The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet plays in Spring Green this Monday, then tours Germany during August. It will perform the same tour program in several Wisconsin cities, including Madison, in early September
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement about another Madison group – in addition to the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s tour of Peru and the Scotland concerts by the Madison Youth Choirs – that is bringing its music to international audiences.
The group is the Ancora String Quartet (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis), which will leave for a tour of Germany next week. From left are: violinists Wes Luke and Robin Ryan; violist Marika Fischer Hoyt and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.
A sort of send-off concert is this Monday night in Spring Green. Here are the details:
The concert is for the Rural Musicians Forum and will take place on this coming Monday night, Aug. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at Unity Chapel, located at 6597 County Hwy T, in Spring Green.
The program features works by Joaquin Turina, Franz Joseph Haydn and Samuel Barber.
Admission is by free will offering, with a suggested donation of $15.
Soon to start its 18th season, the Ancora String Quartet has an impressive and extensive resume. The four players have well-established individual musical careers as soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players. They perform regularly in Madison and beyond, appearing in such ensembles as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, and the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Here is what violist Marika Fischer Hoyt says about the upcoming tour to Germany:
“The Ancora String Quartet looks forward with eager anticipation to our first overseas tour.
“We are partnering with a fabulous mezzo-soprano, Melinda Paulsen (below), who serves on the voice faculty at the Musikhochschule in Frankfurt.
“Together, we have selected a program of works by German and American composers, for mezzo-soprano and quartet, and for string quartet alone.
“The program includes: the beautiful Wesendonck Lieder by Richard Wagner; Melancholie by Paul Hindemith, Drei Lieder (Three Songs) by Victor Ullmann; and Dover Beach by Samuel Barber, as well as the iconic Barber String Quartet with the slow movement that was re-orchestrated as the “Adagio for Strings.” (You can hear Samuel Barber’s “Dover Beach” with a mezzo-soprano in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“The quartet will be in Germany (map is below) from August 17 to August 26, performing at the Rathaus in Nieder-Olm; the Musikschule Chroma in Vellmar (north of Kassel); the Lutheran Church in Schlitz (halfway between Frankfurt and Kassel); and at Phillipsburg in Braubach, as part of the festival in St. Goar. The concert at the music school in Vellmar will be a lecture-concert for students, so we’re brushing up on our German!
“Following our performances in Germany, we will all return to Wisconsin to perform this same program Sept. 4-9 in Germantown, Whitewater, Janesville, Beloit and Madison. That includes an interview with radio host Norman Gilliland on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Midday” at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 5.
“We have secured funding from several German organizations, and received a generous grant from the Kassel County-Dane County Sister County Taskforce.
“Melinda and the members of this quartet are thrilled beyond words that this project has taken shape. We look forward to sharing with our audiences a program exploring the intersections between two cultures that are quite distinct today, but which share deep, common roots.”
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Last spring’s inaugural LunART Festival of women composers and creators in Madison wins a national prize
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By Jacob Stockinger
Some hearty applause and major congratulations are in order, especially in the #MeToo society and culture!
The inaugural LunART Festival that took place this past spring and celebrated women composers and creators just took First Prize from the National Flute Association.
Below is a photo of co-founder and co-director Iva Ugrcic holding the certificate that she received in Orlando, Florida:
And here is what she has to say, as passed along on the festival’s Facebook site, which has hundreds of congratulations and comments as well as photos:
“Over the moon for winning the 1st prize at the The National Flute Association C.R.E.A.T.E. Competition with my baby project LunART Festival”
In case you don’t recall what went into the inaugural three-day festival and what participants took part and what events resulted from it — including the combining of spoken word and music, which you can see in the YouTube video at the bottom — here is a reminder in the form of an extended festival preview:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/classical-music-the-inaugural-lunart-festival-celebrating-women-creators-and-performers-will-take-place-this-coming-thursday-through-saturday/
The festival was the brainchild of two local performers and graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
They are the flutist Iva Ugrcic, who is the new head of the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green, and the oboist Laura Medisky (below), who performs with the local wind quintet Black Marigold. Both musicians also play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
The project proved savvy in how it used social media to launch it with success.
Here are some other links to keep you current with the festival as it looks forward to its second year:
Here is the festival’s home page and website:
https://www.lunartfestival.org
Here is the festival’s page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/lunartfestival/
This is the festival’s entry on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lunartfestival
And you can also follow the LunART festival on Instagram.
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