Wisconsin Union: Lake-Facing Concert Lakefront Live to Return as Three-Even Series as Part of Season of Free, Live Music at Memorial Union Terrace

For the second year, a unique free summer concert experience will return to Madison – this time, as a triple concert series. The Memorial Union Terrace series, Lakefront Live, features live band performances from the UW Credit Union Terrace Stage played facing Lake Mendota to be enjoyed by audience members on paddle and watercraft. 

Hosted by the Wisconsin Union’s Outdoor UW, the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Music Committee and the Hoofer Outing Club, Lakefront Live will take place on the Terrace June 8 at 7 p.m., featuring Birddog Blues Band; July 6 at 7 p.m., featuring country and blues band The Grouvin Brothers; and Aug. 10 at 7 p.m., featuring bluegrass group Cork n’ Bottle String Band.

“Lakefront Live is back again this year, and it’s better than ever with not one, but three outstanding free performances throughout the summer,” said Sean Michael Dargan, Wisconsin Union Directorate advisor. “We are excited to give Madison even more opportunities to come join us and celebrate our community’s incredible music scene and outdoor views!”

Concertgoers can rent single or double kayaks, stand-up paddleboards – including an eight-person stand-up paddleboard called the SUPSquatch – or canoes from Outdoor UW to savor the music from the water. Each person must make a reservation – for $16 – to secure one spot on an Outdoor UW paddlecraft for the entirety of the event (6-9 p.m.). 

The Outdoor UW team encourages patrons interested in a specific rental paddlecraft to arrive early, as patrons with reservations will receive a spot on a craft on a first come, first served basis. Renters may arrive starting at 3 p.m., and all members of a party must be present to select their shared craft. Guests can make online reservations and read reservation details at members.hoofers.org/event/91578 (June 8), members.hoofers.org/event/91579 (July 6) and members.hoofers.org/event/91580 (Aug. 10).

Additionally, the Hoofer Outing Club will offer free canoe rentals on a first come, first served basis to individuals 18 and older.

The presence or consumption of alcohol/drugs is not permitted on Outdoor UW or Wisconsin Hoofers watercraft. Individuals who are believed to be under the influence of alcohol/drugs will not be allowed to board a craft.

Those with their own watercraft may paddle over to enjoy the concert as well. The concert can also be enjoyed from the Memorial Union Terrace, where audience members can savor dishes from Memorial Union’s many dining options and take in the show.

If there are inclement lake conditions on the day of an event, Outdoor UW will refund rentals, and water outings will be canceled, with Lakefront Live transitioning to a Terrace-facing event. In the event of inclement weather, outdoor rentals will be refunded, and the concert will occur inside Memorial Union at der Rathskeller. Details of this series are subject to change. The Wisconsin Union team aims to announce any unanticipated changes to the series by 4 p.m. on the day of each concert. 

With four nights of live music each week on the Terrace, Lakefront Live is one of the many live music events held at the outdoor dining and entertainment destination this summer. Other performances include:

