The Well-Tempered Ear
Music education: The Madison Youth Choirs explore the theme of “Legacy” in three concerts this Saturday and Sunday in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post from the Madison Youth Choirs about their upcoming concerts this weekend:
This spring, Madison Youth Choirs singers are exploring the meaning of “Legacy,” studying works that have endured throughout history, folk traditions that have been passed on, and musical connections that we maintain with those who have come before us. Along the way, we’re discovering how our own choices and examples are leaving a lasting impact on future generations.
In our upcoming concert series in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on this Saturday, May 11, and Sunday, May 12, we’ll present a variety of works. They include Benjamin Britten’s “The Golden Vanity,” Palestrina’s beloved “Sicut Cervus,” Sweet Honey in the Rock’s “Wanting Memories,” the final chorus of Handel’s oratorio Samson, American and Scottish folk songs, and Zoe Mulford’s powerful modern folk piece, “The President Sang Amazing Grace.”
The concert will also pay tribute to our alumni, with selections featured on the very first Madison Boychoir album, and past Cantabile singers invited to join us on stage for “Sisters, Now Our Meeting is Over.”
At the Saturday concert, MYC will present the 2019 Carrel Pray Music Educator of the Year award to Diana Popowycz (below), co-founder of Suzuki Strings of Madison.
DETAILS ABOUT “LEGACY” MYC’S SPRING CONCERT SERIES
Saturday
7:30 p.m. Purcell, Britten, Holst and Ragazzi (boychoirs)
Sunday
3:30 p.m. Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio, Cantilena and Cantabile (girlchoirs)
7:30 p.m. Cantilena, Cantabile and Ragazzi (high school ensembles)
THREE WAYS TO PURCHASE TICKETS:
- In person at the Overture Center Box Office (lowest cost)
- Online (https://www.overture.org/events/legacy)
- By phone (608-258-4141)
Tickets are $15 for adults and $7.50 for students. Children under 7 are free, but a ticket is still required and can be requested at the Overture Center Box Office. Seating is General Admission.
This concert is supported by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation and Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, charitable arm of The Capital Times, and the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation. This project is also made possible by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with additional funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT MADISON YOUTH CHOIRS (MYC):
Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community. Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.
REPERTOIRE
SATURDAY
For the 7:30 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Britten
“The Golden Vanity,” by Benjamin Britten (to our knowledge, this will be the first time the work has ever been performed in Madison)
Purcell
“Simple Gifts” by Joseph Brackett, arr. Aaron Copland
“Tallis Canon” by Thomas Tallis
“Sound the Trumpet” from Come Ye Sons of Art by Henry Purcell
Britten
“Ich jauchze, ich lache” by Johann Sebastian Bach
Holst
“Hallelujah, Amen” from Judas Maccabeus by George Frideric Handel
“Sed diabolus” by Hildegard von Bingen
“Bar’bry Allen” Traditional ballad, arr. Joshua Shank
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Ragazzi
“Let Your Voice Be Heard” by Abraham Adzenyah
“Sicut Cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
“Agincourt Carol,” Anonymous, ca. 15th century
Ragazzi & Holst
“The President Sang Amazing Grace” by Zoe Mulford, arr. Randal Swiggum
Holst
“Shosholoza,” Traditional song from Zimbabwe
Combined Boychoirs
“Will Ye No Come Back Again?” Traditional Scottish, arr. Randal Swiggum
Legacy Choirs
“Day is Done” by Peter Yarrow, arr. Randal Swiggum
SUNDAY
For the 3:30 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Girlchoirs)
Choraliers
“Music Alone Shall Live,” Traditional German canon
“Ut Queant Laxis,” Plainsong chant, text attributed to Paolo Diacono
“This Little Light of Mine” by Harry Dixon Loes, arr. Ken Berg
“A Great Big Sea,” Newfoundland folk song, arr. Lori-Anne Dolloff
Con Gioia
“Seligkeit” by Franz Schubert
“Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, arr. Roger Emerson
“When I am Laid in Earth” from Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell
“Pokare Kare Ana” by Paraire Tomoana
“Ah, comme c’est chose belle” Anonymous, 14th century
“Hope” by Marjan Helms, poem by Emily Dickinson
Capriccio
“Non Nobis Domine,” attributed to William Byrd
