The Well-Tempered Ear
Longtime friends organist Greg Zelek and Madison native and award-winning trumpeter Ansel Norris team up for a FREE live-streamed concert this Tuesday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
Two longtime friends and fellow musicians will team up this Tuesday night, April 27, to close this season’s organ concert series, sponsored in the Overture Center by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
It will be live-streamed online because of the pandemic restrictions on attendance.
The concert features the critically acclaimed MSO organist Greg Zelek (below left) and Ansel Norris (below right), an award-winning trumpeter who is a native of Madison.
The program includes works by Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and Samuel Barber among others.
The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. CDT. It is FREE but you must register. The concert will be available to registered listeners for unlimited access through May 31.
Here is a link to the MSO website where you can register. It also has more information about the program and biographies of the two performers: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/norris-zelek-2021-streamed/
Here is more background. It appeared in the latest issue of the email newsletter of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), of which Norris was a member for many years:
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Ansel Norris and Greg Zelek first met in 2010 as high school seniors who had both been selected as finalists in the YoungARTS Awards. The YoungARTS Award is a big competition with just a small percentage of students selected for the $10,000 prize from the thousands of high school applicants. In classical music that year, 12 students became finalists and assembled in Miami for a week of master classes with internationally recognized arts leaders. “You know, there really is a synergy with trumpet and organ. The sounds are produced in a similar way and the way the sounds blend together is really special. Even then, I imagined a concert together.” Ten years later, the two friends were dreaming up this concert when Greg was in Miami in February, 2020. And then the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. Norris has distinguished himself as a solo, orchestral and chamber musician. As Greg Zelek (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) writes: “Concerti of Bach and Haydn will bookend this program filled with music that is both written and arranged for this electrifying pairing of instruments. Mr. Norris’ remarkable technique and soaring lyricism will be on full display while our Mighty Klais both supports and shimmers in this exhilarating performance you won’t want to miss!” Register here for Tuesday’s concert!
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UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra gives a FREE hybrid online concert this Thursday night by mixing both recorded and live performances
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By Jacob Stockinger
One of the most interesting and innovative responses to the limitations imposed on live concerts by the coronavirus can be heard this Thursday night, Nov. 19, at 8 p.m.
That is when the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra – playing under the baton of director Oriol Sans in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the Hamel Music Center — will perform a short concert that features both live performances and pre-recorded performances in the same piece.
The reason for the hybrid is public health precautions, the same reason why no in-person audience will be allowed.
String players can play with masks and social distancing, as the same orchestra showed in a previous virtual concert (below) this semester.
But brass and woodwinds prohibit wearing masks and involve the spraying or draining of saliva – an obvious risk for the spread of COVID-19.
So, presenting the full symphonic experience of the Beethoven piece will be accomplished by a combination of pre-recorded and live music, all performed by UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra musicians.
The concert will last about 90 minutes with no intermission.
Here is a direct link to the YouTube channel of the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music: https://youtu.be/af6hjmW1cQw
The program is:
“Fuga con Pajarillo” (Fugue with Pajarillo Dance) by the Venezuelan composer Aldemaro Romero (below, 1928-2007), who was known for blending folk songs and dances with classical music. You can hear the string version of the orchestral piece in the YouTube video at the bottom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldemaro_Romero
The famous Allegretto second movement from Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
“Ancient Airs and Dances, Suite III” by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (below, 1879-1936)
I. Anon.: Italiana
II. Jean-Baptiste Besard: Arie di corte
III. Anon.: Siciliana
IV. Lodovico Roncalli: Passacaglia
For more information about the program and the names of the student performers, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-3/
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Classical music: The UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra and guest soloists took the audience on a memorable musical voyage in Ralph Vaughan Williams “A Sea Symphony”
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By Jacob Stockinger
It took a postponement of almost two months before the UW Choral Union (below) finally got to perform last Saturday night in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center.
But the wait was worth it.
The combined forces – conducted by the retiring choral director Beverly Taylor – proved convincing and accomplished in the challenging score of “A Sea Symphony” by the early 20th-century British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The performers did justice to the score’s vivid sound painting. You could hear the sea wind whistling through the rigging; you could feel the ship plowing through the swells and waves.
The American poet Walt Whitman (below) – whose epic-like poetry provided the text for this ambitious nautical and musical journey – would have been proud of the performance.
