March | 2021 | The Well-Tempered Ear

Today – Monday, March 29 – is World Piano Day. Here are links to free online recitals. What does the piano mean to you? Did it play a role during the pandemic?

March 29, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Today – March 29, 2021 – is World Piano Day.

That is because today is the 88th day of 2021.

Gotta have some kind of code or symbolic meaning, after all.

In any case, there are virtual online celebrations all over the world. Here is a link to the official welcoming website that also lists Spotify and SoundCloud playlists from past years and dozens of worldwide events this year, running from March 25-30: https://www.pianoday.org

You can also find more on Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The piano means a lot to The Ear, who listens to it and plays it. He loves, loves, loves the piano.

What has the piano and piano music meant to you in your life?

What role did the piano play for you during the past pandemic year?

Have you listened to or discovered newer, younger talent?

Do you have favorite pianists, either historic or current? What do you like about them?

Or maybe you have favorite piano pieces?

Please tell us all about you and the piano in the Comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

In the meantime you can listen to the World Piano Day “monster recital” by 17 pianists who record for Deutsche Grammophon. The “Yellow Label” – the first commercial record label — has signed a lot of great pianists in its time, and still does.

Here is a link to the YouTube DG recital, which lasts 2 hours and 50 minutes. If you go to the actual YouTube site, click on Show More to see the complete list of performers and pieces. Otherwise performers and programs are displayed on the screen:

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A busy weekend of online concerts features the UW Symphony, Edgewood College, Madison Opera, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Bach Around the Clock and more

March 25, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

With only a little over a month left before the academic year ends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it’s not surprising that the last weekend in March is very busy with noteworthy – and competing – online concerts.

Each morning at 8 through Friday, Bach Around the Clock will release the last concerts of its 10-day online festival. You can find the programs – including the finale Friday night at 7 with Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 — and link for streaming here: https://bachclock.com/concert-schedule

The weekend starts tonight with one of The Ear’s favorite groups during the Pandemic Year: the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra

Here is a day-by-day lineup. All times are Central Daylight Time:

TONIGHT, MARCH 25

The UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) performs a FREE virtual online concert TONIGHT starting at 7:30 p.m.

The concert will be preceded by a 7 p.m. talk about Igor Stravinsky with modern musicologist and Penn State Professor Maureen Carr as well as conductor Oriol Sans and Susan Cook, UW musicologist and director of the Mead Witter School of Music.

The program is: Suite from the opera “Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell, with student conductor Alison Norris; Duet for Two Violins and String Orchestra by the contemporary American composer Steve Reich; and the Neo-Classical “Apollon musagète” (Apollo, Leader of the Muses) by Stravinsky. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear an excerpt of the Stravinsky played by the Berlin Philharmonic with Simon Rattle conducting.)

Here is the link to the talk and concert. Click on more and you can also see the members of the orchestra and the two violin soloists: https://youtu.be/2rgHQ4lWTV8

For more information about the program, including notes, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra/

FRIDAY, MARCH 26

At 7:30 p.m. the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra will post for three days the third of its four online chamber music concerts (below). There will be excerpts of music by Beethoven and Brahms as well as complete works by Jessie Montgomery and Alyssa Morris.

Tickets to the online on-demand event are $30, with some discounts available, and are good through Monday evening.

Here is a link to more about this concert, including program notes by conductor and music director Andrew Sewell, and how to purchase tickets: https://wcoconcerts.org/events/winter-chamber-series-no-iii

At 8 p.m., the music department at Edgewood College will give a FREE online Spring Celebration concert. It will be livestreamed via music.edgewood.edu

The performers include: the Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Sergei Pavlov (below); the Guitar Ensemble, under the direction of Nathan Wysock; and the Chamber Winds, directed by Carrie Backman.

Highlights include the Guitar Ensemble’s performance of Wish You Were Here, by David Gilmour and Rogers Waters, and the Chamber Winds epic Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Chamber Orchestra, which will perform live, will feature Musical moment No. 3, by Franz Schubert and Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.

SATURDAY, MARCH 27

At noon, in Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol Square downtown, there will be a FREE online concert. Grace Presents: “A Patient Enduring”: This early music program of medieval conductus (a musical setting of metrical Latin texts) and ballade, English lute song, and duets from the early Italian Baroque features two sopranos, Grammy-winnner Sarah Brailey (below) and Kristina Boerger, with Brandon Acker on lute and theorbo.

