The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: A busy week at the UW-Madison brings FREE concerts in new halls with an emphasis on new music for winds, chamber ensembles, orchestra and band
3 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: Tonight’s performance by the a cappella vocal group Chanticleer is SOLD OUT.
By Jacob Stockinger
It’s going to be a busy week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music and especially in its new Hamel Music Center (below), 740 University Ave., next to the new wing of the Chazen Museum of Art.
On tap is a variety of FREE concerts, with an emphasis on new music, including compositions for winds, chamber ensembles, orchestra and band.
Earlier mistakes on dates and time have been corrected. To double check dates, times and venues as well programs, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Here is a schedule:
TUESDAY, OCT. 8
At 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below), conducted by director Scott Teeple and guest conductor Ross Wolf, will perform a FREE program of contemporary wind music.
The program includes works by Augusta Read Thomas (below top), Jake Runestad, Larry Tuttle, Xi Wang (below bottom) and Carlos Simon.
There will be one world premiere and two Wisconsin premieres.
For more information and the complete program, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-wind-ensemble-5/
THURSDAY, OCT. 10
At 8 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall of the new Hamel Music Center, the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble will perform a FREE recital of new music, including two works — “Wet Ink” and ” Treetop Studio” — by the critically acclaimed UW-Madison composer Laura Schwendinger (below).
Also on the “Fall Notes” program are “Wing and Prayer” by Melinda Wagner (below top) and “Pentacle” by Irish composer Raymond Deane (below bottom) who will make his UW-Madison debut.
Performers for “Fall Notes” will feature UW-Madison musicians, including clarinetist Alicia Lee, cellist James Waldo, violist Sally Chisholm, pianist Christopher Taylor and student performers.
FRIDAY, OCT. 11
At 8 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) will open its season with a FREE concert under its new conductor Oriol Sans, a native of Catalonia, Spain, who studied at the Barcelona Conservatory and who came to Madison from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
The program is: “aequilibria” by contemporary Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); “Death and Transfiguration; by Richard Strauss; and “Symphonic Dances” by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
For more information about conductor Oriol Sans (below), go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/oriol-sans/
For more information, from Wikipedia, about composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir (below), go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_S._Þorvaldsdóttir
SUNDAY, OCT. 13
At 2 p.m., in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the University Bands will perform a FREE concert under conductor Darin Olson (below), the assistant director of bands at the UW-Madison.
No program is available.
Tags: #ACapella, #AliciaLee, #AmericanComposer, #AnnaThorvaldsdottir, #AsianComposer, #AugustaReadThomas, #BandConcert, #BandMusic, #BarcelonaSpain, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarlosSimon, #ChamberMusic, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #Chinesecomposer, #ChineseMusic, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClarinetMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #CollinsRecitalHall, #ConcertHall, #ConcertProgram, #ContemporaryChamberEnsemble, #ContemporaryComposers, #ContemporaryMusic, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DarinOlson, #DeathandTransfiguration, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyConcert, #GuestConductor, #HamelMusicCenter, #IcelandicComposer, #IrishComposers, #JacobStockinger, #JakeRunestad, #James Waldo, #JamesWaldo, #LarryTuttle, #LauraSchwendinger, #LivingComposers, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MelindaWagner, #Musicfaculty, #MusicProfessors, #MusicSchool, #NewMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #OriolSans, #PaulCollins, #RaymondDeane, #RichardStrauss, #RossWolf, #SallyChisholm, #SchoolofMusic, #ScottTeeple, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SoldOut, #SymphonicDances, #SymphonyOrchestra, #UniversityBands, #UniversityOfMichigan, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #UWContemporaryChamberEnsemble, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #UWWindEnsemble, #ViolaMusic, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WindEnsemble, #WindMusic, #WisconsinPremiere, #WorldPremiere, #XiWang, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, Alicia