• Every Wednesday, starting on May 17 – Open Mic at 7 p.m.
• May 18 – Johnny Chimes & Natch’l Blues Band at 7 p.m.
• May 19 – The Emmylous at 4 p.m., Bascom Hill at 7 p.m., The Mascot Theory at 8 p.m.
• May 20 – The Hails at 7 p.m., The Moss at 8 p.m.
• May 25 – Gin Mill Hollow at 7 p.m.
• May 26 – Christo’s Novelty Combo at 4 p.m., The Courts at 7 p.m., Oruã at 8 p.m., Soft and Dumb at 9 p.m.
• May 27 – Eric Ryan-Johnson at 7 p.m., After August at 8 p.m.
• June 1 – Mad City Jug Band at 7 p.m.
• June 2 – Stephanie Rearick at 4 p.m., Carrellee at 7 p.m., Stranger Gallery at 8 p.m., The Quilz at 9 p.m.
• June 3 – Pat McCurdy at 7 p.m.
• June 9 – Gin, Chocolate & Bottle Rockets at 4 p.m., The Whiskey Farm at 7 p.m.
• June 10 – Rare Element at 7 p.m.
• June 15 – John Elliott at 7 p.m., The Also-Rans at 8 p.m.
• June 16 – Arielle Silver Duo at 4 p.m., DJay Mando at 7 p.m.
• June 17 – Madison Jazz Festival at 7 p.m.
• June 18 – Madison Jazz Festival: Juneteenth Celebration at 7 p.m.
• June 22 – Frank Martin Busch and the Names at 7 p.m.
• June 23 – Marc Stone at 4 p.m., Josh Harty Duo at 7 p.m., Thompson Springs at 8 p.m.
• June 24 – Buffalo Nichols at 8 p.m.
• June 29 – No Name String Band at 7 p.m.
• June 30 – Mike Cammilleri Organ Trio at 4 p.m., The Sandblasters at 7 p.m., Jason Vargas and the Apollos at 8 p.m., Zeroed Hero at 9 p.m.
• July 1 – Middle Names at 7 p.m., Brett Newski at 8 p.m.
• July 7 – Bill Roberts Combo at 4 p.m., East of Vilas at 7 p.m., Wurk at 8 p.m.
• July 8 – D’funk and the Grease Monkeys at 7 p.m., Adem Tesfaye Band at 8 p.m.
• July 13 – Interlay at 7 p.m., Deerhoof at 8 p.m.
• July 14 – They Talk Too Much at 4 p.m., Sparetime Bluegrass Band at 5 p.m., Lynda & The ZEROs at 7 p.m.
• July 15 – Panchromatic Steel at 7 p.m.
• July 20 – Nate Gibson and the Stardazers at 7 p.m.
• July 21 – Brick Imerman at 4 p.m., Ida Jo and the Show at 7 p.m., Hannah Wicklund at 8 p.m.
• July 22 – Lake Qualm at 7 p.m., The Periodicals at 8 p.m.
• July 27 – The Material Boys at 7 p.m.
• July 28 – Searchlights at 4 p.m., Mark Croft Band at 7 p.m.
• July 29 – maplebrook at 7 p.m., Alairen at 8 p.m., she’s green at 9 p.m.
• Aug. 3 – Big Richard at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 4 – Staci Griesbach at 4 p.m., Grupo Candela at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 5 – Natty Nation at 8 p.m.
• Aug. 11 – Luke Leavitt and the Levitations at 4 p.m., N’achos at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 12 – Son del Atlantico at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 17 – 2^nd Isthmian Highlanders at 7 p.m., Skerryvore at 8 p.m.
• Aug. 18 – Old Oaks Trio at 4 p.m., The Present Age at 7 p.m., … Or Does It Explode? at 9 p.m.
• Aug. 19 – 90 Proof at 7 p.m., Shakey at 8 p.m.
• Aug. 24 – Northern Comfort Bluegrass Band at 7 p.m.
• Aug. 25 – Back2Back Acoustic Trio at 4 p.m.
• Aug. 26 – Grupo Balança at 7 p.m., Handphibians at 8 p.m.

For a full lineup of this summer’s concerts and other Terrace season events, visit terracesummer.com.

SupraNet shares connection between fiber Internet and construction industry at Kids Building Wisconsin

Madison, WI – SupraNet Communications, Inc. joins over 50 other local trades and industry participants on Saturday, May 20 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Kids Building Wisconsin, an event built to inspire kids’ interest in construction.

SupraNet works with developers across the Greater Madison area, mapping and managing the construction of fiber Internet to new and established apartment and office buildings. 

“We are thrilled to be a part of this family and youth-focused community event for the first time this year,” said Bryan Chan, founder of SupraNet. “The labor shortage in the trades has serious implications for the progress of our community. We are excited to support our building partners and encourage interest in construction by sharing how fiber Internet gets to homes and businesses.”

Kids who visit the SupraNet booth will experience: 

• Hand-on fiber Internet tools
• See maps of where fiber is under our oceans
• Visual aids to understand fiber optic concepts
• See where fiber lies under Madison
• Free SupraNet robot stickers for the first 1000 kids!

SupraNet will be at booth 36, left of the Lumber Jack Show stage at McKee Farms Park, 2930 Chapel Valley Rd., Fitchburg.

About SupraNet Communications, Inc.

Since 1994, Supranet Communications, Inc. has provided cutting-edge Internet solutions to the Greater Madison area. We believe that by helping our clients succeed and our employees to prosper, we enable our community to flourish as a vibrant and competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem that fuels our collective long-term success. 

For more information about Supranet Communications and its services, visit their website at www.supranet.net.

Contact:
Bryan Chan
Founder & President, SupraNet Communications
Phone: (608) 320-4218 – cell; (608) 836-0282 – office
Email: bryanc@supranet.net

Make Music Madison Registration Closes May 25

Host sites and musicians are invited to sign-up to participate in this citywide musical celebration held on the summer solstice, June 21. The 2022 event featured 474 registered concerts at 172 locations presenting music by over 1000 individual artists. This we hope to top 500 registered shows!

Interested hosts or musicians can learn more at www.makemusicmadison.org.

Make Music Madison welcomes performers of all genres and experience levels. The organization aims to engage every sector of Madison’s music industry and provide all Madison communities with free and accessible music, while encouraging the public to support local artists, and invest in our creative economy.