Here is a link: YouTube.com/GracePresentsConcerts

You can also go to this webpage for a link: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/grace-presents-a-patient-enduring/

At 3 p.m. the Perlman Trio, a piano trio that is made up of UW-Madison graduate students, will give a FREE online concert. The program includes piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert.

Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/EAjK0DfWB3A

Here is a link to the complete program plus background, names and photos of the performers as well as to the performance: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/perlman-piano-trio/

At 7 p.m. the UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quntet (below) will perform a FREE pre-recorded online concert. Here is a link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn7eobSnfr8

And here is a link to the page with more background information about the faculty members – including bassoonist Marc Vallon (below top) and flutist Conor Nelson (below bottom) – and to the complete program: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/wingra-wind-quintet/

SUNDAY, MARCH 28

From 4 to 5:30 p.m., guest mezzo-soprano Julia Ubank (below) will give a free online recital with pianist Thomas Kasdorf.

The program features songs by Mahler, Debussy, deFalla, Jake Heggie and Ellen Cogen.

Here is the complete program plus a link to the recital: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/julia-urbank-voice-recital/

From 4 to 5:30 p.m. the Madison Opera will host a Opera Up Close cocktail hour discussion with four general directors of opera companies. Here is the website’s description:

“Four opera general directors walk into a chat room…. Stepping outside the Madison Opera family, Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill) is joined by three colleagues: Michael Egel of Des Moines Metro Opera, Ashley Magnus of Chicago Opera Theater, and Lee Anne Myslewski of Wolf Trap Opera.

“From how they got into opera, to the ups and downs of running an opera company, their favorite productions, funniest moments, and more, it will be a unique and entertaining afternoon.

Here is a link with more information including the cost of a subscription: https://www.madisonopera.org/class/general-directors/?wcs_timestamp=1616947200

At 6 p.m., Rachel Reese, a UW-Madison doctoral student in violin, will give a lecture-concert about the Violin Concerto No. 2 by the rediscovered African-American composer Florence Price (below). She will be accompanied by pianist Aubrie Jacobson.

Here is a link to the concert plus background about Rachel Reese: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/rachel-reese-lecture-recital/

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Today – Monday, March 22 — is Day 6 of the 2021 online Bach Around the Clock festival. The program features string, keyboard, percussion and vocal music with some interesting transcriptions

March 22, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Yesterday – Sunday, March 21 — was the actual birthday, the 336th, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

But the 10-day virtual and online celebration being held by Bach Around the Clock (BATC) continues.

Here are the pieces and performers that will take place.

The Ear is especaially pleased by some of the transcriptions, which offer more proof of just how indestructible and versatile Bach’s music remains.

Particularly interesting is the string quartet version of the famous cantata “Wachet auf” (Sleepers, Wake) and the Three-Part Inventions or Sinfonias transcribed for marimba, and played by Sean Kleve (below), a UW-Madison graduate who performs with the critically acclaimed experimental Madison-based percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.

Monday’s program is available starting at 8 a.m.

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

Performers

• Minuet 2 in G Major, Anh 116; Suite in G Minor, BWV 822; Gavotte  from Double Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043, I. Vivace. Suzuki Strings Sonora Ensemble

• Cantata 140: “Wachet Auf” (Sleeper, Wake), arranged for string quartet. St. Croix Valley String Quartet: Janette Cysewski and Debbie Lanzen, violins; Dianne Wiik, viola; and Joel Anderson, cello.

• French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for keyboard, BWV 814: Sarabande, Anglaise, Menuett and Trio. Kris Sankaran

• Sinfonia 1 in C Major, BWV 787; Sinfonia 7 in E Minor, BWV 793; Sinfonia 10 in G Major, BWV 796; Sinfonia 11 in G Minor, BWV 797; Sinfonia 15 in B Minor, BWV 801. Sean Kleve, marimba. (You can hear Glenn Gould playing the original version of the first Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

• Chorale: We thank Thee, Lord, for sending. Katie Hultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ

Live and Recorded Evening Program at 7 p.m.

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

BATC audiences will remember pianist Lawrence Quinnett (below) from his exquisite renderings of selections from The Well-Tempered Clavier, at the 2018 Festival.

Quinnett, on the piano faculty of Livingstone College, returns in 2021 to give a brief talk on his approach to ornamentation in the six French Suites, as a prelude to his live performance of Suite No. 5. The floor will open for questions, followed by Quinnett’s recorded performance of the remaining five Suites.

