Mead Witter School of Music

Sole Nero - Faculty Artist Series
2026-01-20 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Artist Series
Sole Nero
Jess Johnson, piano
Anthony Di Sanza, percussion
With guest artists
Alissa Freeman, piano
Anthony DiMartinis, percussion

Verità Baroque - Madison Early Music Festival
2026-01-23 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$35 GA; $30 senior
Students free (ticket required)
Weekend Pass
$90 GA; $75 senior
Students free (ticket required)
Hailed by the BBC as “fearless in expression and musically irresistible,” VERITÀ Baroque launches its first American tour with The Storm of Emotions—a journey through the unleashed forces of nature and the human soul. Each work explores emotion in its rawest form: impetuous, mysterious, uncontrollable.
Antonio Vivaldi, master of musical theatricality, leads us into a world where storms are not merely meteorological but metaphors for passion. His language enters into dialogue with contemporary composers SJ Hanke and Alessio Barcellini, who give voice to new forms of rebellion—emotional, internal, and imaginative. Historical instruments meet modern compositional voices, creating experimental textures, inventive harmonies, and unexpected sonic landscapes.
Adding a rare dimension, Nicola Canzano will perform his own works live with VERITÀ Baroque, giving audiences the chance to witness music’s creation in real time. This collaboration bridges centuries, offering an immersive artistic experience.
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The 2026 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) celebrates over 20 years of excellence in early music while inaugurating a new chapter. Since its founding in 2000, MEMF has been a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s musical landscape, bringing international artists, scholars, and students together to explore historical repertoire through concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement. The 2026 revival honors this legacy while expanding the festival into an immersive, interdisciplinary experience—uniting Baroque music, dance, visual art, and innovation.

Immersive Art Experience - Madison Early Music Festival
2026-01-24 11:00 | WI
Free | No ticket required
Chazen Art Museum
750 University Avenue
Madison, WI
For the first time, VERITÀ Baroque transforms the galleries of the Chazen Museum of Art into a living stage, creating a multisensory encounter with visual art. Musicians are placed throughout the museum, filling each room with live Baroque sound as visitors move from gallery to gallery.
Guided tours become journeys where audiences experience art not only with their eyes but also through sound, rhythm, and spatial awareness. This integration of music, dance, and visual art invites visitors to step inside the artworks themselves, reimagining the museum as a complete sensory landscape: unforgettable and transformative.
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The 2026 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) celebrates over 20 years of excellence in early music while inaugurating a new chapter. Since its founding in 2000, MEMF has been a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s musical landscape, bringing international artists, scholars, and students together to explore historical repertoire through concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement. The 2026 revival honors this legacy while expanding the festival into an immersive, interdisciplinary experience—uniting Baroque music, dance, visual art, and innovation.

Quantz & Physics Lecture Recital - Madison Early Music Festival
2026-01-24 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$35 GA; $30 senior
Students free (ticket required)
Weekend Pass
$90 GA; $75 senior
Students free (ticket required)
This program combines a physics lecture with a concert, exploring the incommensurability of acoustic waves, Baroque-era tunings, and reflections on quantum mechanical wave theory. Presented in honor of the centenary of Schrödinger’s equation, the evening bridges history, science, and innovation in a unique celebration of art and discovery.
The performance unfolds through Baroque music interwoven with whimsical cat-themed works dedicated to Schrödinger, ultimately transforming into an immersive electronic experience where sound and dance enter a contemporary dialogue with history. At its center is Johann Joachim Quantz, a leading figure at the court of Frederick II of Prussia.
Quantz’s music becomes a meeting ground for past and present, resonating alongside explorations of physics, quantum theory, and electronic sound—a testament to the enduring power of creativity across time and disciplines.
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The 2026 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) celebrates over 20 years of excellence in early music while inaugurating a new chapter. Since its founding in 2000, MEMF has been a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s musical landscape, bringing international artists, scholars, and students together to explore historical repertoire through concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement. The 2026 revival honors this legacy while expanding the festival into an immersive, interdisciplinary experience—uniting Baroque music, dance, visual art, and innovation.

