The Well-Tempered Ear
Pianist Lang Lang gets a Hollywood star
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By Jacob Stockinger
He is not the first classical pianist to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
But the controversial Chinese superstar Lang Lang (below) — once referred to as Bang Bang and compared to Liberace for his flamboyance and showmanship — is certainly the most popular.
As a performer, educator and philanthropist, he is also the first Asian pianist to be so honored, although The Ear is betting that his fellow Chinese and highly respected pianist Yuja Wang is not far behind him.
Lang Lang received the 2,778th star (below, in a photo by Jesse Grant of Getty Images) from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He received it last week, on April 10.
His alma mater — the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where Lang Lang studied with Gary Graffman and graduated in 2002 — is deservedly proud of him, issuing the following press release with links:
And if you missed any or all of the 49 minutes-long fluffy ceremony, in the YouTube video at the bottom is a 5-minute clip of the event, during which Lang Lang played the piano on the street.
Do you have an opinion about Lang Lang?
What do you think is his best recording?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Opera Props merges with UW-Madison, becomes Friends of University Opera
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By Jacob Stockinger
After more than 40 years of supporting the opera and voice programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, Opera Props will become Friends of University Opera. (Below is a recent poster and at bottom is YouTube video of the production of Puccini’s popular “La Bohème”).
The new organization will be jointly administered.
Here is the official announcement:
Exciting news!
Change is coming!
Opera Props is now Friends of University Opera!
Opera Props Board members, working for two years with the Mead Witter School of Music and the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, have laid the groundwork for a wonderful collaboration.
On July 1, Opera Props became Friends of University Opera!
The Friends group will continue to support the Voice and Opera program with newsletters and mailings, as well as hosting events to support our students, engage donors and encourage new audiences.
Friends will continue as advisors to Voice and Opera Faculty on use of funds for scholarships and production support.
This year we were able to award $35,000 in scholarships.
Cooperation with the Foundation will help us do even more!
Gifts to the University of Wisconsin Foundation will be designated for the Opera Program Fund (112625070).
Join, donate, show your support and meet the new singers at the Fall Showcase Concert ( in the beautiful Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center on campus.(Below are the participants of a past Fall Showcase concert at the First Unitarian Society in Madison)
Save the Date: Saturday, September 30, at 2 p.m.
A more detailed letter has been sent to the Opera Props mailing list under the signature of the current president Kathleen Harker. But The Ear cannot find the full version of it posted yet online at any website.
For more information about Opera Props, now Friends of University Opera, including past email newsletters, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org
For information about the prize-winning UW-Madison Opera program, go to: https://music.wisc.edu/university-opera/
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Did incompetence and political correctness kill the UW Choral Union?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s time for some answers.
The taxpaying, music-loving public is owed that much.
But for the past two weeks, administrators in the University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music have stonewalled concerns expressed by the public and alumni.
The school has continued its censorship of social media with a dismissive silence, and offered no specific explanation or reason why the campus-community, town-and-gown UW Choral Union (below) needs to be killed off after 130 years.
But ever since The Ear broke the story, which has only drawn outrage and anger, sources — who asked to remain unnamed — have offered reasons for the very unpopular move by a public university. The Ear can say now that multiple sources agree in their allegations.
If you need to catch up, here is a link to the original blog posting and comments on June 12:
So the time has come to pass along what the sources say to the general public.
Now it is up to the School of Music to confirm or deny that what the sources say is true.
IS IT INCOMPETENCE?
Everyone who works with her or studies and performs under her has nothing but praise for Mariana Farah (below), the new Director of Choral Activities, as a person, colleague and teacher.
She has been singled out especially for her excellent, outstanding work with small choirs — a cappella choirs and choirs that use piano accompaniment, like the UW Choral Union.
But sources say she has no experience or very little in conducting an orchestra in combination with a large choir.
That is why the Choral Union’s performance last April of Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Laudab Sion” (Praise Zion) was conducted not by Farah, but by Oriol Sans (below), the highly praised conductor of the UW Symphony Orchestra. That also explains why the two shorter choral works were included in a symphony concert along with Bela Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra.
If that is true, it seems a major disqualification for her current position — an oversight, mistake or deliberate policy decision by the administration and the faculty search committee that is hard to understand.