“Ich Folge Dir Gleichfalls” from St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
“Dirait-on” by Morten Lauridsen
Cantilena
“Aure Volanti” by Francesca Caccini
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
Cantabile
“Come All You Fair and Pretty Ladies” Traditional Ozark song, adapted by Mike Ross
“Wanting Memories” by Ysaye M. Barnwell
Legacy Choir
“Music in My Mother’s House” by Stuart Stotts
For the 7:30 p.m. concert (featuring High School Ensembles)
Cantilena
“Aure Volanti” by Francesca Caccini
“Una Sañosa Porfía by Juan del Encina
“Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon
“O Virtus Sapientiae” by Hildegard von Bingen
Ragazzi
“Sicut Cervus” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
“Agincourt Carol,” Anonymous, ca. 15th century
“Let Your Voice Be Heard” by Abraham Adzenyah
“The President Sang Amazing Grace” by Zoe Mulford, arr. Randal Swiggum
Cantabile
“In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles” by Roger Bourland
“Sed Diabolus” by Hildegard von Bingen
“Come All You Fair and Pretty Ladies” Traditional Ozark song, adapted by Mike Ross
“Wanting Memories” by Ysaye M. Barnwell
Combined Choirs
“Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite” by George Frideric Handel
Cantabile and Alumnae
“Sisters, Now Our Meeting is Over,” Traditional Quaker meeting song
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Classical music: The Madison Bach Musicians celebrate 15 years with three performances this weekend of “Arias and Sonatas” by Bach and Handel
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By Jacob Stockinger
Two towering geniuses of the Baroque era – Johann Sebastian Bach (below top) and George Frideric Handel (below bottom) — were born in the same year, 1685, and just a little over 100 miles from each other.
Yet the two masters never met!
To mark their 15th anniversary, the Madison Bach Musicians will open their new season with three performances of a program “Arias and Sonatas” by the two great composers.
The program will include selections from Handel’s Violin Sonata in F major, Nine German Arias, Lascia chi’o ping (heard sung by Joyce DiDonato in the YouTube video at the bottom), Tornami a vagheggiar; and Bach’s Laudamus te (B minor Mass), Öffne dich (Cantata 61), Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden (Cantata 58), and Prelude and Fugue in C major (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II).
Advance-sale discount tickets are $30 general admission and are available at Orange Tree Imports, and Willy Street Co-op (East and West).
Online advance tickets at www.madisonbachmusicians.org
Tickets at the door are $33 for general admission, $30 for seniors (65+) with student rush tickets costing $10 at the door.
Here are the performance times and places.
Each performance offers a FREE pre-concert lecture by MBM founder, music director and keyboardist Trevor Stephenson (below), who will also appear at NOON TODAY (Wednesday, Oct. 3) with host Norman Gilliland on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Midday.”
This Friday, Oct. 5, with a 7:15 p.m. lecture and 8 p.m. performance at the Grace Episcopal Church (below top and bottom) at 116 W. Washington Ave., in Madison on the downtown Capitol Square.
This Saturday, Oct. 6, with a 7:15 p.m. lecture and 8 p.m. performance at Immanuel Lutheran Church (below top and bottom) at 1021 Spaight Street in Madison.
This Sunday afternoon, Oct. 7, with a 2:15 p.m. lecture and 3 p.m. performance followed by an outdoor wine reception at historic Park Hall at 307 Polk Street in Sauk City. The Park Hall venue has limited seating, so it is recommended to buy tickets in advance either online or at Willy St. Co-Op (East or West), or at Orange Tree Imports.
The major guest artist is soprano Chelsea Shephard (below). Praised by Opera News for her “beautiful, lyric instrument” and “flawless legato,” she won the 2014 Handel Aria Competition in Madison. She returns to perform with the Madison Bach Musicians after appearing in MBM’s production last season of Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas.”
Other performers include the Madison Bach Musicians concertmaster Kangwon Kim (below) on baroque violin.
Also, James Waldo (below) will perform on baroque cello. Known for his “nuanced, richly ambered” interpretations of Bach (LucidCulture in New York City), Waldo has lived and breathed period performance his whole life, having been raised in the home of two musicians who specialized in recorder, traverso and Renaissance choral music.
