The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Pianists Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu will play works for piano-four hands by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms this Saturday night at Farley’s House of Pianos.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at Farley’s House of Pianos write to the blog with news of a noteworthy piano concert this Saturday night:
Renowned American pianist Peter Serkin (below top) and Julia Hsu (below bottom) will perform piano, four-hand pieces by Schumann, Bizet, Mozart and more, as part of the Salon Piano Series concerts held at Farley’s House of Pianos at 6522 Seybold Road on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.
The concert is at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday night, April 4 and will include an introduction by Karlos Moser (below), a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of music and former longtime director of the University Opera at the UW-Madison School of Music.
The program includes: Six Etudes in the Form of Canons for Pedal-Piano, Op. 56, by Robert Schumann; Three Pieces from “Jeux d’Enfants” (Children’s Games) by Georges Bizet; the Sonata in B flat Major, K. 358, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the Allegro ma non troppo in A minor (the dramatic and lyrical “Lebenssturme” or “Lifestorms” that you can hear in a live performance in a YouTube video at the bottom), D.947, and the Rondo in A Major, D.951, by Franz Schubert; and Four Hungarian Dances by Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are $45 and are expected to sell quickly. They are available online at www.salonpianoseries.org and http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/706809 or at Farley’s House of Pianos, (608) 271-2626.
For more information about the Salon Piano Series, visit: http://salonpianoseries.org
The distinguished American pianist Peter Serkin has performed with the world’s major symphony orchestras with such conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Daniel Barenboim, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Eugene Ormandy and James Levine. A dedicated chamber musician, Serkin has collaborated with artists including violinist Pamela Frank and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
An avid exponent of the music of many contemporary composers, Serkin has brought to life the music of Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Wolpe, and others for audiences around the world. He has performed many world premieres written specifically for him, in particular, works by Toru Takemitsu, Oliver Knussen and Peter Lieberson. Serkin currently teaches at Bard College Conservatory of Music and the Longy School of Music. Serkin became friends with the Farleys in 1994 when he was in town for a concert and visited the Farley’s showroom (below).
Originally from Taiwan, Julia Hsu received scholarships to study at The Purcell School for young musicians at the age of 14. She has also studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Germany. Julia has collaborated with conductors Fabio Panisello, Lutz Koeler and cellist Ivan Moniguetti. She was a Festival Fellow at Bowdoin Music Festival, and a scholar at the Banff Centre, Canada before she became a Piano Fellow at Bard College Conservatory of Music in 2013.
The Salon Piano Series is a non-profit founded by Tim and Renée Farley to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts at Farley’s House of Pianos.
Upcoming concerts include the internationally acclaimed Czech pianist Martin Kasík (below top), who will play the “Moonlight” and “Les Adieux” Sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven and Sonata No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev, on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 7:30 p.m. Jazz pianist Dick Hyman (below bottom) will perform on May 30 and 31, 2015, at 4 p.m. both days.
For ticket information and concert details see www.salonpianoseries.org.
All events will be held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, Madison, on Madison’s west side near the Beltline, and plenty of free parking is available. It is also easy to reach by bicycle or Madison Metro.
Tags: Arnold Schoenberg, Arts, Banff Centre, Bard College, Beethoven, Berlin Philharmonic, Bowdoin, Brahms, Canada, Canon, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Dick Hyman, etude, Farley's House of Pianos, George Szell, Georges Bizet, Germany, Grammy Award, Gustavo Dudamel, Hannover, Hungarian Dances, James Levine, Jazz, Julia Hsu, Les Adieux Sonata, London, London Symphony Orchestra, Longy School of Music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Michael Wolpe, Moonlight Sonata, Mozart, Music, Music festival, New Music, Oliver Knussen, Orchestra, Pamela Frank, Peter Lieberson, Peter Serkin, Piano, piano-four hands, Prokofiev, Purcell School, Robert Schumann, rondo, Royal Academy of Music, Schubert, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Sonata, Stravinsky, Taiwan, theater, Toru Takemitsu, UK, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music: Go inside the Money Opera at the Met with the Pulitzer Prize-winning financial reporter James B. Stewart.
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is no secret that the famed Metropolitan Opera in New York City has been having major financial and labor problems during the tenure of its General Director Peter Gelb (below).