After all, like Whitman’s poetry, Vaughn Williams’ music — his first symphony — can be forceful and spacious at many moments, tender and reflective or even intimate at other times. The music matches the text, and the performers matched both.
The forces were precise under Taylor’s baton, with sharp attacks and no ragged stopping. True, there were a few moments when the balance seemed a bit off, when the UW Symphony Orchestra overpowered the large campus and community chorus, especially in the very brassy and thickly scored first movement. You just wanted to hear the words better and felt frustrated not to.
But for the most part, though, the student orchestra proved impressive. They were tight and crisp, accurate and transparent, allowing listeners to hear the inner part playing and even certain modernist harmonies of the generally conservative Vaughan Williams (below).
Moreover, the symphony, the chorus and the soloists blended especially well and movingly in the symphony’s quieter moments.
Those moments included the second movement, “On the Beach at Night, Alone”; and the quiet, understated ending where the idea of voyage and exploration becomes personal and metaphorical or spiritual as well as literal: “Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me … O my brave soul! O farther, farther sail!”
(You can hear a sample in the hymn-like opening of the fourth movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In addition, the outstanding acoustics of the new hall – where the chorus sits above and behind the orchestra – brought the performance to life even more convincingly.
There were two soloists (below): soprano Chelsie Propst and baritone James Harrington.
Harrington possessed a pleasing tone, but he seemed to be holding back for some reason. He could have projected more confidence and been more energetic or assertive in his delivery. After all, neither Whitman nor Vaughan Williams is shy in this large-scale work.
Curiously, it was the woman soloist, Propst, who roared like the sea, whose big voice easily soared over the orchestra and chorus. Her singing was thoroughly beautiful and thoroughly engaging.
Unfortunately, the very successful concert was not sold out, but the audience proved attentive and very enthusiastic.
This debut performance in the new hall made one look forward all the more to another big piece and big performance by the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra, one that will wrap up the season and end Taylor’s long tenure at the UW-Madison: the dramatic and operatic Requiem by Verdi on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26.
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Classical music: The fourth annual Madison New Music Festival takes place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It features Wisconsin composers and several world premieres
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By Jacob Stockinger
The fourth season of the Madison New Music Festival (below, in a photo from 2017 by Max Schmidt) will take place this coming Friday, Aug. 9, through Sunday, Aug. 11.
The Madison New Music Festival is an annual, weekend-long celebration for the Madison community of classical works written by contemporary composers.
In four concerts – three with admission and one free — the festival will showcase Wisconsin-based composers and performers of new music, as well as world premiere performances by guest artists.
Tickets for each concert are $15 for adults and $5 for students. Subscriptions to all three concerts are available for $35. For more information, go to http://madisonnewmusic.org or to Facebook (@Madison New Music Festival) or Instagram (@madisonnewmusic).
Here is the line-up:
Concert 1: Music from Wisconsin – Friday, Aug. 9, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (227 State St.)
What: In anticipation of this fall’s Wisconsin Triennial and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, this concert spotlights all Wisconsin-born, -based, or -educated composers, curated by pianist Robert Fleitz (below, with a toy piano he often performs on), whom The New York Times called “mesmerizing.” Joined by young local musicians, Fleitz explores music created right here in their own backyard.
Concert 2: World Premieres – Saturday, Aug. 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium (900 University Bay Drive)
What: Internationally acclaimed violist Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Wisconsin-born pianist Karl Larson (below top) will give the world premieres of new viola sonatas from three of the world’s leading composers: Andrew Norman, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Scott Wollschleger. In addition, local cellist James Waldo will kick off the evening with a premiere of a work for solo cello by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Les Thimmig (below bottom).
Concert 3: SistaStrings – Sunday, Aug. 11, at 2:30 p.m.
Where: Robinia Courtyard (829 East Washington Avenue)
What: The concert features the Milwaukee-based sister duo SistaStrings (below, in a photo by Adam Ryan Morris). Violinist Chauntee Ross and cellist Monique LaDora Ross blend their training as accomplished classical instrumentalists with “R&B and a touch of gospel influence that culminates in a vibey, lush sound.” The sisters will play tracks from their new and acclaimed Extended Play recording in the cozy courtyard. (You can hear them in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Partner concert: Madison New Music Ensemble (FREE concert) – Sunday, Aug. 11, at 5 p.m.