After graduate studies at Mannes College of Music and nine years living and working in New York City, he returned to Madison last fall to begin his DMA studies at UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music with Professor Uri Vardi. He recently participated in an all-Bach program for Midsummer’s Music in Door County, and is the regular principal cellist of Cecilia Chorus, performing twice a year in Carnegie Hall.
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Classical music: Madison Bach Musicians announces its 14th season with music by Vivaldi, Bach and Purcell
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement from founder, artistic director and keyboardist Trevor Stephenson about the upcoming season of the Madison Bach Musicians (below):
“This season we are thrilled to present three wonderfully diverse programs of baroque masterworks.
“We’ll start in September with Imitation, exploring the Baroque fugal art of Antonio Vivaldi (below top) and Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom) — with guest cellist Steuart Pincombe.
“December marks MBM’s seventh annual Baroque Holiday Concert (below, in a photo by Kent Sweitzer). This year we’ll feature Johann Sebastian Bach’s elegant Cantata 32 plus Vivaldi’s dramatic Winter from the Four Seasons.
“To cap it all off in April, we’ll test the limits of comic-tragic juxtaposition with a double-billing: Bach’s highly-caffeinated Coffee Cantata paired with the heart-rending operatic masterpiece Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell (below).
“Please join us as we explore this wonderful repertoire on period instruments in acoustically magnificent settings reminiscent of Baroque performance spaces.
“We invite you to become a Madison Bach Musicians season subscriber. As a subscriber, you will receive the largest savings on ticket prices, preferred seating, and easy online ordering. And this year we’re offering some exciting new subscription options, including a 2-concert package ($62, $55 for seniors 65 and over, $32 for students with ID) or 3-concert package ($90, $80 for seniors 65 plus, $45 for students with ID), and a very economical student subscription rate.
“Ticket sales make up our most reliable and vital funding source. Your support through season subscriptions gives us the financial security to produce these creative and artistically ambitious programs. I hope you will consider subscribing to this series of outstanding musical events.
“Thanks for supporting baroque music in Madison.
See you at the concerts!
Trevor Stephenson, Artist Director (below)”
September 23 and 24
Bach and Vivaldi: Imitation; with soloist Steuart Pincombe, baroque cello
Saturday, September 23, 2017; 6:45 p.m. lecture, 7:30 p.m. concert;
First Unitarian Society of Madison–Atrium Auditorium
Sunday, September 24, 2017; 2:45 p.m. lecture, 3:30 p.m. concert; Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton
Join us in this exploration of fugues and imitation from Bach and Vivaldi–two masters of the Baroque! Fugues are created when a musical line is introduced by one voice and then repeated with slight variations by any number of other voices. It’s always an amazing experience for audiences to hear and see how the different voices interact. Vivaldi has simplicity and Bach the complexity, but both play the fugue game with equal vigor.
Madison Bach Musicians is thrilled to have cellist Steuart Pincombe (below) returning for this season’s opening concert. Steuart can be heard in concert venues across Europe and quite possibly around the corner in your local brewery or cafe. Wherever he performs, Steuart aims to engage with his audience through creative presentations of the classical repertoire. Don’t miss this spectacular season opener.
December 9
Baroque Holiday Concert; Saturday, December 9, 2017; 7:15 p.m. lecture, 8 p.m. concert; First Congregational United Church of Christ
Our seventh annual Baroque Holiday Concert will once again be held in the beautiful and sonorous sanctuary of the First Congregational Church.
Soprano soloist Alisa Jordheim (below top) will be joined by oboist Aaron Hill and a baroque string ensemble in Bach’s lyrical masterpiece Cantata BWV 32 Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen. And MBM concertmaster Kangwon Kim (below bottom) will be the featured violin soloist in Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
April 7 & 8
Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas and Bach’s Coffee Cantata, BWV 211
Saturday, April 7, 2018; 6:45 p.m. lecture, 7:30 p.m. concert
Sunday, April 8, 2018; 2:45 p.m. lecture, 3:30 p.m. concert
First Unitarian Society Atrium Auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams)
MBM will conclude the season with period performances of the tragic operatic masterpiece, Dido & Aeneas, by Henry Purcell (below) paired in a double-billing with one of J. S. Bach’s rare comic outings, the mischievous Coffee Cantata―where substance-preoccupation (coffee, no less) and family dynamics collide.
