A Century of the Madison Symphony Orchestra
9781969183027
540 pages
Little Creek Press
Overview
A Century of the Madison Symphony Orchestra details and celebrates the history of the MSO: from its beginnings in 1926, as the Madison Civic Symphony, a largely volunteer community ensemble,to the fully professional ensemble that exists today, one of America's finest regional orchestras. It also deals with the histories of two groups closely intertwined with the MSO, the Madison Symphony Chorus and the Madison Opera. Remarkably, the orchestra has had only four music directors in the past century—Sigfrid Prager, Walter Heermann, Roland Johnson, and John DeMain—and each of them are the subject of a biographical chapter here.
Author Bio
Dr. J. Michael Allsen is an emeritus professor ofmusic at the University of Wisconsin—Whitewater,where he taught music history, world music, andintegrated arts courses. He has been associated withMSO in various ways since 1983, most prominently asa member of the trombone section from 1983 to 2018.He has written the orchestra’s program notes since1984, and provides program and liner notes for many other orchestras,festivals, and artists around the country.