Each year the event fills the city with music from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. at venues hosted at community centers, museums, retailer shops, restaurants, parks, theaters, places of worship, private residences, and other locations. Anyone can perform and anyone can host a performance, as long as the event is within the City of Madison, free, accessible to the public, and maintains a clearance on the sidewalk for pedestrian passage.

Make Music Madison is part of Make Music Day, an international summer solstice music celebration occurring in 1,000+ cities across the globe. Beginning in 1982 in Paris as Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day brings our community together to celebrate the power of live music. All varieties of live sound creation are welcome, as Make Music Madison’s motto is performed by anyone, enjoyed by everyone.

“This is a rare opportunity to support musicians and be part of a truly magical community event, which spreads joy and entertainment throughout the city” says Make Music Madison Board Secretary Kristian Petrov Iliev. 

There are no registration fees or limits to the number of musicians or locations who can participate. Sponsors and volunteers are welcome. For complete details on Make Music Madison, visit www.makemusicmadison.org.

Wisconsin Union Theater: Performing Arts Stars, Stars on the Rise Coming to Madison as Part of 2023-24 Wisconsin Union Theater Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 4, 2023   

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-8862

READ RELEASE ONLINE: union.wisc.edu/about/news/wut-2023-24

PERFORMING ARTS STARS, STARS ON THE RISE COMING TO MADISON AS PART OF 2023-24 WISCONSIN UNION THEATER SEASON
A programming team with a history of booking stars and stars before they rise to popularity releases its next season lineup

MADISON – A season of stars and stars-in-the-making will perform in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of the Wisconsin Union Theater’s (WUT’s) 2023-24 season of jazz, dance, chamber music, an annual celebration of contemporary Black art, and global music, with subscriptions available for purchase beginning June 1 and single tickets to each performance available beginning June 16.

For 104 years, the Classical Series, formerly called the Concert Series, has celebrated classical music with recent seasons including artists that celebrate its traditions and those who seek to redefine aspects of the genre. The Classical Series lineup for the upcoming season includes:

• Pianist Simone Dinnerstein on Sept. 28
• Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason on Nov. 3
• The Isidore String Quartet on Dec. 8
• The Schumann Quartet on Feb. 8, 2024
• The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine on Feb. 20, 2024
• Soprano Brenda Rae with pianist Jonathan Ware on March 7, 2024

Cello prodigy Kanneh-Mason’s fame grew around the world after he performed at the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal wedding in 2018.

For Rae, her Wisconsin Union Theater-hosted performance is a bit of a homecoming, having graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a bachelor’s degree in voice in 2004.

The global music events include performances by:

• Las Cafeteras on Nov. 1
• The Zakir Hussain Trio on March 16, 2024

Las Cafeteras will perform “Hasta La Muerte: A Day of the Dead” show, a program that celebrates life and death and that aims to inspire social change. Patrons will experience a performance filled with dance, folklore, and music with a foundation of son jarocho with influences of numerous genres, including hip-hop and folk.

The Zakir Hussain Trio features GRAMMY-winning tablaist Zakir Hussain, 10th-generation sarangi artist Sabir Khan, and award-winning bansuri player Debopriya Chatterjee.

The 2023-24 Jazz Series features:

• Harpist Brandee Younger on Sept. 29
• Percussionist, composer, and producer Makaya McCraven on Oct. 11
• The Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Tour on Jan. 26, 2024
• Jazz and R&B singer Lady Wray on Feb. 29, 2024
• Pianist and drummer Julius Rodriguez on March 14, 2024
• Trumpeter Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, formerly Christian Scott, on May 2, 2024

McCraven will perform a program with selections from his extensive, critically acclaimed discography, including his newest album, titled “In These Times,” and a vanguard approach to jazz that reflects the musical inspiration he has found in many music styles, such as hip-hop and funk.

The Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Tour features GRAMMY-nominated pianist Gerald Clayton, vibraphonist Joel Ross, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, drummer Kendrick Scott and bassist Matt Brewer.

WUT, the Madison Music Collective, and the Arts + Literature Laboratory will co-present performances by to-be-announced artists at free jazz events, as part of the DIG JAZZ lineup on Sept. 15, Oct. 27 and Nov. 17 at the Play Circle Theater at Memorial Union. Seating for DIG JAZZ performances will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The season will also include professional touring dance company Ronald K. Brown’s EVIDENCE on Feb. 18, 2024. EVIDENCE performs with a mission to promote understanding of the human experience in the African Diaspora through dance and storytelling and to provide sensory connections to history and tradition through music, movement, and spoken word, leading deeper into issues of spirituality, community responsibility and liberation.

The Theater team encourages patrons to save the date for the Black Arts Matter Festival, which is slated to take place Nov. 8-12 and will feature performances that celebrate contemporary Black art, including a poetry slam with nationally renowned poets.

