Black Marigold | The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The LunART Festival of women musicians will perform chamber music by all-female composers this Saturday night

February 22, 2019
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By Jacob Stockinger

The LunART Festival will be part of the Arts @ First Series when it performs “A Wintry Mix Chamber Music Collective” on this Saturday night, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Avenue.

The concert will features the Arbor Ensemble (below) and Black Marigold.

Admission is $15 for adults, $5 for students and free for children under 12. Advance tickets are $12 at: lunartwintrymix.brownpapertickets.com

The LunART Festival is dedicated to promoting and celebrating women in the arts through public performances, exhibitions, workshops and interdisciplinary collaboration. After a very successful inaugural season, the second LunART festival will take place in Madison, from June 6 through June 9.

While the main focus of LunART is a summer festival, LunART also presents events throughout the year, such as this midwinter collaborative concert.

The Madison-based ensembles Arbor Ensemble and Black Marigold (below, in a photo by Vincent Fuh) will perform an array of works for strings, winds and piano from the past 100 years, showcasing both historically notable women composers and introducing less familiar female pioneers of today.

The Arbor Ensemble will premiere their newly commissioned “Trio Cerulean” by Cherise Leiter (below top), in addition to their arrangement of the Piano Trio for flute, viola and piano by Germaine Tailleferre (below bottom).

Arbor members Berlinda Lopez (flute), Marie Pauls (viola) and Stacy Fehr-Regehr (piano) seek to connect with audiences through their personal sound and colorful instrumentation. Their innovative programming highlights lesser known chamber works, and the group has developed a niche promoting music of women composers.

The highly regarded, award-winning Quintet for Wind Instruments of Grazyna Bacewicz (below top) will be performed by Black Marigold (below bottom), a dynamic wind quintet known for their captivating and energetic performances. Members are Iva Ugrcic (flute), Laura Medisky (oboe), Bethany Schultz (clarinet), Juliana Mesa (bassoon) and Kia Karlen (horn).

Advocates of new music and living composers, Black Marigold fosters fresh perceptions of new music by programming pieces that are equally enjoyable for performers and audiences.

The ensembles will collaborate by mixing members and instrumentation, rounding out the program with Duo for Oboe and Viola by Hilary Tann (below top); “Doppler Effect” for flute, clarinet and piano by Adrienne Albert; “D’un Matin de Printemps” (From A Morning in Spring) by Lili Boulanger; and the Quartet for Strings, Op. 89, by Amy Beach (below bottom). You can hear the piece by Lili Boulanger in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Guest artists Laura Mericle (violin), Shannon Farley (violin) and Samantha Sinai (cello) will join Arbor violist Marie Pauls for the performance of the Beach. The quartet was a featured ensemble at the inaugural season of the LunART Festival this past summer.

For more information, go to:

lunartfestival.org

arborensemble.com

blackmarigold.com

firstunitedmethodistmadison.org/artsatfirst

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AdrienneAlbert, #All-Female, #AmyBeach, #ArborEnsemble, #AudienceMembers, #BassoonMusic, #BlackMarigold, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrownPaperTickets, #ChamberMusic, #CheriseLeiter, #ChristianChurch, #CommissionedMusic, #DopplerEffect, #FemaleComposers, #FemaleMusicians, #FeministArt, #FirstUnitedMethodistChurch, #GermaineTailleferre, #GrazynaBacewicz, #HilaryTann, #IvaUgrcic, #LauraMedisky, #LiliBoulanger, #LivingComposers, #LunARTFestival, #MariePauls, #MethodistReligion, #MeToo, #MeToomovement, #NewMusic, #PianoTrio, #ShannonFarley, #StringQuartet, #WindQuintet, #WomenArtists, #WomenComposers, #YouTubevideo, admission, Adrienne Albert, all-women, Any Beach, Arbor Ensemble, arrangement, Arts, audience, Bassoon, Black Marigold, blog, Brown Paper Tickets, Cello, Chamber music, Cherise Leiter, children, Christian, Christian church, church, clarinet, Classical music, collaborative, commission, composer, Doppler Effect, enjoyable, exhibition, female, female composers, feminism, feminist, festival, First United Methodist Church, flute, forward, free, Germaine Tailleferre, Grazyna Bacewicz, Hilary Tann, Horn, inaugural, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, Laura Medisky, like, Lili Boulanger, link, living composers, LunART Festival, Madison, Marie Pauls, Methodist, midwinter, mix, New Music, Oboe, performer, Piano, Piano Trio, piece, pioneers, post, posting, Quartet, Religion, Sexism, Shannon Farley, share, String quartet, strings, Student, summer, summer festival, tag, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wind quintet, winds, wintry, Wisconsin, women, women composers, workshop, YouTube

