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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra uses a new website and a new brochure to announce its new Masterworks season plus other innovations

May 23, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

In many ways, there is much that is familiar or tried-and-true about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) and its new Masterworks season for 2020-21.

But in other ways it seems as if the WCO is reinventing and rebranding itself – perhaps under the direction of its new CEO Joe Loehnis – as the ensemble starts a double anniversary: its 60th season of existence and its 20th year under the baton of music director Andrew Sewell (below in a photo by Alex Cruz).

As in past years, the WCO programs feature a mix of familiar composers and works with new and neglected ones. It also features both new and returning guest soloists.

Start with what’s new.

The new WCO home website – like the new brochure that has been mailed out — has been redesigned, with more visuals and more information about the 34-member orchestra. The Ear finds both the new brochure and the new home page to be more attractive, better organized and easier to use. Take a look for yourself: https://wcoconcerts.org

There also seems to be a heightened emphasis on donations and raising money, including a new organization called “Friends” that brings special benefits for $30 or even more perks at $8 a month.

And the website seems more customer-friendly. There is a section on the website about “What to Expect,” which includes how to choose seats, how to dress, when to applaud and so forth. There is also a portal for streaming events and concerts.

There is more, much more, including the pre-concert dinners for the Masterworks concerts and the culturally diverse programs for the postponed Concerts on the Square (below), to run this summer on Tuesday nights at 6 p.m. (NOT the usual Wednesdays at 7 p.m.) from July 28 to Sept. 1.

There seems to be more emphasis on Sewell, who this year provides extensive first-person notes about each program and the guest artists. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Sewell discuss the new Masterworks season with Wisconsin Public Radio host and WCO announcer Norman Gilliland.)

This season will see two performances of Handel’s “Messiah”: one on Saturday, Dec. 19, at the Blackhawk Church in Middleton; and another downtown on Sunday, Dec. 20, at the UW-Madison’s Hamel Music Center.

The Masterworks series of concerts – held on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center – will begin in late November rather than in late January. The six concerts include five new ones and the postponed appearance of harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, whose appearance this season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 14.

Two of the concerts – on two Saturdays, Feb. 20 and April 10 – will also be performed in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield at the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center for the Arts (below).

You can read more about the community outreach and music education programs, especially the Youth and Education programs. They include the free Family Series and “Side by Side” concerts (below, in a photo by Mike DeVries for The Capital Times, WCO concertmaster Suzanne Beia, right, tutors a WYSO student); the Super Strings educational program; and the Young Artists Concerto Competition for grades 9-12.

Here are the Masterworks series:

NOV. 20 – Pianist John O’Conor (below) returns in a program of the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Emperor” by Beethoven; the Septet by Igor Stravinsky; and the Symphony No. 1 in D Major by Luigi Cherubini.

JAN. 15 – Cellist Amid Peled (below, in a photo by Lisa Mazzucco) returns in a program of Cello Concerto No. 1 by Dmitry Kabalevsky and the Andante by Jacques Offenbach; plus the Wind Serenade in D minor by Antonin Dvorak; and the Symphony No. 34 by Mozart.

FEB. 19 – Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky (below) in returns in Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons in Buenos Aires”; plus the Suite for Strings by Leos Janacek.

MARCH 19 – Grammy-winning Spanish guitarist Mabel Millán (below) making her U.S, debut in an all-Spanish program that features the Concierto del Sur (Concerto of the South) by Manuel Ponce; the Sinfonietta in D major by Ernesto Halffter; and the overture “Los Esclavos Felices” (The Happy Slaves) by Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga.

APRIL 9 – Pianist Michael Mizrahi (below), who teaches at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wis., on the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Beethoven plus the Serenade No. 1 by Johannes Brahms.

MAY 14 — Harpist Yolanda Kondonassis (below) in the Harp Concerto by Alberto Ginastera; plus the Sinfonietta by Sergei Prokofiev and the Symphony no. 88 by Franz Joseph Haydn.

Single tickets, which go on sale in July, are $15 to $80. Season subscriptions are available now with seat preference through July 1, bring a discounted price with an extra 10 percent off for first-time subscribers.

For more information, go to the website at https://wcoconcerts.org; call 608 257-0638; or mail a subscription form to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Attn: Subscriptions; PO Box171, Madison, WI 53701-0171.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra cancels and postpones its last two Masterworks concerts of the season in April and May. Here is information about ticket exchanges and refunds

April 2, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO, below in a photo by Mike Gorski) about canceling the rest of its Masterworks season due to the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19.

