Prepare to be swept away by a magnificent blend of classical traditions and contemporary innovations as the Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra (SSO) unveils its spectacular 2024-2025 season. This extraordinary lineup features three captivating events: the timeless splendor of Handel's 'Messiah,' a retrospective journey through musical legacies from Mozart to Montgomery, and the luminous melodies of the season finale, 'Luminescence.' Whether you're a seasoned symphony-goer or a curious newcomer, this season promises to captivate your senses and ignite your passion for orchestral music.

A Symphony of Traditions and Innovations: Unveiling Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra's 2024-2025 Season

The Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra is set to captivate audiences in 2026 with an exciting lineup of events, each offering a unique auditory experience. From the cozy setting of Chamber Music at the Loft to the grand orchestral movements of Link Up – The Orchestra Moves, and the timeless storytelling in America@250, these events promise to showcase a range of musical genres and artistic expressions. Join us as we dive into a year of sound, rhythm, and emotion through the world of symphonic music.

Exploring the Symphonic Journey: Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra's 2026 Events

The Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra is set to captivate audiences with a series of unique events, each offering a distinctive musical journey. From the intimate charm of Chamber Music at the Loft to the grandeur of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and the cultural tapestry of America@250, these events promise an enriching experience. Notable performances by acclaimed artists like Kathryn Henry and Llewellyn Sánchez-Werner underscore the orchestra's commitment to diversity and artistic excellence. Join us as we explore the vibrant soundscapes that await in Sheboygan, WI.

A Symphony of Experiences: Sheboygan's Diverse Musical Endeavors

Chamber music with tasting flight and appetizers.

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Chamber Music at the Loft – Jan, 2026

Black Pig

Featuring the animated film The Snowman, scenes from The Nutcracker, three songs from Home Alone and the Sheboygan Symphony Chorus

Snowmen, Nutcrackers…and Kevin McCallister!?

Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony featuring Kathryn Henry, Aaron Wardell, and the Sheboygan Symphony Chorus

Unity & Hope

Chamber Music at the Loft

Experience the grandeur of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 featuring pianist Fanya Lin, who wowed our audience in 2023, and Sibelius’ Nordic opus, Symphony No. 2, in SSO’s blockbuster Season Finale. Embark on a journey through the captivating soundscape of German-American Ingrid Stölzel’s City Beautiful as it opens the program.

Luminescence

Grammy Award winner Jessie Montgomery blends jazz and baroque elements into her unique musical tapestry, while Carlos Simon delves into Beethoven’s legacy. Meanwhile, Mozart and Tchaikovsky reflect on their own musical past in this retrospective program.

Retrospection

Handel’s Messiah has been performed somewhere in the world every single year since its premiere in 1741! The Sheboygan Symphony Chorus celebrates its 30th season with this timeless masterpiece. Join in singing during the Hallelujah Chorus! Sheet music will be provided for audience participation.

Messiah

The season opens with Beethoven’s Pastorale Symphony, a delightful promenade through the Viennese countryside, alongside the world premiere of Jacob Bancks’ The Healing Machine, an SSO commission drawing inspiration from the Kohler Art Preserve’s treasures.

Nature

We end the season triumphantly, with one of the greatest American masterpieces, Samuel Barber’s youthful violin concerto, with lush passages and a fireworks finale. Gustav Mahler’s First Symphony, called “Titan,” features evocations of nature, Austrian country dances, darkly witty klezmer tunes and a stunning grand finale.

Titan

In March we present Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, a hidden gem with exuberant intensity. Mozart’s Requiem is long admired for its powerful expression of grief and consolation ever since it was performed soon after the composer’s untimely death. Today, it’s heard in film scores nearly as often as in the concert hall.

Requiem

Our holiday concert features a variety of seasonal selections, including audience favorites like Sleigh Ride and Silent Night plus pieces new to the SSO: Symph-Hanukkah and Navidad Latina.

Holiday Pops

We open our second season under Maestro Estigarribia with an Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra premiere, a rhythmic and energetic piece titled Fiesta! by Peruvian Jimmy López Bellido, followed by Mozart’s 21st Piano Concerto with its ravishing slow movement. Brahms’ dramatic and triumphant First Symphony completes this festive program.

Fiesta!

Minnesota composer Bancks takes us to both rural and urban “wild” spaces, followed by Prokofiev’s dazzling Second Violin Concerto. And Beethoven’s Fifth, from its bold first notes to its triumphant conclusion, will be the perfect season finale!

Cause For Celebration

In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day (April 17), the SSO String Quartet, the Sheboygan Symphony Chorus and the Sheboygan Symphony Chamber Singers present a concert of music by composers tragically silenced by the Nazis, plus a moving set of Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre. This concert is sure to be a poignant experience that will remind all of us that, indeed, “Love Conquers Hate.”

Remembering The Holocaust

Beth El Congregation

Walker’s Lyric for Strings was written as a lament for his grandmother born into slavery. Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Concerto, one of his last completed works, will feature Milwaukee Symphony Principal Clarinet, Todd Levy. And to end, Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony is rich in melody and Czech dance rhythms.

A Lyrical Evening

The world-famous CLASSICAL KIDS production of “Beethoven Lives Upstairs” features a lively exchange of letters between young Christoph and his uncle. Their subject: the “madman” who has moved into the upstairs apartment of Christoph’s Vienna home. Through a touching correspondence, dramatically underscored with the composer’s most beautiful excerpts, Christoph slowly comes to understand the genius of Beethoven and the beauty of his music.

Family Concert

Weill Center for the Performing Arts

Hansel and Gretel (Overture), Symphonie Fantastique

Storytellers

Sound travels, it moves. Music moves. Music is highly organized sound, and is temporal, moving through time and space slowly or quickly, from low frequency to high frequency, structured through myriad patterns. Composers create these organized sounds that stimulate us intellectually, move us emotionally, and even dance.

Link Up – The Orchestra Moves

West Side Story is a singular, iconic musical theater work that combines the genius of Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, and Arthur Laurents. Based on Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet, the musical stylizations draw heavily from jazz, Afro-Caribbean, and Mexican sources.

Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra

Mar 7, 2026

Storytellers

Mar 10, 2026

Link Up – The Orchestra Moves

May 16, 2026

America@250

Jan 22, 2026

Chamber Music at the Loft – Jan, 2026

Dec 13, 2025

Snowmen, Nutcrackers…and Kevin McCallister!?

Articles & News

Sheboygan Symphony Orchestra