The Well-Tempered Ear
From beginner to maestro — for the Final Forte, John DeMain reflects on a life in music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night, March 6 at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall, is the “Final Forte” — the annual high school concerto competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under its longtime music director and conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers).
You can attend the concert in person for FREE or watch it live on PBS Wisconsin or listen to it live on Wisconsin Public Radio.
For more details, go online to: https://madisonsymphony.org/education-community/education-programs/young-artist-competitions/the-final-forte/
As usual you can see and hear summary biographies of and impressive interviews with this year’s four teenage participants (below, in a photo by James Gill) and what they think of the competition. You can also read about the three judges and about past compeiutitons and the winners.
But this year, DeMain opened up about himself to PBS Wisconsin. He talks about why he likes and looks forward to directing the performances by young artists and what he thinks about starting a career in music.
DeMain — who will retire at the end of next season — also draws on his own award-winning career from his first piano lessons though his education at the Juilliard School, his lessons with Leonard Bernstein and his 30-year tenure at the MSO.
Trust The Ear — it is an engaging interview well worth reading for many reasons.
Here is a link to that interview:
Do you anything to say about how DeMain sees working with and encouraging young artists?
About his own career?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Remember Marika with Bach Around the Clock 2023. The FREE five-day, in-person and online birthday celebration begins today
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NOTE: You can see and hear the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte concert with four youth concerto finalists at 7 tonight on PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio. For complete information, including other airings, go to these websites: https://madisonsymphony.org/education-community/education-programs/young-artist-competitions/the-final-forte/ and https://pbswisconsin.org/the-final-forte/
By Jacob Stockinger
The seventh annual Madison-based Bach Around the Clock festival — a celebration of the March 31 birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1756, below) —- will start today and run through Sunday both in-person and online.
All events and streaming are free and open to the public.
As usual, it will feature professional and amateur performers of all ages and levels of proficiency in all kinds of repertoire and arrangements, including Bach on the Marimba.
It begins today, Wednesday, March 8, at noon with a Bach motet sung in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Ave.
The live portion, which will also be live-streamed, will end on Saturday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with continuous performances at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (below) at 1833 Regent Street on the near west side.
Then on this Sunday, March 12, the virtual online festival will premier.
For more details — including a full schedule with times, venues, pieces, performers and other links — go to:
Home
The Ear thinks of the entire festival as a life celebration and memorial not just for Bach but also for his avid local advocate, violist Marika Fisher Hoyt (below).
Hoyt — who was also a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Ancora String Quartet, Just Bach and Sonata à Quattro — died Feb. 21 from cancer. She was one of the kindest and most caring persons, one of the hard-working and most energetic, talented musicians, that The Ear has ever known and worked with.
After Wisconsin Public Radio abandoned BATC in 2013, Fischer Hoyt rescued it in 2017, raised money and support, and expanded its offerings and performers as well as took it into a virtual online format as well as remaining an in-person event.
You can find many tributes online. You can also plug in her name on this blog’s search engine to get some idea of her overwhelming and inspiring contributions to the area’s cultural life. In 2017, The Ear named her Musician of the Year:
Classical music: For reviving and securing Bach Around the Clock, The Ear names Marika Fischer Hoyt as “Musician of the Year” for 2017
But the best tribute of all will be to listen to Bach’s extraordinarily inventive and beautiful music — her abiding passion and the gift she never stopped wanting to give to others — with Marika in mind.
You can also find videos from past BATC’s. But she once told me that the piece she loved most is the St. John Passion. So a YouTube video of the final chorus from that oratorio is posted at the bottom.
Have you attended or heard BATC before?
What did you especially like and would you recommend the event to others?
Did you know Marika Fischer Hoyt?
What would you like other people to know about Marika?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: University Opera updates and stages Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” on this Friday night, Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night. Plus, here are the winners of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte
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NEWS UPDATE: If you missed it, here are the results of Wednesday’s night Final Forte teenage concerto competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, which was broadcast live from Overture Hall on Wisconsin Public Radio and PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television).
