The Well-Tempered Ear
A changing Earth demands changing music to mark Earth Day
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today — Saturday, April 22 — is Earth Day 2023.
It is the 53rd annual celebration of the environment that was started on this date in 1970 by the former Wisconsin governor and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (below bottom).
As the website “Self-Help Africa” says: “Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to highlight environmental issues across the planet and demonstrate support for environmental protection.
“First held in the United States on April 22, 1970, it has since become THE BIGGEST SECULAR CELEBRATION OBSERVATION DAY IN THE WORLD, and an opportunity to highlight the issues and environmental challenges affecting our world.”
Here is the official Earth Day website: https://www.earthday.org/
Music has always been part of how the world celebrates the event.
But lately the trend in music seems to parallel the trends in the global warming crisis and species extinctions.
So, for example, in British composer Debbie Wiseman’s “Carnival of the Endangered Animals” in 2022 is meant to parallel but update the famous “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saëns.
Other titles of works by contemporary composers that reflect current realities about the natural world are: “The Lost Birds” by American composer Christopher Tin (below top); “Mass for the Endangered” by American composer Sarah Kirkland Snider (below middle); “The Rising Sea” Symphony by British composer Kieran Brunt; and “Glaciers in Extinction” by Italian flutist and composer Roberto Fabbriciani (below bottom).
You can hear these and other contemporary works plus a more familiar and traditional musical celebration of the Earth and nature by Beethoven. Just go this site for Colorado Public Radio:
Do you have a favorite among the new pieces?
Is there other music you think is appropriate to celebrate Earth Day and the natural world as they exist today?
What composers and pieces do you suggest listening to?
The Ear wants to hear.
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They decoded Beethoven’s DNA. Here’s what they found
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By Jacob Stockinger
After 200 years, the DNA of Ludwig van Beethoven (below, 1770-1827) has been analyzed by a team of researchers.
The DNA was obtained from some of the famous composer’s hair.
The new study analyzed the German composer’s genes to get a better understanding of the health problems — deafness and liver failure among them — that plagued him.
Read about it — via Apple News, just click on continue — in a story from the Canadian-American VICE magazine: https://apple.news/AgGnJPZZcRyuC3nH2ycFL3A
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See and hear The Cliburn piano competition for FREE via streaming. It runs through June 18
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By Jacob Stockinger
The 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition got under way this past Thursday, June 2, and will run through Saturday, June 18, when the winners will be announced.
2022 marks the 60th anniversary year of the competition, which the American pianist Van Cliburn founded at Texas Christian University after his 1958 Cold War victory in the Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow,.
You can follow it all online. The complete impressive competition is being broadcast on medici.tv and on YouTube.
But The Ear has used the competition’s own streaming website and finds the videos, sound quality, contestant biographies and background information very professional and helpful. So far, it has been a thoroughly satisfying, enjoyable and engaging experience. I highly recommendation it for students, amateur pianists and all music lovers.
For The Ear, one of the most impressive performances from yesterday was given by the 21-year-old Chinese pianist Yangrui Cai (below), heard in the YouTube video at the bottom. Such beautiful and subtly virtuosic but shaded Liszt and Brahms is not often heard.
Here is a link to the home page (below): https://cliburn.org
From there you can hear live performances, past performances and many facts , including the complete schedule, about The Cliburn, as it is now called. All times are Central Daylight.
Starting at 10 a.m. today — Saturday, June 4 — will see the final 10 performances (3 in the morning and night, four in the afternoon) of the preliminary round, which has featured 30 pianists in 40-minute solo recitals. Except for a specially commissioned “Fanfare Toccata” by Sir Stephen Hough, who is also on the jury, the choice of programs is entirely up to the individual contestants.
The road to the Cliburn is not easy.
It started with 388 applicants. That was trimmed down to 72 by preliminary judges. Out of 72, 30 were chosen by jurors to compete.
