play their parts asynchronously, as if they are soloists within a larger collective, creating a communal sense of singing. Opening begins with reverence and closes in celebration."

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will partner with Milwaukee PBS to live broadcast the orchestra's Saturday, October 2, 2021 concert from the Bradley Symphony Center. The broadcast will be free for viewers in the region.

Concert Information
A Grand Opening
Friday, October 1 at 7:30pm
Saturday, October 2 at 7:30pm
Sunday, October 3 at 2:30pm
The Bradley Symphony Center | 212 W. Wisconsin Ave. | Milwaukee, WI
Link: https://www.mso.org/concerts/a-grand-opening/

ERIC NATHAN: Opening (2021) [World Premiere]
JAMES B. WILSON: Green Fuse
GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
ELLINGTON: New World A-Comin'
STRAVINSKY: Firebird Suite

Ken-David Masur, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano and artistic partner

Single tickets will go on sale to the general public on September 7, 2021 and are currently available only to MSO subscribers. To subscribe and gain early access to any 2021-22 performance, visit https://www.mso.org/concerts/packages/series-list/.

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