2023-2024 Season

Milwaukee’s world-class new music ensemble Present Music embarks upon its 42nd year with a lineup which includes a groundbreaking Austrian silent film, a return to St. John’s Cathedral, several dynamic World Premieres, partnerships with Milwaukee Art Museum and their exhibits, and a stellar list of guest artists. With a particular emphasis on women composers, this season is not-to-be-missed!

We appreciate your patience as we shift box office platforms. Subscriptions and tickets will be available August 14!

DIE STADT OHNE JUDEN / THE CITY WITHOUT JEWS

October 29, 2023

7:30 pm Performance; 6:00 pm Pre-Concert Talk

Milwaukee Art Museum

Our first program features an Austrian silent film from 1924 by Hans Breslauer which presages the events of the Holocaust. Thought to be lost, a print of the film was discovered at a Parisian flea market in 2015 and digitally restored through a crowdfunding campaign. The Vienna Conzerthaus then commissioned a new score from composer Olga Neuwirth, which will be performed live by the Present Music ensemble, conducted by Yaniv Dinur. We will also feature an interpretation of the Woody Guthrie /Lisa Gutkin song Gonna Get Through This World arranged for Present Music by Israeli composer Aviya Kopelman and sung by Donna Woodall.

The performance is in conjunction with the Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit “Art, Life, Legacy: Northern European Paintings from the Collection of Isabel and Alfred Bader”. In-person PM performance ticket holders also receive access to the Milwaukee Art Museum galleries the day of the performance.

This event includes a preconcert talk at 6:00 pm in Lubar Auditorium and a post-concert reception in Windhover Hall at MAM.

CELLO CELLO

January 31 and February 1, 2024

7:30 pm

Jan Serr Studio

This concert features two World Premieres. 'Cellist and composer Paul Wiancko of the prestigious Kronos Quartet has written a brand new work for Present Music, and will perform some of his other compositions, including American Haiku, When the Night, and Closed Universe. Pamela Z performs her solo works for voice and an array of electronics, and contributes another World Premiere to the program, Raise, a stirring tribute to the people who raised us, written for 'cellist Nick Photinos (founding member of 8th Blackbird) and three additional cellists, plus voice samples and multi-media. Is the plural of cello "cellos" or "celli"? We say Cello Cello!

CELLO CELLO is sponsored by Jan Serr & John Shannon and the Warehouse Art Museum. Paul Wiancko’s new work is commissioned for Present Music by Jan Serr & John Shannon.

SIMPLE SONGS

November 19, 2023

5:00 pm Performance

Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist

In 2022, Raven Chacon became the first Native American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, with a Present Music commission Voiceless Mass. He returns to St. John’s Cathedral this year with an older work, Owl Song. Perennial favorite soprano Ariadne Greif sings an Aaron Jay Kernis work Simple Songs, based upon texts from the Book of Psalms, 12th century abbess Hildegarde von Bingen, the Japanese Zen master Ryokan, and the Sufi poet Rumi. Milwaukee's own Brian Peckham offers a World Premiere written especially for this occasion, to be conducted by Co-Artistic Director David Bloom, and the Bucks Native American Singing and Drumming Group continue to raise the roof with their traditional music.

SIMPLE SONGS is sponsored by Ellen & Joe Checota. Brian Packham’s new work is commissioned for Present Music by a loyal Present Music patron.

THE BLUE HOUR

April 11, 2024

7:30 pm

Milwaukee Art Museum

This program is unique concert-length song-cycle from a consortium of five leading women composers: Rachel Grimes, Angelica Negron, Shara Nova, Caroline Shaw and Sarah Kirkland Snider. Set to fantastical and jarring imagery from an epic poem by Caroline Forche, sung by indie band diva Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond. A small string orchestra will be guest-conducted by Deanna Tham of the Oregon Symphony. This piece made NPR’s Top Ten List across all genres last year, and will be presented this year only in Milwaukee and Paris, France.

This program is aligned with two exhibits at the Milwaukee Art Museum – “50 Paintings” and “Idris Khan: Repeat After Me”. In-person PM performance ticket holders also receive access to the Milwaukee Art Museum galleries the day of the performance.

This program includes a post-concert reception in Windhover Hall at MAM.

HONEST MUSIC

May 9, 2024

8:00 pm

Milwaukee Art Museum

To end the season, violist/conductor/curator extraordinaire Nadia Sirota makes her first appearance with Present Music, and brings a program of her favorite composers, including Nico Muhly, Steve Reich, Gabriella Smith, Marcos Balter and Andrew Norman. An extremely expressive performer and engaging personality, Sirota has been involved in a wide range of collaborations, with such popular artists as Paul Simon, leading contemporary ensembles like yMusic, the New York Philharmonic and Juilliard School, and WQXR’s “Meet the Composer” radio program, where she won a Peabody Award as host and producer.