Classical music: Flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic is Musician of the Year for 2018

December 31, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The classical music scene in Madison is so rich that it is always a challenge to name a Musician of the Year.

There are just so many deserving candidates. One obvious example is conductor John DeMain, who is completing his 25th year of outstanding stewardship in directing the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera.

But part of the intent behind such an honor is not just to recognize well-known figures. It is to encourage a broader awareness of those people who do a lot for local classical music but who often fly under the radar for many people.

That is why The Ear is naming flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic (below) as the Musician of the Year for 2018.

As both a performer and entrepreneur, Ugrcic is always very busy broadening her varied career. Being both a player and an activist, she is making a difference, musically and socially, that deserves to be recognized and supported.

Serbian by birth and educated in Belgrade and Paris, she came to Madison where she completed her doctorate in flute performance and also took business courses at the UW-Madison Business School.

She is a first-rate performer who has won a national prize for performing. While at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, she won both the concerto competition (below) and the Irving Shain competition for wind instruments in duets. (You can hear her amazing technique in the YouTube video at the bottom. In it Ugrcic performs “Voice” for solo flute by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.)

She now plays with the Black Marigold Wind Quintet and Sound Out Loud, both of which are based in Madison and both of which devote themselves to contemporary composers and new music.

This year, Urgcic also soloed with the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), performing to critical acclaim a relatively unknown concerto by 19th-century composer Carl Reinecke.

This year, Urgcic also took over as artistic director of the Rural Musicians Forum, which brings classical music, jazz, world music and ethnic music, played by outstanding performers to the Spring Green area, often at the Taliesin compound of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

But perhaps her most long-lasting contribution is her founding and now directing the LunART Festival that, in the same year of the Me Too movement, sought to present an all-women event that featured composers, performers, visual artists and writers.

Such was its inaugural success in 2018 that it won a national prize from the National Flute Association and a second festival will take place from June 9 through June 9, 2019.

2019 will also see the release of her second solo recording devoted to the music of the contemporary Romanian composer Doina Rotaru, even while she is working on a recording of “Beer Music” by contemporary American composer Brian DuFord.

And all that is just the beginning for such a promising talent. We will be hearing much more from her and about her in years to come.

To see her impressive biography, as well as updated activities, video and audio clips, photographs and other information, go to: https://www.ivaugrcic.com/bio

Here is one more thing that speaks to The Ear. It feels important, even necessary, to recognize the positive contributions of an immigrant at a time when the current “America First” administration under President Donald Trump seems so paranoid and negative, so xenophobic and afraid of foreigners.

The U.S government should be less intent on condemning or stigmatizing immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, and should put more emphasis on their contributions and on the long and distinguished history they have in the United States.

Iva Urgcic is yet another example of the talent we Americans stand to lose if we do not accept and encourage the gifts that immigrants bring in so many ways — from the arts, medicine, education and technology to everyday life and work.

Please join The Ear is expressing gratitude and congratulations to Iva Urgcic.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Last spring’s inaugural LunART Festival of women composers and creators in Madison wins a national prize

August 12, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

Some hearty applause and major congratulations are in order, especially in the #MeToo society and culture!

The inaugural LunART Festival that took place this past spring and celebrated women composers and creators just took First Prize from the National Flute Association.

