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Classical music: Here are many more FREE online and streamed concerts to follow and listen to as you quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic

April 25, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

During the COVID-19 public health crisis and coronavirus pandemic, live streaming of concerts has taken off. It started with daily broadcasts of past productions by the Metropolitan Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Local organizations have followed suit. They include the Madison Symphony Orchestra; the “couchertos” of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; the twice weekly “tiny desk concerts” by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society sent to email newsletter subscribers and other recorded audiovisual performances; and local recordings made by Rich Samuels and aired on WORT-FM 89.9.

Here is a compilation, from the British radio station Classic FM with many other FREE listings that also get updated: https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/live-streamed-classical-music-concerts-coronavirus/

Here is another listing of FREE live streams and archived performances from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR): https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2020/03/16/free-online-classical-concerts

And below are several more that The Ear has checked out and recommends:

CARNEGIE HALL LIVE

Carnegie Hall (below), America’s premier concert venue, has started a series of live streams that include world music, jazz and of course classical music.

The format includes conversation and remarks from homes as well as first-rate live performances from the past. (You can also hear many of the concerts on radio station WQXR in New York City: https://www.wqxr.org)

This past week, The Ear heard an outstanding concert with three pianists, all of whom appeared in Madison last season: Emanuel Ax, who performed an all-Beethoven recital at the Wisconsin Union Theater, played the piano and acted as host; Orion Weiss, who performed a Mozart concerto with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; and Shai Wosner, who gave a terrific master class and a memorable recital on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos. If you missed it, it is still archived and accessible.

On this Thursday, April 30, at 1 p.m. CDT you can hear violinist Joshua Bell with pianist Jeremy Denk and cellist Steven Isserlis.

Here is a link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Watch-and-Listen/Live-with-Carnegie-Hall?sourceCode=31887&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsYigzumB6QIVjIbACh061Qz2EAAYASABEgJE3fD_BwE

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Deutsche Grammophon, the world oldest record label, which was established in 1898, has several online series of live streams and archived concerts.

They include “Moment Musical” (Musical Moment) by Daniel Barenboim and guest artists, broadcast from the Pierre Boulez Saal (concert hall) in Berlin.

Barenboim, who started as a child prodigy pianist and ended up being a world-class conductor who once headed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has done solo piano and chamber music concerts with the Piano Quintet and two solo pieces by Robert Schumann; the epic Diabelli Variations by Beethoven; and an all-Chopin program of encores. You can also find individual ones on YouTube.

Along more promotional lines, DG also offers a “Best of” series that features movements and excerpts from their newer recordings by some of the best known artists – including pianists Lang Lang, Danill Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Vikingur Olafsson, Jan Lisiecki and Seong-Jin Cho; conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Andris Nelsons; opera singers Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca.

Here is a link to DG’s homepage from where you can get to the various series: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC34DbNyD_0t8tnOc5V38Big

MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Closer to home, every Friday you can listen to weekly concerts by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra called “Musical Journeys.”

Performers include the MSO’s new music director Ken-David Masur as well as guest conductors like Jeffrey Kahane and the past conductor Edo de Waart.

You can hear the past five episodes, and join new ones. You can also hear past concerts by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (below) on Wisconsin Public Radio. Broadcast time is Sunday at 2 p.m.

Here is a link to Musical Journeys: https://www.mso.org/about/music/mso-musical-journeys-5/

VIOLINIST DANIEL HOPE AT HOME

British violinist Daniel Hope – who has performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — has been streaming chamber music concerts from the living room of his home in Berlin.

A prolific concert artist and 25 recordings and four Grammy Award nominations to his credit, Hope (below) has many invited guests and offers a wide range of repertoire.

Here is a link with past episodes. You can also click in upcoming episodes: https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/RC-019356/hope-home/

Are there other sites and streamed performances that you recommend?

