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NPR names relevant classical albums in a musical Diary of the Plague Year of the pandemic, racial protests, wildfires and hurricanes

December 29, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

For an unusual and difficult year, NPR (National Public Radio) and critic Tom Huizenga have found a new and unusual way to recommend this past year’s top classical music recordings.

On the “Deceptive Cadence” blog for NPR, Huizenga kept a personal month-by-month diary of “music and mayhem.”

For last February, for example, this ancient image of The Dance of Death inspired contemporary composer Thomas Adès to compose his own “Totentanz” or Dance of Death. (You can hear an excerpt from the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Some of the thematically-related music is modern or contemporary, some of it is from the Baroque or Classical era.

In June, as protests against the death of George Floyd (below top) flared up and spread worldwide, NPR names a recording of the “Negro Folk Symphony” by African-American composers William Dawson and Ulysses Kay (below bottom), thereby helping to rediscover Black composers whose works have been overlooked and neglected in the concert hall and the recording studio.

Devastating wildfires on the West Coast, Presidential impeachment and hurricanes on the Gulf Coast also found their way into the choices of music to listen to.

It is an unusual approach, but The Ear thinks it works.

See and hear for yourself by going to the sonic diary and listening to the samples provided.

Here is a link to the NPR album diary: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2020/12/21/947149286/music-and-mayhem-a-diary-of-classical-albums-for-a-troubled-2020

But many roads, if not all, lead to Rome, as they say.

What is also interesting is that a number of the NPR choices overlap with ones listed by music critics of The New York Times as the 25 best classical albums of 2020.

Some choices also are found on the list of the nominations for the Grammy Awards that will be given out at the end of January.

In other words, the NPR diary can also serve as yet another holiday gift guide if you have gift cards or money to buy some new and notable CDs, and are looking for recommendations.

Here is a link to the Times’ choices, which you can also find with commentary and a local angle, in yesterday’s blog post: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/music/best-classical-music.html

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/12/27/the-new-york-times-names-the-top-25-classical-recordings-of-2020-and-includes-sample-tracks/

And here is a list to the Grammy nominations: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/for-holiday-shopping-and-gift-giving-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-63rd-grammy-awards-in-2021/

What do you think of the NPR musical diary of the plague year?

Do you find it informative? Accurate? Interesting? Useful?

Would you have different choices of music to express the traumatic events of the past year?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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The UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra will provide a welcome break on Election Night

November 1, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

If you find yourself needing some relief or a short break from vote counting and the barrage of election news this coming Tuesday night, Nov. 3, the masked and socially distanced UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) fits the bill.

The group’s refreshingly short, one-hour and intermission-free online video premiere begins at 7 p.m. CST on YouTube. There is no fee for watching the event in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center, although donations are welcome.

No in-person attendance is allowed.

The program features “Strum” (1981) by Jessie Montgomery (below, in a photo by Jiyang Chen); the famous and familiar Adagietto from the Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler (which you can hear with conductor Claudio Abbado in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the youthful Sinfonia No. 7 in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn, who wrote 13 of the string symphonies between the ages of 12 and 14.

Here is a direct link to the UW-Madison music school’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/TMNCy9qooCM

Just a personal note of appreciation and encouragement from The Ear: If you are a fan of orchestral music and pay attention to the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Middleton Community Orchestra, for example, then you owe to it yourself to become acquainted with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra if you don’t already know it.

It is that good, as you can hear for yourself in this virtual concert during the pandemic. You will probably find yourself wanting to hear more.

The programs are outstanding and often feature neglected, modern and contemporary music as well as classic repertoire, and the playing is usually first-rate.

The orchestra sounds exceptionally good, often even professional, under its new conductor Oriol Sans (below), a native of Spain who arrived here last season from a post at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Sans has provided remarkable leadership both in the orchestra’s programs and in accompanying the University Opera productions and the UW Choral Union.

For more information, including the names of the orchestra’s members, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-video-premiere/

If you listen to it, please let us know: What did you think?

Did the performances please or impress you?

Did you like or dislike the scheduling on Election Night?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: University Opera announces a new season that is politically and socially relevant to today. The two shows are a virtual revue of Marc Blitzstein and a live operatic version of “The Crucible.”

