Family | The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: The second annual Madison New Music Festival will take place this Thursday through Sunday

August 9, 2017
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The summer classical season in Madison just keeps getting busier and more interesting.

The Ear has received the following announcement from Zachary Green (below), a native Madisonian and composer who graduated from Oregon High School and the Juilliard School, which awarded him a grant to start the first Madison New Music Festival last year. He now directs the event:

Dear friends, family, colleagues, and mentors,

I am extremely pleased to invite you to the second season of the Madison New Music Festival, taking place this Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 10-12.

The Madison New Music Festival is an annual weekend-long concert series dedicated to strengthening Madison’s cultural vitality through the celebration of fresh classical music from our lifetimes.

The festival strives to affordably and accessibly share music by the world’s leading living composers with the Madison community, with special emphasis placed on Wisconsin-based composers and performers.

This year, over the course of four concerts, we will be featuring 30 performers playing the music of over 20 composers— including the music of a different living Wisconsin composer at every concert.

The concerts will take place Thursday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (8 p.m.), Friday at Bethel Lutheran Church (8 p.m.), and Saturday at the Memorial Union Terrace (3 p.m.) and Robinia Courtyard (7:30 p.m.).

PROGRAM AND TICKET INFORMATION:

Thursday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in the Overture Center. (Below is a photo at MMoCA from last year’s festival)

After an incredibly successful launch in 2016, the Madison New Music Festival is set to return to MMoCA for a concert combining contemporary visual art and new music.

The festival presents brand new pieces by emerging composers, underplayed classics of the contemporary repertoire, and shines a spotlight on new music created here in Wisconsin.

The concert at MMoCA features music with thematic ties to MMoCA’s current exhibitions, including politically charged works such as “But I Still Believe” by composer Zachary Green and inspired by Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, and “Drums of Winter” from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and environmentalist John Luther Adams (below). You can hear “Drums of Winter” in the YouTube video at the bottom.

There will be a cash bar and opportunities to walk around the exhibits. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and FREE for MMoCA members.

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13011

Friday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. in Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Avenue

The festival’s second night features an eclectic range of music, from the inventive, folk-inspired music of Romanian composer Doina Rotaru (below top) to the improvisatory soundscapes of recently departed legend Pauline Oliveros (below bottom).

Also featured is local composer Scott Gendel (below top) , who will present a set of his own music with frequent Madison Opera guest soprano Emily Birsan (below middle). Both are graduates of the UW-Madison.

Other performers include Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse (below top), local flutist Iva Ugrcic (below middle) and local violinist Lydia Sewell (below bottom). Tickets are $10, $5 for students.

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13028

Saturday, Aug. 12, at 3 p.m., Memorial Union Terrace

Local new music wind quintet Black Marigold (below top) will perform “Beer Music” by Brian DuFord (below bottom), inspired by different kinds of beer– and you can sip as you listen!

But first, get your groove on with rhythmic works by emerging composer Andy Akiho (below top), Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, and local percussionist Dave Alcorn (below bottom) of Clocks in Motion — interspersed with interactive interpretations of Renaissance motets and an electroacoustic work for vibraphone. Featured musicians include percussionist Garrett Mendelow and Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse. Admission is FREE.

Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 PM, Robinia Courtyard (Jardin Restaurant) at 827 East Washington Avenue.

Join us at Jardin Restaurant, part of the newly redeveloped Robinia Courtyard to hear local ensemble Mr. Chair (below) present an eclectic, head-banging set ranging from original compositions to versions of Erik Satie, Olivier Messiaen and Igor Stravinsky.

Also featured are the genre-bending Echelon String Quartet(below) and a mesmerizing solo bass piece performed by Grant Blaschka. Cash bar. ($10/$5 student)

Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13029

Classical music: The annual Karp Family Labor Day Concert for this year has been CANCELLED

July 30, 2017
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Today’s posting has sad news to report.

The Ear has learned that the annual Karp Family Labor Day concert for this year has been CANCELLED.

It would have been the 39th annual FREE community gift from the talented Karp family (below) – Madison’s First Family of Music — to the community.

Over the years the well attended family concert, which was usually performed on Labor Day night or the Monday night before classes began at the UW-Madison, had become the unofficial start of the new concert season, both at the UW-Madison and in the larger community.

Performers included grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren as well as guest artists.

For 38 years, many new works were premiered and no work was ever repeated.

That is an impressive record.

