Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra strengthens Wisconsin communities through innovative, high-quality artistic experiences that entertain, inspire, and unite diverse audiences. Through concert programs serving tens of thousands annually and education programs that impact hundreds of young people, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra uses uplifting and enriching arts experiences to build a healthy, connected community.
No arts organization in Wisconsin performs free for more people each year than the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is a premier chamber ensemble in the United States, offering the highest quality of classical music performance in a way accessible to all.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is best known for our Concerts on the Square series, which since 1984 has brought together tens of thousands of music lovers from the Dane County, Wisconsin area, and surrounding areas, for one-of-a-kind free outdoor concerts. While centered on excellent music—ranging from the core of the classical canon, to cutting-edge contemporary composers, to pop favorites—Concerts on the Square's true impact is in creating a shared space and cultural experience for all of the Madison and Dane County communities.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performs throughout the year, with concerts including those in Masterworks series, bringing world-class classical soloists to the Madison audience. Additional performances include an annual performance of Handel's Messiah and numerous engagements with other arts organizations, including ballet, choir, and opera companies.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is also engaged in quickly-growing music education activities. These include the Super Strings program, which provides free violin lessons and mentorship to K12 students who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity; Youth concerts with original program designed to delight and inform young music lovers; a "side-by-side" performance collaboration between the WCO and the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras; and an annual Young Artist Concerto Competition awarding scholarships to the most promising young instrumentalists in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is comprised of many of the finest classical instrumentalists in the Midwest and the United States. Under the leadership of long-tenured Music Director Andrew Sewell, the musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra perform for their community with a remarkably high standard of musicianship and professionalism. Together, Maestro Sewell and the musicians of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra push the boundaries of the contemporary orchestra, performing both well-known and lesser-recognized works at the highest skill level.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra currently works in partnership with a Composer in Residence, esteemed scholar-practitioner of music composition and cultural analysis Dr. Bill Banfield. Partway through a three-year residency, Dr. Banfield and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have commissioned and performed multiple new works and have worked to forge a new definition of true "community engagement" with classical music and the impact a professional orchestra has as a reflection of its community.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, having been founded in 1960, is part of the fabric of cultural life in the Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin communities. Concerts on the Square is readily considered one of the iconic traditions of Madison, defining the cultural life of the city through community togetherness, an appreciation for the arts, and a desire for shared well-being and economic prosperity. Concerts on the Square and the rest of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra concerts serve as both cultural touchstones for Dane County as well as economic drivers of hundreds of thousands of dollars of economic activity.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's education programs serve hundreds of children and youth annually to wide acclaim from partner organizations including the Madison Metropolitan School District, Big Brothers Big Sisters Dane County, and the Lussier Community Education Center.