“What’s next in the performing arts industry is happening right now during the Wisconsin Union Theater season,” WUT Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said. “From hosting a performance by Lizzo in 2017 to scheduling an event featuring Samara Joy in 2022 before she became a GRAMMY winner in 2023, the Wisconsin Union Theater season is a chance to experience performing arts legends and up-and-coming stars.”

WUT has a more than 80-year history of hosting world-class performing arts experiences and seasons that feature both traditional performances of genres and artists forging new arts style paths.

2023-24 season performances will take place at the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Shannon Hall and the Play Circle in Memorial Union, and, in partnership with the UW–Madison Mead Witter School of Music, two performances will take place at the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall and Collins Recital Hall in the Hamel Music Center.

Patrons can save on season events tickets by purchasing subscriptions available between June 1 and Sept. 28. Options include:

• A Classical Series subscription for a 20% discount
• A Jazz Series subscription for a 20% discount
• Brand-new build-your-own subscription options of three to five events for 15% off or six or more events for a 20% discount

Purchases of tickets to individual performances, pending availability, will begin June 16.

Patrons can purchase subscriptions and single tickets to Wisconsin Union Theater performances online, in person at the Memorial Union Box Office, or by phone at (608) 265-2787.

Patrons can also support Wisconsin Union Theater events as well as performing arts-related student leadership opportunities with their purchases of food, merchandise and beverages at Memorial Union, Union South, the Memorial Union Terrace and TerraceStore.union.wisc.edu.

Patrons can visit union.wisc.edu/theater to learn more about the 2023-24 season. 

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About the Wisconsin Union Theater

For more than 80 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a center for cultural activity in the heart of the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus. The Theater hosts performances in multiple locations, including Memorial Union, and has an extensive history of remarkable performances. The Wisconsin Union Theater is committed to social justice and works to create an equitable, diverse, and inclusive place for all who engage with the Theater’s programming, events, and activities. The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/wisconsin-union-theater.

About the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee is part of the Wisconsin Union’s leadership development program for UW–Madison students and supports the Wisconsin Union Theater’s mission of serving students through the performing arts. By helping to program the Theater’s annual season of performing arts presentations, the students learn about program curation, relationship-building, marketing, communications, budgeting, and production. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/performing-arts.

Wisconsin Union Will Host Week of Activities for UW–Madison Graduates, Families to Celebrate Commencement

MADISON – “The living room” of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Wisconsin Union, will be welcoming graduates, their families and friends for a week full of graduation activities and events at Memorial Union and Union South.

The fun starts with the Senior Class Office’s Senior Bash on May 6 from 5-8 p.m. at Memorial Union and the Memorial Union Terrace, complete with free games, arts and live music featuring DJ Nick Nice for the members of the Class of 2023. Graduating students are invited to dance, create crafts and commemorate their time together.

Grads-to-be can also head over to Wheelhouse Studios for the free opportunity to decorate their caps at Cappy Hour from May 6-10 between noon and 9 p.m. 

Graduates and their loved ones can enjoy open mic night on the Terrace on Wednesday, May 10, at 7 p.m. Additional free Terrace entertainment during graduation weekend include live rock covers from The Mersey Brothers featuring Sean Michael Dargan on Friday, May 12, at 7 p.m., and live soul music from Madison-based band Don’t Mess With Cupid on Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m.

New graduates will be able to commemorate this exciting life event with a free professional photo on a big Terrace chair on May 13 at Union South from 10 a.m. – noon and at the Terrace from 2-4 p.m. These new alumni and their loved ones can also be some of the first people to snap photos at a new vibrant selfie station by the Sett in Union South, a display which will be up throughout the summer. 

Friends and family members are welcome to enjoy a livestream of Saturday’s bachelor’s, master’s and law degree commencement proceedings from der Rathskeller in Memorial Union or from the Sett in Union South. Several dining options will be available at both locations for patrons to enjoy made-to-order dishes and refreshing beverages. Seating for the indoor livestreams – and the 2,000 outdoor sunburst chairs on the Terrace – are on a first come, first served basis. Flowers, Badger gifts and other items, such as limited edition purple-and-teal mini Terrace chairs, will be available for purchase at Memorial Union and Union South Badger Markets.

“Our new graduates have worked so hard to reach this life achievement,” said Mark Guthier, Wisconsin Union director and associate vice chancellor for Student Affairs. “We are honored to make the moment even more special for them.”

Individuals looking for the perfect congratulatory gift for their UW–Madison graduate can buy $50 lifetime Wisconsin Union memberships, a 75% discount available for a limited time for new graduates only.

For more information about the Wisconsin Union’s graduation events, visit union.wisc.edu/graduation.