Below is a photo of co-founder and co-director Iva Ugrcic holding the certificate that she received in Orlando, Florida:

And here is what she has to say, as passed along on the festival’s Facebook site, which has hundreds of congratulations and comments as well as photos:

“Over the moon for winning the 1st prize at the The National Flute Association C.R.E.A.T.E. Competition with my baby project LunART Festival”

In case you don’t recall what went into the inaugural three-day festival and what participants took part and what events resulted from it — including the combining of spoken word and music, which you can see in the YouTube video at the bottom — here is a reminder in the form of an extended festival preview:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/classical-music-the-inaugural-lunart-festival-celebrating-women-creators-and-performers-will-take-place-this-coming-thursday-through-saturday/

The festival was the brainchild of two local performers and graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.

They are the flutist Iva Ugrcic, who is the new head of the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green, and the oboist Laura Medisky (below), who performs with the local wind quintet Black Marigold. Both musicians also play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

The project proved savvy in how it used social media to launch it with success.

Here are some other links to keep you current with the festival as it looks forward to its second year:

Here is the festival’s home page and website:

https://www.lunartfestival.org

Here is the festival’s page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/lunartfestival/

This is the festival’s entry on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/lunartfestival

And you can also follow the LunART festival on Instagram.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BlackMarigold, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicians, #FacebookPost, #HomePage, #IvaUgrcic, #LauraMedisky, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MeToo, #NationalFluteAssociation, #NewMusic, #RuralMusiciansForum, #SocialMedia, #SpokenWord, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WindMusic, #WindQuintet, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WomenArtists, #WomenComposer, #WomenComposers, #WomenCreators, #WomenPerformers, #YouTubevideo, applause, Arts, baby, Black Marigold, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, comment, composer, congratulation, creator, culture, director, Facebook, Florida, flute, flutist, forum, founder, graduate, inaugural, Instagram, Jacob Stockinger, Laura Medisky, LunART Festival, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Musician, National Flute Association, New Music, Oboe, oboist, Orlando, performer, Piano, poem, Poetry, project, rural, Rural Musicians Forum, social media, society, Spring, Twitter, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, women, YouTube

Classical music: The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold performs two concerts this Friday night and Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra performs

September 21, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

Here is another twofer preview because of so many events happening this weekend.

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS

The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold (below, in a photo by Vincent Fuh) will perform two concerts this Friday and Saturday nights.

The program features wind music of the 19th and 21st centuries.

Here are the two performances:

This Friday night, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m.; Arts & Literature Laboratory; 2021 Winnebago Street; $8 in advance, $10 at the door; Tickets: http://blackmarigold.bpt.me/

The program includes Five Stick$ (2014) by Columbian composer Víctor Agudelo; Petit Suite(1889) by French composer Claude Debussy; and flights (selections) of Beer Music (2016), a suite of short pieces inspired by Madison area microbrews by American composer Brian DuFord (below).

Vote for your favorite beer! Choose your favorite beer and we’ll perform the top six as a flight of Beer Music. Don’t know which is your favorite yet? Check out our “Tasting Notes” and see what strikes your fancy.

Vote HERE

There is an additional FREE performance:

This Saturday night, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community; 331 West Main Street, three blocks off the Capitol Square; http://www.retirement.org/madison/; Free admission, presented by Capitol Lakes

Facebook event links are: Arts & Literature Lab, Sept. 22; Capitol Lakes, Sept. 23

SUNDAY AFTERNOON

This Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra will present its fall concert.

Admission is $5, free with Edgewood College ID.

Edgewood College professor Blake Walter (below) will conduct the orchestra in the first concert of its 2017-18 season.

The program includes: the Overture to “Iolanthe” by Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Suite from Gabriel Faure’s incidental music to the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, entitled “Pelleas and Melisande,” as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular Symphony No. 40 in G minor. You can hear and see a really cool graphic depiction of the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Founded in 1993 via a generous endowment established by benefactors William O. Hart and Vernon Sell, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra fulfills a unique role in the Madison community, providing high-quality performances and unique educational opportunities. The ensemble is the permanent, in-house chamber orchestra at Edgewood College.

