In preparing programs, DeMain does something others in classical music sometimes scorn: Listen. DeMain is retiring at the end of the orchestra’s next season.
A tiny gold piano sits on a table in DeMain’s Madison home. To familiarize himself with a symphony, DeMain first sits down at his piano and works through the orchestral score.
When John DeMain arrived in Madison as one of three candidates vying to lead the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 1993, he exhorted the musicians not to forget him. After more than three decades, DeMain enters his final season as music director as perhaps the MSO‘s most memorable figure.
The orchestra will be ending its 2026 season, as well as its first hundred years, this weekend with a free centennial festival featuring perfo…
When John DeMain arrived in Madison as one of three candidates vying to lead the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 1993, he exhorted the musicians not to forget him. After more than three decades, DeMain enters his final season as music director as perhaps the MSO‘s most memorable figure.
A tiny gold piano sits on a table in DeMain’s Madison home. To familiarize himself with a symphony, DeMain first sits down at his piano and works through the orchestral score.
In preparing programs, DeMain does something others in classical music sometimes scorn: Listen. DeMain is retiring at the end of the orchestra’s next season.