Welcome to Milwaukee Musaik
A Consortium of Musicians Dedicated to an Imaginative Concert Experience
2024-2025 Season
November 17 | March 3 | May 17
October 13 ~ Collaboration with Sacra Nova Chorale
Welcome to another wonderful season of concerts with Milwaukee Musaik. Prior to our main season, Milwaukee Musaik will join in collaboration with the Sacra Nova Chorale in their season opener on October 13, featuring works by Haydn and Mozart. Musaik will then present our orchestra opener concert at the wonderful acoustics of Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church on November 17, 2024 - Refined Essence. On March 3, 2025 we will visit the intimate Helen Bader Recital Hall at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music for an eclectic chamber music evening - Innovation. On May 17, 2025, we present a spectacular season closer Guitar Grandmaster concert with virtuoso guitarist René Izquierdo and Musaik Chamber Orchestra. Led by conductor Alexander Mandl, this is a not-to-be-missed event at the Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church. Distinguished for its unusual programming and stellar musician roster, Milwaukee Musaik juxtaposes timeless classics with the new and unfamiliar.
Our REFINED ESSENCE chamber orchestra concert opens the season with pastoral tones true to the Autumnal spirit. Mozart’s clever and entertaining “Divertimento in F” will delight the listener in refinement and elegance. Paying homage to Maurice Ravel, composer Paul Dean transcribed Ravel’s keyboard original “Le Tombeau de Couperin” - which was also composed as an homage - in a new virtuosic orchestration that is true to Ravel’s aesthetics. Johannes Brahms originally wrote his orchestral Serenade No. 1 as a “Nonet Serenade” but later departed from that instrumentation. Clarinetist/scholar Chris Nex has faithfully reconstructed Brahms’ Nonet in D major, bringing all its essence to shine. The pastoral musical painting of the Nonet is unmistakable!
On March 3, please join us for INNOVATION; an eclectic mix of works that are drawn from the new and old. From Shostakovich’s light and folksy pieces to Alyssa Morris’ depiction of paintings in her work “Brush Strokes” to Jacob Beranek’s prodigious Wind Quintet and John Mackey’s trailblazing “Breakdown Tango”, this will for sure be a fun and invigorating concert with innovative tones to warm up the evening. We will be honoring the memory of Ravel as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth and Shostakovich on the 50th anniversary of his death.
We conclude our 24-25 season with GUITAR GRANDMASTER. The Milwaukee Musaik Chamber Orchestra and conductor Alexander Mandl will spotlight a fireworks guitar showcase featuring world-class guitar grandmaster René Izquierdo. A Milwaukee favorite, the renowned virtuoso will dazzle listeners in concertos by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Vivaldi. The program also includes Ottorino Respighi’s exquisite musical pictorial “Trittico Botticelliano" and Jacques Ibert’s witty “Divertissement”!
Thank you for your continued support of Milwaukee Musaik as we continue to bring you closer to the music. Please check our website for season updates.
Sincerely;
The Milwaukee Musaik Artistic Board