The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra performs its annual gala Christmas concert this weekend and also offers a FREE community carol sing this Saturday morning
Leave a 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.
By Jacob Stockinger
As Charles Dickens might say, the Madison Symphony Orchestra knows how to keep Christmas well.
Over many years, “A Madison Symphony Christmas” has become a popular and major annual kickoff to the holiday season in the Madison area by embracing the season with Christmas classics and new music.
Much of the event’s appeal derives from the diversity and range of the performers. This year it again features the full orchestra plus the Madison Symphony Chorus, the Madison Youth Choirs and the Mount Zion Gospel Choir.
In addition, two opera stars who have performed with the Madison Opera — tenor Mackenzie Whitney (below top) and soprano Michelle Johnson (below bottom)– return to the stage for this annual family-friendly tradition. For biographies of the two singers, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/a-madison-symphony-christmas-2019/
MSO principal harpist Johanna Wienholts (below) is a featured soloist in a concerto by George Frideric Handel.
“A Madison Symphony Christmas” takes place in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on this Friday night, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night, Dec. 14, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon, Dec. 15, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $19 to $95 with discounts available. See below for details.
NOTE: On this coming Saturday morning, Dec. 14, at 11 a.m., Greg Zelek (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) — the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Principal Organist and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ — leads a FREE Community Carol Sing in Overture Hall. All ages are welcome, and no tickets or reservations are needed. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/free-community-carol-sing-2019/
Music director and conductor John DeMain (below) offers the following preview of the MSO concert:“This is the biggest celebration of the season in Madison and beyond. It has four different choruses and choirs as well as amazing soloists from the orchestra, the world of opera and Broadway.
“The huge Madison Symphony Orchestra will play your favorite Christmas music, and there is a great carol sing-along featuring the Overture Hall organ playing with the MSO. After this concert, you’ll want to celebrate Christmas all year long.”
The program begins with classical styles in the first half, culminating in Handel’s “Hallelujah” Chorus (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.) The concert climaxes with a Gospel music finale, and a chance for the audience to sing along.
Works to be performed include John Rutter’s version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”; the “Magnificat” by Johann Sebastian Bach; Franz Schubert’s “Wiegenlied” (“Lullaby”); and music by Charles Gounod, J. S. Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, Adolphe Adam, Dan Goeller and Randol Alan Bass.
The older voices of the Madison Youth Choirs (below) are featured in works by composer Stephen Hatfield, including a version of the traditional English “Apple-Tree Wassail.”
The Madison Symphony Chorus (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) and soloists present of medley of familiar holiday favorites, including “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
Finally, the Mount Zion Gospel Choir (below, in a photo by Bob Rashid) sings arrangements for choir and orchestra by co-director Leotha Stanley, including “The Joy of Christmas,” Stanley’s version of “Silent Night,” and a newly composed song by Stanley, “Christmas Hope.”
CONCERT, TICKET AND EVENT DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. The MSO recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations — and participate in singing carols with the Madison Symphony Chorus that take place in the Overture Hall lobby (below) 45 minutes before the concerts.
Program notes are available online for viewing in advance of the concerts: http://bit.ly/msodec19programnotes
- Single Tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/a-madison-symphony-christmas-2019/through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Flex-ticket booklets of 8-10 vouchers for 19-20 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Tags: #AChristmasCarol, #AdolpheAdam, #Apple-Tree, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #BroadwayMusic, #BroadwayMusical, #CarolSing, #CharlesDickens, #CharlesGounod, #ChoralMusic, #ChristmasHope, #ClassicalStyle, #CommunityCarolSing, #ConcertOrgan, #DanGoeller, #EnglishMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzSchubert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GospelMusic, #GregZelek, #HallelujahChorus, #HarpConcerto, #HolidayConcert, #HolidayFavorites, #HolidayMusic, #HolidayTradition, #JohannaWienholts, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnDeMain, #JohnRutter, #LeothaStanley, #LetItSnow, #MackenzieWhitney, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MIchelleJohnson, #MountZionGospelChoir, #MusicalTradition, #MusicDirector, #NewMusic, #OCome, #OperaSinger, #OperaStar, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #ProgramNotes, #RandolAlanBass, #SeniorCitizen, #SopranoSinger, #StephenHatfield, #StudentID, #TenorSinger, #TheEar, #TheJoyofChristmas, #TheMagnificat, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, A Christmas Carol, Adam, Adolphe Adam, afternoon, age, ages, annual, arrangement, Arts, availability, available, Bach, Baroque, bass, blog, box