After today, it will be on to the quarter-finals with 18 contestants in 40-minute recitals with no repetition from the preliminary round; then the semi-final round with 12 contestants in a combination of 60-minute solo recital along with a Mozart piano concerto accompanied by the Fort Worth Symphony conducted by the Nicholas McGegan, who is famous for his interpretations of Baroque and Classical era music; and the final concerto round with each contestant play two concertos with Fort Worth Symphony under famed conductor Marin Alsop, who is also the head juror.
The Ear will be posting his own thoughts as he experiences the extensive competition, maybe after each round or even each day.
But The Ear also wants to hear from you.
Do you have thoughts about the various contestants?
Who are your favorites and why?
Thoughts about the programs and repertoire being played?
Other thoughts about the competition in general?
The Ear Wants to hear.
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Should the 1812 Overture be played this Fourth of July?
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear recently noticed that the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has once again scheduled the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky (below) as part of the finale of its Fourth of July concert on the evening of July 6, 2022.
The performance is part of this summer’s FREE Concerts on the Square (COS) by the WCO that run on six consecutive Wednesday nights from June 29 through Aug. 3. Concerts start at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square in downtown Madison, and will be conducted by Andrew Sewell.
For more information about the series and individual performers and programs, go to: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
An asterisk says programs are subject to change.
Which got The Ear to thinking: Should Tchaikovsky’s perennial favorite, the flashy and loud 1812 Overture, be played again this year?
It is a tradition that was started on Independence Day in 1974 by Arthur Fielder and the Boston Pops, according to reputable sources.
But this year might be a very different case because of a quandary that might cause organizers, including PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth,” to rethink the program.
It is a choice that will confront many musical groups across the U.S., given the current unprovoked brutality and and war crimes being committed by Russia against Ukraine.
After all, many music groups, including the Metropolitan Opera, have already banned Russian performers who support Russian President Vladimir Putin and his unjustified war in Ukraine (below).
So here’s the question: Is it appropriate to play a favorite work celebrating a Russian military victory while Ukraine, the United States and Western allies, including NATO, are desperately trying to defeat Russian forces?
As you may recall, the overture was inspired by Russia’s victory over the invading forces of Napoleon who was attempting go conquer Russia. Like Hitler and the Nazis, Napoleon failed and the Russians prevailed. That is why, in the work, you hear the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” overcome by the chimes and cannons of the Russian victory hymn. (There was no Russian national anthem until 1815.)
Here is a link to more background in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture
Will the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra or other orchestras as well as radio and TV stations around the U.S. find a substitute piece? Perhaps it could be the Ukrainian national anthem that is performed (as in the BBC Proms concert in the YouTube video at the bottom and as many other orchestras around the world, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra and John DeMain, have done).
What else could the WCO and other groups play — especially since Sousa marches are already usually featured on The Fourth?
Do you have a suggestion?
The Ear will be interested to see how the quandary is solved — with explanations and excuses, or with alternative music?
Meanwhile, as comedian Stephen Colbert likes to say: What do you think?
Should the “1812 Overture” be played on this Fourth of July?
Why?
Or why not?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Songs by Black composers trace their cultural realities in a free online UW performance TONIGHT of “Verisimilitudes.” Plus, the five winners of this year’s Beethoven Competition perform Sunday.
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ALERT: This Sunday, April 25, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. the five winners of this year’s Beethoven Competition at the UW-Madison will perform in a winners’ concert. Included in the program are the popular and dramatic “Appassionata” Sonata, Op. 57, and the famous and innovative last piano sonata, No. 32 in C minor, Op 111. Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMF0Hd1MJwMg. Click on “Show More” and you can see the full programs and biographical profiles of the winners.
By Jacob Stockinger
The concert could hardly be more timely or the subject more relevant.
Think of the events in and near Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S.; of the Black Lives Matter movement and social protest; of the political fight for D.C. statehood and voting rights – all provide a perfect context for an impressive student project that will debut online TONIGHT, Saturday, April 24, at 7 p.m.
The one-hour free concert “Verisimilitudes: A Journey Through Art Song in Black, Brown and Tan” originated at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. It seems an ideal way for listeners to turn to music and art for social and political commentary, and to understand the racial subtexts of art.
Soprano Quanda Dawnyell Johnson (below) created, chose and performs the cycle of songs by Black composers with other Black students at the UW-Madison.
Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/-g5hjeuSumw
Click on “Show More” to see the complete program and more information.
Here is the artist’s statement:
“Within the content of this concert are 17 art songs that depict the reality of the souls of a diasporic people. Most of the lyricists and all of the composers are of African descent. In large part they come from the U.S. but also extend to Great Britain, Guadeloupe by way of France, and Sierra Leone.
“They speak to the veracity of Black life and Black feeling. A diasporic African reality in a Classical mode that challenges while it embraces a Western European vernacular. It is using “culture” as an agent of resistance.
“I refer to verisimilitude in the plural. While syntactically incorrect, as it relates to the multiple veils of reality Black people must negotiate, it is very correct.
“To be packaged in Blackness, or should I say “non-whiteness” is to ever live in a world of spiraling modalities and twirling realities. To paraphrase the great artist, Romare Bearden, in “calling and recalling” — we turn and return, then turn again to find the place that is our self.
“I welcome you to… Verisimilitudes: A Journey Through Art Song in Black, Brown, and Tan”
Here, by sections, is the complete program and a list of performers:
I. Nascence
Clear Water — Nadine Shanti
A Child’s Grace — Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
Night — Florence Price (below)
Big Lady Moon — Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
II. Awareness
Lovely, Dark, and Lonely — Harry T. Burleigh
Grief –William Grant Still (below)
Prayer — Leslie Adams
Interlude, The Creole Love Call — Duke Ellington
III. The Sophomore
Mae’s Rent Party, We Met By Chance –Jeraldine Saunders Herbison
The Barrier — Charles Brown
IV. Maturity
Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man, Dream Variation; I, Too — Margaret Bonds (below)
Dreams — Lawren Brianna Ware
Song Without Words — Charles Brown
Legacy
L’autre jour à l’ombrage (The Other Day in the Shade) — Joseph Boulogne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges, below)
The Verisimilitudes Team
Quanda Dawnyell Johnson — Soprano and Project Creator
Lawren Brianna Ware – -Pianist and Music Director
Rini Tarafder — Stage Manager
Akiwele Burayidi – Dancer
Jackson Neal – Dancer
Nathaniel Schmidt – Trumpet
Matthew Rodriguez – Clarinet
Craig Peaslee – Guitar
Aden Stier –Bass
Henry Ptacek – Drums
Dave Alcorn — Videographer
Here is a link to the complete program notes with lyrics and composer bios. And a preview audio sample is in the YouTube video at the bottom: https://simplebooklet.com/verisimilitudesprogramnotes#page=1
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From Beethoven to today: The next five days at the UW-Madison are busy with FREE online concerts of new music, string music, brass music and more
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By Jacob Stockinger
From now through Monday, April 13, there are many FREE online concerts – virtual or pre-recorded – at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
The schedule includes three different concerts on Saturday, April 10, alone. (All times are central and many concerts will be available for longer than a day.)
The variety of music is terrific and features all kinds of instruments and genres of music.
Here is a link to all of them, which will appear on YouTube. If your click on “Show More,” you will see more information about the performers and the programs. You can also set a convenient Reminder Timer to help you remember to listen: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZZ2F66Bu2yAfccvsugEtsA
You can read all of them by yourself. But the Ear wants to single out several of special interest.
NEW MUSIC: TONIGHT
If you are a fan of new music, there are two concerts you should consider listenIing to.
TONIGHT, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. and then at 8:30 p.m. are two concerts of new music.
The first concert is by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
Titled “Colors” (below is the poster) the concert features music by Debussy, Lang, San Martin, UW-Madison professor Laura Schwendinger and Edgard Varese.
The performance are by faculty performers violist Sally Chisholm, flutist Conor Nelson and pianist Christopher Taylor, as well as alumni and students Eric Tran, Eric Delgado, Heidi Keener, Ben Therrell and Ben Yats.
Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Gxe7yTWpI
Then at 8:30 p.m., a studio recital by composition students (below) at the UW-Madison will take place. No names of performers or pieces are listed. But here is the link that is given: https://youtu.be/WmTBoLD9IQc
BEETHOVEN QUARTET CYCLE 7: FRIDAY NIGHT
At 7:30 p.m. is the seventh installment of the cycle, which is part of the Pro Arte Quartet’s yearlong retrospective of Beethoven’s string quartets to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Members are David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.
The program has two late quartets: the famous last one, Op. 135, in F major (1826) with the :”Muss es sein” (Must It Be?) motif, which can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom of the final movement played by the Cypress String Quartet; and the famous “Grosse Fuge” quartet and ending in B-flat Major, Opp. 130 and 133 (1825-6).
The Ear — who particularly likes Beethoven’s return to clarity and classicism in his final quartet — has listened to all the installments and they have all been superb. There’s no reason to expect anything different with this installment.
UW professor of musicology Charles Dill will give short introductory talks before each quartet. You can find extended program notes about the quartet and the program here: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-7/
And here is the link to the live-streamed concert from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIW_5NVgGaA
UNIVERSITY OPERA SINGS SONGS OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
This spring, University Opera follows up its groundbreaking video production on the life and times of composer Marc Blitzstein with another video.
What’s Past is Prologue: The Unfinished American Conversation, a program of staged and filmed songs and song cycles with social and racial justice themes, will be released on the Mead Witter School of Music YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/7Up_OXD6K2U this Saturday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., with an encore stream this Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m. David Ronis, Director of University Opera, is the director, and Thomas Kasdorf is the musical director, who accompanies the singers on piano.
For more background, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/university-opera-presents-whats-past-is-prologue-the-unfinished-american-conversation/
For the performance, go to: https://youtu.be/7Up_OXD6K2U
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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
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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/
Tags: #African-AmericanComposer, #AlyssaMorris, #AndrewSewell, #BachAroundtheClock, #BaroqueMusic, #BerlinGermany, #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BlackComposer, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrandenburgConcerto, #CapitolSquare, #CarrieBackman, #CentralDaylightTime, #CentralTime, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #ChamberWinds, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChicagoOperaTheater, #ChristianChurch, #ClassicalGuitar, #ClaudeDebussy, #CocktailHour, #ConorNelson, #CoronavirusPandemic, #DesMoines, #DesmoinesIowa, #DesMoinesMetroOpera, #EdgewoodCollege, #EdvardGrieg, #EllenCogen, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FemaleComposer, #FlorencePrice, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #GeneralDirector, #GracePresents, #GraduateStudent, #Grammy-winning, #GrammyAward, #GustavMahler, #HenryPurcell, #HomeWebsite, #IgorStravinsky, #ItalianBaroque, #JacobStockinger, #JakeHeggie, #JessieMontgomery, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JuliaUrbank, #LatinLanguage, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonOpera, #ManuelDeFalla, #MarcVallon, #MaureenCarr, #MedievalMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #Musicfaculty, #NathanWysock, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #OriolSans, #PanelDiscussion, #PeerGynt, #PeerGyntSuite, #PennState, #PerlmanTrio, #PianoAccompanist, #Pre-concertTalk, #ProgramNotes, #SarahBrailey, #SimonRattle, #SopranoSinger, #StarWars, #SteveReich, #StringMusic, #SusanCook, #TheEar, #TheForceAwakens, #TheUK, #TheUW, #TicketPrice, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #ViolinConcerto, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WebPage, #WindQuintet, #WingraWindQuintet, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolftrapOpera, #WomenComposer, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, academic, African American, Alyssa Morris, America, American, Andrew Sewell, Apollo, Arts, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, background, Ballade, Baroque, Bassoon, bassoonist, BATC, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, black composer, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Brahms, Brailey, Brandenburg Concerto, British, busy, Capitol, Capitol Square, Carrie Backman, CDT, celebration, Cello, central, Central Daylight Time, Central Time, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chamber Winds, channel, Chicago, Chicago Opera Theater, Christian, church, classical guitar, Classical music, Claude Debussy, click, cocktail, cocktail hour, Cogen, companies, competing, complete, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, conductus, Conor Nelson, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, de Falla, Debussy, Des Moines Metro Opera, discount, discussion, downtown, duet, Early music, Edgewood College, Edvard Grieg, Ellen Cogen, end, England, English, excerpts, Facebook, faculty, female, festival, Florence Price, flute, flutist, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, free, Friday, General director, Germany, Grace Episcopal, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, graduate student, Grammy, Grammy Award, Grave Presents, Grieg, guitar, Gustav Mahler, Haydn, Heggie, Henry Purcell, Igor Stravinsky, information, Iowa, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Heggie, Jessie Montgomery, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Julia Urbank, Latin, lecture, like, lineup, link, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, lute, Madison, Madison Opera, Mahler, Manuel DeFall, Marc Vallon, march, Maureen Carr, Medieval, member, metrical, Mezzo-soprano, minimalism, minimalist, Monday, Montgomery, morning, Morris, Music, Music director, Music education, music faculty, musicology, name, names, Nathan Wysock, Nelson, neo-Classical, noteworthy, oiano, on-demand, online, online festival, opera, Orchestra, Oriol Sans, Overture Center, pandemic, Peer Gynt, Penn State, perform, performer, Perlman Trio, photo, Pianist, Piano, Piano accompanist, Piano Trio, post, pre-concert, price, program, program notes, Purcell, purchase, recital, Reich, releaseconcert, Sarah Brailey, Saturday, Schubert, series, setting, Sewell, share, Simon Rattle, sing, Singing, soloist, song, soprano, Spring, Star Wars, Steve Reich, Stravinsky, stream, streaming, string music, strings, Suite, Sunday, surprising, Susan Cook, symphony, tag, talk, text, The Ear, The Force Awakens, theater, theorbo, third, Thursday, tickets, tonight, trio, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, Vallon, video, Viola, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtual, vocal music, web, Website, weekend, wind music, Wind quintet, winds, Wingra Wind Quintet, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera, women, women composer, works, year, YouTube
Starting TODAY, the First Unitarian Society of Madison offers three free, online mini-concerts at noon on Fridays to celebrate Women’s History Month
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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).
Tags: #African-AmericanMusic, #AlexandraOlsavsky, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanIndian, #AmyBeach, #ARTemisEnsemble, #ArtisticDirector, #AsianMusic, #BethLarson, #BlackCulture, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BretaSaganski, #CelebratingWomen, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClaraSchumann, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaveAlcorn, #DoinaRotaru, #EdnaAlejandraLongoria, #ElenaRoss, #ElsaM’bala, #EunikeTanzil, #FabioSaggin, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FannyMendelssohn-Hensel, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FluteMusic, #FolkMusic, #FrankLloydWright, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GettyImages, #HildegardvonBingen, #HomeWebsite, #IsabellaLippi, #IvaUgrcic, #JacobStockinger, #JapaneseGarden, #JasonKutz, #JeffTakaki, #JenniBrandon, #JenniferLien, #JocelynHagen, #JoseIgnacioSantosAquino, #KateSoper, #KyleJohnson, #LandmarkAuditorium, #LauraBurns, #LGBTQrights, #LGBTRights, #LindaKachelmeier, #LivingComposer, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonWisconsin, #MarkBridges, #MatthewOnstad, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalMusic, #MidoriSamson, #MissyMazzoli, #MusicalTheater, #MusicalTheatre, #MusicAppreciation, #NativeAmerican, #NoonMusicale, #OnlineConcert, #RomanticEra, #RomanticMusic, #SalinaFisher, #SatokoHayami, #SocialJustice, #SopranoSinger, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #TheUW, #ToddHammes, #TomMacaluso, #VincentFuh, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #Women'sHistoryMonth, #WomenComposers, #YanaAvedyan, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, African American, Alexandra Olsavsky, alumna, America, American, American Indian, Amy Beach, announcement, appreciation, ARTemis Ensemble, Artistic director, Arts, Asia, asian, attend, audience, available, bass, Bassoon, bassoonist, Beth Larson, black, blog, Breta Saganski, bridges, Burns, Campus, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Clara Schumann, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical, Classical music, classicalmusic, commitment, community, composer, Concert, concert series, coronavirus pandemic, date, Dave Alcorn, design, Doina Rotaru, Early music, Earth, Edna Alejandra Longoria, Elena Ross, Elsa M’bala, ensemble, equitable, era, Eunike Tanzil, Fabio Saggin, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, feature, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute music, flutist, folk, forward, founded, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, free, Friday Noon Musicale, friendly, Garden, Getty Images, gift, glute, goal, graduate, graduate student, guest, haunting, hear, heritage, hiatus, highlights, Hildegard von Bingen, Hispanic, History, home website, Indian, indicate, initiative, inspire, Isabella Lippi, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jason Kutz, Jazz, Jeff Takaki, Jenni Brandon, Jennifer Lien, Jocelyn Hagen, Jose Ignacio Santos Aquino, justice, Karl Lavine, KarlLavine, Kate Soper, Kutz, Kyle Johnson, Landmark Auditorium, Larson, Laura Burns, Lavine, LGBT, LGBTQ, like, Linda Kachelmeier, link, living, long, Longoria, LunART Festival, Madison, march, Mark Bridges, Matthew Onstad, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval, Midori Samson, Midwest, minutes, Missy Mazzoli, Music, Musical theater, musical theatre, mystic, mystical, name, Native American, non-worship, noon, Noon Musicale, occasion, online, option, pandemic, participant, past, percussion, percussionists, performance, perpetuity, Pianist, Piano, playlist, post, post-Romantic, posting, practices, present, produced, program, promote, recital, recognition, Religion, remain, Romantic, Ross, Salina Fisher, Samsin, Satoko Hayami, Schumann, Season, series, share, sing, Singing, social justice, society, Sonata, song, soprano, specific, String quartet, Student, style, support, tag, The Ear, theater, title, Todd Hammes, Tom Macaluso, Trumpet, trumpeter, Unitarian, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, UW, UW-Madison, video, view, Vincent Fuh, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, vocal music, voice, Website, Wisconsin, women, women composers, Women's History Month, work, worship, Yana Avedyan, YouTube, YouTube video
Did any composer ever capture the quiet, timeless and motionless cold of deep winter better than Debussy?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It was one of those deep subzero days of the polar vortex that we seem locked in now right now.
The Ear looked out a window.
It was a chilly scene of winter, as the American writer Ann Beattie once described it.
The Ear saw the snow piled up.
He listened to the windless quiet.
Time, like motion, seemed to stop– or at least slow down — in the severe cold.
He saw tracks in the snow.
He couldn’t say whether they came from a rabbit or a squirrel or some other critter.
But it brought to mind a piano prelude by Debussy (below) that contains a kind of frozen minimalism.
Life was once again imitating art, as Oscar Wilde once observed, remarking that “there was no fog in London until the Impressionists painted it.”
Has any piece ever captured the cold, the quiet, the feeling of time and motion slowing down or stopping as Debussy did in “Des pas dans la neige” (Tracks in the Snow)?
Especially as it was played by Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (below) who, like Sviatoslav Richter, wasn’t afraid to risk taking a slower-than-usual tempo if it right felt right and created the appropriate atmosphere. (You can hear Michelangeli playing the Debussy prelude in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Do you agree about the Debussy piece?
About Michelangeli’s interpretation?
Do you know of another piece that captures the Arctic cold spell we are in?
Please leave a comment and a YouTube link, if possible.
The Ear wants to hear.
Stay safe and warm.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Going live! Here are some links to newly announced summer concerts and 2021-22 seasons
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By Jacob Stockinger
Get out your datebooks.
Now that the pandemic is fast abating, at least locally, music groups and music presenters in the Madison area have been announcing a return to live music and their new seasons and summer events in a relentless way.
The Ear had been out of commission since mid-May until this week. But in any case, The Ear was overwhelmed and just couldn’t keep up with a separate post for each one.
Still, he thought it might be helpful to be able to check the dates, performers, programs, tickets and other information in one place.
Remember that the Madison Early Music Festival is no more. It has been absorbed into the regular music curriculum at the UW.
Please know that many groups – including, but not limited to, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music (below is the UW Symphony Orchestra — masked, socially distanced and virtually streamed — during the pandemic), University Opera, Edgewood College, Just Bach, Grace Presents, the Salon Piano Series, the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Bach Around the Clock, the Festival Choir of Madison, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and the Madison Bach Musicians – have not yet released details of their new seasons.
But most of their websites say that an announcement of their new season is coming soon.
There are also some trends you may notice.
Many of the groups are raising prices and persistently seek donations as well as subscribers, no doubt to help make up for the loss of revenue during the pandemic.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have reduced the number of concerts or start later.
Some have simply rescheduled events, like the Wisconsin Union Theater closing its season with soprano Renée Fleming. And the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s new season is largely the same one they were planning to have to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020-21.
The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Middleton Community Orchestra and the Willy Street Chamber Players all have pop-up concerts and scheduled outdoor concerts in parks. Some have also scheduled individual mini-concerts or personal sessions.
If you look at programs, you will see an emphasis on Black composers and performers by almost all groups. (The Madison Symphony Orchestra has scheduled “Lyric for Strings” by George Walker, below. You can hear it performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
What is most disappointing is that no group seems to have announced a special concert or event to pay homage to the public ordeal, health care workers and victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ear keeps thinking a performance of a suitable requiem (by perhaps Mozart, Faure, Brahms, Verdi or Britten) or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony would have been an appropriate way to start the in-person season and, at the same time, acknowledge the more than 7,000 deaths in Wisconsin and almost 600,000 deaths in the U.S. and almost 4 million worldwide as of now. Maybe even Barber’s overplayed Adagio for Strings would suffice.
Finally, very few groups seem to be offering online virtual concert attendance as a possibility for those listeners who found that they actually enjoyed at least some the music in their own homes and at their own times.
IN ANY CASE, HERE IS WHAT HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE OR IS STILL ON TAP. CHECK IT OUT!
Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in free live and for-pay recorded concerts: https://bachdancing.org
Middleton Community Orchestra’s summer concerts at Fireman’s Park (below) in Middleton: https://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
Madison Bach Musicians summer workshops (below): https://madisonbachmusicians.org/2021-summer-chamber-music-workshop/
Concerts on the Square with limited paid admission at Breese Stevens Field (below): https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers): https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/madison-symphony-orchestra-concerts/
Madison Opera and Opera in the Park (below): https://www.madisonopera.org/oitp21/; and https://www.madisonopera.org/21-22/
Wisconsin Union Theater: https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/concert-series/
Willy Street Chamber Players (below) at Orton Park: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/2021-summer-concert-series.html
If you know of more entries or have observations to make about these, please leave word and, when possible, a link in the comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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