First and second place prizes of a $2,000 scholarship went to pianist Michael Wu and pianist Jessica Jiang, respectively. The two runners-up — violinists Emily Hauer and Jonah Kartman — each received a scholarship of $1,000.
Here is a link to more information, photos and background – including teachers — for each of the four contestants as well as the dates for rebroadcasting the finalists’ concert on radio and TV.
By Jacob Stockinger
The prize-winning University Opera and UW Symphony Orchestra will stage three performances of “Cosi fan tutte” (So Do They All, or Women Are Like That), the late comic and seriously satirical opera by Mozart about love, gender roles and cheating on partners.
The performances are in Old Music Hall on Bascom Hill on this Friday night, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday afternoon, March 1, at 2:30 p.m.; and Tuesday night, March 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 for general admission with reserved seats, $20 for seniors (62 and up) and $10 for UW students.
As usual, UW students will alternate certain roles during the three performances. (Below is returning singer Anja Pustaver, one of the three Despina’s in the production.)
The stage director is David Ronis, the head of the opera program at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. He has won numerous national awards during his tenure at the UW-Madison for his inventive re-imaginings of well-known operas and musicals.
The student orchestra will be conducted by Oriol Sans, the acclaimed new professor of conducting and director of Orchestral Activities at the UW-Madison. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the Overture to “Cosi” played by the Metropolitan Opera conducted by James Levine.)
Below is a studio photo by radio host Norman Gilliland of members of the production when they appeared on Wisconsin Public Radio. From left are: conductor Oriol Sans, director David Ronis, soprano Julia Urbank and soprano Cayla Rosche.
The opera has been updated to the Roaring Twenties, at a time when the women’s suffrage movement and other women’s rights issues were gaining traction. The re-staging also seems especially timely and contemporary, given the #MeToo and Time’sUp movements.
Here is a link to the full press release with the complete cast and production staff as well as a sketch of the abstract stage set (below) designed by Joseph Varga and other information, including a detailed synopsis and an explanation of the reason for setting the opera by in the Roaring 20s: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2020/02/10/cosi-fan-tutte/
Here is a link to a shortened version – with information about tickets and parking — on the Mead Witter School of Music’s home website under Concerts and Events: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/university-opera-mozarts-cosi-fan-tutte/2020-02-28/
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Classical music: This Wednesday night, four teenage soloists compete in this year’s Final Forte competition with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Attend it live for FREE, or watch and hear it live on PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. in Overture Hall, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below in a photo by Peter Rodgers), PBS Wisconsin and Wisconsin Public Radio will present the 14th annual “Wisconsin Young Artists Compete: The Final Forte.”
The concert of four teenage concerto competition winners features the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) led by Associate Conductor Kyle Knox (below).
The concert is FREE and open to the public. But audience members must register in advance, and arrive by 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, prior to the beginning of the live broadcast. Reservations are required. Call (608) 257-3734 or go online to register at https://madisonsymphony.org/finalforte
Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and close at 6:45 p.m. due to the live broadcast. The event runs until 8:30 p.m. No tickets will be issued at the door. Seating is general admission in select areas of the concert hall.
The four finalists (below, in a photo by James Gill who did all the contestant photos) were chosen from 10 semi-finalists in November.
They are:
Jessica Jiang (far left), who will perform the first movement from Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. (You can hear the Prokofiev movement, played by Martha Argerich, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Jonah Kartman (far right), who will perform the first movement from Saint-Saens’ Violin Concerto No 3.
Emily Hauer (third from left) who will perform the first movement from Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor.
Pianist Michael Wu (second from left) who will perform Liszt’s “Totentanz” (Dance of Death).
Videos to introduce each finalist are now available for viewing online.
Jessica Jiang: https://pbswisconsin.org/wpt-video/wpt-music-arts/final-forte-jessica-jiang-qto5ir/
Emily Hauer: https://pbswisconsin.org/wpt-video/wpt-music-arts/final-forte-emily-hauer-8ihe8s/
Jonah Kartman: https://pbswisconsin.org/wpt-video/wpt-music-arts/final-forte-jonah-kartman-xsr1z6/
Michael Wu): https://pbswisconsin.org/wpt-video/wpt-music-arts/final-forte-michael-wu-frbf66/
Rebroadcast dates on the Wisconsin Channel (WPT-2) will be Friday, March 6 at 8 p.m. and 11p.m.; Saturday, March 7, at 3 p.m.; and Thursday, March 12, at 3 a.m.
