Classical music: Hear the cold! Oakwood Chamber Players will perform a “Nordic” program of Icelandic, Finnish and Danish chamber music this Saturday and Sunday. Plus, a Pro Arte Quartet dinner is Thursday night at the University Club.

ALERT:  The University Club, 803 State St. will host another Arts Outreach dinner with the Pro Arte String Quartet (below) tomorrow night, Thursday, Jan. 30. Cocktails and appetizers are at 5:30 p.m.;  a three-course dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m.; and a concert of Mendelssohn’s Quartet in E Minor and Haydn’s Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4, will take place at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $40 a head. Reservation are required and, along with menu choices, can be made here: Make your reservation online! You can also call (608) 262-5023. For more information, visit  uclub@uclub.wisc.edu and http://artsoutreach.wisc.edu/pro_arte.html

By Jacob Stockinger

The title of Ann Beattie’s first collection of short stories — “Chilly Scenes of Winter” — comes immediately to mind.

Haven’t yet had enough of the “bitter” and “dangerous” polar vortex cold this winter? Well, you can hear it as well as feel it and fight it.

This weekend, the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) of Madison, Wisconsin, will present two performances of “Nordic,” a concert that reflects the musical landscapes created by composers influenced by the contrast of dark and light in their Northern physical environments. The concert is typical of the innovative and creative approach that the Oakwood Chamber Players usually take to their eclectic programming. Few local groups perform as many unknown or neglected composers or works. They also make intriguing connections and provide original contexts.

Featured composers this time include Sveinbjorn Sveinbjornsson, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.

The Oakwood Chamber Players will present Nordic on this coming Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7 p.m. in the Oakwood Village Center for Arts and Education (below top), 6205 Mineral Point Road; and on Sunday Feb. 2 at 1:30 p.m. at the Visitor Center (below bottom) in the University of Wisconsin Arboretum.

Tickets are available at the door, and are $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.

Here are program based largely on a press release:

Icelandic composer Sveinbjorn Sveinbjornsson (below) is known primarily as the writer of the Iceland’s National Anthem. He wrote romantic music in the style of Felix Mendelssohn. The mark of his individual compositional voice is the northern folk elements incorporated into his music, which will be heard in the rich melodies of his Piano Trio for violin, cello and piano. 

The essence of the darkly expressive Finnish identity can be heard in compositions by Jean Sibelius (below), from his famous tone poem “Finlandia” to his symphonies, and is echoed in the Suite in A Major for String Trio for violin, viola and cello that is on the program.

Carl Nielsen (below) is Denmark’s most noteworthy and widely performed composer, famous for his symphonies. The Oakwood Chamber players will perform his Woodwind Quintet (at the bottom in a YouTube video played by members of the Berlin Philharmonic), which captures a variety of moods from lilting melodies, tour-de-force technical passages, to individual cadenzas that showcase an inherent understanding of the characteristics of each instrument. 

This is the third concert in the 2013-14 Oakwood Chamber Players’ season series titled “OrigiNATION:  Exploring Musical Regions of the World.”  Upcoming concerts include:

• Russian Radius – March 22 and 23
• Down Under – May 17 and 18

The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and other groups and who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for 30 years.

For more information, visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com

The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation, in collaboration with Friends of the Arboretum, Inc.

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: Ann Beattie, Berlin Philharmonic, Carl Nielsen, Cello, Chamber music, Chilly Scenes of Winter, Classical music, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Jacob Stockinger, Jean Sibelius, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Nordic, Oakwood Chamber Players, Piano, Piano Trio, quintet, string music, string trio, University of Wisconsin Arboretum, Violin, Visitor Center, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, woodwinds, YouTube