The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The accomplished amateur Middleton Community Orchestra will perform Wagner and Sibelius this coming Wednesday night.

By Jacob Stockinger

Just a reminder today from Mindy Taranto and Larry Bevic, co-founders and co-directors of the Middleton Community Orchestra, which has provided The Ear with many more memorable musical moments than he would have ever expected from a mostly amateur group.

They write:

On this coming Wednesday night, April 13, the Middleton Community Orchestra (below top) will present an early Spring Concert.

It features our regular guest conductor, UW-Madison graduate student Kyle Knox (below bottom) in a performance of the Prelude to Act 1 of the opera “Lohengrin” by Richard Wagner and the too rarely heard Symphony No. 3 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, whose centennial was last year.

(You can hear the Wagner overture, performed by conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic in a YouTube video at the bottom. The Ear generally loves Wagner’s orchestral writing — so shimmering and so sensual — much more than his vocal writing, which often seems likes protracted shouting. Is The Ear alone in that?) 

This music is gorgeous, and we promise you a short and very sweet evening–great music with a reception (below) to follow.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Middleton Performing Arts Center (below) that is attached to Middleton High School at 2100 Bristol Street.

General admission is $10.  Advance tickets can be bought at the Willy St. Coop West.

All students are admitted free of charge.

The box office opens at 7 p.m.

For more information about the rest of its season and about how to support or join the Middleton Community Orchestra, visit:

http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org