The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The critically acclaimed Isthmus Vocal Ensemble performs a program of “Sanctuary” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
The two performances by the critically acclaimed Isthmus Vocal Ensemble (below) have become an annual summer tradition over the past 17 years, first under the direction of founder Scott MacPherson and since last year under its new artistic director, Michael McGaghie.
This summer, as usual, McGaghie (below, rehearsing) returned to Madison for 2-1/2 weeks of intense rehearsals and two a cappella concerts on this Friday night and Sunday afternoon.
The program this year has the theme of “Sanctuary,” and focuses on refuge, salvation and hope.
The chorus will sing “Come to the Woods” by Jake Runestad, using texts taken from the journals of John Muir, the environmentalist who attended the UW-Madison (you can hear the work in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing” by Herbert Howells. The concert also includes unspecified music by Stephen Paulus, Anton Bruckner, Dale Trumbore and Choi.
Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for students.
Here are more details:
Friday, August 2, at 7:30 p.m.
St. Luke’s Lutheran Church
7337 Hubbard Avenue
Middleton, WI 53562
Sunday, August 4, at 3 p.m.
Christ Presbyterian Church
944 East Gorham Street
Madison, WI 53703
For more information about the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble, including how to join it, how to support it, how to see a list of past concerts and hear excerpts, go to: https://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org
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Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival’s 20th anniversary Grand Tour includes a silent movie and rare books as well as lots of varied music to mark its success after 20 years. Part 2 of 2
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By Jacob Stockinger
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival, which is marking its 20th year, have come up with.
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. The concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass. Individual concerts are $22, $12 for students. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee; or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A for this blog. Yesterday she spoke about the overall concept and the first weekend’s concerts. Here is a link to Part 1:
Here is Part 2 of 2:
What events take place next week?
The concert on Tuesday, July 9, is going to be a unique experience for MEMF audiences. HESPERUS creates the soundtrack for the 1923 silent film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” with music (below) from 14th- and 15th-century France. (The cathedral was started in 1163 and finished in 1345.)
Compositions include French and Burgundian music from 1300 to 1500, featuring Guillaume de Machaut, Jehan l’Escurel, Guillaume Dufay, as well as lesser-known composers such as Vaillant, Morton and Borlet.
On Friday, July 12, the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) performs “Faith and Madness,” a program of a dialogue between sacred music masterpieces followed by madrigals that portray madness, love, war and loneliness.
Composers include Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Heinrich Schütz, Claudio Monteverdi, Carlo Gesualdo, Clement Janequin and others.
All of the singers are graduates of Leipzig’s renowned St. Thomas Church Choir School. Calmus was founded in 1999. This a cappella quintet embodies the rich choral tradition of its hometown, the city associated with Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn.
To hear a preview of their arrangement of Bach’s “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” BWV 659, visit: https://youtu.be/WNzzUU0GcF4
Can you tell us about the program and performers for the All-Festival concert on Saturday, July 13?
The All-Festival Concert includes all of our workshop participants and faculty. We work together to prepare the concert all week and it is truly a MEMF community project. Grant Herreid (below) has created the All-Festival program this year. Grant is a genius at designing a program that tells a musical story featuring MEMF’s faculty and participants.
“Musical Postcards from The Grand Tour” features a narrator, loosely based on Thomas Coryat (below, at sea and in the Alps), the English 17th-century century travel writer, who, as a young man, travels throughout Europe in search of music. Beginning in London, 1641, the musical itinerary continues to Venice, Rome, Naples, Dresden, Paris, and back to London.
The program features so many wonderful composers, and the large ensemble pieces are: the Gloria from Monteverdi’s Selva morale et spirituale; the beautiful Miserere of Gregorio Allegri; Nun danket alle Gott by Heinrich Schütz; Domine salvum fac regem setting by Jean-Baptiste Lully; and, as an ending, This point in time ends all your grief from Ye tuneful muses by Henry Purcell.
Are there other sessions — guest lectures, certain performers, particular works — that you especially recommend for the general public?
All the planning that goes into each festival leads me to encourage the general public to attend everything! The concert series, lectures and workshops have so much to offer.
The special moments that I’m looking forward to are singing in the All-Festival concert and performing Allegri’s Miserere,a stunning piece that I have never heard performed in Madison. (You can hear it in there YouTube video at the bottom.)
I also look forward to hearing the fantastic musical soundtrack created by HESPERUS for the silent movie “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the Calmus singing connection back to Bach through their musical education in Leipzig, plus experiencing all the different travelogues of the past as they come to life through narrations and music.