Dear Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Concert Ticket Holders:

We continue to remain committed to serving you and keeping you safe during the current health crisis.

Given the Overture Center’s closing, we have postponed two concerts: Masterworks IV, scheduled for April 24; and Masterworks V, scheduled for May 8.

We thank you for your patience as we work through the details to reschedule these fantastic performances featuring our guest artists, violinist Eric Silberger (Masterworks IV, below) and trumpeter and Madison native Andrew Balio (Masterworks V in Madison and Brookfield, below).

(Editor’s Note: The WCO has also said that the cancelled Masterworks III performance in late March by harpist Yolanda Kondonassis (below) will probably be rescheduled for next season, which will be announced later this month.)

We hope you will consider exchanging or donating the cost of your ticket back to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

As an arts nonprofit, the WCO sees your support as vital to our organization during this challenging time as we navigate the significant ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are deeply grateful for your generosity and continued support.

The following ticket options are available for you:

Exchange your ticket(s) for a future Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performance. All exchange fees will be waived in this situation. You can also apply the value of the cancelled ticket to a subscription ticket for next season.
Donate your ticket(s) and receive a tax deduction for the total ticket value.
Receive a refund for the value of the ticket(s).

Please respond by email, letting us know your ticket decision, along with your full name, to wco@wcoconcerts.org.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (608) 257-0638 or email us at wco@wcoconcerts.org.

We will continue to keep you informed of the status of all our upcoming performances as we continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days and weeks.

We look forward to continuing to enrich your life through music.

Thank you,

Joe Loehnis, CEO

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The Madison Opera, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Festival Choir, Oakwood Chamber Players and First Unitarian Society cancel concerts because of the coronavirus

March 14, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The state health emergency declared by Gov. Tony Evers has now become a national emergency declared by President Trump.

Six more local groups have cancelled concerts as the pandemic of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads exponentially and threatens the health of both the public and the performers:

The Festival Choir of Madison (below) has cancelled its concert TONIGHT of Yiddish music at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) has cancelled and postponed all concerts through March. They include the “Beethoven Lives Next Door” Family Series concerts THIS MORNING at the Goodman Community Center and on March 29 in Brookfield; and the third Masterworks Concert in Madison with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis on March 27 in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.

Says Joe Loehnis, CEO of the WCO: “We ask for your patience as we work to determine all of the options we will be able to offer to ticket holders. We are deeply grateful for your understanding.

“We’ll also keep you informed of the status of all our upcoming performances as we continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days and weeks.

“To learn more about our contingency planning, please visit our website at http://bit.ly/2wSMCbe.

“If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (608) 257-0638, or email, wco@wcoconcerts.org.

“Thank you for your patronage and support.”

The Oakwood Chamber Players (below) have cancelled their concerts on Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22, at Oakwood Village University Woods on the far west side.

The Middleton Community Orchestra (below, below in a photo by Brian Ruppert) has cancelled its upcoming concert of teenage concerto winners with guest conductor Kyle Knox on Wednesday, April 8, and postponed it until large gatherings become safe again.

The FREE Friday Noon Musicale series at the First Unitarian Society of Madison will be live-streamed without an audience. Says music director Drew Collins:

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the First Unitarian Society of Madison will alter the schedule for its Friday Noon Musicale recital series.

Beginning March 20, 2020…

Musicales will be live-streamed from Atrium Auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams) here: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Ffusmadison%2Fvideos&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cce899e33b3124e28489608d7c70cdac6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637196730328671160&sdata=mpn5tbESRbSx8tSaoKTi8RH7TpmkdGC5xTu1iyyJaEk%3D&reserved=0

* No audience members will be permitted.

* Outside doors will be locked.

* In cases where the performers are not able or willing to play, notification will be made via https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.fusmadison.org%2Fmusicale&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cce899e33b3124e28489608d7c70cdac6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637196730328671160&sdata=069CmBdvgPRWjGi%2BiCEUdeD%2Fth2zVBJlzJowWcnH%2BFc%3D&reserved=0and no live-stream will be broadcast.

“Stay tuned for the upcoming launch of our SoundCloud channel, curated by Rich Samuels, where you will be able to listen to highlights from the Musicales.

In related news, the Madison Symphony Orchestra announced Friday that it will make a decision about upcoming concerts next week. But since the Overture Center later announced it is closing its doors until April 13 and cancelling all performances, it would seem that the MSO performances of the Dvorak Requiem on April 3, 4 and 5 will be cancelled. But that has not yet been officially confirmed by the MSO.

