The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: How did Baroque composer Telemann get overshadowed and why is he being rediscovered? Trevor Stephenson talks about his all-Telemann concerts this weekend
2 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
This weekend, the Madison Bach Musicians (MBM) will give two performances of a concert devoted exclusively to the music of Baroque composer Georg Philip Telemann (below).
The performances are: Saturday night, Oct. 5, at 8 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, where MBM will be artists-in-residence this season; the second performance is on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 6, at 3:30 p.m. at the Holy Wisdom Monastery, 4200 County Road M, in Middleton.
Tickets are $35 in advance and are available at the Willy Street Coop East and West, and at Orange Tree Imports. Tickets at the door are $38 for the general public; $35 for seniors; and $10 for student rush tickets that go on sale 30 minutes before each lecture. The lectures take place 45 minutes before the performance, at 7:15 p.m. and 2:45 p.m, respectively.
Why focus on the music of Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)?
Trevor Stephenson, the founder and director of the Madison Bach Musicians, talks about it in an email Q&A with The Ear:
Why does Telemann, who was so respected in his day, seem to get far less play, fewer performances and less mentioning today than his contemporaries Bach, Vivaldi and Handel?
Telemann was born in 1681 — three years after Vivaldi and four years before Bach and Handel. He was astonishingly prolific and it is estimated that he wrote more than Bach and Handel combined.
On top of this, he was very highly respected and was widely published and performed during his life. Remember, it was Telemann — not Bach — whom the Leipzig council wanted to hire for the music director position in 1723. But Telemann was enjoying his wonderful new post in Hamburg—a thriving port city — and was not about to go back to landlocked Leipzig where he had spent his student days.
At any rate, after the 18th century had passed and its music became somewhat marginalized, in the early 19th century it was Bach’s music, not Telemann’s, that suddenly re-emerged.
Bach’s tremendous emotional depth, contrapuntal mastery and ability to control large-scale forms in an almost heroic way spoke with greater urgency to the Romantic sensibility than did Telemann’s elegant craftsmanship. Indeed, 19th-century Bach scholars often mean-spiritedly used Telemann as a foil for Bach.
Telemann’s music nevertheless received a modicum of performances in the early 20th century, but in the 1980s and 1990s, as the Early Music movement really got rolling—and the level of period-instrument performance increased—it became apparent that Telemann’s music really was hot stuff!
Now his music is enjoying a wonderful and well-deserved revival.
What are the appealing and admirable qualities you see in Telemann’s music? Are there any drawbacks to his compositions?
Telemann had a wonderful sense of melodic invention — probably music’s analog to an artist’s ability to draw — and his tunes seem to flow out effortlessly. And although his output was opulent, he had an uncanny sense of form and how much weight – duration — any given musical scene could bear.
He also was a masterful musical polyglot, able to jump back and forth easily between Italian, French and German musical idioms; and like Bach, he was also adept at integrating them into a unified style—this integration of national styles was a frequently acknowledged goal of 18th-century composers.
Telemann’s limitations are apparent when he is juxtaposed with Handel, who could dramatically really take the roof off and who could also find the inner essence of the human voice, and Bach who, like Shakespeare, through a near alchemy of sound and meaning could consistently define and further what it means to be human.
How and why did you put this program together? What unifies it and what would you like the public to know about it?
Madison Bach Musicians’ concertmaster and assistant artistic director Kangwon Kim (below left with Emily Dupere) did the heavy lifting in putting together this wonderful program of Telemann’s chamber music. MBM will present three of Telemann’s programmatic or story works, one church cantata and three purely instrumental selections.
With narration and graphics, we’ll walk you through how he cleverly depicts scenes from Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726, below), which had been in print only two years when Telemann wrote his topical Gulliver Suite in 1728. Telemann loved ludicrous irony, like the tiny Lilliputians dancing a heavy chaconne—which Telemann notates in a hilarious, confounding mass of 64th and 128th notes. And then there’s the Brobdingnagian giants doing their rendition of a light-footed gigue, rendered in loopy, cumbersome whole notes!
We’ll also present the marvelous Suite Burlesque based upon Cervantes’ Don Quixote (below): Quixote’s love for Dulcinea, his jousting with windmills, and how a crowd mocks Quixote’s faithful, world-weary servant Sancho Panza.
To top it off, guest artist mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski (below) will sing the droll and sweetly amusing cantata about the demise — brought about by the cat! — of a favorite and very artistic canary. Osowski will also sing the church cantata Weicht, ihr Sünden, bleibt dahinten (Yield, You Sins, and Stay Behind Me). Telemann wrote more than 1,000 church cantatas.
The concert includes non-programmatic works for string band: the dramatic and Corelli-esque Sonata à 6 in F minor for two violins, two violas, cello and continuo; and the sparkling Sinfonia Spirituosa (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom). I will also perform some fascinating Fantasy miniatures for solo harpsichord, and will give a pre-concert lecture at both events.