Special events include a dance with a live band drawn from the MEMF Faculty with dance instruction by Peggy Murray, Grand Tour Dance Excursions, at the Memorial Union in the Great Hall on Thursday, July 11, at 7:30 pm. https://memf.wisc.edu/event/07-11-2019-2/
The lecture series features some well-known Madisonians like J. Michael Allsen (below top), who writes program notes and lectures for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Maria Saffiotti Dale (below bottom), curator at the Chazen Museum of Art.
There will be a special exhibit created for MEMF in the lobby of Memorial Library by Jeanette Casey, the head of the Mills Music Library and Lisa Wettleson of Special Collections at Memorial Library. This curated display includes materials about the Grand Tour, including one of the oldest travelogues from 1611 written by Thomas Coryat.
The exhibit will be in the lobby of Memorial Library (below) and open to the public from Saturday, July 6, through Thursday, July 18, with a special talk about the exhibit during the festival on Monday, July 8, at 11:30 a.m.
This partnership allows the library to display rarely seen original and facsimile publications, some dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries within the context of the MEMF theme.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In 1611 Thomas Coryat, the author of the travelogue Crudities foretold what you will hear at MEMF in 2019:
“…I heard the best musicke that ever I did in all my life…so good that I would willingly goe an hundred miles a foote at any time to heare the like…the Musicke which was both vocall and instrumental, so good, so delectable, so rare, so admirable, so superexcellent, that it did even ravish and stupifie all those strangers that never heard the like”.
Get your tickets for the concert series. Attend the lectures. Take some classes. See a movie. Come and dance with us. Join us to experience the ultimate musical gap year at our 20th anniversary celebration!
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Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will present a Grand Tour of musical styles to mark its success after 20 years. The “tour” starts this Saturday, July 6, and runs through Saturday, July 13. Part 1 of 2
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By Jacob Stockinger
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival (below, the All-Festival Concert in 2018) have come up with.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A interview for this blog. Here is Part 1 of 2:
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Madison Early Music Festival. Can you briefly summarize the progress of the festival over all those years and how you – through audience size, participants, media coverage – measure the success it has achieved?
How successful is this year’s festival compared to the beginning festival and to others in terms of enrollment, budgets and performers? How does this of MEMF’s reach nationally or even internationally compare to previous years?
What can you say about where the festival will go in the coming years?
As the 20th Madison Early Music Festival approaches, we have looked back at how far we have come from 1999 when we were a little festival of 60 participants and faculty. We have grown to our current size of 140 faculty members and participants — fellow lovers of early music.
Last year, we had the largest group of participants when 120 students enrolled. MEMF now attracts students of all ages, from 18 to 91, amateurs and professionals, from all over North America and Europe.
Our success is due to the help and support of many individuals and outside organizations. We could not manage MEMF without the amazing staff at the Division of the Arts at UW-Madison. They help with everything from printed materials, website design and management, social media, grant writing, fundraising, proofreading and on-site assistance at all of our events and more.
Paul and I (below) work with Sarah Marty, the Program Director of MEMF, who keeps things organized and running smoothly throughout the year.
Also, we are grateful to our dedicated MEMF Board, donations from many individuals, grants, and the generosity of William Wartmann, who created an endowment for the festival, and after his death left an additional $400,000 for our endowment. It takes a village!
Not only have we become an important part of the summer music scene in Madison, but we have contributed to the national and international early music community. The 2019 concert series will be featuring artists from California to New York, Indiana to Massachusetts, and from Leipzig, Germany.
We hope to have many old and new audience members join us for this exciting celebration of our 20th year. For future seasons our motto is “To infinity and beyond!” as we continue to build on our past successes.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and performers?
This year we have a new program, the Advanced Voice Intensive, which provides an opportunity for auditioned advanced singers who are interested in a capella vocal music from the Renaissance – singing sacred polyphony and madrigals to improve their skills as ensemble singers.
Twenty singers from all over the country will be joining the inaugural program to rehearse and perform music from Italy, England and Germany.
At the end of the week they will sing in a masterclass with the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) on Thursday, July 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. On Saturday, July 13, they will perform in a FREE concert with the popular Advanced Loud Band ensemble in Morphy Recital Hall.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. and the concerts in Mils Hall begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass; each individual concert is $22, for students $12. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee, or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
We also have two Fringe Concerts this year featuring new vocal ensembles from Wisconsin. On Monday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at Pres House, Schola Cantorum of Eau Claire (below), a 12-voice ensemble directed by UW-Madison graduate Jerry Hui, will perform “Mystery and Mirth: A Spanish Christmas.”
And on Wednesday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the Milwaukee-based Aperi Animam (below) perform “Libera Nos,” a program of sacred vocal music.