office, Broadway, Cantata, Carol, carol sing, celebrate, chance, Charles Dickens, Charles Gounod, choral music, Christmas, Christmas Hope, Classical, Classical music, Classical style, classics, climax, community, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, curator, Dan Goeller, details, discount, diversity, Early music, Emanuel, embrace, English, event, Facebook, Family, family-friendly, favorites, Felix Mendelssohn, finale, forward, Franz Schubert, Friday, friend, gala, George Frideric Handel, Goeller, gospel, Gounod, Greg Zelek, group, Hallelujah Chorus, Handel, harp, harp concerto, harpist, Holiday, holiday music, hope, hymn, ID, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johanna Wienholts, John DeMain, John Rutter, kickoff, Leotha Stanley, Let It Snow, like, link, lobby, lullaby, Mackenzie Whitney, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Magnificat, medley, Mendelssohn, Michelle Johnson, morning, Mount Zion Gospel Choir, MSO, Music, Music director, new, New Music, night, notes, O Come, O Come Emanuel, OComeEmnanuel, older, online, opera, opera star, Orchestra, orchestral music, organ, Overture Center, Overture Hall, participate, perform, performance, performer, popular, post, posting, preview, principal, program notes, Randol Alan Bass, range, recommend, reservation, Saturday, say, Schubert, Season, security, senior, senior citizen, share, sing, sing-along, singer, Singing, soloist, song, soprano, Stephen Hatfield, Student, style, Sunday, tag, tenor, The Ear, The Joy of Christmas, ticket, tradition, traditional, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, verson, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voice, Wassail, welcome, Wiegenlied, Wisconsin, works, world, year, years, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra opens its 94th season this weekend with the sonic sensuality of music by Wagner, Dvorak, Debussy and Barber
1 Comment
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
It has been warmer than the usual fall weather, so why not go sultry?
That’s what the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) will do when it opens its 94th season this coming weekend.
The program “Love, Lust and Redemption” will combine the power of the Klais organ (below top) with MSO principal organist and curator of the Overture Concert Organ Greg Zelek who opens the season with Samuel Barber’s Toccata Festiva.
The all-orchestral program also features the Madison Symphony Orchestra exploring the sonic sensuality of Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”Overture, Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.
Performances will are in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on Friday, Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 29, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $19 to $95. For more information, see below.
MSO music director and conductor John DeMain (below) says of the program:
“Our opening concert is both festive and gorgeously romantic as we present our star organist Greg Zelek (below) in his MSO concerto debut.
“We open with one of the most beautiful overtures ever written, Wagner’s Overture to the opera Tannhäuser and then, after intermission, the great Symphony No. 7 in D Minor by Dvorak.
In between is the little jewel by Debussy, his quintessential impressionistic masterpiece, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. All are favorites of mine, and I look forward to making them favorites of yours, if they aren’t already.”
“Tannhäuser: Overture and Venusberg Music” by Richard Wagner (below) is frequently performed as a separate work in orchestral concerts, the first such performance having been given by Felix Mendelssohn conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in February 1846.
Wagner began revisions to the opera immediately, which resulted in two more versions: the Paris version in 1861 and the Vienna version in 1875. Members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra Chorus also perform in this piece.
TheToccata Festiva was written by the American composer Samuel Barber (below) as an occasional work for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy. It pairs organ and orchestra, and celebrated the inauguration of a new organ for the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, a gift from longtime patron Mary Curtis Zimbalist who had also commissioned the new piece.
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faunby French composer Claude Debussy (below) is a musical evocation of Stephane Mallarmé’s poem “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” in which a faun — a half-man, half-goat creature of ancient Greek legend — awakes to revel in sensuous memories of forest nymphs. Debussy begins the piece with a sinuous and well-known flute melody evocative of a graceful female form.
Symphony No. 7 by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak was greatly influenced by Johannes Brahms. Dvorak decided to compose this symphony after hearing Brahms’s new Symphony No. 3.
The piece is distinguished for its somber and dramatic atmosphere and its lack of Slavic-inspired melodies, a characteristic with which the composer’s style is usually associated. (You can hear the vivacious Scherzo in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
TICKETS AND EVENT DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below) will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience. It is free to ticket holders.
The MSO recommends that concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion.
Program notes for the concerts are available online: http://bit.ly/msosept19programnotes.
