The Well-Tempered Ear
Bach Around the Clock 2021 will be virtual again. It runs March 17-26, and will feature daily performances plus new activities
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post from violist Marika Fischer Hoyt – the founder, participant and artistic director of the annual Bach Around the Clock (BATC). It is one of the most enjoyable events in the area and celebrates the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, below).
It features performances by student, amateur and professional individuals and groups — local, regional and national. (Performance photos come from last year’s videos, thanks to Rich Samuels, who recorded and edited the WORT-FM radio show devoted to BATC 2020, which you can hear in the impressive 3-hour YouTube video at the bottom. Listen to it in its entirety or skip around.)
The Bach Around the Clock (BATC) Board of Directors is delighted to present the BATC 2021 Festival, a series of online and virtual events designed to make the joy of Bach’s music as widely available as possible.
Our theme this year is Building Bridges with Bach, and we look forward to expanding our activities to reach new performers and new audiences. (Below is pianist Vibhu Akella playing an electric keyboard.)
The 2021 Virtual Festival launches on Wednesday, March 17, with a concert by our Ensemble-In-Residence, Sonata à Quattro (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis). SAQ will present a program recorded in Luther Memorial Church, as part of the monthly Just Bach concert series.
BATC will add a new festival program every day for 10 days, through March 26, with all programs posted FREE on our home website at https://bachclock.com. (Below is the Webb Trio.)
Interested performers should visit the “Contact/Sign Up” page to submit their proposals and ideas.
BATC participants, who are located far and wide, have two options this year: they can pre-record their performances at home or elsewhere and submit them electronically; or they can request to perform in a BATC concert venue with a professional recording crew. (Below is cellist Derick Handley.)
We will provide keyboard players with the use of a concert-level piano, organ and harpsichord in a space roomy enough to safely accommodate small ensembles. (Below is harpsichordist Dan Sullivan.)
The resulting videos will be incorporated into one of the festival day’s free public programs, and will be available to the performers to keep. This option might be particularly attractive for high school seniors, looking to augment their college applications. (Below is clarinetist Brian Gnojek.)
Other new festival initiatives include Bach Chorale sing-alongs; evening Zoom receptions; mini-courses to help participants of all ages take part; and possibly a Guest Artist. More details will be announced closer to the festival.
The BATC Board hopes the 2021 Festival provides an outlet for musicians to share their talent and passion with the warmly appreciative local community.
Live music nourishes the soul of performer and audience member alike, and the transcendent, life-giving joy woven into the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is something we need now more than ever.
Tags: #10Days, #AtHome, #AudienceMember, #BachAroundtheClock, #BachChorale, #BaroqueMusic, #BarryLewis, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoardofDirectors, #BrassMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianaLiberis, #ChristianChurch, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #ElectricKeyboard, #Ensemble-in-residence, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FrenchHorn, #GuestArtist, #HighSchool, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JustBach, #LiveMusic, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicaAntiqua, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #RecordedMusic, #RichSamuels, #SarahBrailey, #SignUp, #SonataaQuattro, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #VocalMusic, #WindMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, #ZoomMeeting, 10 days, 2021, accommodate, add, ages, amateur, announcement, annual, application, appreciative, area, around, Artistic director, Arts, at home, attractive, audience, augment, available, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Bach chorale, Baroque, Barry Lewis, BATC, birthday, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Board of Directors, brass, bridge, building, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Chorale, Christian church, Christianity, church, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, closer, college, community, composer, Concert, concert series, concert-level, concerto, contact, coronavirus, courses, crew, daily, days, delight, designed joy, details, Early music, edit, electric, electric keyboard, electronically, elsewhere, enjoyable, enough, evening, event, ever, every day, everyday, expand, Facebook, far, festival, forward, founder, free, group, guest artist, hear, high school, home website, Horn, hour, idea, impressive, incorporate, individual, initiative, interested, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joy, Just Bach, keep, Keyboard, launch, life-giving, like, link, listen, live, live music, local, locate, Luther Memorial Church, march, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Mead Witter School of Music, member, mini-course, Music, Musica Antiqua, Musician, need, new, nourish, online, option, Orchestra, organ, organist, outlet, page, pandemic, pandemic playlist, participant, Passion, performer, photo, Pianist, Piano, play, playing, pre-record, present, professional, program, proposal, provide, public, reception, record, recorded, recorded music, recording, Rich Samuels, roomy, safely, Sarah Brailey, senior, seniors, share, sign-up, sing-along, skip, Sonata, Sonata à Quattro, soul, space, Student, submit, symphony, tag, talent, The Ear, theme, transcendent, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, violist, virtual, virtual festival, vocal music, we, Website, wide, Wind, Wisconsin, WORT, year, YouTube, Zoom
Classical music: “Into the Woods” proved a complete, first-rate theatrical experience
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
Larry Wells – the very experienced Opera Guy for The Well-Tempered Ear blog – attended two performances of “Into the Woods” at the Wisconsin Union Theater, and filed this review. (Photos are by Beau Meyer for the UW-Madison Department of Theatre and Drama.)
