The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: After 54 years at the UW-Madison, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will move this fall to the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Starting this fall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO, below) will have a new home for classes, rehearsals and performances.
The news of moving to the McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) is very good for WYSO. But The Ear feels sad to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison and WYSO parting ways after a partnership of 54 years.
It feels like the UW, a distinguished public institution, is backing away from the Wisconsin Idea of public service to the citizens who fund the university. It is embodied in the saying that “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea and its Progressive Era history, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea)
It feels, in short, like a setback to community engagement by the UW-Madison and its Mead Witter School of Music, where WYSO once had offices and used Mills Concert Hall.
Be that as it may, here is a WYSO email newsletter’s account of what led up to the decision and move.
“The news from University of Wisconsin-Madison started trickling in a little at a time.
“First, Mills Hall (below), where WYSO had rehearsed almost every Saturday since the Humanities Building opened, was scheduled for transformation from a concert hall into a lecture hall. (You can see WYSO performing in Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Then the UW began to reconsider whether pre-college programs should actually share space with university departments.
“And there was the growth of WYSO itself — from one full orchestra to three, plus two string orchestras, a chamber music program (below top), a full array of ensembles, and the community-impact Music Makers (below bottom).
“Meanwhile, 12 minutes away, the town of McFarland opened an amazing 841-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center (below).
“And incredibly, the adjacent middle school and high school campus (below) had enough parking and enough rehearsal space to accommodate the entire WYSO program with room to grow — all of the student musicians, all of the orchestras, and all rehearsing at the same time.
“In a unique move of creative place-making, McFarland’s School Superintendent Andrew Briddell reached out to WYSO and suggested all of the above opportunities, plus collaboration with the McFarland schools, staff and community, and the ability to build on the creative history of the town itself.
“Passionate about music and education, Andrew Briddell, earned a double major in music and English from Indiana University, a Master’s degree in bassoon from Temple University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the UW-Madison.
“”A talented bassoon player, Briddell (below) played with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Birmingham.
“What a perfect match for this collaboration!
“It was an invitation too good to pass up. So starting in the fall of 2020, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will be in residence at the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.”
To read more details about WYSO’s new home, including design and acoustics, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/the-wyso-weekly-tune-up-april-17-2020-wysos-new-home/
What do you think about the new move WYSO?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: FREE percussion, brass and wind concerts are featured this week at the UW-Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
In the week before Spring Break, the Mead Witter School of music at the UW-Madison will feature FREE concerts of percussion, brass and wind music.
TUESDAY, MARCH 10
At 7:30 p.m. in the Collins Recital Hall of the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave., the percussion department will give a FREE recital. No program is listed.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11
At 7:30 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall, guest percussionist-composer Mark Stone (below) will give a FREE solo recital of original compositions for mbira and gyil.
The program will include music for the newly invented array mbira, an American-made 120 key lamellaphone. Stone will also share music composed for the Dagara gyil, a xylophone from Ghana as well as mbira traditions of South Africa and Uganda.
Also on Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the acclaimed Wisconsin Brass Quintet will give a FREE faculty recital.
The program is:
Johann Sebastian Bach – Contrapunctus IV from “Die Kunst Der Fuge” (The Art of Fugue). You can hear Canadian Brass perform it in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Andre Lafosse – “Suite Impromptu”
Werner Pirchner – “L’Homme au marteau dans la poche” (Man With a Hammer in His Pocket)
Rich Shemaria – “Pandora’s Magic Castle”
Per Nørgård – “Vision”
The 2019-2020 Wisconsin Brass Quintet (below) is: Jean Laurenz and Gilson Silva, trumpets; Daniel Grabois, horn; Mark Hetzler, trombone; and Tom Curry, tuba.
Please note: In spring 2020, Mark Hetzler will be on sabbatical. His replacement will be Will Porter (below), instructor of trombone at Eastern Illinois University . Read about Porter here
THURSDAY MARCH 12
At 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble will give a FREE concert.
The ensemble will perform under the batons of director Scott Teeple (below) and guest conductor Ross Wolf.
