Classical music datebook: Violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Simone Dinnerstein highlight a busy week.

By Jacob Stockinger

This week brings two best-selling AND highly respected classical musicians to Madison: violinist Hilary Hahn to the Wisconsin Union Theater in Thursday and pianist Simone Dinnerstein to the Overture Center with the Madison Symphony Orchestra on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Moreover, the two will perform some great masterworks of the repertoire: a solo Bach partita, Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto.

But you will also see a lot of chamber music listed – much of it free — and an open rehearsal for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra,  something that should be both enlightening and encouraging.

THURSDAY

At 7:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Union Theater, violinist Hiliary Hahn (below bottom) and pianist Valentina Lisitsa (below top) – who will be the guest on Wisconsin Public Radio‘s The Midday on Thursday at 11 a.m. — perform a terrific recital.

The program includes “Variations on a Theme by Corelli” by Giuseppe Tartini, arranged by Fritz Kreisler; Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major (“Spring”) by Beethoven; Violin Sonata No. 4 by Charles Ives; Violin Partita No. 1 by J.S. Bach; and Violin Sonata No. 1 by George Antheil.

It’s a great program by two great performers, and ranks as a MUST-HEAR for The Ear.

Tickets, which reportedly are selling briskly, are $14 (youth 6-17), $20, $42 and $46 with $10 for UW students. Parking passes are also available.

To purchase tickets, call the Wisconsin Union Theater at 265-ARTS or 608 262-2201 or visit their website at uniontheater.wisc.edu.

FRIDAY

The weekly free Friday Musicale at the First Unitarian Society Meeting House, 900 University Bay Drive, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. features soprano Melissa Hinz, soprano and pianist Joe Chrisman in music of the Bach family.

Admission and coffee are free. For information, call (608) 233-9774.

At 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, pianist Simone Dinnerstein (below) joins the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain in a program that features Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March N0. 5 (NOT the one we all graduated to, which is No. 1).

Other performances are Saturday night at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets are $15 to $75. Call the Overture Center box office at (608) 258-4141.

Dinnerstein will appear live on WPR’s Midday at noon on Thursday.

SATURDAY

Starting at 10:30 a.m., the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras twill hold an Open Rehearsal. Music students, families, and teachers are invited to come and see what WYSO has to offer at the Winter Open Rehearsal.

The event will begin at 10:30 with a meet and greet featuring breakfast snacks in the Strelow Lounge of the UW Humanities building. Guests will be able to talk with WYSO staff and parents of current members, and will get a chance to tour WYSO’s four orchestras in rehearsal. After the tour, guests will have an opportunity to speak with current WYSO members in a Q&A session.

This session will provide a special focus on the audition process for young musicians. Auditions for the 2011-2012 season begin in April, and membership applications are available on the WYSO website.

Following the Open Rehearsal, guests are invited to attend the 1:30 p.m. “Percussion Extravaganza,” a free event featuring WYSO’s Percussion Ensemble and a variety of guest artists. A reception will follow the performance.

SUNDAY

Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen,” from 12:30 to 3  2 p.m. will feature faculty members from the UW-Green Bay.

The performance will feature a wide range of music including pieces like David Drexler’s Tiny Cheesehead Fanfare, “Porgi, amor, qualche ristoro” from LE NOZZE di FIGARO, ACT II, and Antonin Dvorak’s “Rusalka’s Aria” from RUSALKA.  We welcome UW Green Bay faculty members Courtney Sherman soprano, David Severtsen on piano, Eric Hansen on clarinet, Michael Hall on viola, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst on French horn, Adam Gaines on trumpet, Sarah Meredith mezzo-soprano and Kevin Collins on trombone.

Sunday, February 20 at 2 p.m., Mills Hall: Concert Band, directed by Michael Leckrone (below). Free admission.

At 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra Concert will take place. Blake Walter (below) will conduct the program that features the winners of the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra Annual Concerto Competition; Brendan Franklin, guitar, and Lauren Welch, soprano. Both are Edgewood College students.

Welch will perform “Va gogendo” from Handel’s “Serse”s and “E, Amore un Ladroncello” from Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte.”  Franklin will perform the Vivaldi Guitar Concerto in D. Other works to be performed include the “Donna Diana” Overture by Reznicek and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4.

Admission is $5, free with Edgewood ID.

Then at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, Linda Strommen (below), oboe, and Kathleen McLean, bassoon wlll perform on the guest Artist Series. Strommen and McLean are members of the faculty at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University.

The program features “Piece V” for oboe and piano by Cesar Franck; “Concerto for oboe and wind ensemble” by Eric Ewazen; “Concerto for bassoon and wind ensemble” by Frigyes Hidas; “Bassango” for bassoon and piano by Matthieu Lussier; “La muerte del Angel” by Astor Piazzolla; and “Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon” by Francis Poulenc.

Admission is free and open to the public.

MONDAY

At 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the UW Guest Artist Series presents flutist Mary Stolper and pianist Kuang-Hao Huang in a program that includes music by Saint-Saens, Gabriela Lena Frank, UW composer Laura Elise Schwendinger, Shulamit Ran and others.

Mary Stolper (below) was the principal substitute flutist with the Chicago Symphony for more than a decade and currently is principal flutist of the Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, Music of the Baroque orchestra and the new music ensemble Fulcrum Point.  She is a member of the faculty of DePaul University.

Kuang-Hao Huang (B.A. 1993, UW-Madison) has performed in concert and on radio broadcast with Chicago’s finest musicians, including members of the Chicago Symphony and vocalists with Lyric Opera. He serves on the faculties of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Concordia University-Chicago and the Merit School of Music.

Admission is free and open to the public.

TUESDAY

At 6:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, guest flutist Mary Stolper (see Monday night) will give a master class that is free and open to the public.

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