In addition, the Madison Opera has cancelled its production of Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” on April 17 and 19.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: This Saturday night brings both the Escher String Quartet to the Wisconsin Union Theater and the UW-Madison Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra to the Hamel Music Center

January 22, 2020
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CORRECTION: The Ear received the following correction to the story he posted yesterday about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and apologizes for the error:

“There was a change to our rollout in Brookfield. We are only repeating the fifth Masterworks concert on Saturday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. We are NOT repeating this Friday’s concert in Brookfield.

“We will perform a Family Series concert of “Beethoven Lives Next Door” on Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. at the same Brookfield venue.”

By Jacob Stockinger

The upcoming weekend is a busy one for classical music.

The busiest night is Saturday night when two major concerts will take place: a performance by the Escher String Quartet and the postponed concert by the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra with soloists.

Here are details:

ESCHER STRING QUARTET and DAVID FINCKEL

The concert by the Escher String Quartet (below) with cellist David Finckel (below bottom. formerly of the critically acclaimed Emerson String Quartet) takes place on this Saturday night, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater.

The performance is part of the special season celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Concert Series.

The program includes the sublime Quintet in C Major, D. 956, with two cellos, by Franz Schubert and the String Quartet in A minor by the great early 20th-century Viennese violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler (below).

Tickets are $30-$50. For more information and to reserve tickets, go to: https://artsticketing.wisc.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=CFC3765F-5F1D-4663-BCA0-985BE3049CF5

For more information about the Escher String Quartet, including a video performance and detailed background, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/escher-string-quartet-with-david-finckel/

UW CHORAL UNION

Also on this Saturday night at 8 p.m., in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center at 740 University Avenue, the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra (below top), along with two vocal soloists – soprano Chelsie Propst (below middle) and baritone James Harrington (below bottom) — will perform a concert originally scheduled for Dec. 7 and then postponed.

The program, without intermission, is one 80-minute work: the epic and influential “A Sea Symphony” by the great 20th-century British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (below).

General admission tickets are $18 for the general public and faculty or staff; and $10 for UW students. To reserve tickets, go to Campus Arts Ticketing at: https://artsticketing.wisc.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=412623A4-4FB9-40D6-BC23-A425360713EA

Beverly Taylor (below), the longtime director of choral activities at the UW who will retire this spring, sent the following note:

“The text by American poet Walt Whitman presents four symphonic scenes of great breadth and imagination, with lush harmonies and constantly varying tempos and dynamics.” (You can hear the Waves section, or third movement, from “A Sea Symphony” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra expands its Masterworks series this Friday night in Madison and Saturday night in Brookfield with piano soloist Orion Weiss and music by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Donald Fraser

January 21, 2020
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CORRECTION: The Ear received the following correction to the story about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and apologizes for the error:

“There was a change to our rollout in Brookfield. We are only repeating the fifth Masterworks concert on Saturday, May 9. at 7:30 p.m. at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. We are NOT repeating this Friday’s concert in Brookfield.

“We will perform a Family Series concert of “Beethoven Lives Next Door” on Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. at the same Brookfield venue.”

By Jacob Stockinger

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) is about to take a Great Leap Forward.

This weekend will see the WCO — now in its 60th year of existence and its 20th season under music director Andrew Sewell (below bottom, in a photo by Alex Cruz) – take a major step in its evolution as a statewide music ensemble. It is a development comparable to when John DeMain took the Madison Symphony Orchestra from single performances to “triples.”

That is because, for the first time ever, the WCO is going to “doubles.” It will perform Masterworks concerts in Madison on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center. Then the WCO will repeat the same concert on the following Saturday night in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts.

For a full story with lots of background and quotes about future plans for the WCO, you can’t do better than read the story by Michael Muckian that appeared last week in Isthmus:

Here is a link: https://isthmus.com/music/wisconsin-chamber-orchestra-turns-60/

The opening program has a couple of points of special interest.

First, this concert will mark the Madison debut of pianist Orion Weiss, a former student of Emanuel Ax who is increasingly booked for concerts and recordings.

Weiss (below in a photo by Jacob Blickenstaff) will solo in perhaps the most popular and famous of Mozart’s 27 piano concertos: No. 21 in C Major, K. 467. It is also known as the “Elvira Madigan” concerto because the beautiful slow movement was used as the soundtrack to the movie of that same name. (You can hear the slow movement at the bottom in a YouTube video that has more than 59 million views.)