The immediate reason for the cancellation is as follows: After the death of pianist Howard Karp in 2014, eldest son Parry Karp (below) became the patriarch and guiding spirit, and the show went on. Parry Karp is a cello professor at the UW-Madison and longtime member of the Pro Arte String Quartet.

But several months ago Parry Karp sustained a serious injury to the fourth finger on his left hand, which is the hand that finds the notes. (You can hear Parry Karp playing a cello duet five years ago with his daughter Ariana Karp in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

That same injury caused him to cancel performances this summer with the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and the upcoming Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.

Perhaps the Labor Day tradition will be revived next year. You can read about past concerts by using the search engine on this blog.

But perhaps not, although everyone certainly wishes Parry Karp a full and speedy recovery.

The Ear gives bravos and a big thank you to all the Karps, who gave us so much wonderful music over so many years.

Others can also leave words of gratitude and encouragement in the COMMENT section.

Classical music education: Madison Music Makers becomes part of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras

June 26, 2017
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras has sent The Ear the following news announcement to post on the blog He is very happy to do so and urges everyone to support the new venture. It is one of the best investments in the future of classical music that you can make:

“Recently, the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras unanimously voted to acquire the Madison Music Makers program (below are participants), founded by Bonnie Greene in 2007, making it a program of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras.

“This historic decision was the culmination of two years of research and due diligence to lay the groundwork for this action. This will insure that the mission of Madison Music Makers — to provide access to music education and performance opportunities for underserved children — will be properly supported well into the future.

“Says Greene (below): “I’m absolutely thrilled that the WYSO organization is willing to adopt the Music Makers program, which has been so meaningful for so many children. This is another instance of how much support is in place in the Madison area community for children whose opportunities are so limited. This move will better ensure the long-term health of Music Makers.” (You can learn more about Madison Music Makers in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

“The members of the WYSO Music Makers program will have the opportunity to take private lessons on violin, guitar, piano and drums at a free or reduced cost. Group lessons will be held each week. There will be no audition required to be a part of WYSO Music Makers.

“WYSO has hired Paran Amirinazari (below) to act as the Program Director of WYSO Music Makers.

Says Amirinazari: “Over the years it has been a joy getting to know both Music Makers and WYSO students and families. I’m honored to be able to work closely with Bonnie Greene and WYSO to continue the vision of quality music education for all. I’m constantly inspired by the amount of support the city of Madison has for the arts and I look forward to becoming closer and more engaged in the community at large.”

“Amirinazari is a WYSO chamber music coach and has led the Music Makers Honors Ensembles for the past few years. Her many musical accomplishments and her familiarity with both WYSO and the Music Makers programs make her uniquely qualified to build a successful program that will benefit many children in our community.

“She is also a professional violinist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Willy Street Chamber Players. She will receive her Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance from UW-Madison in the fall and is looking forward to carrying out the WYSO Music Makers mission and being a part of the WYSO team.

“The acquisition of Madison Music Makers will not only help to serve the mission of WYSO by enriching lives by providing transformational musical experiences and opportunities, but also provide access to a quality music education, the opportunity to improve confidence, focus and discipline to achieve better academic results, and performance opportunities that will make members proud of themselves and improve their self-esteem.

“Over the last 52 years, WYSO has continued to evolve and grow both in the size of its membership and the scope of its programs. Without a doubt, under the WYSO umbrella, WYSO Music Makers will continue to evolve and grow as well.

“With the addition of WYSO Music Makers, WYSO will be able to expand the outreach of its music education program to a wonderfully diverse group of children who will come to know the joy of music.”

For more information about WYSO, got to: https://www.wysomusic.org

For more information about Madison Music Makers of Madison, go to: http://madisonmusicmakers.org

Classical music: Two FREE “garage” performances of Fresco Opera Theatre’s “The Ugly Duckling” remain in Fitchburg and Madison on Saturday and Sunday afternoons

June 23, 2017
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following information from Fresco Opera Theatre:

Take “The Ugly Duckling” — the fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen — mashed up with opera and all set in the context of a typical John Hughes movie.

Fresco revisits the joys that were the ’80s.

The hair.

The fashion.

The mean girls.

The cute boys.

Teenage angst at its best, and what better way to convey it than through opera?

Best of all – WE BRING THE SHOW TO YOU!

This is fun for the whole family, whether you are an opera fan, unfamiliar with opera, or frankly even think you hate opera. This is a totally awesome production!

The final two FREE “garage” performances (below top, by Max Wendt, and below bottom) are this Saturday at 2 p.m. at 4412 Sentinel Pass in Fitchburg and Sunday at 2 p.m. at 21 Shea Court, on Madison’s west side)

This is part of Fresco’s 2017 season of outreach. All that we do this year will be FREE OF CHARGE to get people interested in the fine arts.

