The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: This weekend brings annual holiday concerts at the UW-Madison and Edgewood College
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By Jacob Stockinger
As the semester comes to a close and the holidays approach, vocal and choral music is always the order of the day – or week – at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music and Edgewood College.
UW-MADISON WINTER CONCERTS
On this coming Sunday afternoon, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., the remaining six choirs from the UW-Madison choral program will present their annual winter concerts at Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Avenue, in Madison.
The one-hour concert features individual pieces from Chorale and the Madrigal Singers (Bruce Gladstone conductor); the University Chorus (Andrew Voth, conductor); Women’s Chorus (below, Michael Johnson, conductor); Masters Singers (Andrew Voth and Michael Johnson co-conductors); and the Concert Choir (Beverly Taylor conductor).
There are two pieces in which all choirs sing.
Plus, the audience is invited to join in some seasonal carols.
The concerts are FREE and no tickets are required.
A free-will offering is accepted at the end of the program with proceeds after expenses donated to “The Road Home,” an organization that provides housing and food to homeless families.
Says Beverly Taylor, the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison who will retire this spring: “The program is designed as a concert and not a service. Seats go fast!”
For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/choral-concerts-at-luther-memorial-church/2019-12-08/
EDGEWOOD COLLEGE CHRISTMAS CONCERT
This Saturday night, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m., Edgewood College will present its 92nd annual Christmas Concert.
The concert will take place in the college’s new McKinley Performing Arts Center (below and at bottom), 2219 Monroe Street., in Madison.
This yearly tradition features the Edgewood College choirs and Concert Band, along with audience sing-alongs, the Guitar Ensemble, and a post-concert reception featuring the Jazz Ensemble.
Tickets are $10, and seating is limited for this very popular annual event. Please purchase tickets online in advance.
All proceeds from this performance benefit students at Edgewood College through the Edward Walters Music Scholarship Fund.
Tickets are available online until noon on Thursday, Dec. 5, or until the performance sells out.
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Classical music: UW-Madison’s first countertenor Gerrod Pagenkopf returns to perform on Sunday night as a member of the acclaimed choral group Chanticleer. Here’s how he got from here to there. Part 1 of 2
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ALERT: Madison Symphony Orchestra organist Greg Zelek did not announce his encore after he received a standing ovation at the MSO concert Sunday afternoon. It was the final movement from the Organ Symphony No. 1 by Louis Vierne.
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Sunday night, Oct. 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the inaugural concert in the new Hamel Music Center’s main concert hall, the critically acclaimed a cappella singing group Chanticleer (below) will kick off the centennial anniversary celebration of the Concert Series at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Tickets are $45 for the public; $40 for faculty staff and Union members; and $10 for students. For more information about the performers and the “Trade Winds” program, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/chanticleer/
Among the 12 members of the San-Francisco-based Chanticleer is Gerrod Pagenkopf, who is in his fifth year with the group as both a countertenor and the assistant music director. (You can hear Pagenkopf singing music by Henry Purcell in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For a biography of Gerrod Pagenkopf, go to: https://www.chanticleer.org/gerrod-pagenkopf
Pagenkopf (below) is a graduate of the UW-Madison. When he performed here as a student, his high, clear countertenor voice was a new experience and made those of us who heard him sit bolt upright and take notice. “He is going places,” we said to each other. And so he has.
But Pagenkopf’s story is not only about him. It is also about the rediscovery of countertenors, about the changing public acceptance of them, and about the challenges that young musicians often face in establishing a professional performing career. So today and tomorrow, The Ear is offering a longer-than-usual, two-part interview with Pagenkopf.
Here is Part 1:
When were you at the UW-Madison?
I was a student at the UW-Madison from the fall of 1997 until I graduated in May of 2002. Although I received a bachelor’s degree in music education, performing ended up being a huge part of my last few semesters.
