The Well-Tempered Ear
What are the best classical music festivals this summer?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Memorial Day 2024 will be celebrated his weekend.
In addition to remembering veterans, the holiday is the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. and brings picnics, barbecues, camping and travels.
It also brings music festivals of all kinds — pop, rock, jazz, folk, blues, ethnic and hip-hop.
So this weekend seems like a good time to pass along dozens of recommendations for major classical music festivals that you can attend in the U.S., the UK, Canada and Europe. Many of them are held outdoors — in tents, amphitheaters, sheds, bowls and shells at the summer residencies of major arts organizations such as symphony orchestras. (Below is the Tahoe Pavilion in Nevada.)
Curiously, I have not seen any classical music festivals listed for Asia, which has been experiencing a renaissance in performing and listening to Western classical music — especially in China, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Anyway, here are links to the stories about summer festivals that were selected by critics for classical-music.com thanks to the BBCMusic Magazine.
Even if you can’t attend them it can be a lot of vicarious fun to check them out — much like reading cookbooks, recipes and travelogues.
It can be very informative to check out the genres (chamber music, orchestra and opera; old music and new), the programs, the composers and the performers as well as the venues — especially since the listings have many links that take you to more details and YouTube videos about those same items. (Below is a photo by Zach Mahone of the outdoor concert venue in Vail, Colorado)
In the United States and Canada:
https://www.classical-music.com/live-music/best-classical-music-festivals-in-usa-and-canada
In the UK including Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand:
https://www.classical-music.com/live-music/uks-best-classical-music-festivals
In Europe (see the YouTube trailer for the Edinburgh International Festival 2023 at the bottom):
https://www.classical-music.com/live-music/best-classical-music-festivals-europe-2024
And don’t forget the check out local festivals that don’t usually get included in national or international listings.
Do you have any festivals — local, regional, national and international — to recommend?
The Ear wants to hear.
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TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24, at noon — a video concert by the Willy Street Chamber Players will kick off the Wisconsin Union Theater’s new concert series “Wisconsin Sound”
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater is excited to pilot “Wisconsin Sound,” a new video concert series featuring musicians from our very own state.
The series, which includes the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet, will have five concerts, once a month between January and May and begins with celebrated, locally grown Willy Street Chamber Players (WSCP, below in a photo by Lloyd Schultz) on TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24 — at noon CDT.
You can see the full lineup with dates and purchase single tickets for the performance or discounted subscription for all Wisconsin Sound events here. Single tickets are $15 and subscription tickets to all five concerts are $50.
The Willy Street Chamber Players began just six years ago but has already made its mark on the Madison community, garnering accolades for its fun approach to music, accessibility and dedication to community partnerships.
The group will perform Fantasiestucke (Fantasy Pieces) for Cello and Piano, Op. 73, by Robert Schumann; Fantasy No. 2 for Violin and Piano by Florence Price (below top); Kiép Nào Có Yeu Nhau (Vietnamese Love Song) for Violin and Piano by Rachel Eubanks (below bottom); and Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano, Op. 70, by Robert Schumann. (You can hear the Fantasy by Florence Price in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
You may have heard these dynamic performers during our Summer Serenades at Memorial Union Terrace and other Wisconsin festivals.
The pandemic has not stopped this group from bringing beautiful music to the community; it has continued to perform virtually as well as give in-person “Micro-concerts” for one to two people and safety in mind.
“We are honored they agreed to be the first artist in this pilot series. We share in Willy Street Chamber Players’ goal of creating community through music and thought they’d be a great group to kick off the new series for that very reason,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass.
“Everyone in the arts is trying so hard to stay connected and the group’s music and positivity invite that connection,” Snodgrass adds. “I hope this will reach Wisconsin patrons as well as new listeners who may not have had the chance to hear Willy Street Chamber Players or who have not been to the Wisconsin Union Theater before.”
This blog named the Willys “Musicians of the Year” for 2016. The players were called “a fantastic breath of fresh air who invest their performances of even well-known works, such as the glorious Octet by Mendelssohn, with energy and drive, zest and good humor.” You can read that story here.
Click here for more information about Wisconsin Sound, including other upcoming performances.