August 7, 2020
4 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

David Ronis (below), the director of the University Opera at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, has posted the following notice about its upcoming season on social media.

The award-winning Ronis is known for being creative both in programming and staging. The new season is yet another example of that. It features one virtual original production about an American composer to see and hear online, and two live performances of a mid-20th century American opera.

Both works seem especially pertinent and cautionary, given the times we currently live in in the U.S.

Here are the details:

FINALLY!!!

Things have fallen into place for the University Opera 2020-21 season and we are happy to announce our productions:

“I Wish It So: Marc Blitzstein — the Man in His Music”

“A biographical pastiche featuring songs and ensembles from Marc Blitzstein’s shows, spoken excerpts from his letters and working notes, and a narration.

“Oct. 23, 2020

8 p.m. Video Release

____________________________________________________________________________________

“The Crucible” (1961)

Music by Robert Ward

Libretto by Bernard Stambler

Based on the 1953 play by Arthur Miller

March 19 and 21, 2021

Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater

_____________________________________________________________________________________

We will post more information as we get it. For now, we are very excited about both projects! Stay tuned.”

(Editor’s note: To stay tuned, go to: https://www.facebook.com/UniversityOpera/)

_____________________________________________________________________________________

And what does The Ear think?

The revue of Marc Blitzstein seems a perfect choice for Madison since his papers and manuscripts are located at the Wisconsin Historical Society. For details, go to: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=wiarchives;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=uw-whs-us0035an

Focusing on Blitzstein (1905-1964) also seems an especially politically relevant choice since he was a pro-labor union activist whose “The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles,” was shut down by the Works Progress Administration of the federal government.

For more about Blitzstein (below in 1938) and his career, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Blitzstein

“The Crucible” also seems an especially timely choice. In its day the original play about the Salem witch trials was seen as a historical parable and parallel of McCarthyism and the Republican witch hunt for Communists.

Read about the Salem witch trials here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

Now that we are seeing a time when Democrats and others with progressive ideas are accused of being radical leftists, socialists and destructive revolutionaries, its relevance has come round again. Like McCarthy, President Donald Trump relies on winning elections by generating fear and denigrating opponents.

For more about the operatic version of “The Crucible” (below, in a production at the University of Northern Iowa) — which was commissioned by the New York City Opera and won both a Pulitzer Prize and the New York Music Critics Circle Award in 1962 — go to this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crucible_(opera)

You can hear the musically accessible opening and John’s aria, from Act II, in the YouTube video at the bottom. For more about composer Robert Ward (1917-2013, below), go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ward_(composer)

What do you think of the new University Opera season?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: What will the fall concert season will look like? And what will the post-pandemic concert world be like?

May 18, 2020
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

This past week, The Ear listened to and read a lot of news about COVID-19 and the arts.

And it got him thinking: What will happen this fall with the new concert season? And even later, what will a post-pandemic concert world look like? (Below is the Madison Symphony Orchestra in a photo by Peter Rodgers.)

As you may have heard, the Tanglewood Festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been canceled this year. So too has the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Locally, American Players Theatre in Spring Green also just canceled its summer season.

So far, the summer season seems to be one big cancellation for the performing arts.

True, there are some exceptions.

The Token Creek Chamber Music Festival has yet to announce its plans for August.

One also has to wonder if crowds of up to 20,000 will feel safe enough to attend the Concerts on the Square (below), now postponed until late July and August, by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra?

Will people still want to attend the postponed Handel Aria Competition on Aug. 21 in Collins Recital Hall at the UW-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center, assuming the hall is open?

Fall events seem increasingly in question.

Last night on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that sports events and concerts will be among the last mass gatherings to take place safely, probably not until next spring or summer or even later, depending on when a vaccine becomes available.

Some public health experts also offer dire predictions about how easing up lockdown restrictions too soon might lead to an even worse second wave of the coronavirus virus pandemic this autumn and winter, despite all the happy talk and blame-shifting by Team Trump.

So, what do you think will happen beyond summer?

The Ear wonders what the fallout will be from so many music groups and opera companies turning to free online performances by solo artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles.

