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By Jacob Stockinger
Spring Break at the University of Wisconsin-Madison starts on Saturday. But there are noteworthy concerts right up to the last minute.
THURSDAY
On this Thursday night, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the acclaimed Wisconsin Brass Quintet (below, in 2017, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson) will perform a FREE concert.
The program by the faculty ensemble includes music by William Byrd; Isaac Albeniz; Leonard Bernstein; Aaron Copland; David Sampson; Anton Webern; Joan Tower; Ennio Morricone; and Reena Esmail.
For more details, including the names of quintet members and guest artists who will participate as well as the complete program with lengthy notes and background about the quintet, go to:
On this Friday night, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison bassoonist Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill) – who worked in Paris with the renowned 20th-century composer and conductor Pierre Boulez – will host another concert is his series of “Le Domaine Musical” that he performs with colleagues.
Vallon explains:
Every year, I put together a concert devoted to the masterpieces of the 1950-2000 period. We call it “Domaine Musical,” which was the group founded in Paris by Pierre Boulez in the 1950s. Its subtitle is : “Unusual music for curious listeners.”
“The series offers Madison concert-goers an opportunity to hear rarely performed music of the highest quality, played by UW-Madison faculty, students and alumni.
“The program features a deeply moving piece by Luciano Berio, O King, written in 1968 after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.” (You can hear “O King” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The all-modernist program is:
Pierre Boulez (below), Dialogues de l’Ombre Double (Dialogues of the Double Shadow) for solo clarinet and electronics.
Luciano Berio (below), O King and Folk Songs.
Also included are unspecified works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Timothy Hagen.
Guest performers are Sarah Brailey, soprano (below); Alicia Lee, clarinet; Leslie Thimmig, basset horn; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello; Timothy Hagen, flute; Yana Avedyan, piano; Paran Amirinazari, violin; and Anthony DiSanza, percussion.
For more information, including a story about a previous concert in “Le Domaine Musical,” go to:
The end of the semester is drawing near, and that is always a good time to attend the many excellent and FREE pubic recitals that are given by undergraduate and especially graduate students at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
In the coming weeks before the semester ends on Dec. 13, The Ear sees that solo and ensemble performances will be given by pianists, singers, flutists, violinists, violists, cellists, percussionists, tubists and trombonists.
Some of the musicians list a full program, while others, unfortunately, just list composers. And because the hall is used so much, performance times (6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.) can be inconveniently early or late. Still, there is a lot of great music to be heard.
Here is a link to the website calendar of events that include faculty, guest artists and student performances:
And here is a good example to start with this week.
Local hornist and UW-Madison doctoral candidate Dafydd Bevil (below) will present a FREE public recital of chamber music this Friday night, Nov. 10, at 8:30 p.m.
The event, like most other degree recitals, will take place in Morphy Recital Hall (below), located in the UW Humanities Building.
The program contains a wide variety of music featuring several different instrumental groupings and includes two film works (marked with asterisks) that Bevil will be recording this spring:
Program includes S.O.S*.: Trio for Horn, Trumpet, and Trombone by Ennio Morricone; Timeline* (1945- ): Trio for Horn, Viola, and Piano by Bruce Broughton; Horn Quintet, K. 407, for horn and strings by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; and Music for Brass Instruments, a brass sextet by Ingolf Dahl.
REMINDER: The FREE concert by the Ancora String Quartet (below top) with three guest wind players takes place tonight at 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street. Here is a link to my previous post, in which I originally, and embarrassingly, left out the starting time and had the wrong street:
ALSO: Edgewood College mezzo-soprano Kathleen Otterson (below bottom) performs her recital at 2:30 p.m. on SUNDAY — NOT Saturday as The Ear mistakenly posted originally.
I apologize for both of the above errors and inaccuracies.
By Jacob Stockinger
A series of three $40 dinner-performances at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s University Club (below), at 803 State Street across from the Library Mall, will be held over the new concert season.
