The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The acclaimed Willy Street Chamber Players announces its second summer season. Plus, this afternoon is your last chance to hear Madison Opera’s production of “The Tales of Hoffmann”

ALERT: This afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center is your last chance to hear the Madison Opera‘s production of Jacques Offenbach‘s “The Tales of Hoffmann.”

Here are two preview posts that appeared here:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/04/12/classical-music-jacques-offenbachs-fantastical-masterpiece-the-tales-of-hoffmann-will-be-performed-by-madison-opera-performs-friday-night-and-sunday-afternoon-here-is-part/

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/classical-music-its-easy-and-wrong-to-underestimate-offenbachs-tales-of-hoffmann-it-is-literally-fantastic-but-not-light-it-will-be-performed-by-madison-opera-on-friday/

Here is a review written by Greg Hettmansberger for his blog WhatGregSays and Madison Magazine:

https://whatgregsays.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/making-a-spectacle-of-themselves/

And here is a review by Lindsay Christians for The Capital Times:

http://host.madison.com/ct/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/opera-review-hoffmann-pines-drinks-and-chases-skirts-in-madison/article_8c998a0e-038d-11e6-8a1a-3b3aba924b6d.html

By Jacob Stockinger

No new classical music group generated more great buzz last year than The Willy Street Chamber Players. And that enthusiasm was shared by The Ear, who can’t recall hearing anyone or anything being negative about the group’s inaugural season.

Here is a link to one rave review, written by John W. Barker for this blog, that focused on astounding performance of the famous Octet by Felix Mendelssohn and a Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/08/03/classical-music-the-willies-the-willy-street-chamber-players-excel-in-bach-and-mendelssohn-at-the-last-concert-of-the-new-groups-inaugural-season/

A friend of The Ear who plays with the Willy Street Chamber Players (below) sends the following word:

Newcomers to the Madison classical music scene, the critically acclaimed group The Willy Street Chamber Players, will be returning to the stage for a second season this July.

The group will perform four concerts at Immanuel Lutheran Church (below), 1021 Spaight St., and season tickets are available now.

Here is a link to the updated events page:

http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/events1.html

This summer’s concerts will include fresh performances of time-honored classics. They include the Clarinet Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the fiery “Souvenir de Florence” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The season will also include works that will be new to many Madison audience members.

Guest artists include violinist Suzanne Beia (below top) of the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; clarinetist Joe Morris (below middle), who is leaving the Madison Symphony Orchestra; and UW-Madison graduate student pianist Thomas Kasdorf (below bottom).

New this season will be a performance given in partnership with the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art on the evening of Friday, July 22, 2016.

That’s when the Willy Street Chamber Players will present the monumental work, “Black Angels,” composed by George Crumb (below) for electric string quartet, in what promises to be an unforgettable performance.

Written in response to the Vietnam War, this avant-garde work requires players to amplify their instruments, speak with their mouths, perform with extended techniques, play on crystal glasses and more. (You can hear Part 1 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

In the meantime, you can hear the group live on Wisconsin Public Radio‘s Midday Show with Norman Gilliland (below) on this Thursday, April 21, at noon. This special broadcast will be performed in front of a live studio audience in celebration of the Midday Show’s 25th anniversary.

Visit www.willystreetchamberplayers.org for 2016 season details, tickets and more.