For more information about the program, the performers and tickets, go to: www.madisonbachmusicians.org
Tags: #18thCentury, #19thCentury, #20thCentury, #AntonioVivaldi, #ArcangeloCorelli, #AtriumAuditorium, #BaroqueComposer, #BaroqueContinuo, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClaraOsowski, #ClassicalMusician, #ContrapuntalMusic, #DonQuixote, #EarlyMusicMovement, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #GuestArtist, #Gulliver'sTravels, #HamburgGermany, #HarpsichordMusic, #HeavyLifting, #HolyWisdomMonastery, #HotStuff, #HumanVoice, #InstrumentalMusic, #JohannSebastianBach, #JonathanSwift, #KangwonKim, #Large-scale, #LeipzigGermany, #MadisonBachMusicians, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MigueldeCervantes, #MusicalStyle, #MusicDirector, #OrangeTreeImports, #PeriodInstrument, #PortCity, #Pre-concertLecture, #RomanticMusic, #SacredCantata, #SacredMusic, #SanchoPanza, #SaturdayNight, #SeniorCitizen, #StringMusic, #Sundayafternoon, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WholeNotes, #WilliamShakepseare, #WillyStreetCoop, #WillyStreetCoopEast, #WillyStreetCoopWest, 18th century, 19th century, 20th-century, ability, afternoon, alchemy, analog, analogue, Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli, artist, artist-in-residence, Atrium Auditorium, Bach, band, Baroque, behind, blog, Burlesque, Cantata, cellist, Cello, chaconne, Chamber music, Christian, Christianity, church, Clara Osowski, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, Concert, concertmaster, contemporary, continuo, contrapuntal, control, Corelli, council, counterpoint, craftsmanship, crowd, cumbersome, dance, dancing, days, depth, devoted, Don Quixote, draw, Dulcinea, Early music, elegant, email, emotional, enjoy, exclusive, Facebook, faithful, fantasy, fascinating, First Unitarian Society of Madison, form, forward, French, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, German, giant, giants, gigue, goal, guest artist, Gulliver's Travels, Hamburg, Handel, harpsichord, heavy lifting, heroic, hire, Holy Wisdom Monastery, hot stuff, human voice, idiom, instrumental, interview, invention, irony, Italian, Johann Sebastian Bach, Jonathan Swift, jousting, Kangwon Kim, landlocked, lecture, Leipzig, like, Lilliputian, link, loopy, Love, ludicrous, Madison Bach Musicians, marginalized, marvelous, mastery, me, mean-spirit, meaning, melodic, melody, mention, Mezzo-soprano, Middleton, Miguel de Cervantes, miniature, movement, Music, Music director, musical, musical style, national, night, notes, opulent, Orange Tree Imports, output, performance, performer, period-instrument, play, polyglot, port city, position, post, posting, programmatic, prolific, public, pure, Q&A, rediscover, respect, revival, Romantic, sacred cantata, sacred music, Sancho Panza, Saturday night, scene, scholar, senior, sense, sensibility, servant, Shakespeare, share, sins, solo, Sonata, Sound, story, string, Student, style, subscriber, Suite, Sunday, tag, tickets, tiny, tune, tunes, uncanny, unified, urgency, use, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, Vivaldi, vocal music, weight, well-deserved, whole, whole notes, Willy Street Coop, windmill, Wisconsin, wonderfu, world-weary, yield
Classical music: Soprano Sarah Brailey and nine UW-Madison cellists team up for the FREE concert of songs at Grace Presents this Saturday at noon
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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
This Saturday, Sept. 21, at noon, a FREE one-hour program in the Grace Presents series will feature soprano Sarah Brailey (below) in “My Loyal Heart,” a recital of songs by Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, Guillaume de Machaut, Dmitri Shostakovich and Heitor Villa-Lobos.
The concert is at Grace Episcopal Church (below), located downtown on the Capitol Square at 116 West Washington Avenue.
Brailey is an acclaimed professional singer who often tours and who is doing graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
Brailey will be joined by friends and colleagues. They include UW baritone Paul Rowe and members of the UW Madison Cello Ensemble, featuring nine local Madison cellists who include Grace Presents program coordinator James Waldo. (Below is a summer cello choir at the UW-Madison from several years ago.)
The works will be sung in Russian, Portuguese, and both modern and medieval French.
Here is an introduction from Waldo:
“It is often said that the cello is the instrument most like the human voice.
“My Loyal Heart,” devotes an entire program to music for soprano Sarah Brailey and cello from the 14th century to the 20th century.
“It opens with Arvo Pärt’s L’abbé Agathon about the legend of Father Agathon from the 4th century book “The Desert Fathers,” followed by a new arrangement by Brailey for soprano and cello trio of Guillaume de Machaut’s elegant love song Se quanque amours puet donner.
“This intimately ardent piece is followed by a more tragic love story, that of Shakespeare’s Ophelia, in the opening movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok.
“The program continues in Russian with Sir John Tavener’s powerful and darkly spiritual Akhmatova Songs with poetry by Russian-Soviet Modernist poet, Anna Akhmatova.
“The concert concludes with the hauntingly beautiful and famous first movement and the playful concluding dance of Bachianas Brasileiras (Brazilian Bach Suites) No.5 for soprano and eight cellos by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. (You can hear the Villa-Lobos aria in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Text and translations will be provided.
“This program will not be performed anywhere else in Madison.”
