The Well-Tempered Ear
Too bad the Wisconsin Union Theater didn’t book a great pianist for next season
9 Comments
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
“We are living in a Golden Age of pianists,” famed concert pianist, Juilliard teacher and frequent Madison performer Emanuel Ax (below) has said.
He should know. But you would never guess that from the recently announced next season at the Wisconsin Union Theater (below).
The WUT has not booked a solo pianist for the 2022-23 season.
Here is a link to the lineup for the next season:
https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/
Is The Ear the only one who has noticed and is disappointed?
Who else feels bad about it?
After all, this is the same presenting organization that brought to Madison such legendary pianists as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, Percy Grainger, Arthur Rubinstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Dame Myra Hess, Guiomar Novaes, Egon Petri, Robert Casadesus, William Kapell, Claudio Arrau, Alexander Brailowsky, Gary Graffman, Glenn Gould, Rosalyn Tureck, Byron Janis, Misha Dichter, Peter Serkin, André Watts, Lili Kraus and Garrick Ohlsson
It is the same hall (below) in which The Ear has heard Rudolf Serkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Angela Hewitt, Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Valentina Lisitsa, Andras Schiff, Joyce Yang, Yefim Bronfman, Jeremy Denk, Ingrid Fliter, Richard Goode, Leon Fleisher, Simone Dinnerstein, Wu Han and so many other great and memorable names including, of course, Emanuel Ax.
What a history!
As you can see and as The Ear likes to say, the Wisconsin Union Theater is “The Carnegie Hall of Madison.” For over 100 years, it is where the great ones play.
One irony is that many of those former bookings of pianists took place when the University of Wisconsin School of Music had many more pianists on the faculty and provided a major alternative venue for piano recitals.
Another irony is that so many young people take piano lessons (below) and are apt to want to attend, probably with their parents, to hear a live professional concert piano recital. You would think the WUT would also see the advantages of having such community outreach links to the public and to music education, especially since the WUT has hosted Open Piano Day for the public. (See the YouTube video of a Channel 3000 story in February 2020 at the bottom.)
From what The Ear reads, there are lots of up-and-coming pianists, many affordable names of various winners of national and international competitions. They should be affordable as well as worthy of being introduced to the Madison public.
But that seems a mission now largely left to the Salon Piano Series.
Plus, so many of the new pianists are young Asians who have never appeared here, which should be another draw for the socially responsible and diversity-minded WUT.
But that is another story for another day.
What do you think of the WUT not presenting a solo pianist next season?
Maybe there will be a pianist booked for the 2023-24 season.
What pianists would you like see booked by the WUT student programming committee?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AlexanderBrailowsky, #AlfredBrendel, #AndrasSchiff, #AndréWatts, #AngelaHewitt, #ArthurRubinstein, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ByronJanis, #CarnegieHall, #Channel3000, #CommunityOutreach, #ConcertHall, #ConcertPianist, #EgonPetri, #EmanuelAx, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GarrickOhlsson, #GaryGraffman, #GlennGould, #GoldenAge, #GuiomarNovaes, #IgnazJanPaderewski, #IngridFliter, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JoyceYang, #JuilliardSchool, #LatinAmericanmusic, #LeonFleisher, #LiliKraus, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MishaDichter, #MurrayPerahia, #MusicalOrganization, #Musicfaculty, #MyraHess, #OpenPianoDay, #PercyGrainger, #PeterSerkin, #PIanoRecital, #PIanoTeacher, #RichardGoode, #RobertCasadesus, #RosalynTureck, #RudolfSerkin, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #ShannonHall, #SimoneDinnerstein, #TheEar, #TheUW, #TheUW-Madison, #TooBad, #Up-and-Coming, #ValentinaLisitsa, #VladimirAskenazy, #VladimirHorowitz, #WilliamKapell, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WuHan, #YefimBronfman, #YouTubevideo, advantage, affordable, Alexander Brailowsky, Alfred Brendel, alternative, András Schiff, André Watts, Angela Hewitt, announce, appear, Arrau, Arthur Rubinstein, Arts, Ashkenazy, Asia, asian, audience, bad, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, Blog post, Book, Brendel, Byron Janis, Carnegie Hall, Chamber music, Channel 3000, China, Chinese, Classical music, Claudio Arrau, committee, community, Competition, composer, Concert, concert hall, concert pianist, diversity, Education, Egon Petri, Emanuel Ax, Facebook, Facebook post, faculty, fame, famed, famous, female, Garrick Ohlsson, Gary Graffman, Glenn Gould, Golden Age, great, guess, Guiomar Novaes, hall, he, hear, her, here, History, Horowitz, Ingrid Fliter, international, irony, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jeremy Denk, Joyce Yang, Juilliard, know, Korea, Korean, legendary, Leon Fleisher, Lili Kraus, lineup, link, live, living, Madison, male, Mead Witter School of Music, memorable, men, Misha Dichter, mission, Murray Perahia, Music, music student, Myra Hess, name, national, new, Open Piano