The MSO is beyond question the leading arts enterprise in the Madison area. It celebrated its 75th season in 1999-2000. There have been only three resident music directors during my time in Madison: Walter Herrmann (a cellist and son of the famous Viennese violinist Hugo Herrmann); Roland Johnson, (a violinist and protegé of Hermann Scherchen), who conducted the MSO for 32 seasons, a remarkable achievement, and since 1994 John DeMain, who was the former music director of the Houston Grand Opera. DeMain has catapulted the entire MSO organization onto a much higher and more professional plane.

• Bach, Krol, Bolcom, Mendelssohn, Haydn: January, 1992.
  
  
• Catherine Comet Conducts: February, 1992.
  
  
• Bach's Mass in B Minor: March, 1992.
  
  
• Mozart, Honneger, Ott, Mendelssohn: January, 1993.
  
  
• Weber, Grieg, Wagner, Ravel: May, 1993.
  
  
• DeMain Conducts, with Alyssa Park, Violin: October, 1993.
  
  
• Giunta Conducts, with Jose Feghali, Piano: November, 1993.
  
  
• Hanson Conducts, with Shauna Rolston, Cello: January, 1994.
  
  
• Beethoven: March, 1994.
  
  
• Brahms: May, 1994.
  
  
• Mozart, Bernstein, Mahler: September, 1994.
  
  
• Mozart, St.-Saëns, Kodály: October, 1994.
  
  
• Dvorak, Barber, Tchaikowsky: November, 1994.
  
  
• Britten, Mozart, Rachmaninoff: February, 1995.
  
  
• Beethoven's First and Ninth Symphonies: May, 1995.
  
  
• Bach, Hagen, Sibelius: September, 1995.
  
  
• Falletta Conducts, with Christopher O'Riley, Piano: October, 1995.
  
  
• Desmond Hoebig, Cello: November, 1995.
  
  
• Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony: May, 1996.
  
  
• Bravo Broadway: January, 1997.
  
  
• Stewart Wallace's "Kaddish for Harvey Milk": February, 1997.
  
  
• Schermerhorn Conducts, with Ignat Solzhentsin, Piano: September, 1997.
  
  
• Helen Donath, Soprano: February, 1998.
  
  
• Lynn Harrell, cello: March, 1998.
  
  
• Hymes-Bianchi Conducts, with Janina Fialkowska, piano: March, 1998.
  
  
• Rouse, Orff: May, 1998.
  
  
• Denyse Graves, Mezzo-Soprano: September, 1998.
  
  
• Messiah: December, 1998.
  
  
• Comet Conducts, with Nokothula Ngwenyaya, Viola: February, 1999.
  
  
• Jon Kimura Parker, Piano: March, 1999.
  
  
• Patricia Racette, Soprano: April, 1999.
  
  
• Elmar Oliveira, Violin: September, 1999.
  
  
• John Browning, Piano: October, 1999.
  
  
• Dunner Conducts, with Alban Gerhardt, Cello: November, 1999.
  
  
• Hymes-Bianchi Conducts, with Horacio Gutierrez, Piano: February, 2000.
  
  
• Robert McDuffie, Violin: March, 2000.
  
  
• Haydn's The Creation: April, 2000.
  
  
• Andre Watts, Piano: September, 2000.
  
  
• Shlomo Mintz, Violin: October, 2000.
  
  
• Lynn Harrell, Cello: November, 2000.
  
  
• J. S. Bach: December, 2000.
  
  
• Philippe Bianconi, Piano: March, 2001.
  
  
• Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Violin: April, 2001.
  
  
• Eroica Trio: September, 2001, for Isthmus.
  
  
• Eroica Trio: September, 2001, for MMR.
  
  
• Flynn Conducts, with Pinchas Zukermann, Violin and Amanda Forsyth, Cello: October, 2001.
  
  
• Salemno Conducts, with Cecile Licad, Piano: November, 2001.
  
  
• André Watts, Piano: September, 2002.
  
  
• Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Piano: October, 2002.