Tags: #AlexanderBlok, #AnnaAkhmatova, #ArvoPärt, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrazilianComposer, #CapitolSquare, #CelloChoir, #ChristianChurch, #DesertFathers, #DmitriShostakovich, #EnglishLanguage, #EnglishLiterature, #EnglishTranslation, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FatherAgathon, #FrenchLanguage, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #GracePresents, #GraduateStudent, #GuillaumedeMachaut, #HeitorVilla-Lobos, #James Waldo, #JamesWaldo, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnTavener, #JohnTaverner, #LoveSong, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalFrench, #ModernFrench, #PaulRowe, #PortugueseLanguage, #ProfessionalMusician, #RussianLanguage, #RussianLitertaure, #SarahBrailey, #SopranoSinger, #SovietMusic, #SovietUnion, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WilliamShakespeare, #YouTubevideo, Alexander Blok, Anna Akhmatova, Arvo Part, Bach, baritone, blog, Book, Brazil, Brazilian, Capitol Square, cellist, Cello, cello choir, Choir, Christian, Christian church, church, classicalmusic, colleagues, Concert, coordinator, dark, desert, Dmitri Shostakovich, downtown, drama, elegant, England, English, Facebook, father, Father Agathon, France, free, French, French language, friends, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, graduate student, Guillaume de Machaut, Hamlet, heart, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Tavener, John Taverner, language, local, love song, loyal, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, modern, modernist, Music, Ophelia, Paul Rowe, poem, Poetry, Portuguese, post, posting, professional, program, recital, Religion and Spirituality, Romance, Russia, Russian, Sarah Brailey, series, Shakespeare, Shostakovich, singer, soprano, Soviet, spiritual, Suite, summer, text, tour, tragedy, translation, trio, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USSR, UW-Madison, Villa-Lobos, years, YouTube
Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society again brings its surefire summery approach to serious classical chamber music when it starts its 28th annual series this weekend
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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.
By Jacob Stockinger
It’s not just the calendar that makes the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society the official start of the increasingly busy summer classical musical season in Madison.
The real reason is that the summer chamber music series, about to start its 28th annual summer this Friday night, June 14, is downright summery in its approach.
Say “summer,” and you think of lightness, of fun, of playfulness. And those are the very same qualities – along with serious, first-rate performances of great music by outstanding musicians – that BDDS brings to its six programs spread out in 12 concerts over three weekends and three venues during the month of June.
By now both the performers (below, in a photo by Dick Ainsworth for BDDS) and the audiences know that the formula works, however finely tuned or slightly changed it is from one summer to the next.
WHAT’S THE SAME
This year much remains.
There are still door prizes, spoken introductions and stories, mystery guests and a colorful art installation by UW-Madison designer Carolyn Kallenborn.
The titles of the six programs for 12 concerts over three weekends still have groan-inducing puns — “Name Dropping” in the theme for this summer — that are based on the musicians’ names like “Founteneau of Youth” after the San Francisco cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below top) and “Quadruple Axel” after the Montreal-based violin virtuoso Axel Strauss (below bottom).
There are still the usual venues: the Playhouse in the Overture Center (below top); the Stoughton Opera House (below middle); and the Hillside Theater at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright compound in Spring Green.
There are still the many distinguished and accomplished musicians among the many imported guest artists and the many local musicians, including the co-founders and co-artistic directors flutist Stephanie Jutt and pianist Jeffrey Sykes (below). The Ear can’t recall ever hearing a bad BDDS performance, even of music he didn’t like.
And there is a mix of older well-known and classic repertoire along with newer and neglected composers and works.
WHAT’S NEW
But some things are different too.
The first concert this Friday will have a post-concert reception with free champagne and dessert to celebrate the 28th season.
This summer, unlike recent ones, there is no vocal music. All music is instrumental.
At both Stoughton and Spring Green, you can get food. Go to the home website for details.
Especially new and noteworthy is that the Russian virtuoso accordion player Stas Venglevski (below), from Milwaukee, will also perform on programs. Venglevski performs on the bayan, a Russian-style accordion noted for its deep bass sound and range and purity of tone.
Venglevski will be featured in works that range from polkas and heart-on-the-sleeve tangos by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona and Russian composer Igor Stravinsky; down-and-dirty original works by Russian master Tatyana Sergeyeva and arrangements of favorite pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and others.
This Wednesday night, June 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., Venglevski and Jutt will perform “Bayan-o-rama” at the Arts and Literature Lab, 2021 Winnebago Street. Tickets are $10 at the door. Refreshments will be served.
Here is a summary of the first weekend:
WEEK ONE
The elegance, charm, and finesse of French cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau is displayed in a program called “Fonteneau of Youth.”
It includes music written by great composers in their youth, including the ravishing Elegy for cello and piano of French composer Gabriel Fauré; the rhythmically exciting Trio for flute, cello and piano of living American composer Ned Rorem; and the astonishing D’un soir triste (One Sad Evening) and D’un matin de printemps (One Spring Morning), both for piano trio, of 21-year old Lili Boulanger (below), who was the Prix de Rome-winning composer sister of famed teacher Nadia Boulanger and who died very young. (You can hear both pieces by Lili Boulanger in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The great Franz Joseph Haydn—always the most youthful of composers, even into his late years—is represented by the masterful Piano Trio no. 28 in E major, in honor of BDDS’ 28th season.
“Fonteneau of Youth” will be performed at The Playhouse in the Overture Center for the Arts on this Friday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. A free champagne and dessert reception will be held following the performance to celebrate the 28th season opener. It will also be performed in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater on Sunday, June 16, at 2:30 p.m.
Audience favorite Axel Strauss—not just a virtuoso violinist, but a virtuoso musician and artist of the highest distinction—will brave gravity-defying musical heights in “Quadruple Axel.” Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Trio Sonata in D minor for violin, flute, cello and piano starts the program on an elegant note. Johannes Brahms’ fiery Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, raises the temperature significantly. And all sorts of hijinks are on display in Maurice Ravel’s extraordinary and ravishing Sonata for Violin and Piano.
“Quadruple Axel” will be performed at The Playhouse in the Overture Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m. and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater, Sunday, June 16, at 6:30 p.m.
