The Well-Tempered Ear
The New York Times names the top 25 classical recordings of 2020 and includes sample tracks
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By Jacob Stockinger
What did the holidays bring you?
Did Hanukkah, Christmas or Kwanzaa bring you a gift card?
A subscription to a streaming service?
Maybe some cash?
Or maybe you just want to hear some new music or new musicians or new interpretations of old classics?
Every year, the music critics of The New York Times list their top 25 recordings of the past year. Plus at the end of the story, the newspaper offers a sample track from each recording to give you even more guidance.
This year is no exception (below).
In fact, the listing might be even more welcome this year, given the coronavirus pandemic with the lack of live concerts and the isolation and self-quarantine that have ensued.
The Ear hasn’t heard all of the picks or even the majority of them. But the ones he has heard are indeed outstanding. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear a sample of the outstanding Rameau-Debussy recital by the acclaimed Icelandic pianist Vikingur Olafssen, who scored major successes with recent albums of Philip Glass and Johann Sebastian Bach.)
Here is a link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/17/arts/music/best-classical-music.html
Of course not all critics agree.
The Ear has already listed the nominations for the Grammy Awards (a link is below), and more critics’ picks will be featured in coming days.
You should also notice that a recording of Ethel Smyth’s “The Prison” — featuring soprano Sarah Brailey (below), a graduate student at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and a co-founder of Just Bach — is on the Times’ list as well as on the list of Grammy nominations.
What new recordings – or even old recordings — would you recommend?
The Ear wants to hear.
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The New York Times music critics suggest 10 must-hear online classical concerts during December
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PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Tomorrow is Dec. 1, 2020.
Lately, at the end of every month the music critics for The New York Times publish a list of 10 virtual and online classical concerts for the following month that they think deserve special attention.
Often – but not always — their choices feature the unusual: new music and world premieres; neglected repertoire; and lesser-known performers that most of us are not likely to hear locally.
The December choices, for example, include an oratorio “Perle Noire” (Black Pearl), by composer Tyshawn Sorey, about the famous African-American, Paris-based expat dancer Josephine Baker – she of the banana skirt (below). But she was more than just a risqué dancer and entertainer. She fought in the French Resistance movement against the Nazis and was a civil rights champion.
But this list also includes seasonal fare such the holiday tradition by which the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center performs in one night all six Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach (you can hear an excerpt in the YouTube video at the bottom); and other holiday celebrations such as a concert by the early music vocal group Tenet (below, in a photo by Nan Melville.)
But those suggestions do not take away from more local efforts and performances.
The Ear is certain that those same critics would approve of supporting local musicians and music groups during the coronavirus pandemic.
And there are many local offerings. The Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, the Madison Bach Musicians and Just Bach all have virtual online concerts scheduled for December.
You can check out their offerings at their websites and here on this blog as the month unfolds.
But if the Times’ choices interest you – and they should — here is a link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/arts/music/classical-music-stream-december.html
Note that the blurbs show Eastern Time but also include how long the performances are posted for and links to the organizations presenting the concerts.
Happy listening!
And Happy Holidays!
Do you have other online performances – local, regional, national or international — to suggest?
Please leave the necessary information in the Comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AmericanJazz, #AmericanSymphonyOrchestra, #AntoninDvorak, #AristoSham, #BaroqueMusic, #BlackPearl, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrandenburgConcerto, #CarlVine, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #CivilRights, #ClaudeDebussy, #ConradTao, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CreaturesofPromethus, #CurtisInstitute, #DoverQuartet, #DukeEllington, #EasternTime, #ElliottCarter, #Esa-PekkaSalonen, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FredericChopin, #FrenchResistance, #GerardMcBurney, #GyorgyLigeti, #HolidayMusic, #HolidayTradition, #HomeWebsite, #IntenrationalContemporaryEnsemble, #JACKQuartet, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosephineBaker, #JuliaBullock, #JustBach, #LeonBotstein, #LocalMusicians, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarcusRoberts, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetropolitanMuseumofArt, #MoonlightSonata, #MusicCritic, #NateWooley, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedRepertoire, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OnlineConcert, #ParisFrance, #PerleNoire, #PhilharmoniaOrchestra, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #RuthCrawfirdSeeger, #SaadHaddad, #SeasonalMusic, #SopranoSinger, #StephenFry, #StringQuartet, #TakaKigawa, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheUW, #ToruTakemitsu, #TyshawnSorey, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VocalGroup, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, African American, African-Amercican, always, American Symphony Orchestra, animation, Antonín Dvořák, approve, Aristo Sham, Arts, audience, Bach, baker, Ballade, ballet, banana, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, black, Black Pearl, blog, blurb, Brahms, Brandenburg Concerto, Carl Vine, celebration, certain, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, champion, choice, Chopin, choral music, civil rights, Classical music, Claude Debussy, composer, composers, Concert, concerto, conductor, Conrad Tao, coronavirus, Creatures of Prometheus, Curtis Institute, dancer, Debussy, December, Dover Quartet, duet, Duke Ellington, duo, Dvorak, Early music, earlymusic, Eastern time, efforts, Elliott Carter, entertainer, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Estampes, ex-pat, excerpt, Facebook, famous, fare, forward, France, Franz