But it is hard to find a better researched or more detailed account of what is going on than the account that was written by the journalist James B. Stewart and appeared in the March 23 issue of The New Yorker magazine.
A graduate of the Harvard University Law School, Stewart (below), you may recall, is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a former reporter for The Wall Street Journal and currently a columnist for the New York Times. He has also written best-selling books. Such qualifications give him added credibility when reporting on the fiscal state of the arts.
Plus, Stewart got access to documents and records as well as to members of the board of directors. His account is filled with specific details about costs and fundraising that are convincing.
The discrepancy, for example, between what the Met said was the official cost of its recent and controversial “Ring” cycle (below) by Robert Lepage of Cirque du Soleil and what others say it cost is both astonishing and appalling.
In an interview with Jim Zirin, Peter Gelb defends himself and his tenure in a YouTube video at the bottom.
To The Ear, the larger question is whether some of the same criticisms apply to other large performing arts groups, opera companies and symphony orchestras in other cities.
But that is another story for another day.
Here is a link to the story about the Met by James B. Stewart:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/23/a-fight-at-the-opera
Tags: Arts, choral music, Cirque de soleil, Classical music, Harvard, Jacob Stockinger, James B. Stewart, MANHATTAN, Metropolitan Opera, Music, New York City, New York Times, opera, Peter Gelb, Pulitzer Prize, Richard Wagner, Ring cycle, Robert Lepage, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, YouTube
Classical music: French avant-garde composer Pierre Boulez turns 90. Do you find his music both radical and sensual?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Once the enfant terrible of new music, French composer Pierre Boulez (below in 2011 in a photo by Martin Schalk of Getty Images) turned 90 on Thursday.
But now Pierre Boulez is part of the establishment. (You can hear him discuss his approach to music, and how it differs from the 12-tone composers and atonal composers, in a YouTube video at the bottom. Somehow, I find his music more interesting to discuss than to listen to.)
Maybe you were lucky enough to attend the special concert marking the event last Friday night at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. (The Ear was unable to go.) It was organized and hosted by Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill), a French-trained bassoonist who teaches at the UW-Madison and who once worked with Boulez.
![Marc Vallon 2011 James Gill (baroque & modern)[2]](https://welltempered.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/marc-vallon-2011-james-gill-baroque-modern2.jpg)
A lot of musicians live in awe of Boulez, who has been very influential in the development of new music. They include the Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini (below top), who championed his work early on, and the American conductor David Robertson (below bottom) who does so today.
Perhaps the best summary of Boulez (below, in a photo from his younger years from Sony Music) is the one that was researched and written by Tom Huizenga for the Deceptive Cadence blog on NPR (National Public Radio).
It features audio samples from Boulez’ orchestral and instrumental works, from his masterpieces and his unknown works.
To be honest, I prefer the modernist Boulez who, as the music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducts and records the music of Gustav Mahler and Claude Debussy. He definitely has a point of view that clarified the older music. I like his interpretations more than I like his compositions.
I am willing to admit that his music, his modernist esthetic, is important.
But I don’t think I would go so far as to call his music “sensual.” Radical, yes. But I find the sound too jagged and rough to be sensual, despite it being French. Sensual, for me, means pleasurable. And pleasurable is not an adjective I, personally, would use to describe the music of Boulez.
But then maybe I am just being overly insensitive.
Anyway, read the NPR story and listen to the samples, and then tell us how you perceive Pierre Boulez and his music.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Cleveland Orchestra, David Robertson, French music, Getty Images, Gustav Mahler, Jacob Stockinger, Maurizio Pollini, Music, New Music, NPR, Orchestra, Piano, Pierre Boulez, radical, sensuality, Sony Classical, Sony Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, YouTube
Classical music: Should superstar tenor Placido Domingo retire?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Should Spanish superstar tenor Placido Domingo (below) – who has aged into a baritone as well as a conductor and the artistic director of an opera company – retire?
That is the touchy question that was taken up last week by The New York Times senior music critic Anthony Tommasini in his opening night review of Domingo’s performance in the role of the King of Spain Don Carlo (below, in a photo by Sara Krulwich for The New York Times) in the opera by Giuseppe Verdi “Ernani,” which was based on the play “Hernani” by French writer Victor Hugo.