Tags: #AdagioandAllegro, #African-AmericanComposer, #African-Americanmusician, #ArtisticDirector, #Beautifulmusic, #BlackComposer, #BlackWomen, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FantasyPieces, #FlorencePrice, #Freshair, #GoodHumor, #JacobStockinger, #KiépNàoCóYeuNhau, #LoveSong, #MakeMusicMadison, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialUnionTerrrace, #NeglectedMusic, #OnlineConcert, #ProArteQuartet, #PublicHealth, #RachelEubanks, #RobertSchumann, #SeasonSubscription, #ShannonHall, #SummerSerenades, #TheEar, #TheUW, #TicketSales, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinSound, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WomenComposers, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, accessibility, accolades, Adagio and Allegro, African American, ago, agree, approach, artist, Arts, audience, beautiful, Beautiful music, black, blog, breath, celebrated, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, concert series, connect, coronavirus, dedication, director, discount, drive, dynamic, ecited, Elizabeth Snodgrass, energy, Eubanks, everyone, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fantastic, fantasy, Feix Mendelssohn, Felix Medelssohn, festivals, Florence Price, forward, fresh air, fun, garner, good humor, group, hard, hear, honor, in person, information, invest, Jacob Stockinger, Kiép Nào Có Yeu Nhau, kick off, kickoff, like, lineup, link, listeners, local, love song, Madison, make, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial Union Terrace, micro-concerts, mind, month, Music, Musician, neglected music, new, Octet, online, pandemic, partners, partnerships, patron, People, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, pieces, pilot, post, posting, price, Pro Arte Quartet, Public health, purchase, Rachel Eubanks, reason, Robert Schumann, safety, Schumann, Serenade, Shannon Hall, share, Snodgrass, subscription, summer, Summer Serenades, tag, Te Ear, though, tickets, try, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, UW, UW-Madison, video, Vietnamese, Violin, violinist, virtual, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sound, Wisconsin Union Theater, women, women composers, WUT, years, YouTube, zest
Classical music: the Madison Symphony Orchestra recognizes local musicians with awards
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following news:
Several local musicians received prestigious awards from the Board of Directors of the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) at the board’s recent June meeting in recognition of their musical contributions.
Margaret Rupp Cooper Award
The Margaret Rupp Cooper Award is presented in honor of the Symphony’s original harpist, who performed in the first concert in 1926 through the 50th anniversary season. The award is presented annually to two orchestra members based upon years of service, commitment to the orchestra, and musicianship. This year’s awardees were Naha Greenholtz, MSO Concertmaster, and Josh Biere, MSO Principal Tuba.
Naha Greenholtz (below, in a photo by Chris Hynes) has now completed her fifth season as concertmaster with the MSO. A graduate of the Juilliard School and winner of the prestigious Concertmaster Academy Fellowship at Cleveland State University, she has held numerous concertmaster positions and has participated in music festivals as both a performer and music director.
Josh Biere (below) joined the Madison Symphony Orchestra as Principal Tuba in 2013. He also holds the principal tuba chair with the Kenosha (Wisconsin) Symphony and regularly performs with the Chicago Composers Orchestra. Mr. Biere holds degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University and Northwestern University.
Marie Spec Award
The Marie Spec Award honors the Symphony’s long-time first violinist, who also played in the first performance in 1926. The award consists of a fund that provides both the concertmaster and Madison Symphony Chorus accompanist with an annual bonus. MSO Concertmaster Naha Greenholtz and Chorus Accompanist Dan Lyons received this year’s award.
A Chicago native, Dan Lyons (below) holds performance degrees from DePaul University and a doctoral performance degree from UW-Madison. He has performed solo, concerto and chamber recitals throughout the Midwest. In addition to serving as the accompanist and chorus manager for the Madison Symphony Chorus, he maintains a private teaching studio and continues to accompany throughout the Madison area.
Ann Stanke Award
The Ann Stanke Award is presented in honor of the former Madison Symphony Chorus accompanist and manager for her years of excellent service. This year’s award was presented to chorus member Bob Gentile.