Please leave the name and a link in the Comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AndrisNelsons, #AnnaNetrebko, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BerlinGermany, #BerlinPhilharmonic, #Bestof, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #ChineseMusicians, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ClassicFM, #COVID-19, #DanielBarenboim, #DanielHope, #DaniilTrifonov, #DeutscheGrammophon, #DiabelliVariations, #EdodeWaart, #ElinaGaranca, #EmailNewsletter, #EmanuelAx, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FredericChopin, #GrammyAward, #GuestArtist, #GustavoDudamel, #HomePage, #JacobStockinger, #JanLisiecki, #JeffreyKahane, #JeremyDenk, #JohannSebastianBach, #JoshuaBell, #Ken-DavidMasur, #KoreanMusician, #LangLang, #LiveFromtheMetinHD, #LiveStreaming, #LivingRoom, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MetropolitanOpera, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MInnesotaPublicRadio, #MomentMusical, #MusicalJourneys, #MusicalMoment, #NationalPublicRadio, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OperaSinger, #OrionWeiss, #PianoConcerto, #PianoQuintet, #PierreBoulez, #PierreBoulezSaal, #PolishComposer, #PublicHealth, #RadioStation, #RichSamuels, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #Seong-JinCho, #ShaiWosner, #shelter-at-home, #SouthKorea, #SouthKorean, #StevenIsserlis, #TheEar, #TheMet, #TinyDeskConcert, #VikingurOlafsson, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #WQXRradio, #YannickNezet-Seguin, #YouTubevideo, #YujaWang, accessible, America, Andris Nelsons, Anna Netrebko, archive, Arts, at home, audience, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, best, blog, British, Broadcast, Carnegie Hall, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Child, China, Chinese, Cho, Chopin, choral music, Classic FM, Classical music, classicalmusic, comment, compilation, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, conversation, coronavirus, coucherto, credit, crisis, Daniel Barenboim, Daniel Hope, Daniil Trifonov, Deutsche Grammophon, DG, Diabelli Variations, Dudamel, Early music, Edo de Waart, Elina Garanca, email, Emanuel Ax, encore, encores, episode, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, format, forward, Frédéric Chopin, free, Grammy, Grammy Award, guest artist, Gustavo Dudamel, HD, hear, hope, host, Jacob Stockinger, Jan Lisiecki, Jazz, Jeffrey Kahane, Jeremy Denk, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joshua Bell, Ken-David Masur, Korea, Korean musician, label, Lang Lang, like, link, listing, live, Live From The Met in HD, live streaming, live-stream, livestream, living room, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master class, masterclass, memorable, Metropolitan Opera, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Public Radio, Moment Musical, Mozart, MPR, MSO, Music, Musical Journeys, musical moment, National Public Radio, New Music, New York City, newsletter, nomination, NPR, oldest, online, opera, Orchestra, organizations, Orion Weiss, pandemic, past, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, Piano Quintet, pieces, Pierre Boulez, Pierre Boulez Saal, Polish, post, posting, premier, prodigy, program, prolific, Public health, public radio, Radio, radio station, range, recital, recording, remarks, repertoire, Rich Samuels, Robert Schumann, Romantic, Romantic music, Salon Piano Series, Seong-Jin Cho, series, Shai Wosner, share, singer, solo, Sonata, South Korea, South Korean, stay at home, Steven Isserlis, stream, streaming, subscriber, Sunday, symphony, tag, The Ear, the Met, time, Tiny Desk Concert, United States, upcoming, update, venue, Vikingur Olafsson, Violin, violinist, vocal music, Wang, WCO, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, World music, world-class, WORT-FM 89.9, WPR, WQXR, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, YouTube, Yuja Wang

Classical music: Ken-David Masur, son of famed conductor Kurt Masur, is the new music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

November 13, 2018
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

By Jacob Stockinger

Ken-David Masur (below), a critically acclaimed associate conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and son of the late German conductor Kurt Masur, has been named the new music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Masur, who was chosen after a 36-month international search to find the successor to Edo de Waart, will start his duties next season and expand the number of concerts he conducts the following season. His contract runs through the 2022-23 season.