We will have our Opera Unplugged series starting up at the end of July, which will take place on the Capitol Square during the Saturday morning Dane County Farmers’ Markets.

This is a great opportunity for families of young children to introduce them to opera.

For more information about Fresco Opera Theatre, including portraits of the cast for “The Ugly Duckling”; past productions; dates and places of Opera Unplugged productions; opera at Olbrich Gardens; and how to support the company, look at the YouTube video at the bottom and go to: http://www.frescooperatheatre.com

Classical music: The Willy Street Chamber Players announce their expanded summer season. And it’s another appetizing winner

May 23, 2017
3 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The Willy Street Chamber Players have done it again.

The relatively new local group (below), which The Ear named as Musicians of the Year for 2016, has come up with another fantastic lineup of concerts for its third summer season, which also includes other appearances.

True, they have a new color logo (below top) to go with the older, really cool map-like geographical one in black-and-white (below bottom):

But so much of the Willys’ successful formula remains the same.

As usual, the group will feature guest artists, including violinist Suzanne Beia (below top) of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Pro Arte Quartet; tenor J. Adam Shelton (below middle); and clarinetist Michel Maccaferri (below bottom).

As usual, the concerts mix old established repertoire with newer works. One program mixes Jennifer Higdon and Johannes Brahms. Another program mixes Osvaldo Golijov and Dmitri Shostakovich and Ralph Vaughan Williams. A third mixes rocker Elvis Costello and Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

As usual, the chamber ensemble puts an emphasis on community outreach. Tickets prices remain affordable with a season pass of three concerts for $40; individual tickets which go on sale June 1, are $15 for adults $10 for seniors and students. All tickets are available at the door and through Brown Paper Tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2935203

And yes, you can wear shorts or blue jeans, sandals or flip-flops. The summery atmosphere promises again to be informal and social, with snacks and treats provided by east side businesses for after the shorter programs (60 to 90 minutes) that begin at an early time (6 p.m.) and allow you to do other things that same evening.

And as usual, these first-rate sonic locavores remain true to their eastside roots.

So they will perform not only at their home basic of Immanuel Lutheran Church (below) at 1021 Spaight Street, but also two FREE concerts at the Marquette Waterfront Festival on Saturday and Sunday, June 10 and 11, plus a FREE family-friendly, one-hour noontime concert on Saturday, July 15, at the Goodman Community Center.

But the Willys are also catching on in the wider area and at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, June 12, The Willys will open the summer season for the Rural Musicians Forum with an appearance at the Hillside Theater (below) of Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright compound in Spring Green.

Here is a link to the Willys’ increasingly busy calendar. Click on the event to see the full programs:

http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/calendar.html

For other information, including reviews and how to support them by donating money, food or time to volunteer, here is a link to the website of the ovation-garnering Willys:

http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org

Classical music: Mozart masterfully melds the emotional and the intellectual, says maestro Gary Thor Wedow, who will conduct two performances of “The Magic Flute” this weekend for the Madison Opera. Here is Part 1 of his two-part interview with The Ear

April 18, 2017
5 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The Madison Opera will stage Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute this Friday night, April 21 at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, April 23, at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall. (Production photos are courtesy of the Arizona Opera, from which the Madison Opera got its sets and costumes.)

Here are an introduction and some details, courtesy of the Madison Opera:

Written in the last year of his life, Mozart’s opera is part fairy tale, part adventure story, and is filled with enchantment.

Set in a fairy-tale world of day and night, the opera follows Prince Tamino and the bird-catcher Papageno as they embark on a mission to rescue Pamina, the daughter of the Queen of the Night. Pamina had been kidnapped by Sarastro, the leader of a religious order. But it turns out that exactly who is “good” and who is “evil” is not always what it appears.

Along the way to happily-ever-after, Pamina, Tamino and Papageno face many challenges, but are assisted by a magic flute, magic bells, a trio of guiding spirits and their own clear-eyed sense of right and wrong.

“The Magic Flute has been beloved around the world since its 1791 premiere,” says Kathryn Smith (below in a photo by James Gill), Madison Opera’s general director. “It has been called a fairy tale for both adults and children, with a story that works on many levels, all set to Mozart’s glorious music. I’m so delighted to be sharing it again with Madison, with an incredible cast, director and conductor.”

The opera runs about 2 hours and 45 minutes with one intermission.

