Celebrate UW sesquicentennial with music

Tickets to the 150th Anniversary Concert commemorating UW’s first classes in 1849 will go on sale Wednesday, Dec. 9 at the Kohl Center and all Ticketmaster outlets.

Sesquicentennial Web site

Sponsored by American Family Insurance, the concert will be Sunday, Feb. 7 at 1 p.m. in the Kohl Center.

“This is the university and School of Music’s way of sharing with the larger community,” says John Schaffer, SOM director. He says concert organizers tried to include a cross-section of music popular throughout the university’s 150-year history.

“During UW’s first 50 years, people did a great deal of singing, so we have the Choral Union performing,” Schaffer says. “Around the turn of the last century, marching bands were popular, so our marching band will present an interesting mix of marches and other band favorites. In the 30s and 40s, jazz was coming into its own. Our Jazz Ensemble will showcase that.”

In fact, the Jazz Ensemble will present Duke Ellington’s “The U-Wisc Suite,” which the Duke composed during a residency here in 1972. The work only has been performed a few times in its 25-year history, according to Joan Wildman, a professor of music involved in the residency.

Schaffer says Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” performed by the UW Symphony, will be the concert’s culmination. “The piece will be complete with cannon and fireworks,” Schaffer says.

In addition to Ellington and Tchaikovksy, Beethoven and Mahler also will be represented in the concert. Spirituals, a history of university fight songs, “The Star- Spangled Banner,” “The Bud Song” and, naturally, “On Wisconsin” will round out the program.

Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for 13 years through college, and $2 for children under 12. To order tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at (608) 255-4646. Ticket revenues will be used for the undergraduate sesquicentennial scholarship fund. For more information about the concert, contact the UW–Madison School of Music, (608) 263-1900.