Joseph Haydn, Frédéric Chopin, French Resistance, Gerard McBurney, György Ligeti, Happy Holidays, happy', Haydn, hear, Holiday, holiday tradition, home website, images, information, instrumental, international, International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Josephine Baker, Julia Bullock, Just Bach, lately, Leon Botstein, Ligeti, like, link, listening, local, long, Lstin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marcus Roberts, Mead Witter School of Music, Metropolitan Museum of Art, month, Moonlight Sonata, movement, Mozart, MSO, Music, music critic, narration, Nate Wolley, national, Nazi, necessary, neglected, neglected music, New Music, New York City, night, offerings, often, one, online, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, orchestral, pandemic, Paris, performances, Perle Noir, Perle Noire, Philharmonia Orchestra, Pianist, Piano, piano music, Piano sonata, polonaise, post, posting, Prelude, prints, publish, recital, regional, repertoire, repertory, risqué, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Saad Haddad, schedule, script, seasonal, seasonal music, share, six, skirt, Sonata, soprano, Sorey, Sory, Stephen Fry, String quartet, studies, suggest, suggestions, support, Sweden, tag, Taka Kigawa, take away, takeaway, Takemitsu, Tenet, The Ear, The New York Times, Toru Takemitsu, Tyshawn Sorey, Tyshown Sorey, unfold, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unsual, UW, UW-Madison, vignette, Violin, virtual, vocal group, vocal music, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world premiere, WUT, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Youth Choirs will perform immigrant music in “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora” this Saturday and Sunday
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A REMINDER: Subscribers to the Madison Symphony Orchestra‘s current season that just ended have until May 5 — this Thursday — to renew and save their current seats. New subscribers can receive up to 50 percent off and other discounts are available. For more about the programs of the 2016-17 season and about subscribing, visit:
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/16-17
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following notice from the Madison Youth Choirs about three concerts this coming weekend:
On this Saturday, May 7, and Sunday, May 8, 2016, in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center for the Arts, the young singers of Madison Youth Choirs (below, at the winter concert in 2014) will bring to life the musical creations of several groups who have left their homelands throughout history, under a variety of circumstances.
How do we keep our traditions in a place where they may not be tolerated? How do we maintain our identities in the face of great change? How do we preserve our stories and our history for future generations?
We invite you to ponder these questions with us as we explore the rich choral work of the African-American, Indian, Cuban, Arabic, Irish, Jewish and additional musical traditions as well as several works based on the biblical diaspora as told in Psalm 137.
At the Saturday evening performance, MYC will also present the Carrel Pray Music Educator of the Year Award to Dan Krunnfusz (below), former artistic director and conductor of the Madison Boychoir and a longtime choral and general music teacher in Madison and Baraboo public schools.
MYC Spring Concert Series: “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora.” Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street, Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday, May 7, 2016, 7 p.m.: Boychoirs
Sunday, May 8, 2016, 3:30 p.m. Girl choirs; 7:30 p.m. High School Ensembles
Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students ages 8-18. Children 7 and under receive free admission but a physical ticket is required for entry. AUDIENCE MEMBERS WILL NEED A SEPARATE TICKET FOR EACH CONCERT.
Tickets are available through Overture Center Box Office, and may be acquired in person at 201 State Street, Madison; via phone at (608) 258 – 4141; or online at http://www.overturecenter.org/events/sounds-like-home-music-in-diaspora
This project is generously supported by American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, the Madison Community Foundation, the Madison Gas and Electric Foundation, the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, and Dane Arts with additional funding from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation. This project is also supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
About the Madison Youth Choirs (MYC, see below in a photo by Jon Harlow on its tour to an international festival in Scotland in 2014): 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, personal 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.
Here is the repertoire of the MYC 2016 Spring Concert Series “Sounds Like Home: Music in Diaspora”
Saturday, May 7, 2016, Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts
7 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Purcell
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child…Traditional spiritual, arr. Burleigh
Hashivenu…Traditional Hebrew, arr. Rao
Rolling Down to Rio…Edward German
Britten
The Minstrel Boy…Traditional Irish, arr. Benjamin Britten
Super Flumina Babylonis…Giacomo Carissimi
Duke’s Place…Duke Ellington, arr. Swiggum/Ross
Holst
As by the Streams of Babylon…Thomas Campion
A Miner’s Life…Traditional Irish, arr. Houston
Combined Boychoirs (below, in a photo by Joanie Crump)
The Riflemen of Bennington…Traditional, arr. Swiggum
Babylon…Don McLean
Sunday, May 8, 2016, Capitol Theater, Overture Center for the Arts
3:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Girlchoirs, below in a photo by Karen Brown)
Choraliers
Babylon…Don McClean
Beidh Aonach Amarach…Traditional Irish, arr. Dwyer
Ani Ma’amin…Traditional Hebrew, arr. Caldwell/Ivory
Gospel Train…Traditional spiritual, arr. Shirley McRae
Alhamdoulillah…Traditional Arabic, arr. Laura Hawley
Con Gioia
Folksong arrangements (2, 3, 4)…Gideon Klein
Hope is the Thing with Feathers…Marye Helms
Wild Mountain Thyme…Traditional Irish, arr. Jay Broeker
Stadt und Land in stille Ruh…Traditional German canon
Capriccio
Mi’kmaq Honor Song….arr. Lydia Adams
Thou Shalt Bring Them In…..G.F. Handel
Iraqi Peace Song…..Lori Tennenhouse
Bring Me Little Water, Silvy…..credited to Leadbelly, arr. Moira Smiley
Capriccio, Cantilena, and Cantabile
Across the Water (world premiere)… UW-Madison alumnus Scott Gendel (below)
7:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring High School Ensembles)
Cantilena
We Are…Ysaye Barnwell