Where: Memorial Union Terrace (800 Langdon Street, below)
What: Join the newly formed Madison New Music Ensemble (below top), led by UW-Madison composer Joseph Koykkar (below bottom), at the Memorial Union Terrace as part of their Summer Serenade series. The group will perform works by Koykkar, Ian Clarke, Gabriela Lena Frank, Gareth Farr and Kirsten Volness.
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Classical music: Madison Opera’s annual FREE Opera in the Park returns this Saturday night, July 20, in Garner Park and celebrates 18 years plus a glimpse of the upcoming season
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post about one of the most highly anticipated musical events of summer, one that offers lots of family-friendly fun and serious musical enjoyment:
Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park (below, in a photo by James Gill) celebrates its 18th year on this coming Saturday night, July 20, at 8 p.m. in Garner Park, on Madison’s far west side at the intersection of Rosa Road and Mineral Point Road.
The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company’s 2018-19 season and provides a preview of the 2019-20 season. (You can hear a sample of past years in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
A Madison summer tradition that often attracts over 14,000 people, Opera in the Park is an enchanting evening of music under the stars, featuring selections from opera and Broadway.
Opera in the Park 2019 features soprano Jeni Houser, soprano Michelle Johnson, tenor David Blalock and baritone Ben Edquist.
Jeni Houser (below) has sung many roles with Madison Opera, most recently in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and she returns next season as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
Michelle Johnson (below) scored a major success with Madison Opera as Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana last season.
David Blalock (below) debuted with Madison Opera in 2014 and returns this season as Orpheus in Orpheus in the Underworld.
Ben Edquist (below) is making his debut, and will return to the company as Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers, about the Lavender Scare against LGBTQ people, in February.
The four soloists are joined by the Madison Opera Chorus and Madison Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson).
The evening is hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and WKOW TV’s 27 News co-anchor George Smith (below, in a photo by Simon Fowler).
“Opera in the Park is the greatest performance in Madison Opera’s season,” says Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill). “It offers a truly magical blend of beautiful voices, music from many centuries, and thousands of members of our community relaxing together under the same night sky. I am grateful to all of our supporters who share our belief in the community-building power of music and help us produce this concert every summer.”
Opera in the Park 2019 features arias and ensembles from Verdi’s La Traviata, which opens the 2019-20 season in November; Spears’ Fellow Travelers, which will be performed in February; and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, which will be performed in April.
The program also includes selections from Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny); Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and Don Pasquale; Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City); Romberg’s The Student Prince; Funny Girl; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel; and more. As always, this spectacular evening will include one number conducted by the audience with light sticks (below).
Garner Park is located at 333 South Rosa Road. Parking is available in the CUNA Mutual Group and University Research Park lots. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnics, blankets and chairs. Alcohol is permitted but not sold in the park.
On the day of the concert, Garner Park will open at 7 a.m. Audience members may not leave items in the park prior to this time. Lots of porta potties will be provided. Transportation via golf carts is available for those who have limited mobility.
The rain date for Opera in the Park is Sunday, July 21, at 8 p.m.
For more details about attending Opera in the Park and for more extensive biographies of the singers, go to: https://www.madisonopera.org/2018-2019-season/oitp/
While Opera in the Park is free to attend, it would not be possible without the generous support of many foundations, corporations, and individuals who believe in the importance of music in the community.
Madison Opera is grateful to the sponsors of Opera in the Park 2019.The Presenting Sponsor is the BerbeeWalsh Foundation. Other sponsors are the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation; Full Compass Systems; the Raymond B. Preston Family Foundation; University Research Park; Colony Brands; the Evjue Foundation; Johnson Financial Group; MGE Foundation; National Guardian Life; the Wisconsin Arts Board; Dane Arts; and the Madison Arts Commission.
WKOW, Madison Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, Magic 98, and La Movida are media sponsors for this community event.
RELATED EVENTS
The Prelude Dinner at Opera in the Park 2019 is at 6 p.m. This annual fundraiser to benefit Opera in the Park helps support Madison Opera’s free gift to the community.
The event includes dinner catered by Upstairs Downstairs, VIP seating at the concert, and a reception with the artists following the performance. Tickets are $150 per person or $1,150 for a table of eight.
More information about Opera in the Park and about the 2019-20 season, including subscriptions, is available at Madison’s Opera’s home website www.madisonopera.org
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Classical music: Looking for serious fun? The thoroughly successful opening concerts by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society bode well for the upcoming second weekend
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By Jacob Stockinger
After 28 summers, going to a concert by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society still feels like attending a family reunion – the best kind of family reunion where everyone is familiar and friendly, where everything is fun, and where you always leave glad that you went.
