The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Madison Choral Project performs “Finding Our Path” this Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Plus, the Madison New Music Ensemble performs a FREE concert this Friday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the critically acclaimed Madison Choral Project (below) will give two performances – in two different venues this year — of its seventh annual holiday program.
The MCP was founded and is directed and conducted by Albert Pinsonneault (below), who taught at Edgewood College and now works at Northwestern University. The group’s stated goal is to inspire, enhance and improve life through music. (You can hear them singing the Octet from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In keeping with a format that you often find in places of worship — think Scripture and hymns — the MCP once again uses a holiday formula that remains popular and works very effectively by combining the spoken word with choral music.
This year’s theme is “Finding Our Path” and features music and texts on the theme of feeling adrift, seeking guidance and finding our path.
Performances are on this Friday night, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive; and this Saturday afternoon, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
Noah Ovshinsky (below), the news editor at Wisconsin Public Radio, will once again serve as the narrator.
Unfortunately, The Ear has seen no word about the works or composers in the musical part of the program, except that two commissions, including a world premiere by MCP composer-in-residence Justin Merritt, will be performed.
PREFERRED SEATING has a limit of 20 per concert. A reserved seat is in an acoustically “prime” spot in the house (center, about a third of the way back from the stage) and costs $40.
GENERAL ADMISSION is $28 purchased in advance and online or $32 at the door.
STUDENT TICKETS are $10 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Please show valid student ID at will-call to redeem the ticket.
To purchase tickets online, go to: http://themcp.org/tickets
For more information, including a list of other concerts this season as well as recordings and videos, go to: http://themcp.org/concerts-2
MADISON NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
This Friday night, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. the Madison New Music Ensemble (below) will perform a FREE concert at the Capitol Lakes Auditorium, 333 W. Main St., in downtown Madison, two blocks off the Capitol Square.
Parking is available in the ramp across from Capitol Lakes.
The concert features music by Joseph Koykkar (below), a Madison-based composer who teaches at the UW-Madison; Gabriela Lena Frank; Gareth Farr; Astor Piazzolla; and Paul Harvey.
Performers in the Madison New Music Ensemble are: Danielle Breisach, Amy Harr, Xinyi Jiang, Elena Ross, Joseph Ross and Bethany Schultz.
For more information, go to the Madison New Music Ensemble on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madisonnewmusicensemble/
Or go to the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oehEnNWbA0Q
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Classical music: FREE Handel aria concert by area high school singers is this Saturday afternoon at Capitol Lakes
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature flutist Marilyn Chohaney, of The Oakwood Chamber Players, with pianist Joseph Ross and clarinetist James Smith. The program is salon music by Arnold Bax, Florent Schmitt, Claude Debussy and Dmitri Shostakovich. Sorry, no titles have been given. The concerts run from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Saturday afternoon, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street – two blocks off the Capitol Square — there will be an hour-long program featuring five young singers performing Handel arias.
There will also be a guest performance of a Handel duet by the Handel Aria Competition’s new artistic director Sarah Brailey (below top) and founding artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe (below bottom).
You can hear Brailey, who won the Handel Aria Competition in 2015 and is now doing graduate work at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music while pursuing her growing career, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Karlos Moser, professor emeritus of the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music’s opera program, will accompany on the piano.
The performance is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“Our goal is to encourage high school singers in the Madison, Wisconsin area to explore works from Handel’s vocal repertoire,” says Brailey.
All participating high school singers will receive a $100 Handel Aria Competition scholarship towards voice lessons or membership in the Madison Youth Choirs.
The high school singers who will perform are: Allana Beilke from Madison West High School; Daphne Buan from Verona Area High School; Ava DeCroix from Middleton High School; Cecilia League from McFarland High School; and Virginia Morgan from Madison West High School.
The students are all very active in the local arts scene and have participated in Wisconsin Badger All-State Choir, the Madison Opera Youth Apprentice Program, the Madison Symphony Chorus, the 50th anniversary Wisconsin School Music Association State Honors Treble Choir, and have won numerous awards in the National Association for Teachers of Singing Student Auditions and the State Solo and Ensemble Festival.
The program will include selections from operas and oratorios “Agrippina,” “Joshua,” “L’Allegro,” “Semele” and “Solomon.”