Will season-opening concerts be canceled or postponed? What should they be? Will you go if they are held?

Will at-home listening and viewing become more popular than before?

Will the advances that were made in using streaming and online technology (below) during the lockdown be incorporated by local groups — the UW-Madison especially comes to mind — or expected by audiences?

In short, what will concert life be like post-pandemic and especially until a vaccine is widely available and a large part of the population feels safe, especially the older at-risk audiences that attend classical music events?

Will larger groups such as symphony orchestras follow the example of the downsized Berlin Philharmonic (below, in a photo from a review by The New York Times) and play to an empty hall with a much smaller group of players, and then stream it?

Will some free streaming sites move to requiring payment as they become more popular?

Live concerts will always remain special. But will subscriptions sales decline because audiences have become more used to free online performances at home?

Will most fall concerts be canceled? Both on stage and in the audience, it seems pretty hard to maintain social distancing (below is a full concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra). Does that mean the health of both performers – especially orchestras and choral groups – and audiences will be put in jeopardy? Will the threat of illness keep audiences away?

Even when it becomes safe to attend mass gatherings, will ticket prices fall to lure back listeners?

Will programs feature more familiar and reassuring repertoire to potential audiences who have gone for months without attending live concerts?

Will expenses be kept down and budgets cut so that less money is lost in case of cancellation? Will chamber music be more popular? (Below is the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet during its suspended Beethoven cycle.)

Will fewer players be used to hold down labor costs?

Will imported and expensive guest artists be booked less frequently so that cancellations are less complicated to do?

Will many guest artists, like much of the public, refrain from flying until it is safer and more flights are available? Will they back out of concerts?

Will all these changes leave more concert programs to be canceled or at least changed?

There are so many possibilities.

Maybe you can think of more.

And maybe you have answers, preferences or at least intuitions about some the questions asked above?

What do you think will happen during the fall and after the pandemic?

What do you intend to do?

Please leave word, with any pertinent music or news link, in the comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: The Madison Opera, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Festival Choir, Oakwood Chamber Players and First Unitarian Society cancel concerts because of the coronavirus

March 14, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The state health emergency declared by Gov. Tony Evers has now become a national emergency declared by President Trump.

Six more local groups have cancelled concerts as the pandemic of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 spreads exponentially and threatens the health of both the public and the performers:

The Festival Choir of Madison (below) has cancelled its concert TONIGHT of Yiddish music at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) has cancelled and postponed all concerts through March. They include the “Beethoven Lives Next Door” Family Series concerts THIS MORNING at the Goodman Community Center and on March 29 in Brookfield; and the third Masterworks Concert in Madison with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis on March 27 in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.

Says Joe Loehnis, CEO of the WCO: “We ask for your patience as we work to determine all of the options we will be able to offer to ticket holders. We are deeply grateful for your understanding.

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

“To learn more about our contingency planning, please visit our website at http://bit.ly/2wSMCbe.

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

“Thank you for your patronage and support.”

The Oakwood Chamber Players (below) have cancelled their concerts on Saturday and Sunday, March 21 and 22, at Oakwood Village University Woods on the far west side.

The Middleton Community Orchestra (below, below in a photo by Brian Ruppert) has cancelled its upcoming concert of teenage concerto winners with guest conductor Kyle Knox on Wednesday, April 8, and postponed it until large gatherings become safe again.

The FREE Friday Noon Musicale series at the First Unitarian Society of Madison will be live-streamed without an audience. Says music director Drew Collins:

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the First Unitarian Society of Madison will alter the schedule for its Friday Noon Musicale recital series.

Beginning March 20, 2020…

Musicales will be live-streamed from Atrium Auditorium (below, in a photo by Zane Williams) here: https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2Ffusmadison%2Fvideos&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cce899e33b3124e28489608d7c70cdac6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637196730328671160&sdata=mpn5tbESRbSx8tSaoKTi8RH7TpmkdGC5xTu1iyyJaEk%3D&reserved=0

* No audience members will be permitted.

* Outside doors will be locked.