Lee, American, Ann Arbor, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Arts, Asia, asian, Augusta Read Thomas, band, Barcelona, blog, busy, Carlos Simon, Catalonia, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Chanticleer, Chazen Museum of Art, China, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, classicalmusic, Collins Recital Hall, composer, Concert, concert hall, conductor, conservatory, critically acclaimed, dance, dances, Darin Olson, death, Death and Transfiguration, debut, director, emphasis, Facebook, faculty, fall, follow, forward, free, group, guest, hall, Hamel Music Center, Iceland, Icelandic composer, information, Irish, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Runestad, Larry Tuttle, Laura Schwendinger, like, link, living composers, Madison, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Melinda Wagner, Music, music faculty, music school, native, new, New Music, notes, Orchestra, orchestral music, Oriol Sans, Paul Collins, performance, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, premiere, professor, program, Raymond Deane, recital, Richard Strauss, Ross Wolf, Sally Chisholm, schedule, School of Music, Scott Teeple, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, sold-out, Spain, Spanish, Student, symphonic, Symphonic Dances, symphony orchestra, tag, tonight, transfiguration, United States, University Bands, University of Michigan, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW Wind Ensemble, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, variety, Viola, violist, vocal music, week, Wikipedia, wind ensemble, wind music, wing, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Premiere, work, world premiere, Xi Wang, YouTube
Classical music: You can celebrate Valentine’s Day this Thursday, Feb. 14, with live concerts of new music or old music in a large hall or a small cafe
2 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
If you are looking to celebrate Valentine’s Day on this coming Thursday, Feb. 14, with live classical music, there are at least two excellent choices facing you.
The larger event is a FREE concert at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall by the UW Symphony Orchestra (below top) under the award-winning conductor and professor Chad Hutchinson (below bottom) and two graduate student conductors, Michael Dolan and Ji Hyun Yim.
The program features the “Valse Triste” (Sad Waltz) by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius and the Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 543, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But the main focus will be on two works by the living American composer Augusta Read Thomas (below), who lives in Chicago and whose music is widely performed because of its accessible style.
The two works by Thomas are “Of Paradise and Light” and “Prayer and Celebration.”
Thomas, who this week will be doing a residency at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will also hold a free and open master class in Music Hall, at the base of Bascom Hill, from 2 to 5 p.m. that same day. (You can listen to her discuss how she composes in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more information about the concert, the program and especially about Thomas – including an audio sample — go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra/
A BAROQUE VALENTINE’S DAY
On Valentine’s Day, baroque chamber music enthusiasts can hear the music of the Kim-Kielson Duo as they perform a program on period instruments, titled Canons, Chaconnes and Chocolate!
Longtime friends and performers, baroque violinist Kangwon Lee Kim and recorder player Lisette Kielson (below top, right and left respectively) will be joined by viola da gambist James Waldo (below bottom).
The concert is on this Thursday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. at Chocolaterian Cafe, 6637 University Ave., in Middleton.
You can name your own ticket price — $20-$35 per person is suggested, payable in either cash or check.
There also will be Special Valentine’s Day Chocolate available for purchase.
The program celebrates the popular baroque forms of the canon and chaconne as composed by Italian, German and French masters.
