The Well-Tempered Ear

The Ear is back

June 10, 2021
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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.


Today – Monday, March 22 — is Day 6 of the 2021 online Bach Around the Clock festival. The program features string, keyboard, percussion and vocal music with some interesting transcriptions

March 22, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Yesterday – Sunday, March 21 — was the actual birthday, the 336th, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

But the 10-day virtual and online celebration being held by Bach Around the Clock (BATC) continues.

Here are the pieces and performers that will take place.

The Ear is especaially pleased by some of the transcriptions, which offer more proof of just how indestructible and versatile Bach’s music remains.

Particularly interesting is the string quartet version of the famous cantata “Wachet auf” (Sleepers, Wake) and the Three-Part Inventions or Sinfonias transcribed for marimba, and played by Sean Kleve (below), a UW-Madison graduate who performs with the critically acclaimed experimental Madison-based percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.

Monday’s program is available starting at 8 a.m.

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

Performers

•  Minuet 2 in G  Major, Anh 116; Suite in G Minor,  BWV 822; Gavotte 
from Double Concerto in  D Minor, BWV 1043, I. Vivace. Suzuki Strings Sonora Ensemble

•  Cantata 140: “Wachet Auf” (Sleeper, Wake), arranged for string quartet. St. Croix Valley String Quartet: Janette Cysewski and Debbie Lanzen, violins; Dianne Wiik, viola; and Joel Anderson, cello.

•  French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for keyboard, BWV 814: Sarabande, Anglaise, Menuett and Trio. Kris Sankaran

•  Sinfonia 1 in C Major, BWV 787; Sinfonia 7 in E Minor, BWV 793; Sinfonia 10 in G Major, BWV 796; Sinfonia 11 in G Minor, BWV 797; Sinfonia 15 in B Minor, BWV 801. Sean Kleve, marimba. (You can hear Glenn Gould playing the original version of the first Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

•  Chorale: We thank Thee, Lord, for sending. Katie Hultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ  

Live and Recorded Evening Program at 7 p.m. 

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

BATC audiences will remember pianist Lawrence Quinnett (below) from his exquisite renderings of selections from The Well-Tempered Clavier, at the 2018 Festival. 

Quinnett, on the piano faculty of Livingstone College, returns in 2021 to give a brief talk on his approach to ornamentation in the six French Suites, as a prelude to his live performance of Suite No. 5. The floor will open for questions, followed by Quinnett’s recorded performance of the remaining five Suites.


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This Saturday afternoon, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir presents a free online parking lot concert of “Car Carols” with an emphasis on African-American composers

December 11, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post:

Join the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below) this Saturday afternoon, Dec. 12, at 2 p.m. for Car Carols, a unique holiday concert featuring live, socially-distanced performances of music by African-American composers and seasonal favorites.

Choir members will sing from their individual cars using wireless microphones (below), listening to the sound of the whole choir via their car radios. The audience is invited to join our Facebook event or listen in live on YouTube.

There is no charge to view the live-stream, but donations would be welcome. 

You can find the concert on this Saturday, Dec. 12, a 2 p.m. via the following links: live on YouTube at  https://youtu.be/ZonVn1cvgb8, or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1561155960751974/

This unusual concert format was necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the WCC is grateful for the opportunity to continue singing together in safe ways.

Since September, the choir has been rehearsing as a Parking Lot Choir, generating local media coverage from WKOW-TV at https://wkow.com/2020/10/13/wisconsin-chamber-choir-making-adjustments-to-prepare-for-performance/ and Madison Magazine, whose story was headlined “Forget tailgates, parking lots are for choir practice: https://www.channel3000.com/forget-tailgates-parking-lots-are-for-choir-practice/

This past September and October, smaller groups from the WCC assembled on Saturday mornings at the Warner Park Pavilion to rehearse in widely spaced formations. 

They wore specially designed singers masks, and occasionally harmonized with nearby sandhill cranes that seemed unsure what to make of the a cappella music floating through their habitat. 

Recordings by five distinct small ensembles  — minus the cranes — will be aired during the Dec. 12 Car Carols broadcast, in addition to live singing by the Parking Lot choristers. 

