The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Local music critic John W. Barker will host a fundraiser this Wednesday night for the Fifth Handel Aria Competition
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following information to post:
John W. Barker (below right), local music critic for Isthmus and The Well-Tempered Ear and an arts supporter extraordinaire, will present “Handel and Other Friends,” a fundraiser for the Handel Aria Competition, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1021 Spaight Street, on this Wednesday night, April 26, at 7:30 p.m.
Performers will include:
- Madison Savoyards
- Karlos Moser
- Trevor Stephenson of the Madison Bach Musicians
- Paul Rowe and Cheryl Bensman Rowe
- Pro Arte Quartet
- Mosaic Chamber Players
- Claire Powling, Rebecca Buechel and Talia Engstrom from the U.W. Madison Opera Program singing Handel duets
A highlight of the evening will be the official announcement of the seven national finalists in the Fifth Annual Handel Aria Competition (below is contestant and winner soprano Chelsea Morris).
Tickets to the April 26 fundraiser are $25 general admission, and $40 for special donor seating. They are available in advance at Orange Tree Imports, 1721 Monroe Street, online at Brown Paper Tickets, and at the door.
We are delighted to have received over 100 applicants from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and 26 states — including Hawaii — for this year’s competition. Please plan to join us on Friday, June 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall in the Humanities Building, University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music for the Fifth Annual Handel Aria Competition.
The Madison Bach Musicians, under the direction of Trevor Stephenson, will again accompany the finalists. In addition to the professional judging for first, second and third prize, there will be a cash prize for Audience Favorite. (In the YouTube video below is Christina Kay singing from Handel’s “Joshua” during the 2016 Handel Aria Competition.)
Tickets will be $15 each and go on sale in May.
For more information, or to make a contribution, please go to www.HandelAriaCompetition.com
Tags: applicant, aria, Arts, Baroque, Canada, cash, Cello, Chamber music, Chelsea Morris, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, Christina Kay, Classical music, critic, duets, Early music, George Frideric Handel, Handel Aria Competition, Hawaii, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Joshua, Karlos Moser, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Savoyards, Mexico, Mosaic Chamber Players, Music, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, Paul Rowe, prize, Pro Arte Quartet, Puerto Rico, soprano, state, states, The Well-Tempered Ear, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: It’s Valentine’s Day. What piece of classical music would you give to your Valentine?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s Valentine’s Day.
If you want to celebrate, there is always chocolate or roses or champagne or a special dinner.
But there is music too.
Many composers come to mind: Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky, Gabriel Faure, Giacomo Puccini, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev, and Sergei Rachmaninoff to name a few.
But The Ear thinks one of the most beautiful pieces is a short one, a miniature if you will.
It is the Romance in F-sharp Major, Op. 28, No. 2, by the Romantic German composer Robert Schumann (below with his wife Clara Wieck Schumann). Nobody wrote music about love, music filled with love and yearning, better than Schumann.
Not only does the piece sound intimate.
It IS intimate — with the two thumbs playing the melody a third apart much of the time. It is as if the two thumbs, left and right, are the two lovers.
Little wonder that the composer asked his virtuoso pianist-composer wife Clara to play it for him as he lay dying.
And to top it off, it is not all that difficult to play, so you could learn it and play it for your Valentine.
Here it is, performed in a YouTube video by the late Van Cliburn:
But what about you?
As radio stations like to say ”The Request Line is open!
What piece of classical music – big or small, old or new, hard or easy — would you play or dedicate to your Valentine?
Duets of all kinds seem especially appropriate. But so do songs and symphonies, operas and oratorios, and all kinds of chamber music.
So tell us about your musical gift for Valentine’s Day.
Leave a message in the COMMENT section, with a short explanation and dedicatory comment and perhaps with a YouTube link if possible — the forward it to your Valentine.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, Cello, Chamber music, Chopin, Clara Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann, Debussy, duet, duets, duo, Dvorak, Faure, Giacomo Puccini, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Liszt, Mozart, Music, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, Piano, Puccini, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Robert Schumann, Romance, Romantic, Schubert, Sergei Prokofiev, Sonata, song, symphony, Tchaikovsky, thumb, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valentine, Valentine's Day, Van Cliburn, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Here are memorable local concerts in 2016 from critic John W. Barker and The Ear. What ones would you add?