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child…Traditional spiritual
Jai Bhavani…arr. Ethan Sperry
Hej, Igazitsad…Lajos Bardos
Ragazzi
An Wasserflüssen Babylon…Michael Praetorius
Uz mne kone vyvadeji (from folksong arrangements)…Gideon Klein
Son de Camaguey…Traditional Cuban, arr. Stephen Hatfield
Loch Lomond…Traditional Scottish air, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Cantabile
In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles (from Alarcón Madrigals)…Roger Bourland
Riawanna…Stephen Leek
Barchuri Le’an Tisa…Gideon Klein
Kafal Sviri…Traditional Bulgarian, arr. Liondev
Cantabile and Ragazzi
O, What a Beautiful City…Traditional spiritual, arr. Shawn Kirchner
Tags: African American, Arabic, Artistic director, Arts, Baraboo, Bible, biblical, blues, BMO Harris Bank, boychoir, Britten, Bulgaria, Canon, cantabile, Capriccio, choral music, Classical music, conductor, counterpoint, Cuba, Cuban, Dane Arts, dispora, Duke Ellington, Education, folk song, German, Germany, girl choir, gospel, Green Bay Packers, Handel, Hewbrew, high school, Holst, Home, homeland, hope, immigrant, immigration, indentity, India, Indian, Iraq, Ireland, Irish, Jacob Stockinger, Jewish, Leadbelly, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Music, Music education, National Endowment for the Arts, Overture Center, peace, polyphonic, polyphony, pop music, psalm, Purcell, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Scotland, Scott Gendel, spiritual, tradition, traditional, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board
Classical music: A FREE musical tribute to the French avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez is this Friday night at 8 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. Plus, Saturday brings the Winterfest concerts by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO)
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ALERT: This Saturday will see the annual Winterfest concerts by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Some 400 student musicians will take part. The special guest is bassoonist Nancy Goeres (below), an alumna of WYSO from 1966 to 1970, who now performs professionally with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Music by Johann Stamitz, Francois Joseph Gossec, Franz Joseph Haydn, Jean Sibelius, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Emmanuel Chabrier, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Witold Lutoslawski and Duke Ellington will be performed, Here is a link to the lists of impressive programs and performers:
http://www.wysomusic.org/dianne-endres-ballweg-winterfest-concert-series/
By Jacob Stockinger
UW-Madison faculty members bassoonist Marc Vallon and saxophonist-composer Les Thimmig will lead a FREE musical tribute to the French avant-garde composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (below) this Friday night a 8 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall.
Boulez, who frequently conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and served as music director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, died recently.
Here is a link with more background about Boulez, including an essay by UW professor Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill), who worked with Boulez:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=boulez
![Marc Vallon 2011 James Gill (baroque & modern)[2]](https://welltempered.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/marc-vallon-2011-james-gill-baroque-modern2.jpg)
Called “Le Domaine Musical,” the event will also feature other UW-Madison faculty members and student musicians.
They include violist Sally Chisholm, violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino, flutist Stephanie Jutt, organist/keyboardist, John Chappell Stowe, hornist Daniel Grabois, pianist Christopher Taylor as well as cellist Martha Vallon, Micah Behr, Thalia Coombs, Ivana Ugrcic, Joanna Schulz, Dave Alcorn, Kai-Ju Ho, Sarah Richardson, Michel Shestak, Rosalie Gilbert and the Hunt String Quartet (Paran Amirinazari, Clayton Tillotson, Blakeley Menghini and Andrew Briggs)
Music will include the following composers: Pierre Boulez, Anton Webern, Claude Debussy and Johann Sebastian Bach
Here is the complete program:
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) – Dérive 1 for 6 instruments (1984) — Heard in a YouTube video at the bottom as performed by the same group, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, that Boulez founded and led for many years in Paris.
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) – Notations for piano (1946)
Anton Webern (1883-1945) Six Bagatelles for string quartet, Op. 9
Anton Webern (1883-1945) – Drei Gesänge (Three Songs) aus “Viae inviae” von Hildegard Jone, Op. 23
Claude Debussy (1962-1918) – Three Poems of Stéphane Mallarmé
Claude Debussy (1962-1918) Sonate for flute, viola and harp (1904). Pastorale: Lento, dolce rubato; Interlude: Tempo di Minuetto; Finale. Allegro moderato ma risoluto
Short Webern style intermission
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (no marking) –Adagio ma non tanto- Allegro
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) Mémoriale (…explosante fixe… Originel) for solo flute and eight instruments (1985)
Tags: Arts, arts education, avant-garde, Bach, bagatelle, Baroque, Bassoon, Boulez, Brandenburg Concerto, Cello, Chabrier, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, Debussy, Duke Ellington, Education, faculty, flute, Gossec, harp, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lutoslawski, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mallarme, Music, Music education, New York City, New York Philarmonic, New York Philharmonic, Orchestra, Piano, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, poem, Pro Arte Quartet, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Saxophone, Sibelius, Sonata, song, Stamitz, String quartet, Student, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Villa-Lobos, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, Winterfest, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, YouTube
Classical music education: Let us now praise WYSO — the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) as they celebrate their 50th anniversary this Saturday night. The concert is SOLD OUT, which is both good news and bad news
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ALERT and CORRECTION : The Ear just learned that the WYSO concert will be streamed LIVE on Wisconsin Public Television. View the broadcast live at 7 p.m. on this Saturday, February 20, by clicking on the following link: http://wpt.org/watch/liveevent
By Jacob Stockinger
It seems like one of those situations that put you between a rock and a hard place.