* In cases where the performers are not able or willing to play, notification will be made via https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.fusmadison.org%2Fmusicale&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cce899e33b3124e28489608d7c70cdac6%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637196730328671160&sdata=069CmBdvgPRWjGi%2BiCEUdeD%2Fth2zVBJlzJowWcnH%2BFc%3D&reserved=0and no live-stream will be broadcast.

“Stay tuned for the upcoming launch of our SoundCloud channel, curated by Rich Samuels, where you will be able to listen to highlights from the Musicales.

In related news, the Madison Symphony Orchestra announced Friday that it will make a decision about upcoming concerts next week. But since the Overture Center later announced it is closing its doors until April 13 and cancelling all performances, it would seem that the MSO performances of the Dvorak Requiem on April 3, 4 and 5 will be cancelled. But that has not yet been officially confirmed by the MSO.

In addition, the Madison Opera has cancelled its production of Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” on April 17 and 19.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AntoninDvorak, #AtriumAuditorium, #BeethovenLivesNextDoor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrookfieldWisconsin, #CapitolTheater, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #COVID-19, #DonaldTrump, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamilySeries, #FestivalChoir, #FestivalChoirofMadison, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GoodmanCommunityCenter, #Gov.Evers, #Gov.TonyEvers, #JacobStockinger, #JacquesOffenbach, #KyleKnox, #LiveStreaming, #LocalArts, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MasterworksConcerts, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #NationalEmergency, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OakwoodVillage, #OrpheusintheUnderworld, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PresidentTrump, #RichSamuels, #TheEar, #UniversityWoods, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YiddishMusic, #YolandaKondonassis, Antonín Dvořák, Arts, Atrium Auditorium, audience, Beethoven, Beethoven Lives Next Door, blog, Brookfield, cancel, Capitol Theater, Chamber music, choral music, community, Concert, concerto, conductor, coronavirus, declare, Donald Trump, door, Dvorak, emergency, exponentially, Facebook, Family Series, Festival Choir, Festival Choir of Madison, First Unitarian Society of Madison, forward, free, Friday Noon Musicale, Goodman Community Center, Gov. Tony Evers, group, harp, harpist, Health, highlight, Jacob Stockinger, Jacques Offenbach, Kyle Knox, like, link, listen, live streaming, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, march, Masterworks, Middleton Community Orchestra, Music, national, national emergency, Oakwood Chamber Players, Oakwood Village, Oakwood Village West, Offenbach, opera, Orchestra, Orpheus, Orpheus in the Underworld, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, pandemic, patience, patronage, performer, post, posting, postpone, President Trump, public, Requiem, Rich Samuels, Saturday, series, share, SoundCloud, spread, state, State Emergency, status, stream, Sunday, support, tag, teenage, The Ear, threaten, Unitarian, Unitarianism, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Woods, virus, vocal music, winners, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, work, Yiddish, Yolanda Kondonassis

Classical music: The Madison Opera’s superb and sensual production of “Fellow Travelers” broke both hearts and new ground

February 14, 2020
5 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Walking out into the heavy snow last Sunday afternoon, The Ear left the Madison Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers” – done in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center – feeling sad and moved, but also satisfied and proud. (Below is the full cast in a party scene. All performance photos are by James Gill.)

He was proud that the Madison Opera chose this 2016 work by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce — based on the 2007 novel of the same name by Thomas Mallon — for its annual winter staging of a modern or contemporary opera.

It was a brave choice.

For one, it focuses on a same-sex love affair in the oppressive political environment of the McCarthy era with its Lavender Scare, which, during the larger Red Scare, tied gays to communists and tried to purge and ruin them lest they be blackmailed.

In addition, the opera speaks to today’s politics of smear and fear, as practiced by President Donald Trump and conspiracy theory proponents on the far right. The Madison Opera wasn’t afraid to point out possible parallels in the program notes.

But the real affirmation of the opera’s contemporaneity came from the first-rate quality of this memorable production.

The cast of nine made a tight ensemble in which each member proved equally strong in singing and acting.

The two leading men who played federal government workers – tenor Andres Acosta (below right) as the young Timothy Laughlin and baritone Ben Edquist (below left) as the older Hawkins Fuller – turned in outstanding performances from their first meeting on a park bench, through their sexual encounters, to the final breakup.