Masur, who also performs new music, sounds appealing and accomplished. It makes The Ear hope that the Masur brings the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to perform at the Wisconsin Union Theater, as has been done in the past.

Here are some links to stories and web sites with more information about appointment of the Grammy Award-nominated Masur (below, in a photo by Beth Ross Buckley), which was announced Monday. (You can hear him conducting the dramatic opening of the “Romeo and Juliet” ballet suite by Sergei Prokofiev in the YouTube video at the bottom. His work is well represented on YouTube.)

Here is a long and very informative story, with a lot of detail and background, from the Associated Press: https://www.apnews.com/61dace4d8fe346cba3c36c9c25cd62ca

Here is a link to the online story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, along with spoken introductions he gave to performances in Milwaukee of the Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms and the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff: https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/arts/2018/11/12/milwaukee-symphony-names-ken-david-masur-its-new-music-director/1963446002/

And here is a link to his own web site: http://ken-davidmasur.com

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AssociateConductor, #AssociatedPress, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonSymphony, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #EdodeWaart, #FacebookPost, #GrammyAward, #JohannesBrahms, #Ken-DavidMasur, #KurtMasur, #MilwaukeeJournal-Sentinel, #MilwaukeeSymphonyOrchestra, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MusicDirector, #NewMusic, #PianoConcerto, #RomeoandJuliet, #SergeiProkofiev, #TheEar, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, acclaimed, accomplished, appealing, Arts, associate, Associated Press, audience, Bach, ballet, Baroque, Beethoven, blog, Boston, Boston Symphony, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, contract, critic, drama, dramatic, Edo de Waart, Facebook, German, Germany, Grammy, Grammy Award, introduction, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ken-David Masur, Kurt Masur, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, Music director, New Music, online, Orchestra, performance, Piano, Piano concerto, post, posting, Romeo and Juliet, Season, Sergei Prokofiev, sing, singer, son, stories, story, Suite, symphony, The Ear, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, vocal music, web site, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube

Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra excels in deeply satisfying performances of works by Copland and Dvorak. On Sunday, you can hear FREE band and choral music at the UW

October 14, 2017
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ALERT: On tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 15, there is FREE band music and choral music at the UW-Madison. The University Bands perform at 1 p.m. and the Choral Collage performs at 7:30 p.m., both in Mills Hall. Sorry, but The Ear has received no word on programs — no composers, no pieces, no conductors, no performers — and you won’t find that information even on the School of Music’s website.

By Jacob Stockinger

Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.

By John W. Barker

The opening concert of the mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by William Ballhorn) on Wednesday night was a deeply satisfying one.

The opener was Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, based on his incidental music for a 1939 play. The piece is less a work of music than of atmosphere, and deeply related to Copland’s own experiences growing up in New York City. To convey contrasting outlooks, Copland features a trumpet and an English horn as solo instruments.

These parts were played with confidence and feeling by MCO players Jessica Jensen and Valree Casey (below top and bottom, respectively, in photo by Brian Ruppert). The reduced string orchestra provided a smooth carpeting.

The main work was the Symphony No. 6 in D Major by Antonin Dvorak (below). Cruelly overshadowed in podium and audience tastes, this score has been badly neglected, but justly belongs with the composer’s last three symphonies as a worthy peer. (The Madison Symphony Orchestra did perform it a few seasons back.)

As I listened to the work, I recalled the comment that the early Dvorak supporter, Johannes Brahms, commented to colleagues as he got to know the Czech composer’s music, to the effect that “This kid has more ideas than all the rest of us put together.”

Dvorak’s outpouring of ideas, and his capacity for putting them to good use, is simply astounding. I particularly marveled at such qualities as I listened to the slow movement (which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom), with its beautiful manipulation of the simplest of basic material. I emerged from the performance feeling joy at being a member of the same species as the creator of this wonderful work.

One could certainly overlook some moments of rough ensemble here and there. Clearly, the players had come to love this music and give it their all. Indeed, the distinguished conductor Edo de Waart, who just retired as music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra to become the music director of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra) joined the orchestra in one rehearsal (below, in a photo by Brian Ruppert), leaving the players not only delighted with him but that much more enchanted by the music.