Tickets are $18 to $130.

“The Magic Flute” will be sung in German with English supertitles.

For more about the production and cast, go to:

http://www.madisonopera.org/performances-2016-2017/the-magic-flute/

And also go to:

http://www.madisonopera.org/performances-2016-2017/the-magic-flute/cast/

Dan Rigazzi, who has been on the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera for 10 years, makes his Madison Opera debut with this beautiful production that incorporates some steampunk elements into its fairy-tale setting.

Gary Thor Wedow, a renowned Mozart conductor, makes his mainstage debut with this opera, after having conducted Opera in the Park in 2016 and 2012.

Conductor Wedow (below) recently agreed to do an email Q&A with The Ear:

Could you briefly introduce yourself to readers?

Hello! I’m an American conductor, born in LaPorte, Indiana. A faculty member at The Juilliard School, I spend a lot of time with music of the 18th century — Handel and Mozart and often earlier, like Monteverdi, Purcell and Cavalli. But I conduct everything and grew up in love with the Romantics. I’ve also always done a lot of contemporary music. I love it all.

Mozart’s music sounds so clear and easy or simple, but the reality is quite different, musicians say. What do you strive for and what qualities do you think make for great Mozart playing?

Mozart engages both the brain and the heart. He challenges your intellect with amazing feats of counterpoint, orchestration and structure while tugging at your heart, all the time pulling you along in a deep drama.

Mozart was an Italian melodist with a German contrapuntal, harmonic engine – like an incredible automobile with an Italian slick body and a German motor.

Do you share the view that opera is central to Mozart’s music, even to his solo, chamber and ensemble instrumental music? How so? What is special or unique to Mozart’s operas, and to this opera in particular?

From all accounts, Mozart (below, in his final year) was a huge personality who was full of life and a keen observer of the human condition; his letters are full of astute, often merciless and sometimes loving evaluations of family, colleagues and patrons.

Mozart’s music speaks of the human condition: its passions, loves and hopes— no matter what genre. His music is innately dramatic and primal, going immediately to the most basic and universal human emotions with breathtaking nuance, variety and depth. (You can hear the Overture to “The Magic Flute,” performed by the Metropolitan Opera orchestra under James Levine, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Tomorrow: Tricks to conducting Mozart and what to pay special attention to in this production of The Magic Flute.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: adult, adventure, American, Arizona, Arizona Opera, Arts, Baroque, bells, body, Brain, car, cast, Cavalli, Chamber music, children, choral music, Classical music, colleagues, conductor, contemporary music, costumes, counterpoint, Dan Rigazzi, debut, depth, director, email, emotion, enchantment, engine, English, English Baroque Soloists, evil, fairy tale, Family, Gary Thor Wedow, George Frideric Handel, German, good, heart, human condition, Indiana, intellectual, interview, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, James Levine, Juilliard School, kidnapped, letters, Love, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera, mission, Monteverdi, Mozart, Music, New Music, nuance, opera, Opera in the Park, Orchestra, orchestration, Overture Center, premiere, primal, Purcell, rescue, right, Romantic, sets, solo, spirit, steam-punk, steampunk, stream-punk, structure, symphony, the Met, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, variety, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wrong, YouTube

Classical music: The Willy Street Chamber Players kick off their new FREE Community Connect concert series this coming Sunday afternoon at Warner Park. Plus, FREE oboe and piano concerts are this Friday at noon and Saturday night

February 16, 2017
Leave a Comment

ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features oboist Laura Medisky and pianist Vincent Fuh in sonatas by Paul Hindemith, Henri Dutilleux and Malcolm Arnold. The concert runs from 12:125 to 1 p.m. On Saturday night at 7 p.m., the same performers will repeat the same program in a FREE concert at Oakwood Village West auditorium, 6201 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear’s friends at the Willy Street Chamber Players (below), which The Ear named as Musicians of the Year for 2016, write:

We wanted to let you know about the upcoming kickoff of the Willy Street Chamber Players’ “Community Connect” series. We are committed to our mission of making classical music accessible to all.

The Willy Street Chamber Players’ Northside Community Connect Concert is on this coming Sunday, Feb. 19, at noon at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center.

Enjoy hot coffee, exciting classical music and great conversation with the Willy Street Chamber Players.

This program is FREE, family-friendly and will last about 60 minutes. All are welcome.