The duo will perform three chaconnes by Tarquinio Merula, Antonio Bertali and Marin Marais plus canonic duos by Georg Philipp Telemann as well as an arrangement of canons from The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080, by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AntonioBertali, #AugustaReadThomas, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueRecorder, #BaroqueViolin, #BascomHill, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CashPayment, #ChadHutchinson, #ChocolaterianCafe, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FinnishComposer, #Frenchcomposer, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #GermanComposer, #GraduateStudent, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #italianComposer, #James Waldo, #JamesWaldo, #JeanSibelius, #JohannSebastianBach, #KangwonKim, #LisetteKielson, #LivingComposer, #MarinMarais, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MillsHall, #MozartSymphony, #MusicalStyle, #Musicfaculty, #MusicHall, #PeriodInstruments, #PersonalCheck, #ReligionandSpirituality, #SadWaltz, #SymphonyNo.39, #TaquinioMerula, #TheArtofFugue, #UniversityofChicago, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #ValentinesDay, #ValseTriste, #VioladaGamba, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, accessible, American, American composer, Antonio Bertali, arrangement, audience, Audio, Augusta Read Thomas, award, award-winning, Baroque recorder, Bascom Hill, blog, BWV, Canon, cash, celebrate, celebration, chaconne, Chad Hutchinson, check, Chicago, chocolate, Chocolaterian Cafe, choice, composer, Concert, conductor, counterpoint, discuss, discussion, duo, event, Facebook, faculty, faculty member, Finland, Finnish, Finnish music, forward, free, French, fugue, Georg Philipp Telemann, German, historically informed performance practices, information, Italian, Jean Sibelius, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kangwon Kim, Kochel, large, light, like, link, Lisette Kielson, Living composer, Marin Marais, Mead Witter School of Music, Middleton, Mills Hall, Mozart, Music, Music Hall, musical style, Paradise, pay, payable, performer, period instruments, person, player, prayer, professor, program, purchase, recorder, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, residency, sad waltz, spirituality, style, symphony, Symphony No. 39, Symphony No. 39 in E Flat Major, tag, Taquinio Merula, The Art of Fugue, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Symphony Orchestra, Valentine, Valentine's Day, valse triste, video, viola da gamba, Violin, week, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, word, YouTube
Classical music education: For 75 years, here is how the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Festival, where composer John Harbison teaches, emphasizes new music and teaches young composers and student performers.
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
This is the closing weekend of this summer’s Token Creek Festival.
The closing “Buoyant Baroque” program, featuring the Lydian Quartet and others performing music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Arcangelo Corelli and Georg Frideric Handel among others, will be performed tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. (The Ear sees that Sunday’s performance is sold out, but you should check for yourself. Sometimes spots open up form cancellations.)
Here is a link to find out more:
American composer John Harbison (below top) is the co-founder and co-artistic director of the festival along with his violinist wife Rose Mary Harbison (below bottom).
Harbison is a very accomplished man and musician. He has played the piano this summer for the festival, and he is also a preeminent contemporary composer who teaches at MIT. He has won a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur genius grant among his many honors. And at the Token Creek Festival, he is the most enlightening commentator on composers and specific works that The Ear has ever heard.
So it seemed a good time to bring to your attention a story done by NPR or National Public Radio about the Tanglewood Festival of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since it features John Harbison as a major source and interview. This summer the festival turned 75.
Harbison is, after all, the co-director – with fellow composer Michael Gandolfi — of the composing program at Tanglewood Music Center, which is where he often premieres his own new works and where he was busy working just before he came to Madison for the Token Creek Festival.
The Ear finds it interesting to hear how, ever since the festival’s beginning, the creativity of young composers and young performers has always been cultivated and encouraged, with an emphasis on creating new music and keeping the classical music world vibrant and current.
Below is a photo of this summer’s world premiere of a new work by Michael Gandolfi, with famed soprano Dawn Upshaw (on the far right in purple) working with student performers.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Andris Nelsons, Arts, Augusta Read Thomas, Bach, Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, Baroque, Benjamin Britten, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Brandenburg Concerto, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, composer, concerto, Concerto Grosso, Corelli, Dawn Upshaw, Europe, George Frideric Handel, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leonard Bernstein, Madison, MIT, Music, New Music, Piano, Serge Koussevitzky, soprano, Tanglewood Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, Token Creek Festival, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, vocal music
Classical music: UW festival will honor American composer George Crumb at 85. It runs from this Friday through Monday and features master classes as well as the acclaimed violinist Miranda Cuckson and the new music groups Nunc and Due East.
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The acclaimed prize-winning composer Laura Schwendinger, who teaches composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, has sent the following announcement to The Ear:
Pulitzer Prize-winner George Crumb (below, b. 1929) is one of America’s foremost composers and one of the most influential and innovative composers of the latter half of the 20th Century.
UW-Madison composer and professor Laura Schwendinger, who is the Artistic Director of the UW-Madison Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, designed the 2015 CRUMB FESTIVAL – to take place from this Friday, March 20, through Monday, March 23, at the UW-Madison School of Music — to celebrate his 85th birthday.
