Classical music: Here is an update with more details about the memorial celebration for the late UW-Madison pianist Howard Karp on Sunday, Aug. 31, at 3 p.m.

By Jacob Stockinger

Members of the Karp family have asked The Ear to fill you in about some more details concerning the memorial celebration for the late Howard Karp (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot).

As you may recall, Howard Karp, who taught for decades at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and the University of Kentucky, died unexpectedly this summer on June 30. He was 84. Here is a link to an announcement that was posted on this blog about Karp’s death.

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/classical-music-pianist-howard-karp-who-taught-at-the-university-of-wisconsin-madison-has-died-at-84/

A FREE memorial celebration of his life and career is planned for Sunday, Aug. 31, at 3 p.m. in Mills Hall.

And here is a link to a previous post, with link to other sources, about the reception:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/classical-music-memorial-for-the-late-university-of-wisconsin-madison-pianist-howard-karp-is-set-for-sunday-aug-31-at-3-p-m-in-mills-hall-here-is-a-link-to-an-obituary-in-the-wisconsin-state-jou/

Although some official announcements and this blog have said the memorial will run from 3 to 6 p.m., The Ear has been told that the celebration will probably last from 3 p.m. to about 5 p.m. with a reception to follow.

That reception will be held either in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music courtyard, if the weather permits, or in the lounge outside Mills Hall.

The master of ceremonies for the event will be Bill Lutes (below right, with his wife, UW-Madison pianist Martha Fischer. Lutes studied with Howard Karp and still teaches piano in Madison. You may also recall his name from his days at Wisconsin Public Radio and as a coach with the University Opera.

Most of the music will be recordings made by Howard Karp himself, including a new 6-CD set of live performances from Albany Records. (On a CD from the UW-Madison School of Music, at the bottom in SoundCloud, you can hear Howard Karp playing the well-known “Heroic” Polonaise in A-flat, Op. 53  by Frederic Chopin.)

There will also be some live performances.

Cellist son Parry Karp will be joined by his violinist-pianist brother Christopher Karp, who is a medical doctor specializing in infectious diseases and who works with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,  to perform “Kol Nidre” by Max Bruch.

Then the Karp Family, which usually gave a FREE Labor Day concert for more than 30 years, will perform the slow movement from the Piano Quartet by Robert Schumann. The players will be violinist son Christopher Karp, pianist wife Frances Karp, cellist Parry Karp and his violist wife Katrin Talbot.

Acclaimed keyboard artist Malcolm Bilson (below), who has retired from teaching at Cornell University is slated to play the piano – rather than his specialty, which is the early music fortepiano — in music by Franz Schubert.

As more details develop, they will get posted here.

Here is Howard Karp’s stirring and daring reading of Chopin’s “Heroic” Polonaise.

https://soundcloud.com/uw-madisonsom

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: Albany Records, Arts, Burch, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Cornell University, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Heroic Polonaise, Howard Karp, Jacob Stockinger, Kol Nidre, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Malcolm Bilson, memorial, Music, Parry Karp, Piano, Piano Quartet, Quartet, Robert Schumann, Schumann, SoundCloud, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Kentucky, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, wisconsin public radio