For more information about the full BDDS season and how to purchase tickets ($43 and $49), go to: https://bachdancing.org
Tags: #AcademicFestivalOverture, #AmericanComposer, #ArgentineanComposer, #ArtisticDirector, #ArtsandLiteratureLaboratory, #AstorPiazzolla, #AudienceFavorite, #AxelStrauss, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #CarolynKallenborn, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicians, #Classicalera, #ContemporaryComposers, #ContemporaryMusic, #CPEBach, #Cubancomposer, #DoorPrize, #ErnestoLecuona, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FigureSkating, #FrankLloydWright, #FranzJosephHaydn, #Frenchcomposer, #FrenchMusic, #GabrielFaure, #HillsideTheater, #HomeWebsite, #IgorStravinsky, #InstrumentalMusic, #Jean-MichelFonteneau, #JeffreySykes, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiliBoulanger, #LivingComposer, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MauriceRavel, #McGillUniversity, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #ModernComposers, #ModernMusic, #MontrealCanada, #MysteryGuest, #NadiaBoulanger, #Name-Dropping, #NameDropping, #NedRorem, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedRepertoire, #NewMusic, #OvertureCenter, #PianoTrio, #PrixdeRome, #Prize-Winning, #RussianComposer, #SanFrancisco, #SanFranciscoCalifornia, #SanFranciscoTrio, #SpringGreen, #StasVenglevski, #StephanieJutt, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StoughtonWisconsin, #Taliesincompound, #TatyanaSergeyeva, #ThePlayhouse, #TrioSonata, #UniversityofCalifornia-Berkeley, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolinistVirtuoso, #VirtuosoViolinist, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, accordion, American, annual, Argentina, Argentinean, Argentinian, Art, Artistic director, Arts, Arts and Literature Laboratory, audience, axel, Axel Strauss, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, bad, Baroque, Baroque music, bass, bayan, BDDS, blog, busy, calendar, California, Canada, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carolyn Kallenborn, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, champagne, change, charm, classic, Classical era, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, compound, Concert, contemporary, CPE Bach, Cuba, Cuban, dance, dancing, design, dessert, desserts, different, door prize, Early music, elegance, elegant, Elegy, Ernesto Lecuoña, evening, Facebook, Faure, favorite, festival, figure skating, finesse, first-rate, flute, flutist, food, formula, forward, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Joseph Haydn, free, French, fun, Gabriel Fauré, great, groan, guest, heart, Hillside Theater, House, Igor Stravinsky, induce, installation, instrumental, introduction, introductions, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Jeffrey Sykes, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, June, late, lightness, like, Lili Boulanger, link, literature, living, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Ravel, McGill University, Mead Witter School of Music, Milwaukee, mix, modern, month, Montreal, morning, Music, Musician, mystery, Nadia Boulanger, name, Ned Rorem, neglected, new, New Music, official, opera, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, playfulness, polka, Prix de Rome, prize, program, purity, quadruple, qualities, range, recall, reception, refreshment, repertoire, Russian, San Francisco, San Francisco Trio, Season, serious, share, sister, sleeve, Sonata, Sound, spoken, Spring, Spring Green, Spring Green Wisconsin, start, Stas Venglevski, Stephanie Jutt, stories, story, Stoughton, Stoughton Opera House, summer, summery, tag, Taliesin, tango, Tatyana Sergeyeva, Teacher, The Playhouse, theme, ticket, tone, trio, trio sonata, tuned, United States, University of California-Berkeley, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, venue, Violin, violinist, virtuoso, vocal music, Website, weekend, what, winning, Wisconsin, Wiscosnin, word, works, year, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: Canadian violinist James Ehnes and American composer John Harbison are spotlighted this coming weekend by the Madison Symphony Orchestra
9 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
Internationally recognized and Grammy Award-winning Canadian violinist James Ehnes returns to Overture Hall this weekend to perform the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO, below in a photo by Greg Anderson).
The program opens with a performance of American composer John Harbison’s The Most Often Used Chords, and closes with Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
This program is a continuation of MSO music director John DeMain’s 25th anniversary season.
Performances will be held in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on Friday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 17, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets information is below.
“Mussorgsky’s masterpiece explores the colors of the orchestra — the correlation of an artist’s visual medium through the colors of sound and music. And its finale The Great Gate of Kiev (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), is one of classical music’s greatest hits,” says DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson).
DeMain adds: “James Ehnes (below, in a photo by Benjamin Ealovega) is a violinist who is completely to my taste. With an absolutely gorgeous sound and consummate technique, he goes to the heart of the music. He will approach the Brahms violin concerto as a violinist’s violinist, adored by the public, by his colleagues and by me for the integrity in his playing.”
On this Friday afternoon, Feb. 15, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, Ehnes will give a free and public master class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
DeMain continues: “We celebrate the 80th birthday of the internationally renowned — and Madison resident — composer John Harbison (below) with the first performance by the MSO of his delightful composition, The Most Often Used Chords.”
Harbison’s The Most Often Used Chords is a satirical piece of “anti-art art,” or “found object,” art. According to the composer, the found object that inspired this symphony (originally titled Fli Accordi Piu Usati) were the pre-printed “Fundamentals of Music” pages that he noticed in an Italian music-writing notebook. The work was originally composed in 1992 for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Written in 1878, the Brahms Violin Concerto was dedicated to his friend Joseph Joachim and premiered in 1879 in Leipzig, with Joachim soloing and Brahms (below) conducting.
An equal partnership between soloist and ensemble is on full display in this concerto; it is not a piece in which the orchestra serves as mere backdrop. Rather, the violinist and orchestra are a team, collaborating and interacting to recount an elegant and nuanced musical drama.