- Single Tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/love-lust-redemptionthrough the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Flex-ticket booklets of 8-10 vouchers for 19-20 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
- Subscriptionsfor the 2019–2020 season are available now. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/19-20
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Tags: #AcademyofMusic, #AfternoonofaFaun, #AmericanComposer, #AntoninDvorak, #ArtsPatron, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudeDebussy, #CollegeStudent, #CommissionedMusic, #Czechcomposer, #EugeneOrmandy, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FluteMusic, #Frenchcomposer, #FrenchMusic, #GewandhausOrchestra, #GregZelek, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #KlaisOrgan, #LeipzigGermany, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MaryCurtisZimbalist, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicDirector, #OperaOverture, #OrchestralMusic, #OrganConcerto, #OrganMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #ParisFrance, #PhiladelphiaAcademyofMusic, #PhiladelphiaOrchestra, #PreludetotheAfternoonofaFaun, #ProgramNotes, #RandalSwiggum, #RichardWagner, #SamuelBarber, #SeniorCitizen, #SlavicCulture, #St.Edward, #StephaneMallarmé, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViennaAustria, #YouTubevideo, academy, afternoon, American, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, associate, atmosphere, audience, Autumn, awake, blog, box office, Brahms, characteristic, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, commission, composer, Concert, concert program, concerto, conductor, curator, Czech, discount, discussion, dramatic, Dvorak, Eugene Ormandy, event, evocative, experience, explore, Facebook, fall, faun, favorite, Felix Mendelssohn, female, festive, flute, forest, form, forward, France, free, French, Friday, Germany, gift, goat, gorgeous, graceful, Greg Zelek, group, Impressionism, impressionistic, inaugural, information, inspired, Jacob Stockinger, jewel, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, Klais organ, legend, Leipzig, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, like, link, listen, listening, lobby, Love, lust, Madison, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, Mallarme, man, Mary Curtis Zimbalist, masterpiece, Mead Witter School of Music, melodies, melody, memories, memory, Music, Music director, myth, new, night, nymph, occasion, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, organ, organist, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Hall, Paris, patron, performer, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Orchestra, piece, poem, Poetry, post, posting, Prelude, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, premiere, present, principal, program, program notes, quintessential, Randal Swiggum, redemption, revel, revision, Richard Wagner, Romantic, Samuel Barber, Saturday, Scherzo, Season, season open, security, senior, sensual, sensuality, sensuous, sex, sexual, sexy, share, sinuous, Slavic, somber, sonic, Sound, star, Stephane Mallarme, Student, style, subscription, sultry, Sunday, symphony, tag, Tannhauser, ticket, toccata, understanding, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Venus, version, Vienna, vivacious, warm, weather, weekend, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival’s 20th anniversary Grand Tour includes a silent movie and rare books as well as lots of varied music to mark its success after 20 years. Part 2 of 2
Leave a Comment
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
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival, which is marking its 20th year, have come up with.
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. The concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass. Individual concerts are $22, $12 for students. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee; or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A for this blog. Yesterday she spoke about the overall concept and the first weekend’s concerts. Here is a link to Part 1:
Here is Part 2 of 2:
What events take place next week?
The concert on Tuesday, July 9, is going to be a unique experience for MEMF audiences. HESPERUS creates the soundtrack for the 1923 silent film “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” with music (below) from 14th- and 15th-century France. (The cathedral was started in 1163 and finished in 1345.)
Compositions include French and Burgundian music from 1300 to 1500, featuring Guillaume de Machaut, Jehan l’Escurel, Guillaume Dufay, as well as lesser-known composers such as Vaillant, Morton and Borlet.
On Friday, July 12, the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) performs “Faith and Madness,” a program of a dialogue between sacred music masterpieces followed by madrigals that portray madness, love, war and loneliness.
Composers include Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Heinrich Schütz, Claudio Monteverdi, Carlo Gesualdo, Clement Janequin and others.
All of the singers are graduates of Leipzig’s renowned St. Thomas Church Choir School. Calmus was founded in 1999. This a cappella quintet embodies the rich choral tradition of its hometown, the city associated with Johann Sebastian Bach and Felix Mendelssohn.
To hear a preview of their arrangement of Bach’s “Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,” BWV 659, visit: https://youtu.be/WNzzUU0GcF4
Can you tell us about the program and performers for the All-Festival concert on Saturday, July 13?
