The Well-Tempered Ear
Cellist Camille Thomas makes her Madison debut online from Paris for the Wisconsin Union Theater this Saturday night
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, 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.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater’s fall virtual Concert Series performances will begin this Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. CST with a live online performance from Paris by the acclaimed cellist Camille Thomas (below).
The “Midnight in Paris” recital – performed in Paris and streamed — features music by Claude Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Frederic Chopin. The performance will be preceded by a live 30-40 minute online Q&A with Thomas and pianist Julien Brocal on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CST.
Here are the specific works on the program, which will last about 75 minutes with no intermission:
Debussy, “Clair de Lune” (arr. Roelens)
Nadia Boulanger, “Three Pieces” for cello and piano
Ravel, Kaddish
Chopin, Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65; and Introduction et Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
Tickets for this online event are $10 for UW-Madison students, $18 for Wisconsin Union members, and $20 for all other patrons.
For more information about the Thomas’ performance – including a video and how to purchase tickets — visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/camille-thomas.
Thomas (below), a Franco-Belgian cellist, says she uses her music to bring people together from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Thomas released her second album, called “Voice of Hope,” with the exclusive Deutsche Grammophon this past June. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Thomas play a solo version from the album of Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from his opera “Orfeo ed Euridice.”)
Thomas plays the Feuermann Stradivarius cello (1730, below) — named for the famous 20th-century cellist Emanuel Feuermann who played it — with a bow by Eugene Sartory, who is regarded as one of the finest bow makers in history. Joining her for this performance will be pianist Julien Brocal.
“Camille Thomas’s extraordinary talent makes her one of the most captivating artists of our time, as evidenced by being the first cellist in several decades to be signed by the major record label Deutsche Grammophon,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass. “Her ‘Midnight in Paris’ program brings us closer to her roots and reflects the beauty and charm of her personality as well as her musicality.”
The Ear has listened to some of Thomas’ performances on YouTube and finds her tone, intonation and phrasing outstanding.
The performance by Camille Thomas is the start of the fall Concert Series events, which includes a concert with pianist Jeremy Denk (below, in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times) on Friday, Dec. 11.
In its 101st year, the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series is one of the oldest uninterrupted series of its kind in the United States.
The Wisconsin Union Theater (WUT) has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors for more than 75 years. The WUD Performing Arts Committee plans many of the Theater’s events, including the Concert Series.
While usually held in-person and most often in Shannon Hall, the Wisconsin Union Theater team will hold this fall’s theater events in a virtual format for the health and safety of patrons, artists and team members in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team aims for all of its spaces, including online ones, to be accessible. Those that need accommodations can reach out to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu.
The WUT team says it continues to evaluate what changes may need to occur related to the spring Concert Series events as well as other spring Theater season performances.
The Wisconsin Union Theater has made multiple commitments to take a stand against racial injustice, including being more than allies, being activists; using the arts to create social justice; remembering students are future leaders and must be part of the change; using its voice to influence leadership and being firm in its resolve; and making space, stepping back and learning how to give up undeserved or unnecessary power and privilege.