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ALERT: The FREE Friday Noon Musicales at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, resume this week after a break for Christmas, New Year’s and other holidays. This Friday, from 12:15 to 1 p.m., pianist Olivia Musat will perform music by Olivier Messiaen, Isaac Albeniz and Paul Constantinesco.
By Jacob Stockinger
It seems a tradition throughout the media to offer a roundup of the Year’s Best with a local slant.
The Ear already offered a national and international roundup. Here is a link to that, especially to the surprisingly rich roundup that he unexpectedly found on Wikipedia:
For a more local perspective, The Ear trusts and generally agrees with critic John W. Barker (below), who writes frequently for this blog and more often for Isthmus.
Here is a link to Barker’s list of memorable concerts in the Madison area, Because Isthmus mixes classical with other genres like pop, folk and jazz, you have to scroll down to “Classical cornucopia”:
http://isthmus.com/music/year-in-music-2016/
Although I agree with all the concerts that Barker mentions, he left out some that The Ear really loved. One was the absolutely riveting and moving performance in November by the Madison Symphony Orchestra under John DeMain of the momentous Fifth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich.
For example just about everything that the Pro Arte Quartet does at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music is first-rate and memorable, whether they play in Mills Hall or on “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen Museum of Art.”
But this past fall, a free noontime concert by the Pro Arte with legendary pianist Leon Fleisher especially stood out. Together (below), they performed the Piano Quintet in F Minor by Johannes Brahms – an unquestionable masterpiece in an unforgettable performance.
The Ear would also add two events, both violin recitals, at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Last spring Hilary Hahn (below top, in a photo by Peter Miller) turned in a stunningly superb recital. Then this fall, superstar Joshua Bell (below bottom) did the same. Both artists displayed terrific musicality combined with terrific virtuosity in generous and first-rate, ambitious programs.
He would add several summer concerts by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, especially the sizzling dueling violin concert (below) where the BDDS interspersed “The Four Seasons” buy Antonio Vivaldi with “The Four Seasons in Buenos Aires” by Astor Piazzolla.
The Ear would also add an experimental concert at which UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (below) unveiled his reworked two-keyboard “Hyperpiano.” While the concert, which featured the “Goldberg” Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach, wasn’t successful musically, it certainly was intriguing, unusual and highly memorable, even with imperfect digital technology.
And The Ear also recalls a fine concert by the Rhapsodie Quartet (below) of the Madison Symphony Orchestra at the Overture Center.
And let’s not forget the University Opera’s production of “Falstaff” by Giuseppe Verdi that was impressively and successfully updated to Hollywood by director David Ronis.
The Ear is sure there are more memorable concerts that escape him right now. Madison just features so much wonderful music-making in the course of a year.
Moreover, The Ear is also sure you have your favorites – whether they are individual plays; small chamber music groups such as duos, string quartets and piano trios; larger ensembles like the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Union Theater; or entire events like the UW Brass Festival.
I am sure that fans of the innovative percussion group Clocks in Motion and the acclaimed Madison Choral Project have a concert or two to nominate.
So please use the COMMENT section to tell us what were your most memorable classical concerts in Madison during 2016.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: "Goldberg" Variations, Albeniz, Arts, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, brass, Brass Festival, Cello, Chamber music, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Christmas, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Clocks in Motion, concerto, David Ronis, digital, duets, duo, Early music, Falstaff, First Unitarian Society of Madison, folk, Four Seasons, Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, Franz Schubert, Hilary Hahn, Holiday, Hollywood, Hyperpiano, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, John Wilbye, Joshua Bell, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Choral Project, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Messiaen, Mozart, Music, New Year, New Year's, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Paul Constantinesco, percussion, Piano, pop, Pro Arte Quartet, Quartet, quintet, Shakespeare, Shostakovich, Sonata, String quartet, Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen, symphony, technology, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, Verdi, Viola, Violin, Vivaldi, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: Sound Ensemble Wisconsin opens its return season this Sunday night with an event that combines music, food and poetry.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at Sound Ensemble Wisconsin (SEW) write:
After Sound Ensemble Wisconsin’s 2014-2015 hiatus, which allowed director Mary Theodore to care for her new baby, SEW is pleased to announce its return for the 2015-16 season. Please stay tuned for news on the rest of the season.