This year, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras founded by the late Marvin Rabin, is celebrating the organization’s milestone 50th anniversary. (Below top is a photo of WYSO rehearsing in 1966; below bottom is a photo of WYSO today.)
Plans for the celebration have been ambitious. Events have included: mounting a special art display at Dane County Regional Airport; publishing a special book; undertaking a foreign concert tour; and holding other events, including special receptions and breakfasts as well as playing opportunities for WYSO alumni who are flying in from all over the country.
Perhaps the single biggest event is the special concert that will take place this Saturday night from 7 to 9 p.m. at Overture Hall in the Overture Center.
The concert features five world premieres of pieces commissioned by WYSO for five different groups or ensembles.
Here are the details from WYSO:
“This concert will be the first time all WYSO orchestras are on stage to perform at the same concert. This concert is generously sponsored by Jerome Frautschi and Pleasant Rowland.
“The collage concert will feature the following performing ensembles: Youth Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Sinfonietta, Brass Choir, Percussion Ensemble and a chamber ensemble.
“Each orchestra along with the Percussion Ensemble will perform a world premiere work that was commissioned especially for them.
“Composers of these commissions include Ben Whalund, Olivia Zeuske, Reynard Burns, Donald Fraser and WYSO alumni Andrew Kinney.
“The Percussion Ensemble (below), under the direction of Vicki Jenks will perform Credo by Ben Whalund. Mark Leiser, conductor of Sinfonietta, will lead his young string orchestra in Sonata for Sinfonietta by Olivia Zeuske, Haydn’s La Chasse, and Duke Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. The Brass Choir, under the direction of Brett Keating will then take the stage.
“Following the Brass Choir, Concert Orchestra, under the baton of Christine Mata-Eckel, will perform Biciclette by Reynard Burns, and Del Borgo’s Romany Dances. One of WYSO’s chamber ensembles will perform next. Michelle Kaebisch, conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra, will lead her ensemble as they perform In Time by Donald Fraser and Throne Room Scene from Star Wars by John Williams.
The Youth Orchestra, led by music director James Smith, will give the penultimate performance of the evening by performing A Radiant Spirit by Andrew Kinney a and Symphony No. 2, Finale: Moderato assai-Allegro vivo by Tchaikovsky.
“Following these performances the evening will feature a grand finale, arranged by Donald Fraser, with a performance by all nearly 400 members of WYSO, including the WYSO Music Makers Honors Ensembles as they perform Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
Following the concert, all audience members are invited to attend a post-concert reception in the lobby of Overture Center. This reception will be sponsored by the current WYSO Parent Leader Committee
So what is the problem or conundrum The Ear is talking about?
Just this: The main concert by the five orchestras and ensembles with five world premiere commissions is SOLD OUT.
That is good news because the hall and events are expensive to put on, especially at the Overture Center. So congratulations to the hard work that went into such success.
But that is also bad news because The Ear bets that most of the seats understandably went to family, friends and alumni. That, in turn, means that a new public, especially families with young children as potential members, for the ever impressive WYSO – which has trained thousands of middle school and high school students since its inception — will not be reached. And as a provider of music education, the pioneering WYSO simply has no peers in the area.
So The Ear hopes that CDs and DVDs of the concerts will be available after the event. Maybe it will even be aired on Wisconsin Public Television or Wisconsin Public Radio or some other broadcast outlets. (See the correction at the top: The concert will; be streamed live on Wisconsin Public Television )That would certainly reach a wide public with the inspiring mission and outstanding results of music education through WYSO.
And if you want to know more information about WYSO and its 50th anniversary celebration, go to:
http://www.wysomusic.org/50th/
In the meantime, The Ear sends hearty and heart-felt congratulations to all the students, teachers, alumni and supporters of WYSO students, who in the YouTube video at the bottom perform the celebratory and triumphant “Great Gate at Kiev” from Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”
Cheers to the next 50 years!
Tags: Andrew Kinney, anniversary, Arts, Beethoven, Ben Whalund, brass, Chamber music, Choir, Classical music, Compact Disc, Concert, concerto, Donald Fraser, Duke Ellington, Great Gate at Kiev, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, John Williams, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Modest Mussorgsky, Music education, Ode to Joy, Olivia Zeuske, Orchestra, Overture Center, Piano, Pictures at an Exhibition, Radio, Reynard Burns, Star Wars, symphony, Tchaikovsky, Television, TV, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Televsion, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WPR, WPT, WYSO, young people, Youth, YouTube
New Life for “The Great Gatsby”: John Harbison’s “Roaring ‘20s” opera has its European premiere this month in Dresden, Germany
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s good friend, Sarah Schaffer, who works with composer John Harbison, writes:
Many Madisonians were among those who travelled to New York City in 1999 for the world premiere of John Harbison’s opera, “The Great Gatsby,” which is based on the iconic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and which was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera in celebration of renowned conductor James Levine’s 25th anniversary there. (Below, from the original production, are the late tenor Jerry Hadley as Jay Gatsby and soprano Dawn Upshaw as Daisy Buchanan.)
