The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: We need more women conductors. And here is where some of them will come from
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear bets that most of you have heard of Marin Alsop (below), the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
And he bets that many of you have also heard of JoAnn Falletta (below, in a photo by Cheryl Gorski), who is the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
And then?
How many other women conductors can you name?
So the last day of Women’s History Month seems a good time to take a look at a program that may produce quite a few major women conductors.
Here it is:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/bringing-women-conductors-front-orchestra/
Tags: Arts, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven, Buffalo Philharmonic, Buffalo Symphony Orchestra, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, conductor, female, Jacob Stockinger, JoAnn Falletta, Madison, Marin Alsop, Music, Music director, Orchestra, PBS, PBS Newshour, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, women, YouTube
Classical music: Here are the Final Forte winners. Mosaic Chamber Players concludes its season this Saturday night with piano trios by Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff and Charles Ives. Plus, a FREE concert of Latin American bassoon music is Friday at noon
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NEWS: In case you missed it last night on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio, here are the winners of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s high school concerto competition, which featured a lot of fine music and excellent performances.
First prize went to violinist Julian Rhee of Brookfield, who performed Tchaikovsky; second prize went to pianist Michael Wu of Sun Prairie, who performed Saint-Saens; and the two runners-up were violinist Yaoyao Chen of Menasha, who played Sibelius, and harpist Naomi Sutherland, who performed Ravel.
For more information about the annual event, including links to video biographies of the contestants, go to:
ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature bassoonist Juliana Mesa-Jaramillo in works for solo bassoon by 20th-century Latin American composers. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players will conclude its 2016-2017 season with a program of piano trios.
Members of the Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players are Wes Luke, violin; Kyle Price, cello; and Jess Salek, piano.
The program features the “Elegy” Trio in D Minor, Op. 9, by Sergei Rachmaninoff; the Trio, Op. 86, by Charles Ives; and the Trio in D Minor, Op 49, by Felix Mendelssohn. (You can hear the opening of the lovely and darkly dramatic Rachmaninoff Trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The concert will be this Saturday, April 1, at 7 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of First Unitarian Society of Madison.
Tickets are $15 for general admission; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash or checks only will be accepted.
Pianist Jess Salek (below), who graduated from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton Wis., and who runs his own piano studio in Madison and also works with the Madison Youth Choirs.
Violinist Wes Luke (below) plays with many regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Madison-based Ancora String Quartet.
Here is an informative and engaging story about cellist Kyle Price (below), a UW-Madison student, and how he started a music festival and ended up studying with Professor Uri Vardi at the UW-Madison.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/2015/12/02/kyleprice_cello/
Tags: Ancora, Ancora String Quartet, Appleton, Arts, Bassoon, biography, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, dark, dramatic, Elegy, First Unitarian Society of Madison, high school, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Kyle Price, Latin America, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, lovely, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Mendelssohn, Mosaic Chamber Players, performance, Piano Trio, prize, Rachmaninov, Ravel, runner up, Saint-Saens, seniors, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, solo, students, studio, Tchaikovsky, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Uri Vardi, video, Violin, Wes Luke, winds, winner, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, WPR, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: The Edgewood College Concert Band performs its 23rd annual benefit concert to fight hunger this Friday night. Plus, the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Final Forte” competition concert is TONIGHT at 7
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ALERT: Just a reminder that TONIGHT at 7 p.m., the final round of the youth concerto competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra will take place under the direction of MSO music director John DeMain.
You can stream it, or watch and hear the four finalists – two violinists, a pianist and a harpist – live on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio. You can also attend the concert in Overture Hall of the Overture Center for FREE if seats are still available.
For more information, including the program and biographies of the teenage performers, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
This Friday night at 7 p.m., the Edgewood College Concert Band will perform a FREE donation concert to benefit a community food program. (Below is a poster from 2013.)
The concert will be in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive.
Admission is FREE with a freewill offering to benefit the Luke House community meal program.
The Edgewood College Concert Band will play under the direction of Walter Rich (below). You can hear a sample of the concert band, taken from its 2013 Christmas concert, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The program offers a variety of styles and features music by William Byrd, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Claude Debussy. A Folk Song Set of Wisconsin by the American composer Barry E. Kopetz (born in 1951, below) will be also be featured.