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BerlinGermany, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CamilleThomas, #CelloBow, #CelloSonata, #CentralStandardTime, #ChamberMusic, #ChristophWillibaldGluck, #Clairdelune, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommunityMembers, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CulturalCenter, #DanceoftheBlessedSpirits, #DeutscheGrammophon, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #EmanuelFeuermann, #EugeneSartory, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #Franco-Belgian, #FredericChopin, #Fridaynight, #HiroyukiIto, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JulienBrocal, #LiveMusic, #MauriceRavel, #MidnightinParis, #Musicfaculty, #NadiaBoulanger, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OrfeoedEuridice, #ParisFrance, #PianoAccompanist, #PublicHealth, #RacialInjustice, #RecordedMusic, #RecordLabel, #SaturdayAfternoon, #ShannonHall, #SocialJustice, #StradivariusCello, #TeamMembers, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TheUS, #TheUW, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VoiceofHope, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, accessible, accommodation, accompany, accuracy, activist, afternoon, Album, Allies, arrnagement, artist, artists, Arts, audience, background, Baroque, Baroque music, beauty, Belgian, Belgium, Berlin, blessed, blog, Boulanger, bow, Camille Thomas, captivating, CD, cellist, Cello, cello bow, Cello Sonata, center, Central Standard Time, Chamber music, change, changes, charm, Chopin, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Clair de Lune, Classical music, Claude Debussy, commitments, community, composer, Concert, concert hall, concert series, coronavirus, CST, cultural, cultural center, culture, dance, Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Debussy, decades, Denk, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, director, Early music, Elizabeth Snodgrass, Eugene Sartory, Eurydice, evaluate, event, exclusive, extraordinary, Facebook, faculty, fall, finest, firm, forward, France, Franco-Belgium, Frédéric Chopin, French, Friday, future, German, Germany, Gluck, Health, Hiroyuki Ito, History, hope, in person, influence, information, injustice, intermission, intonation, introduction, Ito, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, join, Julien Brocal, June, Kaddish, kind, leaders, leadership, learn, light, like, link, listen, live, live music, Luthier, Madison, major, Maurice Ravel, members, midnight, Midnight in Paris, minute, multiple, Music, musicality, Nadia Boulanger, need, New York Times, night, oldest, online, Op., opera, opus, Orfeo ed Euridice, Orpheus, outstanding, pandemic, Paris, patrons, People, perform, performaer, performance, performer, personality, photo, phrasing, Pianist, Piano, Piano accompanist, polonaise, post, posting, power, precede, privilege, program, public, Public health, purchase, Q&A, question-and-answer, race, racial injustice, racism, range, Ravel, reader, recital, Record label, recorded music, reflects, regard, resolve, roots, safety, Saturday, Shannon Hall, share, sign, social justice, solo, Sonata, spaces, specific, spirit, Spring, start, Strad, Stradivarius, stream, Student, students, subscriber, tag, talent, team, team members, The Ear, tickets, time, together, tone, U.S., undeserved, uninterrupted, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unnecessary, US, use, UW, UW-Madison, version, virtual, visitors, voice, Voice of Hope, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, work, years, YouTube
Classical music: The University of Wisconsin Pro Arte Quartet in Belgium — Day 6: The quartet plays its final concert -– a midday concert in an old converted farm barn on a new campus in an old country. A reception and dinner follow. Then the quartet splits up, one member traveling on and the others departing for back home and braving U.S. customs.
4 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s week-long tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it is to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
All week long, Sarah Schaffer, who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent text and photo essays.
Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
Today’s Part 6 covers the final concert and events at the Belgian campus of Louvain-La-Neuve (LLN) and the return to the U.S.
Once again, ones sees that a concert tour keeps a frenetic pace loaded with hard work. A concert tour is no vacation!
If you want background or need to catch up, here links:
To Day 1:
To Day 2:
To Day 3:
To Day 4, Part 1:
To Day 4, Part 2:
To Day 5:
DAY 6: Sarah Schaffer (below) writes about the Last Day:
Disembarking the train from Bruxelles Centrale we were once again greeted by paparazzi on the platform — the inveterate translator Alain Boucart (below right holding camera, with tour organizer Anne van Malderen on the left) is always on hand, camera at the ready!
The university at Louvain-la-Neuve or LLN (below) was created from scratch, out of nothing, in 1976, a consequence of the language/culture split, Flemish-Walloon, in 1968.
The Dutch campus of this Catholic college remains in Louven, the new French campus here in Louvain. There are about 15,000 students, and a town of about 40,000 has grown up around it, all brand new, hence “neuve,” and something of a dissonance where everything else “belgique” has been “tres ancien.”
The campus was built literally out in the fields around the remains of four abandoned farms, at last explaining the curious name of the concert hall: La Ferme du Biereau.
It’s an old grange or barn, beautiful old timbers exposed in the renovation that transformed it into a concert hall with a surprisingly attractive acoustic; warm and forthcoming; invitingly beautiful and comfortable as well.
One of the students in audio engineering, Thomas Vanelstlande (below, with his assistant Marine Haitt), will be recording the concert as his final exam for the reception. The recording set-up is below bottom.
