The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Here is an outline of this summer’s Token Creek Chamber Music Festival. More details will follow soon. Plus, Wednesday night is the opening classical program of the FREE Concerts on the Square.

REMINDER: Wednesday night at 7 p.m. is the opening concert of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra‘s six FREE Concerts on the Square this summer. The program is classical and features Julian Rhee (below), the amazing 14-year-old violinist who has won several major concerto competitions, including those with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The program includes music by Alexander Glazunov, Piotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Johannes Brahms. Members of the Madison Ballet will also be featured.

Here is a link to general information about Concerts on the Square:

http://www.wcoconcerts.org/performance-listing/category/concerts-on-the-square

And here is a link to more information about Wednesday night’s program and soloist:

http://www.wcoconcerts.org/performances/concerts-on-the-square-1/

By Jacob Stockinger

A reader recently wrote in and asked if the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival will take place this year.

The question is understandable. So far, there has been no news.

But the Token Creek Festival will indeed take place this summer.

The Ear just received information about some of the basic events that will happen. More details will follow and fill in the programs.

Here is the official press release:

“With its 2015 season somewhat uncertain after a difficult winter, the Token Creek Festival is pleased to announce this summer’s programs, running August 22-30 this year.

August 22 and 23: “Founders’ Recital — Beginnings Revisited.” 
The concert centers on works by Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by festival co-founders and co-artistic directors John and Rose Mary Harbison (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot).

August 25: “Paean to Place: Music and Nature and the Poetry of Wisconsin poet Lorine Niedecker.” The concert will feature
 pianist Ryan McCullough (below top) and soprano Lucy FitzGibbons. The program is done in collaboration with the Friends of Lorine Niedecker, below bottom)

August 27: The Lydian String Quartet (below top) in works of Felix Mendelssohn, Lee Hyla (below bottom) and John Harbison.

August 29 and 30: Grand Finale featuring 
orchestral highlights of the high Baroque, including the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach (below). (You can hear the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

More information about the festival will be forthcoming soon.