The production of “Ernani” is taking place at the Metropolitan Opera – hardly a strange stage to the veteran Domingo, who is now 74. James Levine led the orchestra. And Tommasini offered quite specific criticisms to back up his opinion about Domingo.
Here is a link to the review:
Read it and weigh in with your own opinion about whether it is time for the great Placido Domingo to retire.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, baritone, Classical music, drama, Ernani, France, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera, Music, New York City, New York Times, play, Plácido Domingo, Spain, tenor, Verdi, Victor Hugo
Classical music education: The University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music ranks in the nation’s Top 30 overall and in the Top 10 for music education. Plus, WYSO’s Youth Orchestra and Concerto Competition winners perform Beethoven, Schubert, Walter Piston and Alexander Arutiunian on this Saturday afternoon.
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ALERT: Just a reminder that this Saturday afternoon, the top-ranked Youth Orchestra (below) of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will perform under conductor James Smith at 1:30 p.m. in Mills Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in the Mosse Humanities Building, 455 North Park Street.
The program includes: The Suite from “The Incredible Flutist” by Walter Piston; and the first and second movements of the Symphony No. 8 “Unfinished” by Franz Schubert.
Also included are the winners of the WYSO Concerto Competition. Trumpeter Noah Mennenga will perform the Trumpet Concert by Alexander Arutiunian. Pianist Theodore Lau will play the third movement of the Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, O;. 37, by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for young people 3-18. For more information, call (608) 263-3320 or visit http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/dianne-endres-ballweg-winterfest-concert-series/
By Jacob Stockinger
Spring Break starts tomorrow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
So The Ear wants students and faculty to leave on a positive note and then return with renewed energy and dedication, knowing that the UW-Madison School of Music still ranks relatively high (No. 24) among the nation’s top 30 public and private schools for overall programs and even higher (No. 10) for music education in an informal blog survey.
To be sure, the UW-Madison School of Music is facing a lot of complex challenges.
Those challenges range from finding enough scholarship money to compete in recruiting outstanding students to finding enough money to recruit and retain outstanding faculty.
And some of the challenges look to be made worse through budget cuts and policy changes proposed by the Republican-dominated legislature and Republican Gov. Scott Walker (below), though we will have to wait to see the final outcomes.
But the politicians sure are sending out signals that they want to treat the world-class university more like a trade school than a star player in the liberal arts, the arts and the humanities. They just don’t see those fields as adding much to economic development.
As if economic development is the bottom line for everything of personal and social value.
And as if the so-called STEM subjects -– science, technology, engineering and math – are the only relevant academic fields for the public to support.
Besides, study after study shows the relevance of music education to success in other fields. (Below are the UW Symphony Orchestra and UW Choral Union.)
So before anyone starts fooling around and making major changes and cuts, it is good to be reminded of what a precious educational, cultural and economic resource the UW-Madison remains, as a world-class learning institution.
But it won’t take much negligence or wrong-headed tinkering for the UW to drop out of the ranking.
So here they are to read and then think about how to best protect the great university that the state of Wisconsin has.
First comes the overall ranking (No. 24) among private and public Schools of Music, which, if The Ear recalls correctly, has dropped over the past decade:
And then comes the ranking (No. 10) in the specific area of music education in a less prestigious blog poll done by an individual:
http://musicschoolcentral.com/top-10-colleges-music-education-majors-us/
Thoughts, anyone?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alexander Arutiunian, Arts, Beethoven, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, concerto, conductor, Franz Schubert, Jacob Stockinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Music, Music education, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Piano concerto, Schubert, Scott Walker, state legislature, Trumpet, trumpet concerto, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO
Classical music: The Ear gives shout-outs to guest University Opera director David Ronis – who should be hired permanent full-time by the UW-Madison — and longtime Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra conductor Andrew Sewell because they both know how to make Mozart our contemporary. Plus, here are the results of The Final Forte.
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ALERTS:
1) In case you don’t already know them, here are the results of last night’s Final Forte: First Prize went to violinist Julian Rhee; Second Prize went to pianist Vivian Wilhelms; and Honorable Mentions went to harpist Maya Pierick and pianist Isabella Wu.
