The Well-Tempered Ear
TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24, at noon — a video concert by the Willy Street Chamber Players will kick off the Wisconsin Union Theater’s new concert series “Wisconsin Sound”
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater is excited to pilot “Wisconsin Sound,” a new video concert series featuring musicians from our very own state.
The series, which includes the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet, will have five concerts, once a month between January and May and begins with celebrated, locally grown Willy Street Chamber Players (WSCP, below in a photo by Lloyd Schultz) on TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24 — at noon CDT.
You can see the full lineup with dates and purchase single tickets for the performance or discounted subscription for all Wisconsin Sound events here. Single tickets are $15 and subscription tickets to all five concerts are $50.
The Willy Street Chamber Players began just six years ago but has already made its mark on the Madison community, garnering accolades for its fun approach to music, accessibility and dedication to community partnerships.
The group will perform Fantasiestucke (Fantasy Pieces) for Cello and Piano, Op. 73, by Robert Schumann; Fantasy No. 2 for Violin and Piano by Florence Price (below top); Kiép Nào Có Yeu Nhau (Vietnamese Love Song) for Violin and Piano by Rachel Eubanks (below bottom); and Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano, Op. 70, by Robert Schumann. (You can hear the Fantasy by Florence Price in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
You may have heard these dynamic performers during our Summer Serenades at Memorial Union Terrace and other Wisconsin festivals.
The pandemic has not stopped this group from bringing beautiful music to the community; it has continued to perform virtually as well as give in-person “Micro-concerts” for one to two people and safety in mind.
“We are honored they agreed to be the first artist in this pilot series. We share in Willy Street Chamber Players’ goal of creating community through music and thought they’d be a great group to kick off the new series for that very reason,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass.
“Everyone in the arts is trying so hard to stay connected and the group’s music and positivity invite that connection,” Snodgrass adds. “I hope this will reach Wisconsin patrons as well as new listeners who may not have had the chance to hear Willy Street Chamber Players or who have not been to the Wisconsin Union Theater before.”
This blog named the Willys “Musicians of the Year” for 2016. The players were called “a fantastic breath of fresh air who invest their performances of even well-known works, such as the glorious Octet by Mendelssohn, with energy and drive, zest and good humor.” You can read that story here.
Click here for more information about Wisconsin Sound, including other upcoming performances.
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The Willy Street Chamber Players give a virtual concert in November plus personalized live “micro-concerts” with tickets that go on sale this Wednesday. Plus, the Madison Symphony Orchestra organ concerts start TONIGHT with a FREE online recital by Greg Zelek
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ALERT: Tonight, Oct. 13, at 7:30 p.m. CDT, the Madison Symphony Orchestra will open its concert organ series with a FREE streamed virtual online concert MSO virtual concert live from Overture Hall. The performer is MSO organist Greg Zelek (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) and the program includes music by Debussy, Franck, Durufle and Satie among others. For more information and to register, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/greg-zelek-2020-streamed/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following note that once again cements the reputation that the Willy Street Chamber Players have for inventive, innovative and ingenious programming, even during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Willy Street Chamber Players (below) have announced a reimagined 2020 season titled 1NTERLUDE. The project includes two unique events designed with safety in mind and aims to provide meaningful artistic experiences during the pandemic.
BEYOND THE SCREEN
BEYOND THE SCREEN is a virtual concert that will air online on Sunday, Nov. 15, at noon CST. The program will explore two colorful works for violin and cello by Kodaly (below top) and Ravel (below bottom) as well as other unique works. (You can hear Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
While viewing, audience members will be encouraged to submit questions and insights via an online form.
After the performance, members of the group will host a virtual “reception” on ZOOM where they’ll answer submitted questions and lead a discussion.
MICRO-CONCERTS
The chamber music group is also announcing an entirely new way to experience live music during coronavirus pandemic: 1-on-1 “micro-concerts”that will start on Saturday, Nov. 2, and occur on a variety of dates this fall.
Tickets go on sale beginning this Wednesday, Oct. 14. Up to two guests from the same household can sign up for a 10-minute slot at the location of their choice to view a “living, breathing musical art exhibit.”
Locations include the new Arts + Literature Laboratory (below top), Garver Feed Mill and A Place To Be (below bottom), all on Madison’s east side.
Ticket prices will operate on a “pay what you can” structure. The group has suggested a $20 donation per concert.