The work has since been presented by Lyric Opera of Chicago, in Boston and at Tanglewood by Emmanuel Music, and, in a reduced orchestra chamber version, by Opera Parallele in San Francisco and at the Aspen Music Festival.
A suite from the opera, commissioned by conductor David Zinman, was performed by the Madison Symphony Orchestra under Maestro John DeMain here in 2010.
And of course, John Harbison and his wife, violinist Rose Mary Harbison, are best known in Madison as the artistic directors of the fiercely imaginative annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, held in their refurbished barn near Sun Prairie just before Labor Day each summer.
Now, the first European performance of “The Great Gatsby” will take place at Semperoper (below) in Dresden, Germany from this Sunday, Dec. 6, through Dec. 21. It will be presented in English, with German surtitles.
Preceding the first performance, Semperoper is offering a preview event where two film versions of “The Great Gatsby” will be shown: the 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow; and the 2013 Baz Luhrman version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.
According to Semperoper, “The opera blends modern classical music with jazz and swing to paint a thrilling portrait of a debauched and decadent society, where double standards clash with idealism. European audiences can now enjoy this work for the first time.”
Wayne Marshall is music director, Keith Warner stage director, with dramaturgy by Stefan Ulrich, and set design by the late John Engels, whose stunning and evocative work was seen last spring in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of The Passenger, Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s powerful opera about how the horrors of Auschwitz impact people’s lives in the present.
Wayne Marshall, renowned interpreter of the works of George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Duke Ellington and other 20th-century American composers, serves as music director.
In making a new production of The Great Gatsby, Director Keith Warner does not adopt an “update” strategy, often seen in recent European productions. Instead he goes directly to the period, the American mid-1920s, making its excesses, its excitements, and its cloak of impending doom the essential color of the opera. (below is the party scene.)
In the upcoming Dresden production, tenor Peter Lodahl makes his Semperoper debut in the role of Jay Gatsby. For more information, visit: www.peterlodahl.co
Daisy Buchanan will be performed by soprano Maria Bengtsson. For more information, visit: www.mariabengtsson.com
A complete cast list and production personnel can be found at https://www.semperoper.de/en/whats-on/schedule/stid/Gatsby/60545.html
A brief video regarding the launching of Gatsby at Semperopera can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7x_dVimgYg
While not without its detractors, over the years and through its many productions Gatsby has garnered significant praise from some of the most respected critics and publications.
With such an iconic and thoroughly American novel, story and music as its origin and soundscape, it will be fascinating to see what kind of reception Gatsby’s eagerly anticipated European premiere will garner across the pond.
Europeans, very conversant with the Fitzgerald novel, tend to emphasize the role of class more than American readers. Warner uses a number of theatrical devices to starkly outline the attitudes and surroundings of the Wilsons, the working-class couple so crucial to conflicts within the story.
The racist and elitist rants of Tom Buchanan, perhaps more comfortably folded into his familiar character by American fans of the book, emerge in stark outline in Warner’s conception.
Tags: America, Arts, Aspen Music Festival, Auschwitz, Baz Luhrmann, Baz Lurhmann, Boston, Carey Mulligan, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, choral music, Classical music, David Zinman, Dawn Upshaw, debut, Dresden, Duke Ellington, Emmanuel Music, Europe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, film, George Gershwin, German, Germany, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Jazz, Jazz Age, Jerry Hadley, John DeMain, John Harbison, Labor Day, Leonard Bernstein, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lyric Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, Mia Farrow, Mieczyslaw Weinberg, movie, Music, Music director, New York City, opera, Opera Parallele, premiere, Roaring 20s, Robert Redford, San Francisco, Semperopera, set, soprano, stage director, Tanglewood, tenor, The Great Gatsby, The Passenger, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Festival, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Farley’s House of Pianos announces its Salon Piano Series for this season and offers subscription tickets for the first time. It opens on Sunday, Oct. 4.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at Farley’s House of Pianos write:
The Salon Piano Series offers inspiring performances in an intimate salon setting. Each concert is followed by an artist’s reception and some performances include introductions by music scholars and commentators.
Season tickets are being offered for the first time this year and they provide substantial savings as well as the assurance that you won’t be left out. You can buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com
Here is the lineup:
DANIEL DEL PINO – Sunday, Oct. 4, 2015, 4 p.m.
Daniel del Pino (below) returns to play music by Felix Mendelssohn, Cesar Franck‘s Prelude, Chorale and Fugue, and Twelve Etudes, Op. 10, by Frederic Chopin. (You can hear him perform a transcription of the “Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel de Falla during a concert at Farley’s House of Pianos in January of 2013.)
ALESSIO BAX and LUCILLE CHUNG (below) – Sunday, Jan. 17, 2016, 4 p.m.
This concert will include pieces for one piano-four hands and for two pianos. The two-piano pieces will be played on rare “twin” pianos restored by Farley’s House of Pianos: a 1914 Mason & Hamlin CC and a 1914 Mason & Hamlin BB.
CELLIST AMIT PELED (below) – Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, 7:30 p.m.
Hear the exact program that famed cellist Pablo Casals performed 100 years ago, played on Casals’ own 1733 Goffriller cello with Noreen Polera accompanying on a 1914 Mason and Hamlin piano restored by Farley’s House of Pianos.
DICK HYMAN, Jazz Clinic-Lecture, Saturday, May 7, 2016, 4 p.m.
Jazz legend Dick Hyman presents his third clinic at Salon Piano Series.
