Milwaukee Symphony to perform free concert at Ripon College Oct. 1

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin’s largest cultural organization, returns to Ripon College for its 45th appearance Sunday, Oct. 1. The performance is offered free of charge as a thank-you to the community, and no tickets are required.

The performance is part of the Caestecker Fine Arts Series at Ripon College and will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Field House of the newly renovated and expanded Willmore Center, corner of Thorne and Union streets.

Selections for the performance are The Unanswered Question, by Charles Ives; and Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K. 543, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major, by Franz Joseph Haydn, will features soloists Katherine Young Steele, oboe; Catherine Chen, bassoon; Ilana Setapen, violin; and Susan Babini, cello.

Yaniv Dinur will be the conductor. He is the associate conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the newly appointed music director of the New Bedford Symphony in Massachusetts. He made his conducting debut at the age of 19 with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, a performance that resulted in multiple return engagements with the NSO. Following his European debut, he was invited to perform with the Israel Camerata, making him the youngest conductor ever to conduct an orchestra in Israel.

He has since conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony, Houston Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, New World Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Orchestra Giovanile Italiana, Orchestra di Padova e del Veneto, Orchestra Sinfonica Abruzzese, Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan, Solisti di Perugia, Torino Philharmonic, Portugal Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Festival Orchestra, State Orchestra of St. Petersburg, Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa.

Dinur is the winner of numerous awards, among them the 2017 and 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Awards, Second Prize at the 2009 Mata International Conducting Competition in Mexico, and the Yuri Ahronovitch 1st Prize in the 2005 Aviv Conducting Competition in Israel. He was chosen by the League of American Orchestras to be a featured conductor in the 2011 Bruno Walter Conducting Preview, and he is a recipient of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Zubin Mehta Scholarship Endowment.

Since its inception in 1959, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee.

The MSO’s full-time professional musicians perform more than 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state.