“We wish to celebrate this unique and singular voice,” says Schwendinger. She describes Crumb’s influence in this way: “He is one of the most important, and influential composers of our time. He simply makes us listen to sound in a new way, and there are very few composers who can do that.”
The Festival will feature four concerts and nine works by Crumb.
Here is a schedule of events by each day.
FRIDAY
On Friday, March 20, at 8 p.m. in Music Hall, “Lakeshore Rush,” which features three all-star UW alumni, will be performing Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale).
SATURDAY
On Saturday, March 21, at 7:30 p.m. and also in the Music Hall, the UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble (below top) will be presenting a concert featuring the Pro Arte String Quartet’s Parry Karp (below bottom) in Crumb’s Solo Cello Sonata and saxophonist Steve Carmichaelin’s Quest.
UW graduate student, conductor Kyle Knox will be conducting University of Southern California professor Donald Crockett’s “Whistling in the Dark” and Les Thimmig will be leading his saxophone quartet in a work by University of California-Davis professor Laurie San Martin, in her Miniatures for Saxophone quartet; a work by University of California-Berkeley Music Department Chair Cindy Cox will round out the program.
Schwendinger adds “none of these works could have been composed without Crumb’s influence, yet are distinctive examples of their composers’ individual styles.”
SUNDAY
On Sunday, March 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, Nunc (below top, Latin for “now”), a New York-based music ensemble will perform, headed by the star violinist Miranda Cuckson (below middle), called “superb,” “deeply satisfying,” and “prodigiously talented” by the New York Times.
The program includes Eleven Echoes of Autumn, and the Four Nocturnes for violin and piano as well as works by Augusta Read-Thomas, Sebastian Currier, and Laura Schwendinger’s The Violinists in My Life, a work for which the third movement is dedicated to Cuckson. Schwendinger (below bottom) adds that “this work of hers, is much influenced by the drama of the Crumb’s Solo Cello Sonata.”
MONDAY
Finally, on Monday, March 23, at 8 p.m. in Morphy Hall, Due East (below), the flute and percussion duo of Erin Lesser and Greg Byer, lauded as “superb” (New York Times) and “brilliant” (New York Concert Review), will be joined by NYC-based harpist, Jacqui Kerrod, vocalist Amanda deBoer and bassist Mark Buchner, will be performing George Crumb’s colorful and enticing Madrigals (1-4) in a stunning multi-media presentation, which presents a “triptych video montage” that becomes a “magical and powerful environment,” along with works written for them by the Chicago Composers Consortium and also inspired by the works of Crumb.
The consortium has been a staple of Chicago’s New Music scene for 25 years now and has counted as part of its membership some of Chicago’s best-known composers.
In addition to the four concert offerings, Miranda Cuckson, Blair McMillen, Erin Lesser and Greg Beyer will all be offering master classes, and Nunc will be reading works by student composers as part of a composer workshop.
Schwendinger says “the festival is a fantastic opportunity for the next generation of composers to be exposed to Crumb and learn from the performers who play his music.”
Susan C. Cook (below), music historian and director of the UW-Madison School of Music, is currently teaching a course focusing on George Crumb. An expert in contemporary and American music of all kinds, Cook singles out Crumb as central to her own desire to study modern music.
“As an undergraduate at Beloit College, I first heard Crumb’s ‘Ancient Voices of Children,’ then less than a decade old, in a music theory course,” Cook says. “It simply grabbed hold of me, and I knew I wanted to understand how it came to be and share it with others.”
All events are open to the public.
Nunc and Due East are ticketed events. Visit the Events Calendar at www.music.wisc.edu for more information.
