November 15 at 3:00 pm
Praised for her “spicy and rich lyric soprano,” (Vocal Arts Chicago) Wisconsin native Emily Secor enjoys performing on and off the operatic stage. Recent engagements include her role debut as Musetta in La bohème with Madison Opera, performances of Mozart’s Requiem with Luther College, and receiving the Grand Prize in the 2024 Patricia Crump Vocal Competition, and fifth place in the Cedar Rapids Opera Esther & Myron Wilson Vocal Competition.
Performance engagements of the 2023/24 season included touring Grétry and Borths' Beauty and the Beast with Des Moines Metro Opera’s educational outreach program, OPERA Iowa, winning the Iowa Region Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, and appearing as the soprano soloist in Mahler Symphony No. 4 with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Emily has been a frequent artist in Madison Opera productions, having spent two seasons with the company as a Studio Artist (2018-2020), and appearing as a guest artist during their digital 2020-21 season. Emily is also an alumna of the young artist programs of Des Moines Metro Opera, Haymarket Summer Opera, and Harrower Summer Opera.
As an active teaching artist, Emily maintains a private voice studio, is on the voice faculty at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and regularly adjudicates for the Wisconsin State Music Association’s regional and state festivals. Emily holds an MM from the University of Northern Iowa and a BA from Luther College. (www.emilysecorsoprano.com)
Praised as “extraordinary in the classical music world” (Jon Hornbacher, PBS Wisconsin Life) and a “musical star” (Bill Wineke, Channel 3000), Greg Zelek is the Principal Organist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ. In this role, Greg performs and oversees all of the MSO’s organ programming. The MSO Organ Series regularly attracts over one thousand ticketed audience members for each of Zelek’s creatively curated and performed concerts. Since September 2017, Greg has proudly held the Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curatorship.
In addition to his unique position in Madison, Zelek is the Northrop Organist at the University of Minnesota and the Curator of the J.F. Bryan Concert Organ Series for the Jacksonville Symphony.
Zelek also performs frequently as a soloist throughout the United States. Always playing his solo programs from memory, Zelek has played and premiered many of the large works of the organ canon, as well as new works that showcase the versatility of the instrument.
Alongside various orchestras, Greg has performed the organ concertos of Barber, Poulenc, Rheinberger, and Jongen. Greg has also been the organist for works such as Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony, Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, Foss’s Phorion, and Gounod’s Faust.
Zelek is known for his inventive programming and collaborations. He has performed a classical and gospel concert with counter-tenor Reginald Mobley, arranged and commissioned works for cello and organ with cellist Thomas Mesa, performed in a Latin-American concert with a Cuban band from Miami, FL, and collaborated with electronic trombonist Mark Hetzler, in a concert featuring new music for organ, trombone, and percussion. He has also performed with the Canadian Brass in his continued role as Visiting Guest Artist at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN.
Greg was selected as an InBusiness Madison 2026 40 Under 40 honoree, a distinction celebrating the region's most impactful young leaders and creative forces. Zelek has won prizes in numerous organ competitions, and released his debut recording on the Overture Concert Organ in the Fall of 2022. A recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship, he received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, as well as an Artist Diploma, from the Juilliard School as a student of Paul Jacobs. Greg, who is Cuban-American and a native Spanish speaker, grew up in Miami, FL and resides in Madison, WI with his wife and two children.