The program is:
Frank Ticheli: “Apollo Unleashed” from Symphony No. 2
Ching–chu Hu: In Memory Of…*
With special guest The Hunt Quartet
*World Premiere Performance/UW Band Commissioning Member
Morten Larudisen/Reynolds: “Contre Qui, Rose”
Beverly Taylor, guest conductor.
Jodie Blackshaw: Symphony, “Leunig’s Prayer Book”*
*Wisconsin Premiere
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Classical music: The Wisconsin Chamber Choir sings a holiday program of Bach, Vivaldi and other composers this coming Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (below top) will perform a holiday program this coming Saturday night, Dec. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison’s Atrium Auditorium (below bottom, in a photo by Zane Williams), 900 University Bay Drive.
The program features Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria” paired with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Advent cantata, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Now Come, Savior of the Nations, BWV 61), performed with the professional orchestra Sinfonia Sacra.
(You can hear the familiar and energetic opening of Vivaldi’s “Gloria” — performed by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists — in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Complementing the Vivaldi and Bach works are additional selections, including a unique collection of O Antiphons — Latin prayers for the season of Advent.
For more information about the musical form, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Antiphons
Strikingly modern compositions by John Tavener (below top, in a photo by Steve Forrest), Vytautas Miskinis and Pavel Lukaszewski alternate with French Baroque settings by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (below bottom).
Seasonal carols round out the program in arrangements by three of the WCC’s favorite composers: Peter Blotch; the late American composer from Minneapolis Stephen Paulus (below); and Giles Swayne.
Advance tickets are available for online for $20 ($10 for students) from http://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org/tickets or Brown Paper Tickets; or in person at Orange Tree Imports and Willy Street Coop, or from a member of the choir.
The ticket price at the door is $25.
Founded in 1998, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir has established a reputation for excellence in the performance of oratorios by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Brahms as well as a cappella works from various centuries and world premieres.
WCC artistic director Robert Gehrenbeck (below), who heads the choral program at the UW-Whitewater, has been hailed by critics for his vibrant and emotionally compelling interpretations of a wide variety of choral masterworks.
Since 2002, the WCC has presented cantatas and oratorios with full orchestra, annually or biennially, including last season’s Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The players assembled for these performances, known collectively as Sinfonia Sacra, are members of the best regional orchestras, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Sonata à Quattro.
For more information about the Wisconsin Chamber Choir, including how to join it as well as its future concerts, reviews, biographies, history and recordings, go to: https://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org
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Classical music: Thursday night brings FREE concerts of orchestral, wind and piano music at the UW-Madison – including recognition of construction workers who built the new Hamel Music Center
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By Jacob Stockinger
This is an extraordinarily busy week for classical music, as the past week of postings has demonstrated.
But there is always room for more, especially at the University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music as the semester winds down.
Take the concerts on this Thursday, Dec. 5.
UW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and UW WIND ENSEMBLE
At 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Avenue, the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top, in Mills Hall) and the UW Wind Ensemble (below bottom) will join forces for a FREE concert.
The concert will be under the two groups’ directors and main conductors — Oriol Sans (below top) and Scott Teeple (below bottom), respectively.
The program features the Symphony “Circus Maximus” – which ends with a blank gunshot — by the contemporary American composer John Corigliano (below top); “Fratres” (Brothers) by the popular 84-year-old Estonian composer Arvo Pärt with UW violin professor Soh-Hyun Park Altino (below bottom, in a photo by Caroline Bittencourt) as soloist; and “The Pines of Rome” by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi.
You can hear “Fratres” in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Billed as a “Builder Appreciation Concert” for those men and women who worked on constructing the new Hamel Music Center, there is also a pre-concert reception starting at 6:30 p.m.
Admission is free and no tickets are required.
PIANO DEPARTMENT RECITAL
Also on this Thursday, the UW-Madison piano department with present a collective recital.
It takes place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the smaller Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center.
So far, no performers or pieces on the program have been listed on the School of Music’s website.