The Fringe Concerts are FREE with donations accepted at the door.
Why was the theme of “The Grand Tour” chosen for the festival? What is the origin of the conceit, and what major composers and works will be highlighted?
We decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary by choosing a theme that would be broader than previous years and portray what people might experience when they are 20 years old – traveling abroad on a gap year.
We were also inspired by Englishman Thomas Coryat, aka “The First Tourist.” He published his travelogue Crudities in 1611, an amusing and thorough account of his five months of travel throughout Europe. This tradition of the Grand Tour of Europe continued through the 17th and 18th centuries, especially when wealthy young aristocrats finished their formal schooling.
Several of the concert programs this summer feature quotes from different travelogues, including Coryat’s, as an organizational concept. If you search all over Europe, you find an American at Versailles learning courtly manners, and a fictional Englishman, born in 1620, sending postcards from the Grand Tour.
We will also have a stop at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with the silent film version of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and a musical tour of sacred vocal music and madrigals. This theme allowed us to include music from many different time periods from all over Europe — a rich Grand Tour of musical offerings!
The opening concert on this Saturday, July 6, features Dark Horse Consort returning to Madison with Wanderlust, their newly created program for MEMF’s Grand Tour theme. The program follows the misadventures of an English gentleman as he embarks on a continental Grand Tour adventure in search of love and fulfillment.
Our hero’s travelogue includes springtime consort songs by Alfonso Ferrabosco and William Byrd; Erasmus Widmann’s beguiling German dances dedicated to women; the wooing songs of the Italian gondolier; and sultry Spanish airs.
On Sunday, July 7, Alchymy Viols (below) performs “American at Versailles,” an original ballet masque of French baroque music, dance and drama written and choreographed by Sarah Edgar, featuring Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano; Sarah Edgar, director and dancer; and guest soprano Paulina Francisco. The American on the Grand Tour encounters the exotic world of French baroque manners, dress, dance and love.
TOMORROW: Part 2 explores the rest of the festival next week, including a rare book exhibit and the All-Festival finale on Saturday night
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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir celebrates 20 years with a retrospective concert and alumni singers this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday night, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a retrospective concert that includes alumni.
The performance is at 7:30 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams) of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
The program features favorite works from the choir’s history.
Founding conductor Gary McKercher (below top) will join current artistic director Robert Gehrenbeck (below bottom) – who directs choral activities at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater — to lead the choir in this special performance.
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Familiar composers such as Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Franz Joseph Haydn share billing with Jean Belmont Ford (below), whose Sand County, a setting of Aldo Leopold’s words, will be performed.
Also on the program are a set of pieces by Howard Helvey (below top) that the WCC commissioned in 2002, and the U.S. premiere of Utyos by longtime WCC member Albrecht Gaub (below bottom).
Alumni of the choir will participate as guest singers in the final two works on the program: Haydn’s humorous Eloquence; and Gregg Smith’s serene Now I Walk in Beauty, which is based on a Navajo prayer and can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Immediately following the performance, audience members are invited to join the singers for cake and refreshments to celebrate this milestone in the history of one of Madison’s premiere music ensembles.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johannes Brahms; a cappella works from various centuries; and world premieres of commissioned works.
Artistic director Gehrenbeck has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Advance tickets for the April 13 performance at are available for $15 ($10 for students) from www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org, via Brown Paper Tickets.
Tickets are also available in Madison from Orange Tree Imports, all three Willy Street Co-op locations, and from members of the choir. Tickets at the door will be available for $20 for adults and $10 for students.
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Classical music: Superstar soprano Renée Fleming and pianist Emanuel Ax headline the 100th anniversary of the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series next season
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following major announcement to post about the Wisconsin Union Theater, which The Ear calls “the Carnegie Hall of Madison” for its long and distinguished history of presenting great performing artists.
The Wisconsin Union Theater (below top, with Shannon Hall below bottom) is delighted to announce the schedule for its 100th Concert Series during 2019-20.
In this celebratory year, we introduce two exciting additions: A transformative gift by Kato Perlman establishes the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Series, ensuring the world’s best chamber ensembles continue to perform as a regular feature of the Concert Series.
Additionally, two Concert Series performances will take place in the Mead Witter School of Music’s new Hamel Music Center (below). We look forward to increased collaborations with the school of music.
The 100th anniversary series was curated by the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Performing Arts Committee, with wife-and-husband advisors pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel (below, in a photo by Tristan Cook), who are celebrated musicians and directors of several festivals of classical music and also serve as co-artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. (You can hear them performing music by Johann Sebastian Bach in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The first season of this distinguished series was in 1920-1921, and featured soprano May Peterson, violinist Fritz Kreisler and pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch.