The All-Festival Concert includes all of our workshop participants and faculty. We work together to prepare the concert all week and it is truly a MEMF community project. Grant Herreid (below) has created the All-Festival program this year. Grant is a genius at designing a program that tells a musical story featuring MEMF’s faculty and participants.
“Musical Postcards from The Grand Tour” features a narrator, loosely based on Thomas Coryat (below, at sea and in the Alps), the English 17th-century century travel writer, who, as a young man, travels throughout Europe in search of music. Beginning in London, 1641, the musical itinerary continues to Venice, Rome, Naples, Dresden, Paris, and back to London.
The program features so many wonderful composers, and the large ensemble pieces are: the Gloria from Monteverdi’s Selva morale et spirituale; the beautiful Miserere of Gregorio Allegri; Nun danket alle Gott by Heinrich Schütz; Domine salvum fac regem setting by Jean-Baptiste Lully; and, as an ending, This point in time ends all your grief from Ye tuneful muses by Henry Purcell.
Are there other sessions — guest lectures, certain performers, particular works — that you especially recommend for the general public?
All the planning that goes into each festival leads me to encourage the general public to attend everything! The concert series, lectures and workshops have so much to offer.
The special moments that I’m looking forward to are singing in the All-Festival concert and performing Allegri’s Miserere,a stunning piece that I have never heard performed in Madison. (You can hear it in there YouTube video at the bottom.)
I also look forward to hearing the fantastic musical soundtrack created by HESPERUS for the silent movie “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the Calmus singing connection back to Bach through their musical education in Leipzig, plus experiencing all the different travelogues of the past as they come to life through narrations and music.
Special events include a dance with a live band drawn from the MEMF Faculty with dance instruction by Peggy Murray, Grand Tour Dance Excursions, at the Memorial Union in the Great Hall on Thursday, July 11, at 7:30 pm. https://memf.wisc.edu/event/07-11-2019-2/
The lecture series features some well-known Madisonians like J. Michael Allsen (below top), who writes program notes and lectures for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Maria Saffiotti Dale (below bottom), curator at the Chazen Museum of Art.
There will be a special exhibit created for MEMF in the lobby of Memorial Library by Jeanette Casey, the head of the Mills Music Library and Lisa Wettleson of Special Collections at Memorial Library. This curated display includes materials about the Grand Tour, including one of the oldest travelogues from 1611 written by Thomas Coryat.
The exhibit will be in the lobby of Memorial Library (below) and open to the public from Saturday, July 6, through Thursday, July 18, with a special talk about the exhibit during the festival on Monday, July 8, at 11:30 a.m.
This partnership allows the library to display rarely seen original and facsimile publications, some dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries within the context of the MEMF theme.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
In 1611 Thomas Coryat, the author of the travelogue Crudities foretold what you will hear at MEMF in 2019:
“…I heard the best musicke that ever I did in all my life…so good that I would willingly goe an hundred miles a foote at any time to heare the like…the Musicke which was both vocall and instrumental, so good, so delectable, so rare, so admirable, so superexcellent, that it did even ravish and stupifie all those strangers that never heard the like”.
Get your tickets for the concert series. Attend the lectures. Take some classes. See a movie. Come and dance with us. Join us to experience the ultimate musical gap year at our 20th anniversary celebration!