That’s not by chance.
The first thing that co-founders and co-artistic directors Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes did last Friday and Saturday nights was to thank the loyal audience. And the audience, full of longtime fans, returned the favor by being attentive to and appreciative of the first-rate music-making as well as responsive to the horseplay and antics – such as the surreal scene of virtuoso Axel Strauss playing “The Skater’s Waltz” on his violin while rollerblading around the stage (below).
BDDS players really mean it when they say that their audiences are in for something different, something they won’t find elsewhere and won’t forget.
Last weekend that meant the return of two longtime guest performers: San Francisco cellist Jean-Michael Fonteneau and Montreal violinist Axel Strauss (below, with pianist Jeffrey Sykes). Neither disappointed as they performed very varied music by Franz Joseph Haydn, C.P.E. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Faure, Lili Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Ned Rorem. And as always, the amazing pianist Jeffrey Sykes proved a chameleon who blended masterfully into the style of each period and each composer.
But for The Ear, the unexpected standout last weekend was guest accordion player Stas Venglevski from Milwaukee. Born in Russia and trained at the Moscow Conservatory, he is a virtuoso player, a sensitive arranger and a convincing composer – all done with good humor and a charismatic stage presence.
The Ear never thought of the accordion – the Russian bayan, to be specific – as an instrument for chamber music. But he does now, after hearing Venglevski play serious Russian, French and Latin American music that ran the gamut from a graceful waltz and a sprightly polka to torchy tangos. And then there were his flying fingers punching out “The Flight of the Bumblebee,” a real crowd-pleaser.
The large audience responded on both nights with wild applause and a standing ovation every time that Venglevski (below) played, and Jutt promised the audience that he will be back.
“As you can see, we have fun here,” Jutt deadpanned.
She is not exaggerating.
Which bodes well for the second weekend of three that will happen this coming weekend.
The second weekend — two programs in three venues — celebrates Jutt and Sykes, plus two of BDDS’ favorite guest artists: violinist Stephanie Sant’Ambrogio and Madison pianist Thomas Kasdorf.
Kasdorf (below) and Sykes are both featured in a program called “Rock the Sykes-o-delic Kas-bah.” Kasdorf is featured in Brahms’ Horn Trio with guest horn player Karl Kramer Johansen, and in the appealing and accessible Café Concertino by the contemporary Australian composer Carl Vine.
Sykes will perform another chamber transcription of a Classical-era symphonic work, which over the years has become a welcome specialty of BDDS. In this case it is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s snappy and appealing Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat Major, K. 271, the “Jeunehomme” concerto. (You can hear the irresistible last movement of the piano concerto, used in the film “Amadeus,” in the YouTube video at the bottom.) Sykes will also perform in Robert Schumann’s “Fairy Tales” for clarinet and viola.
A Madison native, cellist Alison Rowe (below) — an artist from the Dynamite Factory, which is BDDS’ program for emerging talent — will be featured in the Sonata for Cello and Piano in D Major by Johann Sebastian Bach.
“Rock the Sykes-o-delic Kas-bah” will be performed at the Stoughton Opera House on Friday, June 21, at 7:30 p.m. Braisin’ Hussies Food Cart will be parked outside the Opera House prior to the performance. The program will also be performed in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater, Sunday, June 23, at 2:30 p.m.
Jutt (below top) and Sant’Ambrogio (below bottom, in a photo by Stephanie Ann Boyd) worm their musical way into the most unexpected places in the other program, “Steph Infection.” The Nocturne for flute, violin, horn and piano of Franz Doppler opens the program, which continues with Jutt’s own arrangement of Antonin Dvorak’s popular “American” String Quartet, with a flute substituting for one of the two violins.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Five Pieces for flute, clarinet and piano add spice to the program, and the evening concludes with Ernst von Dohnanyi’s epic Sextet for clarinet, horn, violin, viola, cello and piano. A work that ranges from stormy and turbulent to tender and funny, it features an all-star cast including audience favorite clarinetist Alan Kay, horn player Karl Kramer Johansen, violist Carol Cook (principal at the Lyric Opera of Chicago), and Madison’s own cellist of the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet, Parry Karp (below).
“Steph Infection” will be performed at The Playhouse, Overture Center for the Arts, Saturday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater, Sunday, June 23, at 6:30 p.m.