Interactive Educational Family Concert - Madison Early Music Festival
2026-01-25 11:00 | Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | Ticket required
The Madison Early Music Festival invites families to a lively, hands-on Baroque adventure designed for all ages. The event begins with a Baroque Instruments Petting Zoo, where children and adults can see, hear, and even try instruments—each introduced as a playful “animal character” with its own unique voice and personality.
During the concert, these characters return in a story-driven journey following a protagonist who travels through France, Italy, Germany, and beyond, discovering how Baroque music communicates emotion across cultures. Each child receives a concert passport to complete during the performance, creating a keepsake of their musical journey.
Guided by Dr. Zeynep Alpan, celebrated for her educational work with the New York Philharmonic and Lincoln Center, and accompanied by Verità Baroque, this interactive concert combines storytelling, live performance, and hands-on exploration to spark curiosity, nurture creativity, and bring Baroque music vividly to life.
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The 2026 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) celebrates over 20 years of excellence in early music while inaugurating a new chapter. Since its founding in 2000, MEMF has been a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s musical landscape, bringing international artists, scholars, and students together to explore historical repertoire through concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement. The 2026 revival honors this legacy while expanding the festival into an immersive, interdisciplinary experience—uniting Baroque music, dance, visual art, and innovation.

Pro Arte Quartet - Faculty Ensemble Series
2026-01-25 19:30, 2026-03-14 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Ensemble Series
David Perry, violin
Suzanne Beia, violin
Sally Chisholm, viola
Parry Karp, violoncello

Student Showcase Concert & Dance Performance - Madison Early Music Festival
2026-01-25 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$35 GA; $30 senior
Students free (ticket required)
Weekend Pass
$90 GA; $75 senior
Students free (ticket required)
The Madison Early Music Festival concludes with a celebratory Student Showcase Concert, highlighting the creativity, growth, and collaboration of participants throughout the festival. Students from UW–Madison and beyond will share the results of their intensive work in masterclasses, workshops, and rehearsals with international artists of Verità Baroque.
The program features ensembles and solo performances that explore the expressive beauty of the Baroque, enriched by new skills in improvisation, ornamentation, and historical performance practice. Dance students and community participants will join the musicians on stage, presenting choreographies developed during the festival that bring Baroque music to life through movement.
This culminating event embodies MEMF’s spirit of tradition and innovation, offering audiences a glimpse into the dynamic exchange between students, faculty, and guest artists. More than a concert, it is a joyful celebration of learning, discovery, and the transformative power of historical performance.
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The 2026 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) celebrates over 20 years of excellence in early music while inaugurating a new chapter. Since its founding in 2000, MEMF has been a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s musical landscape, bringing international artists, scholars, and students together to explore historical repertoire through concerts, masterclasses, and community engagement. The 2026 revival honors this legacy while expanding the festival into an immersive, interdisciplinary experience—uniting Baroque music, dance, visual art, and innovation.

Panorama Concert - Student Ensemble Series
2026-01-31 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
In addition to featuring Symphony Orchestra, Chorale, Concert Choir, Wind Ensemble, and other School of Music students, the 2026 Panorama Concert will celebrate the School of Music’s 130th anniversary as a department on campus.

Live from the Mead Witter School of Music - Sarah Brailey, Julia Rottmayer, and Deirdre Brenner
2026-02-08 12:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | No ticket required
Live from the Mead Witter School of Music presents:
Sarah Brailey, soprano
Julia Rottmayer, soprano
Deirdre Brenner, piano
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“Live from the Mead Witter School of Music” is a chamber music series held the second Sunday of each month at the Hamel Music Center during the academic year.
The series is made available by the generosity of donors to the David and Kato Perlman Live from the Mead Witter School of Music Fund.

Daniel Grabois - Faculty Artist Series
2026-02-11 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Artist Series
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Daniel Grabois is Professor of Horn at the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he performs in the Wisconsin Brass Quintet and serves as the Curator of SoundWaves, a series he created that combines science lectures with music performances. The former Chair of Contemporary Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, Grabois now serves as Director of the Electro-Acoustic Research Space (EARS), a facility which he founded with funding from a UW2020 large-equipment grant. Grabois is also the hornist in the Meridian Arts Ensemble, a New York City based brass quintet founded in 1987. With Meridian, he has performed over seventy world premieres, released twelve CDs, received two ASCAP/CMA Adventuresome Programming Awards, and toured worldwide, in addition to recording or performing with rock legends Duran Duran and Natalie Merchant and performing the music of Frank Zappa for the composer himself. Grabois has also created numerous arrangements and compositions for Meridian.
A freelance musician from 1989 to 2011, Grabois performed with most of the classical music ensembles in New York City, including the Metropolitan Opera, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York City Opera, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and St. Luke’s Chamber Orchestra. He appeared on numerous recordings of classical music, rock, and jazz, and played in Broadway pits (some 36 shows, in thousands of performances).
In 2022, Grabois released his second solo album, Fire Names, for horn and tape. He composed the music for that CD as well as for his previous CD, Air Names. The next recording in the series, Earth Names, will be released in 2025, and Water Names will be released in 2026. Grabois’ compositions, including four etude books and numerous chamber and solo works, are published by Wave Front Music.
In addition to his work as a horn player, composer, arranger, and electronic musician, Grabois is also an avid woodworker and practitioner of martial arts.
Daniel Grabois is a Yamaha Performing Artist.