Tags: #14thCentury, #15Century, #ACappella, #All-FestivalConcert, #ArtisticDirector, #AtSea, #Beautifulmusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #BurgundianMusic, #BurgundyFrance, #CarloGesualdo, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChoralePrelude, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #ClementJanequin, #DresdenGermany, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FelixMendelssohn, #FilmMusic, #FrenchMusic, #GapYear, #GeneralPublic, #GiovannidePalestrina, #GrandTour, #GrantHerreid, #GreatHall, #GregorioAllegri, #GuillaumedeMachaut, #GuillaumeDufay, #HeinrichSchütz, #HenryPurcell, #InstrumentalMusic, #J.MIchaelAllsen, #Jean-BaptisteLully, #JeanetteCasey, #JehanL'Escurel, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeipzigGermany, #LondonEngland, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MadrigalSingers, #MariaSaffiottiDale, #MemorialLibrary, #MemorialUnion, #MillsMusicLibrary, #MovieScore, #MusicEducation, #NaplesItaly, #NotreDamedeParis, #ParisFrance, #PeggyMurray, #ProgramNotes, #RenaissanceMadrigal, #RomeItaly, #SacredMusic, #SilentMovie, #St.ThomasChurch, #TheAlps, #TheHunchbackofNotreDame, #ThomasCoryat, #TravelWriter, #VeniceItaly, #VocalMusic, #YoungMan, #YouTubevideo, 14th century, 15thCentury, a cappella, All-Festival concert, Alps, anniversary, arrangement, Artistic director, at sea, audience, author, band, beautiful, blog, Borlet, box office, Burgundian, Burgundy, BWV, Calmus, Campus, Carlo Gesualdo, cathedral, celebrate, celebration, century, Chazen Museum of Art, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, chorale prelude, Christian, church, city, classes, Claudio Monteverdi, collection, community, composer, Composition, concept, Concert, curator, dance, design, dialogue, display, Dresden, Early music, Education, ending, Europe, event, exhibit, experience, Facebook, facsimile, faculty, faith, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, fim, foretold, forward, France, French music, gap year, general public, genius, Germany, Gloria, God, graduate, Grand Tour, Grant Herreid, Great Hall, Gregorio Allegri, grief, Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay, Heinrich Schütz, Henry Purcell, Hesperus, hometown, instrumental music, interview, Italy, J. Michael Allsen, Janequin, Jean L'Escurel, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jeanette Casey, Johann Sebastian Bach, lecture, Leipzig, library, like, link, live, London, loneliness, Love, Lully, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, madness, madrigal, Maria Saffiotti Dale, masterpieces, materials, member, MEMF, Memorial Library, Memorial Union, Mills Music Library, Miserere, moral, Morton, mountains, movie, muses, Music, Music education, musical, Naples, narrator, new, Notre Dame, online, organizer, original, Palestrina, Paris, part, participants, partnership, pass, past, Peggy Murray, performer, phone, planning, Point, portray, post, postcards, prepare, preview, program, program notes, project, public, purchase, Q&A, quintet, reader, Rome, sacred music, school, sea, series, setting, share, silent film, singer, sooundtrack, soundtrack, special, spiritual, St. Thomas Church, story, Student, subscriber, tag, tell, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, theme, Thomas Coryat, tickets, time, tradition, travel, travel writer, travelogue, unique, Vaillant, Venice, vocal music, war, week, weekend, work, workshop, year, young man, YouTube
Classical music: Greg Zelek closes out the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s organ recital season this Friday night with music by Bach, Schumann, Franck and Liszt
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) organist Greg Zelek (below) will perform a recital this Friday night, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State St.
According to the MSO, “Zelek thrilled the Overture audience with his spellbinding debut recital in 2016, and then again with his appearances in 2017 and 2018 as the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s new Principal Organist and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ (below).”
This past weekend, Zelek played an impressively virtuosic organ passage in the “Glagolitic Mass” by Leos Janacek and was warmly received by the audience.
This time, Zelek returns to close out the season’s concert organ series in a “Voices of Spring” program of music that includes music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, John Weaver, Cesar Franck and Gioachino Rossini as well as the monumental 30-minute Fantasy and Fugue on the Chorale “Ad nos, ad salutarem unjam” by Franz Liszt.
For the complete program and an audiovisual sample of Zelek’s playing Bach, go to: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/zelek
Zelek recently completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and an Artist Diploma at the Julliard School. Adds the MSP: “Greg continues to cultivate his reputation as one of the most exciting organists in the American organ scene.” (You can hear Zelek play Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission for each Overture Concert Organ performance is $20.
Tickets can be purchased at madisonsymphony.org/zelek, (608) 258-4141 or the Overture Box Office.
Student Rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $10 tickets.
This performance is sponsored by Walter and Karen Pridham. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund.
With a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts.
Tags: #A, #AmericanMusic, #CesarFranck, #ConcertOrgan, #FranzLiszt, #GioachinoRossini, #GlagoliticMass, #GregZelek, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnWeaver, #JuilliardSchool, #LeosJanacek, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #OvertureHall, #PleasantT.Rowland, #RobertSchumann, #ToccataandFugueinDminor, #Voices ofSpring, American, artist, Arts, audiovisual, Bach, bachelor's, Baroque, Cesar Franck, Classical music, commission, composer, Concert, curator, debut, degree, Diane Endres Ballweg, diploma, Early music, fantasy, Franz Liszt, Friday, fugue, fund, funding, gift, Glagolitic, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Weaver, Leos Janacek, Liszt, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass, master's, Music, New York City, organ, Overture Center, Pleasant T. Rowland, principal, program, recital, Rossini, sample, Schumann, Season, sping, support, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, voices, weekend, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Start the holiday season with the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s FREE Community Carol Sing, with organ, on Monday night
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
‘Tis the season—for singing together in groups!