By Larry Wells
The University Theatre and University Opera’s recent joint production of “Into the Woods” was a feast for fans of Stephen Sondheim (below). It was a complete theatrical experience with excellent singing, a nuanced orchestral accompaniment, skilled acting and enchanting staging.
The nearly three-hour work is an amalgamation of several well-known fairy tales exploring themes such as parent-child relationships, loss of innocence, self-discovery, the consequences of wishes being fulfilled, and death – but all in an amusing, literate, fast-paced kaleidoscope of witty dialogue, catchy music and sophisticated lyrics.
The production employed an attractive, ever-changing set, designed by John Drescher, that was vaguely reminiscent of Maurice Sendak.
Stage director David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke DeLalio) utilized the large cast and what had to be an equally large number of backstage crew members in a captivating succession of ensemble pieces and solo numbers. I was never aware of the passing of time. Not looking at my watch is my acid test of a production’s success.
Among the many standout performances, Bryanna Plaisir (below) as the Witch was comical in her delivery and quite amazing in the physicality of her performance. There were a number of times when she flew, and each time I was taken by surprise at her effortlessness. Her initial song, accompanied mostly by percussion, was mesmerizing.
There were two roles that were double cast: Elisheva Pront and Miranda Kettlewell (below) as the Cinderellas; and Meghan Stecker and Zoe Bockhorst as the two Little Red Riding Hoods.
Both Pront and Kettlewell possess excellent voices.
Stecker was the more girlish of the two Red Riding Hoods, whereas Bockhorst (below left) portrayed a slightly more canny character. Both were very funny in their encounter with Cobi Tappa’s Wolf (below right).
Tappa is a physical actor whose tall lankiness conveyed the Wolf’s lupine nature flawlessly. He also portrayed the Steward, and I was completely captivated by his performance, as was the appreciative audience.
Joshua Kelly (below) was the narrator and also played the baker’s father. His was a professional quality performance from beginning to end – enunciating so clearly that he was completely understandable throughout.
Jack was played by Christian Michael Brenny. His portrayal of a simple-minded boy was touching, and his singing was outstanding.
Emily Vandenberg (below left) as the wife of the baker (played by Michael Kelley, below right) was another outstanding performer – an excellent comic actress and an accomplished vocalist.
Mention must also be made of Rapunzel and Cinderella’s princes, Tanner Zocher and Jacob Eliot Elfner. Their two duets, “Agony” and “Agony Reprise,” were enthusiastically received by the audience not only for their delivery but also for such lyrics as “…you know nothing of madness ‘til you’re climbing her hair…”.
Sondheim’s way with words continues to amaze me. In describing a decrepit cow, Jack’s mother gets to sing “…while her withers wither with her…”. The Wolf gets to sing the line “…there’s no possible way to describe what you feel when you’re talking to your meal…”
Chad Hutchinson (below) conducted the orchestra in a finely shaded performance – never overpowering and always supportive.
There were many other excellent performances and memorable moments. Suffice it to say that altogether cast, crew, artistic and production staff created a show that I enjoyed on two consecutive evenings. In fact I was completely entranced both times.
Postscript: The first evening I sat in front of a person who coughed more or less continually the entire first act. Mercifully she left at the intermission. Next to me was a woman who alternated between audibly clearing her throat and blowing her nose — when she wasn’t applying moisturizer to her hands — throughout the entire show. Stay home if you’re sick. And remember that you are not at home watching your television. You are in a theater.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: The Madison Savoyards marks its 55th anniversary with six performances of “Die Fledermaus” starting this Friday night
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ALERT: Tomorrow, on Wednesday night, July 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue near Camp Randall Stadium, the Madison Summer Choir will mark its 10th anniversary with a performance of the choral and orchestral Mass in D Minor by Anton Bruckner and other works including one by Johannes Brahms. For more information, go to:
http://www.madisonsummerchoir.org
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=Madison+summer+choir
By Jacob Stockinger
Starting this weekend, the Madison Savoyards presents Die Fledermaus, or The Bat, by Johann Strauss Jr. — sung in English with supertitles — at UW Music Hall at the base of Bascom Hill.