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Today is Day 2 of the online Bach Around the Clock festival. It starts at 8 a.m. and features keyboard, wind, string and vocal music. WPR’s Jonathan Overby will discuss Bridges to Bach tonight at 7

March 18, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Here is the schedule for Day 2 of the 2021 virtual, online Bach Around the Clock festival, which is today — Thursday, March 18:

Today’s program will be available starting at 8 a.m. and then throughout the festival.

Click here to view more.

For an overview and background, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/todays-just-bach-concert-starts-the-10-day-bach-around-the-clock-festival-that-runs-through-march-26-all-events-are-free-and-online-here-are-the-lineups/

PERFORMERS and PROGRAMS

• Musette (from Suzuki Book 2); Ossian Rogers, violin; Faolan Rogers, harp; Kara Rogers, piano

• Sheep May Safely Graze, from Cantata 208; Gift Akere, piano

• Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005: Largo; Rebekah May, viola

• Cello Suite V in C minor, BWV 1011: Prelude, Gavottes I and II, Gigue; Cindy Cameron-Fix, bassoon

• Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook: Menuet, BWV anh 114; Tim Farley, clavichord

• Chorale: Now God be with us; Katie Bultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ

Live Evening Keynote Discussion at 7 p.m. Jonathan Øverby, (below) distinguished Wisconsin Public Radio host of “The Road to Higher Ground,” will discuss building The Bridge To and Through Bach with BATC Artistic Director Marika Fischer Hoyt.

Click here to join the Zoom call, starting at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, March 18. Viewers are encouraged to submit questions in the chat for Overby to address.

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Today’s Just Bach concert starts the 10-day Bach Around the Clock festival that runs through March 26. All events are free and online. Here are the lineups

March 17, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Today — Wednesday, March 17 – brings the free monthly Just Bach concert that is online for 30 minutes.

This year that concert will also serve as the opening event of the annual Bach Around the Clock (BATC) festival to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Here is a link to the lineup of the Bach Around the Clock events. As of this writing, many of the special morning and evening guests and events are listed. But the daytime programs and performers are listed only for today, tomorrow and the final concert. The Ear understands the rest of the listings will be up by the end of today: https://bachclock.com/concert-schedule

There might be frequent additions, changes and updates, so it is best to check back often.

The Ear has heard that, as usual, the festival will include students, amateurs and professionals; young people and adults; individuals, smaller chamber music ensembles and larger groups; and many well-known and neglected works from many genres.

Those genres include vocal and choral music; keyboard music for clavichord, harpsichord, piano and organ; string music for violin, viola and cello; wind and brass music; and much more.

Daily festival concerts will be posted starting at 8 a.m. Central Daylight Time and evening segments will begin at 7 p.m CDT. All events and concerts will be posted and available during the entire festival.

As for today’s Just Bach concert, here is the announcement from Marika Fischer Hoyt (below), the artistic director of Bach Around the Clock and a co-founder and co-director of Just Bach:

Greetings from Just Bach! We hope this finds you well, and ready to experience more of the timeless beauty of Bach, this month in music for organ and strings.

Our concert TODAY opens with a welcome and program overview from me. We figure when Just Bach and Bach Around The Clock join forces, the Master himself (below, in a cutout, in a photo by Barry Lewis) is summoned.

Today’s program opens with organist Mark Brampton Smith (below) playing two Sinfonias from Cantata 35.

These are arrangements of two dramatic organ concerto movements, and Mark brings off the virtuosic passages with flair, while the strings provide a spirited accompaniment.

Then the strings take center stage – in arrangements for string quartet — bringing a yearning melancholy to the slow Andante movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, BWV 1047, and energy and excitement to Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048.

The program closes with our popular chorale sing-along, “Befiehl du deine Wege” (Commend Your Ways), BWV 271. I will introduce the piece and the text, and my sister, soprano Barbara Fischer, will sing it — with Mark on the organ.

We encourage viewers to sing along by following the chorale sheet music, which will be displayed on the computer screen.