The large audience caught the orchestra’s commitment and responded with an enthusiastic standing ovation.

One thought did occur to me. The acoustics of Middleton’s Performing Arts Center (below) have usually seemed to me quite admirable. This time, however, they struck me as rather dry, without some resonance and reverberation that would have added greater warmth of tone to the playing.

No matter, though. This was a performance I will long remember; and I have the greatest admiration for maestro Steve Kurr (below), both for his courage in taking on this challenging and under-appreciated masterpiece and for his clearly profound understanding of it.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Let us celebrate Brit Grit after the Manchester terrorist attack with Elgar’s Symphony No. 1

May 24, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

First came the unforgettable.

Then came the unforgivable.

In the first case, I am talking about the woefully under-attended performance on Sunday afternoon at the Wisconsin Union Theater by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (below) under its outgoing maestro Edo de Waart.

The MSO played the Overture to the opera “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Schelomo: A Hebraic Rhapsody” by Ernest Bloch, with principal cellist Susan Babini as soloist; and the Symphony No. 1 by Sir Edward Elgar.

In each case, all sections of the orchestra performed stunningly well and the caliber of performance made you wonder: “Why don’t we hear this group more often?”

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra used to tour to Madison every year or so. It should do so again.

Then not long after the concert came word of the deadly terrorist attack by a suicide bomber at a pop concert in Manchester, England.

Sure, sometimes these things just happen. But coincidences can have power.

The Ear can’t think of a more stately and forceful statement of British fortitude and stoicism – the same grit that saw Britain through the Nazi blitz — than the poignant march-like opening of the first movement of Sir Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1.

Chances are you don’t know the symphony.

Chances are you know Elgar from his “Pomp and Circumstance” Marches, from his “Enigma Variations” for orchestra, from his Cello Concerto, from his Violin Concerto, from the violin miniature “Salut d’amour.”

But this is grand and great Elgar (below) who, like Brahms, turned to writing symphonies only late in his life.

We don’t hear Elgar’s first symphony often enough.

And this just happens to be the right time, both because of the world-class performance by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and because the symphony was premiered in 1908 — in Manchester — and then went on to be popular enough to have some 100 performances in its first year.

But it has fallen out of favor. The last time the Ear heard it live was years ago when the UW Symphony Orchestra played it under the baton of guest conductor and UW-Madison alumnus Kenneth Woods (below), who now leads the English Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Mahler Festival.

So here, in the YouTube video at the bottom, is a complete recording from the BBC Proms in 2012. Perhaps you will only listen to the opening movement, or even just the opening of the opening movement, with its moving theme that recurs throughout and then returns at the end.

But however much you listen to — and you shouldn’t miss the glorious slow movement – it seems a fitting choice to share today.

After all, as Leonard Bernstein once said: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

If you have another choice of music to listen to on this deadly occasion, leave word and a YouTube link in the COMMENT section.

Solidarity through music!

Posted in Classical music
Tags: Arts, attack, BBC, BBC Proms, blitz, Bloch, Britain, Cello, Classical music, Colorado, Concert, concerto, Don Giovanni, Edo de Waart, Elgar, England, English, English Symphony Orchestra, festival, fortitude, Great Britain, grit, Hebrew, Herbraic, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Kenneth Woods, Leonard Bernstein, Madison, Mahler, Mahler Fest, march, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, Nazi, opera, Orchestra, Overture, poignant, pop, pop music, Proms, reply, Schelomo, soloist, stoic, stoicism, suicide, suicide bomber, Susan Babini, symphony, Symphony No. 1 (Elgar), terror, terrorism, The Proms, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, violence, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube

Classical music: Globe-trotting conductor Edo de Waart bids farewell to Madison and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra this Sunday afternoon at the Wisconsin Union Theater with music by Mozart, Bloch and Elgar

May 17, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

Music director and conductor Edo de Waart is coming to the end of his widely praised eight-year tenure at the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, after which he will become a conductor laureate of the MSO.

