The Well-Tempered Ear
Cellist Camille Thomas makes her Madison debut online from Paris for the Wisconsin Union Theater this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater’s fall virtual Concert Series performances will begin this Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. CST with a live online performance from Paris by the acclaimed cellist Camille Thomas (below).
The “Midnight in Paris” recital – performed in Paris and streamed — features music by Claude Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Frederic Chopin. The performance will be preceded by a live 30-40 minute online Q&A with Thomas and pianist Julien Brocal on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CST.
Here are the specific works on the program, which will last about 75 minutes with no intermission:
Debussy, “Clair de Lune” (arr. Roelens)
Nadia Boulanger, “Three Pieces” for cello and piano
Ravel, Kaddish
Chopin, Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65; and Introduction et Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
Tickets for this online event are $10 for UW-Madison students, $18 for Wisconsin Union members, and $20 for all other patrons.
For more information about the Thomas’ performance – including a video and how to purchase tickets — visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/camille-thomas.
Thomas (below), a Franco-Belgian cellist, says she uses her music to bring people together from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Thomas released her second album, called “Voice of Hope,” with the exclusive Deutsche Grammophon this past June. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Thomas play a solo version from the album of Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from his opera “Orfeo ed Euridice.”)
Thomas plays the Feuermann Stradivarius cello (1730, below) — named for the famous 20th-century cellist Emanuel Feuermann who played it — with a bow by Eugene Sartory, who is regarded as one of the finest bow makers in history. Joining her for this performance will be pianist Julien Brocal.
“Camille Thomas’s extraordinary talent makes her one of the most captivating artists of our time, as evidenced by being the first cellist in several decades to be signed by the major record label Deutsche Grammophon,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass. “Her ‘Midnight in Paris’ program brings us closer to her roots and reflects the beauty and charm of her personality as well as her musicality.”
The Ear has listened to some of Thomas’ performances on YouTube and finds her tone, intonation and phrasing outstanding.
The performance by Camille Thomas is the start of the fall Concert Series events, which includes a concert with pianist Jeremy Denk (below, in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times) on Friday, Dec. 11.
In its 101st year, the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series is one of the oldest uninterrupted series of its kind in the United States.
The Wisconsin Union Theater (WUT) has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors for more than 75 years. The WUD Performing Arts Committee plans many of the Theater’s events, including the Concert Series.
While usually held in-person and most often in Shannon Hall, the Wisconsin Union Theater team will hold this fall’s theater events in a virtual format for the health and safety of patrons, artists and team members in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team aims for all of its spaces, including online ones, to be accessible. Those that need accommodations can reach out to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu.
The WUT team says it continues to evaluate what changes may need to occur related to the spring Concert Series events as well as other spring Theater season performances.
The Wisconsin Union Theater has made multiple commitments to take a stand against racial injustice, including being more than allies, being activists; using the arts to create social justice; remembering students are future leaders and must be part of the change; using its voice to influence leadership and being firm in its resolve; and making space, stepping back and learning how to give up undeserved or unnecessary power and privilege.
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BerlinGermany, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CamilleThomas, #CelloBow, #CelloSonata, #CentralStandardTime, #ChamberMusic, #ChristophWillibaldGluck, #Clairdelune, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommunityMembers, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CulturalCenter, #DanceoftheBlessedSpirits, #DeutscheGrammophon, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #EmanuelFeuermann, #EugeneSartory, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #Franco-Belgian, #FredericChopin, #Fridaynight, #HiroyukiIto, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JulienBrocal, #LiveMusic, #MauriceRavel, #MidnightinParis, #Musicfaculty, #NadiaBoulanger, #NewYorkTimes, #OnlineConcert, #OrfeoedEuridice, #ParisFrance, #PianoAccompanist, #PublicHealth, #RacialInjustice, #RecordedMusic, #RecordLabel, #SaturdayAfternoon, #ShannonHall, #SocialJustice, #StradivariusCello, #TeamMembers, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TheUS, #TheUW, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VoiceofHope, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, accessible, accommodation, accompany, accuracy, activist, afternoon, Album, Allies, arrnagement, artist, artists, Arts, audience, background, Baroque, Baroque music, beauty, Belgian, Belgium, Berlin, blessed, blog, Boulanger, bow, Camille Thomas, captivating, CD, cellist, Cello, cello bow, Cello Sonata, center, Central Standard Time, Chamber music, change, changes, charm, Chopin, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Clair de Lune, Classical