User talk:Madisonsymphony

Hello, I am the marketing communications specialist for the Madison Symphony Orchestra. I would like to suggest some changes to the MSO article to correct facts and clarify some areas. I have never communicated on Wikipedia, so please forgive me if I format this incorrectly.

Here is the article with the corrected information: The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Its music director and conductor is John DeMain. The orchestra was founded in 1925 as a small community ensemble and is now a full-sized orchestra, offering a subscription season of eight triple performances featuring established and emerging guest artists, a subscription organ season of four recitals, and a series of Education and Community Engagement programs. The Madison Symphony performs in Madison's Overture Hall, one of two theaters in the “Overture Center for the Arts”, a gift given to Madison by longtime MSO patrons Jerome Frautschi and his wife, Pleasant T. Rowland. This gift held the distinction of being one of the largest ever donated to the performing arts by a single donor in American history,[1] actually exceeding the entire budget of the “National Endowment for the Arts”.[2] Their gift in turn inspired a wave of gifts to the performing arts nationwide. Overture Hall has been described as "one of the acoustically finest halls in America" by guest artists, conductors, and visiting shows alike. The hall features the magnificent "Overture Concert Organ", custom built for the by renowned organ builder, Johannes Klais {orgelbau} of Bonn, Germany. The instrument was the gift of Pleasant T. Rowland. It was commissioned and is owned and curated by the MSO. At twenty tons, the Klais organ is the largest movable object in any theater in America, with the capacity move forward and back into storage on a set of railroad tracks. It provides the orchestra with the opportunity to feature major works for organ and orchestra.

Here are two more newspaper articles that can be referenced in the general article: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/arts/music/23madi.html?_r=0 Here, the New York Times called DeMain a gifted orchestra builder and compared the MSO to the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra: "Mr. DeMain, a veteran conductor best known for his work in opera, took over the orchestra in, and he is obviously a gifted orchestra builder. Apart from minor problems in the woodwinds on Friday and in the brasses on Saturday, this group could have passed for a full-time orchestra despite a substantial representation of University of Wisconsin faculty members and students.

The most compelling element was the strings, incisive in Vaughan Williams's overture to "The Wasps" but warm and plush as appropriate. In that respect it was tempting to compare this regional orchestra even with a major international ensemble, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, which made no virtue of harshness in a Brahms concert at Avery Fisher Hall last month."

2. http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=37813 Here, American composer Jake Heggie, who composed the opera "Dead Man Walking" describes what is unique about John DeMain: " "John and I have backgrounds in American musical theater, so he understands my work innately," says Heggie. "He understands dramatic pacing and that everything is in service to the drama. That's not true for all conductors. He's also a good symphony conductor because he brings out the theater in that music. Brahms and Bach wrote very theatrical music, even though they didn't write for the theater."

He adds: "There's no one like John DeMain. In my opinion, he's one of the top conductors in the world."

thank you. Madisonsymphony (talk) 15:29, 8 August 2013 (UTC)