The busy and energetic 75-year-old de Waart (below, in a photo by Jesse Willems) started his career as a assistant principal oboist of the Concertgebouw and rose to become an acclaimed symphony and opera conductor. Currently, he is also the music director of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. In the past, he held major posts in Hong Kong, San Francisco, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Santa Fe, New York, Houston, Sydney, Rotterdam and Amsterdam among many others.

For more on de Waart, go to his Wikipedia entry:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_de_Waart

Unless they go to Milwaukee on the following weekend — Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 26-28 — to hear de Waart conduct Gustav Mahler’s mammoth Symphony No. 3 as his final farewell, listeners in the Madison area will likely have their last chance to hear the formidable de Waart and the accomplished Milwaukee players (below, with concertmaster Frank Almond on the left) this coming Sunday afternoon.

At 2:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater, de Waart and the MSO will perform the Overture to the opera “Don Giovanni,” K. 527, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Ernest Bloch’s “Schlomo: A Hebraic Rhapsody” with MSO principal cellist Susan Babini (below); and Sir Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1, Op. 55.

There will also be a free pre-concert lecture at 1:30 p.m. by Randal Swiggum.

Tickets run from $15 to $49. For more information, including ticket prices and purchasing outlets, audiovisual links and links to reviews and background stories, go to:

https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/milwaukee-symphony-orchestra/

The Ear has always been impressed not only with the quality of de Waart’s conducting, but also with his choice of soloists and his creative approach to programming. He has fond memories of other performances in Madison by the MSO, which used to tour here regularly.

The distinguished de Waart, a native of the Netherlands, has enjoyed critical acclaim in his international career across Europe, Asia and North America. For a while, this acclaimed world-class musician who has made so many award-winning recordings and performed so many guest stints around the world, was even a neighbor who lived in Middleton, a suburb of Madison, where his wife is from.

Plus, de Waart has a fine philosophy of making music and leading an orchestra, as you can hear in the YouTube video below that was made when he first took over the reins of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra:

Posted in Classical music
Tags: Amsterdam, Arts, Asia, Australia, Beethoven, Bloch, Cello, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Concert, concerto, conductor, director, Edo de Waart, Elgar, Europe, farewell, globe, globe-trotting, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Houston, Houston Grand Opera, Jacob Stockinger, lecture, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Minneapolis, Mozart, Music, Netherlands, New York, New Zealand, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Oboe, opera, Orchestra, phiolosphy, principal, program, programming, Rotterdam, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Opera, Schlomo, soloist, soloists, St. Paul, Susan Babini, Sydney, symphony, tour, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, wife, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world-class, YouTube

Classical music: Here are the best classical recordings of 2016 as chosen by critics for The New York Times. Plus, take a break from Christmas music when the Middleton Community Orchestra plays music by Dvorak, Mendelssohn and Brahms tomorrow night

December 20, 2016
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REMINDER: Had your fill of holiday music yet? The Ear sure has. Listening to too much Christmas music is a little like drinking too much eggnog or eating too much fruitcake.

So he is grateful to the Middleton Community Orchestra, a mostly amateur but very accomplished ensemble that performs tomorrow night, Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School.

Happily, the MCO has a program that features conductor Kyle Knox and Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz. The music runs counter-intuitive to most seasonal programming and offers a break from all things Christmas except for beauty and joy: some Slavonic Dances by Antonin Dvorak, the terrific Violin Concerto in E minor by Felix Mendelssohn and the sunny Symphony No. 2 by Johannes Brahms.

Admission is $15 (NOT $10 as mistakenly stated earlier); free to students.

For more information, go to:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/classical-music-the-mostly-amateur-middleton-community-orchestra-will-give-its-holiday-concert-of-works-by-mendelssohn-dvorak-and-brahms-on-wednesday-night-dec-21/

By Jacob Stockinger

There is still time for giving and getting this holiday season.

So here are The Best Classical Recordings of 2016, as chosen by critics for The New York Times.