The concert is one on the afternoon series sponsored by LLN , under the guidance of Guillaume Wunsch. Programs are offered every couple of weeks.
Again, the capacity audience brought an impressive attentiveness and concentration to Belgian composer Benoit Mernier’s new work, String Quartet No. 3, which was commissioned by the Pro Arte Quartet for its historic centennial and which asks a lot on a first hearing.
It is such a pleasure to be in the company of such intentional engagement. We’d thought the famous Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber a strange closer, coming after the Mernier, but it turns out to be in fact a rather appropriate coda.
Happy for a chance to meet Benoit’s wife Helene (below with her husband beside her and his father in the background). She reminds us she’s heard the piece once already, when it was streamed live from Wisconsin Public Radio on its “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” broadcast on March 2, at its Madison world premiere, and we once again mourn the loss — announced two weeks ago — of that distinguished statewide concert series.
We were alerted that a reception would follow the concert, and assumed the champagne in the lobby was it, appropriate for 2:30 in the afternoon.
What we were UN-prepared for was the formal lunch, for us and about 20 guests, that ensued. It was a beautiful buffet, quite elaborate, with very nice wines. Many interesting conversations, many new friends, many promises to follow up and stay in touch.
And after THIS, we are ferried to Waterloo in cars, for a more private supper with Alain and Anne and the Prevost brothers (below, Michael Arthur on the left, Jean Marie on the right). Helene and Benoit Mernier, still not feeling well, and in fact now feverish, have to decline. It is, in all, a very sweet closing to our time in Belgium.
Many toasts and congratulations, but most thanks and special tribute to Anne, who put together this special week. “I em veery ‘appy!” she tells me quietly.
Alain has purchased our train tickets, and Michel Arthur Prevost accompanies us to Brussels Centrale. He has ambitious ideas for a return trip.
A CODA
It is over.
Parry went on to the UK for a couple of weeks of concerts. “Having a wonderful time in England,” he emails.
The rest of us parted company at the Brussels airport — three quartet members on United Airlines to Chicago, John and I went through Amsterdam.
BUT — and this is the coda to the dispatches:
Sally exited Belgium and returned to the US without incident.
The “fish” lady (the agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that enforces the CITES law about protecting endangered species) was waiting for her at O’Hare, whisked her through in 4 minutes, and even got her a shortcut through the lines and out to Van Galder. (She’d made appointment the required 48 hours ahead).
Below are her instrument “passport,” her CITES documentation. It is readily accepted this time, unlike on our arrival in Belgium.
All goes smoothly.
Sally is so relieved.
I’ll see Sally today — we’re writing up the experience to be ready for an article and other inquiries — and will learn if she’s heard about Parry’s England entry. I’m guessing she has info. I guessing he was fine, with the “EU” stamp received in Belgium.
Thanks for keeping up with us while we zoomed around Belgium. It was extraordinary to be there with these musicians, and to feel the gravitas and all the promise of the incredible legacy they continue to carry on.
Tags: Amsterdam, Arte, Arts, Belgian, Belgium, Benoit Mernier, Brussels, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, CITES, Classical music, David Perry, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, Louvain-La-Neuve, Madison, Mozart, Music, O'Hare airport, Pro Arte Quartet, U.S., U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, UK, United Airlines, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin
Classical music: The UW Pro Arte Quartet in Belgium -– Day 5. The Belgian premiere of a Belgian composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels draws a big enough crowd to run out of programs and bring three curtain calls. A visit to the Royal Conservatory Library reveals the notebooks of Mozart’s wife Constanza and takes the quartet back to its roots for a performance. Plus, the Pro Arte gets recorded by Belgian TV and radio.
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Editor’s note: The Well-Tempered Ear has asked people on tour with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) to file whatever dispatches. updates and photos are possible — from iPads, computers, cameras and smart phones — so that they can to keep the fans back here at home current with what is happening on the concert stage and off.
By now it has become apparent that the Pro Arte Quartet’s tour of Belgium is as big an event to the Belgians and to local residents there as it has been to Madisonians, Wisconsinites and alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Just before taking a day’s rest, Sarah Schaffer (below), who manages the University of Wisconsin-Madison Pro Arte String Quartet, sent this text and this photo essay. They cover the return to Brussels from Dolhain Limbourg, the hometown of founding violinist Alphonse Onnou. Then the members of the quartet visited the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels where they toured the archives and library and also performed, including a rehearsal that was recorded for the national radio network.