Here is a link to a complete story about the high school concerto competition:
2) This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, to be held from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House of the First Unitarian Society of Madison at 900 University Bay Drive, will feature soprano Consuelo Sanudo (below) and pianist Jeff Gibbens who will perform music by Henri Duparc, Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg and Franz Schubert.
By Jacob Stockinger
It has really been a busy past couple of weeks, with so many concerts that The Ear couldn’t even preview all of them. So it’s time to catch up and offer some critical appraisals of what I heard.
Let me begin with some background.
The supremely gifted, articulate and critically acclaimed American pianist Jeremy Denk, who has performed two solo recitals in Madison for the Wisconsin Union Theater, is fond of saying the he strives to make music sound as radical today as it was when it was first composed and first heard.
There is wisdom in that approach, which balances out the other great movement of the 20th-century that opened up our ears to another kind of difference. I am referring to the use of period instruments and historically informed performance practices to recapture how the music originally sounded.
But lately I had two examples that showed me just how exciting such an established “museum” composer as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (below) can be if made to sound and look contemporary and radical to our modern ears without going backwards.
The two examples I have in mind are from recent performances of late works, when Mozart was in full command of his art: The opera “The Magic Flute” as presented by University Opera under the guest stage director David Ronis, who hails from New York City and teaches at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and the City University of New York as well as at Hofstra University; and the well-known penultimate Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K. 550, as performed by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra under Andrew Sewell.
THE MAGIC FLUTE
The award-winning David Ronis did several things to The Magic Flute that The Ear really liked and found effective.
He made some judicious cuts in an otherwise overlong work.
He used surtitles for the German text.
He used spoken contemporary vernacular English for the dialogue. That not only made the opera understandable, but also lent drive to push it along and give it momentum as well as contemporaneity.
Most of all, Ronis also used cinematic Bollywood-like dance gestures and choreography (below, in photos by Michael R. Anderson) – along with the bright fusion of East-West hybrid costumes and sets that added such movement and energy, color and humor, to the score.
I mean, don’t we see enough of opera singers just standing still, arms outstretched, with only their mouths moving?
Of course, some people and critics did not like the changes, and found them downright treasonous and disrespectful or just plain wrong.
Silly them. The Ear says the updating worked just fine. Great art is there to experiment with, not just depict. Art lives in time. It is why director Peter Sellars is such a forceful and creative influence in the world of classical music. If only classical music could be less classical and more musical! Entertainment is nothing to be ashamed of. It is, after all, why the performing arts exist.
I also think the changes are one reason why there were four sold-out performances -– not just the usual three -– and why I saw so many young people in the audience. It was, in short, a fun production.
To my eyes and ears, this production — coupled with his production of Benjamin Britten‘s “Albert Herring” in the fall — showed what a smart move it would be to hire David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke DeLalio) full-time to lead the University Opera. He clearly knows how to get the best out of students, has a very personal artistic vision and is willing to shake things up – which both we and The Great Artists such as Mozart can use.
THE BIG G-MINOR SYMPHONY
As for the Mozart symphony – the big late one in G minor not the little early one — it was just part of an outstanding concert turned in by Sewell and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with the impressive guest cellist Amit Peled (below) and his unbelievably resonant cello that belonged to and was played by Pablo Casals. Together, man and instrument justifiably brought down the house.
But other parts of the program, which included works by Frank Bridge and David Popper, should not be overlooked or underestimated.
Conductor Andrew Sewell (below) has long demonstrated his ability to work with such Classical-era composers as Franz Joseph Haydn and Mozart as well as Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven. And here, in a very familiar work, you could hear why.
While Mozart was one of music’s great melodists, Sewell’s interpretation emphasized tempo, rhythm and repetitive motifs even as he brought out the various voices, counterpoint and melodic lines.
This Mozart had drive and pep. (You can hear the familiar first movement, with an interesting abstract graph profile, in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
In fact, the third Minuet movement sounded downright modern – a kind of percussive precursor to minimalism.
This was exciting Mozart, far from the genteel and primly elegant and blandly pleasant Mozart that The Ear refers to as Music-Box Mozart.
This playing by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) was precise and dramatic. It made you sit up and take notice. It engaged you.