music, Claude Debussy, commitments, community, composer, Concert, concert hall, concert series, coronavirus, CST, cultural, cultural center, culture, dance, Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Debussy, decades, Denk, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, director, Early music, Elizabeth Snodgrass, Eugene Sartory, Eurydice, evaluate, event, exclusive, extraordinary, Facebook, faculty, fall, finest, firm, forward, France, Franco-Belgium, Frédéric Chopin, French, Friday, future, German, Germany, Gluck, Health, Hiroyuki Ito, History, hope, in person, influence, information, injustice, intermission, intonation, introduction, Ito, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, join, Julien Brocal, June, Kaddish, kind, leaders, leadership, learn, light, like, link, listen, live, live music, Luthier, Madison, major, Maurice Ravel, members, midnight, Midnight in Paris, minute, multiple, Music, musicality, Nadia Boulanger, need, New York Times, night, oldest, online, Op., opera, opus, Orfeo ed Euridice, Orpheus, outstanding, pandemic, Paris, patrons, People, perform, performaer, performance, performer, personality, photo, phrasing, Pianist, Piano, Piano accompanist, polonaise, post, posting, power, precede, privilege, program, public, Public health, purchase, Q&A, question-and-answer, race, racial injustice, racism, range, Ravel, reader, recital, Record label, recorded music, reflects, regard, resolve, roots, safety, Saturday, Shannon Hall, share, sign, social justice, solo, Sonata, spaces, specific, spirit, Spring, start, Strad, Stradivarius, stream, Student, students, subscriber, tag, talent, team, team members, The Ear, tickets, time, together, tone, U.S., undeserved, uninterrupted, United States, University of Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unnecessary, US, use, UW, UW-Madison, version, virtual, visitors, voice, Voice of Hope, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, work, years, YouTube
Classical music: COVID-19 pandemic forces more major changes for Concerts on the Square and a cancellation by the Mosaic Chamber Players
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ALERT: The Ear has received the following note from Jess Salek — the founder, director and pianist of the Mosaic Chamber Players: “Just a note to mention that the concert scheduled for this Saturday, June 13, is cancelled due to COVID-19. We are doing our best to stay positive during this difficult time for local arts groups, and we will resume our music-making as soon as is safe. Please be well!”
By Jacob Stockinger
Major changes are in store for the annual Concerts on the Square, which were already postponed with a change of dates, day and time, according to television WKOW-TV Channel 27 (you can hear the TV news report in the YouTube video at the bottom):
Here are details:
MADISON (WKOW) – The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) has unveiled a new plan for its 2020 Concerts on the Square series (below), which involves replacing the four postponed concerts with two drive-in performances.
Additionally, they’re planning for two live concerts at Breese Stevens Field if playing outdoors is deemed safe in late summer.
The revised approach was necessary to keep attendees safe, while adhering to state and county requirements that don’t allow for large gatherings, according to a WCO news release.
The WCO will follow Forward Dane Health Guidelines to determine if the live concerts can occur. A decision will be made in late July.
“We were optimistic in April that if we only delayed the start of Concerts on the Square to late July that we could still hold live performances downtown,” said Joe Loehnis (below), the WCO’s CEO. “But as the pandemic continues to affect us all in ways we never could have foreseen, we’ve decided to take creative steps now that will allow us to still share music with our community.”
The new plan for Concerts on the Square looks like this:
- The first four shows (July 28 – Aug 18) have been postponed until the summer of 2021.
- The WCO, in partnership with the Madison Mallards, will host two “drive-in” concerts on June 24 and July 22 (more information below). Each concert also will be live-streamed on https://wcoconcerts.org and https://pbswisconsin.org for free.
- The final two Concerts on the Square will be live concerts at Breese Stevens Field on Aug. 25 and Sept. 1.
- The WCO’s annual “runout” concert to Portage this summer has been canceled.
Drive-in Concerts on the Square
The two drive-in concerts will feature rebroadcasts of the most popular Concerts on the Square performances, thanks to a partnership with PBS Wisconsin.
The WCO expects to be able to have 115 vehicles at each concert. The goal is to make it accessible to as many people as possible without risking health and safety.
The basics for each program are:
Location: Warner Park, 2930 N. Sherman Ave., Madison
Cost: $25 per car
Time: 7-8 p.m.; 8:45-9:45 p.m. (two showings each night to allow more people to attend)
Additional information: To purchase tickets, visit:
- 8:45 p.m. concert: https://madison-mallards.nwltickets.com/Tickets/SelectPromoSeats?UserPromoCode=wco8
June 24 – “S Wonderful” with Amanda Huddleston, soprano, and Andrew Clark, tenor. Songs include: “The Sound of Music” Medley, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Armed Forces Salute” and “1812 Overture.” (2015 Performance)
July 22 – “Film Night,” featuring concertmaster Suzanne Beia. Songs include: “The Magnificent Seven,” “The Pink Panther,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Schindler’s List” and “E.T.” (2019 Performance)
“With two showings each night, we’re trying to make the concerts as accessible as possible,” Loehnis said. “Community partnerships are so important right now, and because of PBS Wisconsin and the Mallards, we’re able to bring this idea to life. We are grateful for these partnerships.”