Current members are violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
Today’s Part 5 covers the extensive events at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where the frenetic pace just kept gathering speed. A concert tour is hard work, no glamorous vacation!
If you want background or need to catch up, here are links:
To Day 1:
To Day 2:
To Day 3:
To Day 4, Part 1:
To Day 4, Part 2:
Sarah Schaffer writes:
Today brought the Belgian premiere of Belgian composer Benoît Mernier’s Quartet No. 3, commissioned by Pro Arte Quartet for its centennial, a special commission harking back to its Belgian origins, in the very hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music where the founding quartet played countless times, both as students and after.
Engineers from musiq3, the French-speaking Belgian national radio, set up equipment and record the concert rehearsal for later broadcast. TV and newspapers have also covered the quartet.
It was so perfectly appropriate, and so very moving: this hall, this city, this composer, this work, this audience of mainly students, all at the ages now that the original Pro Arte Quartet members (below) Onnou, Halleux, Prevost and Maas would have been back then.
There were so many concert attendees that the printed programs (below) ran out.
The short program included — after remarks from Anne van Malderen (below top) on the history of the quartet and an introduction of his work, with examples played by PAQ, by Messieur Mernier (below bottom): Mernier’s Third Quartet, the Adagio and Fugue, K. 546, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, American composer Randall Thompson‘s “Wind in the Willows” and the famous Adagio for Strings from the String Quartet No. 1 by American composer Samuel Barber.
Applause called the PAQ back to the stage three times.
Our visit to the Conservatoire began earlier in the day with a tour by librarian Olivia Wahnon (below).
This distinguished archival collection contains the most manuscript holdings among all Belgian libraries, and she had prepared for our benefit some beautiful displays of rare materials.
Some of what we saw was related to the Pro Arte and string quartets. There were many manuscript scores and parts, particularly from the collection of second violinist Laurent Halleaux, and many concert programs.
But not everything was about PAQ! We see a Medieval handbook manuscript of chant:
We also had a glimpse of Constanze Mozart’s diary (below, in a photo by Sally Chisholm, you can see it is multilingual, and contains many beautiful drawings and paintings), a page of manuscript by Franz Liszt, and the teensiest, tiniest bound volume of Medieval manuscripts. Such treasures! Constanza wrote about her husband Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Husband genius. Still poor.”
For us, the division of the institution into two nationalities—Flemish and Walloon—seems somewhat incomprehensible and impossible to manage and navigate. Yet it is so much the history and culture of the whole country, especially evident after yesterday’s elections, it is simply taken in stride.
Although the whole infrastructure (below are photos of the conservatory’s exterior) is in a state of dilapidation—built in the mid-19th century, with a major renovation planned beginning in 2015 — it was in its way more touching and meaningful to see it now, while we can more easily imagine how it looked and felt when the first Quatuor Pro Arte (QPA) inhabited its halls and spaces a century ago.
Composer Benoit Mernier (below top, applauding the Pro Arte Quartet, and below bottom) reports he is well pleased with the progress that he hears in the playing of his piece, from its world premiere March 1 in Madison to now, just 2-1/2 months later. He hears the players inhabiting the work more: details are more precise; at the same time they bring more fluidity; and the overall arc and shape are now more convincingly presented.
One more chance to improve even more at the final concert tomorrow at the university in Louvain-la-Neuve.
Tomorrow: Our last day and final concert, at Louvain-la-Neuve. The week has sped by.
Tags: archives, Arte, Arts, Belgian, Belgium, Benoit Mernier, Brussels, Cello, Chamber music, chant, Classical music, Constanza Mozart, David Perry, IPad, Jacob Stockinger, library, Louvin-la-Neuve, Madison, manuscripts, Medieval, Mozart, Music, Pro Arte Quartet, Radio, Randall Thompson, royal, Royal Conservatory, Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Royal Conservatory of Music, Royal Library, String quartet, Television, TV, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 