We are pleased to offer the production of Dido and Aeneas as a semi-staged baroque opera featuring outstanding soloists, a full baroque orchestra, and beautiful dancing sequences ―thanks to the collaboration of director David Ronis (below top, in a photo by like Delalio) artistic director of the University Opera), Karen McShane–Hellenbrand (UW-Madison Dance Department), and baroque-performance specialist conductor and UW-Madison bassoon professor Marc Vallon (below bottom, in a photo by James Gill).
Come hear spectacular vocal soloists, a sumptuous chorus, gut-strung violins, violas and cellos, viola da gamba, lute, harpsichord, baroque flute―and an amazing wind machine. (You can hear “Dido’s Lament” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more information and to see the season brochure, go to:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1nPBhC1sb3WWDZ5RG9CQ3VpSlNkVFM2d3AxQ3JiZmthQlNZ/view
Tags: Aeneas, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Bassoon, Cantata, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, coffee, Coffee Cantata, comedy, concertmaster, concerto, counterpoint, dance, David Ronis, Dido, Dido and Aeneas, Early music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute, Four Seasons, fugue, harpsichord, Henry Purcell, historically informed performance practices, Holiday, holy, imitation, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Keyboard, lament, lecture, lute, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Marc Vallon, masterwork, monastery, Music, Oboe, Orchestra, program, Season, soloist, soprano, Steuart Pincombe, strings, symphony, tragedy, Unitarian, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, Viola, Violin, vocal music, winter, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: A concert of rarely performed French Baroque chamber music with voice is this Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., a concert of French Baroque chamber music will take place.
Performers are UW-Madison alumna and current graduate student, soprano Chelsie Propst (below top); baroque violinists Nathan Giglierano and Laura Thompson; Eric Miller (below middle) on baroque cello and viola da gamba; and organist Sigrun Franzen (below bottom).
The concert will be performed at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below, exterior and interior), 1833 Regent Street, on Madison’s near west side.
Admission is $10.
The program includes “Médée” (Medea) by Louis-Nicolas Clérambault; “La Sultanne” by François Couperin (below in a YouTube video); “La mort de Didon” (The Death of Dido) by Michel Pignolet de Montéclair; and “Ditemi, o piante,” HWV 107, by George Frideric Handel.
Tags: Arts, Baroque, Cello, Chamber music, Chelsie Propst, Classical music, Clerambault, Couperin, Dido, Dido and Aeneas, Early music, Eric Miller, France, French, George Frideric Handel, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Medea, Montéclair, Music, organ, Sigrun Franzen, soprano, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: You can help produce a local concert production of Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas” with a small or large donation.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Some loyal fans of this blog, longtime local businesspeople who are also loyal concert-goers and loyal supporters of local music, have informed The Ear about a very worthwhile project.
So The Ear gives a hearty Shout-Out and Thank You to Carol “Orange” Schroeder and Dean Schroeder (both below), the owners of Orange Tree Imports on Monroe Street who put their money where their ears are.
The project involves local soprano Jennifer Sams, who is using a public funding website – akin to Kickstarter, but called IndieGoGo — to launch a local early music project: A concert product (without sets and costumes) of the opera “Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell (below). And if you wonder what it might look and sound like, listen to Jessye Norman singing “Dido’s Lament” at the bottom.
Here is a link to the contribution site:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/256868
Sams (below), who graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Music with a doctorate and who sang with the University Opera, has established a fine reputation for herself.
Here is a link to Sams’ website, which also a current biography and lists her upcoming concerts in Madison and Wisconsin:
http://www.jennifersams.com/jennifersams/Welcome.html
It looks like all she wants or needs to raise is $1,000 to get the project a green light, and has so far raised about half of that.
My guess with such a small sum is that she will have no problem raising what she needs.
I recall local performer and composer Jerry Hui using Kickstarter to raise enough money — $6,000, if I recall correctly — to stage his Internet opera, done for his UW doctoral thesis, “called “Wired for Love.”
Here’s hoping that Jennifer Sams has as much success.
Don’t be shy.
Giving a large amount would be great – she can always exceed the target – but lots of small amounts could help too. After all, that is how President Obama, raised a lot of money for his first successful run in 2008.
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