The Music Department at Edgewood College has hosted benefit concerts for Luke House since 1994.
Tags: Arts, band, Barry Kopetz, benefit, biography, brass, Chamber music, charity, Christmas, Classical music, community, Competition, composer, Concert Band, concerto, Debussy, Early music, Edgewood College, Finale Forte, folk song, harp, hunger, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Kopetz, Luke House, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, meal, Music, Music director, Music education, New Music, Orchestra, Overture Center, Piano, program, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Sant-Saens, stream, streaming, symphony, Tchaikovsky, teenage, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, Violin, Walter Rich, William Byrd, winds, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, WPR, WPT, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: Here is a love story, Steinway-style, that benefits UW-Madison students
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By Jacob Stockinger
Take a Steinway vintage Model M baby grand piano from 1927.
Add in the love of music as well as the love between a husband-father and wife, and then between a mother and daughter (below, on the left is mother Julia Monteros Wooster and on the right is daughter Mariah Wooster-Lehman).
Finish it off with some rebuilding and repairing, and the desire to make a generous gift to a university under siege from budget cuts dictated by an anti-intellectual governor, Scott Walker, and the Republican state legislature.
What you end up with is a love story, Steinway-style, that took place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. (And this piano is already in use in a practice room, 1268, of the George L. Mosse Humanities Building.)
It doesn’t need much introduction. The photos and the words, simple but eloquent and moving, written by the daughter, do the work.
The only thing to add is that The Ear recalls reading a new story that owning pianos in the home has become less popular nationwide. A lot of pianos even get junked or thrown out in the garbage, let alone neglected until they fall into disrepair and can’t be used any more.
So maybe there are more such pianos, with or without the love story, out there to benefit students and staff at the UW-Madison.
If so, leave a message in the COMMENTS section or call (608) 263-5615.
Here is a link to the story:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/love-story-steinway-piano/
Enjoy!
Tags: anti-intellectual, anti-intellectualism, Arts, baby, baby grand, budget, Classical music, cuts, daughter, father, gift, governor, grand, husband, Legislature, Love, love story, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mother, Music, Piano, repair, Republican, Republican Party, Scott Walker, state legislature, Steinway, story, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, vintage, wife, Wisconsin
Classical music: Here are this week’s FREE events at the UW-Madison where the spotlight falls on new music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This will be a busy week at the UW-Madison.
Here are the events, concerts and master classes, at the UW-Madison this week. All events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
As you can see, a lot of new music will be featured.
TUESDAY
At noon in Morphy Recital Hall, oboist Courtney Miller (below), of the University of Iowa, will give a master class.
At 7:30 p.m.in Mills Hall, Mike Leckrone (below top) will lead the UW Concert Band (below bottom) in a FREE concert. Sorry, no word on the program.
WEDNESDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, pianist Emile Naoumoff (below), from Indiana University, will give a recital.
Sorry, no word about the program. But there is a lot of background about the acclaimed French pianist who once studied at age 10 with the legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger and then later took over for her. (You can see him and Boulanger in the YouTube video at the bottom.) For information, go to http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-emile-naoumoff-pianist/
Naoumoff will also give a master class on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall.
THURSDAY
From 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall, guest pianist Emile Naoumoff will give a master class. See Wednesday’s listings for information about him and his recital.
FRIDAY
At 7 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, a concert of new music will be performed by Sound Out Loud (below) in conjunction with a two-day conference. For the complete program and more information, go to:
At 7:30 in Mills Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below top) will give a FREE concert under conductor Scott Teeple (below bottom).
The program includes “The Leaves Are Falling” by Warren Benson as well as two Wisconsin premieres: “Across the Graining Continent” by Jonathan Newman; and Suite in E-Flat by Gustav Holst, edited by Matthews.
SATURDAY
At 1:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, the UW-Madison Trombone Quartet performs music by Tchaikovsky,Webern, Shostakovich, Tull and Bozza among others. Members of the quartet are Thomas Macaluso, Kevin Schoeller, Matthew Bragstad and Nicolas Lawrence.
At 8 p.m. the wife-and husband piano-percussion duo Sole Nero (below), consisting of Jessica Johnson (piano) and Anthony DiSanza (percussion), will perform a faculty concert of new music.
For the complete program and program notes, plus biographies, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/sole-nero-with-jessica-johnson-and-anthony-disanza/
It is also that time of the academic year when there are a lot of student recitals and lecture-recitals, especially ones by graduate students, that might interest the public. This week, The Ear sees at least half a dozen listed including those by a cellist, violinist, hornist, trumpeter and flutist.
For more information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Tags: Anton Webern, Arts, band, Baroque, Bozza, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Concert Band, Dmitri Shostakovich, Emile Naoumoff, flute, graduate students, Gustav Holst, Holst, Horn, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Jacobs School of Music, Jonathan Newman, Madison, master class, Mike Leckrone, Music, Nadia Boulanger, New Music, Oboe, percussion, Peter Tchaikovsky, Piano, premiere, program, program notes, Quartet, Scott Teeple, Sonata, Sound Out Loud, students, Trombone, Tull, United States, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Warren Benson, Webern, winds, Wisconsin, woodwinds, YouTube
Classical music education: Watch it on public television, hear it on public radio, stream it live or see it in person – “The Final Forte” teenage finalists’ FREE concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra is this Wednesday night at 7
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, four teenage finalists will perform the final round of the Bolz Young Artist Competition in a free live concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO).
It will be broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), and available via live streaming on wpt.org, at 7 p.m.
The public can also reserve FREE tickets to attend the concert in person.
The Final Forte finalists are selected from a group of young artists who competed in the Bolz Young Artist Competition’s two preliminary rounds.
This year’s Final Forte features (below, in a photo by Amandalynn Jones, from left): violinist Julian Rhee of Brookfield, who will play the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D Major by Peter Tchaikovsky; harpist Naomi Sutherland of Viroqua, who will play the “Sacred and Profane Dances” by Maurice Ravel; pianist Michael Wu of Sun Prairie, who will play the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor by Camille Saint-Saens; and violinist Yaoyao Chen of Menasha, who will play the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D minor by Jean Sibelius.
Each of the finalists will perform with music director John DeMain and the MSO as they complete for top honors and scholarships that will be awarded at the end of the broadcast. WPR’s Lori Skelton and Jim Fleming will co-host the event.
More information, biographies and video profiles (also available on YouTube) for each finalist can be found at: http://madisonsymphony.org/finalforte
To reserve free seats at The Final Forte, call (608) 257-3734 or register online at: http://madisonsymphony.org/finalforte
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a live concert broadcast. All audience members must be seated by 6:45 p.m. in Overture Hall, prior to the start of the concert.
The Final Forte broadcast on WPT and WPR has won numerous honors including an Emmy nomination, and has reached several hundred thousand viewers and listeners in the area Madison and statewide.
REBROADCASTS
“The Final Forte” will be rebroadcast at the following times:
The Wisconsin Channel (WPT-2): Saturday, April 1, at 3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin Public Radio: Sunday, April 2, at noon
Milwaukee Public Television (Channel 36.1): Sunday, April 2, at 1 p.m.
Wisconsin Public Television (WPT-1): Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m.
BACKGROUND AND SPONSORS
“Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte” is a partnership among the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.
The even is part of WPT’s multiyear 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.
The Bolz Young Artist Competition is made possible by a generous endowment from The Eugenie Mayer Bolz Family Foundation.
Major funding for “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte” is provided by Diane Ballweg, Julie and Larry Midtbo, Fred and Mary Mohs, Stephen Morton, Joe and Maryellyn Sensenbrenner, and The Boldt Company. With additional funds from A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, W. Jerome Frautschi, Ann and Roger Hauck, Elaine and Nicholas Mischler, Kato Perlman, Sentry Insurance Company, The Estate of Norene A. Smith, Paul Guthrie in memory of Ella Guthrie, Judith and Nick Topitzes, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
Tags: Arts, biography, Broadcast, Brookfield, Camille Saint-Saëns, Classical music, Competition, concerto, dance, Finale Forte, harp, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Julian Rhee, live, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Menasha, Michel Wu, movement, Music, Music education, Naomi Sutherland, Orchestra, Overture Center, Peter Tchaikovsky, Piano, profane, profile, Radio, Ravel, sacred, sponsor, stream, Sun Prairie, symphony, teenage, Television, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, Violin, Viroqua, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, WPR, WPT, Yaoyao Chen, YouTube
Classical music: After this year’s success, “Bach Around the Clock” will return next year on March 10, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger
The revival of “Bach Around the Clock” (below) this past Saturday proved so successful to listeners, performers and organizers that it will return again next year in March 2018. (Below are violist Stan Weldy and his mandolinist son Alex.)