If The Ear recalls correctly, the UW has never had a choral director who could not conduct orchestras and also teach graduate students to do the same.
If that is true, it seems like Farah is simply not yet experienced enough to lead a major choral program in a Big 10, world-famous university and a very highly rated music school.
Perhaps the school could arrange for conducting the Choral Union to go to Sans. But choral union members say he is more interested in the instrumental orchestra than in the choir. Besides, Sans has plenty of his own duties including teaching, rehearsing and conducting UW Symphony concerts, and accompanying the prize-winning opera program at the UW.
Or maybe the school could hire outside conductors — maybe bring back former director Beverly Taylor who is still working with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — to fill in, although that seems unlikely given budget constraints.
IS IT POLITICAL CORRECTNESS?
So what explains why Farah now heads the choral department at the UW?
Sources say much of the blame has to do with political correctness.
Farah was desirable because is Brazilian and a woman of color who is interested in exploring new and alternative repertoire — not the great chorus-and-orchestra masterpieces by “dead white men” like Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi and Brahms. And apparently that is what the School of Music wanted too when it hired her over other candidates.
These are serious allegations that the sources are making.
The timing is also unfortunate. This is the last week of duties for the current director of the School of Music, Susan C. Cook (below), who oversaw the hiring of Farah.
Her successor, Dan Cavanagh (below) from Texas, takes office this Saturday and will possibly walk into a major scandal or conflict that he will need to resolve right away.
In addition, some Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature are strong critics of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” in the academic world. And this move feeds right into their concerns about shortchanging students and the public when it comes to basic skills and customary benefits.
That means the UW School of Music might be facing even more severe budget cuts.
But if the allegations are true, the administrators at the School of Music will have brought their misfortune upon themselves.
The Ear and the public are waiting to hear what the School of Music says besides the ill-timed, secretive announcement and banal, vague generalities about resources and core mission that they first offered.
Do you know anything more about the situation?
Do you have an opinion as to whether the decision should be reversed and the Choral Union should continue to exist?
Leave a comment in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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What do current music and non-music students think about the UW-Madison killing off the Choral Union?
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By Jacob Stockinger
By now, the chances are good that you have heard about the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music’s decision to kill off the campus-community Choral Union after 130 years. (The Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra, under recently retired choral activities director Beverly Taylor, are shown below in Mills Hall, where they performed with soloists for 50 years — in this case Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” — before moving to the Hamel Music Center.)
It has had many more hits and many more replies than any other blog post in a long time.
All of the reactions so far have been strongly negative, even outraged, with no one defending or endorsing the move.
But so far those replies, often lengthy, have been received with deafening silence and no replies or detailed explanations from either faculty members or administrators in the UW-Madison School of Music. In fact, The Ear understands that the School of Music has blocked its website and Facebook site from allowing anyone to reply:
See for yourself. Here is a link to the original blog post with its many comments and replies:
Most of the replies come from people who attend the UW Choral Union concerts or those who used to sing in it or who have been singing in it as alumni or community members and taxpayers. Some threaten withdrawing financial support. Others say it is yet another attack on the Wisconsin Idea.
But this time The Ear would like to hear from CURRENT STUDENTS — music students and other student — about what they think of the move.
Do they favor the decision to end the Choral Union? Or oppose it?
Do they think ending the Choral Union will hurt their education? Or be harmless?
What would the students like the UW-Madison School of Music to do? Continue with the plan or reverse the decision? Explain the specific reasons rather than citing generalities and banalities?
End censorship by allowing the public to reply on websites and social media?
Please spread the word to family and friends, to music and non-music students at the UW-Madison and at other schools.
The Ear wants to hear.
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The eighth annual UW Schubertiade is this Sunday afternoon. It features a FREE online retrospective of the past seven years plus a new four-hand piano performance
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By Jacob Stockinger
The University of Wisconsin has posted the following announcement:
For the eighth consecutive year, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music will present its annual Schubertiade — a special concert celebrating the music of Franz Schubert (below).
Traditionally these concerts have been held around the composer’s birthday. This year’s concert will in fact occur on his birthday — this Sunday, Jan. 31, at 3-4:30 p.m. CST. The pre-recorded premiere is at: https://youtu.be/7sshhKiFPAg
You can also use the link to prepare for the concert before or during the concert. You will find the program with song titles, the original German texts and English translation, and biographies of the performers by simply clicking on “SHOW MORE” on the YouTube website and follow the links to PDFs.