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Classical music: The Madison New Music Ensemble makes its debut this Friday night. A FREE harpsichord recital is Friday at noon
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ALERT: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features harpsichordist Faythe Vollrath (below). She has been hailed by the Wall Street Journal for her “subtly varied tempo and rhythm that sounds like breathing.” Her programs do not focus solely on early music, but also incorporate new music written for historic instruments. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear and see her playing the 1993 “Toccata” by Emma Lou Diemer.)
By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Friday night, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, the Madison New Music Ensemble will give its debut concert.
Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and seniors. Only cash and personal checks will be accepted at the door.
The program features music by the group’s artistic director and Madison-based composer Joseph Koykkar — the director of music in the Dance Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — Robert Muczynski, Ed Martin, Lennon/McCartney and others.
Special guests are The Vine Street Trio, a faculty trio from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, playing works by contemporary composers and saxophonist Peterson Ross.
Members of the Madison New Music Ensemble (below, from left) are: Danielle Breisach; Joseph Koykkar; Monica Jiang; Joseph Ross; Amy Harr; Elena Ross; and Bethany Schultz
For more information about the performers and the group, go to the Madison New Music Ensemble page on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/madisonnewmusicensemble/
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Classical music: This weekend also brings holiday brass music, string music and new chamber music with voice to the UW. Plus, live radio broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera start this Saturday on Wisconsin Public Radio
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ALERT: This Saturday, Dec. 1, sees the start of the “Live From the Met” opera broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio with Arrigo Boito’s opera “Mefistofole.” The weekly series, now in its 88th year, will continue through May 11. Starting time is usually noon. Here is a link to the radio broadcast season: https://www.wpr.org/metropolitan-opera-begins-its-88th-season
By Jacob Stockinger
As usually happens towards the end of the semester, concerts are backing up, especially on the weekends.
Yesterday, information about the two performances of the annual UW-Madison Winter Choral Concert on Sunday afternoon was posted. Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/classical-music-two-performances-of-the-uw-madisons-popular-winter-choral-concert-takes-place-this-sunday-afternoon/
But much more is going on.
Take a look and listen:
SATURDAY
Non-music majors, take heart. If you attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison, you can still play and perform while pursuing other studies.
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the All-University Strings (AUS) will perform a FREE concert that is open to the public.
The group (below, in a photo by Jeff Miller for the UW-Madison) is comprised of two non-major string orchestras (named Orchestra One and Orchestra Too), and is open to all interested string players. No audition is required, seating order is voluntary, and there is no ranking within the sections.
The AUS program endeavors to be a true learning community, serving students from virtually every department and major with the goal of nurturing lifelong engagement in music and the arts.
Pedro Oviedo is the conductor, and the guest artists are The Hunt Quartet. (The string quartet is made up of graduate students at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music: Chang En Lu and Ava Shadmani, violins; Fabio Saggin, viola; and Alex Chambers-Ozasky, cello. They will be joined by Max Herteen, double bass.)
The appealing program includes:
Norman Leyden: Serenade for Strings
Karl Jenkins: Allegretto from “Palladio” (A neo-Baroque piece you might recognize from a De Beers “Diamonds Are Forever” ad. Listen to it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Eric Whitacre: October
Modest Mussorgsky, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel: “The Hut on Fowl’s Legs (Baba Yaga)” and “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Pictures at an Exhibition
Astor Piazzolla: La muerte del angel (The Death of the Angel)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Concerto Grosso
SUNDAY
At 12:30 p.m. the UW Horn Choir (below) will present its annual holiday concert at the Chazen Music of Art as part of the Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen series.
The FREE and public concert, directed and conducted by horn Professor Daniel Grabois, takes place in Brittingham Gallery No. 3.
The event will also be streamed live. Here is a link to the streaming portal as well as information about the program, which includes Bach and Mahler, the players and how to reserve seats:
https://www.chazen.wisc.edu/about/news/in-the-news/sunday-afternoon-live-with-the-uw-horn-choir/
At 8 p.m. in Morphy Hall, a FREE concert of chamber music by distinguished guest artists will be held.
The Brooklyn-based soprano-violin duo Cipher Duo (below top, Justine Aronson and Sarah Goldfeather) will team up with cellist Nicholas Photinos(below bottom), a member of the Grammy-winning chamber music ensemble eighth blackbird, for an evening-length performance of both new and reimagined music.