Growing up in rural Wisconsin about 30 miles north of Green Bay, I always thought that if you liked music and were good at it, you were supposed to be a teacher. It wasn’t until I was a junior that my voice teacher, the late Ilona Kombrink, and I discovered that I had a viable solo voice. Although I received the music education degree, embarking on a solo career became more important to me.
What did you do and how well did your studies and performances here prepare you for the life of a professional musician?
I was very lucky to have ample opportunities for performing during my time at the UW. Singing in choirs was very important to me. For many years I sang in the Concert Choir under Beverly Taylor (below top) as well as in the Madrigal Singers under Bruce Gladstone (below bottom,, in a photo by Katrin Talbot). I think there was one semester where I sang in just about every auditioned choir.
Beverly Taylor also gave me a lot of solo opportunities in the large-scale works that the Choral Union performed: Bach’s “St. John” and “St. Matthew” Passions, and Handel’s “Israel in Egypt.” For a 23-year-old to have those masterworks, along with the B Minor Mass and “Messiah,” on his resume was very impressive.
I was also lucky enough to perform with University Opera, singing in the chorus at first, but then singing a solo role in Handel’s “Xerxes” my final semester, and then returning as an alumni artist to sing Public Opinion in Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” and several years later Polinesso in Handel’s “Ariodante.” Director Bill Farlow took a lot of chances on my young, “raw” countertenor voice and gave me several opportunities to succeed.
I should also note the importance of the guidance and mentorship of Professor Mimmi Fulmer (below, performing at Frank Loyd Wright’s Hillside Theater at Taliesin in Spring Green) after I graduated from UW. She afforded me the opportunity to sing in recital with her numerous times — usually Brahms and Mendelssohn duets. But she also was a catalyst in bringing me back to Madison several years later to sing with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble. Our continued relationship is actually the primary reason Chanticleer is singing in Madison this fall.
How do you feel about returning to perform at your alma mater with Chanticleer?
I’m over the moon about it. It still feels like a dream that I’m singing in Chanticleer. To be able to bring a group that I’m so proud to be a part of back to Madison feels like a great personal triumph. And to be the opening performance in the new Hamel Center (below) is such an honor!
Throughout my studies at UW-Madison, I was torn between the solo performance track and the choral career. I managed to straddle both, but my dream was always to make ensemble singing my career. Way back in the early 2000s, I heard Chanticleer sing at Luther Memorial Church, and I thought, “That’s what I want to do!”
I went down several other paths since that concert — mostly in the realm of solo, operatic singing — but it’s incredibly rewarding to be able to say I achieved my dream, and I’m coming back to place where the seed of that dream was planted almost 20 years ago.
Tomorrow: How countertenors re-emerged and were treated, the “Trade Winds” program and Pagenkopf’s future plans
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Classical music: A busy Sunday at the UW is highlighted by a FREE band concert and a public reception to mark the retirement of legendary band master Mike Leckrone
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ALERT: The Madison-based Avanti Piano Trio will give two FREE public concerts this weekend. The first one is TONIGHT at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, off the Capitol Square; the second one is on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 302 Wisconsin Avenue. Members of the trio are violinist Wes Luke, cellist Hannah Wolkstein and pianist Joseph Ross. The program includes works by Leon Kirchner, Ernest Bloch, Claude Debussy and Johannes Brahms.
By Jacob Stockinger
As the semester and academic year come to a close, concerts usually get packed into the schedule.
This coming Sunday, April 28, is no different – except that one event is clearly the headliner.
Mike Leckrone (below, in a photo by UW Communications) – the legendary and much honored director of bands and athletic bands at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – is retiring after 50 years.
Sunday marks a last appearance. He will conduct the UW Concert Band one last time and then be honored with a public reception.
The athletes and athletic fans love him. The students and band members love him. The alumni love him.
And, yes, the School of Music loves him. After all, not many band directors do what he did when he asked the late UW-Madison violin virtuoso Vartan Manoogian to perform the popular Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn with a band instead of an orchestra. But Manoogian agreed — and said he loved the experience.