And of course there could also be some unannounced surprises – more door prizes, perhaps a mystery guest, or more shenanigans and antics that correspond to the “Name Dropping” pun theme of the programs.
For tickets ($43-$49) and more information, go to: https://bachdancing.org
Tags: "Amadeus", #AlanKay, #AlisonRowe, #AmadeusFilm, #AntoninDvorak, #ArtisticDirector, #AustralianComposer, #AxelStrauss, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #CarlVine, #CarolCook, #CastList, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #Classicalera, #ContemporaryComposer, #CPEBach, #DmitriShostakovich, #ErnstvonDohnanyi, #FamilyReunion, #FilmSoundtrack, #FlightoftheBumblebee, #FluteMusic, #FoodCart, #FrankLloydWright, #FranzDoppler, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FrenchMusic, #Fridaynight, #GabrielFaure, #HillsideTheater, #HornTrio, #Jean-MichelFonteneau, #JeffreySykes, #JeunehommeConcerto, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #KarlKramerJohansen, #LatinAmerica, #LatinAmerican, #LatinAmericanmusic, #LiliBoulanger, #LivingComposer, #LyricOperaofChicago, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MauriceRavel, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MontrealCanada, #MoscowConservatory, #MoscowRussia, #MovieSoundtrack, #Music-Making, #MusicReview, #NedRorem, #NewTango, #NuevoTango, #OvertureCenter, #ParryKarp, #PianoConcerto, #ProArteQuartet, #RobertSchumann, #RussianMusic, #SanFrancisco, #SaturdayNight, #SpringGreen, #StagePresence, #StandingOvation, #StasVenglevski, #StephanieJutt, #StephanieSant'Ambrogio, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StoughtonWisconsin, #StringQuartet, #Sundayafternoon, #SymphonicMusic, #Taliesincompound, #TheEar, #ThePlayhouse, #TheSkater'sWaltz, #ThomasKasdorf, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, accordion, afternoon, Alan Kay, Alison Rowe, all-star, American, Antonín Dvořák, applause, appreciative, arrangement, arranger, Artistic director, Arts, attentive, audience, Australia, Axel Stauss, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, blend, blog, born, cafe, California, Canada, Carl Vine, Carol Cook, cart, cast, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chameleon, charismatic, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical, Classical music, composer, Concert, concertino, contemporary, CPE Bach, critic, Dmitri Shostakovich, Dvorak, dynamite, Early music, era, Ernst von Dohnanyi, everyone, everything, factory, familiar, Family, favor, fi ger, film, first-rate, Flight of the Bumblebee, flute, flutist, food, forward, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Doppler, Franz Joseph Haydn, French, Friday, friendly, fun, Gabriel Fauré, graceful, guest, Hillside Theater, Horn, horseplay, House, Humor, infection, irresistible, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Jeffrey Sykes, Jeunehomme, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Karl Kramer Johansen, Latin America, Latin American music, like, Lili Boulanger, link, Living composer, longtime, loyal, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, masterful, masterfully, Maurice Ravel, Milwaukee, Montreal, Moscow, Moscow Conservatory, movie, Mozart, Music, name, native, New Rorem, new tango, night, nocturne, opening, opera, Orchestra, ovation, Overture Center, Parry Karp, performer, period, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, player, please, polka, popular, presence, principal, Pro Arte Quartet, program, promise, psychedelic, pun, reunion, review, Robert Schumann, rollerblading, Russia, Russian, San Francisco, Saturday, sensitive, serious, sextet, share, Sonata, soundtrack, spectacular, spice, sprightly, Spring Green, Spring Green Wisconsin, stage, standout, Stas Venglevski, Stephanie Jutt, Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio, stormy, Stoughton, Stoughton Opera House, String quartet, style, successful, summer, Sunday, surreal, symphonic, tag, talent, Taliesin, tango, tender, The Ear, The Playhouse, The Skater's Waltz, Thomas Kasdorf, torch, torchy, trained, transcription, trio, turbulent, unexpected, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtuoso, Waltz, weekend, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, YouTube
Classical music education: The all-student Madison Youth Symphony Orchestra scores another big success with music by Mozart, Copland and Grieg
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Steve Rankin), founded and led by Mikko Rankin Utevsky is celebrating its fourth season of summer training sessions and public concerts.
I had to miss the first one of this summer, back in June, but I caught up with their second one, on last Saturday night, given at the First United Methodist Church on Wisconsin Avenue.