University Symphony Orchestra - Student Ensemble Series
2026-02-13 19:30, 2026-03-25 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Oriol Sans, conductor

Wind Ensemble - Student Ensemble Series
2026-02-17 19:30, 2026-03-16 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Scott Teeple, conductor

Concert Band - Student Ensemble Series
2026-02-19 19:30, 2026-03-26 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Corey Pompey, conductor

Chamber Percussion Ensemble - Student Ensemble Series
2026-02-23 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | No ticket required
The Chamber Percussion Ensemble is a chamber group dedicated to the performance of significant and interesting works from diverse compositional trends of the 20th and 21st centuries. While an emphasis is placed on unconducted works, the group also regularly performs conducted pieces for up to 15 percussionists. Professors Anthony Di Sanza, Todd Hammes and Tom Ross coache the ensemble with assistance from graduate students in the percussion program. Guest artists regularly perform with the ensemble and guest composers are often featured.

University Bands - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-01 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$10 general admission
Students free (ticket required)

Blue Note Ensemble & Contemporary Jazz Ensemble - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-04 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | No ticket required

Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-05 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States

Concert Choir and Chorale - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-06 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)

Interwoven Ensemble - Guest Artist Series
2026-03-06 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Guest Artist Series
Interwoven Ensemble
Yoko Reikano Kimura, koto/shamisen/voice
Keiko Tokunaga, violin
Hikaru Tamaki, cello
Andy Lin, erhu/viola
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Pioneers of intercultural music that interlaces historic sonorities of Eastern Asia and Western Europe, INTERWOVEN is currently in its fourth season as a chamber ensemble. Taking inspiration from its birthplace, New York City, where countless cultures coexist and thrive, INTERWOVEN celebrates and integrates traditions, aesthetics and communities from various heritages through performing, commissioning, and recording contemporary music.
The ensemble made its debut in October 2021 at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City, with the funding from the City Artist Corps Grant. The group has since appeared in venues such as Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Metropolitan Museum in New York City, Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn and Vancouver Civic Centre Annex, among others.
INTERWOVEN’s artistic goal is to see evidence of traditional Asian instruments or their sonority included in classical contemporary compositions and an increase in commissioning and performance of multicultural works written by diverse composers. The ensemble promotes the creation of new intercultural music by educating the young composers in universities and by commissioning from established composers who resonate with our beliefs. INTERWOVEN served as a guest artist-in-residence at the University of California Los Angeles, Toronto University, Longy School of Music in Massachusetts, University of Kansas and Colby College in Maine, working closely with composition and instrumental departments of the school.
The group is committed to introducing the sonority of traditional Asian music, instruments, history and culture to various American communities of non-Asian heritages. The ensemble received two major fundings for its original community project, FantAsia!, from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York City and Canada Council for the Arts in 2023; FantAsia! is a musical event of an Asian folklore-inspired program that takes place in neighborhoods with the smallest Asian population in all boroughs of New York City and Vancouver, BC.
Founder and GRAMMY Award winning violinist, Keiko Tokunaga, brings together seasoned musicians who have been heard in major halls, such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, and their equivalents in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Members of INTERWOVEN are passionate advocates for the importance of music in social, personal, and political developments, and devote much of their time to teaching and educational outreach. The ensemble collaborates with educational institutions to promote the creations of multicultural musical compositions, and to encourage active dialogues between students, faculty and the community on socially crucial topics such as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the music field and beyond.