The program is: String Quartet in C Major, K. 157, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; String Quartet No. 5, “Rosa Parks” by Daniel Bernard Roumain; “Entr’acte” for String Quartet by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw (you can hear the piece, which The Ear loves for its pulsing and hypnotic rhythm plus unusual and interesting string textures, in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Four, for Tango” by Astor Piazzolla.

There was an announcement about this series in the January string quartet program at A Place to Be (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), and it included a couple more concerts. But we have decided to make Community Connect a self-produced series.

We are planning a second Community Connect concert in July during our regular summer series, and have listed our other free appearances on our regular calendar.

The concert is made possible in part by Willy Street Co-Op and the North/Eastside Senior Coalition (NESCO).

For more information go to: www.willystreetchamberplayers.org

Classical music: A revived 12-hour marathon Bach Around the Clock celebration is seeking musicians to mark Johann Sebastian’s 332nd birthday on Saturday, March 18

January 20, 2017
2 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Here is some news that The Ear is overjoyed to announce: An annual Bach Around the Clock celebration is being revived this year in Madison.

For three years, a similar event, inspired by celebrations in New Orleans, was sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and coordinated by its music director Cheryl Dring. But when she left in 2013, and so did WPR.

But now baroque and modern violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below right), who plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Ancora String Quartet and the Madison Bach Musicians, has undertaken to revive it.

So let’s help resume the tradition and call it Bach Around the Clock 4.

The place has changed.

But the concept remains the same.

The event is now looking for musicians -– professional and amateurs, teachers and students – to sign up to participate.

Here are particulars:

Bach Around The Clock 2017

Saturday, March 18

12 Noon to 12 Midnight

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below)

1833 Regent St., Madison, WI 53726

The event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Bach Around The Clock is a 12-hour celebration of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Held on the Saturday closest to Bach’s birthday, it offers all members of the musical community, from young students to seasoned professionals, the opportunity to perform selections by this sublime composer.

This year’s BATC takes place in the sanctuary (below) of St. Andrew’s Church, and will be opened with an organ work and a performance by the St. Andrew’s Chancel Choir, under the leadership of music director and organist Ken Stancer.

NOTE: The entire event will be recorded, and audio/video live streaming will be available for those unable to attend.

Birthday cake will be served at midnight!

The month of March has been designated as the official ‘Early Music Month’ by the organization Early Music America <www.earlymusicamerica.org/endeavors/early-music-month>, and the Madison Bach Around The Clock is listed on their website as one of the many partners participating in this annual nationwide celebration.

For more information on BATC, or to request a time to perform, please visit the website <https://bacharoundtheclock.wordpress.com>, or email batcmadison@gmail.com

The Ear — who himself played solo piano works and accompanied a famous Siciliano movement from a flute sonata — has such great memories of past ones.

Those memories include hearing whole studios of young piano students performing; duos and trios done by siblings and friends, by parents and children, by teachers and students; accomplished professional and amateur instrumentalists, including UW-Madison faculty members; church choirs in cantatas; lots of intriguing arrangements including the solo cello suites on the saxophone and a flute and bassoon duo performing some Two-Part Inventions (in the YouTube video at the bottom) as well as Bach on the accordion and bagpipes. And on and on.

And to give you the flavor of the event, here links to the events, complete with photos, to the past Bach Around the Clock celebrations when they were sponsored by Wisconsin Public Radio and held at the Pres House near the UW-Madison campus:

From 2010:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2010/03/20/classical-music-events-here-is-the-line-up-for-saturdays-bach-around-the-clock/

From 2011:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/classical-music-review-the-marathon-“bach-around-the-clock”-concert-is-now-officially-a-tradition-in-madison-wisconsin/

From 2012:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/classical-music-here-are-8-lessons-i-learned-from-my-day-of-berlitz-bach-at-wisconsin-public-radios-bach-around-the-clock-3-last-saturday/

Classical music: Madison Opera gets a $20,000 grant from the NEA for its February production of “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird”

December 22, 2016
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The Madison Opera has some good news to share:

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $30 million in grants as part of the NEA’s first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017.

Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $20,000 to Madison Opera to support the Midwest premiere of Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird on Friday night, Feb. 10, and Sunday afternoon, Feb. 12, 2017.

The Art Works category focuses on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts.

“The arts are for all of us, and by supporting organizations such as Madison Opera, the National Endowment for the Arts is providing more opportunities for the public to engage with the arts,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Whether in a theater, a town square, a museum, or a hospital, the arts are everywhere and make our lives richer.”