BECAUSE THERE ARE NO COPYRIGHT ISSUES, ACCORDING TO UW OFFICIALS, THE POST SHOULD BE UP AND AVAILABLE INDEFINITELY AFTER ITS PREMIERE.
As in past years, founders and performers Martha Fischer (below left), professor of piano and head of the collaborative piano program at UW-Madison, and her husband Bill Lutes (below right), an independent piano teacher, and UW emeritus artist-in-residence, will host the program.
These concerts have been presented in the sprit of the first Schubertiades (below, in a painting by Julius Schmid) that took place during the composer’s lifetime (1797-1828) in the homes of his friends and fellow artists, poets and fans.
These were social as well as musical occasions with Schubert himself presiding at the piano, giving his audience a chance to hear his latest songs, piano duets and chamber music, as well as pieces that had already become favorites.
This year’s Schubertiade will be different in response to the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be an online look back — or Rückblick — at past concerts, with songs chosen from performances that have been preserved in the audio and video archive.
The featured performers will include faculty members, students and alumni from the Mead Witter School of Music, along with special guests.
In addition, pianists Fischer and Lutes will give a “new” performance recorded for this occasion of the great Fantasie in F minor for piano duet. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear that work, performed by Dutch brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen and recorded live in Seoul, South Korea.)
The songs have been chosen to reflect themes that were not only relevant to Schubert and his circle, but also to all of us in the midst of this challenging time: hope for a brighter future; the need for connection with others; remembrance of happier times; and the consolation to be found in nature.
Schubert left a vast and precious legacy of beauty — an enormous output of music that he composed in his short lifetime.
In a sense, each time his music is performed and heard, it is a journey from the past to our own time, the sounds speaking to us today as vividly and consolingly as they did when they were created 200 years ago.
Performers
Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes, pianists
Alumni:
Jamie-Rose Guarrine, soprano (below, in a photo by Peter Konerko)
Emily Birsan, soprano
Michael Roemer, baritone
Jennifer D’Agostino, soprano
Daniel O’Dea, tenor
Wesley Dunnagan, tenor
Sarah Brailey (alumna and current DMA student)
Sara Guttenberg
Guests:
Marie McManama, soprano
Cheryl Bensman-Rowe, mezzo-soprano
Faculty:
Mimmi Fulmer, soprano
Paul Rowe, baritone (below)
Julia Rottmayer, soprano
Staff
David Alcorn, videographer, editor, etc.
Katrin Talbot, images for audio only tracks
Tags: #ArcticCircle, #ArthurJussen, #ArtSong, #AustrianComposer, #BassBaritone, #BillLutes, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CentralTime, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #CollaborativePianist, #CollaborativePIano, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DanielO'Dea, #DavidAlcorn, #EmilyBirsan, #EnglishTranslation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #GuestArtist, #husband-and-wife, #JacobStockinger, #Jamie-RoseGuarrine, #JenniferD'Agostino, #JuliaRottmayer, #JussenBrothers, #KatrinTalbot, #LiveMusic, #LiveRecording, #LookBack, #LucasJussen, #MarthaFischer, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MichaelRoemer, #MimmiFulmer, #MusicProfessor, #OnlineConcert, #PaulRowe, #SaraGuttenberg, #SarahBrailey, #SeoulSouthKorea, #SopranoSinger, #SouthEastAsia, #SouthKorea, #SpecialGuest, #Sundayafternoon, #TenorSinger, #TheEar, #TheNetherlands, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSchubertiade, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WesleyDunnagan, #Wife-and-Husband, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, alumni, announcement, archive, art song, Arthur Jussen, artist, artist-in-residence, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Audio, Austria, bass, bass-baritone, before, Bill Lutes, bio, biography, birthday, blog, brighter, celebrate, Central Time, challenging, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, chosen, circle, Classical music, collaborative, composer, Concert, connections, consolation, copyright, coronavirus, Daniel O'Dea, David Alcorn, different, duet, Dutch, editor, emeritus, Emily Birsan, English, Europe, European, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fans, Fantasie, fantasy, favorite, forward, found, founder, Franz Schubert, friends, future, German, Germany, good-natured, great, guest artists, happier, Home, hope, host, images, indefinitely, independent, issue, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Jennifer D'Agostino, Julia Rottmayer, Jussen, Jussen brothers, Katrin Talbot, Korea, lieder, lifetime, like, link, live music, Live Recording, look back, Lucas Jussen, Madison, Martha