It also showed why Mozart was such an exception to his age –- why his contemporaries and those who followed him so revered his talent and music. He was a radical in his day but we often overlook how he pushed the boundaries of music closer to modernism.
So The Ear offers shout-outs and hearty thanks to both David Ronis and Andrew Sewell for helping us to hear Mozart once again as a contemporary — not just a statically beautiful blast from the past.
Both cases proved to be an exciting and unforgettable experience. The Ear hopes we are in for more of them, particularly in Mozart’s symphonies and piano concertos.
Did you hear the opera and/or the symphony?
What did you think of the approaches to Mozart?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Amit Peled, Andrew Sewell, Arnold Schoenberg, Arts, Baroque, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Cello, City University of New York, Classical music, concerto, David Popper, David Ronis, Debussy, Frank Bridge, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Schubert, Henri Duparc, Hofstra University, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, New York City, opera, Orchestra, Pablo Casals, Peter Sellars, Queens College, Schubert, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: French composer Maurice Durufle’s quietly glorious but rarely performed Requiem will be sung for FREE twice this Sunday, March 29, at the First Unitarian Society of Madison. Plus, the UW Hunt Quartet performs a FREE concert of Mozart, Janacek and Mendelssohn on Thursday night at 6:30 in Morphy Hall.
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ALERT: This Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the Hunt Quartet will perform three great string quartets: the String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the String Quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata” by Leos Janacek; and the String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, by Felix Mendelssohn.
The quartet is made up of four graduate students (below) at the UW-Madison School of Music. Here is a link to the event with impressive biographies and other information:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/hunt-quartet-recital/
By Jacob Stockinger
Our friend Dan Broner, the music director of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, has sent the following note to The Ear:
On Sunday, March 29, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. the Society Choir of the First Unitarian Society of Madison will be joined by guest singers and instrumentalists in two performances of a masterpiece by French composer Maurice Durufle (below): his Requiem, Op. 9.
Both performances will take place in the modern Atrium Auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams).
Maurice Durufle (1902-1986) was a celebrated French organist and composer. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire with the two most important French organist-composers of the day, Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne, and he surpassed them both.
Durufle (below) won every major prize – in organ, harmony, accompaniment, counterpoint and fugue, and composition. In 1939 he gave the world premiere of Francis Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and in the 1940s he was named Professor of Harmony of the Conservatoire. It was his exceptional penchant for self-criticism, however, that led to Durufle publishing only 13 works: six organ pieces, two works for orchestra, a chamber piece, and four choral compositions.
He kept re-writing and revising his compositions for years after they were completed. As a result Durufle is a relatively unknown composer to the general public, but is admired by composers and singers for the impeccable craftsmanship and sublime beauty of his work.
The Requiem for choir, soloists, orchestra and organ was completed in 1947 and is based on Gregorian chants from the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. Stylistically it is influenced by the 20th-century organ music of Tournemire and Vierne, the Impressionist school of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, the elegant Romanticism of Gabriel Faure, Renaissance polyphony and above all Gregorian chant. These elements form a tapestry held together by Durufle’s command of harmony and structure.
Durufle wrote three different accompaniments for the work: the original for large orchestra, a version for organ accompaniment, and one for organ and chamber orchestra. It is this last version that we will be using for our performances. (Below is a photo of Dan Broner conducting the choir. At bottom, you can hear the fourth movement, the Sanctus, as performed by Robert Shaw and the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Sorry, but I don’t know why there is no video to accompany the audio.)
The concert will also introduce the new Allen digital organ gifted by William Wartmann (below) in memory and honor of his late wife, Joyce Wartmann, and her lifelong friendship with retired FUS Assistant Music Director and Organist, Eva Wright.
Joining the Society Choir will be guest singers from the Meeting House Chorus and community; baritone Paul Rowe (below top) and soprano Heather Thorpe (below bottom), who directs the FUS Children’s Choir.
Retired UW-Madison professor and Concertmaster of the Madison Symphony, Tyrone Greive (below top, in a photo by Katrin Talbot), will lead the string section, which will be joined by three trumpeters, timpani and harp, all conducted by FUS music director Dan Broner. Linda Warren (below bottom) will be the harpist and the guest organist will be Sheri Masiakowski, a doctoral student of UW organist, John Chappell Stowe.