ABOUT THE FINALISTS
Jessica Jiang (below) is a junior at Madison Memorial High School. She took up the piano at the age of four and currently studies with Bill Lutes, Emeritus Professor at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. Jessica received the Steenbock Youth Music Award in the 2018 Bolz Young Artist Competition and took second place in Division III of the National Steinway and Sons Piano Competition in 2019.
Emily Hauer (below) is a home-schooled senior from Appleton. She began violin lessons at the age of two and currently studies with Ilana Setapen, associate concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Emily won the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Young Artist Concerto Competition in 2017 and is currently in her fourth year as the concertmaster of the Fox Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Jonah Kartman (below) is a home-schooled senior from Glendale. He has been playing the violin for 13 years, and currently studies with I-Hao Lee at DePaul University’s School of Music. Jonah was a finalist in the 2019 Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s Audrey G. Baird Stars of Tomorrow competition, and a two-time winner and scholarship recipient in the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee Competition.
Michael Wu (below) is a senior at Sun Prairie High School. He began piano lessons at age five, and currently studies with Bill Lutes, Emeritus Professor at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music. Michael received the Steenbock Youth Music Award in the 2017 Bolz Young Artist Competition and took first place in Division III of the National Steinway and Sons Piano Competition in 2018.
ABOUT THE FINAL FORTE
This competition has captured an enormous following and numerous honors, including an Emmy nomination, First Place in the “Special Interest” category from the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association in 2007, and the fifth most-watched program in the February 2007 Nielsen ratings. The 2008 broadcasts reached more than 60,000 viewers and listeners in the Madison market alone and the 2009 broadcasts reached an estimated 200,000 statewide.
The Final Forte is funded by major support from Diane Ballweg, Stephen Morton, W. Jerome Frautschi, A. Paul Jones Charitable Trust, Julie and Larry Midtbo, Fred and Mary Mohs, and Elizabeth Olson, with additional support from Bell Laboratories, James Dahlberg and Elsebet Lund, Kato Perlman, Cyrena and Lee Pondrom, Sentry Insurance Foundation, Darcy Kind and Marc Vitale, Dr. A. Beyer-Mears, Nick and Judith Topitzes, the Focus Fund for Young Performers, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.
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Classical music: This Wednesday brings a FREE Just Bach concert and the FREE Final Forte concerto competition of the Madison Symphony Orchestra on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday, March 13, brings two noteworthy and FREE events: this month’s midday Just Bach concert; and, at night, the annual Final Forte teenage concerto competition of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Here are details about both events:
JUST BACH
This month’s FREE hour-long performance by Just Bach (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will take place at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, starting at 1 p.m. Food and drink are permitted and free-will donations are accepted.
The program this Wednesday is: the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor “Dorian” for organ, BWV 538, by Johann Sebastian Bach; the cantata “Herr, Ich Warte auf dein Heil” (Lord, I Wait for Your Salvation) by Johann Michael Bach, a cousin of Johann Sebastian; and the famous cantata “Christ lag in Todesbanden” (Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death”), BWV 4, by Johann Sebastian Bach. (You can hear the opening Sinfonia and Chorus to the latter in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a list of upcoming performances and programs for the second semester:
https://justbach.org/concerts/
And here is a link to the home page and website with links to information about the performers and more.
FINAL FORTE
Then on Wednesday night, starting at 6:45 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, the four finalists in the annual Final Forte teenage concerto competition, held by the Madison Symphony Orchestra, will compete accompanied by the MSO and conductor John DeMain.
The public is invited to attend the FREE event, but tickets but must be reserved in advance.
The performances will also be broadcast live starting at 7 p.m. by both Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) and Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR).
The four finalists, from dozens of statewide applicants who took part in the two preliminary rounds, are (below, from left): violinist Monona Suzuki of Fitchburg playing Ravel; cellist Grace Kim of Waunakee playing Saint-Saens; flutist Holly Venkitaswaren of Lisbon playing Pierce; and pianist Antonio Wu of Madison playing Rachmaninoff.