“When you enter the room and sit down, two members of the Willy Street Chamber Players will curate a personalized concert just for you, says Willy Street co-founder and violinist Eleanor Bartsch (below). “The musicians will choose from a wide variety of solo and duo works in the moment. Micro-concerts are solely about the music. You enter the room as you are, in silence and with an open mind.”
Adds violinist Paran Amirinazari (below), who is the artistic director and co-founder of the Willys: “We encourage you to make your concert what you need it to be in this time: 10 minutes of meditation, healing, escape, positivity, relaxation or simply beautiful music.”
For more information, including safety guidelines such as masks and social distancing, go to: www.willystreetchamberplayers.org
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Classical music: Con Vivo ends its 16th season this Saturday night with chamber music by Bartok, Beethoven, Dvorak and Brahms
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, Con Vivo — or music with life (below) — concludes its 16th season with music of Bartok, Dvorak, Beethoven and Brahms.
The chamber music concert, entitled “Spring Romance,” includes Duets for Viola and Cello by Bela Bartok; the Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 11, by Antonin Dvorak; the Romance, Op. 50, for violin and piano by Ludwig van Beethoven; and the supremely beautiful Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 115, by Johannes Brahms. (You can hear the opening movement of the Brahms, played by clarinetist David Shifrin and the Guarneri String Quartet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The concert takes place on this coming Saturday night, June 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave. across from Camp Randall Stadium.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.
Audience members are invited to join the musicians after the concert for a free reception to discuss the concert.
New to this concert: Con Vivo will perform in the Chapel at First Congregational Church, creating a more intimate chamber music experience for the audience.
In remarking about the concert, artistic director Robert Taylor says: “We finish our 16th season with music evocative of spring romances. The wonderful Romances for violin and piano by Dvorak and Beethoven are contrasted by miniatures for viola and cello by Bartok that highlight our members in a soloist role. The evening is capped off with the beautiful Clarinet Quintet by Johannes Brahms. What could be a better way to spend a spring evening?”
Con Vivo is a professional chamber music ensemble comprised of Madison area musicians assembled from the ranks of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and various other performing groups familiar to Madison audiences.
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Classical music: Two MUST-HEAR chamber music concerts – one all-Schubert, the other by the Pro Arte Quartet with soprano Emily Birsan — are on tap this weekend at the UW-Madison School of Music ahead of Super Bowl XLIX. Plus, you can hear a FREE recital of flute music at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale, from 12:15 to 1 p.m. in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature flutist Peiyi Guan and pianist Zijin Yao playing music by Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Henri Dutilleux and Chen Yi.
By Jacob Stockinger
There are two really notable MUST-HEAR concerts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music this coming weekend.
And they come in a way that you can think of them as preludes to Sunday evening’s Super Bowl XLIX — that is 49 to us non-Latins — because they don’t interfere with the overhyped sports event.
FRIDAY NIGHT
On Friday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall is the second annual “Schubertiade” (below, a photo from 2014). It is a joyous evening of mixed musical genres that celebrates the birthday of Franz Schubert (below, 1797-1829), who used to unveil his new music at friendly social gatherings (below top). It all takes place on the informally set-up stage of Mills Hall (below bottom).
There will be many songs, of course, an art form pioneered by the most empathetic and human of composers. The songs will be performed by UW baritone Paul Rowe, soprano Cheryl Rowe and also many UW voice students. There will be chamber music (the famous “Arpeggione” Sonata) with guest cellist Norman Fischer (Martha’s brother, who will be performing with his sister in public for the first time and who teaches at Rice University in Texas) and with violinist Leslie Shank. Martha Fischer and Bill Lutes will also perform two pieces for piano-four hands.
Admission is $10 for the public; students get in for free. Tickets are available at the door and at the box office of the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Here is a link to the School of Music official announcement:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/schubertiade/
And here is a terrific story by arts reporter and features writer Gayle Worland for The Wisconsin State Journal. Particularly notable are the interviews with the event organizers and main performers — wife-and-husband team of UW professor and collaborative pianist Martha Fischer and local piano teacher and former Wisconsin Public Radio host and music director Bill Lutes.
And here is a review of last year’s Schubertiade that The Ear posted on this blog:
SATURDAY
Then on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) will perform a FREE concert of music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Anton Dvorak and Arnold Schoenberg.