Originally written as a piano composition, Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky was composed as a memorial to his friend, the Russian artist Viktor Hartmann, who died in 1873. The suite consists of 10 movements — each a musical depiction of one of 10 paintings by Hartmann. These movements are interspersed with a recurring promenade theme that represents a visitor strolling through the exhibition.
The arrangement by Maurice Ravel (below), produced in 1922, represents a virtuoso effort by a master composer. His instrumental colors — a trumpet solo for the opening Promenade, dark woodwind tones, the piccolo and high strings for the children’s “chicks in shells” — are widely admired. The influence of Ravel’s version may often be discerned in subsequent versions of the suite.
CONCERT AND TICKET DETAILS
The lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below) will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience. It is free to ticket holders.
The symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion.
Program notes for the concerts, written retired MSO trombonist J. Michael Allsen, are available online: http://bit.ly/feb2019programnotes
- Single Tickets are $18-$93 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/ehnesthrough the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Flex-ticket booklets of 10 vouchers for 18-19 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the February concerts is provided by: The Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club, BMO Harris Bank, Boardman and Clark LLP, Capitol Lakes, Dr. Robert and Linda Graebner, Marvin J. Levy, and Cyrena and Lee Pondrom.
Additional funding is provided by Martha and Charles Casey, and by the Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #Americanconductor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BMOHarrisBank, #BoardmanandClark, #BrahmsViolinConcerto, #CapitolLakes, #ChamberOrchestra, #CyrenaPondrom, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstPerformance, #FoundObject, #GrammyAward, #GreatestHits, #GreatGateofKIev, #J.MIchaelAllsen, #JamesEhnes, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #JohnHarbison, #JosephJoachim, #LawFirm, #LeipzigGermany, #LindaGraebner, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesChamberOrchestra, #MadisonConcourseHotel, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MillsHall, #ModestMussorgsky, #MusicalDrama, #MusicDirector, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #OvertureHall, #PianoMusic, #PicturesatanExhibition, #PreludeDiscussion, #ProgamNotes, #RandalSwiggum, #RobertGraebner, #RussianArtist, #SeniorCitizen, #StateOfWisconsin, #StudentID, #StudentRush, #TheMostOftenUsedChords, #ThePublic, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViktorHartmann, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #YouTubevideo, American, American composer, American conductor, anniversary, Art, artist, Arts, audience, Baroque, birthday, blog, BMO Harris Bank, Boardman and Clark, box office, Brahms Violin Concerto, Canada, Canadian, Capitol Lakes, Cello, Chamber music, children, chords, Classical music, collaborate, colleague, color, composer, Composition, concerto, conduct, conductor, Cyrena Pondrom, depiction, discount, donor, elegant, ensemble, exhibition, experience, Facebook, first performance, free, fundamentals, funding, gallery, Germany, Grammy Award, great, Great Gate of Kiev, greatest hits, group, heart, hit, hotel, influence, instrumental, instrumental music, integrity, interact, international, Italian, J. Michael Allsen, Jacob Stockinger, James Ehnes, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, John Harbison, Joseph Joachim, law firm, Leipzig, like, Linda Graebner, link, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Madison, Madison Concourse Hotel, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master class, masterclass, masterpiece, Maurice Ravel, Mead Witter School of Music, Mills Hall, Modest Mussorgsky, movement, Museum, Music director, musical drama, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, notebook, Orchestra, orchestration, orchestrator, Overture Center, Overture Hall, painting, partnership, performer, Piano, piccolo, Picture, Pictures at an Exhibition, piece, playing, post, posting, Prelude Discussion, program, program notes, promenade, public, Randal Swiggum, resident, retired, Robert Graebner, Russian, satire, satirical, Season, security, senior, senior citizen, share, solo, soloist, Sound, State of Wisconsin, strings, Student, student ID, student rush, Suite, symphony, tag, team, technique, The Most Often Used Chords, ticket, Trombone, trombonist, Trumpet, understanding, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Viktor Hartmann, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, visitor, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, woodwind, word, YouTube
Classical music: Starting this Thursday, Madison Opera offers FREE preview events leading up to its staging of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” on Feb. 8 and 10
Leave a Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
ALERT: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features harpsichordist Trevor Stephenson, artistic director of the Madison Bach Musicians, will play selections by Johann Sebastian Bach for solo harpsichord. He will be joined by baroque flutist Kristen Davies for Bach’s Sonata in C major for Flute and Harpsichord. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The Madison Opera will present Stephen Sondheim’s classic A Little Night Music on Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street.
One of the most popular stage pieces of the 20th century, this modern operetta waltzes through a story of the complications of love across generations, spiced with sparkling wit and rueful self-awareness.
Set in Sweden in the early 1900s, A Little Night Music tells of multiple couples with mixed ideas of love. During a weekend in the country, marriages are made and unmade and the summer nights smile on the young and old alike. Through delicious humor and a ravishing score, human folly eventually gives way to happily-ever-after.
“A Little Night Music is an absolutely delicious piece,” says Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill), Madison Opera’s general director. “I think of it as a grown-up operetta, with some of the best dialogue and lyrics ever written, all to Sondheim’s brilliant score. It’s a delightful way to spend a winter evening, and I’m so thrilled with our cast and production team, who are creating a new production for the Capitol Theater.”
“A Little Night Music” opened on Broadway in 1973 to rave reviews. The New York Times wrote: “At last, a new operetta! A Little Night Music is heady, civilized, sophisticated, and enchanting.”