The program will include works by Sarah Goldfeather, Amy Beth Kirsten, David T Little, Dolly Parton and more.
On Monday, the performers will also give public master classes:
The Cello Master Class is Monday, Dec. 3, 12:15-2:15 p.m. in Morphy Hall.
The Violin-Voice Master Class: Monday, Dec. 3, 1:15-3:15 p.m. in Music Hall.
For more information about the program and performers, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artists-nicholas-photinos-cello-and-cipher-duo-voice-and-violin/
Tags: #All-UniversityStrings, #AmyBethKirsten, #ArrigoBoito, #AstorPiazzolla, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #ChristmasHoliday, #CipherDuo, #ConcertoGrosso, #DanielGrabois, #DavidTLittle, #DeBeers, #DiamondsAreForever, #DollyParton, #DoubleBass, #EighthBlackbird, #EricWhitacre, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GraduateStudent, #GrammyAward, #GreatGateofKIev, #GuestArtist, #GustavMahler, #HolidayConcert, #HornChoir, #HuntQuartet, #JohannSebastianBach, #JustineAronson, #KarlJenkins, #LiveFromtheMet, #LiveStreaming, #MauriceRavel, #MetropolitanOpera, #MillsHall, #ModestMussorgsky, #MorphyHall, #MusicEducation, #MusicHall, #NeoBaroque, #NewMusic, #NewTango, #NicholasPhotinos, #NormanLeyden, #NuevoTango, #OpentothePublic, #OperaMusic, #PedroOviedo, #PicturesatanExhibition, #RalphVaughanWilliams, #SarahGoldfeather, #StringMusic, #StringOrchestra, #StringQuartet, #SundayAfternoonLiveattheChazen, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #WinterConcert, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #YouTubevideo, ad, All-University Strings, Amy Beth Kirsten, angel, Arts, audition, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Baroque, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Broadcast, Cello, Chamber music, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Cipher Duo, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, Concerto Grosso, conductor, Daniel Grabois, David T Little, De Beers, death, department, diamond, Diamonds Are Forever, Dolly Parton, double bass, Early music, eighth blackbird, engagement, Eric Whitacre, evening, evil, Facebook, fowl, free, graduate student, Grammy, Great Gate of Kiev, guest artist, Gustav Mahler, hiut, Holiday, horn choir, Hunt Quartet, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Justine Aronson, Karl Jenkins, learning, leg, like, link, listen, Live From the Met, live streaming, live-stream, livestream, look, major, master class, masterclass, Maurice Ravel, Mefistofole, Mephistopheles, Metropolitan Opera, Mills Hall, Modest Mussorgsky, Morphy Hall, Music education, Music Hall, New Music, new tango, Nicholas Photinos, Norman Leyden, nuevo tango, October, open, Orchestra, orchestrated, Palladio, Pedro Oviedo, perform, Pictures at an Exhibition, play, portal, program, public, Radio, Ralph Vaughan Williams, ranking, reimagined, Sarah Goldfeather, Satan, Saturday, Season, seating, section, series, share, soprano, string music, String Orchestra, String quartet, studies, Sunday, Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen, tag, tango, the Met, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, voluntary, weekend, weekly, winter, Winter Concert, wisconsin public radio
Classical music: A curmudgeon vents his complaints concerning the music scene in Madison, Plus, this Sunday Afternoon the Pro Arte Quartet plays Haydn and Dvorak in a FREE concert at the Chazen Museum of Art that will be streamed live
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ALERT: The UW’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet will perform a FREE concert tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 5, at 12:30 p.m., at the Chazen Museum of Art in Brittingham Gallery No. 3. The program features the String Quartet in E Major, Op. 53, No 3, by Franz Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 16, by Antonin Dvorak. The “Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen” concert will also be streamed live. Here is a link:
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is an essay by Larry Wells, a guest reviewer and a frequent concertgoer. He writes:
“As I have aged, I have become more of a curmudgeon. (My friends and family will readily attest to this.) It is in that spirit that I address some annoyances I have been experiencing over the past few years while attending musical events in Madison.
