The Well-Tempered Ear
Soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey wins a Grammy Award
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By Jacob Stockinger
Soprano Sarah Brailey (below), a native of Wisconsin — who now lives, works and studies in Madison — won a Grammy Award last night.
Brailey received the prestigious award (below) in the category “Best Classical Solo Album” category. It was for her role in the long-neglected, opera-like choral symphony “The Prison” by English composer Dame Ethel Smyth on the Chandos label. (You can hear an excerpt from the Brailey recording in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Brailey’s win is especially noteworthy because it comes early in her career.
Although she has toured nationally and internationally, and has established herself as a professional singer of note, Brailey is a busy graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where she is finishing her doctoral degree.
Here is a link to her website: https://sarahbrailey.com
Brailey is also one of the city’s busiest and most respected musicians.
During the pandemic year, she explained and help spark benefit concerts and fundraising for musicians whose livelihoods suffered due to cancelled performances. Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=sarah+brailey
She also hosts the Sunday morning radio show “Musica Antiqua” – which features early music — on WORT-FM 89.9.
Recently, Brailey became the artistic director of “Grace Presents,” a series of free concerts at the downtown Grace Episcopal Church across from the state Capitol.
An avid early music performer, Brailey — who won and now directs the annual Handel Aria Competition — also co-founded and co-directs the free monthly series of Just Bach concerts (below, second from right), the lastest of which takes place this Wednesday, March 17. She sings solos, greets listeners and viewers, and often leads the final sing-along chorale from a Bach cantata.
You can hear many of her performances duing the Just Bach concerts on the Just Bach channel on YouTube.
Leave your own congratulations and thoughts about her performances in the Coment section.
The Ear will post a complete list of the classical music Grammy Award nominees and winners later this week.
PS: Another native of the Madison area was nominated for a non-classical Grammy is Bill Rahko, who co-produced the album “Everyday Life” for the rock band Coldplay. The album was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to Taylor Swift’s “Folklore.”
Here is a link to a story on NBC 15 about Rahko, who attended Middleton High School: https://www.nbc15.com/2021/03/14/madison-area-native-up-for-grammy-award-for-album-of-the-year/
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Classical music: Today is Super Bowl Sunday, so The Ear asks: Who are the winners and champions in the concert hall? Here are the most popular pieces, composers and soloists. Plus, on Tuesday night, violist Elias Goldstein returns to perform Paganini’s fiendish Caprices in a FREE recital
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ALERT: The Ear has received the following note from University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music viola professor Sally Chisholm, who also plays with the Pro Arte Quartet: “Elias Goldstein, who has a doctorate from UW-Madison (2011) and was a Collins Fellow, is playing a concert of all 24 Caprices, originally composed for solo violin by Niccolo Paganini, on VIOLA this Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall. Admission is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“On March 9, he will perform this program at Carnegie Hall in New York City, as the first violist ever to perform all 24 Caprices in one concert. This is such a feat that it is difficult to believe one of our own is accomplishing it. I was with him in Krakow, Poland when he performed 6 of them. He got standing ovations. He is professor of viola at Louisiana State University, won top prizes at the Primrose International Viola Competition and the Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition in Moscow in 2011.”
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the 50th Super Bowl of the NFL, and will be played by the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos in the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, near San Francisco.
It starts at 5:30 p.m. CST.
Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem. Coldplay, Beyoncé and Bruno Mars will perform in the half-time show. The Super Bowl will be broadcast live on CBS-TV.
So, one might ask in a society that loves competition, what constitutes The Super Bowl of classical music?
It is a source of endless discussion and often disagreement.
What classical music is the most mainstream, if not best?
Who are the big winners and champions in the concert hall?
A survey, compiled by a student at the UW-Milwaukee, of the most popular or frequently performed composers, works and soloists was recently conducted by the League of American Orchestras. The rest are for the 2010-11 season.
The No. 1 work is a YouTube video at the bottom. It is the Symphony No. 1 in C Minor by Johannes Brahms and is performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under its late music director and conductor Sir George Solti.
And on March 11, 12 and 13 the Madison Symphony Orchestra hosts TWO of the Top 10 winners: Pianist Emanuel Ax performing the Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven. (The Symphony No. 4 by Gustav Mahler completes the program.)
Here is a link to the complete results along with the method used to gather data:
http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2014/04/08/league-american-orchestras-performance-data
See what you think and leave a COMMENT.
Do they match up with your preferences and your choices of favorites?
In your opinion, what makes them so popular?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Aaron Jay Kernis, Adam Schoenberg, Amy Kaiser, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Arts, Beethoven, Berlioz, Beyonce, Brahms, Bruno Mars, Caprice, Carnegie Hall, Carolina Panthers, CBS-TV, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, choral music, Christopher Theofanidis, Classical music, Coldplay, concert hall, concerto, data, Dawn Upshaw, Denver Broncos, Dvorak, Emanuel Ax, football, Gil Shaham, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdoj, Jennifer Higdon, Joan Tower, John Adams, Karita Mattila, Kraków, Lady Gaga, Liszt, Louisiana State University, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Michael Daughtery, Michael Gandolfi, Minnesota Public Radio, Moscow, Mozart, Music, Mussorgsky, New York City, NFL, Orchestra, Paganini, Peter Serkin, Philip Glass, Piano, Piano concerto, Pinchas Zukerman, Poland, Primrose International Viola Competition, Pro Arte Quartet, professional football, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Sally Chisholm, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Sibelius, Sir Georg Solti, Sir George Solti, Steve Mackey, Stravinsky, Super Bowl, Super Bowl 50, survey, symphony, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, William Primrose, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Yefim Bronfman, YouTube, Yuri Bashmet, Yuri Bashmet Viola Competition
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