Do you have a question for the performers? Would you like to listen in as they chat about the program? Please join us for a half-hour live Zoom post-concert reception tonight, March 17, at 7 p.m. The link is posted on the Just Bach website: https://justbach.org/concerts/

As regular performers on Luther Memorial Church’s weekly “Music at Midday” concert series, Just Bach presents half-hour programs starting at 8 a.m. on the third Wednesday of each month and then remain posted. Remaining dates this semester: March. 17, April 21, and May 19. Our concerts are posted on the Just Bach and Luther Memorial YouTube Channels: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ

Viewing the concerts is free, but we ask those who are able, to help us pay our musicians with a tax-deductible donation at: https://justbach.org/donate/

Today’s performers include members of the Madison-based early music group Sonata à Quattro (below in photo by Barry Lewis) and are: Christine Hauptly Annin and Aaron Yarmel, violin; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; Charlie Rasmussen, cello; Mark Brampton Smith, organ; and Barbara Fischer, guest soprano.

Dave Parminter is the videographer and Barry Lewis is the photographer.

Posted in Classical music
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Soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey wins a Grammy Award

March 15, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Soprano Sarah Brailey (below), a native of Wisconsin — who now lives, works and studies in Madison — won a Grammy Award last night.

Brailey received the prestigious award (below) in the category “Best Classical Solo Album” category. It was for her role in the long-neglected, opera-like choral symphony “The Prison” by English composer Dame Ethel Smyth on the Chandos label. (You can hear an excerpt from the Brailey recording in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Brailey’s win is especially noteworthy because it comes early in her career.

Although she has toured nationally and internationally, and has established herself as a professional singer of note, Brailey is a busy graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where she is finishing her doctoral degree.

Here is a link to her website: https://sarahbrailey.com

Brailey is also one of the city’s busiest and most respected musicians.

During the pandemic year, she explained and help spark benefit concerts and fundraising for musicians whose livelihoods suffered due to cancelled performances. Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=sarah+brailey

She also hosts the Sunday morning radio show “Musica Antiqua” – which features early music — on WORT-FM 89.9.

Recently, Brailey became the artistic director of “Grace Presents,” a series of free concerts at the downtown Grace Episcopal Church across from the state Capitol.

An avid early music performer, Brailey — who won and now directs the annual Handel Aria Competition — also co-founded and co-directs the free monthly series of Just Bach concerts (below, second from right), the lastest of which takes place this Wednesday, March 17. She sings solos, greets listeners and viewers, and often leads the final sing-along chorale from a Bach cantata.

You can hear many of her performances duing the Just Bach concerts on the Just Bach channel on YouTube.

Leave your own congratulations and thoughts about her performances in the Coment section.

The Ear will post a complete list of the classical music Grammy Award nominees and winners later this week.

PS: Another native of the Madison area was nominated for a non-classical Grammy is Bill Rahko, who co-produced the album “Everyday Life” for the rock band Coldplay. The album was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to Taylor Swift’s “Folklore.”

Here is a link to a story on NBC 15 about Rahko, who attended Middleton High School: https://www.nbc15.com/2021/03/14/madison-area-native-up-for-grammy-award-for-album-of-the-year/

Posted in Classical music
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Starting TODAY, the First Unitarian Society of Madison offers three free, online mini-concerts at noon on Fridays to celebrate Women’s History Month

March 12, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post about three free, online mini-concerts to celebrate Women’s History Month through the Friday Noon Musicales at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.

The concerts start today:

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

• To celebrate Women’s History Month, the First Unitarian Society of Madison will present three Friday Noon Musicales during March.

• All three will be guest produced by Iva Ugrcic.

• Iva Ugrcic (below) is Founding Artistic Director of the Madison-based LunART Festival, which supports, inspires, promotes and celebrates women in the arts.

• Each program will feature highlights from past LunART Festival performances.

• Each program will be approximately 45 minutes long.

DATES AND PROGRAMS

Each video will become available at noon on the indicated date, and will remain available for viewing in perpetuity.

This Friday, March 12 — Works by living composers Jocelyn Hagen, Salina Fisher and Missy Mazzoli (below top), as well as Romantic-era composer Clara Schumann (below bottom, Getty Images). Specific titles are not named.

Performers include: Iva Ugrcic, flute; Matthew Onstad, trumpet; Tom Macaluso, trombone; Elena Ross and Todd Hammes, percussion; Kyle Johnson, Jason Kutz, Satoko Hayami and Yana Avedyan, piano; Beth Larson and Isabella Lippi, violin; Karl Lavine, cello (below); ARTemis Ensemble.

