Milwaukee’s Most Unusual Halloween: Present Music’s All Souls Eve at Milwaukee Art Museum

MILWAUKEE, WI — This Halloween night, Present Music will transform the Milwaukee Art Museum into a spellbinding celebration of life, death, and everything in between. All Souls Eve blends Día de los Muertos, Celtic Samhain, and All Souls Day traditions into an evening of music, art, and remembrance.

At the center of the concert is the world premiere of “Music on a While” by Grammy-winning composer Viet Cuong, whose works have been performed by the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Cuong’s inventive style, known for turning unexpected objects like wine glasses and sandpaper into instruments, meets the haunting beauty of Henry Purcell’s Baroque melodies in a daring new work written exclusively for Present Music.

The program also features Mexican and Latin American composers Gabriela Ortiz and Miguel del Águila, whose vibrant, theatrical works pay homage to Día de los Muertos through color, rhythm, and ritual.

Guests arriving early (5:30 p.m.) can enjoy Mexican and Vietnamese food trucks, free access to museum galleries, and a community ofrenda created by Milwaukee artist Francisco X Mora, where attendees can honor loved ones with photos or small items.

All Souls Eve is more than a concert; it is a full Halloween experience that is spooky, joyful, and deeply moving.

All Souls Eve Concert
Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee, WI
Friday, October 31st, 2025
5:30 p.m. Doors | 7:30 p.m. Show
Pre-concert conversation at 6:30 in the Lubar Auditorium
Tickets: presentmusic.org

Concert sponsors: Suzanne & Richard Pieper and PieperPower

Viet Cuong Commissioners:

Randall Lindert in honor of Cecile Cheng, and Christine Rundblad

In partnership with the Milwaukee Art Museum, featuring The Bradley Collection of Modern Art: A Bold Vision for Milwaukee, an exhibition honoring “Peg” Bradley’s extraordinary gift of nearly 400 twentieth-century masterpieces by icons of modernism.

Viet Cuong’s music has been performed on six continents and featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. His works for wind ensemble have amassed several hundred performances, and he was recently featured on the PBS NewHour. He is currently the Pacific Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence and serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Deanna Tham is currently the Associate Conductor with the Oregon Symphony and Music Director of the Union Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she served as Assistant Conductor with the Omaha Symphony and Assistant Conductor of the Jacksonville Symphony. She last appeared with Present Music in the 2022-23 season, conducting The Blue Hour with Shara Nova at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Alisa Jordheim has been described as “vocally resplendent,” “powerful,” and possessing “impeccable coloratura,” and been praised for her compelling and vocally assured performances in opera, concert, musical theatre, new music, early music, and recital. A Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation, Ms. Jordheim is a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions.

Brian Geibler, a “faultless high tenor” (Seattle Times), studied at the University of Michigan, the Eastman School of Music, and the Royal Academy of Music in London. He performs with chamber ensembles throughout the United States, including Conspirare of Austin, Seraphic Fire of Miami, Clarion Music Society in New York City, and he is a member of the Trinity Wall Street Choir in Manhattan.

Ben Russell is a violinist, vocalist, and composer who has played all over the world with all sorts of people. He is a member of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and co-creator of the songwriting collective Founders. He has toured and recorded with several artists, including Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, The National, Max Richter, and Jóhann Jóhannsson. Ben was featured last season when Present Music performed Kamran Ince’s “then, nothing.”

Pianist John Orfe has earned critical acclaim for his interpretations of five centuries of keyboard repertoire. He has been a keyboardist for Present Music since 2019. In 2021, he edited and premiered the organ part central to Raven Chacon’s Voiceless Mass, which won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music. As the core pianist and a founding member of Alarm Will Sound, Orfe has performed in music series and festivals across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and recorded on the Kairos, Albany, Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, and Parma labels.

Artist Francisco X Mora was born in Mexico City, Mexico and moved to Milwaukee in 1980 to study printmaking. He has shown his work in galleries across the United States, including the Milwaukee Art Museum, Museum of Wisconsin Art, Racine Art Museum, and the Mexican Museum of Art.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.