BY EVAN MUSIL AND STEVEN POTTER
Going On Record
Josh Evert is beyond well-known in the Milwaukee music scene. He’s recorded hundreds of songs and dozens of albums across a rainbow of genres – as the co-owner, producer and audio engineer of Silver City Studios in Washington Heights. It was always for other artists, or for his indie-rock band The Fatty Acids. He’s never released a full album as a solo musician – until now.
Photogenic Memory drops this month, with more than a dozen electric, synth-heavy tracks that Evert has created and curated over a decade.
“It all came together from different times in my life when I had songwriting spurts and would record something and then set it aside on some hard drive,” says the 38-year-old. “But now I feel it’s time to get some of these songs out, shine them up and get ears on them.”
Nominate Somebody Now!
From the lead single “The Sound of Machines” – an upbeat, drum-driven earworm with an infectious melody and introspective lyrics about consumerism – to the slower, emotional and electronic track “Milpool” about forgetting past relationships, the album is complex, with many layered instruments and fluctuating rhythms.
But Evert’s boundary-pushing project is what you would expect from someone whose career is helping others create and craft their own unique songs and sounds.
“I’ve been able to soak up all of this time with other artists, and they’ve let me have a little creative freedom with their projects,” he says. “And that’s taught me and helped me up my game and see my own vision.”
Listen: Photogenic Memory by Josh Evert releases Sept. 18
Milwaukee Arts Questionnaire
What inspires you?
JINWOO LEE, CONCERTMASTER AT MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: The smallest things. There are so many things that can be learned from completely unexpected situations and people. I try not to let those slip through my fingers.
What’s the most challenging performance you’ve done?
MARIZE FUMERO, COMPANY ARTIST AT MILWAUKEE BALLET: I had the privilege of making my full-length debut in Swan Lake [for A.V.A. Ballet Theatre in Reno, Nevada], and it was by far the most challenging performance of my career. Transforming from Odette, the White Swan, into Odile, the Black Swan, is one of ballet’s greatest challenges. Performing the role without a dress rehearsal made the experience even more demanding – and one I’ll remember forever.
If you had to switch artistic practices, what would you choose?
MF: I would become a yoga instructor. I love the connection between movement, mindfulness and helping others feel stronger – both physically and mentally.
With Ken-David Masur’s departure from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, here are a few of the maestros stepping up to the podium this season.
Michael Sanderling
Starting his career as cellist in Masur’s native Leipzig, this German guest conductor is now leading the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland. He kicks off the season with Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 (Sept. 18-19).
Ryan Tani
Naturally, MSO’s associate conductor will pinch-hit a few concerts. Part of the 33-year-old’s job is last-minute substitutions. Tani conducts “Korngold & Rachmaninoff” (Oct. 9-10) and returns to the Hometown Holiday Pops (Dec. 12-20).
Kristiina Poska
Currently with the French National Youth Orchestra, this Estonian conductor leads a concert featuring Orli Shaham playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Oct. 30-31), preceded by a piece from fellow Estonian composer Ülo Krigul.
Budding Bravura
It takes training to be an opera star. As one of five emerging talents in the Florentine Opera’s Baumgartner Studio Artist pipeline program, tenor Zachary Taylor spends every day honing his craft, which he says requires elite concentration and endurance. The 28-year-old made his Florentine debut with “Scalia/Ginsberg” in 2025, and he’s looking forward this season to connecting with others through the timeless genre. “It’s intimate, but also grand,” he says. You can see him onstage this October as Gastone in “La Traviata.”
What would you say to a young person interested in opera?
I find that young people who go to the opera, every single time, are surprised by how much they like it. A lot of people around my age are talking about ways to get off their phones. This is a great way to do that. It’s also an opportunity to see what I think is a vocally athletic feat.
Can you break down Verdi’s “La Traviata?”
“La Traviata” is an opera that will make you fall in love with opera. It’s a story about love and loss, and there’s a degree of sacrifice. It’s so human because it’s not this grandiose political scandal. Act One is a blast – you’ve got some of the most iconic music in opera: “The Drinking Song,” Violetta’s “Sempre libera.” There are so many great moments in that score. It’ll bring you up, and then it’ll tear you down.
See: The Florentine Opera’s “La Traviata” at the Marcus Performing Arts Center on Oct. 16 and 18.
Editor’s Picks
Forty Something | Oct. 30 | Bader Concert Hall
The local forward-thinking classical ensemble Present Music says cheers to 45 years by kicking off the season with a premiere from acclaimed composer Alex Temple and other yet-to-be-named surprises.
The Blood of the Rose | Oct. 24 | st. paul’s episcopal church
Early Music Now is going for Baroque to open its 40th season of pre-1800s music. Playing period instruments, Relic Ensemble will dive into Peruvian tradition with an adaptation of Venus and Adonis.
Nina/Violetta | Sept. 17-20 | Lueders Opera Center
Staged by Milwaukee Opera Theatre ahead of the Florentine’s full-scale production of La Traviata, this new piece uses its arias to tell a different story: a singer staging a comeback through the opera’s leading role.