For more information about the performers, what they will perform and how to obtain tickets, as well as background on the competition, including impressive radio and television ratings, go to:
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Classical music: Four UW concerto competition winners and the student composer winner are featured in the annual Symphony Showcase concert this Sunday night. Plus, the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Final Forte” high school concerto competition airs tonight at 7 on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television
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REMINDER: The final round of the Madison Symphony Orchestra‘s teenage concerto competition, “The Final Forte,” will be broadcast live TONIGHT at 7 p.m. on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television.
ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Ave., features a “Triple Play” of trumpeter David Miller, cellist Amy Harr and pianist Jane Peckham in music by Pärt, Piazzolla, Scarlatti, Levy and Verdi. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
This sure is the week for concerto competitions.
The Big Event this week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the annual Symphony Showcase concert devoted to student performances of concertos and the world premiere of new music by a student composer.
The concert takes place on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall.
Tickets are $10, free to students and children.
The concert features the UW Symphony Orchestra (below top) under the baton of its new conductor, Chad Hutchinson (below bottom).
The four winners of the concerto competition will perform and the work by the UW composition winner will receive its first public performance.
There will be reception in the lobby following the concert.
The four concerto winners, who study at the UW’s Mead Witter School of Music, are:
Violinist Kaleigh Acord (below, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson), who will perform the first movement from the Violin Concerto in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Percussionist Aaron Gochberg (below), who will perform the “Prism Rhapsody” by Japanese composer Keiko Abe.
Bassoonist Eleni Katz (below), who will perform the Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K. 191, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Pianist Eric Tran (below), who will play the Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055, by Johann Sebastian Bach.
“Blooming” is by UW composition student Mengmeng Wang (below), who is from China.
The concert will open with the Overture to “Candide” by Leonard Bernstein. This year is the centennial of Bernstein’s birth.
For more information about the contestants and their photos, as well as how to get tickets, go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/symphony-showcase-concerto-winners-solo-recital-reception/
You can also hear interviews with the winners, who discuss the pieces and their teachers, in the terrific YouTube video below:
Tags: #BassoonMusic, #CelloMusic, #DomenicoScarlatti, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #NewMusic, #PercusssionConcerto, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #TrumpetMusic, #UnitarianSociety, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #WisconsinPublic Radio, #WisconsinPublicRadio, Arts, Arvo Part, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Baroque, Bassoon, Beethoven, birth, BWV, Candide, Cello, centennial, China, Chinese, choral music, Classical music, Competition, composer, concerto, contestant, Early music, Final Forte, First Unitarian Society of Madison, free, Friday, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Johann Sebastian Bach, K, Leonard Bernstein, Levy, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mozart, musicale, New Music, noon, Orchestra, Overture, Overture to Candide, percussion, photo, Pianist, Piano, Radio, Scarlatti, Student, symphony, Teacher, Television, trumpeter, trumpter, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Violin, web site, Website, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Madison native Ansel Norris returns to perform a FREE recital this Saturday night of songs transcribed for trumpet and piano
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CORRECTION: In some downloads of yesterday’s post, the performance by the Ancora String Quartet was mistakenly listed for Friday night. The performance is SATURDAY night. The Ear apologizes for the error. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
On this Saturday night, July 29, at 7 p.m., trumpeter Ansel Norris and pianist Beth Wilson will perform a FREE recital of vocal music in an unusual format — for solo trumpet and piano, with the poetry that inspired the music spoken in between each song.
“In music for voice and piano there lies a special intimacy, and the composers featured each captured something close to the essence of the form,” Norris (below) told The Ear. “I wanted to see what happened if I split the songs up into a poem, read it out loud, and then played a wordless melody to follow. The result was interesting and felt meaningful, so I’ve decided to give it another go.”
The recital, in the Grand Hall at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, downtown and three blocks off the Capitol Square.