I hope you will be able to join us on March 29 to experience some of the most beautiful music ever penned for choir and orchestra.
Tags: accompaniment, Arts, Atlanta, Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, baritone, Baroque, Baroque music, Chamber music, chant, Choir, choral music, Classical music, Composition, concertmaster, concerto, conductor, counterpoint, Debussy, Faure, Felix Mendelssohn, First Unitarian Society of Madison, fugue, Gabriel Fauré, Gregorian chant, harmony, Impressionism, Jacob Stockinger, Kreutzer Sonata, Leos Janacek, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass, Mass (liturgy), Maurice Durufle, Middle Ages, Music, Music director, Orchestra, organ, Paris, Paris Conservatory, Paul Rowe, polyphone, polyphony, Poulenc, professor, Ravel, Renaissance, Requiem, Robert Shaw, Roman Catholic, Romantic, Romanticism, Sanctus, soprano, String quartet, strings, structure, timpani, Trumpet, tympani, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vierne, Violin, vocal music, William Wartmann, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music education: WYSO’s Art of Note benefit on Saturday, April 18, needs sponsors and donors as it seeks to raise $50,000 to benefit music education in the Greater Madison area.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) write:
On Saturday, April 18, 2014, from 6 to 10 p.m., at CUNA Mutual, 5810 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side, WYSO will hold its annual Art of Note gala fundraiser, this year called “Believe in Music.”
You can join dozens of major corporate underwriters and small business sponsors as well as individual attendees in helping WYSO to meet its goal of raising $50,000 for music education.
Study after study confirms that music education reaps lifelong benefits in academic and career success that go far beyond making music. And no single music educational organization in Wisconsin reaches more students or listeners than the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), which is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
“WYSO has served nearly 6,000 talented young musicians from more than 100 communities throughout south central Wisconsin over the past 49 years,” says executive director Bridget Fraser (below right, seen at last year’s Art of Note with Libby Bestul, chair of the Art of Note fundraiser).
But such a mission is not easy to run or cheap to fund.
WYSO provides many scholarships and undertakes local concerts and TV appearances as well as international tours — two summers ago, to Vienna, Prague and Budapest (below); this past summer to Argentina. Another international tour, to Italy, is being planned.
That is why WYSO needs your help.
Adds Fraser: “The Art of Note Gala garners community-wide support from those who people are passionate about music education, ensuring that WYSO remains one of the top youth orchestra programs in the country.”
The evening will feature fine food and live music performed by several WYSO student groups (a WYSO string quartet is below), including an honors ensemble of students from the Madison Music Makers.
Fundraising events include silent and live auctions of more than 100 items that include everything from fine wine and restaurant gift certificates to holiday getaways and tickets to major sporting and arts events.
Of special note are the recycled violins (below) that have been hand-painted and transformed into works of art by local artists.
Individual admission is $100 in advance, $110 at the door. ($65 is tax-deductible as a charitable donation per person.) Tables for 4 are available for $375; tables for 8 for $750.
For reservations and more information about attending or sponsoring the gala, about donating auction items and about WYSO’s overall program as well as upcoming concerts, visit WYSO’s home website at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu and the special event’s page with a list of sponsors at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/artofnote/
For more information, you can also call (608) 263-3320, ext. 2.
Tags: Art, Art of Note, Arts, auction, Budapest, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Europe, Fundraising, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, Orchestra, Prague, tour, Violin, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, WYSO, YouTube
Classical music education: This Wednesday night the annual “Finale Forte” — final round of the Bolz Young Artist Concerto Competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — will be broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio. The public can also attend the FREE live performance at the Overture Center.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Four of Wisconsin’s most talented young musicians will perform in concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) as Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) offer a live broadcast of “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte” at 7 p.m. this Wednesday night, March 25.
WPT will air an encore presentation 11 a.m. Sunday, March 29.
The Final Forte features (below) harpist Maya Pierick, a student at Madison West High School, violinist Julian Rhee, a student at Brookfield East High School, pianist Vivian Wilhelms, a student at Waunakee High School and pianist Isabella Wu, a student at Madison Memorial High School. (Below are, from left to right, pianists Isabella Wu and Vivian Wilhelms, violinist Julian Rhee and harpist Maya Pierick.)