The Car Carols repertoire highlights music by African-American composers spanning nearly a century. Idiomatic pieces in the style of spirituals and contemporary gospel alternate with “non-idiomatic” motets and anthems by Nathaniel Dett (below top), William Dawson, Undine Smith Moore (below middle) and Carlos Simon (below bottom, with an oral self-portrait in the YouTube video at the bottom).

 

The remainder of the Parking Lot Choir selections consists of carol arrangements by WCC favorites — the late Stephen Paulus (below) and Peter Blotch — and feature virtual harp and violin accompaniment.

Live and virtual performers will also unite to sing Craig Hella Johnson’s moving arrangement of the songs I Love You and What a Wonderful World

Interspersed between the live Car Carols will be a wide variety of pre-recorded selections, including the world premiere of WCC member Linda Palmer’s arrangement of Sussex Carol, plus music by Johannes Brahms, John Rutter, 17th-century female composer Chiara Cozzolani (below), and Tleycantimo choquilia, a carol from colonial-era Mexico, sung in Spanish and Nahuatl. 

Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Brahms; a cappella works from various centuries; and world-premieres.

Artistic director Robert Gehrenbeck (below), who heads the choral program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks. WCC members have acknowledged Gehrenbeck for his intrepid conducting in freezing temperatures during Parking Lot Choir rehearsals.

 


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The Madison Early Music Festival will again be virtual this summer

December 4, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

After much discussion, the 2021 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) has  decided to create an online Festival again this summer.

Whenever  possible, the University of Wisconsin–Madison recommends that events and meetings continue to be held virtually.  This was a difficult decision, but at this time it doesn’t seem safe for our MEMF community to travel to the UW–Madison campus, stay in the dorm, meet in small classrooms, and teach, sing, dance and play instruments together. 

We are currently planning what we will offer, and announcements will be publicized in February 2021. (In the YouTube at the bottom is a sample of the video that the Orlando Consort created for last summer’s virtual festival.)

For the latest news regarding classes and campus operations at the UW–Madison, please visit the COVID-19 Response website

Although it has been a difficult nine months, performing artists are creating amazing projects and producing them for virtual audiences. This includes many of our MEMF artists and ensembles, and we are looking forward  to sharing their talents with you in the future! 


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The UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet performs the fifth installment of its complete Beethoven cycle this Friday night at 7:30 in a FREE live-streamed concert

November 19, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

As we draw close to Dec. 16 and the 250th birthday celebrations for Ludwig van Beethoven (below, in 1803), one of the joys and highlights of the Beethoven Year continues to impress.

The UW-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet will give the fifth installment of their complete cycle of the 16 string quartets by Beethoven this Friday night, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m.

Here is a direct link: https://youtu.be/nZN7tRu8N_k

Members of the quartet (below, from left) are: violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.

The FREE online virtual concert is a livestream from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, where the quartet will once again play with masks and social distancing (below).

No in-person attendance is allowed.

“It’s different playing without a live audience,” says cellist Parry Karp. “But we’re getting used to it. Not having to play other live concerts or to go on tour around the state also allows us to focus more. And the upside of playing online is that we saw quite a number of viewers from Brazil and Argentina listening to our last concert.”

Before each of the two quartets, Professor Charles Dill (below in a photo by Katrin Talbot), who teaches musicology at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will give a short introductory lecture.

The program features one early quartet and one middle “Razumovsky” quartet: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 18 No. 3 (1798-1800); and String Quartet No. 8 in E Minor, “Razumovsky,” Op. 59, No. 2 (1806). 

You can hear the Ebène Quartet play the hymn-like slow movement of the Razumovsky quartet, with its use of a Russian theme, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Here is more background from Wikipedia about both quartets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._3_(Beethoven)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No._8_(Beethoven)

For more information about the program, the names of the orchestra’s players and impressive historical background about the Pro Arte Quartet, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-v/


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The third LunART Festival celebrates Black women in the arts with FREE streaming concerts and events this Saturday night, Oct. 10, and next Saturday night, Oct. 17

October 9, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post:

The LunART Festival is back for its third season, continuing its mission to support, inspire, promote and celebrate women in the arts, with a special presentation, “Human Family,” available via two FREE video livestreams on LunART’s website and Facebook page on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. CDT. 

The events will be co-hosted by LunART founder and flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top), and by vocalist and art administrator Deja Mason (below bottom).