Day, organization, outreach, Paderewski, Parent, Percy Grainger, performer, Peter Serkin, Pianist, Piano, piano recital, piano student, piano teacher, play, post, posting, presenter, professional, program, programming, public, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, read, recent, recital, Richard Goode, Robert Casadesus, Rosalyn Tureck, Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, Salon Piano Series, say, Season, see, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, Shannon Hall, share, Simone Dinnerstein, socially responsible, solo, Sonata, South Korea, South Korean, Student, tag, Taiwan, Taiwanese, Teacher, Television, The Ear, think, too bad, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Valentina Lisitsa, venue, video, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Vladimir Horowitz, who, William Kapell, winner, WISC-TV, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, women, worth, worthy, Wu Han, WUT, year, Yefim Bronfman, you, young, YouTube
Classical music: Friday night, the UW Concert Choir marks the assassination of JFK and the opening of Hamel Music Center. Plus, WYSO gives a Wisconsin premiere with a returning alumna as soloist
1 Comment
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.
ALERT: This Friday night, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra, under conductor Kyle Knox, will present a concert with two guest artists performing the Wisconsin premiere of the Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon composed for them by American composer Jonathan Leshnoff, who is known for his lyricism. (Sorry, there is no word about other works on the program.) Tickets are $10, $5 for 18 years and under, and are available at the door starting at 6:15 p.m.)
The two soloists are principals with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The bassoonist is Nancy Goeres, a Lodi native who is a returning WYSO alumna. If you want to read an interview with her and get more background, you can’t do better for a preview than the piece by Greg Hettmansberger for Madison Magazine and Channel 3000. Here is a link: https://www.channel3000.com/madison-magazine/arts-and-culture/wisconsin-youth-symphony-welcomes-two-special-guests/1143372727
By Jacob Stockinger
At 8 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 22, in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW-Madison Concert Choir (below) will perform its first solo concert in the new Hamel Music Center.
Conductor Beverly Taylor (below), the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison who will retire at the end of this academic year, sent the following announcement:
“The a cappella program is entitled “Fall Favorites: Houses and Homecomings.”
“This year I’m particularly picking some of the pieces I like the best from my years here, although I’ll still add a few new things.
“The “Houses” part is primarily “Behold I Build an House” by American composer Lukas Foss (below), which was written for the dedication of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, and which I thought was a good piece for the opening of the Hamel Music Center.
“We’re also performing the wonderful -and difficult —“Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing,” which British composer Herbert Howells (below top) wrote in memory of John F. Kennedy (below bottom). You’ll notice our concert is also on Nov. 22, the same day in 1963 when JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. (You can hear the Howells work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Besides these two big works are wonderful motets by Orlando di Lasso, Maurice Duruflé, Heinrich Schütz and Melchior Vulpius, plus some African, American and African-American folk songs.”
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #African-AmericanMusic, #AmericanComposer, #AssassinationofJKF, #AssassinationofJohnF.Kennedy, #BaroqueMusic, #BassoonConcerto, #BassoonMusic, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BostonUniversity, #BritishComposer, #Channel3000, #ChoralMusic, #ClarinetConcerto, #ClarinetMusic, #ConcertChoir, #DallasTexas, #DoubleConcerto, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #folksongs, #Frenchcomposer, #Fridaynight, #GermanComposer, #GregHettmansberger, #GuestArtist, #HamelMusicCenter, #HeinrichSchütz, #HerbertHowells, #JohnF.Kennedy, #JohnFitzgeraldKennedy, #JonathanLeshnoff, #KyleKnox, #LivingComposer, #LukasFoss, #MadisonMagazine, #MarshChapel, #MauriceDuruflé, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MelchiorVulpius, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #NancyGoeres, #NewMusic, #OrlandodiLasso, #PittsburghSymphony, #PresidentKennedy, #PrincipalBassoon, #TheEar, #UniversityofTexas-ElPaso, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWConcertChoir, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinPremiere, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouthOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, academic, activities, African, African American, alumna, American, annoucement, Arts, assassination, assassination of JFK, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, audience, background, Baroque, Bassoon, best, Beverly Taylor, big, blog, Boston, Boston University, British, British composer, build, Channel 3000, Channel3000.com, chapel, cherish, cherishing, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, composer, Concert, Concert Choir, concerto, conductor, Dallas, dedication, di