Friday, March 19 — Works by living composers Linda Kachelmeier, Elsa M’bala, Doina Rotaru (below top) and Eunike Tanzil, as well as Medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen (below bottom) and Romantic-era Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. Specific works are not named. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear flutist Iva Ugrcic play Doina Rotaru’s haunting “Japanese Garden.”)

Performers include: Iva Ugrcic, flute; Jose Ignacio Santos Aquino, clarinet; Midori Samson, bassoon; Breta Saganski and Dave Alcorn, percussion; Satoko Hayami (below), Jason Kutz and Eunike Tanzil, piano; ARTemis Ensemble

Friday, March 26 — Alexandra Olsavsky, Edna Alejandra Longoria, Kate Soper and Jenni Brandon as well as post-Romantic era American composer Amy Beach (below bottom). Specific pieces are not named.

Performers include: ARTemis Ensemble; a string quartet with violinists Isabella Lippi and Laura Burns, violist Fabio Saggin, and cellist Mark Bridges (below); Jeff Takaki, bass; Vincent Fuh and Kyle Johnson, piano; Jennifer Lien, soprano; Iva Ugrcic, flute.

THREE OPTIONS FOR ATTENDING

• Website — https://www.fusmadison.org/musicales

• Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/fusmadison

• YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/fusmadison > “Playlists” > “Music at FUS”

ABOUT THE “FRIDAY NOON MUSICALES” RECITAL SERIES

• The Friday Noon Musicales at First Unitarian Society is a free noon-hour recital series offered as a gift to the community.

• Founded in 1971, 2020-2021 is the series’ 50th season.

• The series has featured some of the finest musicians in the Midwest, who flock to perform in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium.

• The music performed is mostly classical, but folk, jazz and musical theater styles are presented on occasion.

• During the pandemic, the Musicales have largely been on hiatus.

JUSTICE AND MUSIC INITIATIVE (JAM)

• The Justice And Music Initiative (JAM) at the First Unitarian Society of Madison represents a commitment to more socially equitable and earth-friendly music practices.

• This commitment includes music performed on our campus, both for worship and non-worship events.

• To help achieve our goal, we recognize and celebrate recognition days and months with our musical selections, such as Hispanic Heritage Month (9/15–10/15), LGBT History Month (October); Native American Indian Heritage Month (November), Black History Month (February), Women’s History Month (March), and African-American Music Appreciation Month (prev. Black Music Month; June).

Posted in Classical music
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The Madison Early Music Festival joins the UW-Madison School of Music’s regular program and undergoes a major revamping. There will be no more separate summer events, and the two directors will retire next spring

March 10, 2021
2 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

After refining the format over the past 20 years, the Madison Early Music Festival (below) has grown into a popular event that is recognized regionally, nationally and internationally. It usually takes place for about 10 days in July.

But no longer.

The Ear has received the following updates from the two co-founders and co-directors, singers Cheryl-Bensman Rowe and UW-Madison Professor Paul Rowe.

Curiously, no reasons or causes are given for the major changes and revamping, or for the cancellation of the event this summer.

The Ear suspects it has something to do with the lack of funding and the reorganizations and consolidations being carried out because of the budgetary effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the UW-Madison, the whole UW System and the performing arts scene in general.

But that could be completely wrong. We will probably find out more details in the near future.

For more information and background, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2021/02/01/memf-school-of-music-announce-administrative-partnership/

And to sound off, please leave your reactions to the news in the comment section.

Here is the letter from the Rowes (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot):

Dear MEMF Supporters,

It is difficult to believe that February is over and spring is on its way. We hope everyone is having luck scheduling coronavirus vaccines, and that you have all stayed healthy throughout this past year.

We are writing to give you advance notice of the latest MEMF news before you read it in an upcoming press release.

Due to programming realignment in the UW-Madison Division of the Arts, the Madison Early Music Festival will become a program of the Mead Witter School of Music, which will be our new administrative home.

After much discussion with the Director of the School of Music and the Interim Director of the Division of the Arts, the details of the move have been finalized.

The School of Music is excited to bring MEMF into its programming, and would like MEMF to be an integral part of the academic year so more students can have an opportunity to work with professionals in the field of early music.

At this point, in order to focus on this goal, the decision has been made to discontinue the summer festival in its current (pre-pandemic) format.(You can hear a sample of that in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

We know this is disappointing news, but at the same time we are excited that MEMF concerts, lectures and classes will now be offered in some capacity throughout the year.