Fischer, Mead Witter School of Music, Mezzo-soprano, Michael Roemer, Mimmi Fulmer, Music, music professor, nature, occasion, occur, online, original, other, painting, pandemic, past, Paul Rowe, performance, performer, photographer, photographs, Pianist, Piano, piano duets, pieces, poets, post, postih, pre-recorded, premiere, prepare, present, preserved, professor, program, reflect, remembrance, response, restrictions, retrospective, Sara Guttenberg, Sarah Brailey, Schubert, Schubertiade, Seoul, share, sing, singers, Singing, social, song, songs, soprano, South Korea, Southeast Asia, special, special guest, spirit, students, Sunday afternoon, tag, Teacher, tenor, text, The Ear, the Netherlands, theme, time, trabslatio, tradition, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, video, Vienna, virtual, vocal music, Website, Wesley Dunnagan, Wisconsin, year, YouTube
Due to popular demand, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) opens its FREE virtual master classes to the public. Today features the violin and Monday features the bass
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) welcomes back two distinguished and successful alumni this weekend to teach the fifth and sixth master classes in an ongoing series that has already wowed observers. (WYSO alumni are noted below with an asterisk.)
Each virtual event is free and open to the general public with registration required in advance.
“The series has been so fabulous that, due to popular demand, we’ve opened up the events to anyone who wants to attend,” says Susan Gardels, marketing and communications director for WYSO.
TODAY – Sunday, Jan. 10 — from 5:30-7:30 p.m. CST Derek Powell, a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., will coach four WYSO violin members in a two-hour master class.
This will be followed the next evening with a master class coached by Scott Pingel, Principal Bass with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (Monday, Jan. 11, 6:30-8:30 p.m. CST).
A master class presents a one-on-one opportunity for a student musician to learn from a guest artist with an audience invited to observe the process.
In previous master classes in this series, the audience has learned instrument performance techniques and musical interpretation tips from a wide variety of guest artists who professionally play music around the world.
With the master classes presented in an intimate Zoom setting, the audience learns along with the student— and it is amazing to see the sudden growth in a student’s musical prowess as a master class proceeds.
Derek Powell’s bio includes his experience with the New World Symphony where Powell (below) performed as concertmaster with famed conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and as a violinist with the Army Strings, as well as his current experience with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Scott Pingel (below) was a trumpet player in his WYSO days with a side love for electric bass. Pingel switched to concert bass as an undergraduate at UW-Eau Claire, continued studies at the Manhattan School of Music, and played with the New World Symphony and the Charleston Symphony before joining the San Francisco Symphony as Principal Bass in 2004. He recently created buzz by playing with Metallica in a packed house with the San Francisco Orchestra.
For more information, go to: WYSO Amazing Masterclass Series:
Here are details and links to register:
*Derek Powell, Violin Master Class
TODAY, Sunday, Jan. 10, 5:30-7:30 p.m. CST
Free and open to the public
Click here to register in advance
_______________________________
*Scott Pingel, Bass Master Class
Monday, Jan. 11, 6:30-8:30 p.m. CST
Free and open to the public
Click here to register in advance
Here are is a schedule of future WYSO alumni master classes:
Katherine Steele (below), oboe
Sunday, Jan. 17, 6-8 p.m. CST
(Principal Oboe, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) https://wysomusic.org/katherine-steel-masterclass/
James Shields (below), clarinet
Sunday, Jan. 24, 7-9 p.m. CST
(Principal Clarinet, Oregon Symphony Orchestra)
Read more about James Shields
*Nancy Goeres (below), bassoon
Sunday, Feb. 7, 6-8 p.m. CST
(Principal Bassoon, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)
Danbi Um (below), violin
Sunday, Feb. 21, Time TBD
(Soloist, member Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center)
Megumi Kanda (below), trombone
Sunday, Feb. 28, 5:30-7:30 p.m. CST (Principal Trombone, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra)
David Perry (below), violin
Sunday, March 7, 6-8 p.m. CST
(First Violin, UW-Madison Pro Arte Quartet and UW-Madison Music Professor)
Naha Greenholtz (below), violin
Sunday, March 28, 6-8 p.m. CST
(Concertmaster, Madison Symphony Orchestra and Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra)
*Sharan Leventhal (below), violin
Sunday, April 11, 6-8 p.m. CST
(Boston Conservatory)
For more information, go to https://wysomusic.org or call (608) 733-6283.
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Classical music: Madison Opera’s virtual Opera in the Park goes online for FREE this Saturday night and stays up until Aug. 25. Listen to it indoors or outdoors
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By Jacob Stockinger
Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park isn’t in a park this year — as it has been in past years (below) — but it will be available for people to enjoy for free in their backyards, in their living rooms or anywhere else with an internet connection.
The digital concert will be released on this Saturday, July 25, at 8 p.m. CDT, and can be watched on Madison Opera’s website, www.madisonopera.org/digital, where you can find complete information and, soon, a complete program to download.
The annual free concert has moved online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a newly created program of opera arias and more.
Digital Opera in the Park features: soprano Jasmine Habersham; soprano Karen Slack; tenor Andres Acosta; and baritone Weston Hurt. (The last two will sing the justly famous baritone-tenor duet “Au fond du temple saint” from Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Habersham (below) makes her Madison Opera debut with this unique performance, and will sing Susanna in the company’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro next April.
Slack (below) debuted with the company in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and will be part of the company’s digital fall season.
Acosta (below) sang Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers with Madison Opera this past February.
Hurt (below) debuted as Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata last season and is part of the company’s digital fall season.
The four singers will be joined by several important local artists. They include violinist Suzanne Beia, the assistant concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the second violin of the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet.
There will also be a fleet of eight pianists. They include MSO music director and Madison Opera’s artist director John DeMain (below top, in a photo by Prasad) and the UW-Madison graduate and composer Scott Gendel (below bottom). The two will play multiple numbers, including DeMain accompanying Beia on the beautiful “Meditation” from Thaïs.
Each singer recorded their arias with an accompanist in their home cities, and chorusmaster Anthony Cao (below top) both accompanies and conducts the Madison Opera Chorus (below bottom) in a virtual “Anvil Chorus” from Il Trovatore.
The evening will be hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and by WKOW TV’s Channel 27 News co-anchor George Smith.
“Reimagining Opera in the Park in the pandemic era has been a challenge, but one we have happily embraced,” says Smith (below in a photo by James Gill). “Our wonderful artists were game to record themselves in their home towns, to sing duets with each other through headphones, and to share their artistry with our community in a new way. Over 40 choristers joined a Zoom call to get instructions, and then they recorded their parts of the ‘Anvil Chorus.’”
“While in some ways this concert has required more work than our live Opera in the Park in Garner Park, it is always a pleasure to present beautiful music for everyone to enjoy.”
Digital Opera in the Park features music from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, now canceled in live performance but originally slated to open Madison Opera’s 2020-21 season; Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me, which the company performs in January; and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which will be performed in April.
The program also includes selections from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Richard Strauss’ Arabella, Verdi’s Don Pasquale, Puccini’s Tosca, Massenet’s Hérodiade and Thaïs, Rossini’s William Tell, Pablo Sarozabal’s zarzuela La Tabernera del Puerto, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and more.
The concert will be available beginning at 8 p.m. CDT on this Saturday night, July 25, and will remain online until Aug. 25, allowing for both repeated viewing and flexibility for people who are unable to watch on the first night.
While Digital Opera in the Park will be free to watch, it would not be possible without the generous support of many foundations, corporations and individuals who believe in the importance of music. Madison Opera is grateful to the sponsors of Opera in the Park 2020:
- Presenting Sponsor: the Berbeewalsh Foundation
- Sponsors: the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, Full Compass Systems, the Raymond B. Preston Family Foundation, University Research Park, Colony Brands, Johnson Financial Group, MGE Foundation, National Guardian Life, Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane Arts and the Madison Arts Commission.
- Media Sponsors: WKOW, Madison Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, Magic 98, and La Movida.
RELATED EVENTS include:
OPERA ON THE WALL | JULY 25, 2020 | ONLINE
Madison artists Liubov Swazko (known as Triangulador) and Mike Lroy have created artwork around our community, including beautiful murals on State Street storefronts.
In an act of artistic cross-pollination, they will create an artwork that comes from their personal response to Digital Opera in the Park, offering a rare glimpse of visual artists responding to musical artists. Their creative process will be filmed in the Madison Opera Center, and shared online starting on July 25.
The finished artwork will be displayed in the Madison Opera Center. Go to Swazko’s website at triangulador.com (one work is below) and Lroy’s website at mikelroy.com to see their past work.
POST-SHOW Q&A | JULY 25, 2020, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE INITIAL STREAM
Join Kathryn Smith and the Digital Opera in the Park artists for a post-concert discussion, including an opportunity to ask questions. Details on format and platform will be available closer to the date.
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Classical music: The UW Schubertiade last Sunday afternoon explored the influence of Beethoven on Schubert with insight and beauty
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ALERT: In early editions of my last post, I mistakenly said that the UW Choral Union and the UW Symphony Orchestra will perform the Verdi Requiem on May 25 and 26. The correct dates are APRIL 25 and 26. The Ear regrets the error.
By Jacob Stockinger
One of the most informative and enjoyable events of the Beethoven Year – 2020 is the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth – came early.
It took place last Sunday afternoon in the Collins Recital Hall of the new Hamel Music Center at the UW-Madison.
It was the seventh annual Schubertiade, and its theme was “Schubert and Beethoven: Influences and Homages.” A classic contrast-and-compare examination of two musical giants who lived and worked in Vienna in the early 19th century, the concert took place for almost three hours before a packed house. (Schubert is below top, Beethoven below middle, and the sold-out audience below bottom)
The annual event is organized by co-founders and co-directors UW piano professor Martha Fisher and her pianist husband Bill Lutes (below, greeting the crowd), who also perform frequently, especially as outstandingly sensitive and subtle accompanists.
They make the event, with audience members sitting onstage, look easy and informal. But it takes a lot of hard work.
The two sure know how to choose talent. As usual, all the singers and instrumentalists – UW alumni and faculty members (below) — proved very capable. The concert cohered with consistency.
Nonetheless, The Ear heard highlights worth singling out.
Baritone Michael Roemer (below) sang exceptionally in “An die ferne Geliebte” (To the Distant Beloved) by Beethoven (1770-1827). His voice brought to mind the young Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the inviting tone and direct delivery of the first song cycle ever composed. It was also the one that inspired the younger Schubert (1797-1828) to compose his own song cycles, and you could hear why.
Soprano Jamie Rose Guarrine (below right), accompanied by Bill Lutes and cellist Karl Knapp (below center), brought warmth, ease and confidence to the lyrical beauty of “Auf dem Strom” (On the River).
Tenor Daniel O’Dea (below) showed how Schubert’s setting of Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” – the same Romantic poem made famous in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Choral” – ended up much more lighthearted than the more familiar, serious and intense symphonic version.
Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes, who also sang as well as narrated and accompanied, showed complete blending and tightness in Schubert’s first published composition: “Eight Variations on a French Song.” It was for piano, four-hands – a sociable genre that Schubert favored and wrote a lot of.
Soprano Jennifer D’Agostino (below) sang Schubert’s song “Elysium” in which it is unclear whether it is a pastiche or a parody of Beethoven, who remained a mentor until Schubert died at 31. Could that ambiguity point to Schubert’s maturing sense of himself and his own art as compared to Beethoven’s?
One year after Beethoven’s death – Schubert was a pallbearer — Schubert put on his only formal public concert of his own work. That was when he premiered his Piano Trio No. 2, the bravura last movement of which was played by Bill Lutes with cellist Parry Karp and first violinist David Perry (below), of the UW’s Pro Arte Quartet.
Then all four members of the Pro Arte Quartet (below) – with violist Sally Chisholm and second violinist Suzanne Beia – played the last two movements of Beethoven’s late String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131, the work that Schubert requested to hear performed as he lay on his death bed in his brother’s Vienna apartment.
Of course there were other moments that pleased and instructed. There was a set of four songs – one coupling sung by mezzo-soprano Allisanne Apple (below) — in which the same texts were set to music by both Beethoven and Schubert.
We got to hear Beethoven’s final song, “Abendlied unterm gestirnten Himmel” (Evening Song Beneath the Starry Firmament).
Then there was the heart-wrenching “Nachthymne” (Hymn to the Night) by Schubert, again beautifully performed by Jamie Rose Guarrine. (You can hear “Hymn to the Night,” sung by Elly Ameling, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
So in the end, what were the big lessons, the takeaways from this year’s Schubertiade?
One lesson is that for all his more familiar symphonies and concertos, his string quartets and piano trios, his piano sonatas and his sonatas for cello and violin, Beethoven was also a much more accomplished song composer than the public generally knows.
But for The Ear, the biggest lesson of all is that despite Beethoven’s deep influence, Schubert retained his own special voice, a voice full of unforgettable melodies and harmonies, of lyricism and empathy.
And using a mentor to find, refine and retain one’s own identity is the highest homage any student can pay to a teacher.
Tags: #19thCentury, #AllisanneApple, #BaritoneSinger, #BeethovenYear, #BillLutes, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralSymphony, #CollinsRecitalHall, #Contrast-and-Compare, #DanceMovement, #DanielO'Dea, #DavidPerry, #DeathBed, #DietrichFischer-Dieskau, #DietrichFischerDieskau, #EllyAmeling, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FranzSchubert, #FriedrichSchiller, #GermanRomanticism, #GiuseppeVerdi, #HamelMusicCenter, #Hard Work, #HardWork, #husband-and-wife, #InstrumentalMusic, #InstrumentalPlayer, #JacobStockinger, #JamieRoseGuarrine, #JenniferD'Agostino, #KarlKnapp, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LyricalMusic, #MarthaFischer, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MichaelRoemer, #MusicalGenre, #OdetoJoy, #OrchestralMusic, #ParryKarp, #PianoConcero, #PianoSonata, #PianoTrio, #ProArteQuartet, #SallyChisholm, #SongCycle, #SopranoSinger, #StringQuartet, #Sundayafternoon, #SuzanneBeia, #TenorSinger, #TheEar, #ThemeAndVariations, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWChoralUnion, #UWSchubertiade, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #ViennaAustria, #Wife-and-Husband, #YouTubevideo, 19th century, accompanist, age, Allisanne Apple, alumni, ambiguity, annual, annversary, April, Art, Arts, audience, beauty, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, beloved, big, Bill Lutes, birth, blending, blog, bravura, brother, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, choose, choral music, Choral Symphony, Choral Union, classic, Classical music, cohere, Collins Recital Hall, compare, composer, Concert, concerto, confidence, consistency, contrast, coupling, cycle, Daniel O'Dea, David Perry, death, death bed, delivery, die, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, direct, director, early, ease, easy, edition, ego, Elly Ameling, enjoyable, error, evening, event, examination, Facebook, faculty member, familar, famous, favor, final, find, firmament, first, Fischer-Dieskau, formal, forward, founder, four-hands, France, Franz Schubert, French, Friedrich Schiller, genre, giant, Giuseppe Verdi, greet, Hamel Music Center, high, highlight, himself, homage, hours, House, husband, hymn, identity, influence, informal, informative, insight, inspire, instruct, intense, invite, inviting, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, Jennifer D'Agostino, Karl Knapp, know, late, lesson, lighthearted, like, link, live, look, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Martha Fischer, mature, May, Mead Witter School of Music, mentor, Mezzo-soprano, Michael Roemer, mind, mistake, moment, moments, movement, Music, musical, narrate, night, Ode to Joy, old, older, onstage, Orchestra, packed, pallbearer, parody, Parry Karp, pastiche, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, please, poem, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, public, publish, recall, refine, request, Requiem, retain, river, Romantic, Romanticism, Sally Chisholm, Schiller, Schubert, Schubertiade, second, sense, sensitive, serious, share, show, sing, singer, single, sociable, Sonata, song, song cycle, soprano, starry, String quartet, Student, subtle, Sunday afternoon, sung, Suzanne Beia, symphonic, symphony, tag, takeaway, talent, Teacher, tenor, text, The Ear, theme and variations, tightness, tone, unclear, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, variations, Verdi, version, Vienna, Viola, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, vocal, vocal music, voice, warmth, wife, Wisconsin, work, write, year, young, younger, YouTube
Classical music: The gala opening this weekend of the UW-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center is SOLD OUT. What do you think of the building, the music and the event? Plus, veteran music critic John W. Barker has died
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ALERT: Word arrived late last night that the respected longtime music critic John W. Barker, a retired UW-Madison professor of medieval history, died Thursday morning. He wrote locally for Isthmus, The Capital Times and this blog. Details will be shared when they are known.
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, Oct. 25-27, marks the official gala opening of the new Hamel Music Center (below, in a photo by Bryce Richter for University Communications) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. It is located at 740 University Ave., next to the new wing of the Chazen Museum of Art, which has a special exhibit relating to the new music center.
The impressive $58-million structure, which has taken many years to fund (completely privately) and then to build, will celebrate its opening tonight, Saturday night (while the 14th annual Halloween FreakFest on State Street is happening) and Sunday afternoon.
The performers will include distinguished alumni, faculty members and students.
Here is a link to an overall schedule as published on the School of Music’s home website: https://www.music.wisc.edu/hamel-music-center-opening-schedule/
Thanks to an astute reader who found what The Ear couldn’t find, here is a complete schedule — long, varied and impressive — of works and performers: https://www.music.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191025-Hamel-Music-Center-Opening-Weekend.pdf
And here is a link to the official UW-Madison press release with more background and details about the building: https://news.wisc.edu/mead-witter-school-of-musics-hamel-music-center-opening-this-fall/
UW-Madison composer Laura Schwendinger (below) has been commissioned to write a Fanfare that will receive its world premiere tonight.
The opening promises to be a success, complete with receptions at the end of each performance.
In fact, the public has signed on enough that the FREE tickets to all events are SOLD OUT, according to the School of Music’s home website.
Taste is personal and varies, and The Ear has heard mixed reviews of the new building. (For the special occasion, you can hear “The Consecration of the House” Overture by Beethoven, performed by the La Scala opera house orchestra in Milan under Riccardo Muti, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Basically, people seem to agree that the acoustics are much improved over Mills Hall and Morphy Recital Hall in the old Humanities Building.
But public opinion seems more divided over other aspects, from the overall external architecture and interior design to the smaller size of the big hall, the seats and seating layout, and the restrooms.
So if you go – or have already gone – let the rest of us know what you think about those various aspects of the new building and about the various performers and programs.
As a warm-up preview, here are photos of the main halls or spaces, all taken by Bryce Richter for University Communications:
Here is the 660-seat Mead Witter Concert Hall:
Here is the 300-seat Collins Recital Hall:
And here is the Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall:
But what do you say? You be the critic.
The Ear and others hope to see COMMENTS from listeners and especially performers. What is it like to perform there? Or to sit and listen?
What does the public think of the new building and concert halls? Are you satisfied? What do you like and what don’t you like?
Should some things have been done – or not done – in your opinion?
Does the building and do the concert halls live up to the expectations and hype?
The Ear wants to hear.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Watch ‘The Last Repair Shop’ — the Oscar-winning short documentary about music education
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By Jacob Stockinger
The beautiful and animated face of the young girl comes on the screen with a violin, smiles and says simply, “I love the violin.”
And we as viewers fall in love right then and there.
“The Last Repair Shop” just won the 2024 Oscar for Best Short Documentary. The 40-minute film, released in 2023, is now available to watch on YouTube.
It is a feel-good, feel-guilty story about the last shop to repair free musical instruments offered students in the Los Angeles public schools. But it is also a meditation on things that are broken– and not just musical instruments but also people, schools and politics.
It is really a story about growing up; about adults making art matter to young people; about the role of public education at a time when it keeps getting attacked by ideologues as well as stingy legislatures, city councils, school boards and, ultimately, voters.
Here is a capsule summary: “Since 1959, Los Angeles has been one of the few United States cities to offer and fix musical instruments for its public school students at no cost.
“Those instruments, numbering around 80,000, are maintained at a Los Angeles downtown warehouse by a handful of craftspeople.
“The film profiles four of them, each specializing in an orchestra section, as well as students whose lives have been enriched by the repair shop’s work. The film concludes with a performance by district alumni.”
It sounds irresistible — and it is.
Here are some more background and particulars — including other awards and honors — from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Repair_Shop
If you don’t have time right now to watch the whole film, the two-minute trailer is at the bottom. But if you go to YouTube yourself, you can also read the heart-warming and perceptive comments from other viewers:
What do you think of the movie?
How did you react?
And what do you think about the importance of music education in schools?
The Ear wants to hear
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