Live from the Mead Witter School of Music - Matthew Zalkind and Christopher Taylor
2026-03-08 12:30 - 17:00 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | No ticket required
Live from the Mead Witter School of Music presents:
Matthew Zalkind, cello
Christopher Taylor, piano
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“Live from the Mead Witter School of Music” is a chamber music series held the second Sunday of each month at the Hamel Music Center during the academic year.
The series is made available by the generosity of donors to the David and Kato Perlman Live from the Mead Witter School of Music Fund.

Treble Choir & University Chorus - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-08 14:00 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States

Jazz Composers' Group & Creative Music Ensemble - Student Ensemble Series
2026-03-09 19:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States

Christopher Taylor - Faculty Artist Series
2026-03-13 19:30 | Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Purchase tickets
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Artist Series
Christopher Taylor, piano
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Hailed by critics as “frighteningly talented” (The New York Times) and “a great pianist” (The Los Angeles Times), Christopher Taylor has distinguished himself throughout his career as an innovative musician with a diverse array of talents and interests. He is known for a passionate advocacy of music written in the past 100 years — Messiaen, Ligeti, and Bolcom figure prominently in his performances — but his repertoire spans four centuries and includes the complete Beethoven sonatas, the Liszt Transcendental Etudes, Bach’s Goldberg Variations, and a multitude of other familiar masterworks. Whatever the genre or era of the composition, Mr. Taylor brings to it an active imagination and intellect coupled with heartfelt intensity and grace.
Mr. Taylor has concertized around the globe, with international tours taking him to Russia, Western Europe, East Asia, and the Carribean. At home in the U.S. he has appeared with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. As a soloist he has performed in New York’s Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls, in Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Ravinia and Aspen festivals, and dozens of other venues. In chamber settings, he has collaborated with many eminent musicians, including Robert McDuffie and the Borromeo, Shanghai, Pro Arte, and Ying Quartets. His recordings have featured works by Liszt, Messiaen, and present-day Americans William Bolcom and Derek Bermel. Throughout his career Mr. Taylor has become known for undertaking memorable and unusual projects. Examples include: an upcoming tour in which he will perform, from memory, the complete transcriptions of Beethoven symphonies by Liszt; performances and lectures on the complete etudes of György Ligeti; and a series of performances of the Goldberg Variations on the unique double-manual Steinway piano in the collection of the University of Wisconsin. He has actively promoted the rediscovery and refurbishment of the latter instrument; in recent years he has also been building a reinvented and modernized version of it, a project that relies on his computer and engineering skills and was unveiled in a demonstration recital in 2016.
Numerous awards have confirmed Mr. Taylor’s high standing in the musical world. He was named an American Pianists’ Association Fellow for 2000, before which he received an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 1996 and the Bronze Medal in the 1993 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. In 1990 he took first prize in the William Kapell International Piano Competition, and also became one of the first recipients of the Irving Gilmore Young Artists’ Award.
Mr. Taylor owes much of his success to several outstanding teachers, including Russell Sherman, Maria Curcio-Diamand, Francisco Aybar, and Julie Bees. In addition to his busy concert schedule, he currently serves as Paul Collins Associate Professor of Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He pursues a variety of other interests, including: mathematics (he received a summa cum laude degree from Harvard University in this field in 1992); philosophy (an article he coauthored with the leading scholar Daniel Dennett appears in the Oxford Free Will Handbook); computing; linguistics; and biking, which is his primary means of commuting. Mr. Taylor lives in Middleton, Wisconsin, with his wife and two daughters. Christopher Taylor is a Steinway artist.

Wingra Wind Quintet - Faculty Ensemble Series
2026-04-11 14:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Ensemble Series
Conor Nelson, flute
Lindsay Flowers, oboe
Alica Lee, clarinet
Trevor Healy, horn
Eleni Katz, bassoon

Live from the Mead Witter School of Music - Pro Arte Quartet
2026-04-12 12:30 | Collins Recital Hall, Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, Madison, WI, 53706, United States
Free | No ticket required
Live from the Mead Witter School of Music presents:
Pro Arte Quartet
David Perry, violin
Suzanne Beia, violin
Sally Chisholm, viola
Parry Karp, violoncello
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“Live from the Mead Witter School of Music” is a chamber music series held the second Sunday of each month at the Hamel Music Center during the academic year.
The series is made available by the generosity of donors to the David and Kato Perlman Live from the Mead Witter School of Music Fund.

Opera Workshop
2026-04-14 19:30 | Music Hall, 925 Bascom Mall, Madison, WI, United States
Free | No ticket required
Opera students perform a variety of scenes from opera and musical theatre.