What does food sound like? What does music taste like? This coning Sunday night, participants can enjoy a lovely evening out as they explore their senses as the pathway to their souls through the performing arts of food and music, accompanied by poetry.
The 2015 realization of 2014’s highly successful “SEWing Taste and Sound, Bite by Byte” is a collaboration between Sound Ensemble Wisconsin’s Mary Theodore (below left in a photo by Katrin Talbot); Chef Dan Bonanno (below right) of Madison’s celebrated restaurant Pig in a Fur Coat; and poet-violist Katrin Talbot (center).
The event centers around the aesthetic similarities of food and music, both of which Mary Theodore, SEW’s director and violinist, considers performing arts.
This year, SEW has based the evening on a set of six Duos for Two Violins by Bela Bartok. (You can hear many of them performed by Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Each duo, or byte of music, will inspire Chef Bonnano and be paired with one course, or bite, of food — and performed/served as such to create a six-course meal, including a beverage pairing for each course. Talbot will also read her original poems, composed for each variation.
At the end of the meal, SEW musicians will perform the music from beginning to end with the aim of offering participants a new experience of the music, a new journey of taste and sound.
Please see the Wisconsin State Journal interview and the Madison Magazine review based on the highly successful 2014 “SEWing Taste and Sound, Bite by Byte” at SEW’s website: http://soundensemblewisconsin.org/press/
This performance will take place on Sunday, Sept. 13, at 6 p.m. at Pig in a Fur Coat, 940 Williamson Street. Tickets are currently on sale at www.soundensemblewisconsin.org and are $105 per person or $100 per person by check (with guests’ names) to: Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, 716 Edgewood Avenue, Madison, WI 53711.
Performing musicians are Mary Theodore and Eleanor Bartsch (below), a prize-winning graduate of the UW-Madison School of Music.
“SEW will certainly bring a new dimension to Madison’s cultural scene,” veteran music critic John W. Barker has written.
Tags: A Pig in a Fur Coat, Arts, Bartok, Béla Bartók, beverage, bite, byte, Chamber music, Classical music, duet, duets, duo, food, Itzhak Perlman, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Madison, Madison Magazine, Music, Performing arts, Pinchas Zukerman, Poetry, restaurant, soul, Sound, Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, taste, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal, YouTube
Classical music education: Here are some highlights of Semester 2 during the upcoming season at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Get out your datebooks.
The final schedules for the upcoming season by most major classical music groups in the area are now available.
Last but not least is the biggest of them all: The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, which offers some 300 events in a season, most of them FREE to the public.
Some things are new. For example, you will note that the UW Choral Union has gone to just ONE performance instead of two, as in the past for many years.
Concert manager and director of public relations Kathy Esposito (below) writes:
The UW-Madison School of Music is jazzed about its upcoming season and we’d like the world to know. Please make plans to attend!
Here is a link to the online calendar, which is now complete except for specific pieces on programs and last-minute changes: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Our events of 2015-2016 range from performances by a vocal dynamo (soprano Brenda Rae, Sept. 27) to an in-demand LA jazz woodwind musician (Bob Sheppard in April) plus an enterprising young brass quintet (Axiom Brass in October) and a dollop of world music in March (duoJalal). In addition, we offer ever-popular opera productions, faculty concerts and student ensembles ranging from classical to jazz to percussion.
Full concert calendar link: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Other social media connections include:
https://www.facebook.com/UWMadisonSchoolOfMusic
Our Newsletter, A Tempo!
https://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/
Hear our sound: https://soundcloud.com/uw-madisonsom
Here’s a partial list with highlights.
Semester 1 was posted yesterday, and here is a link to that:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/uw-highlights-semester-1/
Here are highlights of Semester 2:
SEMESTER 2
January 19-24: Student Recital Festival. The public is invited to our first free weeklong feast of music performed on all instruments by many of our students, both undergraduate and graduate. Morphy and Music Halls. Times and programs to be announced in late fall. All events free. (Below is the scholarship-winning Perlman Piano Trio from several years ago.)
