Young Milwaukee musicians featured in live, statewide WPR broadcast

When Emmaline Strong was young, the harpists at her church would play “Silent Night” at Christmas. She was struck by the music’s beauty. 

Her mother played the piano and was given a small Celtic harp as a gift to try to play. The two instruments are similarly laid out. 

Thinking of the euphonious sounds of “Silent Night,” Strong said, she claimed the harp as her own and began taking serious lessons by the time she was 10. 

“As I got bigger, my harps got bigger,” Strong said.

Now 24, Strong is an alumni of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra. But she still returns to the group when needed. 

She joined the Senior Symphony Wednesday at the Bradley Symphony Center in downtown Milwaukee to participate in WPR Classical Music Day. 

WPR broadcast its program “Midday Classics with Norman Gilliland” live from symphony center featuring the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera’s Baumgartner Artists, the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and the Rufus King High School Advanced Choir. 

The event comes as WPR is building its presence in the music community in Milwaukee and southeast Wisconsin.

On May 20, WPR’s two current networks — “NPR News & Music” and “The Ideas Network” — were renamed and restructured as “WPR News” and “WPR Music.” 

WPR Music replaced The Ideas Network on 90.7 FM in Milwaukee, bringing a classical music station back to the city.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson joined the live broadcast Wednesday, issuing a proclamation declaring Dec. 5 as “WPR Classical Music Day” in the city.

Johnson told the audience he was happy to have a classical music station back on the airwaves to offer more culture and variety, not only to Milwaukee but to his three children. 

Particularly one of his twin daughters. 

“My 6-year-old daughter, Bella, goes to bed at night listening to classical music,” Johnson said. “It’s just something she started on her own.” 

The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra has about 1,000 students making it the largest youth orchestra programs in the United States, said Artistic Director Carter Simmons. 

The 23 students who performed Wednesday were the most advanced musicians in the orchestra. 

“It’s an honor to be able to perform and to be able to present such a wonderful group of young people that are, I think, very inspiring to many others,” Simmons said. “And that we can do this with such a big expressive way across the state and even across the world, is just such an honor.” 

Double bass player Ean Gergetz, 18, has been performing for about eight years but says it’s usually for family or community members. 

“This is something that the whole state could have heard,” Gergetz said. “It was a wonderful experience, and I’m glad that I was able to participate.”

About 80 community members attended the event, including Thomas Raimann.

“This is bringing back memories of when I was back in the youth orchestra, back in grade school, in the ’60s,” Raimann said.