Particularly moving were the same-sex love scenes and moments of casual affection. Perhaps there are precedents in the history of other Madison Opera productions, but no one seems to know of any.

The two men in bed — wearing only boxer shorts while kissing and caressing each other — seemed like another brave first for the Madison Opera. The explicit scenes of the two men being intimate were tasteful but also sensual and realistic, erotic as well as poignant. (Below are Andres Acosta, left, as Timothy Laughlin and Ben Edquist, right, as Hawkins Fuller.)

Acting seems the real fulcrum of this chamber opera, with the appealing music underscoring the scenes and the acting rather than standing on its own. Yet the two men proved to be powerful singers, especially in their solos and duets. (You can hear Andres Acosta sing an aria in the Minneapolis production in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The haunting music was always accessible and atmospheric, disproving the notion that music in new operas is always discordant or hard to listen to. True, The Ear heard no tunes to take away from the opera, no earworm arias from a first hearing. But the singing by all the cast members was uniformly strong.

John DeMain’s conducting exuded both control and subtlety. He maintained a balance from the Madison Symphony Orchestra players in the pit and never overwhelmed the singers.

DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) knew exactly when to pull the music into the background and create a context for the action; and then when to push it to the foreground to accompany the singers or set a scene.

Stage director Peter Rothstein (below), who also staged the opera for the Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis with some of the same cast, kept the show moving at a brisk and engaging pace.

The 16 scenes moved quickly throughout the two-hour show, thanks in part to the austere and portable but convincing sets.

The atmosphere of the 1950s, for example, was believably evoked by a simple office setting — a desk, a few filing cabinets, an American flag and a portrait of President Eisenhower. (Below, from left, are Ben Edquist as Hawkins Fuller, Andres Acosta as Timothy Laughlin, and Adriana Zabala as Mary Johnson.)

Particularly effective and disturbing was the interrogation scene, from the embarrassing questions about whether Hawkins Fuller walks or talks like a homosexual to the lie detector test. (Below, from left, are Andres Acosta as Timothy Laughlin, Ben Edquist as Hawkins Fuller, Stephen Hobe as the Technician and Alan Dunbar as the Interrogator.)

One outstanding performance involved the resonant and expressive Sidney Outlaw (below) as Tommy McIntyre, the bureaucrat who knows all the secrets in the office of Senator Charles Parker (played by Andrew Wilkowske) and how to use them in order to get his way. (Below, from left, are Andres Acosta as Timothy Laughlin and Sidney Outlaw as Tommy McIntyre.)

Another outstanding performance came from Adriana Zabala (below) as Mary Johnson, the secretary who finally quits her job and leaves Washington, D.C., to protest the treatment of Timothy by the aptly nicknamed “Hawk” Fuller and the government inquisitors. (Below, from left, are Ben Edquist as Hawkins Fuller and Adriana Zabala as Mary Johnson.

Throughout the entire opera, the audience proved amazingly quiet, rapt in their attention as they laughed out loud at humorous moments and openly cried at the heart-wrenching plot.

At the end the audience — gay and straight, men and women, old and young – gave the singers and orchestra players a prolonged standing ovation and loud applause.

And walking out, you heard many people talking about the opera in the most positive and approving ways.

The underlying irony, of course, is that an opera with this much insight into both the human heart and the exploitative politics of oppression could never have been staged in the same era it depicts.

At least on that score, we can say we have made some progress in confronting and correcting the injustices and bigotry we witness in “Fellow Travelers.”

But in the end the opera tells us to keep traveling.

You can see what other critics thought of “Fellow Travelers”:

Here is the review that Jay Rath wrote for Isthmus: https://isthmus.com/arts/stage/forbidden%20love/

And here is the review that Lindsay Christians wrote for The Capital Times: https://madison.com/ct/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/theatre/opera-review-fellow-travelers-is-a-certain-kind-of-wonderful/article_0ebc5a83-afbe-5f50-99eb-51e4baa4df0e.html

What did you think?