In response to the most recent and ongoing racial inequality and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, LunART will present the “Human Family” virtual festival featuring art created by Black women.

These FREE streamed events will feature a palette of emerging and established artists drawn from Madison’s rich arts scene, while also celebrating those who have paved the way for generations to come.

Radical inclusivity has been part of LunART’s mission from its conception. While women have historically been underrepresented in the arts, we cannot deny that there are segments of women that have been doubly marginalized, including women of color, women in the LGBTQIA+ community, older women and women with disabilities. 

Part of creating a more just, inclusive world means recognizing that even within the space of underrepresentation, there remain disparities.

Works from the past include Florence Price’s “Five Folksongs of Counterpoint” for string quartet (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), which is deeply rooted in the African-American spiritual tradition; Margaret Bonds’ Spiritual Suite for solo piano, written in a neo-Romantic classical style infused by jazz harmonies and rhythms; Afro-American Suite for flute, cello and piano by Undine Smith Moore, based on authentic spiritual songs used to express and record everyday life of slaves in America. 

Florence Price (below), Margaret Bonds and Undine Smith Moore all fought against both racial and gender discrimination throughout their lives. To be a woman composing classical music in the mid-20th century was unusual; to be a Black woman composer was even more so. And yet, these women forged ahead, making history and paving the way for the women who would follow them.

Along with these pioneers of the past, LunART will also celebrate contemporary Black women who are making a big impact in the world of arts, culture, advocacy and activism, following the footsteps of their predecessors. 

“Voodoo Dolls” for string quartet by Jessie Montgomery (below in a photo by Jiyang Chen) is influenced by West African drumming patterns that are interwoven with lyrical motifs in the improvisatory style. 

“Fanmi Imen,” a work for flute and piano by Valerie Coleman (below) — LunART’s 2019 Composer-in-Residence) — is based on a powerful poem by Maya Angelou, “Human Family.” Angelou calls for peace and unity, while acknowledging differences due to ethnic and cultural background in her famous refrain: “we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

The chamber music will be performed by Madison’s finest musicians: Isabella Lippi, Karl Lavine, Peter Miliczky, Magdalena Sas, Marie Pauls, Satoko Hayami, Yana Avedyan and Iva Ugrcic.

Celebrating women’s creativity across many art forms has been a core component of LunART’s artistic mission from its inception, and this year is no exception. While music will create a sound painting, “Human Family” will also feature women who use words and movement to tell their story.

Enter a world of phenomenal talent with emerging singer-songwriters Danielle Crim and Akornefa Akyea performing their most recent original songs; magically moving poems and spoken-word pieces by Jamie Dawson and Shasparay Lighteard; and join dancer and choreographer Kimi Evelyn in self-exploration of what happens when the body and the soul are left in complete solitude through her powerful piece “Body, Sweet Home.”

To commemorate the Festival events, LunART has commissioned digital artwork (below) by local artist and activist Amira Caire, which is inspired by the “Human Family” concept. This stunning piece of art will be available for purchase in printed form on LunART’s website. 

We are calling our community to eat local, drink local and support local. By supporting LunART, you are also supporting local nonprofits and small businesses. 

This project would not be possible without the generosity of Madison’s creative media agency Microtone Media, The Piano Gal Shop from Sun Prairie, Dane Arts and a grant from the Madison Arts Commission at  https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/planning/madison-arts-commission/1580/, with the additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Events are free and available for anyone to watch online, and donations are welcomed. For more details about the artists, events, programs and links, and donation methods, please visit https://www.lunartfestival.org


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Classical music: Wisconsin Union Theater concerts will go virtual and online for the fall of the new season. Updated details about dates, ticket prices and programs are forthcoming

August 21, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

With continuing spikes in cases of coronavirus and COVID-19, classical music presenters are seeing history repeat itself and are feeling forced to adapt, cancel or postpone their events, much as happened last spring and this summer.

The Madison Symphony Orchestra has canceled its concerts through January and the Madison Opera has canceled its fall production of Verdi’s “Il Trovatore” with digital online substitutions. And we can, unfortunately, expect more.

Now comes word from the Wisconsin Union Theater (below is Shannon Hall) is moving its fall events to a virtual and online presentation.