Also, not many band directors could start an annual spring concert in Mills Hall with an audience of some 300 and then saw it grow decades later into a three-night extravaganza that packs the Kohl Center with some 50,000 people and gets seen statewide on Wisconsin Public Television.
One time years ago, The Ear — who was then working as a journalist for The Capital Times — interviewed Leckrone. It was a busy year when he and the Marching Band were going with the football and basketball teams to the Rose Bowl and the March Madness tournament.
Mike Leckrone was charming and humorous, open and candid. The interview was so good, so full of information and human interest, that it was picked up by the Associated Press and distributed statewide and nationally.
That’s how big Mike Leckrone’s fan base is. Other schools and bands envied him.
All honor, then, to this man of action and distinction who was also creative and innovative.
Here is more information – but, alas, no program — about the FREE band concert on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band-spring-concert-2/
For really detailed biographical background about Mike Leckrone and his achievements, go to:
https://news.wisc.edu/mike-leckrone-a-legendary-career/
And here is a statement by Leckrone himself about his approach to teaching and performing as well as his plans for retirement. (You can hear an interview Leckrone did with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
http://ls.wisc.edu/news/hitting-the-high-notes
Now you may think Leckrone can’t be followed.
But just this past week, the UW-Madison announced that Corey Pompey (below) is Leckrone’s successor. Here is a link to the official announcement, with lots of background about Pompey:
https://news.wisc.edu/new-marching-band-director-to-take-the-baton/
What else is there to say except: Thank you, Mike!
On, Wisconsin!
As for other events at the UW on Sunday:
At 4 p.m., in Mills Hall, University Bands will perform a FREE concert. Darin Olsen, O’Shae Best and Cole Hairston will conduct. No program is listed.
At 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Madrigal Singers (below top) will perform a FREE concert. Bruce Gladstone (below bottom, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will conduct. No word on that program either.
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Classical music: Here are short takes about some chamber music, orchestral music and choral music concerts for this week, starting TODAY
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is another very busy week in Madison for classical music. Here are some short takes about various concerts, starting today and running through the week.
TODAY
Today — Sunday, April 7 — at 12:30 p.m., longtime chamber music partners UW-Madison cellist Parry Karp and UW-Oshkosh pianist Eli Kalman (below) will perform a FREE all-French recital at the Chazen Museum of Art in Brittingham Gallery 3. The concert is part of the regular monthly series Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen.
The concert will also be STREAMED LIVE starting at 12:30 p.m.
For a streaming portal and details about the program, go to:
TUESDAY
On Tuesday night, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall, at the foot of Bascom Hill, students in the UW-Madison Opera Workshop class perform a variety of scenes from opera and musical theater, staged and with piano accompaniment.
Sorry, but there are no details available about the composers, opera or scenes.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10
On Wednesday night, April 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School, 2100 Bristol Street, the largely amateur but critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (below) will perform.
The program, under guest conductor Kyle Knox, features the Symphony No. 2 in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven and “The Wand of Youth” Suites by Sir Edward Elgar. (You can hear the opening of the Beethoven symphony in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and the auditorium opens at 7 p.m.
A meet-and-greet reception follows the concert.
Tickets are $15 for the general public. Admission is FREE to students.
For more information, including how to purchase tickets in advance and how to support the orchestra, go to:
http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org/concert_information
FRIDAY
On Friday, April 12, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Chorale will perform a FREE concert under conductor Bruce Gladstone.
Sorry, no details are available about the program.
SATURDAY
On Saturday, April 13, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, a FREE concert by UW-Madison Combined Choirs will be performed. The event features the Masters Singers, the University Chorus and the Women’s Chorus (below).
Sorry, there are no details available about the program.