Tags: #All-State, #AllanaBeilke, #ArnoldBax, #ArtisticDirector, #AvaDeCroix, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolLakesRetirementCenter, #CeciliaLeague, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChoralMusic, #ClarinetMusic, #ClaudeDebussy, #DaphneBuan, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FlorentSchmitt, #FluteMusic, #FreeAdmission, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GraduateStudent, #GraduateWork, #HandelAriaCompetition, #HandelOpera, #HandelOratorio, #HighSchool, #HighSchoolSingersShowcase, #JamesSmith, #JosephRoss, #KarlosMoser, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWestHighSchool, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MarilynChohaney, #McFarlandHighSchool, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MusicEducation, #MusicTeacher, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OperaAria, #OperaDuet, #OratorioAria, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #SalonMusic, #SarahBrailey, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VeronaHighSchool, #VeronaWisconsin, #VirginiaMorgan, #VocalDuet, #WisconsinBadgerAllStateChoir, #WisconsinSchoolMusicAssociation, #YoungArtists, #YouTubevideo, Agrippina, Allana Beilke, Arnold Bax, Artistic director, Arts, audience, audition, Ava DeCroix, awards, Badger, Baroque, blog, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, career, Cecilia League, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, composer, Daphne Buan, Debussy, director, duet, Early music, ensemble, Facebook, festival, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florent Schmitt, flute, flutist, forward, free, Friday, Friday Noon Musicale, George Frideric Handel, graduate student, Handel Aria Competition, high school, High School Singers Showcase, honors, Jacob Stockinger, James Smith, Joseph Ross, Joshua, Karlos Moser, L'Allegro, like, link, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison West High School, Madison Youth Choirs, Marilyn Chohaney, McFarland, McFarland High School, member, membership, mezzo-sorpano, Middleton, Middleton High School, Music, Music education, music teacher, new, Oakwood Chamber Players, opera, Opera aria, oratorio, performer, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, professor, program, repertoire, Retirement, salon music, Sarah Brailey, scholarship, Semele, Shostakovich, singer, solo, Solomon, soprano, state, Student, tag, Teacher, title, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, Verona, Verona High School, Virginia Morgan, vocal music, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Badger All State Choir, Wisconsin School Music Association, won, young, young people, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold performs two concerts this Friday night and Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra performs
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is another twofer preview because of so many events happening this weekend.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS
The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold (below, in a photo by Vincent Fuh) will perform two concerts this Friday and Saturday nights.
The program features wind music of the 19th and 21st centuries.
Here are the two performances:
This Friday night, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m.; Arts & Literature Laboratory; 2021 Winnebago Street; $8 in advance, $10 at the door; Tickets: http://blackmarigold.bpt.me/
The program includes Five Stick$ (2014) by Columbian composer Víctor Agudelo; Petit Suite(1889) by French composer Claude Debussy; and flights (selections) of Beer Music (2016), a suite of short pieces inspired by Madison area microbrews by American composer Brian DuFord (below).
Vote for your favorite beer! Choose your favorite beer and we’ll perform the top six as a flight of Beer Music. Don’t know which is your favorite yet? Check out our “Tasting Notes” and see what strikes your fancy.
There is an additional FREE performance:
This Saturday night, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community; 331 West Main Street, three blocks off the Capitol Square; http://www.retirement.org/madison/; Free admission, presented by Capitol Lakes
Facebook event links are: Arts & Literature Lab, Sept. 22; Capitol Lakes, Sept. 23
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
This Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra will present its fall concert.
Admission is $5, free with Edgewood College ID.
Edgewood College professor Blake Walter (below) will conduct the orchestra in the first concert of its 2017-18 season.
The program includes: the Overture to “Iolanthe” by Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Suite from Gabriel Faure’s incidental music to the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, entitled “Pelleas and Melisande,” as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular Symphony No. 40 in G minor. You can hear and see a really cool graphic depiction of the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Founded in 1993 via a generous endowment established by benefactors William O. Hart and Vernon Sell, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra fulfills a unique role in the Madison community, providing high-quality performances and unique educational opportunities. The ensemble is the permanent, in-house chamber orchestra at Edgewood College.
Edgewood College’s Music Department has been recognized by the readers of Madison Magazine with the Best of Madison 2017 Silver Award.
Tags: 19th century, 21st century, America, American, Arts, award, Bassoon, Beer, beer music, Black Marigold, Blake Walter, Brian DuFord, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, clarinet, Classical music, college, Columbia, community, composer, Debussy, department, depiction, Edgewood College, Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra, Education, ensemble, Faure, flute, France, French, graphic, Horn, incidental music, Iolanthe, Jacob Stockinger, literature, Madison, Madison Magazine, Maurice Maeterlinck, microbrew, Mozart, Music, Music education, Oboe, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Pelleas et Melisande, piece, play, professor, silver, Sir Arthur Sullivan, Suite, symphony, Symphony No. 40, Symphony No. 40 (Mozart), United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vernon Sell, Victor Agudelo, Viola, Violin, wind music, winds, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Madison native Ansel Norris returns to perform a FREE recital this Saturday night of songs transcribed for trumpet and piano
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CORRECTION: In some downloads of yesterday’s post, the performance by the Ancora String Quartet was mistakenly listed for Friday night. The performance is SATURDAY night. The Ear apologizes for the error. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
On this Saturday night, July 29, at 7 p.m., trumpeter Ansel Norris and pianist Beth Wilson will perform a FREE recital of vocal music in an unusual format — for solo trumpet and piano, with the poetry that inspired the music spoken in between each song.