Here is the latest announcement from communications director Shauna Breneman of the Wisconsin Union Theater:

“The determination has been made that all fall Wisconsin Union Theater events in our 2020-21 season will be virtual in light of public health guidance and for the health and safety of our patrons and team members in light of COVID-19.”

Editor’s note: That includes second postponement of the concert by superstar soprano Renée Fleming (below), booked to celebrate the WUT’s centennial season, from May 2 to Oct. 24 and now to  still unspecified date.

Other artists affected in the lineup of 101st season include the eclectic singing group Roomful of Teeth (below top, in a photo by Bonica Ayala; cellist Camille Thomas (below middle, in a photo by Dan Carabas) and pianist Jeremy Denk (below bottom, in a photo by Shervin Lainez).

Adds Breneman:

“We will share information for each show as we finalize details. While we wish we could share these experiences in-person, we are grateful to be able to continue to offer performing arts experiences.”

Here is the link to the announcement of the performers in the full 2020-21 season: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=wisconsin+union+theater


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Classical music: This Saturday at noon Grace Presents offers a virtual HD concert of organ and violin music

July 21, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement from Grace Presents to post:

Grace Presents’ HD Virtual Concert Series continues with its new series, with its next installment premiering here on YouTube this Saturday, July 25, at noon CDT.

The free and public one-hour program will feature organist-composer Mark Brampton Smith (below top) and violinist Carol Carlson (below middle), both veterans of the Grace Presents series and the Madison music scene. A virtual meet-and-greet will follow the concert.

(The Willy Street Chamber Players will be featured in a virtual concert premiering on Saturday, Aug. 22, at noon CDT. More details on this concert are forthcoming soon.)

Here is the program for this Saturday’s organ and violin concert, which you can sample in the YouTube video at the bottom:

Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962): “Praeludium and Allegro (In the Style of Pugnani)”

Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798): Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 7 No. 2. 1. Andantino

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757): Sonata in D Major, K. 288; Sonata in G Major, K. 328

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BWV 1003 III. Andante

Johann Sebastian Bach: “Little” Fugue in G minor, BWV 578

Jules Massenet (1842-1912): Meditation from the opera “Thaïs”

Clarence Cameron White (1880-1960): “Bandanna Sketches,” Op. 12. 1. Chant (“Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen”)

Felix Borowski (1872-1956): “Adoration”

Mark Brampton Smith (b. 1954): “It Is Well With My Soul” (Philip P. Bliss)

Vittorio Monti (1868-1922) Csardas

 


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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra cancels and postpones its last two Masterworks concerts of the season in April and May. Here is information about ticket exchanges and refunds

April 2, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO, below in a photo by Mike Gorski) about canceling the rest of its Masterworks season due to the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19.

Dear Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Concert Ticket Holders:

We continue to remain committed to serving you and keeping you safe during the current health crisis.

Given the Overture Center’s closing, we have postponed two concerts: Masterworks IV, scheduled for April 24; and Masterworks V, scheduled for May 8.

We thank you for your patience as we work through the details to reschedule these fantastic performances featuring our guest artists, violinist Eric Silberger (Masterworks IV, below) and trumpeter and Madison native Andrew Balio (Masterworks V in Madison and Brookfield, below).

(Editor’s Note: The WCO has also said that the cancelled Masterworks III performance in late March by harpist Yolanda Kondonassis (below) will probably be rescheduled for next season, which will be announced later this month.)

We hope you will consider exchanging or donating the cost of your ticket back to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

As an arts nonprofit, the WCO sees your support as vital to our organization during this challenging time as we navigate the significant ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are deeply grateful for your generosity and continued support.

The following ticket options are available for you:

  • Exchange your ticket(s) for a future Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performance. All exchange fees will be waived in this situation. You can also apply the value of the cancelled ticket to a subscription ticket for next season.
  • Donate your ticket(s) and receive a tax deduction for the total ticket value.
  • Receive a refund for the value of the ticket(s).

Please respond by email, letting us know your ticket decision, along with your full name, to wco@wcoconcerts.org.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at (608) 257-0638 or email us at wco@wcoconcerts.org.

We will continue to keep you informed of the status of all our upcoming performances as we continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days and weeks.

We look forward to continuing to enrich your life through music.

Thank you,

Joe Loehnis, CEO


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