It has since been performed by both theater and opera companies all over the world and was revived on Broadway in 2009. Sondheim composed the score entirely in variations of waltz time, and it includes several now-classic songs, such as “Send in the Clowns,” “A Weekend in the Country,” and “The Miller’s Son.” (You can hear Dame Judi Dench singing a restrained but deeply moving rendition of “Send in the Clowns” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Can you imagine? An entire musical composed in some form of waltz time,” says John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson), Madison Opera’s artistic director. “I love this score, which feels like Johann Strauss meets the harmonies of Ravel. It’s an incredible verbal and musical achievement that gets better every time I hear it. Madison Opera’s cast should prove to be sensational as we bring this Sondheim masterpiece to life. I so look forward to conducting it.”
Madison Opera’s cast features both returning artists and debuts.
Emily Pulley (below top) returns to Madison Opera as Desirée Armfeldt, a famous actress searching for “a coherent existence after so many years of muddle.” Daniel Belcher returns as Fredrik, Desirée’s ex-lover, who is currently married to the 18-year-old Anne, played by Wisconsin native Jeni Houser (below bottom), who recently made her debut at the Vienna State Opera.
Sarah Day (below), a member of the core acting company of American Players Theatre in Spring Green, makes her debut as Madame Armfeldt, the elegant ex-courtesan who is Desirée’s mother. Charles Eaton returns as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, Desirée’s current lover; his wife Charlotte is played by Katherine Pracht in her Madison Opera debut.
Rounding out the cast are Quinn Bernegger as Henrik, son of Fredrik; Emily Glick as the maid Petra; and Maddie Uphoff as Fredrika, Desirée’s 13-year-old daughter.
The Liebeslieders, who function as a waltz-prone Greek chorus throughout the show, are portrayed by Emily Secor, Cassandra Vasta, Kirsten Larson, Benjamin Liupaogo, and Stephen Hobe.
Doug Schulz-Carlson (below) returns to direct. The artistic director of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, his most recent Madison Opera production was Romeo and Juliet in 2016.
The original set is designed by R. Eric Stone (below top) and is being built in the Madison Opera Scene Shop. The costumes are designed by Karen Brown-Larimore (below bottom), who most recently designed costumes for Madison Opera’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas.
Members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra accompany Sondheim’s gorgeous score.
PREVIEW EVENTS
Events leading up to the performances can help the community learn more about A Little Night Music.
A FREE community preview will be held this Thursday, Jan. 17, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street.
Opera Novice, also FREE, takes place this Friday, Jan. 18, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Madison Opera Center (below), 335 West Mifflin Street, and offers a free, entertaining look at the works of Stephen Sondheim including A Little Night Music.
Opera Up Close — which is free to season subscribers and costs $20 for others — provides an in-depth discussion of the production, including a cast roundtable, and takes place on Feb. 3 from 1-3 p.m. at the Madison Opera Center, 335 West Mifflin Street.
Pre-Opera Talks will take place at the Overture Center one hour prior to each performance.
For more information, including interviews with cast members and the production team, and to get tickets ($25-$115), go to: https://www.madisonopera.org/2018-2019-season/a-little-night-music/
Madison Opera’s production of “A Little Night Music” is sponsored by Thompson Investment Management, Inc., Fran Klos, David Flanders and Susan Ecroyd, and Charles Snowdon and Ann Lindsey.
Tags: #20thCentury, #ALittleNightMusic, #AmericanPlayersTheatre, #ArtisticDirector, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BroadwayMusical, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolTheater, #ChamberMusic, #DougSchulz-Carlson, #DramaReview, #EmilyPulley, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FlorenciaenelAmazonas, #FluteMusic, #FluteSonata, #GreatRiverShakespeareFestival, #GreekChorus, #HarpsichordMusic, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JeniHouser, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #JudiDench, #MadisonBach Musicians, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaCenter, #MauriceRavel, #MusicReview, #NewYorkCity, #NoonMusicale, #OvertureCenter, #PeriodInstrument, #PeriodInstruments, #PopularMusic, #RevivalProduction, #RomeoandJuliet, #SarahDay, #SeasonSubscriber, #SendintheClowns, #SpringGreen, #StephenSondheim, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #ThompsonInvestmentManagement, #TrevorStephenson, #ViennaStateOpera, #WilliamShakespeare, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, A Little Night Music, achievement, American Players Theatre, annoucement, artist, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, blog, Broadway, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Theater, cast, Chamber music, choral music, chorus, Classical music, coherent, community, composer, conductor, costume, country, couple, courtesan, daughter, debut, delicious, design, dialogue, direct, director, discussion, Doug Schulz-Carlson, drama, Early music, elegant, Emily Pulley, event, existence, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florencia en el Amazonas, flute, forward, Frday, free, funding, generation, gorgeous, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Greek, Greek chorus, harmonies, harmony, harpsichord, historically informed performance practices, human, Humor, interview, investment, Jacob Stockinger, Jeni Houser, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Judi Dench, learn, life, like, link, Love, lover, lyrics, Madison, Madison Baroque Musicians, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Center, maid, Marriage, masterpiece, modern, Mother, Mozart, Music, music review, musical, musicale, native, New York City, New York Times, noon, old, opera, Operetta, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, performer, period instruments, piece, popular music, post, posting, preview, rave, Ravel, Retirement, review, Romeo and Juliet, roundtable, Sarah Day, score, self-awareness, Send in the Clowns, sets, Shakespeare, share, shop, show, singer, solo, son, Sonata, song, sponsor, Spring Green, Spring Green Wisconsin, stage, Stephen Sondheim, subscriber, summer, Sunday, Sweden, symphony, tag, The Ear, The New York Times, Thompson Investment Management, time, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, variation, verbal, Vienna State Opera, vocal music, Waltz, weekend, winter, Wisconsin, wit, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, word, young, YouTube
Classical music: Prize-winning harpsichordist Joseph Gascho will perform J.S. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, Scarlatti and Rameau this Saturday night
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Joseph Gascho will give the Fourth Annual Mark Rosa Harpsichord Recital at 7:30 p.m. this Saturday night, Feb. 24, in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
Gascho (below), who won the Jurow International Harpsichord Competition in 2002, will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Domenico Scarlatti and Jean-Philippe Rameau. (Except for the three-part “Ricercar” from J.S. Bach’s “The Musical Offering” — heard in the YouTube video at the bottom — no specific works have been mentioned.)