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/student-recital-festival/
January 30: Our third “Schubertiade” (below) with pianists Martha Fischer, Bill Lutes, students, faculty and guests. Songs, chamber music and four-hand piano works, all composed by Franz Schubert.
Mills Hall, 8 PM.
Tickets $12.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/schubertiade-2016-the-music-of-franz-schubert/
February 12: Jazz singer Sharon Clark (below) with the UW Jazz Orchestra. Washington, D.C. standout Sharon Clark has brought festival and concert audiences to their feet across the U.S. and Europe. Her New York run drew raves from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and she won New York’s Bistro Award for Best Vocalist.
Music Hall, 8 PM. Free concert.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-jazz-singer-sharon-clark-with-the-uw-jazz-orchestra/
February 14: Symphony Showcase Concerto Winners Solo Recitals. The best performers of 2015-2016, graduate and undergraduate, from the UW-Madison School of Music. Bring your Valentine! Click the link below to watch videos. (Below top is the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra; below bottom are the concerto winners in 2015.)
Mills Hall, 7:30 PM.
Tickets $10.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/symphony-showcase-concerto-winners-solo-recital/
February 26: Pianist Christopher Taylor in solo recital. “We in Wisconsin are privileged to call Christopher Taylor (below) one of our own,” wrote reviewer Jessica Courtier in the Capital Times following his performances last spring with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Taylor is also known for his work inventing a digital double keyboard piano, now being built.
Mills Hall, 8 PM.
Tickets $15.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/christopher-taylor-piano-faculty-concert/
March 11-13-15: University Opera presents “Transformations” (Conrad Susa (below top)/Anne Sexton below bottom). Directed by David Ronis, music conducted by Kyle Knox. Susa’s chamber opera for eight singers and eight players, is an adult re-telling of 10 classic fairy tales (among them, Snow White, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel and Hansel and Gretel) as seen through the eyes of poet Anne Sexton. Sexton’s struggle with mental illness frames the darkly humorous, and audaciously recounted tales, filled with mid-20-century references, both literary and musical. (You can hear excerpts and a summary in a YouTube video at the bottom;)
Music Hall.
$25/$20/$10
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/university-opera-transformations/
March 14: duoJalal (below) with Kathryn Lockwood and Yousif Sheronick, the wife-and-husband viola and percussion global chamber music duo. From their chamber music foundation, duoJalal moves from Classical to Klezmer, Middle Eastern to Jazz, with a skillful confluence that is natural, exploratory and passionate.
Morphy Hall, 7:30 PM.
Tickets $15.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/duojalal-viola-percussion-guest-artists/
April 26-28-29: Jazz Immersion Week. A weeklong residency with LA-based Bob Sheppard (below), worldwide multi-woodwind performer, recording artist, and jazz musician. Also featuring UW Jazz Ensembles, the UW Jazz Orchestra, the UW High School Honors Jazz Band, and the Johannes Wallmann Quintet.
April 26: Bob Sheppard with the UW-Madison Composers Septet & Contemporary Jazz Ensemble. Free concert.
April 28: Bob Sheppard with the Johannes Wallmann Quintet. Tickets $15.
April 29: Bob Sheppard with the UW Jazz Orchestra & High School Honors Jazz Band. Tickets $15.
Buy tickets for both concerts for $25.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/jazz-bob-sheppard-guest-artist/
Tickets sold through the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office online or in person. You may also buy day of show.
http://www.uniontheater.wisc.edu/location.html
Tags: Anne Sexton, Arts, brass, Brothers Grimm, Chamber music, choral music, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, concerto, Conrad Susa, duets, duoJalal, duos, fairy tales, four-hands, Franz Schubert, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johannes Wallmann, Kathryn Lockwood, klezmer, Middle East, Music, Music education, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, percussion, Piano, Piano Trio, poet, Poetry, pop, quintet, Saxophone, Schubert, Schubertiade, singer, songs, String quartet, student recitals, symphony orchestra, Transformations, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin, woodwind, Yousif Sheronick, YouTube
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