Lasso, difficult, director, door, double concerto, Durufle, Early music, earlymusic, Earth, Facebook, fall, folk songs, France, French, Friday, German, Germany, good, Greg Hettmansberger, guest artist, Hamel Music Center, Heinrich Schütz, Herbert Howells, Homecoming, House, interview, Jacob Stockinger, JFK, John F Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jonathan Leshnoff, KENNEDY, Kyle Knox, like, link'tag, Living composer, Lodi, Lukas Foss, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Magazine, Marsh Chapel, Massachusetts, Maurice Durufle, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Melchior Vulpius, Mills Hall, motet, Music, music critic, Music education, Nancy Goeres, native, new, New Music, night, opening, Orchestra, Orlando di Lasso, perform, piece, Pittsburgh, premiere, President, preview, principal, program, read, retire, Retirement, Schütz, Season, share, solo, soloist, symphony, take, Texas, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Concert Choir, UW-Madison, vocal music, Vulpius, Wisconsin Premiere, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, wonderful, works, written, WYSO, year, years, Youth, Youth Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: This afternoon is your last chance to hear rave-winning performances by pianist Joyce Yang and the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Here’s a review to read
5 Comments
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
This afternoon — Sunday, Nov. 10 — at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall is your last chance to hear South Korean pianist Joyce Yang and the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) under the baton of music director John DeMain.
The program features the exciting, popular and beautiful Piano Concerto No. 3 by the Russian modernist composer Sergei Prokofiev as well as “Newly Drawn Sky” by contemporary American composer and Yale School of Music professor Aaron Jay Kernis (below) and the Symphony No. 2 by the German Romantic master Robert Schumann.
For more information about the performers, the program and tickets, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/11/04/classical-music-this-weekend-prize-winning-pianist-joyce-yang-solos-in-prokofievs-most-popular-piano-concerto-with-the-madison-symphony-orchestra-works-by-schumann-and-aaron-jay-kernis-are/
The prize-winning Yang (below), who at 19 won the silver medal at the 2005 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, rewarded a standing ovation with the late Earl Wild’s virtuosic arrangement of George Gershwin’s song “The Man I Love,” which you can hear Yang play in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The reviews that have appeared so far agreed: It is a rave-winning concert with special attention going to Yang, who is making her MSO debut after performing a solo recital several years ago at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The Ear cannot find a link to the rave review by Bill Wineke for Channel 3000.
But here is the rapturous review that Michael Muckian wrote for Isthmus:
https://isthmus.com/music/joyce-yang-triumphs-with-prokofiev/
But you be the critic.
What did you think of Joyce Yang and the MSO?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AaronJayKernis, #AmericanComposer, #AsianMusician, #BIllWineke, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #Channel3000, #EarlWild, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #GermanComposer, #GermanRomanticism, #HomeWebsite, #IsthmusMagazine, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohnDeMain, #JoyceYang, #LastChance, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MedalWinner, #MichaelMuckian, #ModernMusic, #MusicCritic, #MusicDirector, #Musicfaculty, #MusicProfessors, #MusicReview, #NewMusic, #OvertureHall, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #Prize-Winning, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticComposer, #RomanticMusic, #RussianComposer, #SergeiProkofiev, #SilverMedal, #SouthKorea, #SouthKorean, #Sovietcomposer, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #VanCliburn, #VanCliburnInternationalPianoCompetition, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YaleSchoolofMusic, #YaleUniversity, #YouTubevideo, Aaron Jay Kernis, afternoon, American, Asia, audience, baton, beautiful, Bill Wineke, blog, chance, Channel 3000, Channel 3000.com, Channel3000.com, composer, concerto, critic, Earl Wild, exciting, Facebook, forward, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, German, German Romanticism, Germany, hear, Home, home website, Isthmus, Joyce, Joyce Yang, Korea, Korean, last, like, link, Love, Madison Symphony Orchestra, man, medal, Michael Muckian, modern music, modernism, modernist, music critic, Music director, music review, New Music, online, Overture Hall, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, play, popular, post, posting, prize, professor, program, read, recital, review, Robert Schumann, Romanticism, Sergei Prokofiev, share, silver, solo, soloist, song, Soviet, Sunday, symphony, tag, The Ear, ticket, tickets, USSR, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, virtuosic, vocal music, Website, win, winner, Wisconsin Union Theater, Yale, Yale School of Music, Yale University, Yang, YouTube, YouTube video
Recent Comments
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ann Boyer on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 