Here are some online resources, including YouTube videos:
Crumb Quest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dpy3_BVBIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XJ0cJJLrRQ
Crumb: Vox Balanae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uU_5cg9dG8
Crumb: Eleven Echoes of Autumn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYVw4BcRAgU
Links to other works on the concerts:
Donald Crockett Whistling in the Dark
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKuymSYeHqk
“Violinists in My Life” with violinist Eleanor Bartsch and pianist Thomas Kasdorf performing with the UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble in Mills Hall in 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNUc6-hJJV4
Sebastian Currier, Verge:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7PDj8AS_cg
Featured performers in other works:
Due East
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6LzjnyRijQ
Miranda Cuckson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chs6LxlOU78
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X4t-DIU2m0
Tags: ancient, anicent, Arts, Augusta Read Thomas, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago metropolitan area, children, Classical music, contemporary music, Davis, Due East, flute, George Crumb, Jacob Stockinger, Laura Schwendinger, Miranda Cuckson, Music, New Music, New York City, New York Times, Nunc, percussion, Saxophone, Sebastian Currier, The New York Times, University of California, University of California-Berkeley, University of Southern California, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, voice, voices, whale, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Third Coast Percussion offers a FREE concert of new music tonight and a FREE master class on Thursday at the University of Wisconsin. Also, settings by American composers of poems by American poet Emily Dickinson songs will be featured at the FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: On this Friday from 12:15 to 1 p.m., the FREE Friday Noon Musicale in the Landmark Auditorium of the historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, soprano Julia Foster and pianist Susan Gaeddert will perform songs by Francesco Santoliquido and Francis Poulenc, plus settings of poems by the great American poet Emily Dickinson (below, in a photograph) by various American composers (Ernst Bacon, Daniel Crozier, John Duke, Henry Mollicone and Andre Previn).
By Jacob Stockinger
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the acclaimed group Third Coast Percussion (below, in a photo of Saveria Truglia) will perform a program of modern and contemporary percussion music.
The program includes: “Fractalia” by Owen Clayton Condon (at bottom in a YouTube video); “Mallet Quartet” by Steve Reich; “Third Construction” by John Cage; and “Resounding Earth” (commissioned work) by Augusta Read Thomas (below), former composer-in-residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Then on Thursday, from 12:15 to 2:15 p.m. in Room 1321 of the George Mosse Humanities Building, the percussion ensemble will give a public master class.
Hailed by The New Yorker magazine as “vibrant” and “superb,” Third Coast Percussion explores and expands the extraordinary sonic possibilities of the percussion repertoire, delivering exciting performances for audiences of all kinds.
Since its formation in 2005, Third Coast Percussion has gained national attention with concerts and recordings that meld the energy of rock music with the precision and nuance of classical chamber works. Third Coast Percussion is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame.
For more information about Third Coast Percussion, visit the group’s website:
http://www.thirdcoastpercussion.com
You can also read the preview blog post by Kathy Esposito on the UW School of Music’s terrific new blog “Fanfare:
http://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/third_coast/
Tags: Andre Previn, Augusta Read Thomas, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Daniel Crozier, Emily Dickinson, Ernst Bacon, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Francesco Santoliquido, Francis Poulenc, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Mosse, Henry Mollicone, Jacob Stockinger, John Cage, Mallet Quartet, New Music, New Yorker, percussion, Percussion Ensemble, Steve Reich, The New Yorker, third coast, Third Coast Percussion, Unitarianism, University of Notre Dame, University of Wisconsin–Madison, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
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
7 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
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.