“In music for voice and piano there lies a special intimacy, and the composers featured each captured something close to the essence of the form,” Norris (below) told The Ear. “I wanted to see what happened if I split the songs up into a poem, read it out loud, and then played a wordless melody to follow. The result was interesting and felt meaningful, so I’ve decided to give it another go.”
The recital, in the Grand Hall at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, downtown and three blocks off the Capitol Square.
The program includes: Richard Strauss, “Morgen”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 5;” Richard Strauss, “Die Nacht”: Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 1; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 9; Johannes Brahms, “Die Mainacht”; Franz Schubert, “Der Einsame”; Johannes Brahms, “Unbewegte laue Luft”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 3; Richard Strauss, “Befreit”; and Peter Tchaikovsky, “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” (“None but the Lonely Heart,” sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Ansel Norris grew up on the east side of Madison, and last set foot in Capitol Lakes (below) in the spring of 2010, for his graduation recital. In recent years, he has distinguished himself as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician of enthusiasm and diverse taste.
Norris has won a number of prizes as a soloist, including first-prize twice in the National Trumpet Competition, and has drawn acclaim as an orchestral player, performing with the Chicago and Boston Symphonies and holding a fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.
Norris has also worked in close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, at the Tanglewood Music Center, in the summers of 2014 and 2015.
He says he is fascinated with the relationship between music and storytelling, and is currently exploring interesting formats of solo recitals to draw new connections between them. In a sense, this recital is an experiment, but one conducted with great love, care and curiosity.
While in Madison, Ansel Norris said, he was lucky to participate in a number of the diverse opportunities available to young musicians. He was a three-year member of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra and a four-year, inaugural member of the Winds of Wisconsin.
He was also a participant in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Final Forte” was a winner of the Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition held by Wisconsin Public Radio. He was a devoted student of the UW-Madison’s recently retired professor of trumpet, John Aley (below), who to this day is one of his greatest inspirations.
As he grows older, Norris says, he often reflects on what a special place Madison was to grow up in, and he looks forward to every chance he has to be home.
Beth Wilson (below) currently lives in Madison and is a freelance musician and professional pianist. She is a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, playing for the “Nutcracker Ballet” and “Concerts on the Square.” She also performs with Grupo Candela, a salsa band. Broadway touring shows contract her to play in the pit orchestra including the recent shows “Wicked,” “Book of Mormon,” “Sound of Music” and “Beautiful –The Carole King Musical.”
As an accompanist, Beth Wilson has collaborated with Bernhard Scully of the Canadian Brass; Diana Gannett of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; and Ansel Norris — with whom she is now reunited after seven years.
Tags: arrangement, Arts, ballet, band, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, Book of Mormon, Boston Symphony Orchestra, brass, Broadway, Canadian Brass, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Capitol Square, care, Carole King, chamber, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, Concerts on the Square, curiosity, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Final Forte, Florida, freelance, graduation, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Aley, Love, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Miami, Miami Beach, Music, Music education, musical, Musical theater, National Tumpet Competition, Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition, New World Symphony, None but the Lonely Heart, Nutcracker, orchestral, Piano, poem, Poetry, professor, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, recital, Retirement, Richard Strauss, Salsa, Schubert, Schumann, singer, soloist, song, Sound of Music, storytelling, summer, symphony, Tanglewood Music Festival, transcription, Trumpet, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wicked, winds, Winds of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, young, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: A FREE Intergenerational Choir concert this Saturday night will bring voices of teens and seniors together at the Capitol Lakes Retirement Community
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By Jacob Stockinger
On this Saturday night, March 12, at 7 p.m. the MYC Intergenerational Choir — composed of high school-aged singers of Madison Youth Choirs and residents of Capitol Lakes Retirement Community — will present their fourth concert performance since the ensemble’s creation in January 2015.
This unique artistic collaboration, led by Madison Youth Choirs conductor Lisa Kjentvet (below) — who is a graduate of the UW-Madison — and featuring performers who range from 15 to 93 years old, celebrates the power of creative expression at every age.