Edgewood College’s Music Department has been recognized by the readers of Madison Magazine with the Best of Madison 2017 Silver Award.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The second annual Madison New Music Festival will take place this Thursday through Sunday

August 9, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

The summer classical season in Madison just keeps getting busier and more interesting.

The Ear has received the following announcement from Zachary Green (below), a native Madisonian and composer who graduated from Oregon High School and the Juilliard School, which awarded him a grant to start the first Madison New Music Festival last year. He now directs the event:

Dear friends, family, colleagues, and mentors,

I am extremely pleased to invite you to the second season of the Madison New Music Festival, taking place this Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 10-12.

The Madison New Music Festival is an annual weekend-long concert series dedicated to strengthening Madison’s cultural vitality through the celebration of fresh classical music from our lifetimes.

The festival strives to affordably and accessibly share music by the world’s leading living composers with the Madison community, with special emphasis placed on Wisconsin-based composers and performers.

This year, over the course of four concerts, we will be featuring 30 performers playing the music of over 20 composers— including the music of a different living Wisconsin composer at every concert.

The concerts will take place Thursday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (8 p.m.), Friday at Bethel Lutheran Church (8 p.m.), and Saturday at the Memorial Union Terrace (3 p.m.) and Robinia Courtyard (7:30 p.m.).

PROGRAM AND TICKET INFORMATION:

Thursday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in the Overture Center. (Below is a photo at MMoCA from last year’s festival)

After an incredibly successful launch in 2016, the Madison New Music Festival is set to return to MMoCA for a concert combining contemporary visual art and new music.

The festival presents brand new pieces by emerging composers, underplayed classics of the contemporary repertoire, and shines a spotlight on new music created here in Wisconsin.

The concert at MMoCA features music with thematic ties to MMoCA’s current exhibitions, including politically charged works such as “But I Still Believe” by composer Zachary Green and inspired by Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, and “Drums of Winter” from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and environmentalist John Luther Adams (below). You can hear “Drums of Winter” in the YouTube video at the bottom.

There will be a cash bar and opportunities to walk around the exhibits. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and FREE for MMoCA members.

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13011

Friday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. in Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Avenue

The festival’s second night features an eclectic range of music, from the inventive, folk-inspired music of Romanian composer Doina Rotaru (below top) to the improvisatory soundscapes of recently departed legend Pauline Oliveros (below bottom).

Also featured is local composer Scott Gendel (below top) , who will present a set of his own music with frequent Madison Opera guest soprano Emily Birsan (below middle). Both are graduates of the UW-Madison.

Other performers include Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse (below top), local flutist Iva Ugrcic (below middle) and local violinist Lydia Sewell (below bottom). Tickets are $10, $5 for students.

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13028

Saturday, Aug. 12, at 3 p.m., Memorial Union Terrace

Local new music wind quintet Black Marigold (below top) will perform “Beer Music” by Brian DuFord (below bottom), inspired by different kinds of beer– and you can sip as you listen!

But first, get your groove on with rhythmic works by emerging composer Andy Akiho (below top), Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, and local percussionist Dave Alcorn (below bottom) of Clocks in Motion — interspersed with interactive interpretations of Renaissance motets and an electroacoustic work for vibraphone. Featured musicians include percussionist Garrett Mendelow and Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse. Admission is FREE.

Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 PM, Robinia Courtyard (Jardin Restaurant) at 827 East Washington Avenue.

Join us at Jardin Restaurant, part of the newly redeveloped Robinia Courtyard to hear local ensemble Mr. Chair (below) present an eclectic, head-banging set ranging from original compositions to versions of Erik Satie, Olivier Messiaen and Igor Stravinsky.

Also featured are the genre-bending Echelon String Quartet(below) and a mesmerizing solo bass piece performed by Grant Blaschka. Cash bar. ($10/$5 student)

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13029

Posted in Classical music
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Chamber music: The Oakwood Chamber Players wraps up its current season on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon with a concert that explores musical scores and the composers’ intentions

May 9, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Oakwood Chamber Players (below) wraps up its 2016-17 season series “Perspective” with a concert titled “Looking Closely at the Score” on this coming Saturday night, May 13, at 7 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, May 14, at 2 p.m.