Bob Gentile, a lifelong music educator, has sung in the bass section of the Madison Symphony Chorus for over 15 years, has served as President and Vice-President, and has shown valued leadership with his counsel, wisdom, good humor and kindness.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra engages audiences of all ages and backgrounds in live classical music through a full season of concerts with established and emerging soloists of international renown, an organ concert series, and diverse educational and community engagement programs. Learn more at: www.madisonsymphony.org
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Classical music: The weeklong Madison Early Music Festival gets more national attention as it marks 15 years. The festival kicks off on Saturday and focuses on Italian early music and art from 1300 to 1600. Part 1 of 2.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Can it really be 15 years already?
The Madison Early Music Festival began as a dream and an experiment. But it has endured, survived and prospered. This summer it marks its 15th anniversary with a focus on Italian music from 1300 to 1600. The theme is called “Italia Mia.”
This year’s installment starts on this coming Saturday, July 12, and runs through the following Saturday, July 19. It features many of the traditional things such as workshops, lectures and public concerts. But it also features new out-of-town groups and only the second annual Handel Aria Competition, which has been enhanced.
Venues are perhaps the biggest challenge this year, given the upgrading of Mills Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Here is a link to the festival’s home website for information about tickets, events, programs and performers:
To get things straight, and to provide both some history and a larger context, The Ear asked baritone Paul Rowe and his soprano wife Cheryl Bensman Rowe -– who are the co-artistic directors of the Madison Early Music Festival -– to do an email Q&A for this blog.
They graciously agreed, and the results will be posted in two parts, today and tomorrow.
How successful is this year’s festival compared to others in terms of enrollment, budgets, guest performers, ticket sales, media interest, etc.? This is the 15th anniversary of MEMF. After 15 years, is MEMF clearly established now nationally or even internationally?
Cheryl: We have been getting more attention in the national press, and we continue to feature ensembles and artists from Europe and Canada. This year the Toronto Consort — seen below and heard at the bottom in a YouTube video of Italian music and art from the period that MEMF will cover — will open the festival with their program “The Da Vinci Codex,” which features Italian Music from the musical world of Leonardo Da Vinci.
In May, the blog Deceptive Cadence from NPR Classical mentioned MEMF 2014 as a “Can’t Miss Classical Music Festivals” in the Midwest region.
MEMF was again the only Wisconsin music festival listed on May 14, 2014 in the The New York Times story “Birds Aren’t The Only Music Amid Nature.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/arts/music/birds-arent-the-only-music-amid-nature.html
Besides the attention in the press, we are well-known in early music circles. Our performers and faculty are also hired by many well-established festivals, including the Berkeley Early Music Festival, Boston Early Music Festival (below), Amherst Early Music Festival, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and others.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and guest performers?
Paul: This year we are adding two new intensive workshops that will run concurrently with MEMF. One is focused on wind instruments that will form a loud band and be led by Robert Wiemken (below top) of Pifarro.
There are eight people in the loud band intensive class who play sackbut, shawm, dulcien and other instruments (below bottom). The other is a Baroque opera workshop that will be led by Drew Minter, Christa Patton and me.
We will use music from the operas “Orfeo” and “The Coronation of Poppea” by Claudio Monteverdi (below) as source material to explore Baroque gesture and dance as well as ornamentation and stylistic singing. We have 15 singers who will be taking this workshop. The two intensive classes will present an informal performance on Saturday afternoon, July 19, at 2 p.m.
Why was the topic of the Italian music 1300-1600 chosen for the early music festival? What composers and works will be highlighted?
Paul: We wanted to have a broader historical focus this year in order to include very early instruments and music as well as the larger format pieces that are a feature of the later Renaissance and early Baroque.
The most famous composer of this period is Claudio Monteverdi, but there are many others. Italy was really the hub of poetry and music for all of Western culture during the time period we are considering. The poetry of Petrarch (below) will provide the focus for the All-Festival Concert this year. This is the era of Boccaccio and Dante as well as Petrarch.
Tomorrow: What makes early music in Italy different? What will the All-Festival Concert next Saturday night be like? What is new about the second annual Handel Aria Competition and the new FREE noontime lectures?
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