The four young artists will perform in the Capitol Theater (below) of the Overture Center for the Arts with MSO music director John DeMain conducting the MSO as the four teenagers vie for honors and scholarship money in the 2015 Bolz Young Artist Competition.
Each finalist will perform a movement from a concerto while judges determine who will win scholarships. The winners will be announced at the end of the concert.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the free live performance. Phone 608-257-3734 or visit madisonsymphony.org online to reserve a seat. Click here to make your reservation via email
Be sure to include your name and the number in your party. We are expecting a full house, so if you make a reservation and are unable to attend, please let us know.
Audience members MUST be seated by 6:45 p.m.
Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is a partnership of Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio and the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte is part of WPT’s multi-year Young Performers Initiative, a statewide effort to raise the visibility of the arts, celebrate the creative achievements of Wisconsin’s young people and support the arts in education.
Major funding is provided by Diane Ballweg, Fred and Mary Mohs, Stephen D. Morton, and The Boldt Company, with additional funds from Sentry Insurance Foundation, AHMC Properties, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Margaret C. Winston, W. Jerome Frautschi, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, Larry and Julie Midtbo, Kato L. Perlman, Anne W. Bolz, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
The Final Forte is the final round of the MSO’s Bolz Young Artist Competition. Young artists from across the state of Wisconsin competed in the Bolz Young Artist Competition’s two preliminary rounds for a chance to perform a movement from a concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra during the final round.
The 90-minute WPT program features profiles of each of the finalists.
Tune in to these ENCORE broadcasts:
- Wisconsin Public Television: Sunday, March 29, at 11 a.m.
- Wisconsin Public Radio: Sunday, March 29, at 12:30 p.m.
- Milwaukee Public Television: Sunday, March 29, at 2 p.m.
HISTORIC COLLABORATION WINS AWARDS
The unique collaboration among the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below), Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television is producing award-winning programming. In addition to an Emmy Award nomination, the Final Forte earned First Place in the “Special Interest” category from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 2007 and was rated the fifth most-watched program in the February 2007 Nielsen ratings (the television audience was 63 percent greater than WPT’s average audience in the Madison market). The 2008 broadcasts on WPR and WPT reached more than 60,000 viewers in the Madison market alone and there were an estimated 200,000 statewide viewers and listeners for the 2009 broadcasts.
CONDUCTOR JOHN DEMAIN’S TAKE: “This has been a very auspicious partnership,” says John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad). “The quality of the broadcasts and the performances of the finalists are simply spectacular. I think this sends a magnificent message to our community and to the entire state of Wisconsin about the importance and effectiveness of our music education programs. It is an extraordinary opportunity for everyone to feel the commitment and energy of these young performers and to reflect on the central role the arts play in our lives. I look forward to these events with great joy.”
DeMain will lead the MSO in the final movement of the Symphony No. 4 in D Minor, Op. 120, by Robert Schumann while the four judges are evaluating the performers.
TO SUPPORT THIS PROGRAM
Please contact Director of Development Casey Oelkers at (608) 257-3734 or coelkers@madisonsymphony.org.
HERE ARE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE FOUR PERFORMERS. YOU CAN ALSO FIND VIDEOS, DONE BY WISCONSIN PUBLIC TELEVISION, ABOUT THEM ON YOUTUBE. JUST PUT THEIR NAME OR “FINAL FORTE” INTO THE SEARCH ENGINE.
MAYA PIERICK, HARP
Maya Pierick, age 17, is a senior at Madison West High School. Having started early in Suzuki violin, she began playing harp at age eight with Karen Atz. She currently studies with Danis Kelly of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Maya has played harp in the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) from 4th through 11th grade. After playing for 6 years at the Youth level under conductor James Smith, she toured Argentina with WYSO in 2014.
Maya’s realized her love of singing with choir director Heather Thorpe at First Unitarian Society. In high school she has furthered her achievements in voice by successfully auditioning into the Cantabile choir of the Madison Youth Choirs under the direction of Michael Ross, as well as West High School’s Concert Choir under the direction of Anthony Cao – with whom she recently completed a semester as teaching assistant to the Freshman Choir.