Leave your own review or reactions in the Comments section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AdrianaZabala, #AlanDunbar, #AmericanFlag, #AndresAcosta, #AndrewWilkowske, #Army-McCarthy, #BaritoneSinger, #BenEdquist, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #BoxerShorts, #CapitolTheater, #CastMember, #ChamberOpera, #ConspiracyTheory, #DonaldTrump, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalWorker, #FellowTravelers, #FilingCabinets, #FirstLove, #GayHistory, #GregorySpears, #GregPierce, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JacobStockinger, #JamesGill, #JayRath, #JohnDeMain, #JosephMcCarthy, #KIss, #LavenderScare, #LGBTQrights, #LGBTRights, #LieDetector, #LindsayChristians, #LoveAffair, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #McCarthyEra, #MinnesotaOpera, #NewMusic, #OperaPlot, #OperaReview, #OrchestraPlayers, #OvertureCenter, #ParkBench, #PeterRothstein, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentEisenhower, #ProgramNotes, #RedScare, #RightWing, #SexualEncounter, #SidneyOutlaw, #SocialInjustice, #StageDirector, #StephenHobe, #TenorSinger, #The1950s, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEar, #ThomasMallon, #WashingtonD.C., 1950s, accessible, accompany, acting, Adriana Zabala, affection, affirmative, Alan Dunbar, American, Andres Acosta, Andrew Wilkowske, annual, applause, aria, atmosphere, atmospheric, attentive, austere, background, balance, baritone, bed, Ben Edquist, bench, bigotry, bisexual, blackmail, blog, Book, boxer shorts, brave, breakup, brisk, Capitol Theater, caress, caressing, cast, cast member, Casual, chamber opera, choice, comment, communists, composer, Conducting, confront, Congress, conspiracy theory, contemporaneity, contemporary, context, control, convincing, Cry, crying, D.C., depict, desk, discordant, disturbing, Donald Trump, Dwight D. Eisenhower, earworm, Eisenhower, embarrassing, encounter, engaging, environment, era, erotic, evoke, explicit, exploitative, Facebook, fear, federal, Fellow Travelers, filing cabinets, first, first love, flag, Focus, foreground, forward, fulcrum, gay, gays, government, Greg Pierce, hard, haunting, hawk, hear, hearings, heart, heart-wrenching, History, homosexual, Homosexuality, human, injustice, insight, interrogation, intimate, irony, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, James Gill, Jay Rath, John DeMain, Joseph McCarthy, kissing, laugh, Lavender Scare, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTQ, libretto, lie detector, liketag, Lindsay Christians, link, listen, Love, love affair, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, McCarthy era, McCarthyism, memorable, memory, men, Minneapolis, Minnesota Opera, modern, move, moving, Music, New Music, nickname, noiton, novel, office, old, opera, Opera review, oppression, oppressive, orchestra players, ovation, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, pace, pacing, parallels, Park, party scene, peformance, Peter Rothstein, photo, photogenic, plot, poignant, political, Politics, portable, portrait, post, posting, precedent, President, President Donald Trump, President Eisenhower, production, program notes, proud, pull, purge, push, queer, questions, quiet, rapt, reaction, real, realism, Red Scare, review, right-wing, Romance, ruin, sad, same-sex, scene, secretary, secrets, senator, sensual, sex, sexual, share, show, Sidney Outlaw, singer, Singing, smear, snow, social injustice, stage director, staging, Stephen Hobe, straight, subtlety, talk, tasteful, tenor, test, The Capital Times, The Ear, Thomas Mallon, today, transgender, travel, traveler, traveling, Trump, walk, Washington, winter, witness, work, worker, young

Classical music: Flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic is Musician of the Year for 2018

December 31, 2018
3 Comments

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

The classical music scene in Madison is so rich that it is always a challenge to name a Musician of the Year.

There are just so many deserving candidates. One obvious example is conductor John DeMain, who is completing his 25th year of outstanding stewardship in directing the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera.

But part of the intent behind such an honor is not just to recognize well-known figures. It is to encourage a broader awareness of those people who do a lot for local classical music but who often fly under the radar for many people.

That is why The Ear is naming flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic (below) as the Musician of the Year for 2018.

