Stephanie Elkins

Editor’s note: Email responses from Nikolay Medvedev have been edited for length and clarity. This week’s new release features some wildly exciting and ear-catching music: Sophisticated and fun jazz in many permutations, challenging classical structures that require almost athletic virtuosity and some gorgeous, deeply emotional lyrical passages. It’s also a statement of personal freedom. Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Norman Gilliland is the reason I have a career in radio. It’s my second career, and although I’d been volunteering as a host for years, I didn’t start my first paying radio gig until I was in my 40s. Back in 2007, I randomly sat down next to Norman in the PBS Wisconsin studios during a fundraising event, and we struck up a conversation. I was thrilled! I had been listening for ages and recognized his voice right away.

The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus has had a busy and ambitious season, celebrating 50 years of singing the world’s greatest choral masterworks with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Its historic 2025-26 season comes to a close with Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” later this month. That piece alone represents an enormous undertaking, but the season also included several other iconic works: Handel’s “Messiah,” J.S. Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” and the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.