The Intergenerational Choir will present a varied program, including works by Henry Purcell, William Billings, Bob Dylan and a selection of traditional Irish tunes.
Here are the specific works:
Welcome, Every Guest…………Traditional shape-note canon
Come, Ye Sons of Art……………Henry Purcell
When Jesus Wept………………William Billings
Danny Boy……………………….Frederic Weatherly
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling….Chauncey Olcott, George Graff, Jr. and Ernest Ball
Blessing…………………………Katie Moran Bart
Forever Young………………….Bob Dylan
The concert is in the Capitol Lakes Grand Hall (below), 333 West Main Street. Off the Capitol Square. Admission is FREE and open to the public.
The choir is supported in part by a grant from the John A. Johnson Foundation, a component fund of the Madison Community Foundation.
Here is more information about the Madison Youth Choirs (MYC): Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community.
Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, personal responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.
For more information, visit www.madisonyouthchoirs.org or call (608) 238-7464.
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Bob Dylan, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, choral music, Classical music, Folk music, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henry Purcell, intergenerational, Ireland, Irish, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Youth Choirs, Music, old, Piano, Retirement, Rock, senior, singers, Singing, song, teen, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, William Billings, young
Classical music: The last FREE Dane County Farmer’s Market organ concert of this summer – sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Overture Center — will take place this coming Saturday morning, Aug. 17, at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall. Plus, Black Marigold Quintet will be featured on WORT-FM Thursday morning.
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ALERT: Radio programmer and host as well as blog friend Rich Samuels writes: “In anticipation of the upcoming concerts by Black Marigold Woodwind Quintet (below) at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, I’ll be airing, at 7:28 a.m. this Thursday morning, during my 5- 8 a.m. program “Anything Goes” on WORT-FM 89.9, their April 13 performance at Grace Episcopal Church (recorded by Bruce Kasprzyk) of Robert Muczynski‘s Quintet for Winds. The concerts will include arrangements of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” which is 100 years old this year.” Details of the concerts were included in a blog post here yesterday.
By Jacob Stockinger
A FREE performance on the Overture Concert Organ (below) will be co-presented by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Overture Center for the Arts during the Dane County Farmers’ Market on this upcoming Saturday, Aug. 17, at 11 a.m. at Overture Hall, 201 State Street.
No tickets or reservations are needed for the 45-minute concert featuring Sam Hutchison and 14-year-old newcomer Adrian Binkley.
The two will play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Third Movement from the Sonata in E-Flat Major BWV 525 (heard in a YouTube video at the bottom), Sir Edward Elgar’s “Imperial March,” Sir Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord,” Ennio Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe” and the Prayer to Our Lady and Toccata movements from Leon Boëllmann’s “Gothic Suite.” A complete list of Overture Concert Organ performances is at www.madisonsymphony.org/organperformances .
Audiences will hear the debut of a young rising star from Waunakee, Wisconsin. Fourteen-year-old organist Adrian Binkley (below top) is a student of MSO Principal Organist Samuel Hutchison (below bottom, in a photo by Joe DeMaio). Binkley is already an experienced recital artist and plans to study organ performance at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan this fall. Both Binkley and Samuel Hutchison will perform at this concert.
The Free Farmers’ Market Concerts are generously sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and are presented in partnership with 77 Square. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund with additional support from Friends of the Overture Concert Organ.
With a gift from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts. As curator for the instrument, Samuel Hutchison is responsible for organ programming and education events. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Concerts, the instrument is featured in the MSO Christmas and April 2014 concerts along with three Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing.
Subscribers to the 2013-14 Overture Concert Organ season receive a 25% discount. To subscribe visit
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/organseason
Tags: Arthur Sullivan, Arts, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Dane County Farmers' Market, Edward Elgar, Ennio Morricone, George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison Symphony Orchestra, organ, organ music, Overture Center, Overture Concert Organ, Robert Muczynski, Samuel Hutchison, Wisconsin, WORT, WORT FM, YouTube
Classical music: Black Marigold, the Madison-based woodwind quintet, will perform three FREE PUBLIC concerts in the second half of August, starting this Friday.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Word has come of three very appealing FREE and PUBLIC performances by a notable local chamber music group. Here is the press release:
“Black Marigold (below) welcomes the dog days of August with a free concert series of chamber works hot enough to fry an egg on the stage. (You can hear Black Marigold in a lively performance of the “William Tell” Overture by Rossini in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Join the members of this local woodwind quintet as they perform arrangements some of their favorite orchestral works, including a 100th anniversary celebration of the notorious premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Any riotous reactions to this challenging quintet adaptation will hopefully come in the form of applause.