The Times listing has good discerning commentaries and even some audiovisual excerpts of the recordings named. And at least one of the recordings — a CD of Haydn and Ligeti by pianist Shai Wosner — has connections to Madison and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

One can also use this list as a starting point.

The Ear likes to package a recording with a book and even a ticket to a live performance. And these choices offer much food for thought. For example. the recording of the Symphony No. 1 by Edward Elgar, recorded by conductor Daniel Barenboim, will be performed at the Wisconsin Union Theater this spring by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under its outgoing director Edo de Waart.

Here is a link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/15/arts/music/best-classical-music-recordings-2016.html?_r=0

And here is a link to two other gift guides.

The first is the post-Thanksgiving guide, which includes books and DVDs, by The New York Times:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/classical-music-here-is-the-new-york-times-holiday-gift-guide-of-classical-music-for-2016/

The second is the list of nominations for the 2017 Grammy Awards:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/classical-music-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-2017-grammy-awards-they-make-a-great-holiday-gift-list-of-gives-and-gets/

Enjoy and leave word of your agreement or disagreement along with other selections in the COMMENT section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Classical music: Give the gift of LIVE music. Plus, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Union Theater are offering holiday discounts.

December 13, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

A lot of holiday gift lists suggest recordings, videos and books related to classical music.

The Ear recently posted a link to the holiday gift guide by critics of The New York Times:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/classical-music-here-is-the-new-york-times-holiday-gift-guide-of-classical-music-for-2016/

The Ear also offered the 2017 Grammy nominations for gift suggestions:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2016/12/10/classical-music-here-are-the-classical-music-nominations-for-the-2017-grammy-awards-they-make-a-great-holiday-gift-list-of-gives-and-gets/

But The Ear thinks the best gift by far is LIVE music – a ticket to one or more of the many concerts that take place in the Madison area. You can’t beat live music for excitement, insight and enjoyment.

There may be more, but at least two major arts presenters in Madison are offering holiday discounts to make your gift-giving easier and more affordable.

MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Through Dec. 24, the Madison Symphony Orchestra is offering a special deal — two levels of tickets for $20 and $49. That includes values up to $89. Concerts in the next semester include two outstanding pianist soloists (Stephen Hough, below top, playing the Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian” by Camille Saint-Saens and Philippe Bianconi playing the Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Rachmaninoff, or “The Rach 3”) as well as the “German” Requiem by Johannes Brahms, the “Beyond the Score” performance about Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” (with actors from American Players Theatre in Spring Green) and Norwegian trumpet virtuoso Tina Thing Helseth (below bottom).

Here are two relevant links:

http://www.madisonsymphony.org/holidaysale

http://www.overture.org/events/madison-symphony-orchestra/

WISCONSIN UNION THEATER

Through Jan. 8, at the Wisconsin Union Theater will forego the $4 per ticket handling fee for any event, including the classical pianist and improviser Gabriela Montero (below top), the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra with its famous outgoing music director Edo de Wart conducting (below bottom).

Here is a link to shows for the second semester:

https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/

https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/AdvSearchForm?Locations[329]=329

And of course discounts are not the only reason to choose a certain program or performer.

Whatever you are looking for — early music or new music, chamber music or orchestral music, art song recitals or choral music — you can find it in Madison, and usually at a very affordable price.

Lots of specific concerts at the UW-Madison and elsewhere are either free or low in price, as is the Middleton Community Orchestra.

Here are two links:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/

http://www.middletoncommunityorchestra.org

And you can find numerous other sites by Googling the organization’s name.

Combine a ticket to a live performance with a recording of a work or an artist, and maybe even include an invitation to be a companion, and you have a fine gift package that promises to be truly memorable.

Are there any other holiday deals the Ear hasn’t heard about?

Any suggestions or ideas for giving live music?