The first one is next Wednesday, Sept. 18, starting at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails, and will feature the WisconsinBrass Quintet (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot), which last year marked its 40th anniversary as artists-in-residence at the UW-Madison School of Music. It starts playing at 7:30 p.m. Members are UW faculty members and include: John Aley and Jessica Jensen, trumpets; Daniel Grabois, horn; Mark Hetzler, trombone; and John Stevens, tuba. (You can hear the quintet perform with the UW Brass Ensemble in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is the music program: “Canzona Bergamasca” by Samuel Scheidt (1587-1653), arranged by Conrad De Jong; “Kyrie” from “Messe de Nostre Dame” by Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), arranged by Daniel Grabois; “Mouse, pl. mice” by Raymond Dempsey (b. 1933); “Psalm 27” by Joseph Blaha (b. 1951); “Cinema Paradiso” by Ennio Morricone (b. 1928); and “Vuelta del Fuego” by Kevin McKee (b. 1980).
The WBQ event is the first of three presented during the academic year. The Pro Arte Quartet (below top, in a photo by Rick Langer) will perform on Jan. 30, 2014 and the Wingra Woodwind Quintet (below bottom) will perform on May 8, 2014.
A partnership between the UW School of Music, Arts Outreach and the University Club make these events possible, according to Art Outreach director Mary Perkinson. They are non-profit and designed solely to provide community outreach for the various music groups.
The Arts Outreach Program, established in 1979, works hand-in-hand with the School of Music to share the expertise of its three faculty ensembles-in-residence with young musicians and community audiences around the state.
The UW-Madison continues to commit resources to support the Pro Arte String Quartet, the Wingra Woodwind Quintet and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, having been the first American public institution of its kind to have artists-in-residence. In addition to performing as part of the School of Music Faculty Concert Series, each ensemble travels to Wisconsin high schools and concert halls, working with young musicians and performing for local concert series patrons.
Here are the gourmet menu details about the generous dinner-performance (the dinner is served at 6:30 p.m) at the University Club (below), which is open to the public for lunch and features terrific food, as The Ear knows from personal experience, with the Wisconsin Brass Quintet:
Wednesday, 9/18/13
University Club, 803 State St., Madison
5:30 Cocktails & hors d’oeuvres
6:30 Dinner (three courses – scroll down for menu)
7:30 Concert
– Reservations Required – Make your reservation online!
Pumpkin Ravioli
House made ravioli filled with roasted pumpkin, tossed in a sage pine nut
cream reduction & garnished with shaved black truffle
THIRD COURSE
German Chocolate Cake
Chocolate cake with coconut pecan filled layers &
a chocolate butter cream frosting
The WISCONSIN BRASS QUINTET has presented concerts and master classes throughout the U.S., including performances at Carnegie Hall, international brass conferences, and major universities and conservatories. Their performances and recordings have been acclaimed by nationally recognized musicians and critics. Barry Kilpatrick writes for the American Record Guide, “I’ve reviewed over 250 brass recordings in the past five years, and this is one of the very best. The WBQ is a remarkable ensemble that plays with more reckless abandon, warmth, stylistic variety, and interpretive interest than almost any quintet in memory.”
ALERT: Radio programmer and host as well as blog friend Rich Samuels writes: “In anticipation of the upcoming concerts by Black Marigold Woodwind Quintet (below) at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, I’ll be airing, at 7:28 a.m. this Thursday morning, during my 5- 8 a.m. program “Anything Goes” on WORT-FM 89.9, their April 13 performance at Grace Episcopal Church (recorded by Bruce Kasprzyk) of Robert Muczynski‘s Quintet for Winds. The concerts will include arrangements of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” which is 100 years old this year.” Details of the concerts were included in a blog post here yesterday.
Audiences will hear the debut of a young rising star from Waunakee, Wisconsin. Fourteen-year-old organist Adrian Binkley (below top) is a student of MSO Principal Organist Samuel Hutchison (below bottom, in a photo by Joe DeMaio). Binkley is already an experienced recital artist and plans to study organ performance at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan this fall. Both Binkley and Samuel Hutchison will perform at this concert.
The Free Farmers’ Market Concerts are generously sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and are presented in partnership with 77 Square. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund with additional support from Friends of the Overture Concert Organ.
With a gift from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts. As curator for the instrument, Samuel Hutchison is responsible for organ programming and education events. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Concerts, the instrument is featured in the MSO Christmas and April 2014 concerts along with three Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing.
Subscribers to the 2013-14 Overture Concert Organ season receive a 25% discount. To subscribe visit