“All performances are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“Members of Black Marigold are: Elizabeth Marshall, flute; Laura Medisky, oboe; Bethany Schultz, clarinet; Kia Karlen, horn; and Cynthia Cameron Fix, bassoon.
For more information about the group, here is a link to a website and also the group’s email address:
Here is the line-up of upcoming appearances with programs and links to details:
Friday, August 16, 6 p.m ., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Lecture Hall (below), first floor, 227 State St., Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday, August 17, 7 p.m. , Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Grand Hall (below), 333 W Main St., Madison, Wisconsin
Program: Overture to “Candide” – by Leonard Bernstein, trans. Don Stewart; “Le Tombeau de Couperin” – by Maurice Ravel, arr. Mason Jones; “The Rite of Spring” – by Igor Stravinsky, arr. Jonathan Russell; “Rhapsody in Blue” – by George Gershwin, arr. Ernst-Thilo Kalke
Orton Park Festival, Main Stage (below top), Sunday, August 25, noon, Orton Park, 1200 Spaight St., Madison, Wisconsin, with a special guest, the local well known recording engineer, amateur musician and all-round enthusiastic and amiable good sport Buzz Kemper (below bottom) as narrator.
The Orton Park program inc;ludes: Overture to “Candide” – by Leonard Bernstein, trans. Don Stewart; “Peter and the Wolf” – by Sergei Prokofiev, arr. Earl C. North; “The Rite of Spring” – by Igor Stravinsky, arr. Jonathan Russell; “Rhapsody in Blue” – by George Gershwin, arr. Ernst-Thilo Kalke
Tags: Black Marigold, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Jonathan Russell, Leonard Bernstein, Madison, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison Wisconsin, Maurice Ravel, MMOCA, Orton Park Festival, Overture Center, Rite of Spring, Sergei Prokofiev, Wisconsin, YouTube
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Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra honors retired music critic John W. Barker with a special performance of Brahms and a season dedication
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By Jacob Stockinger
How does an individual musician or musical group pay tribute and say thank you to a critic?
By performing, of course.
And that is exactly what 30 members of the Middleton Community Orchestra did, playing under guest conductor Kyle Knox (below top), last Friday night for the veteran music critic John W. Barker (below bottom).
The orchestra performed for him at the downtown Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, near the Capitol Square, where the ailing Barker lives with his wife Margaret.
Because of space limitations, word of the special performance never went public. But the large basement room was packed with affectionate and respectful fans and friends.
The MCO members played the lyrical and sunny Serenade No. 1, Op. 11, of Johannes Brahms. (You can hear the opening movement of the Serenade by Brahms in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The orchestra also announced that it would dedicate its upcoming 10th anniversary season to Barker as a gesture of thanks for all he has done over the past nine years to promote the mostly amateur orchestra — which opens its new season on Wednesday, Oct. 9.
“I’ve known this piece most of my life,” said Barker, who soon turns 86 and who started reviewing in his teens. “It’s lots of fun.”
And so was the unusual honor.
“An orchestra paying tribute to a critic? It’s unprecedented,” Barker quipped, as both he and the audience laughed. Barker also quoted the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius who once said, “A statue has never been erected in honor of a critic.”
After the 40-minute performance, Barker spoke briefly to the players and audience.
“The job of the critic,” he said, “is to stimulate performers to play up to their best standards and to give readers some background and context. Being critical doesn’t mean being negative, although at times I have made some negative comments. But you never have to be nasty. I guess I’ve succeeded,” he said looking around at the players and the public, both of whom generously applauded his remarks.
Barker’s list of personal accomplishments is impressive. He has written local music reviews for The Capital Times, Isthmus and this blog.
But he is a participant as well as a critic. He has sung in many choirs, including 47 years in the one at the local Greek Orthodox Church, and has performed with the Madison Opera. He directed Gilbert and Sullivan productions for the Madison Savoyards.
Barker is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which may help to explain his general taste for the traditional. He also is a well-known classical music critic, with a national reputation, who has written for 63 years for the American Record Guide. For many years, he hosted an early music radio show on Sunday mornings for WORT-FM 89.9.
He also worked with Opera Props, the support group for University Opera, and was a member of the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival. And he frequently gave pre-concert lectures in Madison. He has published two books on Wagner and written a definitive history of the Pro Arte Quartet.
But this time even the voluble Barker had to admit, “I am grateful and thankful. I am very moved, even floored. But I’m afraid I’m finally at a loss for words.”
You can leave your own words of tribute in the Comment section.
To see the full “Barker season” schedule for the Middleton Community Orchestra and to read many of Barker’s past reviews of the MCO, go to: http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
Thank you, John, for all you have done to enrich the cultural and musical life of Madison!
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