Nineteen years later, in 1939-1940, the series moved to the newly opened Wisconsin Union Theater. The first season in the Wisconsin Union Theater featured bass singer Ezio Pinza, cellist Emanuel Feuermann, violinist Joseph Szigeti, pianist Robert Casadesus and, the highlight, contralto Marian Anderson.
Through these 99 years, numerous renowned, accomplished and prominent classical musicians have played in the series, the longest continuous classical series in the Midwest. Some made their debut here and continued returning as their fame rose.
See this article for an interview with former WUT director Michael Goldberg about the history of the series.
The schedule for the 100th Concert Series, including the inaugural David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series, is:
Oct. 6 – A cappella choral group Chanticleer, Hamel Music Center. Program To Be Announced
Nov. 2 – Pianist Emanuel Ax (below), Shannon Hall. All-Beethoven program, including Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
Dec. 6 – The Kalichstein, Laredo and Robinson Piano Trio (below), Shannon Hall. “Canonic Etudes” by Robert Schumann; Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn; and Piano Trio in B-flat major “Archduke” by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Jan. 25, 2020 – The Escher String Quartet (below), featuring David Finckel, Shannon Hall. Quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Fritz Kreisler and Franz Schubert.
March 5, 2020 – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – featuring David Finckel, Wu Han, Paul Neubauer and Arnaud Sussman, Shannon Hall. Sonatine by Antonin Dvorak; Piano Quartet by Josef Suk; Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25, by Johannes Brahms.
March 7, 2020 – Wu Han with the UW Symphony Orchestra, Hamel Music Center. Program TBD.
March 28, 2020 – Violinist Gil Shaham (below) with pianist Akira Eguchi, Shannon Hall. Program TBD.
May 2, 2020 – Special Gala Concert with Renée Fleming (below). Shannon Hall. Mixed Recital.
All programs are subject to change.
Subscriptions will be available starting March 18, 2019. Subscribers benefits include: access to the best seats, 20% off the price of single tickets, no order fees, a free ticket to Wu Han’s performance with the UW Symphony Orchestra, and the opportunity to be first to purchase tickets to Renée Fleming’s 100th Anniversary Gala Concert.
Find more information about the series and the artists at www.uniontheater.wisc.edu. Subscriptions will be available on March 18 at www.artsticketing.wisc.edu.
Tags: #ACappellaMusic, #AkiraEguchi, #All-Beethoven, #AntoninDvorak, #ArchdukeTrio, #ArtisticDirector, #BaroqueMusic, #BassSinger, #BennoMoiseitwitsch, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberEnsemble, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ConcertSeries, #ContraltoSinger, #DavidFinckel, #EmanuelAx, #EmanuelFeuermann, #EscherStringQuartet, #EzioPinza, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #FritzKreisler, #GalaConcert, #GilShaham, #HamelMusicCenter, #husband-and-wife, #JaimeLaredo, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosefSuk, #JosephKalichstein, #JosephSzigeti, #KalichsteinLaredoRobinsonPianoTrio, #KatoPerlman, #LincolnCenter, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarianAnderson, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MichaelGoldberg, #MusicFestival, #NewYorkCity, #PerformingArtists, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoQuartet, #PIanoRecital, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #RenéeFleming, #RobertCasadesus, #RobertSchumann, #SchoolofMusic, #ShannonHall, #SharonRobinson, #SopranoSinger, #StringQuartet, #SubscriptionConcert, #TheEar, #TheMidwest, #ToBeAnnounced, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VocalMusic, #VoiceRecital, #Wife-and-Husband, #WisconsinUnionDirectorate, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WuHan, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, access, accomplished, addition, advisor, Akira Eguchi, anouncement, Antonín Dvořák, Archduke Trio, Artistic director, artists, Arts, audience, Baroque, bass, Beethoven, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Canon, Carnegie Hall, cellist, Cello, centennial, chamber ensemble, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chanticleer, choral music, Classical music, classical musician, collaboration, composer, concerto, contralto, curated, David Finckel, debut, director, distinguished, Emanuel Ax, Escher String Quartet, etude, Ezio Pinza, Facebook, fame, feature, fee, Felix Mendelssohn, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, free, gala, gift, Gil Shaham, great, Hamel Music Center, highlight, History, husband, inaugural, information, interview, Jacob Stockinger, Jaime Laredo, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Josef Suk, Joseph Kalichstein, Joseph Szigeti, Kato Perlman, like, LIncoln Center, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, link, long, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Marian Anderson, Mead Witter School of Music, Michael Goldberg, Midwest, Music, Music festival, New York City, performer, performing artists, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Quartet, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, post, posting, program, prominent, recital, regular, Renée Fleming, renowned, Robert Casadesus, Robert Schumann, schedule, School of Music, seat, Shannon Hall, share, Sharon Robinson, singer, Sonata, Sonatine, soprano, star, String quartet, subscription, superstar, tag, TBA, The Ear, ticket, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Symphony Orchestra, violinist, vocal music, voice, voice recital, wife, Wisconsin Union Directorate, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wu Han, year, YouTube
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir performs Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” this Friday night in Madison and Sunday afternoon in Whitewater
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement about performances this coming weekend by the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) and the professional orchestra Sinfonia Sacra of what is, unfortunately and undeservedly, often considered, when compared to Handel’s “Messiah,” “The Other Oratorio” for the holiday season:
There will be two performances of four parts of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio” (1734). On Friday night, Dec. 14, 7:30 p.m. at the Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Ave., in Madison; and on Sunday, Dec. 16, at 2 p.m. in the Young Auditorium at the UW-Whitewater, 930 Main Street, in Whitewater.