You can learn more about Weiss at his website: https://www.orionweiss.com

Another unique facet of the WCO concert is the U.S. premiere of “Sinfonietta for Strings” (2018) by the award-winning British composer Donald Fraser, now an American resident who lives in Illinois and is married to Bridget Fraser, the executive director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO).

Fraser (below) – whose music is tonal and accessible — is especially well known, not only for his original compositions but also for his orchestral arrangements of chamber music by Brahms, Elgar, Marin Marais and others. His 2018 recording of “Songs for Strings” features many of those transcriptions.

For more about Fraser, go to his website: https://donaldfraser.com/index.html

The concert will conclude with the Symphony No. 4 – the “Italian” Symphony – by Felix Mendelssohn. It is a sunny, tuneful and energetic work that is the most popular and best-known symphony by Mendelssohn. It was also used in a movie as the soundtrack to the Italian bicycle race in the coming-of-age film “Breaking Away.”

Tickets are $10-$77. For more information about the program and the soloist, as well as about pre-concert dinners and how to buy single and season subscription tickets, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-i-5/

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: What concerts or performances in 2019 did you most like, and do you most remember and want to praise?

January 12, 2020
7 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The concert season’s winter intermission will soon draw to a close.

So this is a good time to recall favorite concerts and performances of last year.

But let’s be clear.

This is a not a request to name “The Best Concerts of 2019.”

Calling them the most memorable concerts doesn’t necessarily mean they were the best.

Perfection or “the best” sounds so objective, but can really be quite personal and subjective. So much can depend not only on the music and the performers, but also on your own mood and your taste or preferences.

So please share the concerts or performances that you most liked and enjoyed, the one that most still linger in your mind. And, if you can pin it down, tell us why you liked them so much and why they linger for you.

There are so many excellent groups and concerts, so much fine classical music, in the Madison area that there should be lots of candidates.

Here are several performances or complete concerts that The Ear remembers with special fondness.

The MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) held a season-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of John DeMain’s tenure as its music director and conductor. The big event came at the end: Mahler’s massive Symphony No. 8 – the so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” – that brought together the MSO and the MSO Chorus as well as the Madison Youth Choirs and the UW-Madison Choral Union.

It proved an impressive, overwhelming and moving display of coordination and musicianship, a testament to how far DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) has brought the orchestra.

(Also memorable on the MSO season were pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin in Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G Major and UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor in the Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” symphony during the MSO tribute to Bernstein, with whom DeMain worked closely.)

The WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski), under its veteran music director Andrew Sewell, continues to test its own limits and surpass them. Particularly impressive was the last concert of the winter season with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 featuring two outstanding soloists: soprano Mary Mackenzie and bass Timothy Jones.

The playing of the difficult score was precise but moving, and the singing blended beautifully. It made one understand why during this season – when the orchestra marks 60 years and maestro Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz) marks his 20th season — the WCO has deservingly graduated to two performances of each Masterwork concert (one here on Friday nights followed by one in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield on Saturday night).

Also memorable was an impressive concert by the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed MIDDLETON COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA. The Ear likes amateur musicians, and for their 10th anniversary concert they really delivered the goods in Dvorak’s famous Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and, with fabulous guest soloist J.J. Koh (below — principal clarinet of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — in Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Concerto.

But it wasn’t only large-scale works that The Ear remembers.

Three chamber music concerts continue to stand out.

During the summer, the WILLY STREET CHAMBER PLAYERS and guest UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (both below) delivered a performance of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major that would be hard for any group to match, let alone surpass, for its tightness and energy, its lyricism and drama.

The same goes for the veteran PRO ARTE QUARTET at the UW-Madison, which this fall started its complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets in the new Hamel Music Center to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020 when we mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

The quartet played early, middle and late quartets with complete mastery and subtlety. Treat yourself. Don’t miss the remaining five concerts, which resume in February and take place over the next year at the Hamel center and also at the Chazen Museum of Art, from where they will also be live-streamed.

Finally, The Ear will always remember the wholly unexpected and thoroughly captivating virtuoso accordion playing he heard last summer by Milwaukeean Stas Venglevski (below) at a concert by the BACH DANCING AND DYNAMITE SOCIETY. Venglevski performed music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Igor Stravinsky and Astor Piazzolla in a new and enthralling way.

Unfortunately, for various reasons The Ear missed many other concerts – by the Madison Opera and the University Opera among others – that promised to be memorable performances.