Although MEMF will be taking a different direction than the one we have all known and loved over the past 20 years, we are thrilled that it will continue to provide early music learning and presentation opportunities through this new collaboration.

We also want to announce that the two of us will be retiring from MEMF in the spring of 2022 and new leadership will take the helm.

Current plans are to present a celebratory MEMF concert and workshop next spring with School of Music students and faculty and former MEMF participants and faculty.

We want all of you to know that we appreciate everything you have done for MEMF. Some of you have been involved for 21 years!

We are grateful for your support, the friendships we have made, and all the beautiful music we have heard and made together. The success of the festival would not have been possible without each and every one of you.

This is an exciting new journey for MEMF, although different from what we have known and experienced. We hope that you will continue to be involved in MEMF in its new format, and we hope to see you in the spring of 2022!

Thank you for all your generosity in so many ways,

Cheryl Bensman-Rowe and Paul Rowe, co-founders and co-artistic directors of the Madison Early Music Festival

Posted in Classical music
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Here is a collaborative obituary for music critic, radio host, performer and gay pioneer Jess Anderson, who died in January at 85

March 7, 2021
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

In late January of this year, Jess Anderson (below) — a longtime friend, devoted musician and respected music critic – died at 85.

The Ear promised then that when more was known or written, it would be posted on this blog.

That time has come.

Jess was a polymath, a Renaissance Man, as the comments below attest to time and again.

For the past several years, he suffered from advancing dementia and moved from his home of 56 years to an assisted living facility. He had contracted COVID-19, but died from a severe fall from which he never regained consciousness.

Jess did not write his own obituary and he had no family member to do it. So a close friend – Ed Wegert (below) – invited several of the people who knew Jess and worked with him, to co-author a collaborative obituary. We are all grateful to Ed for the effort the obituary took and for his caring for Jess in his final years.

In addition, the obituary has some wonderful, not-to-be-overlooked photos of Jess young and old, at home, with friends, sitting at the piano and at his custom-built harpsichord.

It appears in the March issue of Our Lives, a free statewide LGBTQ magazine that is distributed through grocery stores and other retail outlets as well as free subscriptions. Here is a link to the magazine’s home webpage for details about it: https://ourliveswisconsin.com.

That Jess was an exceptional and multi-talented person is obvious even from the distinguished names of the accomplished people who contributed to the obituary:

They include:

Chester Biscardi (below), who is an acclaimed prize-winning composer, UW-Madison graduate, composer and teacher of composition at Sarah Lawrence College.

John Harbison (below), the MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer who teaches at MIT and co-directs the nearby Token Creek Chamber Music Festival in the summer.

Rose Mary Harbison (below), who attended the UW-Madison with Jess and became a professional performing and teaching violinist who co-directs the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.

Steve Miller (below), a close friend who became a bookmaker and is now a professor at the University of Alabama.

The Ear, who knew Jess over many decades, was also invited to contribute.

Here is a link to the joint obituary in Our Lives magazine, a free LGBTQ periodical that you can find in local grocery store and other retail outlets: https://ourliveswisconsin.com/article/remembering-jess-anderson/?fbclid=IwAR027dzv2YqRUNlYF1cF6JyXnEcQxAwcprPYbtBQCs3rYt0Nu847W_xbjpk

Feel free to leave your own thoughts about and memories of Jess in the comment section.