Both concerts will be held at the Oakwood Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.

Looking Closely at the Score considers composers and influences on their scoring.

The concert includes an array of guest artists, with the Oakwood Chamber Players partnering with musical colleagues from the woodwind quintet Black Marigold (below) to expand their programmatic possibilities.

Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks at the door: $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.

French composer Vincent D’Indy (below, in 1911) wrote Chanson et Danses (Song and Dances) for woodwind septet in 1898. He was greatly influenced by Cesar Franck who was his composition teacher and by a personal enthusiasm for the music of Richard Wagner.

This piece has a subtle feel of the pastoral quality of Siegfried’s Idyll and takes the listener from a sweetly stated Chanson through increasing animation of the Danses and a serene return to the song theme at its conclusion.

A student of Ralph Vaughan Williams, admired Irish composer, renowned pianist and fourth-generation newspaper editor, Joan Trimble (below) led a life full of creativity. Her Phantasy Trio for violin, cello and piano won a major compositional award from the Royal College of Music in 1940.

This piece highlights warm and expressive lines that she felt important to provide for musicians and ably reflects her personal view that “performers had to be considered and allowed to play with their individual qualities in mind. How else were they to communicate and have a response from listeners?”

Luise Adolpha Le Beau was a German composer, piano soloist and student of Clara Schumann. Performing in chamber music was of particular interest to her and she wrote many of her compositions for this musical genre.

The Oakwood Chamber Players will perform Allegro con Fuoco from her Piano Trio in d minor. The movement alternates rhythmic motifs with sweetly expressive melodic lines. (You can hear the lovely slow movement from the same piano trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Romantic Swiss-German composer Joachim Raff was influential in the European scene and considered an inspired musician by 19th-century luminaries such as Schumann, Mendelssohn and Liszt and interest in his work was revived by notable 20th-century conductor and composer Bernard Hermann, who was noted for his scores to flms by Alfred Hitchcock.

Raff (below) coined the term Sinfonietta for his piece that combines two woodwind quintets to convey a buoyant and transparent approach in contrast to a more prescribed symphonic approach to scoring. This delightful four movement work has abundant soaring melodic lines, a true understanding of the characteristics of the woodwind family of instruments and a dazzling conclusion.

The Oakwood Chamber Players will be joined by guests J. Elizabeth Marshall, flute; Jennifer Morgan, oboe; Bethany Schultz, clarinet; Juliana Mesa-Jaramillo, bassoon; and Dafyyd Bevil and Kia Karlen, horns.

The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for over 30 years. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.

The Oakwood Chamber Players is a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Black Marigold will mix beer and wind music, starting this Sunday afternoon on the “Sunday Live From the Chazen” concert and live webcast

September 2, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

Beer-inspired classical music may seem a stretch at first.

But then you haven’t heard the Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold.

And there is a historical precedent or two, including the “Coffee Cantata” by Johann Sebastian Bach and Classical Revolution Madison, which performs classic music in unusual venues such as cafes, coffee houses and bars.

In any case, Black Marigold (below) performed some of Beer Music in brew pubs and a church at the end of August.

Now the ensemble will begin its September concerts this Sunday afternoon at the Chazen Museum of Art on the UW-Madison campus.

The concert, which used to be carried live by Wisconsin Public Radio but was discontinued, is FREE at 12:30 p.m. in Brittingham Gallery No. 3 (below).

It will also be streamed live at this site:

http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/about/news/in-the-news/sunday-afternoon-at-the-chazen-with-black-marigold-sept.-4

Here are more details about the dates, venues and programs:

Music on Tap: 2016 Summer Concert Series

Upcoming Black Marigold Concerts:

Sunday, September 4, 12:30 p.m., Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen

Saturday, September 10, 3 p.m., The Malt House

Thursday, September 15, 7 p.m., Stoughton Public Library

All performances offer FREE admission, with free will donations accepted.

As many Madisonians geared up for this past week’s Great Taste of the Midwest, the region’s largest craft beer festival, Black Marigold logged time in the rehearsal hall instead of the beer hall, fermenting new music for the group’s end-of-summer concert series.

All September programs will feature selections from Beer Music, an epic collection of short pieces inspired by 18 local craft beers, composed by Brian DuFord for Black Marigold.

Learn more about this unique commissioning collaboration in this recent feature in The Capital Times.

Here are details of individual programs:

Summer Concert Series

Sunday, September 4, 12:30 p.m., Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen (live stream link)

Thursday, September 15, 7 p.m., Stoughton Public Library

Quintet in D Major, Op. 91 No. 3 by Anton Reicha

Partita for Wind Quintet by Irving Fine

Beer Music (selections) by Brian DuFord (below top)

Pub Concerts: relax and enjoy a pint with your performance!

Saturday, September 10, 3 pm, The Malt House (below bottom)

Beer Music selections

Additional wind quintet selections

Beer Music was made possible by a grant from Dane Arts and individual donations from many friends.

For more information, visit: www.blackmarigold.com

To contact the group, use this email address:

blackmarigoldwinds@gmail.com

Classical music: On June 13, the Rural Musicians Forum will kick off its summer season series of FREE concerts at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin compound in Spring Green.

May 20, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear is passing along the following announcement in time for you to mark your datebook and make plans:

For the 2016 summer season, the Rural Musicians Forum welcomes audiences to Taliesin, the historic estate of Frank Lloyd Wright, near Spring Green, and to the Wright-designed Wyoming Valley Cultural Arts Center.

In commenting on the venues for the series, RMF’s artistic director Kent Mayfield (below) said: “RMF is honored to work in close collaboration with Taliesin Preservation Inc. to host much of this year’s series at the Taliesin’s Hillside School Theater.

The Hillside Theater (below) provides a dramatic but intimate setting for performances totally consistent with Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision: imaginative, bold and beautiful. And, for its part, the Wyoming Valley Cultural Arts Center underscores the sustained vitality of that vision.”

Madison’s acclaimed harpsichordist, fortepianist, pianist and founder of the Madison Bach Musicians, Trevor Stephenson (below top) opens the 2016 season on June 13 with mezzo-soprano Margaret Fox (below bottom).

Violinist Alexander Ayers (below) follows on June 27. Ayers, earlier a player in the Madison Symphony and now a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, has been widely praised for his shimmering virtuosity and technical precision. (You can hear him perform the virtuosic Caprice No. 11 for solo violin by Niccolo Paganini in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

July 11 brings on the memorable trio of Dan Barker (piano), Rob Shepherd (saxophone) and Cleo Ware (vocals) for an evening of glorious, nostalgic music by George Gershwin (below).

Clocks in Motion (below) brings its adventurous and absolutely contemporary percussion repertoire to Taliesin on July 25.

That will be followed on Aug. 8, by a showcase of captivating new music by the Madison-based wind quintet, Black Marigold (below).

The season closes with RMF’s annual “Music in the Fields,” on Sunday, Aug. 21. The Stellanovas’ evening of café jazz promises equal parts Hawaiian luau, Parisian wedding and mellow summer pleasure on the lawn at the Wyoming Valley Cultural Arts Center. The center is located at 6306 State Highway 23. (This event is ticketed.)

Now in its 35th season, RMF continues to provide all members of the community an opportunity to enjoy live music featuring a wide range of styles and combinations of music with performers of extraordinary ability.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. There is no ticket charge for concerts at Hillside Theater, but a freewill offering to support the series is taken. Given the unique appeal of the Taliesin location, early arrival for the concerts is recommended.

NOTE: Sorry, but The Ear has received no word about specific programs an works to be performed. He also doesn’t see them listed on the website for the Rural Musicians Forum.

Full information on specific concerts is available at www.ruralmusiciansforum.org or at ruralmusiciansforuum@yahoo.com.