But perhaps you can fill him in as we start 2020 concerts next weekend.

What concerts in 2019 did you like most and do you most remember and praise? Why?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Next season the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra will expand to two performances of its winter Masterworks concerts by adding a Saturday night concert in Brookfield, near Milwaukee

May 21, 2019
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

By Jacob Stockinger

Next season will mark the 20th anniversary of Andrew Sewell (below top) coming to Madison to serve as the music director and principal conductor of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below bottom).

It is hard to imagine a better Bravo! or anniversary gift for the maestro – who has said he wants the WCO to become a chamber orchestra, as its name implies, for the entire state of Wisconsin — than what will in fact take place: the WCO will expand its winter Masterworks concerts to two performances by adding a Saturday night performance at 7:30 p.m. in the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts (below) in Brookfield, a suburb of Milwaukee. (Sewell is also the music director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony in California.)

Madison performances of Masterworks will continue to take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.

You can find out more about the Masterworks programs for next season by going to the WCO home website:

https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performance-listing/category/masterworks

There you will find the usual eclectic mix of new guest artists and new or neglected composers and repertoire that has marked Sewell’s tenure and brought him critical acclaim.

Pianist Orion Weiss will perform the popular Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467 – “Elvira Madigan” – by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; violinists Giora Schmidt and Eric Silberger will perform concertos by Dmitri Kabalevsky and Niccolo Paganini, respectively; harpist Yolanda Kondonassis will perform a concerto by Argentinian Alberto Ginastera; and Andrew Balio (below), principal trumpet of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, will return to Madison where he grew up and perform a 1948 trumpet concerto by Italian composer Andre Tomasi.

Early music and new music to be featured includes works by: Donald Fraser (an acclaimed English conductor, composer and arranger, below) who now lives in Illinois, and often comes to Madison); Joseph Martin Kraus, known as the “Swedish Mozart”; Norwegian composer Johann Svensen; and three English composers (always favorites of Sewell who was born and educated in New Zealand) who are John Marsh, James Macmillan and York Bowen. (In the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear the English Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kenneth Woods — a native Madisonian who will return next season to conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra — recording the Scherzo movement from Donald Fraser’s “Sinfonietta,” the same work that the WCO will perform.)

Works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn and Sergei Prokofiev also figure prominently, including Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter” and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral” in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday in 2020.

Also on the website, you will find the upcoming season of Wednesday night Concerts on the Square for this summer (June 26-July 31) plus the dates and themes – although no guest artists or works — for 2020 (June 24-July 29).

Go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances

You can also find information for next season about the WCO performing George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah,” Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” with the Madison Ballet; the Young Artist Concerto Competition; the free Family Series; and the community Super Strings program for elementary students.

To receive a brochure with information about all these events and about how to get tickets — an “early bird” discount on subscription tickets runs through May 31– call (608) 257-0638 or go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music education: Watch it on public television, hear it on public radio, stream it live or see it in person – “The Final Forte” teenage finalists’ FREE concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra is this Wednesday night at 7

March 25, 2017
4 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

This Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, four teenage finalists will perform the final round of the Bolz Young Artist Competition in a free live concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO).

It will be broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR), and available via live streaming on wpt.org, at 7 p.m.

The public can also reserve FREE tickets to attend the concert in person.

The Final Forte finalists are selected from a group of young artists who competed in the Bolz Young Artist Competition’s two preliminary rounds.

This year’s Final Forte features (below, in a photo by Amandalynn Jones, from left): violinist Julian Rhee of Brookfield, who will play the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D Major by Peter Tchaikovsky; harpist Naomi Sutherland of Viroqua, who will play the “Sacred and Profane Dances” by Maurice Ravel; pianist Michael Wu of Sun Prairie, who will play the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor by Camille Saint-Saens; and violinist Yaoyao Chen of Menasha, who will play the first movement of the Violin Concerto in D minor by Jean Sibelius.

Each of the finalists will perform with music director John DeMain and the MSO as they complete for top honors and scholarships that will be awarded at the end of the broadcast. WPR’s Lori Skelton and Jim Fleming will co-host the event.

More information, biographies and video profiles (also available on YouTube) for each finalist can be found at: http://madisonsymphony.org/finalforte

To reserve free seats at The Final Forte, call (608) 257-3734 or register online at: http://madisonsymphony.org/finalforte

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a live concert broadcast. All audience members must be seated by 6:45 p.m. in Overture Hall, prior to the start of the concert.