The church is now pursuing an active program of concerts, and this was the first one I have attended there. The hall (below) is a beautiful and spacious one, with fine acoustics. The fifty-odd people who attended were all but dwarfed by its amplitude.
The first half of the program was devoted to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat, K. 271, often known by the name “Jeunehomme” for the student who inspired it. It is a boldly innovative work, even as it is the composer’s first truly mature essay in this form.
The soloist was Trevor Stephenson (below top and left in bottom photo), artistic director of the Madison Bach Musicians, playing his own fortepiano.
That instrument lacks the big and forceful sound of the modern grand piano, and Stephenson rightly shunned heroics for greater delicacy. Even with an orchestra of only 16 players, the instrument defined a balance that was fascinatingly different from what we usually hear. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the Mozart concerto played on a fortepiano by Malcolm Bilson, who was Trevor Stephenson’s teacher.)
After the intermission, Utevsky identified a policy now established by the organization, one that allows certain players in the orchestra to become podium “interns”, for training and for one performance opportunity.
This time cellist Elizabeth Strauss (below) was given a chance to conduct the familiar string arrangement that Edvard Grieg made of his song Våren (usually translated as “The Last Spring”).
Strauss seemed very confident. I did find her tempo a little faster than seems good to me, and a string group of only a dozen players could hardly achieve the polish and richness that most performances bring off. Still, the point is the wonderful experience given to such a trainee-conductor in these circumstances.
The concert concluded as Utevsky conducted the recast orchestra (below) in the suite for 13 instruments that Aaron Copland derived from his ballet Appalachian Spring.
This is a beautiful piece of Americana in music, and both conductor and players gave it their full devotion. The result was a handsomely well-balanced and nicely blended performance that obviously moved the audience greatly.
The MAYCO organization has made a real place for itself in Madison’s summer music, giving valuable experience to both the conductor and his student players, as they grow into mature orchestral musicians.
Long may it succeed!
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AmericanRecordGuide, #AppalachianSpring, #ArtisticDirector, #balletsuite, #BlogPosting, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #Classicalera, #EdvardGrieg, #EmeritusProfessor, #FirstUnitedMethodistChurch, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnW.Barker, #MadisonAreaYouthChamberOrchestra, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MalcolmBilson, #MedievalHistory, #MikkoUtevsky, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #MusicReview, #OrchestralMusic, #PeriodInstruments, #PianoConcerto, #PublicConcert, #StringMusic, #SummerMusic, #SundayMorning, #TrevorStephenson, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, Aaron Copland, acoustics, American Record Guide, Americana, Appalachian Spring, Artistic director, Arts, Bach, balance, ballet, big, blend, blog, bold, Cello, Chamber music, Christian, Christianity, church, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, concerto, conductor, critic, Early music, earlymusic, Edvard Grieg, emeritus, essay, experience, forceful, form, fortepiano, founder, hall, History, innovative, instrument, intern, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jeunehomme, Johann Sebastian Bach, John W. Barker, lecture, Madison, Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Early Music Festival, Malcolm Bilson, mature, MAYCO, Medieval, MEMF, Methodist, Mozart, Music, Music education, Orchestra, organization, period instruments, Piano, Piano concerto, policy, Polish, post, posting, professor, program, public, review, richness, soloist, song, Sound, string music, strings, Student, Suite, summer, symphony, Teacher, Tempo, training, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Con Vivo closes its chamber music season with satisfying performances of string duos, violin romances and a clarinet quintet in a new, more intimate space
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. He also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
The season’s closing concert by the Con Vivo! chamber ensemble (below) took on an extra degree of novelty.
Usually the group has performed in the main sanctuary of the First Congregational United Church of Christ. But the acoustics there are variable and not always ideal for small ensembles.
This time, the performers moved to the chapel, a much smaller room in the building complex. With a high ceiling but modest space, this venue has a much more appropriate quality for chamber music. It’s a trifle hard, but not reverberant — a good place for intimacy and directness of sound. This should become one base of choice for the ensemble now.
The program was split interestingly between two different musical realms.
The first half consisted of duos. At the core was a set of six brief pieces drawn from the 44 Duos by Bela Bartok, published as his Op. 104. Written for two violins, but adaptable to other string instruments, they were delivered here by violist Janse Vincent and cellist Maggie Darby Townsend (below), in charming fashion.