It also seems a fitting tribute to play the final chorus from The St. John Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach. You can hear it in the YouTube video below. It is, if memory serves me well, the same piece of sublime music that Jess played when he signed off from hosting his Sunday morning early music show for many years on WORT-FM 89.9.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AssistedLiving, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueRecorder, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #EarlyMusicMovement, #EdWegert, #ElliottCarter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FerruccioBusoni, #FrancoisCouperin, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GayLiberationFront, #GeniusGrant, #GroceryStore, #GunnarJohansen, #Hard Work, #HardWork, #HomeWebpage, #HornSection, #IgorKipnis, #IgorStravinsky, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JacobStockinger, #JessAnderson, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LGBTQrights, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MacArthurFellow, #MacArthurFoundation, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology, #MetropolitanOpera, #MusicCritic, #MusicCriticism, #MusicEducation, #NewYorkCity, #OrchestralMusic, #OurLives, #PerformingArts, #PianoSonata, #Prize-Winning, #ProArteQuartet, #PulitzerPrize, #RadioHost, #RenaissanceMan, #RetailStore, #RonMcCrea, #RoseMaryHarbison, #RudolfKolisch, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SarahLawrenceCollege, #SignOff, #St.JohnPassion, #SteinwayPiano, #SteveMiller, #SundayMorning, #TheEar, #TheGreatGatsby, #TheMet, #TheUW, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #UniversityofAlabama, #UniversityofIllinois-Champaign-Urbana, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WorldPremiere, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, acclaimed, advance, aesthete, Africa, African, airplanes, Arts, assisted living, attend, audience, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, beauty, Beethoven, birthday, blog, Book, bookmaker, Brahms, Broadcast, Buscardi, Busoni, camping, Carter, CDs, Chamber music, Chinatown, Chopin, choral music, citizen, Classical music, co-direct, co-director, collaborate, collaborative, comment, Compact Disc, composer, Composition, computer, Concert, conductor, contract, contractor, contribute, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, counterpoint, Couperin, criticism, death, decade, dementia, details, devoted, died, Early music, earlymusic, Ed Wegert, effort, Elliott Carter, exceptional, exuberance, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, facility, fall, Family, Farley's House of Pianos, Ferruccio Busoni, final, fitting, forward, François Couperin, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, free, French, friend, gay, Gay Liberation Front, generosity, genius grant, grateful, graudate, graudate student, grocery store, Gunnar Johansen, Harbison, harpsichord, History, hobby, Home, home webpage, host, Igor Kipnis, Igor Stravinsky, ILLINOIS, imitate, inspiration, invite, Isthmus, it, Jacob Stockinger, January, Jess Anderson, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, joint, Kipnis, knew, know, knowledge, language, late, LGBT, LGBTQ, lifeblood, like, link, Liszt, literature, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, McCrea, memories, memory, men, mentor, Met, Metropolitan Opera, Midwest, miller, MIT, model, morning, Music, music critic, Music education, Musician, nearby, New York City, obituary, opera, opinionated, Orchestra, orchestral music, Our LIves, outlet, outspoken, overlooked, pandemic, Passion, perform, Performing arts, periodical, photography, photos, Pianist, Piano, Piano sonata, piece, pioneer, play, poet, Poetry, polymath, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, professional, professor, programmer, Pulitzer Prize, rdio, recital, recorder, Renaissance, Renaissance man, repertoire, repertory, Retail, Ron McCrea, Rose Mary Harbison, Rudolf Kolisch, Russian, Salon Piano Series, Sarah Lawrence College, school, Schubert, Seattle, section, sign-off, Slavic, Sonata, Soulima Stravinsky, spirit, St. John Passion, statewide, Steinway, Steve Miller, store, Stravinsky, Student, sublime, submarine, subscription, success, suffer, suffering, summer, Sunday, tag, talent, talented, taste, Teacher, technology, The Ear, The Great Gatsby, thought, time, Token Creek, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, train, tribute, United States, universal, University of Alabama, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, Violin, violinist, virtuoso, vocal music, Wegert, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, wonderful, world premiere, World War II, WORT-FM 89.9, WWII, year, young, YouTube

Pianist John O’Conor plays the sublimely beautiful Impromptu in G-Flat Major by Franz Schubert

March 4, 2021
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear loves Franz Schubert, who wrote supremely beautiful music. And one of his most sublime pieces comes from his first set of Impromptus for solo piano, the one in G-Flat Major, D. 899, No. 3.

This beautiful music was superbly performed here in 2018 by the Irish pianist John O’Conor (below), who specializes in the composers of the Classical era — especially Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart. He also has revived the music of the Irish Romantic composer John Field and appeared in Madison with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

Here is the introduction from the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos, which booked, hosted and recorded the live solo recital performance (below) on May 12, 2018.

“During these uncertain times, we appreciate remembering time spent together enjoying music.

“Please take a break from your day to see and hear John O’Conor perform Franz Schubert’s Impromptu in G-flat, D. 899, No. 3, in the YouTube video at the bottom that was recorded live at Farley’s House of Pianos as part of the Salon Piano Series on May 12, 2018.

“To see how the 1908 Chickering concert grand played by John O’Conor was restored, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5RJWeve6R8

“Over the years, you have supported Salon Piano Series with your attendance, individual sponsorships and donations (you can link to https://salonpianoseries.org/donate).

“We look forward to bringing you world-class musical performances in our unique salon setting again soon.

Sincerely,

Salon Piano Series

Posted in Classical music
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