Evening performances are on Friday, July 20; Friday, July 27; and Saturday, July 28; matinees are at 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 21; Sunday, July 22; and Sunday, July 29.
Ticket prices are $30 for the public; $28 for seniors; $15 for students and youth under 17; and $5 for children under 5. Tickets can be purchased through UW Box Office at (608) 265-2787, www.arts.wisc.edu, or in person at the door. Group sales of 10 or more available by telephone only.
For more information, go to the website: www.madisonsavoyards.org
The production marks the 55th anniversary of the Madison Savoyards, best known for presenting the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan.
For this production, board director J. Adam Shelton makes his debut as stage director and Kyle Knox (below), a UW-Madison graduate, returns as music director and conductor. He is also the music director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and the new associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. (You can hear the popular Overture to Die Fledermaus in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Die Fledermaus is the story of a romantically stale couple that learns to love again all the while playing the fools in this comedy of errors.
Eisenstein and his wife Rosalinda, fall prey to a cruel joke by their old pal Falke involving their chambermaid, a Russian prince, a prison warden and a tenor who can’t get the girl. Everyone works his or her way up and down the social ladder in this futuristic production set in 2021.
The famous second act masquerade ball is a menagerie theme featuring a ballet performance by Central Midwest Ballet Academy of Middleton.
The choreographer is Kristin Roling, with costumes by Rebecca Stanley and set design by Corey Helser.
The cast includes Tim Rebers (below top) as Eisenstein and Erica K. Bryan (below bottom) as Rosalinda.
Also featured are Michelle Buck (below top) as Adele; Ben Swanson (below second) as Falke; Kirsten Larson (below third) as Prince Orlofsky; and Tom Kastle (below bottom) as Frosch.
Grant funding supports the artists and underwrites the Children’s Pre-Show (1 p.m. on July 22 at UW-Madison’s Music Hall) where children will meet members of the cast and crew, and learn about the show and its music, tour the theater, and create a show-centric craft for free.
American Sign Language service is available, by request, for the July 21 performance.
ABOUT THE SAVOYARDS
It is the mission of the Madison Savoyards “to preserve the works of Gilbert and Sullivan (below) and other light opera by producing and promoting live performances; to develop the skills and talent of cast, crew and musicians of all ages; and to inspire, entertain, and educate the community through performances and other initiatives.”
More information can be found on the company’s Facebook page along with behind-the-scenes insights to the production.
J. ADAM SHELDON (below) ANSWERS TWO QUESTIONS FROM THE EAR:
Why does the anniversary production feature Johann Strauss Jr. rather than Gilbert and Sullivan?
“We decided to celebrate our 55th anniversary with Die Fledermaus to try something new as a company. Strauss Jr.’s Fledermaus is always a party and will elevate our audiences in the same ways as they have come to expect with G&S.
“We have actually continued our tie to G&S by choosing a libretto that is based upon Gilbert’s translation of the original Meilhac and Halevy play, Le Réveillon. Gilbert’s On Bail brandishes the same humor, socio-political commentary, and alliterative patters we expect from his pen. It only seemed logical to use a translation steeped in Gilbert’s.
“Additionally, our company has performed nearly every work in the G&S collaborative canon — the only exceptions being the reconstructed Thespis & Pineapple Poll — and we want to see how the community embraces us peppering in other light opera and operettas into our repertoire. Some celebrate 55 years with emeralds; we’re celebrating with love… and a twist!
“The story of Fledermaus really did not need a ton of punching up to meet the year. For fun we have included Wisconsin references like Spotted Cow beer, cheese curds (my personal favorite), and Old Fashioneds, which enliven the second act even more, but the core of the story is timeless.
“Whether told with Viennese costumes, or modern attire and cell phones, this story could happen anytime, anywhere. People still play practical jokes on one another, people escape to costume parties for fun, and lovers still fall in, and maybe out, of love.
“Furthermore, Rebecca Stanley (our costume designer) and I imagined a grand masquerade ball in the second act where high fashion meets “cosplay.” (EDITOR’S NOTE: For a definition of “cosplay,” here is a link to Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosplay)
Why did you choose to do it in English?
“The Madison Savoyards is dedicated to continuing the tradition of performing in English. It offers accessibility to our audiences that larger operatic works sometimes cannot. Plus, light opera historically is offered in the vernacular of wherever it’s performed.
“Likewise, we are continuing to offer comedic works as the core of our repertoire.
“We recognize we have a powerful place in the community offering comedic works exclusively in English. But we will offer supertitles this summer for those who might not be familiar with the story.”
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