Madison Opera will be only the second company to present Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, which premiered in spring 2015 at Opera Philadelphia (below, with Lawrence Brownlee in the title role on the right and the real Charlie Parker on the left). You can see and hear the trailer for the Opera Philadelphia production in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Set on the night that saxophone great Charlie Parker died, the opera begins with Parker returning in spirit to the jazz club Birdland, determined to compose a final masterpiece. Family and friends blend in and out of his memories in an acclaimed new work that tells of his tortured, brilliant life “with a pulsing, jazz-infused score” (The New York Times).

Madison Opera’s performances take place in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center and are directed by Ron Daniels and conducted by John DeMain.

The cast features Joshua Stewart, Angela Brown, Will Liverman, Rachel Sterrenberg, Julie Miller, Angela Mortellaro, and Krysty Swann.

“It is an honor to receive a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and be recognized for our artistic work on a national level,” says Madison Opera General Director Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill). “The NEA’s funding will not only help us share this thrilling new opera with our region, but also support an array of Charlie Parker-related events, allowing true community engagement with the opera and its subject.”

In addition to the public performance on Feb. 10 and 12, 2017, Madison Opera’s “Extending the Stage” activities include “Jazz at the Opera Center,” a concert with Richie Cole and the Alto Madness Orchestra on Jan. 8; Opera Novice on Jan. 20; Opera Up Close on Feb. 5; “A Charlie Parker Concert and Discussion” with the Swiss composer Daniel Schnyder and UW-Madison’s Blue Note Ensemble on Feb. 9; and a variety of previews and presentations on Charlie Parker, jazz, and the opera at various libraries and retirement communities.

For more information on any of these events, got to: madisonopera.org.

For more information on projects included in the NEA grant announcement, go to arts.gov/news.

Madison Opera is a non-profit professional opera company based in Madison, Wisconsin. Founded in 1961, the company grew from a local workshop presenting community singers in English-language productions to a nationally recognized organization producing diverse repertoire and presenting leading American opera singers alongside emerging talent.

A resident organization of the Overture Center for the Arts, Madison Opera presents three productions annually in addition to the free summer concert Opera in the Park and a host of educational programming.

Classical music: The annual FREE Karp Family Labor Day Concert on Monday night features new music, unknown works and neglected composers

August 30, 2016
7 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear is not alone in viewing the official opening of the new fall season as being the annual FREE Karp Family Labor Day concert, which takes place on the holiday Monday night before classes begin at the UW-Madison. (Below and from left, in the 2011 photo, are pianist and violinist son Christopher Karp; violist Katrin Talbot; the late pianist Howard Karp; cellist son Parry Karp (who is married to Katrin Talbot); and pianist wife Frances Karp.)

This year, that means the concert is on this coming Monday night, Sept. 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall on the UW-Madison campus.

In the decades-long history of the event, pieces never get repeated.

That may help to explain why this year’s program features the new and the neglected rather than the tried-and-true.

Here is how cellist and patriarch of the Karp family Parry Karp (below) explains it:

“The program includes a world premiere performance of a brand new piece for Cello and Piano by Joel Hoffman (below), to be performed by my brother Christopher Karp and myself. It is entitled “Riffs on a Great Life.”

“The great life he is writing about is our Dad’s, longtime UW-Madison pianist Howard Karp, who died two years ago at 84.

“Robert Kahn (below) was a wonderful composer of chamber music and lieder whom Johannes Brahms admired very much. They initially met in 1885 when Kahn was only 20 years old. Brahms was impressed both by his compositions and his piano playing. We are greatly enjoying learning his Piano Quartet No. 2, which will feature my mother Frances Karp.

Pro Arte Quartet second violinist Suzanne Beia and my wife, violist Katrin Talbot, will join in the performance.

“The “Rhapsody” by Rebecca Clarke (below) is an unjustly neglected masterpiece that unfortunately has never been published. Frances and I are playing it from a copy of the manuscript. It was commissioned by Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge in 1923, and is a very romantic and expressive piece.

Also on the program is “Fratres” for cello and piano by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (below), who turns 82 on Sept. 11. According to one source, he has been the most performed living composer in the world for five consecutive years.

The dramatic and insistent piece was used as part of the soundtrack or film score for the movie “There Will Be Blood” with Daniel Day-Lewis. Here is a link to a performance with over one million hits on YouTube:

	fflambeau on Classical music: Today is the…
	fflambeau on Classical music: The Madison B…
	sherrihansen2013 on Classical music: Starting this…
	Bill Lutes on Classical music: Who are the b…
	fflambeau on Classical music: This afternoo…

September 2017
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Aug
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: