The Well-Tempered Ear
Ailing superstar maestro and pianist Daniel Barenboim, 80, quits longtime German opera post
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yesterday — Friday, Jan. 6, 2023 — superstar maestro and pianist Daniel Barenboim, 80, resigned his longtime post of over 30 years as director of the Berlin State Opera.
Barenboim (below) cited ill health — specifically a severe inflammation of blood vessels — as the reason for his resignation.
Local residents might recall his long tenure at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where many of them probably heard him conduct and perhaps even perform as a concert pianist.
Here is a long biographical entry in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim
Below are links to two news articles about Barenboim’s decision.
In them you can read a lot of details about: his philosophy of interpretation; his childhood as a Jewish child prodigy in Argentina; his training and early career as both pianist and conductor; his performances with marriage to British cellist Jacqueline du Pré, who died young; his love of German music and his role in Germany’s reunification; his controversial criticism of how Israel treats Palestinians; and the orchestra and music school he co-founded with the Palestinian activist and world-famous literary scholar Edward Said.
Here is a story from British newspaper The Guardian:
And here is the story from the German broadcasting network and media conglomerate Deutsche Welle:
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fconductor-daniel-barenboim-resigns-as-berlin-state-opera-director-over-ill-health%2Fa-63760683&data=05%7C01%7C%7Ceeb75c8f244542d0496e08daf02ed28b%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0e%7C638086381129033294%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=qmTwyPzkWpJKfAT4ohHJVWWnISE%2BxZS%2FxuM7hrC09zQ%3D&reserved=0
Finally, here is a recent compilation video from the outstanding arts website and streaming service medici.tv to celebrate Barenboim’s recent 80th birthday. It is called “80 Minutes with the Barenboim” and it features many other classical luminaries such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Pierre Boulez who have been vital to his life and global career.
Do you know any of Barenboim’s many recordings?
Do you have a favorite recording to recommend?
Did you ever hear Barenboim in person conduct or play the piano?
What did you think of him? Of his conducting or playing?
The Ear wants to hear.
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The UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet performs the fifth installment of its complete Beethoven cycle this Friday night at 7:30 in a FREE live-streamed concert
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By Jacob Stockinger
As we draw close to Dec. 16 and the 250th birthday celebrations for Ludwig van Beethoven (below, in 1803), one of the joys and highlights of the Beethoven Year continues to impress.
The UW-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet will give the fifth installment of their complete cycle of the 16 string quartets by Beethoven this Friday night, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m.
Here is a direct link: https://youtu.be/nZN7tRu8N_k
Members of the quartet (below, from left) are: violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
The FREE online virtual concert is a livestream from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, where the quartet will once again play with masks and social distancing (below).
No in-person attendance is allowed.
“It’s different playing without a live audience,” says cellist Parry Karp. “But we’re getting used to it. Not having to play other live concerts or to go on tour around the state also allows us to focus more. And the upside of playing online is that we saw quite a number of viewers from Brazil and Argentina listening to our last concert.”
Before each of the two quartets, Professor Charles Dill (below in a photo by Katrin Talbot), who teaches musicology at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will give a short introductory lecture.
The program features one early quartet and one middle “Razumovsky” quartet: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18 No. 3 (1798-1800); and String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, “Razumovsky,” Op. 59, No. 2 (1806).
You can hear the Ebène Quartet play the hymn-like slow movement of the Razumovsky quartet, with its use of a Russian theme, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is more background from Wikipedia about both quartets:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._3_(Beethoven)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._8_(Beethoven)
For more information about the program, the names of the orchestra’s players and impressive historical background about the Pro Arte Quartet, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-v/
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Classical music: Renowned organist Hector Olivera will play classics and also improvise spontaneously in Overture Hall on Tuesday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
At 7:30 p.m. on this Tuesday night, Feb. 11, in Overture Hall, the renowned Argentinian organist and composer Hector Olivera (below) will make his local debut on the Overture Concert Organ Series sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Olivera will perform on the Klais Overture Concert Organ (below)
All tickets are $20.
The program includes works by: Johann Sebastian Bach; Cesar Franck; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Astor Piazzolla; Louis Vierne; Marco Enrico Bossi; and William Ralph Driffill.
For the specific works on the program, plus information about buying tickets, biographical background and reviews of his past performances, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/organ-hector-olivera/
Says Greg Zelek (below), the MSO organist and Juilliard School graduate who also organizes the organ concert series:
“Known as one of the most exciting organists of the 20th century, international concert organist Hector Olivera will entertain and exhilarate the audience with an unforgettable performance.
“Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mr. Olivera has performed all over the world and has had audiences leaping to their feet with applause for years.
“His debut performance at Overture Hall will feature organ classics like Vierne’s Carillon de Westminster, as well as transcriptions like “Oblivion” by another Argentine native, Astor Piazzolla.
“He will close the concert with an improvisation on a submitted theme that is sure to enthrall and amaze everyone in attendance.”
Want proof or a preview?
You can hear Olivera improvise on a traditional Chinese folk song, first sung to him, during a concert in Shenzhin, China, in the YouTube video below:
Tags: #20thCentury, #ArgentineanComposer, #ArgentinianComposer, #AstorPiazzolla, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BuenosAires, #CesarFranck, #ConcertOrgan, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GregZelek, #HectorOlivera, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JuilliardSchool, #KlaisOrgan, #LouisVierne, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarcoEnricoBossi, #MusicReview, #NewTango, #NuevoTango, #OrganMusic, #OrganTranscription, #OvertureHall, #TheEar, #TraditionalMusic, #Tuesdaynight, #UnitedKingdom, #WilliamRalphDriffill, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, amaze, applause, Argentina, Argentine, Argentine tango, Argentinean, Argentinian, audience, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, biographical, biography, blog, born, Bossi, British, Buenos Aires, Cesar Franck, China, composer, Concert, concert organ, debutt, Driffill, England, entertain, enthrall, exciting, exhilarate, Facebook, February, folk, folksong, forward, Franck, Greg Zelek, Hector Olivera, improvisation, improvise, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Juilliard, Juilliard School, Klais, like, link, local, Louis Vierne, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marco Enrico Bossi, Mozart, MSO, native, night, Oblivion, Olivera, organ, organ music, organize, Overture Concert Organ, Overture Hall, past, performer, post, posting, preview, program, proof, renown, renowned, review, series, share, Shenzhin, sing, Singing, song, specific, sung, tag, tango, The Ear, theme, tickets, traditional, transcription, Tuesday, UK, Vierne, Westminster, William Ralph Driffill, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, works, world, years, YouTube
Classical music: A busy week at the UW-Madison brings an early opera and an all-Bernstein brass and winds program plus orchestral and choral concerts that will be LIVE-STREAMED
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By Jacob Stockinger
A busy week brings an early opera plus orchestral and choral concerts with live streaming to the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
Here are details:
On Thursday and Saturday nights, the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will LIVE STREAM concerts by the UW Symphony Orchestra and the UW Concert Choir.
“We plan to do more live streaming of ensemble groups, especially large ones, and of non-ticketed events,” says concert manager Katherine Esposito. “It is more and more becoming the norm for music schools.”
Here is the all-purpose Live Streaming link where you can see what events will be live-streamed: https://www.music.wisc.edu/video/
At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night, Nov. 15, in Mills Hall, the UW Symphony Orchestra (below top) will perform a FREE concert under director Chad Hutchinson (below bottom).
The program is American composer Jennifer Higdon’s “Blue Cathedral” and the Symphony No. 5 by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
For information about the program and the concert, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-2/
On Saturday night, Nov. 17, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Concert Choir (below) will perform a FREE concert featuring the “Hymn to St. Cecilia” by British composer Benjamin Britten and “Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah” by Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera as well as works by several other composers.
Conductors will be Beverly Taylor (below), the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison, and graduate student Michael Johnson.
For details about the program and individual performers, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-choir-2/
On Friday night, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall there is the first of three performances by the University Opera of Italian baroque composer Claudio Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea,” directed by David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke Delalio).
Other performances are on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. and Tuesday night, Nov. 20, at 7:30 in Music Hall. (Sorry, no photos of the UW production. But you can hear a famous duet from another professional production in the YouTube video below.)
Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for students.
Chad Hutchinson will conduct the orchestra.
For more information about the plot of the opera, comments by the two singers playing Emperor Nero, the production and tickets, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/university-opera-monteverdis-the-coronation-of-poppea/
And here is a link to a press release about the opera: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2018/10/09/university-opera-poppea2018/
On Sunday night, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Brass Ensemble and the Winds of Wisconsin join forces under conductor Scott Teeple for an FREE all-Leonard Bernstein (below) program. For details, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-wind-ensemble-and-winds-of-wisconsin-joint-concert/
Tags: #AlbertoGinastera, #AmericanComposer, #ArgentineanComposer, #ArgentinianComposer, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BenjaminBritten, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlueCathedral, #BrassMusic, #ChadHutchinson, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #CollegeStudent, #ConcertChoir, #DavidRonis, #EmperorNero, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #GraduateStudent, #GreatBritain, #HymntoSt.Cecilia, #ItalianBaroque, #italianComposer, #JenniferHigdon, #LamentstionsoftheProphetJeremiah, #LeonardBernstein, #LiveStreaming, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MillsHall, #MusicHall, #OperaAria, #OrchestralMusic, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PressRelease, #SchoolofMusic, #ScottTeeple, #SeniorCitizen, #The CoronationofPoppea, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWBrassEnsemble, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #WindMusic, #WindsofWisconsin, #YouTubevideo, adult, Alberto Ginastera, American, Argentina, Argentine, Argentinean, Argentinian, Arts, Baroque, Baroque music, Baroque opera, Benjamin Britten, Beverly Taylor, blog, blue, Blue Cathedral, brass, brass ensemble, busy, cathedral, Cello, Chad Hutchinson, choral music, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, composer, Concert, Concert Choir, conductor, David Ronis, Early music, earlymusic, Emperor, England, ensemble, event, Facebook, graduate student, group, Hymn to St. Cecilia, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdon, Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, Leonard Bernstein, link, live streaming, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, Mills Hall, Music, Music Hall, music school, Nero, norm, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, post, posting, press release, program, Scott Teeple, senior, St. Cecilia, Student, symphony, The Coronation of Poppea, ticket, U.K., UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, week, winds, Winds of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Tangos will be featured in a FREE concert by the Yzafa Quintet this Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Unity Chapel in Spring Green.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Monday night at 7:30 p.m. the Yzafa Quintet will perform a FREE concert of tangos at the Unity Chapel in Spring Green. Members of the quintet include (bottom left to right) Doug Brown, Michael O’Brien, August Jirovec, Amber Dolphin and Jamie Davis.
To The Ear, it sure seems like this certainly has been the year for South American music in general and tangos in particular in the Madison area.
The Wisconsin Youth Chamber Orchestras’ Youth Orchestra (below) left yesterday for an extensive 10-day tour of Argentina, the home of the tango, which legend says was first danced in brothels.
Here is a link to background about the tour:
http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/2014-international-tour/
And here is a link to the tour blog:
http://wysotour2014.blogspot.com
Earlier this summer, The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society performed a dozen tangos by Astor Piazzolla and other composers with the help of Uruguayan pianist and tango master Pablo Zinger (below).
And flutist Stephanie Jutt (below), who is a co-founder and co-artistic director of BDDS, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and who is principal flute with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, has performed and recorded a bunch of tangos she brought back from a sabbatical year she spent in Argentina.
Well, you really can’t blame them at all for programming tangos.
Was there ever a sexier or more sensual, more seductive dance –- even if you don’t actually dance it?
And Madison isn’t alone in succumbing to Tango Fever.
Here is a note from our blog friend Kent Mayfield, who heads up the Rural Musicians Forum and is bringing the urban decadence of the tango out to the wholesome farm fields in south-central Wisconsin:
TANGO TAKES THE SPOTLIGHT IN SPRING GREEN CONCERT
The region’s only group specializing in traditional Argentine tango, Quinteto Yzafa, takes the spotlight in a concert in Spring Green’s Unity Chapel on Monday night, July 28, at 7:30 p.m.. The concert is part of an annual series sponsored by the Rural Musicians Forum. (You can hear a sample of a tango by the Quinteto Yzafa in a YouTube video of a performance in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the bottom.)
The tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1890s in working class districts of Buenos Aires and along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Uruguay and Argentina. Soon it became wildly popular around the world.
The dance derives from the Cuban and Argentine dance styles. It is said to contain elements from the African community in Buenos Aires, influenced both by ancient African rhythms and the music from Europe.
In 2009, the tango was declared part of the world’s “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO.
Quinteto Yzafa (pronounced “ee-SAH-fuh”) is dedicated to a fresh, dynamic approach to traditional Argentine tango music.
With backgrounds in classical music as well as jazz, bluegrass, Arabic music, Latin American folk and popular dance styles, the musicians perform tangos, waltzes and milongas from the 1910s through the present day.
Their dynamic new arrangements have the variety and intensity to entertain concert audiences, but they never lose the danceable essence of the true tango. They delight schoolchildren and serious tango dancers alike.
The ensemble’s sound features the bandoneón (below), the characteristic 71-button relative of the accordion whose distinctive timbre is essential for traditional tango music, filled out with the rich tones of a full string section (violin, cello and double bass) and piano.
Bandoneon player and composer Michael O’Brien says he was inspired by the Argentinian classical composer Astor Piazzola (below bottom).
“There was something about the combination of sinuous, expressive melody interspersed with periods of brutal dissonance and percussive playing that lodged itself in my memory,” O’Brien says.
That was the beginning of a life-long interest which has led him to learn Piazzolla’s own instrument, the bandoneon, travel to Argentina to study, research and perform tango music, and even to make a career out of it. In his day job, O’Brien is a professor of ethnomusicology. O’Brien has created for the group a repertoire of little known and original tangos, waltzes and milongas as well as many tango classics.
Quinteto Yzafa has passion and zing … At times bold and brash and at other times heartbreakingly tragic, it covers every emotion in the spectrum.
The Unity Chapel (below top is the exterior, below bottom is the interior) is located at 6596 County Road T, just east of Highway 23. The chapel is a living testament to the simple and contemplative lives early settlers created for themselves in southwest Wisconsin.
There is no ticket charge but a freewill offering to support the concert series will be taken.
For more information: www.ruralmusiciansforum.org
OR contact Kent Mayfield ruralmusiciansforum@yahoo.com.
Tags: Argentina, Argentine, Argentine tango, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, bandoneon, BDDS, Buenos Aires, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Cuba, Cuban, dance, double bass, ethnic, ethnomusicology, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, milonga, Milwaukee, Music, musicology, Pablo Zinger, Piano, quintet, Quinteto Yzafa, Rural Musicians Forum, Spring Green, tango, UNESCO, United Nations, Unity Chapel, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Uruguay, valse, Violin, Waltz, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, World Heritage, WYSO, YouTube
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