The special guest of honor is soprano Emily Birsan (below), a UW-Madison graduate who recently sang at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and whose first CD is about to be released on the Chandos label. (The recording is of the “Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf” by Sir Edward Elgar.)
The program includes the Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 71, No. 3, by Franz Joseph Haydn; the String Quartet in C Major, Op. 60, by Antonin Dvorak; and String Quartet No. 2 by Arnold Schoenberg that will also feature Emily Birsan. (The fourth movement of the Schoenberg quartet can be heard in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a link to the UW School of Music announcement that has a lot of impressive background for the up-and-coming Emily Birsan and the Pro Arte Quartet, which has its own dramatic story of exile from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany and its invasion of Belgium, the Pro Arte homeland:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/pro-arte-quartet-2/
And here is a link to a profile of Emily Birsan, who was born in Neenah and attended Lawrence University in Appleton for her undergraduate degree as well as the UW-Madison for graduate work. Birsan is the cover story on the latest issue of the magazine “Classical Singer”:
http://www.classicalsinger.com/magazine/article.php?id=2813
PLEASE NOTE: The Pro Arte Quartet program will be REPEATED on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 pm.. this SUNDAY at the Chazen Museum of Art, which has started its own concert program. But the concert will NO LONGER be broadcast by Wisconsin Public Radio. However, you can stream it live by going to the Chazen website (www.chazen.wisc.edu) at 12:30 p.m.
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Classical music: What’s the best classical music of the past 100 years? Take part in the contemporary music poll by radio station Q2 Music -– and help determine the Top 100 musicians and compositions of the past 100 years. Then tune in starting Dec. 27 to hear the results. Plus, this afternoon’s Christmas concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra is SOLD OUT.
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ALERT: This just in: This afternoon’s performance at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Madison Symphony Orchestra‘s Christmas concert, with guest soloist and local groups under the baton of John DeMain (below, in a photo by Bob Rashid) is virtually SOLD OUT. But you can call the Overture Center Box Office (608-258-4141) to determine any availability.
By Jacob Stockinger
Sure, you look at the entirety of classical music history and you can name your favorite composers and favorite works: Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Ninth Symphony, right?
But there are surprises awaiting you, if you restrict the choices to the past century.
Looking over the past 100 years — starting Jan, 1, 1914 — who would have guessed, for example, that: Music for 18 Musicians (at bottom, in a complete performance in a YouTube video by the acclaimed and Grammy Award-winning new music group eighth blackbird) by contemporary minimalist composer Steve Reich (below, in a photo by Wonge Bergmann) would pull out ahead of George Gershwin, Dmitri Shostakovich, Bela Bartok, Charles Ives, Alban Berg and all others in last year’s Q2 Music poll?
The Q2 Music poll is done by WQXR in New York City, a radio station that is a member station of NPR, or National Public Radio.
Anyway, the terrific classical music blog “Deceptive Cadence” recently posted a story about the Q2 Music poll.
It included an entry form that will allow readers to pick up to FIVE works and composers as they participate in this year’s poll that dates back to Jan. 1, 1915.
Voting closes on Dec. 20, 2014.
Then, starting on Saturday, Dec. 27, as a way to close out the old year and ring in the new, a marathon countdown will begin and all the works will be played in reverse order of the survey results.
No word if it will be webcast, but The Ear suspects you can easily tune into Q2 Music by going to the website for WQXR.
Here is a link to the NPR story by Anastasia Tsioulcas and to the poll entry form.
And here is a link to WQXR where you can find a way to listen (at the top of the page), to sign up for the Q2 Music Newsletter and also see the results of the Q2 polls for 2011, 2012 and 2013 as well as the upcoming 2014. It makes for some interesting reading and listening.
http://www.wqxr.org/#!/story/q2-musics-2014-new-music-countdown/
And here is a link to a Dec. 2 concert, now archived at NPR, in which some of the best new recordings and music from 2014 was performed:
http://www.npr.org/e2014/11/26/366570255/celebrate-some-of-the-years-best-new-releases-with-q2
As for the Q2 Music poll, The Ear hopes someone chooses – make that that many people choose – the gorgeous Violin Concerto by the American composer Samuel Barber, who was less hot and controversial but much more gifted as a composer.
But whatever happens, have fun choosing and voting.
Don’t forget to use the COMMENTS section to tell The Ear and his readers what works you entered.
And don’t forget to fill in your date book for some happy listening to new music.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 