Conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong will lead the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in “Bach and More,” the second concert of this season's Basilica Series. The program will begin with Bach's great Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, arguably the most popular of the six concertos. The No. 2 provides an example of ritornello, based on alternating sections of the soloists, including Jeani Foster on flute, Margaret Butler on oboe, Mark Niehaus on trumpet and MSO concertmaster Frank Almond on violin. The second movement contains an unusual scoring, with only three soloists underlying the central theme, concluding the somber mood at the end of the andante.
The concert continues with contemporary Latvian composer Peteris Vasks' work inspired by the Baroque era, Symphony for String Orchestra, and concludes with Handel's Suites No. 2 and No. 3 from Water Music and Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, which showcases pioneering advances in musical language.
The concert takes place 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18-19 and 4 p.m. Nov. 20 at the Basilica of St. Josaphat, 2333 S. Sixth St.