Advance tickets for the Friday night performance at Luther Memorial Church in Madison are available for $20 ($10 for students) from www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org, via Brown Paper Tickets, or at Orange Tree Imports (Madison) and Willy Street Coop (all three locations in Madison and Middleton).
Advance tickets for the Sunday afternoon performance at Young Auditorium in Whitewater are available from www.uww.edu/youngauditorium/tickets
Of the six cantatas that make up the “Christmas Oratorio,” Part, 1, 2, 3 and 5 will be performed. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the brisk and energetic opening, performed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus of Vienna with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir.)
Parts 1 to 3 tell the Christmas story: Mary and Joseph, the birth of Jesus, the shepherds and the angels. Part 5 introduces the magi from the East, traditionally known as the Three Kings.
The music offers a sampling of every style of music in the repertoire of Johann Sebastian Bach (below) as a composer.
Massive, concerto-like movements crowned by brilliant trumpet fanfares, booming timpani and virtuosic fugues highlight the full chorus.
Solo arias, duets and trios and even one instrumental movement provide a contemplative contrast with constantly changing instrumental colors—from lush strings to playful flutes and the pastoral sounds of oboes and bassoons.
Featured vocal soloists include mezzo-soprano Rachel Wood (below top) and tenor J. Adam Shelton (below middle), both on the faculty of UW-Whitewater. Highly accomplished members of the choir, including baritone Bill Rosholt (below bottom, and a Madison Savoyards regular), will share the solo parts with these professionals.
The members of Sinfonia Sacra, under concertmaster Leanne League (below), are drawn from the rosters of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and the music faculties of UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater and UW-Oshkosh.
Trumpet virtuoso John Aley (below top) and oboist Marc Fink (below bottom) will also perform.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios, a cappella choral works from various centuries, and world premieres.
Bach’s music has always occupied a special place in the choir’s repertory, with performances of the Christmas Oratorio (2002 and 2003), the Mass in B minor (2005), the St. John Passion (2010) and the Magnificat (2017).
Artistic Director Robert Gehrenbeck (below) has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #ArnoldSchoenberg, #ArnoldSchoenbergChoir, #ArtisticDirector, #BaritoneSinger, #BaroqueMusic, #BassoonMusic, #BillRosholt, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristmasOratorio, #ChristmasStory, #ConcentusMusicus, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FluteMusic, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #Handel'sMessiah, #HolidaySeason, #InstrumentalMusic, #InstrumentalPlayer, #J.AdamShelton, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnAley, #LeanneLeague, #LutheranChurch, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadisonSavoyards, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarcFink, #MaryandJoseph, #MassinBMinor, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCritic, #NikolausHarnoncourt, #OrangeTreeImports, #RachelWood, #RobertGehrenbeck, #SinfoniaSacra, #St.JohnPassion, #StringMusic, #TenorSinger, #TheThreeKings, #TrumpetMusic, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Oshkosh, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #ViennaAustria, #VocalMusic, #Whitewater, #WhitewaterWisconsin, #WillyStreetCoop, #WisconsinBaroqueEnsemble, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, afternoon, amateur, angel, announcement, aria, Arnold Schoenberg, Artistic director, Arts, auditorium, Austria, Bach, baritone, Baroque, Bassoon, Bill Rosholt, birth, blog, boom, brilliant, Cantata, Cello, centuries, century, choral music, Christ, Christian, Christmas, Christmas Oratorio, church, Classical music, color, compare, compelling, composer, Concentus Musicus, concertmaster, concerto, conductor, contemplative, critic, crown, duet, Early music, emotion, energetic, energy, Facebook, faculty, Fanfare, flute, fugue, George Frideric Handel, Holidays, interpretation, J. Adam Shelton, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Aley, Joseph, Leanne League, like, link, lush, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madison Savoyards, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magi, Magnificat, Marc Fink, Mary, Mass in B Minor, massive, masterwork, Messiah, Mezzo-soprano, Middleton, movement, Music, night, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Oboe, opening, Orange Tree Imports, oratorio, Orchestra, other, part, pastoral, performance, playful, professional, Rachel Wood, repertoire, Robert Gehrenbeck, sampling, Schoenberg, share, shepherd, sinfonia, Sinfonia Sacra, sing, singer, Singing, solo, Sound, St. John Passion, strings, Student, symphony, tag, tenor, three kings, ticket, timpani, timpany, tradition, trio, Trumpet, tympani, underserved, unfortunate, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, variety, Vienna, Viola, Violin, virtuosic, vocal music, weekend, Willy Street Coop, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world premiere, YouTube, YouTube video
Classical music: Edgewood College closes out the concert season with FREE performances of choral, band and guitar music on Friday night and Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
Edgewood College will close out its 90th academic year and the current concert season with two FREE performances this weekend.