Dick Hyman – Jazz Concert – Sunday, May 8, 2016, 4 p.m.
Dick will play solo piano for half the concert. Then bassist John Schaffer and drummer John Lombardo will join Dick in a jazz trio.
Since he began his career in the early 1950s, Dick Hyman has been a pianist, organist, arranger, music director and composer while recording over 100 albums under his own name.
Hyman is a masterful improviser with a unique style of piano that spans from early jazz such as Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton to George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and beyond. He is one of the first people to record on the Moog synthesizer and his track “Minotaur” landed on the Billboard magazine’s US Top 40.
Hyman has served as composer, arranger, conductor and pianist for 12 Woody Allen films. He also won an Emmy for his original score to the daytime drama “Sunshine’s on the Way” and for musical direction of a PBS special on Eubie Blake. His recording, Dick Hyman’s “Century of Jazz Piano” is an encyclopedic series of solo performances that covers the last 100 years in jazz over the course of 121 performances.
All concerts are held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west wide near West Towne.
See complete concert programs and more at www.salonpianoseries.org
Salon Piano Series Tickets Available Online at www.brownpapertickets.com
Tickets cost $45 in advance, $50 at the door. The Jazz Clinic is $20.
Buy the series for $160, and save $40. Tickets are also available at Farley’s House of Pianos and Orange Tree Imports. Service fees may apply.
Tags: African American, Album, Alessio Bax, American Society of Composers, Amit Peled, Arts, Authors and Publishers, Bach, Baroque, bass, Billboard, Cello, Cesar Franck, Chamber music, Chopin, Chorale and Fugue, Classical music, Compact Disc, Daniel del Pino, Dick Hyman, double bass, drum, Duke Ellington, Emmy, etude, Eubie Blake, Farley's House of Pianos, film, George Gershwin, Gershwin, improvisation, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jelly Roll Morton, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Lombardo, Lucille Chung, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Manuel de Falla, Mendlessohn, Moog synthesizer, Movies, Music, Pablo Casals, PBS, Piano, Prelude, Ritual Fire Dance, Scott Joplin, solo, soundtrack, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Woody Allen, YouTube
Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society will perform a FREE concert this Sunday afternoon to help bring neglected Jewish music “out of the shadows” of history. Part 2 of 2.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear’s friends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society write:
The U.S. component of a major international research project, “Performing the Jewish Archive,” led by the University of Leeds, in England, has attracted significant funding to shine new light on forgotten works by Jewish artists.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison and the City of Madison are uniquely situated as the sole hosts for the global project’s performance events within the United States; one of the premier public research-intensive universities in the world, located in a community that lives and breathes diverse arts, while striving for social change.
Here, in Madison, under the leadership of Teryl Dobbs, Chair of Music Education at the UW-Madison, “Out of the Shadows: Rediscovering Jewish Music, Literature and Theater” will be a full-day event held on this Sunday, August 30, 2015.
Local partners include the UW-Madison School of Music, Mosse-Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies, the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture, and the Arts Institute at UW-Madison; and the Bach Dancing andDynamite Society.
Yesterday The Ear posted the schedule of all FREE events.
Here is a link to that post:
Today’s post focuses on the classical music in the event:
The Ear’s friend Jeffrey Sykes of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society writes:
The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society is proud to partner with Performing the Jewish Archive’s “Out of the Shadows” event by performing neglected and suppressed Jewish music from the early 20th Century.
The FREE concert will be held this Sunday 2:30-4:30 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive.
The program includes music from two composers who died at Auschwitz. Erwin Schulhoff’s flute sonata is a passionate mix of impressionism and jazz. Dick Kattenburg’s quartet for flute, violin, cello and piano is an irrepressible romp full of Gershwin-esque melodies and harmonies.
Robert Kahn (below) is a composer from an earlier generation whose work was suppressed by the Nazis. We perform his gorgeous song cycle “Jungbrunnen” (The Fountain of Youth) for soprano, violin, cello and piano.
The program concludes with two works by the Viennese wunderkind Erich Wolfgang Korngold (below). Already well-known in Austria, Korngold had begun to compose music for Hollywood movies. He was working California in 1938 when the Anschluss took place, and he never returned to his homeland.
We begin with three beautiful songs he composed for his mother and continue with his Suite for piano left-hand, two violins and cello based on those songs. A thrilling and important composition, the Suite was written for the Austrian pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in World War I.
Adds BDDS flutist Stephanie Jutt:
Dutch composer Dick Kattenburg (1919-1944, below) barely got started before his career and his life ended at Auschwitz at age 24. A supremely gifted young composer, bursting with originality and ingenuity, his love of jazz and the popular idioms of the day make his music irresistible – by turns a bit of Stravinsky, a bit of Wizard of Oz, a bit of Duke Ellington. His two dozen complete works were hidden in the attic where his mother had kept them, and were discovered by his sister, Daisy.
The music of Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942, below) has become widely known over the last 20 years. Denounced as “Entartete Musik” (degenerate music) by the Nazis, he died in Wülzburg concentration camp. During the 30 years of his active career he wrote sonatas, quartets, sextets, jazz piano pieces, stage music, an opera, eight symphonies, and at least one oratorio.
Schulhoff, like Kattenburg, also fell in love with American jazz, and his flute sonata of 1927 reflects the infectious American rhythmic vitality with his great interest in the traditional music of Czechoslovakia.
Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society performers are: Emily Birsan, soprano; Stephanie Jutt, flute; Parry Karp, cello; Leanne League, violin; Axel Strauss, violin; and Jeffrey Sykes, piano.
PROGRAM
Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942): Flute Sonata (1928). Jutt, Sykes
Robert Kahn (1865-1951): Seven Songs from Jungbrunnen, op. 46, for soprano and piano trio (1906). Birsan, League, Karp, Sykes
Dick Kattenburg: Quartet for flute, violin, cello and piano. Jutt, Strauss, Karp, Sykes.
Intermission
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Three Songs, op. 22, for soprano and piano (1930). Birsan, Sykes
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957): Suite, op. 23, for piano left hand, two violins, and cello (1930). Strauss, League, Karp, Sykes
For more about the performers, visit bachdancinganddynamite.org.
Here are biographies of the performers:
Founding Artistic Director STEPHANIE JUTT (below) is professor of flute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and principal flute of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She is a winner of the International Pro Musicis Competition.
Founding Artistic Director and pianist JEFFREY SYKES (below) is a faculty member of the University of California-Berkeley. He is a member of the San Francisco Piano Trio.
Soprano EMILY BIRSAN (below) has completed her third year as a member of the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, she is appearing with the Boston Lyric Opera this year.
Cellist PARRY KARP (bel0w) is artist-in-residence and professor of chamber music and cello at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet for the past 37 years.
Violinist LEANNE KELSO LEAGUE (below) is assistant concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and associate concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. She also teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and is a member of the Ancora String Quartet.
Violinist AXEL STRAUSS (below), winner of the International Naumburg Award, is professor of violin at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal. He is also a member of the San Francisco Piano Trio.
Tags: Ancora Quartet, Arts, Auschwitz, Austria, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, California, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, concentration camp, death camp, Dick Kattenburg, Duke Ellington, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Erwin Schulhoff, flute, Gershwin, Hitler, Hollywood, Holocaust, Impressionism, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jewish music, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Nazi, Orchestra, Piano, Robert Kahn, soprano, Stravinsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vienna, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: Can you sing? Famed diva Jessye Norman thinks you can -– and should try. She says it is good for your physical health and mental health.
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By Jacob Stockinger
We have just come through Christmas and the holiday season where the instrument of choice – quite appropriately – is the human voice, both solo and in choruses.
Do you sing?
Can you sing?
The famous Grammy Award-winning soprano diva Jessye Norman (below) thinks you can -– and should, or at least try to.
In an interview with the Deceptive Cadence blog for NPR (National Public Radio), Norman explains why all people can sing.
She also explains why you should: Singing, she says, is healthy for your body and mind.
She may be 69, but Norman, who was born in Georgia but now lives in France, is not retiring from singing, even if she is cutting down on professional appearances. She is following her own advice and so continues to sing, as she recently did on The David Letterman Show in New York City.
The interview traces her career from her earliest years in Augusta, Georgia, through training at the famed Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It has samples of her fabulous voice, and also her remembrances of great voices she has admired in others, such as the great history-making African American contralto Marian Anderson (below, during her historic concert at the Lincoln Memorial).
She also names some favorite orchestral music and instrumental music, including a prelude from the opera “Lohengrin” by Richard Wagner, as conducted by James Levine (below top) of the Metropolitan Opera; a cello sonata by Johann Sebastian Bach performed by cellist Yo-Yo Ma (below middle); and a Beethoven piano concertos performed by pianist Alfred Brendel (below bottom) and the conductor Simon Rattle along with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Norman also singles out American jazz composer Duke Ellington (below) for praise.
And the NPR interview includes some fine music audio samples.
Here is a link:
And here is one of my favorite and landmark or legendary performances by Jessye Norman: “Im Abendrot.” It is one of the “Four Last Songs” by Richard Strauss that was recently used in the movie “The Trip to Italy” to such great and repeated effect:
Tags: African American, Alfred Brendel, America, American music, Ann Arbor, Arts, Augusta, Bach, Baltimore, Baroque, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, CBS, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, chorus, Christmas, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, conductor, contralto, David Letterman, David Letterman Show, Duke Ellington, film, Four Last Songs, France, Georgia, Grammy Award, holiday music, Im Abendrot, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Jazz, Jessye Norman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lincoln, Lohengrin, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Metropolitan Opera, Michigan, movie, Music, New York City, NPR, opera, Peabody Conservatory of Music, Piano, Piano concerto, Prelude, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, Simon Rattle, sing, Singing, solo, soloist, Sonata, song, soprano, the Met, The Trip to Italy, U.S., University of Michigan, US, vocal music, Wagner, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music Q&A: Founder Kevan Feyzi talks about the new Madison Area Trombone Ensemble (MATE), which will perform its FREE inaugural concert this Sunday in Madison. It features University of Wisconsin-Madison trombone professor Mark Hetzler as guest soloist.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday, the Madison Area Trombone Ensemble will makes its official local debut when it performs its inaugural concert, with UW trombone professor and member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet Mark Hetzler as a special guest soloist.
The FREE concert is 3 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 203 Wisconsin Ave., Madison, WI.
A new all-volunteer ensemble, MATE features many of the areas top trombonists, students, as well as members of the community, all of whom share a passion for music-making and trombone. Members play in a wide variety of groups, such as the Madison Symphony, the WYSO Youth Orchestra, the Madison Jazz Orchestra, the Madison Mellophonium Jazz Orchestra, the Madison Brass Band and Phat Phunktion. (Performance photos below come from MATE when it performed at Barnes and Noble booksellers as part of the Wisconsin School Music Association’s “Music in Our Schools” Month Bookfair on March 13).