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Classical music: The UW-Madison Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra perform the Duruflé Requiem and Kodaly “Te Deum” this coming Saturday and Sunday nights
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By Jacob Stockinger
In Mills Hall this coming Saturday night, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. and Sunday night, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., the University of Wisconsin-Madison Choral Union (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) and the UW Symphony Orchestra will perform two works: the Requiem by Maurice Duruflé; and the “Te Deum” by Zoltan Kodaly.
The Choral Union is a campus and community choral group that performs once each semester. This spring, it will take part in three performances of the Symphony No. 8, “The Symphony of a Thousand,” by Gustav Mahler with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, where conductor Beverly Taylor is the choral director.
In addition to the chorus and the orchestra there are student soloists.
In the Duruflé Requiem, the student soloists are: Michael Johnson, baritone; and Chloe Flesch, mezzo-soprano (below).
In the Kodaly “Te Deum,” the student soloists are: Jing Liu, soprano; Chloe Flesch, mezzo-soprano; Benjamin Hopkins, tenor; and bass Ben Galvin.
Tickets cost $17 for the public, $8 for students.
For more information about the works as well as a YouTube video preview of the Kodaly and information about how to obtain tickets in advance or at the door, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/choral-union-the-durufle-requiem/
Beverly Taylor (below), the longtime director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music who will lead the performances, recently spoke to The Ear about the concert:
“I plan to retire in May 2020, so I’m picking some great music for my last few Choral Union concerts!
“I’ve always wanted to do the Duruflé Requiem, which Bruce Gladstone performed in Luther Memorial Church a few years ago in the organ version. But I knew we couldn’t get a good organ on stage in Mills Hall and still have room for the orchestra.
“I hadn’t realized that Duruflé (below) had written a full orchestra version without the organ, which is replaced by the woodwinds. So it seemed a wonderful piece to do. (You can hear the Kyrie movement from the Durufle Requiem in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Since I have the symphony orchestra only one semester, I ignore holiday music when it comes to programming for the Choral Union, and try to assemble a wonderful evening.
“The Duruflé piece sounds like music by Gabriel Fauré and other late French church works, with its less dramatic text choices and its warmth, lush color and tide-like swells and diminuendos.
“I’ve done the “Te Deum” by Kolday (below) twice before over my 24 years here. It continues to be a favorite, and I use it because I like it, because it’s about 20 minutes long and a good companion piece, and because it shows off the Choral Union so beautifully.
“It’s a work of great contrasts, from a thrilling opening to a quiet middle based on a Hungarian folksong, to a next-to-final fugato and to a very quiet ending.
“The only problem with this program? Both pieces end quietly! Can we still get a burst of applause?”
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Classical music: Two performances of the UW-Madison’s popular Winter Choral Concert takes place this Sunday afternoon. On Friday, composer Melinda Wagner gives a free public master class
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ALERT: On Friday, Nov. 30, from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner will discuss her music in a master class, which is FREE and open to both students and the public. (You can hear an interview with her in the YouTube video at th bottom.)
For more information about the acclaimed composer, including a video interview, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-master-class-melinda-wagner-composer/
By Jacob Stockinger
On this Sunday afternoon, Dec. 2, one of the most popular FREE and PUBLIC events at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music will take place.
Two FREE performances of the annual Winter Concert, which always draws full houses, will take place at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. at the Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Avenue.
Six of seven UW-Madison choirs — Chorale, Concert Choir (below top), Madrigal Singers, University Chorus, Women’s Chorus (below bottom) and Masters Singers — will perform in the charity concert.
Choirs will perform choral works both as individual ensembles and jointly.
Holiday carols are part of the program, and concert-goers are invited to sing along.
Professors and graduate students Beverly Taylor (below top), Bruce Gladstone, Michael Johnson and Andrew Voth will conduct, and UW Professor John Chappell Stowe (below bottom) will play the organ.
A free-will offering is accepted at the end of the program. Proceeds after expenses will be donated to “The Road Home,” an organization that provides housing and food to homeless families.