Framing them were two violin romances, each written with orchestral accompaniment that was rendered on the piano by Dan Lyons. One was the Romance No. 2 in F Major, Op. 50, by Ludwig van Beethoven played by Kathryn Taylor (below).
The other — which in fact originally began life as a movement of a string quartet — was the Romance in F minor, Op. 11, by Antonin Dvorak. This was played by Olga Pomolova (below). It is no disrespect to the other players to note that her performance was outstanding for rich tone and strong feeling. (You can hear Dvorak’s lovely Romance in its orchestral version in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
A different world was drawn upon after the intermission, one for larger-scale chamber writing. This was the wonderful Quintet in B minor, Op. 115, for Clarinet and Strings. In this work, clarinetist Robert Taylor joined the four string players.
This is a mellow late work from Brahms, full of his artful denseness of textures, yet finely sensitive to balances. It is remarkable how the clarinet is constantly shifted between blending with the strings and standing apart from them. The performance was worthy of the challenges, full of spirit yet carefully controlled at all times — a performance that allowed the listener to ponder, and savor.
The sum total was a very satisfying concert, and one that suggested experiences with this chapel chamber should continue to be explored.
Tags: #AmericanRecordGuide, #AntoninDvorak, #BelaBartok, #CelloMusic, #ClarinetMusic, #ClarinetQuintet, #ConVivo, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnW.Barker, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MedievalHistory, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #StringDuos, #StringInstruments, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaandCello, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #ViolinRomance, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WORT-FM89.9, accompaniment, acoustics, American Record Guide, Arts, balance, Beethoven, blend, blog, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, composer, Con Vivo, critic, duo, Dvorak, Early music, earlymusic, feeling, First Congregational United Church of Christ, History, intermission, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, morning, Music, orchestral, photo, Pianist, Piano, professor, Radio, review, Romance, scale, Sunday, tone, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, work, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Voces Aestatis — Summer Voices — will perform early and Baroque vocal music this Friday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following information to post from Ben Luedcke, the artistic director of the choral group Voces Aestatis (Summer Voices, below).
Luedcke writes:
Voces Aestatis (Summer Voices) will present its third annual summer concert this Friday night, Aug. 25, at 7:30 p.m. at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below top and below bottom), 1833 Regent Street in Madison.
Tickets are $20 and available at the door. (Cash and check only; sorry, no credit or debit card sales.)
Artistic Director Ben Luedcke (below) and Assistant Director Ena Foshay have carefully selected singers with a pure blend to perform in this intimate concert venue.
Voces Aestatis is Madison’s only professional choir that specializes in early music.
The group will maintain its tradition of favoring a cappella repertoire of the 16th century, but new this year will be a collaboration with Saint Andrew Episcopal’s music director, Ken Stancer (below).
Stancer will accompany the choir on organ in four 17th-century pieces, including works by Heinrich Schütz, Giovanni Gabrieli, Henry Purcell and Marc-Antione Charpentier.
While the Purcell is the familiar, powerful and climactic “Hear My Prayer,” Gabrieli’s “O Jesu mi dulcissime” and Charpentier’s “Te Deum,” H.147, are rarely performed and are not to be missed.
The Gabrieli setting is for double-choir. But rather than two equal choirs, there are separate low-voice and high-voice choirs that provide a unique and sonorous texture of men and women. Additionally, the Charpentier is full of variety, including solos and quartets within the larger 10-minute piece.
Other a cappella works round out the program, including music by Tomás Luis de Victoria and William Byrd (below).
Most noteworthy will be the group’s fresh look at the double-choir motet “Super flumina babylonis,” by Phillipe de Monte (below). Although the work is typically performed rather slowly and lamentingly, the group will bring a decisively different interpretation with a quicker tempo and active articulations. (You can hear a traditional performance in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Also of note on the first half are pieces by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (below top) and Orlando di Lasso (below bottom), with texts from the “Song of Solomon” — a collection of bible passages that allege to describe the love between Christ and the Church, though they are in fact favorites of choral composers as they are known for their rather erotic descriptive passages.
Finally, Jacob Obrecht’s “Salve Regina” for six voices is likely to stun listeners not only for its beauty, but also because it was written almost 100 years earlier than anything else on the program.
It features a noticeably different and almost austere harmonic palette with overlapping thick textures, as well as many complicated rhythms and chants in between major sections.
Please visit VocesAestatis.org for more information or to support the organization. The group relies on individual donations, so we thank you in advance for supporting the arts in Madison.
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