“I will start with a recent experience, attending University Opera’s performances of “A Kurt Weill Cabaret” at Music Hall (below). The two arms of any seat in the hall have two different numbers. Unless the guest was paying attention as he entered the row, it is unclear which number belongs to which seat. After attending a few shows there, I have figured it out. But I don’t believe I have ever been to a performance there when there hasn’t been confusion about which seat is which. I have routinely heard people asking others (who are generally equally clueless), and I have routinely seen blocks of people shift over one seat. You would think that someone at a great educational institution could figure out a way to make the seating less baffling.
“An equally annoying phenomenon occurs regularly at Mills Hall, also on campus. I discovered that, for choral concerts particularly, the sound in the balcony is far better than the sound on the main floor. However, the doors of the balcony are often locked and the ushers regularly say that the balcony is not open. Upon making further insistent inquiries, I usually manage to get someone to unlock the balcony, but I wonder why it is felt that unlocking it routinely is such an onerous task.
“I will also mention that, regardless of one’s seat location in Mills Hall, it is difficult not to notice that the sound clouds over the stage are in sore need of a dusting and cleaning.
“Stephen Sondheim wrote a wonderfully amusing song for “The Frogs” called “Invocation and Instructions to the Audience.” In it the audience is reminded not to talk, cough, fart and so on. (You can hear the piece in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“At the aforementioned performances in the Music Hall (I went twice), I saw people texting and video recording the performance even though the program has, in very small print, an admonishment not to photograph or film. At a recent choral concert in Mills Hall, texting was rampant during the performance, and there was no mention about turning off cell phones in the program. The bright screens immediately draw the eye away from the stage. I find it extremely distracting.
“At performances given by the UW Dance Department, a loud and forceful announcement at the beginning of each performance instructs the audience to turn off cell phones, no texting, no photos, etc. A similar announcement takes place not only at the beginning of the concert but also at the end of intermissions for performances at Overture Center. I think it is time for the UW Music Department to address the issue in a similar way.
“Another criticism of the way that things are done by the Music Department: Why is it so hard to find out what is being performed at a recital or concert? The Music Department has a good website with a calendar that lists the performances being given on any day, but many times the program is not included in that information. I am disinclined to go to a concert when I don’t know what the program is, and I often will go to a performance just to hear one work if it’s one I am anxious to hear. Thus, I often have to go roaming around the Music Building looking for posters or sometimes even going to the person sponsoring the performance to ask what the program is. It shouldn’t be that hard.
“An issue at Overture Center is whispering. I do not understand how people have lived to the ripe old ages that most of the audience members have and not come to realize that whispering is still audible.
“Two seats away from me at Overture Hall for my symphony subscription is a woman who, at every single performance, starts to cough as soon as the music begins, noisily unzips her purse, reaches in and fumbles around until she finds her cough drop, and then noisily unwraps its cellophane cover. Every time. It is a wonderment to me that she has not discovered that she could unwrap the cough drops in advance and have them at the ready.
“When I subscribed to the San Francisco Symphony, there were bowls of wax paper wrapped cough drops at every entrance. Not a bad idea.
“And then there is the seemingly obligatory standing ovation syndrome that has become a standard feature of every performance in Madison. In the rest of the world a standing ovation is reserved for an extraordinary performance deserving special recognition. Here I think of Pavlov’s dog and sheep. The performance ends, one person leaps to his feet (that’s the Pavlov part) and everyone else stands (that’s the sheep). At the same time the sentiment has been lost, and it all seems rather provincial to me.
“I realize that these are all first-world problems of little importance. They are minor annoyances, but that is what a curmudgeon dwells on. And it feels great to vent.”
Do you agree with any of these complaints?
Do you have any major or minor complaints to add?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Former UW pianist Catherine Kautsky will talk, play music and sign copies of her book “Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque” this Thursday night at the Mystery to Me bookstore in Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
Some of you may recall the pianist Catherine Kautsky (below). She came from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wis., to the UW-Madison where she performed many memorable concerts.
Then, after about five years, she returned to Lawrence as the head of the piano department.