Mark Hetzler will be the guest soloist in David P. Jones’ “Bone Moan,” a work for solo trombone and six-part trombone choir. The piece draws on rhythms and harmonies found in not only jazz, but also reggae and Latin popular music. In both the solo and ensemble parts, the piece uses a full range of the trombone’s capabilities through the use of glissandi, mutes, flutter tonguing and other techniques.
MATE will also perform a piece by Madison-area bass trombonist and prolific composer-arranger Rich Woolworth, plus arrangements for trombone choir that span a variety of eras and styles, including works by Luca Marenzio, Franz Joseph Haydn, Randall Thompson and Duke Ellington.
The Ear asked MATE founder and player Kevan Feyzi (below) to talk about MATC and he kindly responded with an email Q&A:
When, why and how did the Madison Area Trombone Ensemble come into being?
Last summer, I was playing a bit with the Madison Mellophonium Jazz Orchestra (a large jazz band which performs charts from the Stan Kenton library). I looked to my left and right, and noticed that all four other trombonists are some of the finest players in the area and were doing this pro-bono. They each truly love to play, and do so as much as they have the time. In other groups I work with many other fine trombonists who have the same philosophy. All of us seem to get along quite well. So the light bulb then popped into my head: What if we all got together to make some music?
In the fall, I floated the idea around to trombonists around town and received very positive feedback, so I decided to go ahead with it. With some help from Steve Ash, who directs the Glenwood Moravian Trombone Choir, and the generosity of the staff of First United Methodist Church, the group finally got off the ground in January. We’re now 15 strong!
What do you and other members like about the trombone so much as to have created an all-trombone ensemble?
We’re all certainly biased, but consider this: Are any of the other members of the brass family as dynamic and versatile as the trombone? The amount of tone colors we can generate is so vast. I can hardly think of a genre of music where a trombone wouldn’t fit in. So we can play any sort of music, even in a group setting. And when you have a dozen-plus trombones playing together, you get something really remarkable. To me, it’s a collective sound that’s unsurpassed by any other collection of instruments.
I also have a lot of fun arranging for trombone choir — we can cover about the same range as a human, SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) choir. Choral music lends itself quite well to a group of trombones: in fact, on the March 30 concert we’ll be playing my choral arrangement of Randall Thompson’s well-known “Alleluia.” (You can hear a tribune choir perform Morten Lauridsen‘s “O Magnum Mysterium” in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
What kind of repertoire will you favor? Original compositions? New music? Older established repertoire? Transcriptions? Classical music? Jazz and crossover music?
I make a point NOT to favor any one style (jazz versus classical) over another. Trombones sound great in all music, so let’s show off our versatility! For example, we’ll start off with some Renaissance music, some Haydn, and move chronologically forward — more or less — into the 20th century and jazz. There are all kinds of great arrangements and transcriptions for trombone choir—some great ones being done by members of the group in fact — but original repertoire is harder to come by.
So I’m particularly excited about a piece contributed by Monticello-based trombonist and composer Rich Woolworth (below top) called “Octagon,” as well as the piece we’ll feature Mark Hetzler (below bottom, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) in, David P. Jones’ “Bone Moan.”
Mark Hetzler and David P. Jones (below) are long-time friends, and the two have collaborated on many compositions for trombone. I like to feature a few original trombone choir compositions on any performance, but these two stand out because of the local connections. The more we can play from the output of area composers, arrangers or members of the group, the better.
Do you worry about establishing another music group in a city with so many music groups already?
I suppose if money were a concern then I might, but this is a community group. MATE’s mission is one of music-making and camaraderie, while sharing the unique sound of a trombone choir with music lovers. I think that we can achieve that regardless of the amount of other groups in town. For a mid-sized city, we have a notably large music scene in Madison, which means that some very fine players can’t always commit to a series of weekly rehearsals and a performance or two.
About the only thing I’m concerned about is having enough players to make the group viable. But I’m quite satisfied about how the group has grown — 15 is a great number for a trombone choir, and it should only grow from there.
What are your plans for future concerts and events? Is membership open and how does one audition?
I have a summer performance in the works much like what we’re doing this month, but I’d like to introduce the group into other performance settings as well. A group of trombones works just as well at a jazz festival as it does in a concert hall — we just have to play the appropriate repertoire. Membership is open to anyone in the community who plays the trombone solidly, and has a decent amount of experience. Anyone interested in joining is welcome to sit in for a rehearsal to see if they enjoy it.
What kind of support is the group seeking to keep it going?
A good-sized audience at our performances, and lots of positive vibes! I don’t keep a budget for the group: the players are all volunteering their musical talents, and I volunteer my own time outside of rehearsal to promote the group and keep things running smoothly. That being said, donations will be accepted at performances in order to purchase new music.
Is there anything else you would like to say or add?
Creating and directing this group has been a real bright spot for me in what’s been one of the worst winters in history. I’m very thankful for all the trombonists who have donated their time and efforts toward getting us off the ground, and I’m excited to keep it going!
Tags: arranger, Arts, Barnes and Noble, Classical music, composer, David P. Jones, Duke Ellington, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Madison, Mark Hetzler, Morten Lauridsen, Music, Randall Thompson, Sunday, Trombone, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin-Madison, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 