Leave word and links in the COMMENT section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: A German Requiem (Brahms), American Players Theatre, Arts, Bach, Beethoven, Beyond the Score, brass, Chamber music, Chanukah, choral music, Christmas, Classical music, Compact Disc, Concert, concerto, conductor, Contemporary classical music, Early music, Edo de Waart, Egyptian, gift, Grammy, Hanukkah, Holiday, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, live music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Middleton Community Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, New Music, New York Times, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Norway, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Philippe Bianconi, Piano, Piano concerto, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Saint-Saens, Scheherazade, Sonata, Spring Green, Stephen Hough, symphony, ticket, Tina Thing Helseth, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Classical music: University Opera’s updated Hollywood production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” proves a triumph on all counts. Plus, FREE Opera Scenes concert is Tuesday night

November 20, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

Here is a guest review by The Opera Guy of Giuseppe’s Verdi’s “Falstaff” as staged by the University Opera. Performance photos are by Michael Anderson.

By Larry Wells

In the past few years I’ve seen Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino” set in the Spanish Civil War, Wagner’s Ring cycle re-imagined as the history of cinema, and Puccini’s “Turandot” presented as a performance by a traveling circus.

Thus, Verdi’s ‘Falstaff’ set in 1930’s Hollywood seemed a reasonable reinterpretation, and so it proved at its final performance Tuesday evening by University Opera.

“Falstaff,” drawn from three plays by Shakespeare, is Verdi’s final opera and a rare comedy. More importantly, gone are his familiar forms of a recitative followed by an aria with lots of oom-pa-pa orchestral accompaniment, now replaced with a conversational style that to me shows Wagner’s influence. It just doesn’t sound like Verdi, but it certainly sounds good.

I felt that the whole evening was a triumph.

The sets were beautifully dressed, the costumes were excellent and the lighting was effective.

The UW Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Smith, played wonderfully, although from where I sat the sound was occasionally muffled.

Thank goodness a new music building is being built, and I trust that there will be a theater within it that will accommodate operatic performances. The current Music Hall has its limitations, one being that much of the orchestra was playing underneath the stage and another being that for some reason the theater’s temperature cannot be controlled. It was stiflingly hot during the performance.

As for the singing and acting, the cast I saw was uniformly strong. Falstaff, performed by UW-Madison faculty member Paul Rowe (below), was very robust and was particularly affecting during his act III soliloquy. The Ear mentioned to me his Oliver Hardy mannerisms, and once I noticed that I was constantly amused.

Yanzelmalee Rivera as Alice was hilarious in her seduction scene and really came alive in Act III. Courtney Kayser as Meg was a compelling comic actress. Rebecca Buechel’s Mistress Quickly was an equally adept comic actress and had an excellent voice. Emily Weaver as Nannetta was a beautiful singer who shone in her third act moments as Queen of the Fairies. These four women had some outstanding ensemble moments, and I was constantly diverted by their antics as they outwitted the men.

Among the hapless male characters, Brian Schneider was a standout as Ford and the deep voice of Benjamin Schultz (below left, with Paul Rowe and Jiabao Zhang) made the minor character Pistola noticeable whenever he was on stage.

But the voice of the evening belonged to tenor José Daniel Muñiz (below right) as Fenton. He excelled not only in his solo moments but blended extremely well with his paramour Nannetta (Claire Powling, below left).

The outstanding ensemble work exhibited throughout the opera culminated in the grand fugue at the end of the opera, and the nearly full-house audience was blown away by those final moments. (You can hear the fugal finale, conducted by Sir George Solti, in a YouTube video at the bottom.)

The 1930’s Hollywood concept worked well. It seemed completely fitting and was undoubtedly more amusing than it would have been had the opera been set in the time of Henry IV.

“Well done” to the University Opera’s new full-time director David Ronis (below center) for his imagination and direction. I look forward to his production of Benjamin Britten’s “Turn of the Screw” in early March.

And since this University Opera production and other events are being presented to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and the exhibition of a First Folio at the Chazen Museum of Art, I want to put in a plug for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sir John in Love” which has almost exactly the same plot as “Falstaff” and is woefully underperformed.

