• A Letter From Pasquale and Jonathan
• Meet the Artistic Director and Principal Conductor-Pasquale Laurino
• Meet the Executive Director – Jonathan Winkle
• Board of Directors and Staff
• Auditions
• Haydn Project

A Letter From Pasquale and Jonathan

Greetings!

We have terrific music planned for you during the 91st season!

Summer would not be the same in Racine, of course, without the Lakeside Pops Concerts. While we have relocated to Memorial Hall, the format of the concerts is similar to years’ past. In June, we feature virtuoso bayan player Stas Venglevski performing tangos and other works, and in August jazz vocalist Corynn Latta in a program of big band music arranged for the RSO.

We are bringing back Musical Flights for a second season due to how popular these informal chamber music concerts and wine tastings were at downtown Racine’s Uncorkt. These events create wonderful opportunities to meet and talk with RSO musicians after their performance, along with tasting different wines provided by Uncorkt. What could be better than a little classical music with wine and good company!

The Fall Masterworks concert will feature trumpet virtuoso Jean Laurenz, Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the prestigious University of Wisconsin-Madison and the chamber brass ensemble Seraph Brass. Laurenz will perform Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto as part of the Haydn Project and also Aaron Copland’s sublime Quiet City. Gorecki’s Harpsichord Concerto, Haydn’s 91st Symphony and Stravinsky’s Pulcinella round out a fantastic program that will take place at First Presbyterian Church.

The Holiday Pops will once again welcome back Racine’s high school choirs to help us celebrate the holidays with magical holiday music and sing-a-long’s. This concert is always the most popular of the season and we are thrilled to work with our young people, once again!

Pasquale has chosen a deeply significant work to perform on Good Friday, Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Christ. The performance will take place at First Presbyterian Church, an especially poignant venue for this program. We welcome international violin virtuoso Jennifer Frautschi to perform the monumental Brahms Violin Concerto in D Major, and conclude the season with Mussorgsky’s exhilarating Pictures at an Exhibition. The popular Maurice Ravel arrangement will bring everyone out of their seats in one of the most exciting endings in all of music.

Warmest regards,

Pasquale Laurino, Artistic Director
Jonathan Winkle, Executive Director