The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will perform at the Buttermilk Festival in Fond du Lac on Wednesday, June 19. It will be the MSO’s 23rd free Festival concert since the tradition began in 1992. The concert will begin at 7:15 p.m. at the Wifler Performance Center in Buttermilk Creek Park on South Park Avenue, and will be moved to the County Fairgrounds in the event of unsuitable weather. The concert will feature three selections by Leroy Anderson, The Cowboys Overture and Raider’s March by John Williams, Variations on a Shaker Melody from Copland’s Appalachian Spring, John Steiner’s Suite from Casablanca, and the Finale from the William Tell Overture by Rossini. Also on the program are a medley from The Sound of Music, a Duke Ellington fantasy, the Armed Forces Salute, and Fantasy on American Themes (audience sing-along). The orchestra will be under the direction of Ryan Tani, who is completing his first year as Assistant Conductor of the MSO. In 2021, Tani completed his two-year tenure as the Orchestral Conducting Fellow for the Yale Philharmonia, where he was the recipient of the Dean’s Prize for artistic excellence in his graduating class. More recently, Tani has directed the Bozeman (Montana) Chamber Orchestra, Bozeman Symphonic Choir, Second String Orchestra, and MSU Symphony Orchestras. He frequently serves as cover conductor for the St. Louis, Colorado, and Bozeman symphonies and recently served on the faculty at the Montana State University School of Music. Since its inception in 1959, Wisconsin’s only full-time 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 professional musicians perform more than 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. The MSO’s standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 40,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, Family Series, and Meet the Music pre-concert talks. A food concession, serving sandwiches, snacks, soda and desserts will be available beginning at 6:00 p.m. hosted by the Fondy Jump Rope Team. The performance is funded through generous major sponsor and co-sponsor donations, contributions from Friends of the Festival and a free-will offering that will be received during the concert. Next on the Buttermilk Festival music calendar is the popular German folk band Dorf Kapelle on June 26, followed by the Fond du Lac Symphonic Band’s annual 4th of July Americana Concert, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Lakeside Park pavilion next to the bandstand. Fireworks begin at dusk following the concert.