The Final Forte broadcast on WPT and WPR has won numerous honors including an Emmy nomination, and has reached several hundred thousand viewers and listeners in the area Madison and statewide.

REBROADCASTS

“The Final Forte” will be rebroadcast at the following times:

The Wisconsin Channel (WPT-2): Saturday, April 1, at 3:30 p.m.

Wisconsin Public Radio: Sunday, April 2, at noon

Milwaukee Public Television (Channel 36.1): Sunday, April 2, at 1 p.m.

Wisconsin Public Television (WPT-1): Sunday, April 2, at 2 p.m.

BACKGROUND AND SPONSORS

“Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte” is a partnership among the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.

The even is part of WPT’s multiyear Young Performers Initiative, a statewide effort to raise the visibility of the arts, celebrate the creative achievements of Wisconsin’s young people and support the arts in education.

The Bolz Young Artist Competition is made possible by a generous endowment from The Eugenie Mayer Bolz Family Foundation.

Major funding for “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte” is provided by Diane Ballweg, Julie and Larry Midtbo, Fred and Mary Mohs, Stephen Morton, Joe and Maryellyn Sensenbrenner, and The Boldt Company. With additional funds from A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, W. Jerome Frautschi, Ann and Roger Hauck, Elaine and Nicholas Mischler, Kato Perlman, Sentry Insurance Company, The Estate of Norene A. Smith, Paul Guthrie in memory of Ella Guthrie, Judith and Nick Topitzes, and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.

Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 10th anniversary FREE “Final Forte” concert of young concerto winners is this Friday at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall. It will also be broadcast live by Wisconsin Public Radio and rebroadcast by Wisconsin Public Television.

January 25, 2016
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

It is described as “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete.”

“The Final Forte” event is the final round of the Bolz Young Artist Competition in which the four finalists perform in a FREE concert with the Madison Symphony Orchestra that is broadcast live by Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and rebroadcast by Wisconsin Public Television (WPT).

“The Final Forte” will take place this Friday night at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center. Seating is FREE but you must register with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. John DeMain will conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

According to the Madison Symphony Orchestra, which organizes and conducts the competition:

“The Final Forte 2016 finalists (above) were selected from several young Wisconsin artists who competed in the Bolz Young Artist Competition’s two preliminary rounds. The event gave these four artists the chance to perform a movement from a concerto with the MSO.

The 2016 contestants are (below, left to right): Pianist Audrianna Wu of Madison, who will perform the third movement of the Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Grieg (you can hearing the famous concerto played by Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes in a YouTube video at the bottom); pianist Liam Mayo of Green Bay, who will perform the first and third movement of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by German composer Felix Mendelssohn; violinist Tabby Rhee of Brookfield, who will perform the first movement of the Violin Concerto by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius; and marimbist Robert Rockman of Sun Prairie, who will perform the “Fantasy on Japanese Prints” by American composer Alan Hovhaness.

This year’s anniversary event features special guest co-host, concert pianist Christopher O’Riley, who hosts NPR’s “From the Top” that airs here on Sunday night 8-9 p.m.

The most comprehensive information about the FREE concert, the live broadcasts, the biographies the four young contestants, the complete list of sponsors and a link to register to reserve a seat (you can also call 608 257-3734) can be found at the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s website:

http://www.madisonsymphony.org/finalforte

According to the MSO: “This competition has captured an enormous following and numerous honors, including an Emmy nomination, First Place in the “Special Interest” category from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 2007, and fifth most-watched program in the February 2007 Nielsen ratings.

The 2008 WPT and WPR broadcasts reached more than 60,000 viewers and listeners in the Madison market alone and the 2009 broadcasts reached an estimated 200,000 statewide.”

This event will be broadcast on: Wisconsin Public Television: Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 7, at 12 p.m.

Milwaukee Public Television: Friday, Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. and Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 4 a.m.

Wisconsin Public Radio: Sunday, Jan. 31, at 12:30 p.m.

Here is a link to Wisconsin Public Television, which features introductory videos about each performer:

http://wpt.org/final_forte

And here is a link to Wisconsin Public Radio, where Thursday right after the noon news on The Midday, Christopher O’Riley, host of NPR’s popular classical music program From The Top, chats with radio host Stephanie Elkins (below) about his show and the young musicians from Wisconsin that have appeared on his show in the past. O’Riley is in town to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Bolz Young Artists Final Forte.

http://www.wpr.org/search/site/final%20forte

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