Share this:
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AnthonyDiSanza, #ArpeggioneSonata, #ArthurBenjamin, #AstorPiazzolla, #AugustaReadThomas, #BandMusic, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassMusic, #BryceRichter, #CapTimes, #ChamberMusic, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #ChenYi, #ChoralFantasy, #ChoralMusic, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClassicalGuitar, #ClaudeDebussy, #CollinsRecitalHall, #CommissionedMusic, #ConcertChoir, #ConcertHall, #ConsecrationoftheHouse, #CoreyPompey, #EmeritusProfessor, #EuphoniumMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FluteMusic, #FranzSchubert, #Fridaynight, #GuitarMusic, #HalloweenFreakfest, #HamelMusicCenter, #HomeWebsite, #HumanitiesBuilding, #InteriorDesign, #IsthmusMagazine, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JamesSmith, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnAdams, #JohnCage, #JohnW.Barker, #KarlheinzStockhausen, #KarlosMoser, #LaScala, #LauraSchwendinger, #Lee/KaufmanRehearsalHall, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarcFink, #MarcVallon, #MarkHetzler, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MillsHall, #MorphyRecitalHall, #MusicCommission, #MusicCritic, #Musicfaculty, #NewMusic, #OldBuilding, #OperaHouse, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #OriolSans, #ParryKarp, #PaulCollins, #PersonalTaste, #PianoMusic, #PressRelease, #ProfessorEmeritus, #PublicOpinion, #RebecccaBlank, #RiccardoMuti, #RichardLottridge, #RichardStrauss, #SaturdayNight, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SoldOut, #SopranoSinger, #StateStreet, #StephenSondheim, #Sundayafternoon, #SusanC.Cook, #TenorSinger, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEar, #TimothyHagen, #TomCurry, #TraditionalMusic, #TyroneGreive, #TyroneGrieve, #UniversityCommunications, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #UWChorale, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VincenzoBellini, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WindEnsemble, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, Aaron Copland, acoustics, afternoon, alumni, Anthony DiSanza, architecture, Argentina, Arpeggione sonata, Art, Arthur Benjamin, artistic, Arts, audience, Augusta Read Thomas, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, background, band music, Bassoon, Beethoven, Bellini, Beverly Taylor, blog, blue, brass, Brazil, Brazilian music, Bryce Richter, build, building, Campus, Cap Times, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, chancellor, Chazen, Chazen Museum of Art, Chen Yi, Choir, choral, Choral Fantasy, choral music, Chorale, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, collage, Collins Recital Hall, comments, commission, commissioned music, communication, composer, Concert, Concert Choir, concert hall, conductor, consecration, Consecration of the House, Corey Pompey, critic, death, Debussy, design, details, die, died, director, distinguished, do, done, donor, ensemble, Euphonium, event, exhibit, expectations, external, Facebook, faculty, Fanfare, fantasy, fest, flute, folk song, folksong, forward, frak, Franz Schubert, freak, Freakfest, free, Friday night, fund, gala, graduates, guitar, Halloween, Halloween Freakest, Hamel Music Center, History, Holiday, home website, Horn, House, humanities, humanities building, hype, impressive, improved, information, interior, interior design, Isthmus, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, James Smith, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Adams, John Cage, John W. Barker, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Karlos Moser, La Scala, Laura Schwendinger, Lee/Kaufman Rehearsal Hall, link, listeners, live, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, madrigal, major, Marc Fink, Marc Vallon, Mark Hetzler, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval, Milan, Mills Hall, mixed, mixed reviews, Morphy Recital Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, Mozart, Music, music critic, music faculty, new, New Music, news, Oboe, occasion, Octet, offically, old, old building, opening, opera, Opera house, opinion, Orchestra, orchestral music, Oriol Sans, Overture, Parry Karp, Paul Collins, performer, performers, photo, photograph, photographer, Piano, pieces, post, posting, press, press release, preview, private, private schools, program, public opinion, publicity, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, reader, Rebecca Blank, reception, rehearsal, restroom, review, Riccardo Muti, Richard Lottridge, Richard Strauss, satisfaction, satisfied, Saturday night, say, schedule, Schubert, seat, seating, Serenade, share, social, sold-out, something, Sonata, soprano, space, special, State Street, Stephen Sondheim, Strauss, structure, Student, subscriber, success, Sunday, Sunday afternoon, Susan C. Cook, symphony, tag, tango, taste, tenor, The Capital Times, The Ear, think, Thursday, ticket, time, Timothy Hagen, Tom Curry, tonight, traditional, Trombone, Trumpet, Tuba, Tyrone Greive, Tyrone Grieve, United States, University Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Concert Choir, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW Wind Ensemble, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, vary, Veteran, Vincenzo Bellini, Viola, Violin, vocal music, warm up, weekend, wind ensemble, wind music, winds, wing, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, word, world, world premiere, years, you, YouTube