For more information, and a list of the complete and lengthy eclectic program – which includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ralph Vaughan Williams as well as traditional music, jazz, pop music and a piece by UW-Madison alumnus Scott Gendel — go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/two-winter-concerts-at-luther-memorial-church/2018-12-02/
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Classical music: This week at the UW-Madison highlights choral music
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, featurestwo local musicians: oboist Laura Medisky and pianist Vincent Fuh.
The program features solo works for oboe, oboe d’amore and piano by Johann Sebastian Bach, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Camille Saint-Saens. Food and drink are allowed. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m. Due to construction, Friday Musicale concerts are being held in the Atrium auditorium through December.
By Jacob Stockinger
Two choral concerts are the big events this week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
Here are the details:
FRIDAY
On this Friday night, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Chorale, under director and conductor of Bruce Gladstone (below in a photo by Katrin Talbot), will present a FREE concert.
The program features “Lament of Gilboa” by Arthur Honegger (below top) and “Into the Silent Darkness” by Elizabeth Alexander (below bottom).
According to the School of Music’s website: “This concert explores opposites in a variety of ways (cold/hot, slow/fast, laughing/crying, life/death), inviting the listener to think about the gray areas in between.”
SUNDAY
On this Sunday afternoon, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, there will be a FREE concert of combined choirs. Participating groups are Masters Singers, University Chorus and Women’s Chorus (below).
The program, to be performed under graduate student conductors Michael Johnson and Andrew Voth, features traditional folk music as well as works by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Joseph Haydn, Johannes Brahms (see the YouTube video at the bottom), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Aaron Copland.
For a long listing of specific works to be sung, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/combined-choirs-concert-masters-singers-university-chorus-and-womens-chorus/
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Classical music: As the semester ends, concerts are stacking up at the UW School of Music. Just look at all the concerts on this Sunday.
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ALERT: A reminder that the UW Pro Arte String Quartet (below, in the Chazen Museum of Art) will perform this Sunday from 12:30 to 2 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Radio‘s live broadcast “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen.” The program includes works by Mozart, Franz Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert (“Death and the Maiden”).
By Jacob Stockinger
It seems to happen every year.
As we reach the end of the semester, concerts stack up and get scheduled for the same day as time runs out.
(I think UW-Madison rules require all concerts to take place a week before the end of classes and the beginning of the study period for final exams. That’s why the last big concerts are the two performances in Mills hall on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. of Brahms’ “German” Requiem by the UW Choral Union and the UW Symphony Orchestra. I will have more on that in a few days.)
In any case, this Sunday is a good example for choral and brass music.
Take a look at the events, all of which are FREE. (And they don’t include several more student recitals, which are listened on the Events Calendar at www.music.wisc.edu. There you can also find links to biographies and information about conductors and members of the faculty and staff.
Sorry, no programs of repertoire have been provided.
SUNDAY, DEC. 2:
At 2 p.m. in Mills Hall. The UW Concert Band under director Scott Teeple (below).
At 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave., there will be the Winter Choral Concerts with Chorale under conductor Bruce Gladstone (below top, in a photo by Katrin Talbot); the Concert Choir under conductor Beverly Taylor (below bottom, in a photo by Katrin Talbot); the Madrigal Singers under conductor Bruce Gladstone; the University Chorus under Adam Kluck; and the Women’s Chorus under Brian Gurley.
In Mills Hall at 4 p.m., University Bands will perform under conductors Justin Stolarik (below top) and Matthew Mireles (below bottom).
At 4 p.m. in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave., there will be the Winter Choral Concerts with Chorale under conductor Bruce Gladstone ; the Concert Choir under conductor Beverly Taylor; the Madrigal Singers under conductor Bruce Gladstone; the University Chorus under Adam Kluck (below top); and the Women’s Chorus under Brian Gurley (below bottom).
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