Kautsky always showed an affinity for French music — she has recorded both books of Debussy‘s Preludes for piano — and now she has transformed her francophilia into a book: “Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Epoque” ($38, below).
Kautsky will be in Madison this Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Mystery to Me bookstore, 1863 Monroe Street, next to Neuhauser Pharmacy and across from Trader Joe’s.
A terrific explainer, Kautsky will talk about her book and sign copies. A keyboard will also be available for Kautsky to play some of the music she talks and writes about. (You can hear Kautsky playing and discussing the great last Sonata in B-Flat Major, D. 960, by Franz Schubert in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a description of the book with biographical information:
“Debussy’s Paris: Piano Portraits of the Belle Époque takes readers on a tour of Paris through detailed descriptions of the city’s diversions and the music Debussy wrote reflecting them.
“Catherine Kautsky explores how key works reveal not only the most appealing aspects of Paris, but also the more disquieting attitudes of the time. In contrast to the childlike innocence of fairy tales, minstrel shows had racist overtones, colonization entailed domination, and the brooding nationalism of the era was rife with hostility.
“Debussy (below) left no avenue unexplored, and his piano works present a sweeping overview of the passions, vices, and obsessions of the era’s Parisians.
“When played today, Debussy’s music breathes the story of one the world’s most fascinating cities. Kautsky reveals little known elements of Parisian life during the Belle Époque and weaves the music, the man, the city, and the era into an indissoluble whole.
“Her portrait will delight anyone who has ever been entranced by Debussy’s music or the city (below) that inspired it.”
Catherine Kautsky is chair of keyboard at Lawrence University and has been lauded by the New York Times as “a pianist who can play Mozart and Schubert as though their sentiments and habits of speech coincided exactly with hers…” She has concertized widely, performing in major halls in New York, Chicago, Washington, and Boston, soloing with the St. Louis Symphony and other orchestras and appearing frequently on public radio.
Here is a link with more information, including praise from pianist Richard Goode who will perform in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 4.
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Classical music: The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold performs two concerts this Friday night and Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra performs
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is another twofer preview because of so many events happening this weekend.
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS
The Madison-based wind quintet Black Marigold (below, in a photo by Vincent Fuh) will perform two concerts this Friday and Saturday nights.
The program features wind music of the 19th and 21st centuries.
Here are the two performances:
This Friday night, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m.; Arts & Literature Laboratory; 2021 Winnebago Street; $8 in advance, $10 at the door; Tickets: http://blackmarigold.bpt.me/
The program includes Five Stick$ (2014) by Columbian composer Víctor Agudelo; Petit Suite(1889) by French composer Claude Debussy; and flights (selections) of Beer Music (2016), a suite of short pieces inspired by Madison area microbrews by American composer Brian DuFord (below).
Vote for your favorite beer! Choose your favorite beer and we’ll perform the top six as a flight of Beer Music. Don’t know which is your favorite yet? Check out our “Tasting Notes” and see what strikes your fancy.
There is an additional FREE performance:
This Saturday night, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community; 331 West Main Street, three blocks off the Capitol Square; http://www.retirement.org/madison/; Free admission, presented by Capitol Lakes
Facebook event links are: Arts & Literature Lab, Sept. 22; Capitol Lakes, Sept. 23
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
This Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra will present its fall concert.
Admission is $5, free with Edgewood College ID.
Edgewood College professor Blake Walter (below) will conduct the orchestra in the first concert of its 2017-18 season.
The program includes: the Overture to “Iolanthe” by Sir Arthur Sullivan; the Suite from Gabriel Faure’s incidental music to the play by Maurice Maeterlinck, entitled “Pelleas and Melisande,” as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular Symphony No. 40 in G minor. You can hear and see a really cool graphic depiction of the first movement of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Founded in 1993 via a generous endowment established by benefactors William O. Hart and Vernon Sell, the Edgewood College Chamber Orchestra fulfills a unique role in the Madison community, providing high-quality performances and unique educational opportunities. The ensemble is the permanent, in-house chamber orchestra at Edgewood College.
Edgewood College’s Music Department has been recognized by the readers of Madison Magazine with the Best of Madison 2017 Silver Award.
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