I also want to draw your attention the FREE Opera Scenes concert by University Opera that will be presented this Tuesday night, Nov. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall. Featured are singers, with piano accompaniment, in scenes from: Charles Gounod’s “Faust”; Claudio Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea“; Giacomo Puccini‘s “La Rondine”; Leonard Bernstein‘s “Trouble in Tahiti”; Gioacchino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”; Dominick Argento’s “Postcard From Morocco”; and Marc Blitzstein’s”Regina.”

Posted in Classical music
Tags: accompaniment, Arts, Barber of Seville, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Charles Gounod, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Christina and Michelle Naughton, cinema, circus, Civil War, Classical music, concerto, Dominick Argento, Edo de Waart, Falstaff, Faust, Francis Poulenc, fugue, Giacomo Puccini, Gounod, Hollywood, Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Stockinger, La Forza del Destino, La Rondine, Laurel and Hardy, Leonard Bernstein, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Marc Blitzstein, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Monteverdi, Music, Oliver Hardy, opera, Orchestra, Piano, Postcard From Morocco, Puccini, Ring cycle, Rossini, scenes, Shakespeare, Sir John in Love, Solti, Spain, Spanish Civil War, symphony, The Coronation of Poppea, Trouble in Tahiti, Turandot, Turn of the Screw, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, vaughan williams, Verdi, Wagner, wisconsin public radio, YouTube

Classical music: Two FREE concerts of wind and choral music take place Sunday at the UW-Madison. Plus Wisconsin Public Radio will air a live broadcast by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

November 19, 2016
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ALERT: Tomorrow, on Sunday afternoon from 2:30 to 4 p.m., Wisconsin Public Radio will broadcast a live performance by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra under its outgoing music director Edo de Waart.

The program features works by Igor Stravinsky, the Symphony No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven and the Concerto for Two Pianos by Francis Poulenc, with the Madison-born twin sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton as soloists.

By Jacob Stockinger

With less than a month left in the first semester’s concert schedule, the performances are really starting to pile up.

Tomorrow, on Sunday, Nov. 20, five groups will perform two FREE concerts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music:

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall is a joint concert by the Women’s Chorus (below), the Master Singers and the University Chorus.

The program includes music by Giuseppe Verdi, Arvo Part, Gustav Holst, Leonard Bernstein, George Frideric Handel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

For more information and the complete program, go to:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/joint-concert-womens-chorus-masters-singers-university-chorus/

Tomorrow at 5 p.m. in Mills Hall there is a joint concert by the UW Wind Ensemble (below) and the Winds of Wisconsin.

The program includes “Grand Pianola Music” (982) by the contemporary American composer John Adams. (You can hear the first part of the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

For more information and the full program, go to:

http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-wind-ensemble-wow-joint-concert/

Classical music: The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will perform its second-to-last concert with maestro Edo de Waart at the Wisconsin Union Theater next May

June 22, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Wisconsin Union Theater has announced some news:

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra with conductor Edo de Waart and Principal Cello Susan Babini will perform in Shannon Hall on Sunday afternoon, May 21, 2017 at 2:30 p.m.

The program includes the Overture to the opera “Don Giovanni,” K. 527, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Schelomo, A Hebraic Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra” by Ernest Bloch; and the Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Opus 55, by Sir Edward Elgar.

Ticket prices are as follows: General public tickets are $49, $45 and $25, Union Member and non-UW students tickets are $44, $40 and $25, UW Faculty and Staff tickets cost $46, $42 and $25, UW-Madison student tickets cost $15, and youth tickets (age 6-18) cost $20, limit 2 with the purchase of a full-priced ticket.

Tickets can be bought online, by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) or in person, see locations and hours here

This performance will be conductor and former music director Edo de Wart’s the second-t0-last concert as MSO’s chief conductor. (His final ones are performances of the Symphony No. 3 by Gustav Mahler on the following weekend in Milwaukee ) He has served as conductor also for the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

De Waart was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal, and was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. He is also a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. De Waart also has vast experience in opera conducting, from the Santa Fe Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera to the Royal Opera House.

The performance is presented by the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Performing Arts Committee.

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