Category Archives: Events

Kommers 2019 was held on Sunday April 7th at Hart Park in Wauwatosa. MGV Harmonia Kenosha won the competition, with the Madison Maennerchor in second place and Milwaukee Liederkranz, the 2018 winner, in third. Milwaukee Liedertafel was the host choir and the set up and food were great.

Below are some photos; click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.

: Warming up before the competition begins

: Warming up before the competition begins

: The beginning of the Parade of Flags getting into position.

: The rest of the Parade of Flags

: The Parade of Flags opening the competition.

: Milwaukee Liederkranz sang first

: Milwaukee D.A.N.K. Chor sang second

: We had to wait a while before we sang…

: The Schwaben Maennerchor sang next

: MGV Harmonia Kenosha sang fourth.

: GSV Concordia Sheboygan was next

: Tim filled in for the absent 1st Vice President of the WSB

: We were lined up and ready to go after Sheboygan.

: The Milwaukee Damenchor was the seventh and final choir to perform.

: After the competition and waiting for dinner to be served.

GERMAN GENEALOGY Workshop in Madison, Saturday, February 23, 2019

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Finding Our German Ancestors in Europe:

a Workshop for Genealogists

with Antje Petty

Saturday, February 23, 2019

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

UW-Madison Memorial LIBRARY, Room 126,

728 State Street, Madison

Cosponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and the Wisconsin Historical Society

REGISTER ONLINE at www.wisconsinhistory.org Registration begins on December 14 and is first-come-first-serve. Limited to 75 registrants!

Fees (including lunch): $36 for members of the Friends of MKI, the Wisconsin Historical Society, or the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society; $40 for non-members

Session I “All I know is they were from Germany”

Before you can do any meaningful family research in Europe, it is crucial to know where your ancestor lived at a certain time. This session will give advice on how to identify your ancestral hometown in the context of Central Europe’s complex territorial history.

Session II Lives lived and documented

Vital records are usually the first ones we try to find when researching our ancestors in Europe, but people’s lives were documented in many more ways. Whether our ancestors owned land (or not), paid taxes, attended a school or a church, joined the military, had a business or a bank account; were members of a guild, club, or community organization; etc. – chances are, they left traces that can help us discover their stories.

Session III Finding documents from German-speaking Europe

This session is an introduction to finding historical records from German-speaking Europe online and off. It will include tips on how to do archival research as well as on how to navigate and use the ever-growing online selection of German and other European historical documents and genealogical resources.

Session IV Working with historical German documents

You found a family document. You made a copy. But now what? In this session you will learn strategies to efficiently interpret historic German documents, even if you do not speak the language and cannot read the script.

PRESENTER

Antje Petty is the Associate Director of the Max Kade Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She shares the resources of the Institute with the community through lectures and workshops and has done extensive research on German-speaking immigrant families.

For more information go to: https://mki.wisc.edu/events/2018/finding-our-german-ancestors-europe-workshop-geneaologists

or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu / 608-262-7546) or Lori Bessler (Lori.Bessler@wisconsinhistory.org / 608-264-6519)

Beloit Chorale Concert

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The Beloit Chorale performing at Bethel Lutheran Church

The Beloit Chorale performed at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison on Saturday July 21st. This is the Chorale’s first season and we were pleased to have the opportunity to sponsor the concert.

This is a recording of one of the songs that the chorale performed. It is “Stars” by Erik Esenvalds.

Bucky on Parade

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Gemuetlichkeit Bucky on the Capitol Square

Those of you who live in the Madison area have probably seen or heard of the “Bucky on Parade” public art project. This involves 85 different Bucky Badger statues in the Madison area, each one 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. Every statue is transformed by a local artist into a unique representation of Bucky. Here is a link to the WMTV story.

Tim found the “Gemütlichkeit Bucky” near the Capitol and took this picture. Click on the thumbnail to see the larger image.

For more information on the art project, here is the official Bucky on Parade web site. There are maps on the web site showing the location of all 85 of the Buckies. The project runs from May 7, to September 12, 2018.

Kohl Center January 2018

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We were invited to sing the national anthem at the Kohl Center on January 26, before the UW mens hockey game against Penn State. We got to see a lot of the facilities at the Kohl Center. We did a couple of sound checks – it was a new experience for us to sing in such a large hall with microphones.

After we sang the anthem, we had a chance to watch the first period before going up to the Kellner Club to sing during the first intermission. We had a great time and were able to sing a lot of favorite songs. It was a great evening and best of all UW came from behind to defeat Penn State 4-2!

Here are a few photos:

Kohl Center

Doing a sound check about 75 minutes before the start of the hockey game.

Kohl Center

The sound check was interesting - we're just not used to singing with microphones in such a large space.

Kohl Center

Getting ready to go on to sing the national anthem. We entered from the "Zamboni corner."

Kohl Center

Between the first and second periods we sang in the Kellner Club. It was a lot of fun.

Christmas Concert 2017

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On Sunday December 10, 2017 we had our annual Christmas Concert & Dinner at Madison Turner Hall. It was a very festive occasion despite the lack of snow on the ground. We had a record crowd for the concert and the dinner afterward. Thanks to everyone who helped plan, set up, take tickets or clean up. Special thanks to Sankt Nikolaus for fitting us into his busy schedule.

Thanks to everyone who attended. We hope to see you again next year!

Here are some photos of the event. As always, click on the thumbnail image to see the full photo.