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) will host a FREE Carol Sing in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on this coming Monday, Nov. 27, at 7 p.m.
All ages are welcome.
No tickets or reservations are needed for the free Carol Sing, which will last approximately 45 minutes.
MSO Principal Organist and Curator Greg Zelek will lead the Carol Sing with the Overture Concert Organ (below).
Familiar carols will be sung, and solo organ works will include the Carol Rhapsody (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) by Richard Purvis and an arrangement of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella.”
Greg Zelek (below) is the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s own principal organist and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ and Series. Zelek has been praised as one of the most exciting young organists in the American organ scene. He has performed with the Metropolitan Opera, the New World Symphony, and in Carnegie Hall with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra.
Zelek directs the programming for the instrument. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Organ Concerts, the instrument is featured in the annual MSO Christmas concert, along with several Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing.
See details for all organ performances at www.madisonsymphony.org/organperformances.
Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund.
The MSO’s Free Community Carol and Hymn Sings are presented in partnership with the Overture Center for the Arts.
Tags: age, American, Arts, Bring a Torch, Carnegie Hall, Carol, choral music, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Classical music, composer, curator, Dane County Farmers' Market, farmer, Farmer's Market, free, fund, Greg Zelek, group, Holiday, hymn, Jacob Stockinger, Madison Symphony Orchestra, market, Metropolitan Opera, New World Symphony, New York City, Orchestra, organ, Overture Center, performance, program, reservation, Richard Purvis, scene, Season, sing, solo, support, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, vocal music, Wisconsin, work, young, YouTube
Classical music: Organist Greg Zelek, of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, will give a FREE celebratory recital at First United Methodist Church this coming Tuesday night
4 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
“Greg Zelek (below), the new principal organist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ and Series, will present a FREE public organ recital on this coming Tuesday night, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Avenue, in downtown Madison.
“The evening’s program of masterpieces includes: the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, by Johann Sebastian Bach; the Organ Sonata in F minor, Op. 65, No. 1, by Felix Mendelssohn; the Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, by J.S. Bach (heard performed by Zelek in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Organ Sonata in D minor, Op. 42, No. 1, by Alexandre Guilmant.
“A public reception follows the recital where people can share their thoughts about the program and meet the artist.
“Zelek says he relishes the creative aspect of playing the organ. Because no two instruments are alike, every time he sits down at a new console he reinvents the repertoire that he has played thousands of times for that specific instrument and that specific space.
“Zelek adds: “It gives me the opportunity to be as creative as possible when it comes to the selecting of different sounds and colors for each individual instrument and composition.”
“The First Church organ console (below top), as well as the one (below bottom) at the Overture Center, is in front of the audience, offering the organist opportunities to interact and engage with them.
“I speak to the audience in between pieces,” Zelek explains. “Having a greater understanding of the music sheds light onto its immense beauty and enhances the listener’s appreciation of the performance.
“The organ is also such a physical instrument. When the audience can see what the organist is doing, it draws everybody in. There is so much going on. It’s not just the hands and the feet, but also the different buttons we’re pushing and sounds we’re generating from the instrument. It is a full body workout when I play! The audience should never be bored.”
“Zelek’s recital is part of the 180th anniversary celebration of First United Methodist Church as well as the 25th anniversary of its Austin organ.
“Admission for the recital is FREE with donation envelopes available to support The Arts program at First Church. The church has a deep tradition in featuring varied musical offerings and provides much needed rehearsal and performing space for local music and performing arts groups.”
Tags: Alexander Guilmant, Alexandre Guilmant, anniversary, announcement, artist, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, beauty, buttons, church, Classical music, color, composer, Composition, console, creative, curator, donation, Early music, envelope, First United Methodist, free, fugue, George Frideric Handel, Greg Zelek, group, groups, individual, instrument, invent, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, local, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, masterpiece, Mendelssohn, Methodist, Music, musical offering, offering, opportunity, Orchestra, organ, organ music, Overture Center, People, performing, Performing arts, physical, Prelude, prinicpal, public, reception, recital, rehearsal, repertoire, series, Sound, space, symphony, thoughts, time, toccata, Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565, tradition, understanding, united, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 