As both a performer and entrepreneur, Ugrcic is always very busy broadening her varied career. Being both a player and an activist, she is making a difference, musically and socially, that deserves to be recognized and supported.

Serbian by birth and educated in Belgrade and Paris, she came to Madison where she completed her doctorate in flute performance and also took business courses at the UW-Madison Business School.

She is a first-rate performer who has won a national prize for performing. While at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, she won both the concerto competition (below) and the Irving Shain competition for wind instruments in duets. (You can hear her amazing technique in the YouTube video at the bottom. In it Ugrcic performs “Voice” for solo flute by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.)

She now plays with the Black Marigold Wind Quintet and Sound Out Loud, both of which are based in Madison and both of which devote themselves to contemporary composers and new music.

This year, Urgcic also soloed with the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), performing to critical acclaim a relatively unknown concerto by 19th-century composer Carl Reinecke.

This year, Urgcic also took over as artistic director of the Rural Musicians Forum, which brings classical music, jazz, world music and ethnic music, played by outstanding performers to the Spring Green area, often at the Taliesin compound of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

But perhaps her most long-lasting contribution is her founding and now directing the LunART Festival that, in the same year of the Me Too movement, sought to present an all-women event that featured composers, performers, visual artists and writers.

Such was its inaugural success in 2018 that it won a national prize from the National Flute Association and a second festival will take place from June 9 through June 9, 2019.

2019 will also see the release of her second solo recording devoted to the music of the contemporary Romanian composer Doina Rotaru, even while she is working on a recording of “Beer Music” by contemporary American composer Brian DuFord.

And all that is just the beginning for such a promising talent. We will be hearing much more from her and about her in years to come.

To see her impressive biography, as well as updated activities, video and audio clips, photographs and other information, go to: https://www.ivaugrcic.com/bio

Here is one more thing that speaks to The Ear. It feels important, even necessary, to recognize the positive contributions of an immigrant at a time when the current “America First” administration under President Donald Trump seems so paranoid and negative, so xenophobic and afraid of foreigners.

The U.S government should be less intent on condemning or stigmatizing immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, and should put more emphasis on their contributions and on the long and distinguished history they have in the United States.

Iva Urgcic is yet another example of the talent we Americans stand to lose if we do not accept and encourage the gifts that immigrants bring in so many ways — from the arts, medicine, education and technology to everyday life and work.

Please join The Ear is expressing gratitude and congratulations to Iva Urgcic.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #All-Female, #AmericaFirst, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanImmigration, #ArtisticDirector, #BeerMusic, #BelgradeSerbia, #BelgradeYugoslavia, #BlackMarigold, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrianDuFord, #BusinessSchool, #CarlReinecke, #ConcertoCompetition, #ContemporaryComposers, #ContemporaryMusic, #DoinaRotaru, #DonaldTrump, #DuetMusic, #EthnicMusic, #EverydayLife, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FluteConcerto, #FluteMusic, #FrankLloydWright, #IrvingShain, #IvaUgrcic, #JapaneseComposer, #JazzMusic, #JohnDeMain, #JohnW.Barker, #LivingComposers, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MeToo, #MeToomovement, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicianoftheYear, #NationalFluteAssociation, #NewMusic, #ParisFrance, #RomanianComposer, #RuralMusiciansForum, #SocialActivism, #SocialActivist, #SoundOutLoud, #SpringGreen, #Taliesincompound, #TheEar, #ThePresident, #ToruTakemitsu, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VisualArtist, #WindMusic, #WomenPerformers, #WorldMusic, #YouTubevideo, 2018, 2019, activist, administration, all-women, America First, architect, architecture, Artistic director, Arts, Audio, awareness, Bach, Baroque, Beer, Belgrade, biography, Black Marigold, blog, Brian DuFord, Business, business school, Carl Reinecke, Chamber music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Competition, composer, concerto, condemn, congratulations, courses, doctorate, Doina Rotaru, Donald Trump, duet, Early music, Education, entrepreneur, ethnic music, everyday life, Facebook, feminism, feminist, flute, flying, foreigner, forward, France, Frank Lloyd Wright, gender, gratitude, Home, immigrant, immigration, inaugural, Irving Shain, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, John W. Barker, labor, legal, life, like, link, LunART Festival, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Me Too, Mead Witter School of Music, medicine, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, Mozart, Music, Musician, Musician of the Year, national, National Flute Association, New Music, opera, Orchestra, paranoia, paranoid, Paris, People, performer, photographs, pictures, player, poet, post, posting, President Donald Trump, prize, radar, recording, Romania, Romanian, Rural Musicians Forum, Serbia, Serbian, share, shelter, solo, Sound Out Loud, Spring Green, stewardship, stigmatize, Student, tag, Taliesin, technique, technology, The Ear, U.S., undocumented, United States, University of Belgrade, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, varied, video, voice, Website, winds, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, Woodwind quintet, work, World music, Writer, xenophobia, xenophobic, year, YouTube

Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day 2018. Let us now praise musical couples and say what music we would play to celebrate romantic love

February 14, 2018
3 Comments

ALERT: If you are a fan of new music, you might not want to miss a FREE concert this Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall by the UW-Madison Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

The program of “Ideas and Landscapes,” assembled and directed by UW’s award-winning composer Laura Schwendinger, includes works by UW students and alumni as well as a world premiere of a work for solo oboe by Schwendinger herself.

For more details about the composers, the performers and the complete program, go to:

https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/contemporary-chamber-ensemble/

By Jacob Stockinger

It is Valentine’s Day 2018, and music plays a big role in celebrating the holiday — as the portrait of Cupid (below) expresses.

This week, musician and teacher Miles Hoffman was featured by National Public Radio (NPR) on the program “Morning Edition” with a most appropriate story about famous musical couples who were also linked romantically.

The Ear was particularly pleased that a same-sex couple – British composer Benjamin Britten (below left) and British tenor Peter Pears (below right) — was recognized during this time when the homophobic administration of President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence keeps attacking the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people under the guise of protecting and promoting religious tolerance. The leaders use the concept of religious freedom as camouflage for bigotry, zealotry and prejudice.

But more conventional and traditional couples were also recognized, and deservedly so.

Here is a link to the story that also contains some wonderful musical samples:

https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2018/02/13/585121135/classical-musics-greatest-love-stories-on-and-offstage

And here is what The Ear wants to know:

First: Can you think of other musical couples – especially local ones — to single out for recognition on Valentine’s Day? The Karp family as well as pianists-singers Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer plus singers Cheryl Bensman Rowe and Paul Rowe, conductor Kyle Knox and Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz, and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino and cellist Leonardo Altino all come immediately to mind. But surely there are others The Ear has overlooked.

Second: What piece of classical music would you listen to or play in order to express love for your Valentine?

Leave the names and information, with a YouTube link if possible, in the COMMENT section.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #ClaraSchumann, #DonaldTrump, #FreedomOfReligion, #GreatBritain, #LauraSchwendinger, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MIkePence, #MorningEdition, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewMusic, #PresidentTrump, #ReligiousFreedom, #RobertSchumann, #TheWelltemperedEar, #UnitedKingdom, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ValentinesDay, #VicePresident, alumni, Arts, assume, Benjamin Britten, big, bigotry, Bil Lutes, bisexual, British, Britten, camouflage, celebrate, Cello, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, Christianity, Clara Schumann, Classical music, composer, concertmaster, conductor, contemporary, couple, cupid, direct, freedom, Galina Vishnevskaya, gay, Holiday, idea, information, Jacob Stockinger, Karp, landscape, Laura Schwendinger, lesbian, LGBT, Love, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Martha Fischer, Miles Hoffman, Mstislav Rostropovich, Music, Music education, Musician, Naha Greenholtz, name, New Music, NPR, Oboe, Paul Rowe, performer, Peter Pears, Piano, portrait, Prejudice, premiere, President, program, promote, protect, Religion, Robert Schumann, role, Romance, Romantic, same-sex, sample, sex, singer, Sonata, song, story, Student, Teacher, tenor, The Ear, The WellTemperedEar, tolerance, transgender, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Valentine's Day, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, world, world premiere, YouTube, zealot, zealotry

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