Breese Stevens concerts are planned for late summer. If Dane County has entered Phase III of its Forward Dane plan by late August, 250 people will be allowed to gather for outdoor events.
For that reason, the WCO is planning to host two live Concerts on the Square at Breese Stevens.
The WCO will provide an update later in July on progress for this opportunity. Those shows currently are scheduled for Aug. 25 and Sept. 1.
The WCO also is considering how it could broadcast the live performances to other venues such as the Alliant Energy Center, Warner Park or Madison parks, where others could view the concerts safely.
“We’re still working through the logistics, and we’re realists – understanding that the situation changes almost daily,” Loehnis said. “But we also want to be forward-thinking and we’re going to keep pushing ahead unless we don’t believe a live show can be held safely.”
To keep up-to-date with performance schedules, community members can sign up for email updates on the WCO website or follow the orchestra on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=wisconsin%20chamber%20orchestra&epa=SEARCH_BOX) and Instagram.
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Classical music: The Well-Tempered Ear turns 10 today. Changes are probably in store. What do you like and dislike? What changes would you like to see or not to see?
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Today – August 20, 2019 – The Well-Tempered Ear turns 10 years old.
To keep it interesting, entertaining, relevant and useful, but also to offer an easier workload for something that is a hobby, some changes are probably in store and maybe even needed.
For example, the “You Must Hear This” postings that offer pieces of classical music or stories about national and international issues often generate more traffic than local events.
And even with 2.1 million hits, subscriptions seem to have plateaued.
Perhaps all that is because, even with the explosion in classical music over the past decade, many individuals and groups now have their own websites and email newsletters.
But The Ear wants to know what you think.
What would make you and others read the blog more and pass it along?
What do you like or dislike?
Should it even continue?
What changes, if any, would you like to see – or not to see?
Whatever you decide and share, thank you for 10 years of loyal reading, positive reactions and many, many comments.
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: After a year recovering from an injury, Chinese superstar pianist Lang Lang says he has become a more serious musician
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Chinese pianist Lang Lang (below) has long been popular, a best-selling superstar and one of the most bankable players in the business.
Yet such was his flamboyant showmanship and self-indulgence that many of his colleagues and critics did not take him very seriously. Many thought of him more as the Liberace of the classical concert stage.
But then a serious injury to his left arm, tendonitis from over-practicing and straining, forced Lang Lang to take a year off to recover.
During that time he married. He worked with young children and music students, even funding a new piano lab. And he released a new CD (“Piano Book”) of short pieces that he has loved since his student days. (You can see Lang Lang coaching a young pianist about a Mozart sonata that played a pivotal role in his life during a master class in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Lang Lang now says that during that recovery period he rethought everything about his career and has made some major changes from practicing to performing.
And what seems to have emerged, at age 37, is a new approach that emphasizes more seriousness and regularity coupled with greater respect for the music he plays.
Time will tell – in both live and recorded performances — how much has really changed in Lang Lang’s approach to making music.
Nonetheless, the dramatic change was recounted recently in a comprehensive story in The New York Times, which even goes back to trace the pianist’s career, including failures, from his early childhood (below) in China.
Read it and see what you think.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/24/arts/music/lang-lang-piano.html
Then tell us in the Comment section if it has changed how you think about Lang Lang.
The Ear wants to hear.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
The Ear is back
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PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear is back!
For the first time since the May 18 posting about the season’s last concert by Just Bach, The Ear can post a new entry.
For three weeks, The Ear struggled to correct the situation, but to no avail. But then yesterday everything suddenly seemed to fall into place and new postings became possible.
Some readers and subscribers have contacted The Ear to ask if he was ill or something disabling had happened. Thank you for your concern.
But let me reassure you. The absence and silence were due simply to the technological glitch on the WordPress.com platform.
In some ways, though, the involuntary sabbatical was welcome. It provided The Ear with an opportunity to consider whether he wanted to continue the blog after the past 13 years.
After much consideration, The Ear has decided to continue, at least for the time being.
But the blog will see some changes.
Stay tuned and The Ear will explain more in detail.
In the mean time, thank you for continuing to subscribe and read the blog. It has been gratifying to see both the loyalty of the readers, many of whom used the hiatus to explore the archives.
And if you have any comments or suggestions to make about the blog, please leave them in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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