The featured instrument is the elegant 18th-century style French double-manual harpsichord made by Mark Rosa in Madison in 1979.
Admission is at the door: $20 for the genera public, $10 for seniors and students.
In 2014, Gascho joined the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance in 2014 as an assistant professor. Gascho enjoys a multi-faceted career as a solo and collaborative keyboardist, conductor, teacher and recording producer.
Featuring his own transcriptions of Bach, Handel, and Charpentier, his recent debut solo recording was praised in the American Record Guide for “bristling with sparking articulation, subtle but highly effective rubato, and other kinds of musical timing, and an enviable understanding of the various national styles of 17th and 18th century harpsichord music.”
As a student of Webb Wiggins and Arthur Haas, he earned masters and doctoral degrees in harpsichord from the Peabody Conservatory and the University of Maryland, where he also studied orchestral conducting with James Ross.
Recent highlights include performing with the National Symphony at Carnegie Hall, the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and conducting Mozart’s “Idomeneo” for the Maryland Opera Studio. He has also conducted numerous operas from Monteverdi to Mozart for Opera Vivente.
At the Oberlin Conservatory’s Baroque Performance Institute, Gascho conducts the student orchestra, coaches chamber music, and teaches basso continuo. A strong proponent of technology in the arts, he has used computer-assisted techniques in opera productions, in a recent recording with the ensemble Harmonious Blacksmith and percussionist Glen Velez, and in his continuo classes.
Tags: #CarnegieHall, #ClassiclaMusic, #CPEBach, #DomenicoScarlatti, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #HarpsichordMusic, #JohannSebastianBach, #KennedyCenter, #MarkMorrisDanceGroup, #MusicEducation, #OberlinConservatory, #SchoolofMusic, #UnitarianSociety, #UniversityofMaryland, #UniversityOfMichigan, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, American Record Guide, Arts, Bach, Baroque, basso continuo, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Chamber music, Charpentier, Classical music, collaborative, Compact Disc, composer, computer, Conducting, conductor, continuo, dance, debut, degree, doctoral, doctorate, double, Early music, earlymusic, elegant, ensemble, First Unitarian Society of Madison, France, French, George Frideric Handel, group, HARMONIOUS BLACKSMITH, harpsichord, Idomeneo, Jacob Stockinger, Jurow, Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, Keyboard, Madison, manual, Mark Morris, Mark Rosa, Maryland Opera Studio, master's, Monteverdi, Mozart, Music, National Symphony, opera, Opera Vivente, Orchestra, Peabody Conservatory of Music, percussion, prize, producer, production, professor, Rameau, recital, recording, rubato, Scarlatti, School of Music, solo, Sonata, Teacher, technology, The Musical Offering, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra finishes its season with first-time performances of a piano concerto by Mozart and a Slavic Mass by Janacek
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) concludes its current season with “Mass Appeal,” a program that includes two first-ever performances.
One work is the Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-Flat Major, K. 382, with Christopher O’Riley as the soloist. The other work is the massive “Glagolitic Mass” by the Czech composer Leos Janacek.
The concerts are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State St., on Friday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 5, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $18-$90. Ticket information is lower down.
MSO music director John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) had the following comments about the program:
“The concert opens with the exhilarating Overture to the opera Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
“Janacek’s monumental Glagolitic Mass is a very dramatic work. The soloists who are joining us will fill Overture Hall with voluptuous sound, and the Madison Symphony Chorus will bring its high level of professionalism, adding to the thrilling auditory experience that is so characteristic of Janacek. (NOTE: You can hear the dramatic and brassy opening of the Glagolitic Mass in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“This work also features the organ in a movement all its own, and will give our audiences a chance to once again experience the beauty and power of the Overture Concert Organ as played by MSO’s Principal Organist Greg Zelek (below).”
“Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni was completed in 1787. Mozart’s musical genius is evident in the subtle shadings of darkness he injects into even the most outwardly cheerful moments of the overture — which was most recently performed by the MSO in 2003.
“Composed in December of 1785, Piano Concerto No. 22 was the first concerto by Mozart (below) to include clarinets, his favorite woodwind, in its scoring. The concerto is considered to be a particularly elegant work, filled with ornate, often complicated, writing for the soloist that carries a natural sense of aristocratic poise.
“The Glagolitic Mass, considered to be one of the century’s masterworks and Janacek’s finest choral work, has often been viewed as a celebration of Slavic culture. With text in Old Church Slavonic, the five movements correspond to the Roman Catholic Ordinary of the Mass, omitting “Dona nobis pacem” in the Agnus Dei.
