It’s not every day you can see more than 1,700 musicians perform in one night — 3,500 over two nights. It’s not even every year. Save the dates for the 51st Biennial Music Festival

The biennial Milwaukee Public Schools musical extravaganza brings together student musicians from schools across the city for two nights every two years. In all, 3,500 students from MPS will perform on May 6 and 7 at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, 400 W. Kilbourn Ave.  

Performances begin at 6:30 p.m. and last about 90 minutes. Admission is free. 

World drums will open the show. Concert-goers also will hear bands and modern bands, orchestras, choirs, harps, pianos, and a trumpet fanfare, all by the student musicians of MPS, led by MPS music educators.  

An experience to remember 

“I will never forget the first Biennial Festival I attended back in 1998 — the first time the Overture Choir stood up and started to sing is etched in my brain! It is glorious to hear the combined efforts of so many teachers and students and hear the applause and cheers of the families supporting them,” said District Music Curriculum Specialist Sharie Garcia. 

"The moment the lights come up on the Overture Choir gives me chills every time,” Ms. Garcia added. “I directed both the Overture Band and Honors Band several times, and it has been a thrill to hear my own children play and sing in the festival, too.” 

The three categories of ensembles are Overture, made up of beginning musicians; Honors, the most experienced musicians; and Festival, the student musicians in the middle. 

Hear soloists in the lobby 

Visitors will hear piano and guitar soloists playing in the concourse lobby area on Wednesday, May 6, and harp soloists performing in the lobby on Thursday, May 7.  

This year, music played in the auditorium before the show will feature compositions by MPS students in grades 3-12 who are composing music in general music class, music technology class, and in International Baccalaureate music classes. 

The student musicians performing at the Biennial Music Festival will come from about 85 MPS schools. They will be led by 24 festival directors, 20 of whom are classroom teachers and four of whom are traveling music teachers for MPS.  

Remarkable growth in music education 

Music at MPS schools has grown significantly since Milwaukee voters approved the 2020 referendum, which expanded funding for programs including music education, and the 2024 referendum, which sustained those expanded programs.  

The number of classroom music teachers at Milwaukee Public Schools has grown by about 144% (by nearly 60 teachers) since 2019, while the number of traveling music teachers is up roughly 177% (16 more traveling teachers).  

In 2019, many MPS high schools offered band instruction; a few had choir for students, and a couple offered orchestra. Now, with the addition of so many teachers, the district has been able to add ensemble music instruction in lower grades. MPS has eight new bands, two new orchestras, and about seven new choir programs in its kindergarten through grade 8 schools.  

Because middle schools are advancing more students who have had music instruction, it means growth in music instruction at high schools, as well. In the 2025-26 school year, Rufus King International High School and South Division High School both added orchestra, and Casimir Pulaski High School has added choir. 

More stunning growth has come among MPS’s drumlines. The number of competitive drumlines has grown from three in the 2021 Battle of the Drumlines to 17 in 2025.   

Thanks to the referenda, MPS has added piano and guitar instruction in more than a dozen schools and added music technology in about 10 schools. 

Beyond the joy of learning to play an instrument or sing, music education has additional benefits, including improved memory, attention, and problem solving, which extend to other academic areas, and sharpening of fine motor skills.