“It went so well, we will do it again,” said the chief organizer, violist Marika Fisher Hoyt (below), who plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Ancora String Quartet. She not only was the main host for BATC, she also played in more than half-dozen performances.
As you may recall, the marathon event to mark the 332nd birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) took place from noon to midnight, wisely revised to 9:30 p.m. after too few performers signed up, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below), 1833 Regent Street.
Plans for next year are already being made and meetings have already been held. And next year will bring major some changes, Fischer Hoyt told The Ear.
For one, the date will be March 10, 2018 – not March 17 or March 24 – which means it will come well before the usual timing of the Saturday nearest to Bach’s birthday of March 21. But, unlike what happened this year, this earlier date avoids the UW-Madison spring break plus the Easter break for public schools. That could reap big benefits in terms of audience and performers.
Because of the immense amount of work involved, Fischer Hoyt said, a non-profit organization will also be formed and more volunteers will be recruited to help spread out the workload of lining up performers and donors, and of organizing and hosting the event.
As for lining up performers, Fischer Hoyt is extremely optimistic.
“There’s a lot of talent in this town I’ve never heard of,” she told The Ear. (Below is impressive pianist Tim Adrianson performing three Preludes and Fugues from “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” Book II.)
The Ear, who spent an enjoyable six hours or so attending the event, has to agree. He took a lot of photos and will be posting more about the event in the coming days.
Right now, he wants to give a big shout-out to Fischer Hoyt for some of the innovations she brought to this year’s revival of a traditional event that was held for three years, and then abandoned, by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Here are a few of the changes she made, which The Ear thinks proved all for the better, for BATC 4.
1) There were multiple hosts, which breaks up the event and helps avoid monotony.
2) Prior to playing, performers, some of whom traveled from as far away as Dubuque, Milwaukee, Chicago and Waupun, were briefly interviewed and asked what they liked about Bach’s music and why they chose a particular piece to perform. (Below, flutist Casey Oelkers, left, talks with Hoyt.) That adds personal interest.
3) Free quality snacks of fresh fruit and cheese, not just delicious sweet things like cookies and kringle, were available, as were bottled water, tea and coffee. Good food translates into longer and more comfortable attendance.
4) The church’s venue, especially its woody interior (below), seemed much more suited to Bach’s music and friendly to the audience than the Pres House. And thanks to donations, in addition to a fine church organ there were fine instruments to play, including a Kawai grand piano and a hand-built clavichord from Farley’s House of Pianos. There were also birthday cakes donated by Clasen’s European Bakery of Middleton.
5) The entire event was recorded by Rich Samuels (below) — Madison’s chronicler of live music. He is from WORT-FM 89.9 and he will air BATC in increments on his “Anything Goes” program on Thursday mornings. In fact the broadcasts started this past week with a performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 on Thursday morning.
6) The event was streamed live via four different places or portals: the St. Andrew’s website, the Bach Around the Clock website, the Audio for the Arts website and WORT website.
7) There was an impressive variety of performers on all levels and of repertoire. It ranged from student to amateur to professional; from solo and small chamber groups to larger choral and orchestral ensembles, plus faculty members from the UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh as well as the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music. The Ear expects the lineup will get even better as word of next year gets out and spreads. (Below are students from the Suzuki Strings of Madison.) Time to get out the music and start practicing!
8) There might a 9-CD boxed set from Audio for the Arts, depending on getting authorization from all the performers.
In short, Bach Around the Clock 4 was a remarkable community event to honor both a remarkable composer and a town with a remarkable commitment to and a remarkable amount of classical music.
To keep current with BATC news, check the event’s website: https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com
Cheers to Bach Around the Clock.
And special cheers to Marika Fischer Hoyt.
Bravissimo tutti!
Did you go?
What did you think?
Do you have something to say that you can leave in the COMMENT section?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Ancora String Quartet, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, birthday, boxed set, Brandenburg Concerto, Cello, Chamber music, cheese, Chicago, choral music, church, Clasen's European Bakery, Classical music, clavichord, coffee, community, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, conservatory, cookies, Early music, Easter, Episcopal, Farley's House of Pianos, flute, food, fruit, fugue, hand-made, instrument, interview, Iowa, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kawai, kringle, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Music, Orchestra, organ, performer, Piano, Prelude, public schools, Radio, recording, Rich Samuels, school, Sonata, Spring, Spring Break, String quartet, Suzuki, Suzuki Strings of Madison, talent, tea, The Well-Tempered Clavier, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, Viola, Violin, water, Waupun, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, WORT-FM 89.9
Classical music: New music and old music meet in a benefit concert this Saturday night for the Art+Literature Lab of Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear received the following information from Eric Miller to pass along:
Thanks for sharing my recital at the First Unitarian Society of Madison last week. I really appreciate what you do.
I’m repeating the program of unaccompanied music for viola da gamba at the Arts+Literature Lab (below) on this Saturday, March 25, at 8 p.m.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.
I’ll be playing the first suite by Le Sieur de Machy and the Sonata VI by Johannes Schenk from his collection “L’echo du Danube,” (Echo of the Danube), as well as a few other smaller pieces. (Below is Eric Miller, who also performs a Prelude to a suite by Le Seiur de Machy in the YouTube video at bottom.)
In addition to my set, my idea was to juxtapose this music I love with music that is equally intricate and beautiful, but from different sound worlds and traditions.
Milwaukee cellist Patrick Reinholz (below top) will be playing modern pieces by Italian composer Luciano Berio (below middle) and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho (below bottom) as well as one of his own compositions from a solo recording he is releasing.
Finally, cellist/composer/multi-instrumentalist Brian Grimm (below) will be presenting some of his own compositions and improvisations.
The Facebook event page is here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1384611978280528/
Advanced tickets are available here: http://ericmiller.bpt.me/
The Arts+Literature Lab (A+LL) is at 2021 Winnebago Street, on the east side of Madison. It is really doing exciting things for the community.
Tags: Art, Art+Literature Lab, Arts, Baroque, benefit, Berio, Brian Grimm, Cello, Chamber music, charity, Classical music, community, composer, Danube, Early music, echo, Eric Miller, Facebook, Finland, Finnish, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Schenk, Kaija Saariaho, lab, Le Seiur de Machy, Le sieur de Machy, literature, Madison, Milwaukee, modern, Music, New Music, Patrick Reinholz, Prelude, recital, solo, Suite, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music education: Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Percussion Ensemble holds a benefit concert this Saturday afternoon for Ronald McDonald House Charities
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ALERT: Radio host Rich Samuels of WORT-FM 89.9, who recorded all of “Bach Around the Clock” this year, writes: “At 7:08 a.m. this Thursday morning, I’ll be airing Saturday’s “Bach Around the Clock” performance of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. This was a collaboration of Trevor Stephenson, Kangwon Kim. Nathan and Gillian Giglierano, Micah Behr, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Illana Schroeder, Martha Schroeder, Martha Vallon, Eric Miller and Mark Bridges.”
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has been asked by Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) to post something about a worthy cause and a worthy event:
Drum roll, please!
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Percussion Ensemble (below) will host its 16th annual PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZA!! on this Saturday, March 25, at 1:30 p.m. in Mills Concert Hall of the UW George L. Mosse Humanities Building. (A video sampler of profiles and music of WYSO’s 13th Annual Percussion Ensemble in 2014 can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for youth under 18, and are available at the door 45 minutes before the concert begins.
The WYSO Percussion Ensemble (below top) — 14 student musicians from 10 communities playing under Vicki Jenks (below bottom) — hosts this signature percussion benefit to help others. Previous PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZAS! have benefitted Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and the local American Red Cross.
This year—for the first time ever—Ronald McDonald House Charities will partner with WYSO in the collection of tangible items need for the Ronald McDonald House in Madison. The concert will also feature Ronald McDonald himself in person.
Nearly 60 performers—featuring Mannheim Steamroller drummer, Tom Sharpe (below) —will present eclectic, global music dedicated to PEACE. The theme of the event is “Lifting the World to Peace.”
Other EXTRAVAGANZA artists include Madison’s own Black Star Drum Line Percussion Group, led by Joey B. Banks; the UW-Madison Pan-Global Percussion Ensemble, Todd Hammes, instructor; and the WYSO Chamber Strings, led by its director Karl Lavine (below), principal cellist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
For more information and details about the performers and the complete program as well as a video and a list of related activities and needed items you can bring and donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, go to:
http://www.wysomusic.org/events/concerts-recitals/percussionextravaganza/
Parking is available at State Street Campus, Helen C. White, and Grainger Hall parking facilities.
For more information, please contact the WYSO office at (608) 263-3320.
The WYSO Percussion Ensemble and PERCUSSION EXTRAVAGANZA! are supported by the Eric D. Batterman Memorial Fund, the Theodore W. Batterman Family Foundation, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: American Red Cross, Arts, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Baroque, bass, Black Star, Brandenburg Concerto, Cello, Chamber music, charity, Classical music, drum, drummer, drums, ensemble, extravaganza, foodbank, global, Jacob Stockinger, Kangwon Kim, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mannheim Steamroller, Marika Fischer Hoyt, marimba, McDonald's, Music education, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, peace, percussion, Red Cross, Rich Samuels, Ronald McDonald, Ronald McDonald House, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Second Harvest, State of Wisconsin, strings, Tom Sharpe, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WORT-FM 89.9, WYSO, YouTube
Classical music: Native daughter violist Vicki Powell returns from her globe-trotting career to solo this Friday night in music by Vaughan Williams with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
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By Jacob Stockinger
Madison has produced its share of important classical musicians who have gone on to achieve international reputations.
Among them was the composer Lee Hoiby (1926-2011).
More recently, there are the Naughton Twins, sister-duo pianists Christina and Michelle, who perform around the world.
And there is violist Vicki Powell (below), who was born in Chicago but started music lessons in Madison where she studied with the husband-and-wife team of violinist Eugene Purdue and Pro Arte Quartet violist Sally Chisholm, both of whom have taught at the UW-Madison.
She then attended the Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. (You can see her typical day at Curtis in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Powell, who recently finished a tour of Asia and whose playing has garnered rave reviews internationally, returns to Madison this Friday night to perform with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
WCO music director Andrew Sewell will conduct. Unlike Sewell’s typical eclectic programming that mixes music from different eras, this concert feature music from a single period – the mid-20th century.
It offers “Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge” by British composer Benjamin Britten, who studied with Bridge. Also included are two other British works: the Suite for Viola and Chamber Orchestra by Ralph Vaughan Williams, with Vicki Powell, and “Benedictus” by Sir Alexander Mackenzie. All three works are rarely performed.
The concluding work, on the other hand, is the popular and well-loved “Appalachian Spring” – a timely work for the coming of spring yesterday morning — by the American composer Aaron Copland.
For more information about the program, about how to get tickets ($10-$80) and about Vicki Powell, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-iv-2/
And here is a link to Vicki Powell’s website with a biography, concert bookings, recordings, reviews and her community outreach projects:
http://www.vickipowellviola.com
Tags: Aaron Copland, Alexander Mackenzie, Andrew Sewell, Appalachian Spring, Arts, Asia, Benjamin Britten, Britain, Chamber music, Christina and Michelle Naughton, Classical music, community, Concert, concerto, Curtis Institute of Music, England, English, Frank Bridge, Jacob Stockinger, Juilliard School, Madison, Music, Naughton, New York City, Orchestra, outreach, Overture Center, Philadelphia, Piano, Pro Arte Quartet, Ralph Vaughan Williams, recording, Suite, symphony, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vicki Powell, Viola, Violin, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 