“The piece begins and closes with triumphant fanfares dominated by the brass and prominently features the organ throughout.
“Janacek (below) wanted it to be a Mass “without the gloom of the medieval monastic cells in the themes, without the same lines of imitation, without the tangled fugues of Bach, without the pathos of Beethoven, without the playfulness of Haydn,” rather he talks of the inspiration of nature and language.
“Acclaimed for his engaging and deeply committed performances, pianist Christopher O’Riley (below, in a photo by Dan Williams) is known to millions as the host of NPR’s From the Top, which spotlights gifted young classical musicians.
“O’Riley’s repertoire spans a kaleidoscopic array of music from pre-baroque to present-day. He performs around the world and has garnered widespread praise for his untiring efforts to reach new audiences.
Christopher O’Riley has performed as a soloist with virtually all of the major American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, National Symphony, and San Francisco Symphony. He last appeared with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 1995, making for a highly anticipated return with his performance this season.
Soprano Rebecca Wilson (below, in a photo by Jeremy Lawson) has been praised as a “staggeringly talented singer” by St. Louis Magazine. She has appeared with Union Avenue Opera, in the role of Gutrune in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods) and has performed throughout the Chicago area in many roles.
Hailed as possessing a voice of “spell-binding power and intensity” (The Register-Guard), mezzo-soprano Julie Miller (below, in a photo by Devon Cass) has appeared as a soloist with many orchestras and in many major concert halls across the country.
Tenor Rodrick Dixon (below, in a photo by Dan Demetriad) is a classical crossover artist who possesses a voice of extraordinary range and versatility. His body of work covers 25 years of television, recordings, live theater and concerts, including PBS Specials with tenors Victor Cook, and Thomas Young; “Hallelujah Broadway,” starring his wife, Alfreda Burke; the Miss World Pageant broadcast from China and Washington, D.C., on the “E” channel in 126 countries.
Dixon recently appeared in the annual Freedom Awards. His eclectic discography includes recordings for Sony BMG, EMI Records and Naxos.
Bass Benjamin Sieverding (below, in a photo by Lu Zang) has been recognized by critics nationwide for his “surprising depth” (Boulder Daily Camera), as well as his “natural gift for comedy” and “full, rich sound” (Ann Arbor Observer).
As an active soloist and recitalist, Sieverding performs both regionally and internationally. Sieverding is a three-time district winner and regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
The Madison Symphony Chorus (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson) gave its first public performance on February 23, 1928, and has performed regularly with the Madison Symphony Orchestra ever since. The chorus (below) is directed by MSO assistant conductor Beverly Taylor and is comprised of more than 150 volunteer musicians who come from all walks of life and enjoy combining their artistic talent.
One hour before each performance, Beverly Taylor (below), Director of Choral Activities and Professor at the UW-Madison,will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, please view the Program Notes by MSO trombonist and retiring UW-Whitewater professor J. Michael Allsen at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/8.May18.html
The Symphony recommends concert attendees arrive early for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the pre-concert talk (free for all ticket-holders).
Single Tickets for the 2017–2018 season finale May concerts are $18-$90 each and are on sale now at https://www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets, through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $18 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Major funding for the May concerts is provided by Mirror 34 Productions, Fiore Companies, Inc., the Steinhauer Charitable Trust, Diane Ballweg, and WPS Health Solutions. Additional funding provided by Carla and Fernando Alvarado, Forte Research Systems and Nimblify, William Wilcox and Julie Porto, and Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #18Century, #20thCentury, #AmericanOrchestras, #BeverlyTaylor, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #ChinaBroadcast, #ChineseBroadcast, #ChristopherO'Riley, #ClarinetMusic, #Czechcomposer, #CzechMusic, #DonGiovanni, #EMIRecords, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FreedomAwards, #FromtheTop, #GlagoliticMass, #GregZelek, #HallelujahBroadway, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnDeMain, #LosAngelesPhilharmonic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MetropolitanOpera, #MIssWorld, #MusicEducation, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NationalPublicRadio, #NationalSymphony, #NaturalWorld, #NaxisRecords, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #OperaOverture, #OrganMusic, #PBSSpecials, #PhiladelphiaOrchestra, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #RomanCatholic, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #SlavicCulture, #SonyBMG, #SonyRecords, #StateOfWisconsin, #TheMet, #TheRingCycle, #TwilightoftheGods, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WoodwindMusic, #YoungPeople, Agnus Dei, American, aristocratic, Arts, audition, Baroque, bass, beauty, brass, Broadway, Catholic, celebration, Cello, century, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, China, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, comment, composer, Concert, concerto, country, critic, critics, culture, Czech, discount, discussion, Dona Nobis Pacem, Early music, elegant, Fanfare, finale, fugue, funding, genius, gloom, Gotterdammerung, host, inspiration, international, Jacob Stockinger, Janacek, John DeMain, language, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass, masterwork, Mezzo-soprano, monastery, monastic, Mozart, Music, Music education, Musician, national, National Symphony Orchestra, natural, nature, New Music, New York Philharmonic, notes, NPR, Old Church Slavonic, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Overture Center, pathos, PBS, percussion, performance, Philadelphia Orchestra, playfulness, power, Prelude, professional, program, recitalist, recording, regional, Ring cycle, role, Season, security, senior, sense, Slavic, Slavonic, soloist, soprano, Sound, Student, symphony, talk, Television, tenor, theater, theme, ticket, triumphant, Trombone, Trumpet, Twilight of the Gods, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voice, volunteer, voluptuous, Wagner, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woodwind, young people, Youth, YouTube