Classical music: Here is the schedule of the Chazen Museum of Art’s chamber music concerts — live and streamed — for 2016. They start this Sunday afternoon with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. Plus, Mark Adamo will talk about his opera at the performance TONIGHT of “Little Women” by the Madison Opera

February 5, 2016
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ALERT: Kathryn Smith, the general director of the Madison Opera, which is presenting Mark Adamo‘s opera “Little Women” tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center, writes: “One thing you might let your readers know is that Mark Adamo is doing the pre-show talk TONIGHT in tandem with me — meaning I’m going to ask him questions, so he can talk about his opera instead of me doing so as usual. That is at 7 p.m. in the Wisconsin Studio of the Overture Center, and is free to ticket holders.”

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following message that you may want to print out or write into your datebook:

The Chazen Museum of Art is pleased to announce the continuation of Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen for 2016.

On the FIRST SUNDAY OF EVERY MONTH, the Chazen presents chamber music performances in Brittingham Gallery III of the old Conrad A. Elvehjem Building.

In addition to the gallery performance, the monthly concerts are streamed live on the Internet, making them readily accessible anywhere in the world.

This year marks the 38th season for Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen. Until 2015, the series took place weekly and was broadcast live by Wisconsin Public Radio.

When WPR stepped away, the Chazen took over the series.

Lori Skelton, the producer of Sunday Afternoon Live at WPR for many years, has again volunteered to program the concert series and act as its host. Without her musical expertise, as well as her generosity of spirit, the Chazen would not be able to continue this popular program.

During the intermissions, live stream listeners will hear an interview or conversation featuring the museum’s director, Russell Panczenko. Topics include current exhibitions and the permanent collection.

Concerts begin at 12:30 p.m.

All concerts are free and open to the public. However, seating is limited. Chazen Museum of Art members may call 608-263-2246 to reserve seating the week before the concert.

To listen to the concert live on the Internet, simply go to www.Chazen.wisc.edu on the day of the concert and click on Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen.

2016 Schedule

This Sunday, February 7: Wisconsin Brass Quintet

Wisconsin Brass Quintet

March 6: Pro Arte String Quartet

April 3: Clocks in Motion percussion ensemble

May 1: Pro Arte Quartet

June 5: Madison Bach Musicians

July 3 TBD

August 7 TBD

September 4: Black Marigold Wind Quintet

October 2: Pro Arte String Quartet

November 6: Parry Karp, cello

December 4: Pro Arte String Quartet (below in a photo by Rick Langer)

Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players continues with its all-Beethoven concerts of sonatas for strings and piano this Saturday night. Plus, the woodwind quintet Black Marigold performs a FREE concert Friday at noon.

January 28, 2016
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ALERT: The week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, to take place from 12:15 to 1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature the local woodwind quintet Black Marigold. It will perform music by August Klughardt, Darius Milhaud and Brian DuFord.

Here is a link about Black Marigold’s winter concerts and the program:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/classical-music-the-wind-quintet-black-marigold-announces-its-four-upcoming-free-winter-concerts/

By Jacob Stockinger

The Mosaic Chamber Players — recently hailed as “among the finest purveyors of chamber music in Madison” by critic John W. Barker on The Well-Tempered Ear blog — will be performing an all-Beethoven program this Saturday night, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m.

The concert will take place in the beautiful and historic Landmark Hall of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, on Madison’s near west side.

This will be the third program of a 5-concert cycle of all the string sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven (below).

The impressive list of performers (below, from left), most of whom were educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and Lawrence University in Appleton, includes pianist Jess Salek; violinist Laura Burns; cellist Michael Allen; and violinist Wes Luke.

They play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Ancora String Quartet, the Rhapsodie String Quartet, the Madison Youth Choirs, Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, Fresco Opera Theatre, Opera for the Young, and other ensembles here and in Dubuque and LaCrosse.

On the program are: the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major Op. 30, No. 1; the Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1; and the Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major, Op. 47 “Kreutzer.” (You can hear the first movement of the famous and riveting Kreutzer Sonata performed by superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

There will be a reception following the program.

Tickets are $15 for the public; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students – by cash or check only. NO CREDIT CARDS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Adds founder and pianist Jess Salek:

“This concert is perfect for an adult or caregiver night-out, and also for students at the middle school-and-above age.

“Please come hear some beautiful music performed by talented, expressive, and professional local artists.

“Thanks for considering. Hope to see you there!”

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