The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s series of three FREE organ concerts on Farmers’ Market Saturdays starts this Saturday at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall with Ripon native Jared Stellmacher and Chicago’s Gargoyle Brass. Plus, The Ear will publish mini-reviews you send me of classical concerts held during today’s citywide Make Music Madison festival.

ALERT: Today, Friday, June 21, is the Summer Solstice. That means it is also the inaugural FREE Make Music Madison festival. Live music will be made citywide outdoors and indoors by individuals and groups. The Ear can’t be everywhere. So send me your mini-reviews of classical music performances, and of the festival in general, and I will publish them together in a separate posting. Just leave your remarks in the COMMENT section. If you want to know more, here is a link to the festival’s website where you will find listings for performers and times: http://www.makemusicmadison.org

By Jacob Stockinger

FREE performances of the Overture Concert Organ will be hosted by the Madison Symphony Orchestra during Dane County Farmers’ Market on three Saturdays this summer – this Saturday, June 22, plus July 20 and August 17. Concerts last 45 minutes and are held at 11 a.m. at Overture Hall in the Overture Center, 201 State Street.

No tickets or reservations are needed for these 45-minute concerts that feature Jared Stellmacher, the Gargoyle Brass, Wyatt Smith, Sam Hutchison and 14-year-old newcomer Adrian Binkley.

A complete list of Overture Concert Organ performances, with complete program of works to be performed, is at madisonsymphony.org/organperformances.

Here is a schedule of specific concerts:

This Saturday, June 22:  A native of Ripon, Wis., organist Jared Stellmacher (below) returns with the Gargoyle Brass at 11 a.m. to solo in three pieces for organ by Marcel Dupré, Carlyle Sharpe and Johann Sebastian Bach.

Stellmacher will be joined by the Gargoyle Brass (below) — an ensemble from Chicago named after the many gargoyles on the campus of the University of Illinois — in special arrangements for organ and brass of a polka and fugue by Jaromir Weinberger, two movements from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, and the “Drinking Song” from Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.”

You can hear brief audio samples of both Jared Stellmacher and the Gargoyle Brass in YouTube videos at the bottom.

Saturday, July 20: Award-winning organist Wyatt Smith (below) returns to the stage at 11 a.m. with J. S. Bach’s Toccata in F and an intriguing selection of virtuosic movements from Kurt Knecht’s Missouri Sonata and Louis Vierne’s popular work, the Symphony in D.

Saturday, Aug. 17: Audiences will receive a special treat at 11 a.m. with the debut of a young rising star from Waunakee, Wis. Fourteen-year-old organist Adrian Binkley (below top) is a student of MSO Principal Organist Samuel Hutchison (below bottom).

Adrian is already an experienced recital artist and plans to study organ performance at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan next fall. Both he and Samuel Hutchison will perform at this concert.

The Free Farmers’ Market Concerts are generously sponsored by Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and are presented in partnership with Overture Center for the Arts and 77 Square. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund with additional support from Friends of the Overture Concert Organ.

With a gift from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts. MSO Principal Organist, Samuel Hutchison, programs and curates it. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Concerts, the instrument is featured in the MSO Christmas and April 2014 concerts along with three Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing. See details for all organ performances at www.madisonsymphony.org/organperformances.

Learn more at www.madisonsymphony.org.