In her spare time Maya also enjoys dance, ceramics, circus arts and photography. In college, Maya plans to study Harp Performance and Physics.
She will play Marcel Tournier’s “Feerie” for Harp and Strings.
JULIAN RHEE, VIOLIN
Julian Rhee, age 14, is a freshman at Brookfield East High School. Julian recently won the 2015 Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Competition; the 2015 Milwaukee Youth Symphony Concerto Competition; and the 2015 Concord Orchestra Dorothy J. Oestreich Concerto Competition. Also, Julian is one of the 11 violinists advancing to the semi-finals of the prestigious Johansen International Competition for Young String Players, where he will be traveling to Washington, D.C. representing Wisconsin.
Julian won the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Fall Youth Concerto competition in 2011 and 2013. Julian has performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Menomonee Symphony Orchestra, as well as being the youngest semi-finalist of the 2013 Stradivarius International Violin Competition at age 12.
In addition to violin, Julian has studied piano since age 7, and loves to read, play basketball and video games, and is an avid local sports team fan. Julian is Concertmaster of the Milwaukee Youth Senior Symphony Orchestra and is currently studying privately with Ms. Hye-Sun Lee at the Music Institute of Chicago.
He will perform the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77, by Johannes Brahms.
VIVIAN WILHELMS, PIANO
Vivian Wilhelms, 16, is a sophomore at Waunakee High School. Vivian began playing piano at age four and currently studies with Bill Lutes. In 2010, she was the winner of the MSO Fall Youth Concerto Competition, and in 2013, she was a winner of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2014, she received first place in the UW Madison School of Music High School Piano Extravaganza Competition and was the runner-up in the WMTA Badger State Competition. This year, she also received an honorable mention in the Lacrosse Rising Star Concerto Competition. Vivian has studied violin with Janet Chisholm since she was eight years old and has been an active member of WYSO since 2011.
In school, Vivian is a member of the varsity forensics and Science Olympiad teams. She also loves volunteering as a mentor for beginning violinists through Madison’s Music Makers program and frequently visits the Waunakee Manor, a local retirement center. In her free time, Vivian enjoys swimming, writing, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends.
She will plays the second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor by Camille Sant-Saens.
ISABELLA WU, PIANO
Isabella Wu, 16, is a sophomore at Madison Memorial High School. She began piano at age 5 with Shu-Ching Chuang. Isabella won the 2010 and 2012 Madison Symphony Orchestra Fall Youth Concerto Competitions, the 2014 Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Youth Artist Competition, the 2014 Chippewa Valley Symphony Kristo Orthodontics Young Artist Competition, and received honorable mention at the 2013 Midwest Young Artists National Walgreens Concerto Competition. She also won the 2009 Wisconsin State Badger Competition and placed runner-up in the 2012 Music Teachers National Association Wisconsin State Competition.
Isabella additionally plays violin and studies with Liz Norton. A member of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) since 5th grade, she has won the Philharmonia Concerto Competition on violin, the Youth Concerto Competition on piano, and served as concertmaster and principal second.
This year, Isabella is a percussionist in her school’s highest band. Outside of music, she is a Mathcounts coach, Lincoln-Douglas debater, member of Future Business Leaders of America, and writes for the school newspaper. Isabella enjoys art, literature, and philosophy, and can be found wandering through the woods on bike or foot.
She will play the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 1, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
Tags: Arts, Beethoven, Brahms, Chicago, Classical music, concerto, harp, Jacob Stockinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, Music education, Orchestra, Overture Center, physics, Piano, Piano concerto, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Robert Schumann, Saint-Saens, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television
Classical music: Do you know the Piano from A To Z? The BBC Music Magazine has listed 26 facts about pianos -– some of which The Ear knew and many of which he didn’t.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a good follow-up to yesterday’s post about the centennial of the birth of the great Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter.
A lot of young people start learning classical music via the piano.
The Ear is one of them. And to this day he remains an avid amateur pianist.
But how much do I really know about my chosen instrument? Not enough, it turns out.
And how well do you know the Piano From A To Z? The BBC Music Magazine has listed 26 facts about pianos -– some of which The Ear knew and many of which he didn’t.
See how you do – and let us know.
Here is a link:
http://www.classical-music.com/a-z-piano-1
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