The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The fall concert series by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras starts this Saturday and includes the Wisconsin premiere of Martinu’s Symphony No. 3 | November 6, 2017
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras have sent information about their upcoming fall concert this coming Saturday and the following Saturday:
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) opens their fall concert series on Saturday, Nov. 11, and Saturday, Nov. 18, with the WYSO Youth Orchestra performing Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s Symphony No. 3. (You can hear the opening movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“All our orchestras and ensembles have been digging deep into some amazing repertoire this fall,” said Interim Artistic Director Randal Swiggum (below). “WYSO fans will love these concerts—a great mix of beloved classics like Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Capriccio Espagnol” and the Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, and some compelling new works. The students are super-excited to share it.”
Martinu’s fiercely energetic Symphony No. 3 was originally premiered by the Boston Symphony in 1945 while the composer (below) was a refugee from the Nazis; but the piece has not been performed by any orchestra in Wisconsin in 72 years.
“This is a remarkable piece,” Swiggum said, “Always rhythmic and exciting, it has really challenged the kids with its unusual colors and ideas.”
Tickets for the fall concert series are available at the door, and are $10 for adults and $5 for youth 18 and under.
The full concert repertoire is available at www.wysomusic.org/fall-2017-repertoire/.
Evelyn Steenbock Fall Concert Dates
- Saturday, November 11:
1:30 pm – Percussion Ensemble (below), Harp Ensemble, Philharmonia Orchestra
4:00 pm – Concert Orchestra, Opus One, Sinfonietta
Mills Concert Hall, 455 N. Park St., Madison, WI - Saturday, November 18
7:00 pm – Youth Orchestra
Middleton Performing Arts Center, 2100 Bristol St., Middleton, WI
Tags: Academic Festival Overture, Artistic director, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Berlioz, Bohuslav Martinu, Boston, Boston Symphony, Brahms, Capriccio Espagnol, Cello, classic, Classical music, color, Concert, Czech, Delibes, ensemble, fall, fan, George Frideric Handel, Grainger, harp, idea, ideas, interim, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Leonard Cohen, Madison, Music, Nazi, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Orchestra, percussion, premiere, Randal Swiggum, refugee, repertoire, Saint-Saens, Saturday, Season, series, Student, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, World War II, WYSO, Youth, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
The link given in the story above leads to 5 different concerts with a terrific array of musical selections ranging from the traditional (like Bach, Handel and Brahms), to works that should be performed more often (like the Martinů to modern classics like Howard Shore’s Highlights from the Lord of the Rings and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Lots of other selections too from little known composers (at least to me) like: Silvestre Revueltas, Carold Nunez, and Richard Meyer. It’s a pleasant surprise to see this kind of mix and it must be good for the development of the young performers too.
It would be nice to see a few more 20th century American composers on the list like Alan Hovhaness (who not only had a huge output but wrote for some unusual musical combinations and for chamber groups, orchestras, choirs, the piano etc.), Lou Harrison and Howard Hansen but they will likely be featured at other concerts.
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Comment by fflambeau — November 6, 2017 @ 3:12 am