The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra presents this summer’s last FREE organ concert for the downtown Dane County Farmers’ Market at 11 a.m. this coming Saturday.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will host the last of three FREE summer performances on the Overture Concert Organ, this time featuring guest organist Donald VerKuilen, during the Dane County Farmers’ Market (below) on this coming Saturday, Aug. 9, at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall, 201 State Street.

No tickets or reservations are needed for this 45-minute concert.

A Wisconsin native and current Oberlin College organ performance major, Donald VerKuilen (below) makes his Overture Hall debut in an exciting program. (You can hear VerKuilen performing “Variations on ‘In Dulci Jubilo’ in a YouTube video at the bottom.) 

The music includes the Fantasie in D-flat Major, by Camille Saint-Saëns (below top), the Allegro Vivace for Organ Symphony No. 5 by Charles-Marie Widor (below middle, at the organ in the church of St. Sulpice in Paris circa 1900) and the Suite for organ by Malcolm Archer (below bottom).

VerKuilen recently returned from a concert tour of French organs, and is certain to bring the same magic to the colossal Klais organ, custom-built by Klais-Orgelbau of Bonn, Germany, in Overture Hall.

The Madison Symphony Orchestra and Overture Center for the Arts present the Farmers’ Market Concert Series in partnership with 77 Square.

The Free Farmers’ Market Concerts are sponsored by Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund.

To see the Overture Concert Organ series of concerts for 2014-15 or to subscribe at a 25 percent savings, visit: www. madisonsymphony.org/organseason14-15