The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The memorial service for internationally acclaimed music educator and WYSO founder Marvin Rabin is this Sunday, Dec. 29, at 3 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society in Madison.

By Jacob Stockinger

In case you hadn’t already heard, the memorial service for Marvin Rabin (below) – the founder and longtime music director and conductor of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras – is set for this coming Sunday at 3 p.m. in the historic landmark First Unitarian Society that was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

WYSO will be well represented at Rabin’s memorial service.  There will be a WYSO String Orchestra performing Samuel Barber’s moving “Adagio for Strings” as well as a WYSO Chamber Ensemble and a WYSO Alumni Chamber Ensemble.

Here is the official death notice:

MADISON – Music educator, Marvin Rabin, age 97, died at University of Wisconsin Hospitals on Dec. 5, 2013.

A celebration of Marvin’s life is planned for 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2013, at the UNITARIAN MEETING HOUSE’S new ATRIUM auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams), 900 University Bay Drive, Madison.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, UW Humanities Building, Room 1625, 455 N. Park St., Madison, WI 53706; Wisconsin Foundation for School Music, Wisconsin Center for Music Education, 1005 Quinn Drive, Waunakee, WI 53597; and Madison Music Makers, 705 Edgewood Ave, Madison, WI 53711

You can read more about Marvin Rabin and his many achievements at:

http://host.madison.com/news/local/obituaries/rabin-marvin/article_67360c16-0252-5019-85dd-68b57e400188.html#ixzz2o1pTrTAG

You can donate to and learn more about WYSO by going here:

http://wyso.music.wisc.edu

And here is an appreciation that The Ear did and many readers seemed to like and commented positively on:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2013/12/08/classical-music-let-us-now-praise-marvin-rabin-who-founded-the-wisconsin-youth-symphony-orchestra-wyso-who-excelled-as-a-music-educator-and-performer-who-was-the-leonard-bernstein-of-ma/

At bottom is a YouTube video done as a tribute to Marvin Rabin when he won the third Lifetime Achievement Award from the Wisconsin School Music Association. It is well worth listening to, especially in these times when the arts seems to get shortchanged in favor of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math: