The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music education: WYSO’s Youth Orchestra gives a FREE farewell concert on Tuesday night at Olbrich Gardens before departing on its tour of Peru. Plus, Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gillliand gets an award
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The 80 members of the Youth Orchestra of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will perform a FREE farewell or bon voyage concert on this coming Tuesday night, July 3, at 7 p.m. at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison before departing on an international tour to Peru.
The conductor for both this concert and the tour to Peru is James Smith (below), the retired head of orchestras at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and the retired music director of WYSO.
The program includes: the Overture to “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein (arranged by Peress); Oberture para una comedia (Overture to a Comedy) by Enrique Iturriaga; the Little Suite No. 2 by Malcolm Arnold (heard performed by a youth orchestra in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Symphony No. 9 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
The historic city of Cusco, once the capital of the vast Inca Empire, is one stop along the way for WYSO students on tour. Other destinations include the Peruvian capital of Lima; Puno; Lake Titicaca; and the legendary Machu Picchu (below), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The students will also perform with the National Youth Orchestra of Peru and attend one concert event.
For more about the tour, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/international-tour-takes-wyso-students-to-peruvian-highlands-and-more/
Youth Orchestra violist Hannah Wendorf says she is looking forward to the experience.
“I am super excited to experience the culture of Peru,” Wendorf says. “I can’t wait to visit both the ancient and modern marvels the country has to offer. Performing for a new audience with friends is going to be amazing!”
Historically, WYSO’s Youth Orchestra has embarked every few years on an extended tour during the summer months for one to two weeks. An extended tour entails substantial expense and detailed planning over a two-year period. The Board of Directors Tour Committee and the WYSO staff are responsible for researching and investigating potential tours and coordinating all tour activities.
During the farewell concert, WYSO will also honor Norman Gilliland (below) with the Rabin Youth Arts Award in the Individual Artistic Achievement category.
Gilliland has been a classical radio host with Wisconsin Public Radio since 1984. He has featured interviews and performances by hundreds of young Wisconsin artists on the weekday classical program, The Midday.
For years, Gilliland brought weekly music lessons to classrooms all over the state as part of WPR’s School of the Air program. He was also a founder of WPR’s Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition, which between 1990 and 2013 recognized the accomplishments and artistry of hundreds of young Wisconsin musicians.
For more information about WYSO, including a schedule of concerts and how to join WYSO and support it, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org
Tags: #BonVoyage, #BotanicalGardens, #Cusco, #DmitriShostakovich, #EnriqueIturriaga, #FarewellConcert, #IncaEmpire, #IncanEmpire, #IndividualArtisticAchievement, #InternationalTour, #JamesSmith, #LakeTiticaca, #LeonardBernstein, #Lima, #LittleSuiteNo.2, #MachuPicchu, #MalcolmArnold, #MarvinRabin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #MusicLessons, #NationalYouthOrchestraofPeru, #Neale-SilvaYoungArtistsCompetition, #NormanGilliland, #OlbrichGardens, #PeruvianCapital, #RabinYouthArtsAward, #RadioHost, #SchooloftheAir, #TheMidday, #UNESCOWorldHeritage, #UnitedNations, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WestSideStory, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WPRMidday, #YouthOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, artistry, Arts, award, bon voyage, botanical, botanical gardens, Cello, Classical music, comedy, composer, conductor, farewell, Garden, Inca, international, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Lake Titicaca, Machu Picchu, Madison, Music, Music director, Music education, music lessons, Musician, Norman Gilliland, Orchestra, Overture, performance, Peru, Radio, retired, School of the Air, Suite, symphony, tour, UNESCO, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, weekday, weekly, West Side Story, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, WPR, WYSO, young, YouTube
Classical music: This Sunday, Beverly Taylor retires as associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Kyle Knox will succeed Taylor starting this fall.
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has announced that Associate Conductor Beverly Taylor (below) will retire from her current position after 22 years, effective this Sunday, July 1.
Taylor will continue to serve as Director of the Madison Symphony Chorus (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson).
She will also continue as the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where she conducts many groups including the Choral Union (below) and the Concert Choir.
Kyle Knox (below) will become the MSO’s new Associate Conductor, effective in the 2018–2019 season.
“I am delighted that Beverly will continue to work with the Madison Symphony Chorus. The chorus has improved steadily under her direction and will sing some very difficult music in the coming seasons,” said MSO music director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad). “I also want to thank Beverly for the outstanding help she has given me in the preparation of our concerts over the years.”
“I’ve loved my time as associate conductor of the symphony, and will continue as chorus director,” says Taylor. “But I’m looking forward to more time for guest conducting, visiting friends and family and finishing the two books I’m at work on. I also have a grant to write a basic conducting textbook, and I’m finishing a handbook on how to develop a musical interpretation.”
John DeMain says he looks forward to Knox joining the MSO. “I think Kyle Knox is a natural to step into the associate conductor position. He has distinguished himself in the past few years with his work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Opera and the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker). He also successfully led the MSO in last year’s Concert on the Green.
“His recent appointment as Music Director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) is a testament to his brilliant talent and will dovetail easily with his duties with the MSO. I so look forward to our working together and welcome him to our Madison Symphony Orchestra family.”
Knox is also very pleased with his appointment.
“My history with the MSO goes back a few years and I have long admired the work of Maestro DeMain and this wonderful group of musicians,” he says. “It is an honor to have been selected for this opportunity and I look forward to happy years of service and collaboration.”
BACKGROUND BIOGRAPHIES
Beverly Taylor has been the Associate Conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Director of the Madison Symphony Chorus since 1996 and Director of Choral Activities at UW-Madison since 1995.
Prior roles include conductor of the Boston Bar Association Orchestra, Music Director of the Back Bay Chorale, and Associate Director of Choral Activities at Harvard University.
Taylor has been a guest conductor at the Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Poland, the St. Louis Symphony Chorus, the Vermont Symphony, the Harvard Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the U.S. Air Force Band and Orchestra, the Harvard Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, and the Wellesley Chamber Singers.
She graduated from the University of Delaware and Boston University School for the Arts and received a fellowship with Chorus America and an orchestral fellowship at Aspen.
Kyle Knox will take over the dual positions of Music Director of WYSO and Associate Conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra beginning in the 2018–2019 season.
Past and upcoming conducting credits include Mark Adamo’s Little Women with the Madison Opera; Benjamin Britten’s Albert Herring and The Turn of the Screw, and Transformations; with UW-Madison’s University Opera; the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2017 Concert on the Green; Johann Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers and H.M.S. Pinafore with the Madison Savoyards; as well as UW Music Clinic’s High School Honors Orchestra.
Other concerts include Carousel, Sunday in the Park with George, and Sweeney Todd (2018) with Middleton Players Theatre, Jon Deak’s The Passion of Scrooge with Oakwood Chamber Players, as well as regular appearances with the Middleton Community Orchestra.
He was formerly a clarinetist with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Fe Opera and Philadelphia Orchestras, and was on the faculty at UW-Milwaukee. Festivals credits include Tanglewood, Spoleto (Italy), Santa Fe Chamber Music, and Bowdoin College, among others. His debut album, the first commercial recording of Conrad Susa’s chamber opera Transformations, will be released in the summer of 2018 on iTunes. He holds degrees from Juilliard School and the UW-Madison. He is married to MSO concertmaster Naha Greenholtz.
Tags: #AlbertHerring, #ArthurRubinstein, #ArturRubinstein, #AssociateConductor, #BenjaminBritten, #BostonUniversity, #BowdoinCollege, #BowdoinFestival, #Carouselmusical, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralUnion, #CollegiumMusicum, #ConcertChoir, #ConradSusa, #DieFledermaus, #FriendsandFamily, #GilbertandSullivan, #GuestConducting, #HarvardChamberOrchestra, #HarvardUniversity, #JohannStrauss, #JohnDeak, #JohnDeMain, #JuilliardSchool, #KyleKnox, #LittleWomen, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSavoyards, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarkAdamo, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MIddletonPlayersTheatre, #MilwaukeeSymphonyOrchestra, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicClinic, #MusicDirector, #NahaGreenholtz, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #RadcliffeCollege, #SantaFeChamberMusicFestival, #SantaFeOpera, #SpoletoFestival, #St.LouisSymphonyOrchestra, #StephenSondheim, #SundayintheParkWithGeorge, #SweeneyTodd, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TanglewoodFestival, #TheGondoliers, #TurnoftheScrew, #U.S.AirForceBand, #UniversityofDelaware, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VermontSymphony, #WellesleyChamberSingers, #WellesleyCollege, Albert Herring, Arts, associate conductor, Bach, Back Bay Chorale, Baroque, basic, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Book, Boston, Boston Bar Association Orchestra, Boston University, Bowdoin College, Chamber music, choral music, chorus, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concertmaster, concerto, Family, friends, Gilbert & Sullivan, Gilbert and Sullivan, H.M.S. Pinafore, handbook, interpretation, iTunes, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss Jr., Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, Juilliard School, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Opera, Madison Savoyards, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Mozart, Music, music clinic, musical, Naha Greenholtz, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Passion, Poland, Scrooge, Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, symphony, textbook, The Gondoliers, Turn of the Screw, United States, University of Delaware, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, writing
Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, with guest singer Emily Birsan, closes its 27th annual summer chamber music season on the highest note
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Performance photos are by Dick Ainsworth for the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
By John W. Barker
Last Saturday night, I was able to attend the second program on the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s third and final weekend this season.
The opening work was American Haiku, a duo for viola and cello, by the American Paul Wiancko. Obviously inspired by Japanese musical traditions, it is a longish piece, notably lacking in the brevity of its poetic model. It was diligently played by two of the budding young musicians the society has been fostering, violist Jeremy Kienbaum (below left) and cellist Trace Johnson (below right).
Further on in the first half came the Flute Concerto in D minor (H. 484:1), by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, dated to 1747, three years before papa Johann Sebastian died. It presents the composer as a transitional figure, anchored in the Late Baroque but tugging toward the Empfindsamkeit (sensitivity of feeling or expression) of the Early Classical period.
As the reduced orchestra, we had local violinists Leanne Kelso League and Suzanne Beia, with Kienbaum and Johnson, and, on the harpsichord continuo there was the deferential pianist Satoko Hayami.
The flute soloist (below) was, of course, BDDS co-founder and co-artistic director Stephanie Jutt, who played her role with obvious relish but with splendid precision, and (notably in the lively finale) real panache. The other players joined in with fine spirit.
For me, one of the two prime features of this program, however, was the participation of soprano Emily Birsan (below), a past product of the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and now an international star. Every time she returns to Madison is welcome, and provides us with a progress report on herself and her career. Her voice has continued to fill out with strength and beauty.
Accompanied by pianist Jeffrey Sykes (below), she sang in the first half of the program a set of four songs, Op. 27 (once again, the number of the BDDS’s anniversary) by Richard Strauss. This set includes some particular gems by the composer, ending with the sublime Morgen! (In the Morning!). Birsan magically made each song a contrasting vignette of character and mood.
Birsan was back after the intermission, again with Sykes.
They performed Samuel Barber’s set of 10 Hermit Songs, using marginal manuscript scribblings by Medieval monks as texts. With the strong support of Sykes, Birsan was superlative in conveying the simple irony and naivety of these affectionately lyrical miniatures. This performance leaves a surely enduring memory.
The other high point, for me, was the Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44 for piano and strings by Robert Schumann. This is a fundamental work in the chamber music literature, a piece to wonder at.
I had forgotten how much rich prominence is given to the viola, within ensemble context, in the greatly varied second movement. Kienbaum projected it with eloquent strength, and the other players heard in the C.P.E. Bach work were utterly involved. (You can hear and see the prominent role of the viola in the opening movement of the quintet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This is the kind of first-class chamber playing that we have come to expect from the BDDS, and why we cherish it so.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BlogPosting, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #CelloMusic, #Classicalera, #Classicalperiod, #EmeritusProfessor, #EmilyBirsan, #EmpfindsamkeitStyle, #FirstClass, #FluteConcerto, #HaikuPoetry, #HarpsichordContinuo, #HermitSongs, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JapanesePoetry, #JeffreySykes, #JeremyKienbaum, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #LeanneKelsoLeague, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #PaulWiancko, #RichardStrauss, #SamuelBarber, #SatokoHayami, #StephanieJutt, #SuzanneBeia, #TraceJohnson, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, affection, American, American Record Guide, Arts, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, beauty, blog, C.P.E. Bach, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, composer, concerto, continuo, critic, duet, duo, Early music, Emily Birsan, Empfindsamkeit, flute, guest, harpsichord, international, irony, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, John W. Barker, lecture, lyrical, Madison, Medieval, memory, miniature, morning, Music, Orchestra, Overture Center, performance, photo, Pianist, Piano, players, precision, professor, Radio, Saturday, sensitivity, simple, singer, song, soprano, spirit, strength, Sunday, tradition, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, vocal music, Wisconsin, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The inaugural LunART Festival — celebrating women creators and performers — will take place this coming Thursday through Saturday
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The timing couldn’t be better or more relevant, given the rise of the #MeToo movement and the increased attention being paid to the role of women in the creative and performing arts.
So The Ear is pleased to post the following announcement about the inaugural LunART Festival, which will take place this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The announcement comes from festival co-directors flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top) and oboist Laura Medisky (below bottom). Both women are doctoral graduates from the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, and both are members of the Black Marigold woodwind quintet and have played with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
The first-ever LunART Festival will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, from this Thursday through Saturday, June 28-30, with the mission to support, inspire, promote and celebrate women in the arts through pubic performances, exhibitions, workshops and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The festival — showcasing 40 international women artists — will provide accessible, high-quality, engaging concerts and events with diverse programming through various arts fields. All artistic creators represented at LunART (composers, visual artists, writers, speakers) will be women.
To showcase women in the arts and bring their work into the spotlight, this three-day event includes a variety of FREE and ticketed concerts, outreach events and educational programs.
The artistic goal is to share works of women artists, and ensure the progress women have made will continue to flourish and grow, overcoming issues of gender inequity in the Arts. LunART supports artistic development of all aspiring regional, national, and international artists, whether emerging or established in their fields.
“This festival will raise awareness of the position of women in the arts through engaging, accessible concerts and events,” says founder and executive director Ugrcic. “The LunART Festival offers diverse programs representing current and relevant women in the arts,and we are committed to expanding and strengthening community ties through public performances and exhibitions. As we establish the festival’s reach into our local community and beyond, we see tremendous potential for growth in future years, with opportunities to expand our vision to theater, dance, opera and the visual arts, creating an interdisciplinary festival dedicated to women in all the arts.”
Through LunART’s mission and vision, the greater Madison community, audiences, festival musicians, artists, and the global music community will be directly impacted by:
- Raising awareness of the position of women in the arts
- Empowering women artists and creating a sense of unity and community
- Establishing artistic relationships and opening doors for future collaborations
- Creating lines for global connections rooted in Madison
- Introducing underrepresented artists to Wisconsin audiences
- Reaching diverse audiences, and drawing from underserved populations
- Providing opportunity for local businesses to be involved in the arts, supporting an organization with a specific social cause. The inaugural festival includes three ticketed evening Gala concerts of contemporary classical music and two “Starry Night” late-night performances featuring a local woman hip-hop artist, singer-songwriter, and a rock band.
Also on the schedule is an outreach concert featuring emerging women composers, a lecture about the influence of women in the arts, and a panel discussion about collaboration in the arts.
The festival’s 2018 Artist-in-Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon from Long Beach, California. Brandon’s instrumental and vocal works will be showcased at the Gala concerts, including one world premiere. (You can hear a sample of her work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To connect with women composers globally, the festival held a call for scores, from December to March, that was open to women composers of all ages and nationalities, and received scores from over 90 applicants from more than 20 countries.
- LunART Festival has partnered with area art organizations including Overture Center for the Arts, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, First United Methodist Church, Madison Public Library, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, and First Unitarian Society of Madison, as well as local businesses Robinia Courtyard, Bos Meadery, and Field Table. LunART is supported by Dane Arts and Madison Arts Commission, won second place at the 2018 UW Arts Business Competition, and is a finalist for the 2018 National Flute Association’s C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition.
For a complete schedule of the varied events, go to this website and click on Learn More: https://www.lunartfestival.org/events
The main concluding event is the gala concert of “Women’s Voices” on Saturday, June 30, at 7 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $10 for students. They can be purchased in advance by going to the website for the concert, which is below.
The website also has the full list of performers and the full program – including works by Hildegard von Bingen, Fanny Mendelssohn and Amy Beach and many contemporary women composers.
Go to: https://www.lunartfestival.org/womens-voices
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AmyBeach, #BlackMarigold, #BosMeadery, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolLakesRetirementCenter, #ContemporaryComposers, #CreativeArts, #CulturalDiversity, #DaneArts, #FannyMendelssohn, #FieldTable, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FirstUnitedMethodistChurch, #GenderDiversity, #GenderInequality, #GenderInequity, #HildgardvonBingen, #JenniBrandon, #LivingComposers, #LongBeach, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonMuseumofContemporaryArt, #MadisonPublicLibrary, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalMusic, #MeToo, #MeToomovement, #NationalFluteAssociation, #OboeMusic, #OvertureCenter, #PerformingArts, #RobiniaCourtyard, #RockBand, #RockMusic, #RomanticMusic, #SongWriter, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VisualArtist, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WomenArtists, #WomenComposers, #WomenPerformers, #WoodwindQuintet, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, age, Arts, California, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, community, dance, diversity, empower, exhibition, flute, free, gender inequity, hip-hop, international, Madison, master class, masterclass, MMOCA, national, nationality, Oboe, opera, performance, poet, regional, Retirement, rock band, rock music, singer, song writer, speaker, theater, ticketed, U.S., Wisconsin, workshop, Writer, YouTube
Classical music: The 35th annual summer Concerts on the Square start this Wednesday night and will feature a lot of classical music
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Maestro Andrew Sewell usually makes sure the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra programs a fair amount of classical music for its annual summer Concerts on the Square (below).
The FREE popular outdoor concerts — billed as “The Biggest Picnic of Summer” — usually draw up to at least 20,000 people for each performance on the King Street corner of the State Capitol.
They start this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. – blankets can go down at 3 p.m. — and run for six consecutive Wednesday nights through Aug. 1.
But this year Sewell (below) seems especially generous with the classical fare he is serving up. In fact, four of the six concerts are all classical – a much higher percentage than in most past years, if The Ear recalls correctly.
For the complete lineup of the concerts – and to compare this year’s offerings with those of past years — go to the website: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performance-listing/category/concerts-on-the-square
Then you can click on “More Info” for each individual concert date to get the full program and information about the performers.You can also find what you need to know about following rules, parking, reserving tables, listening etiquette, volunteering, donating and support, and finding menus for food providers.
For this opening concert “Carnival” on Wednesday, the WCO will showcase 18-year-old Kenosha high school senior Matthew Udry (below), a cellist who won this year’s Young Artist Concerto Competition. Udry will perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Also on the all-Slavic program are two Czech compositions: the “Carnival” Overture by Antonin Dvorak (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Three Dances” from the opera “The Bartered Bride” by Bedrich Smetana.
An all-Russian concert is slated for July 11 with another student cellist, Miriam K. Smith (below top), and the Middleton High School Choir (below bottom). The program includes the Concert Waltz No. 2 by Alexander Glazunov, the “Rococo” Variations by Peter Tchaikovsky and the Intermezzo and Women’s Dance by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The July 25 concert features the up-and-coming guitarist Colin Davin (below) in a programs of Spanish and Hispanic music including Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” Alberto Ginastera’s “Estancia: Four Dances,” and Roberto Sierra’s “Fandango.”
Finally, on Aug. 1, baritone Jubilant Sykes (below) is featured in a program that includes: the “Norwegian Rhapsody No. 1” by Johan Halvorsen; Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs,” including “Simple Gifts” and “I Bought Me a Cat” as well as two spirituals, “Were You There?” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”; the Interlude from the symphonic ode, “La Nuit et l’Amour” (Night and Love), from the cantata “Ludus pro Patria,” by the French composer Augusta Holmes; and the Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” by Antonin Dvorak.
Of course other programs include pops and rock music, plus patriotic music for the Fourth of July concert — only fitting for the occasion.
But The Ear still thinks the classical fare is generous and noteworthy.
Of course, loud chitchat, eating and other neighborly noise could interfere with your ability to listen closely to the music.
But Andrew Sewell and the WCO still deserve a big shout out!
Bravo, all!
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AlbertoGinastera, #AlexanderGlazunov, #AmericanPatriotism, #AndrewSewell, #AntoninDvorak, #AugustaHolmes, #BedrichSmetana, #CarnivalOverture, #CelloConcerto, #CelloMusic, #ClassicalMusc, #ColinDavin, #ConcertoCompetition, #ConcertsontheSquare, #ConcertWaltz, #ConciertodeAranjuez, #Czechcomposer, #DmitriShostakovich, #FoodCaterers, #FoodProviders, #FourthofJuly, #Frenchcomposer, #GuitarConcerto, #GuitarMusic, #HighSchool, #HispanicMusic, #IndependenceDay, #JoaquinRodrigo, #JohanHalvorsen, #JubilantSykes, #JulyFourth, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonHighSchoolChoir, #MiriamK.Smith, #NewWorldSymphony, #NorwegianRhapsody, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PeterTchaikovsky, #PopsMusic, #RobertoSierra, #RockMusic, #RococoVariations, #RussianMusic, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SimpleGifts, #SlavicMusic, #SpanishMusic, #StateCapitol, #TheBarteredBride, #ThemeAndVariations, #WisconsinCapitol, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, Arts, August, baritone, blanket, bravo, canata, Carnival, cellist, Cello, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, Concierto de Aranjuez, Czech, dance, donate, etiquette, Fandango, Fourth of July, Ginastera, guitarist, high school, Hispanic, Independence Day, information, intermezzo, Jacob Stockinger, Joaquin Rodrigo, Johan Halvorsen, July, July Fourth, June, Kenosha, listening, Love, Madison, menu, Milwaukee, night, noise, opera, Orchestra, Overture, parking, patriotic, patriotism, picnic, program, reserving, resveration, rule, singer, spitiruals, summer, support, symphony, table, theme and variations, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, volunteer, Waltz, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, women, YouTube
Classical music: YOU MUST HEAR THIS: The “Air” for strings by the American composer Arthur Foote
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has heard quite a lot of music — mostly orchestral music and chamber music — by the American composer Arthur Foote before.
It was okay — perfectly acceptable, accessible and listenable if not always memorable.
But this time was different.
As often happens, it occurred on Wisconsin Public Radio.
That is where I heard the “Air” from Foote’s “Serenade for Strings” in E Major, Op. 25.
The music proved beautiful, relaxing and even restorative. You know it’s good when it is hard not to listen.
Foote (1853-1937, below in 1930) is generally considered to be the first American composer trained entirely in the United States. He was a member of “The Boston Six,” also called the Second New England School and the New England Classicists, a group that included Amy Beach and Edward MacDowell.
Here is a link to Foote’s biographical entry on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Foote
And here is an entry about The Boston Six:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_New_England_School
The Ear doesn’t recall hearing the Air or the entire Serenade by Arthur Foote performed live in Madison, although it seems like perfect fare especially for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, but also possibly for the Middleton Community Orchestra, or even a University of Wisconsin-Madison group or the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Anyway at the bottom – for your listening pleasure, as they say — is a YouTube video of the Air that proved so appealing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE5VDFBOhtU
Let us know what you think.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmyBeach, #ArthurFoote, #BostonSix, #EdwardMacDowell, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #NewEngland, #NewEnglandClassicists, #OrchestralMusic, #SecondNewEnglandSchool, #SerenadeforStrings, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #YouTubevideo, Arts, biography, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, composer, concerto, Jacob Stockinger, listening, Madison, Music, Orchestra, pleasure, Sonata, strings, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: Superb music-making offset awkward acting and dancing in a concert that the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society gave last weekend. This summer’s last BDDS concerts are tonight, Saturday and Sunday
13 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, published belatedly but in time for this weekend’s upcoming closing concerts – two performances each of two programs — of the current summer season by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
It is a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
Performance photos were taken by Dick Ainsworth for BDDS.
By John W. Barker
One of the two programs of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s second weekend this season was held in the Overture Center’s Playhouse last Saturday night.
The associations of its three works with war were somewhat strained, most of all for Robert Schumann’s Three Romances, Op. 94. They were composed in 1849 for the options of oboe and violin or clarinet with piano.
On this occasion they were presented in a transcription for bassoon, made by the performer, Adrian Morejon (below). He played these brief and lovely pieces beautifully, but I confess I would have liked them more if one of the stipulated, higher-range instruments had been used.
The first major work was from the contemporary American composer Kevin Puts (below), called Einstein on Mercer Street. It is a kind of cantata, a half-hour in length, cast in five sections, each beginning with spoken words but moving to singing.
The text, whose origins were not made clear, purports to represent the thinking of Albert Einstein in his last years in Princeton, N.J., as he contemplates his place in science and in the creation of the atomic bomb.
The vocal part was written for baritone Timothy Jones (below center), who performed it this time, delivering it with confident eloquence. To tell the truth, though, a lot of his words, spoken and sung, did not come through clearly, at least for where I sat.
Though the vocal writing goes through one ear and out the other, there is a lot of very pleasant melodic music in the score, and it occurred to me that, with a little tightening, the work could nicely be left just to the instrumental ensemble (violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, percussion and piano), the vocal part dispensed with — heresy, of course.
The second half of the program was devoted to the classic work of 1918, L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale), originally with a French text by the Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, and with brilliant music, in the style of blues, jazz and ragtime by Igor Stravinsky.
The spoken text, in a rhymed English translation, calls for three actors: a narrator, a Soldier and the Devil. Jones was quite good as the narrator, but well enough could not be left alone.
With utter arbitrariness, the character of the Soldier was turned into the soldierette “Josie,” so that the Prince he woos and wins becomes a “Princess.”
This absurdity was absolutely pointless, save, perhaps, to allow the two co-directors of the festival, Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes (below) to play soldierette and the Devil against each other. In hilarious costumes, the two did well enough, Sykes especially, but the gender change grated all the way through the piece.
And there was another problem. The work was not only written for actors and musicians, but also with dancers in mind. No choreography survives, and the use of dancers in performances of the work is patchy.
Here we had hip-hop dancer Blake Washington introduced during the Three Dances movement as the recovering “Prince,” with a lot of spastic shivering and shaking that suggested more of painful decomposition than recovery.
The stars of the piece, however, were the seven outstanding instrumentalists: violinist Axel Strauss; David Scholl, double bass; Alan Kay, clarinet; Morejon, bassoon; Matt Onstad, trumpet; Dylan Chmura-Moore, trombone; and Anthony di Sanza, percussion. With truly superb playing, they upheld the high standards of the musicians that the BDDS brings us.
For more information about BDDS’ closing concerts this weekend – featuring guest soprano and critically acclaimed UW-Madison alumna Emily Birsan and music by Mozart, Schumann, Saint-Saens, Fauré, Ravel, Prokofiev, Barber and other composers in Madison, Stoughton and Spring Green tonight, Saturday and Sunday, go to: http://bachdancing.org/concerts/festival-concerts/
Tags: #AlbertEinstein, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanRecordGuide, #AtomBomb, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BassoonMusic, #BluesMusic, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #ClarinetMusic, #ClassicWork, #EinsteinonMercerStreet, #EmilyBirsan, #FluteMusic, #GabrielFaure, #GenderChange, #IgorStravinsky, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JazzMusic, #JeffreySykes, #JohnW.Barker, #KevinPuts, #L'histoiredusoldat, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MauriceRavel, #MedievalHistory, #MelodicMusic, #OboeMusic, #OvertureCenter, #PianoMusic, #PrincetonUniversity, #RagtimeMusic, #RobertSchumann, #SamuelBarber, #SergeiProkofiev, #SpokenWord, #SpringGreen, #StephanieJutt, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StoughtonWisconsin, #TheDevil, #ThePlayhouse, #TheSoldier'sTale, #TrumpetMusic, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #VocalPart, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WORT-FM89.9, Actor, alumna, American, Arts, atom bomb, Bach, baritone, Baroque, Bassoon, blue, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, choreography, clarinet, classic, Classical music, composer, costume, Creation, dancer, Devil, Early music, emeritus, Emily Birsan, English, Faure, flute, French, gender, heresy, instrumental, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jeffrey Sykes, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, Jutt, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, melodic, MEMF, Mozart, Music, Musician, N.J., Oboe, performer, Piano, pleasant, prince, Princeton, Princeton University, professor, Prokofiev, Ragtime, Ravel, Romance, Saint-Saens, science, Singing, song, soprano, spoken, Stephanie Jutt, text, The Playhouse, transcription, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, war, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, words, Writer
Classical music: Today is the summer solstice. Here is information about the solstice plus 20 pieces of classical music to mark the coming of summer
1 Comment
ALERT: Today is the fifth annual Make Music Madison. More than 300 FREE outdoor performances will be featured at some 100 venues. For information about artists, kinds of music, places and times, go to: http://www.makemusicmadison.org
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Thursday, June 21, 2018.
The summer solstice arrives in Wisconsin early today at 5:07 a.m. Central Daylight Time.
If you want to know more about the summer solstice, here are two stories from NBC and The Washington Post with some interesting information you might not know:
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/what-summer-solstice-ncna884991
Quite a few composers and works of classical music celebrate the coming of summer.
Twenty of the best-known are featured on a blog at the famous classical radio station WQXR FM in New York City. Here is a link:
https://www.wqxr.org/story/20-summertime-classical-pieces-maximum-chill/
The blog posting features many terrific sound samples, including such well-known works as “Summer” section from “The Four Seasons” violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi.
Still, some of the titles – including the famous Overture to “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream” by Felix Mendelssohn – are not accompanied by sound.
That includes one of The Ear’s favorites, “Knoxville, Summer 1915” by the American composer Samuel Barber with words by the journalist and documentarian James Agee.
Here it is, in a much-praised recording by soprano Dawn Upshaw, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Here’s hoping summer is better in this part of the country than spring was, what with record cold in April and record rainfall in May that seems to be continuing with disastrous flooding in June.
Happy Summer, all.
Tags: #AntonioVivaldi, #AntonWebern, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CentralDaylightTime, #DawnUpshaw, #EdvardGrieg, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrankBridge, #FrederickDelius, #GabrielFaure, #HectorBerlioz, #JamesAgee, #JosefSuk, #Knoxvile, #MarkO'Connor, #MidsummerNight'sDream, #MikhailGlinka, #NaturalDisaster, #NBCNews, #NedRorem, #NewYorkCity, #PeterTchaikovsky, #PeterTchaikowsky, #SamuelBarber, #SergeiProkofiev, #SummerSolstice, #TheWashingtonPost, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #WilliamGrantStill, #ZoltanKodaly, April, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Berlioz, blog, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, cold, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, country, Delius, disaster, documentarian, documentary, Early music, flood, flooding, georgegershwin, Gershwin, Glinka, Grieg, information, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, journalism, journalist, June, Kodaly, Madison, Mark O'Connor, May, Music, NBC, Ned Rorem, New York City, news, Overture, posting, Prokofiev, Radio, rainfall, solstice, soprano, station, Stonehenge, storms, Suk, Summer solstice, Summer1915, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, wet, William Grant Still, WQXR-FM
Classical music: The fifth FREE citywide annual Make Music Madison – featuring 300 concerts at 100 venues — takes place all day tomorrow
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Tomorrow – Thursday, June 21, 2018 — is the Summer Solstice.
That means summer arrives.
That makes it the longest day and shortest night of the year.
And that also makes it the day when the fifth annual Make Music Madison will take place. The FREE citywide festival of outdoor music-making will go on all day.
According to the official website, there will be more than 300 concerts at more than 100 venues.
The website also has a very well-organized listing of concerts, artists and venues. It features a very user-friendly search engine – called a Filter Map — where you can check out the events by genre of music, name of the performers and the venue. It also includes rain accommodations, and given the weather this week, that could come in handy.
Here is a link to the complete listings:
http://www.makemusicmadison.org/listings/2018/locations/
Here is a link to the website, which has a fascinating and impressive overview and also a gallery of photos from last year’s event:
http://www.makemusicmadison.org
Of course the majority of the music that will be played by both amateurs and professionals, both individuals and groups, will be non-classical: jazz, pop, hip-hop, rock and roll, folk, world, musical theater, early music, blues, Celtic, funk, gospel and many more.
But from what The Ear sees there are about 25 noteworthy classical offerings too. They include music for guitar, organ, brass, strings, cello, flute and piano, including a public piano that will be at the UW-Madison’s Alumni Park from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Other venues include churches and libraries, schools and shopping malls, parks and businesses.
Here is a more detailed list of classical offerings with artists as well as venues (you can hear a vocal group from 2015 in the YouTube video at the bottom):
http://www.makemusicmadison.org/listings/2018/artists?artist_name=&genre=Classical
Happy Listening!
If you go, leave a message about your reaction and how well it went in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AlumniPark, #AmateurMusician, #BluesMusic, #BrassMusic, #CelloMusic, #CelticMusic, #FluteMusic, #FolkMusic, #FunkMusic, #GospelMusic, #GuitarMusic, #JazzMusic, #MakeMusicMadison, #MusicalTheater, #MusicalTheatre, #OrganMusic, #PianoMusic, #PopMusic, #ProfessionalMusician, #PublicPark, #RockandRoll, #SearchEngine, #ShoppingMall, #StringMusic, #SummerSeason, #SummerSolstice, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WorldMusic, #YouTubevideo, Arts, blues, brass, Business, businesses, Cello, Celtic, Chamber music, choral music, church, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, Concert, Early music, earlymusic, festival, filter, flute, funk, gallery, gospel, group, guitar, hip-hop, individual, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, libraries, library, listing, Madison, Make Music Madison, map, Music, opera, organ, outdoor, outdoors, Overture Center, Park, photo, Piano, public, rain, school, Shopping mall, Sonata, strings, summer, Summer solstice, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, vocal music, weather, Website, week, Wisconsin, world, YouTube
Classical music: Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky has died at 87
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
This past Saturday, the great Soviet and Russian conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky (below) died at 87.
A friend of the blog said to The Ear, “He certainly deserves a mention.”
The Friend is right. Indeed he does.
In fact, Rozhdestvensky he deserves more than a mention.
The Ear isn’t sure why the West generally knows the names of Russian instrumentalists – pianists Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels, violinists David Oistrakh and Leonid Kogan, cellist (later turned conductor) Mstislav Rostropovich – more than its knows the names of conductors.
Perhaps it has to do with infrequent touring and the priority in using non-Russian conductors by major recording labels.
But as far as Russian conductors go, Gennady Rozhdestvensky was the last of The Great Four that The Ear recalls.
The other three were: Kirill Kondrashin, who conducted Van Cliburn in his victory concerts in Moscow and New York City and died at 67 in 1986; Yevgeny Mvrinsky, who died at 84 in 1988; and Yevgeny Svetlanov, who died at 73 in 2002.
Rozhdestvensky (below, conducting in his young years) was particularly well-known for his championing the music of his compatriot Dmitri Shostakovich both in his homeland and in the West.
(You can hear some of his interpretation of music by Shostakovich, which many considered definitive and revelatory, in the YouTube video of the electrifying finale of the well-known Symphony No. 5 at the bottom.)
Here is his entry in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gennady_Rozhdestvensky
Here is the obituary by The New York Times:
Here is the obituary by the BBC:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44505749
And here is an obituary by The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jun/17/gennady-rozhdestvensky-obituary
Do you ever hear Gennady Rozhdestvensky live?
Do you have any comment about him?
Please leave it the comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BBCNews, #DavidOistrakh, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmilGilels, #GennadyRozhdestvensky, #KirillKondrashin, #LeonidKogan, #MstislavRostropovich, #Russianconductor, #RussianMusic, #Russianpianist, #Russianviolinist, #SovietMusic, #Sovietmusicians, #SviatoslavRichter, #TheGuardian, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheWest, #VanCliburn, #YevgenyMvrinsky, #YevgenySvetlanov, Arts, cellist, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, conductor, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, New York Times, obituary, opera, Orchestra, Pianist, Piano, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, vocal music, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | Augustine on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 