Greg Zelek with UW-Madison Concert Choir

media release: The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) celebrates the 21st season of its Overture Concert Organ series with four performances from September 2025 through March 2026. Greg Zelek, Principal Organist and Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curator of the Overture Concert Organ has prepared programs featuring guest artists including the UW–Madison Concert Choir, trumpeter Caleb Hudson, organist Felix Hell, and An Evening of Intimate Chamber Music with nine MSO musicians for the 2025–2026 series.

“I’m really excited about the 21st season of the Overture Concert Organ series,” Greg Zelek exclaims. “I get the opportunity to perform with the UW–Madison Concert Choir, former Canadian Brass trumpeter Caleb Hudson, and members of our own MSO to close out our season. We also feature the brilliant organist Felix Hell who will perform his arrangement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. I can’t wait to share these entertaining and exciting programs with you all!”

The season begins on Thursday, October 2, 2025 with Greg Zelek and the UW-Madison Concert Choir conducted by the UW Director of Choral Activities Mariana Farah. The concert features works written for organ and choir. Opening with the Kyrie from Vierne’s Messe Solennelle, the audience will hear the power of the organ in tandem with these powerful voices, and other well-known classics, featuring arrangements of Amazing Grace and Barber’s Sure on This Shining Night, as well as popular arrangements of Brazilian jazz tunes.

The second concert of the season features Greg Zelek, Organ and Caleb Hudson, Trumpet on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. Trumpeter Caleb Hudson has made a name for himself as one of the most virtuosic trumpet soloists, as well as a respected pedagogue. Caleb Hudson, a former member of the Canadian Brass, collaborated with Greg Zelek in 2022. Their program features multiple arrangements for organ and trumpet, such as Bartók’s Romanian Dances, as well as works written by and for Caleb himself.

The first concert in the new year brings organist Felix Hell to Overture Hall on Tuesday, February 24, 2026. He returns following a 2012 performance with a unique and brilliant program that he calls “Cathedral of Sound: The Organ as Orchestra.” The program features his own arrangement of Beethoven’s famous Fifth Symphony, never heard before on the Overture Concert Organ.

An Evening of Intimate Chamber Music Featuring Nine MSO Musicians & Greg Zelek wraps up the 2025–2026 Overture Concert Organ series on Tuesday, March 31, 2026. The MSO is celebrating its 100th Anniversary season this year. “It seems only fitting to bring some of my MSO colleagues with me on stage to showcase their talent and our unique pairing for this performance,” Greg Zelek expresses. “While the organ can be a loud instrument, it can also be used in a softer and more subtle way. With works like Handel’s G minor Organ Concerto and movements from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Coleridge-Taylor’s Nonet, this program will demonstrate the versatility and more intimate side of our instrument. I’m also excited that the audience will get a chance to hear many individual orchestral musicians showcased, as they perform some works as soloists with the organ.”  

All 2025–2026 Overture Concert Organ series performances take place in Overture Hall at 7:30 p.m. Subscriptions to all four are available now for 20% off single ticket prices, available online or via phone at (608) 257-3734. Single tickets ($25-$45) go on sale in-person at the Overture Center Box Office, 201 State Street, by phone (608) 258-4141, or online. Discover more at https://madisonsymphony.org/25-26organ