On this Friday night, May 4, at 7 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, choral and guitar performances will take place.
The Women’s Choir (below top), directed by Kathleen Otterson (below bottom), performs a wide variety of traditional and modern music specifically for women’s voices.
The Chamber Singers (below top) and the Edgewood Chorale both perform under the direction of Sergei Pavlov (below bottom). The Chorale offers students and Madison-area singers the opportunity to perform larger choral works. The Chamber Singers is Edgewood College’s premier a cappella choral ensemble.
Sorry, no words about composers or works on any of the programs.
The Guitar Ensemble, under the direction of Nathan Wysock (below), is an acoustic guitar group that performs music ranging from medieval dances to modern compositions. Again, there is no word on specific composers or works on the program.
Then on Sunday afternoon, May 6, at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive. The Edgewood Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble will give their spring concerts.
Admission is free, with a freewill offering to benefit the Luke House Community Meal Program.
The Concert Band is under the direction of Walter Rich (below), and the Jazz Ensemble performs under the direction of Dan Wallach.
No word on composers or works to be performed.
Tags: #ACappellaMusic, #ChamberSingers, #ConcertBand, #EdgewoodChorale, #EdgewoodCollege, #GuitarEnsemble, #GuitarMusic, #JazzMusic, #KathleenOtterson, #LukeHouse, #ModernMusic, #NathanWysock, #SergeiPavlov, #St.JosephChapel, #TraditionalMusic, #WalterRich, #Women'sChoir, a cappella, acoustic, Acoustic guitar, Arts, benefit, choral music, community, composer, Composition, Concert, dance, Early music, Edgewood College, Edgewood College Chamber Singers, ensemble, free, freewill, Friday, guitar, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Kathleen Otterson, Luke House, meal, Medieval, modern, Music, Nathan Wysock, offering, Sergei Pavlov, sing, singer, song, Spring, Sunday, United States, vocal music, voice, Walter Rich, Wisconsin, women
Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir will celebrate the Americas with two world premieres this Friday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) will give two performances — one in Madison and one in Milwaukee — of the program “I Hear America Singing.”
The Madison program features two world premieres: Alleluia by Wayne Oquin and Shenandoah by Jae Lee. The Madison performance will also include a special guest ensemble: The University of Wisconsin–Whitewater Chamber Singers.
The local performance on this Friday, April 13, is at 7:30 p.m. in Grace Episcopal Church (below), 116 West Washington Ave., on the Capitol Square.
On next Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., the WCC will perform at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 East Knapp Street, Milwaukee.
The concert is a musical celebration of all the Americas — North and South — and all Americans.
Also, in recognition of Robert Gehrenbeck’s 10th anniversary as artistic director, the WCC presents the world premiere of Alleluia by New York composer and Juilliard School faculty member Wayne Oquin.
Inspired by Randall Thompson’s classic setting of the same one-word text, Oquin’s new version updates Thompson’s musical style in his own harmonic language, which has been compared to Morten Lauridsen’s.
An extremely versatile musician, Oquin (below) boasts recent commissions and performances by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Danish National Symphony, the United States Air Force Band, the Houston Chamber Choir, and the King’s Singers.
At the Madison concert the WCC will be joined by the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers performing their own world premiere, Shenandoah, by New York composer, organist and former jazz pianist Jae Lee (below).
The remainder of the program spans music of four centuries and multiple nationalities. Masterpieces of the U.S. choral repertoire — Samuel Barber’s Reincarnations and Charles Ives’s Psalm 67 — share billing with a diverse selection of works from throughout the hemisphere.
They include music by Mexican Baroque master Manuel de Samaya (below top); Argentinian tango composer Astor Piazzolla; African-American composers Bobby McFerrin, Hall Johnson, W. C. Handy, and Rosephanye Powell; and Native-American composer and longtime friend of the WCC, Brent Michael Davids (below bottom).
(You can hear a work that Robert Gehrenbeck commissioned for the UW-Whitewater Chamber Singers from Wayne Oquin in the YouTube video at the bottom, performed by the Houston Chamber Choir.)
The WCC’s award-winning organist, Mark Brampton Smith (below), will perform Samuel Barber’s virtuosic Wondrous Love: Variations On a Shape-Note Hymn on two amazing pipe organs: the 1987, 38-rank Casavant at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, and the 2012, 51-rank Schantz at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Milwaukee.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Brahms; a cappella works from various centuries; and world premieres.
Artistic director Robert Gehrenbeck (below), who directs choral activities at the UW-Whitewater, has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Advance tickets for the April 13 performance in Madison are available for $20 ($10 for students) from www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org, via Brown Paper Tickets, or at Orange Tree Imports and Willy Street Coop (all three locations).
The April 21 performance in Milwaukee will be presented for a free-will offering.
Tags: #ACappellaMusic, #AmericanMusic, #AstorPiazzolla, #BobbyMcFerrin, #CapitolSquare, #CharlesIves, #ChoralMusic, #DanishNationalSymphony, #EpiscopalChurch, #FacultyMember, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #HallJohnson, #HoustonChamberChoir, #JazzMusic, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JuilliardSchool, #ManueldeSumaya, #ManueldeZumaya, #Mexicancomposers, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MortenLauridsen, #NewYorkCity, #NorthAmerica, #OrangeTreeImports, #OrganMusic, #PhiladelphiaOrchestra, #PianoMusic, #RandallThompson, #RosephaynePowell, #SamuelBarber, #SouthAmerica, #TheKing'sSingers, #UnitedStates, #UnitedStatesAirForce, #UnitedStatesAirForceBand, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #UW-WhitewaterChamberSingers, #W.C.Handy, #WayneOquin, #WillyStreetCo-op, #WillyStreetCoop, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, a cappella, African American, alleluia, Americans, Argentina, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Barber, Baroque, Bobby McFerrin, Brahms, Brent Michael Davids, Capitol Square, choral music, classic, Classical music, composer, Concert, Denmark, Episcopal, faculty, guest, Hall Johnson, Handel, harmonic language, harmony, Jacob Stockinger, Jae Lee, Jazz, Juilliard, Lauridsen, Madison, Mexico, Milwaukee, Mozart, Music, Native American, New York City, organ, performance, Pianist, Piano, program, Randall Thompson, reincarnation, Shenandoah, singer, Singing, song, special, St. Paul, style, tango, The King's Singers, United States, United States Air Force, United States Air Force Band, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, vocal music, Wisconsin, world premiere, YouTube
Classical music: The King’s Singers will mark 50 years when they perform Saturday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater
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By Jacob Stockinger
The acclaimed a cappella singing group The King’s Singers (below) will be marking its 50th anniversary when it performs the annual Fan Taylor Concert – named to honor the first director of the Wisconsin Union Theater – on this Saturday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall.
Tickets are $25-$45 general admission, $20 for youths and $10 for UW students. For more information, including the complete program, background, audio-video samples and how to purchase tickets, go to https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/the-kings-singers/. You can also phone 608-265-ARTS (2787) or go in person. See locations and hours here.
Celebrating their Golden Anniversary this year, The King’s Singers are widely acclaimed for the quality of their singing and diverse repertoire, which includes over 200 commissioned works from the world’s leading composers.
The commissioned arrangements come from a breadth of musical genres: jazz standards to pop chart hits, medieval motets to Renaissance madrigals, and new scores by young composers.
The upcoming concert is part of their 50th anniversary world tour, and the program showcases their signature blend, purity of tone, and diversity of repertoire, with selections ranging from Renaissance polyphony to brand new commissions celebrating the 50th anniversary.
This love of diversity has always fuelled The King’s Singers’ commitment to creating new music. A panoply of commissioned works by many of the greatest composers of our times – including Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, John Rutter, Toru Takemitsu, Sir John Tavener and Eric Whitacre – sits alongside countless bespoke arrangements in the group’s extensive repertoire.
One of these is called “To Stand in This House” by Nico Muhly (below), which sets various texts by scholars who originated at King’s College, Cambridge, where The Kings Singers were founded.
The program, GOLD, charts a journey through the music that has defined The King’s Singers so far, from Renaissance polyphony to art song to, naturally, close harmony favorites.
The group also looks toward the future with several commissions for the 50th season from composers and arrangers with who they have ties, including, in addition to Nico Muhly’s work, “We Are” by composer/conductor Bob Chilcott, himself a former member of The King’s Singers; and “Quintessentially” by Joanna and Alexander L’Estrange (below), which humorously tells the story of The King’s Singers’ past 50 years.
The King’s Singers was founded in 1968 at King’s College in Cambridge, England. They continually wow audiences across the globe in over 125 concerts a year. The group has won two Grammy awards and was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame for its vocal artistry and excellence. (You hear a sample from the group’s new anniversary album, “Gold,” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Madison concert is presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performing Arts Committee.
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. WORT-FM 89.9 is the media sponsor.
Tags: #AlexanderL'Estrange, #CambridgeEngland, #EricWhitacre, #FanTaylor, #GoldenAnniversary, #GrammophonMagazine, #GyorgyLigeti, #JoannaL'Estrange, #JohnRutter, #JohnTavener, #King'sCollege, #LucianoBerio, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewMusic, #NicoMuhly, #PerformingArts, #RenaissanceMadrigal, #RenaissancePolyphony, #StateOfWisconsin, #TheKing'sSingers, #ToruTakemitsu, #UnitedKingdom, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WORT-FM89.9, a cappella, anniversary, arrangement, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Berio, Britain, choral music, Classical music, commission, Early music, earlymusic, England, Eric Whitacre, future, genre, golden anniversary, great, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, John Rutter, John Tavener, L'Estrange, Ligeti, Madison, madrigal, Medieval, motet, Mozart, Music, National Endowment for the Arts, New Music, polyphony, pop, pops, popular music, purity, Renaissance, repertoire, scholar, singer, singers, Singing, song, text, The King's Singers, tone, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Acclaimed a cappella vocal ensemble Cantus performs a world premiere in Edgerton this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
“Cantus: Inspiring Through Song“ will perform in concert this coming Saturday night, March 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Edgerton Performing Arts Center, 200 Elm High Drive in Edgerton, Wisconsin.
In its 2017-18 touring program “Discovery of Sight,” the a cappella ensemble Cantus (below) explores the essence of light and vision, reveling in the mystery, science and poetry of what it means to truly “see” with music.
The program features works by Richard Strauss, Franz Schubert, Eric Whitacre (below top) and Einojuhani Rautavaara (below middle, in a photo by Getty Images) alongside a world premiere by Gabriel Kahane (below bottom).
Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at www.edgertonpac.com or by phone at (608) 561-6093.
Praised as “engaging” by the New Yorker magazine, the men’s vocal ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blending, and for its innovative programming and involving performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century.
The Washington Post has hailed the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power,” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making.
As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has grown in prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process.
Cantus performs more than 60 concerts each year both in national and international touring, and in its home of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Cantus has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, UCLA, San Francisco Performances, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.
You can hear Cantus perform a Tiny Desk Concert for National Public Radio (NPR) in the YouTube video at the bottom. The Ear is especially fond of the way they sing “Wanting Memories.”
For more information about Cantus, go to the ensemble’s website: www.cantussings.org
The performance is funded by the William and Joyce Wartmann Endowment for the Performing Arts.
Tags: #21stCentury, #ACappellaMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #EdgertonPerformingArtsCenter, #EinojuhariRautavaara, #EricWhitacre, #FranzSchubert, #GabrielKahane, #KennedyCenter, #LincolnCenter, #NationalPublicRadio, #RichardStrauss, #TheNewYorker, #TheNewYorkerMagazine, #TheWashingtonPost, #TinyDeskConcert, #VocalMusic, #WorldPremiere, 21st century, a cappella, Arts, Atlanta, blending, Cantus, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, composer, Concert, conductor, discovery, Edgerton, Einojuhani Rautavaara, endowment, ensemble, Eric Whitacre, essence, finesse, Franz Schubert, fund, Gabriel Kahane, Getty Images, grace, innovative, international, Jacob Stockinger, light, men, Minneapolis, Music, mystery, national, NPR, perform, performance, Poetry, power, program, Renaissance, Richard Strauss, San Francisco, science, see, sight, singer, Singing, song, Sound, St. Paul, ticket, tour, UCLA, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vail, vision, vocal, vocal music, warmth, web site, Website, Wisconsin, worked premiere, world premiere, YouTube
The Well-Tempered Ear 