The program includes: Richard Strauss, “Morgen”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 5;” Richard Strauss, “Die Nacht”: Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 1; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 9; Johannes Brahms, “Die Mainacht”; Franz Schubert, “Der Einsame”; Johannes Brahms, “Unbewegte laue Luft”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 3; Richard Strauss, “Befreit”; and Peter Tchaikovsky, “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” (“None but the Lonely Heart,” sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Ansel Norris grew up on the east side of Madison, and last set foot in Capitol Lakes (below) in the spring of 2010, for his graduation recital. In recent years, he has distinguished himself as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician of enthusiasm and diverse taste.
Norris has won a number of prizes as a soloist, including first-prize twice in the National Trumpet Competition, and has drawn acclaim as an orchestral player, performing with the Chicago and Boston Symphonies and holding a fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.
Norris has also worked in close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, at the Tanglewood Music Center, in the summers of 2014 and 2015.
He says he is fascinated with the relationship between music and storytelling, and is currently exploring interesting formats of solo recitals to draw new connections between them. In a sense, this recital is an experiment, but one conducted with great love, care and curiosity.
While in Madison, Ansel Norris said, he was lucky to participate in a number of the diverse opportunities available to young musicians. He was a three-year member of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra and a four-year, inaugural member of the Winds of Wisconsin.
He was also a participant in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Final Forte” was a winner of the Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition held by Wisconsin Public Radio. He was a devoted student of the UW-Madison’s recently retired professor of trumpet, John Aley (below), who to this day is one of his greatest inspirations.
As he grows older, Norris says, he often reflects on what a special place Madison was to grow up in, and he looks forward to every chance he has to be home.
Beth Wilson (below) currently lives in Madison and is a freelance musician and professional pianist. She is a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, playing for the “Nutcracker Ballet” and “Concerts on the Square.” She also performs with Grupo Candela, a salsa band. Broadway touring shows contract her to play in the pit orchestra including the recent shows “Wicked,” “Book of Mormon,” “Sound of Music” and “Beautiful –The Carole King Musical.”
As an accompanist, Beth Wilson has collaborated with Bernhard Scully of the Canadian Brass; Diana Gannett of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; and Ansel Norris — with whom she is now reunited after seven years.
Tags: arrangement, Arts, ballet, band, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, Book of Mormon, Boston Symphony Orchestra, brass, Broadway, Canadian Brass, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Capitol Square, care, Carole King, chamber, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, Concerts on the Square, curiosity, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Final Forte, Florida, freelance, graduation, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Aley, Love, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Miami, Miami Beach, Music, Music education, musical, Musical theater, National Tumpet Competition, Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition, New World Symphony, None but the Lonely Heart, Nutcracker, orchestral, Piano, poem, Poetry, professor, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, recital, Retirement, Richard Strauss, Salsa, Schubert, Schumann, singer, soloist, song, Sound of Music, storytelling, summer, symphony, Tanglewood Music Festival, transcription, Trumpet, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wicked, winds, Winds of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, young, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: Are the rules of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Bolz Young Artist Competition fair? Or do they need to be changed?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Everyone The Ear has spoken to agrees: The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition that took place last Wednesday night — and which was broadcast live over Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) and Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) — was an extraordinary and inspiring artistic event.
All of those people had nothing but the highest praise for all four teenage finalists – (below, from left) violinist Julian Rhee, harpist Naomi Sutherland, pianist Michael Wu and violinist Yaoyao Chen — who performed under the baton of MSO music director John DeMain.
The Ear can only endorse the fantastic review of the event by local music critic Greg Hettmansberger:
https://whatgregsays.wordpress.com
And you can find out more about at the contestants at this past posting, which has links to biographies and biographical YouTube videos about them and also lists the REBROADCAST TIMES ON TODAY AND SUNDAY:
But several people The Ear knows also raised a difficult question that the MSO, WPR, WPT and seems to have avoided:
Is it fair that the impressively talented 16-year-old violinist Julian Rhee, from Brookfield, got to win the first prize for a second time?
Curiously, there was no mention of his previous win in 2015 – a younger Rhee is seen below — when he played the first movement of the Violin Concerto by Brahms. That win went unspoken during this year’s live broadcast, and even in the pre-event publicity or in the post-event publicity.
It almost seems as if the organizers recognized that pointing it out would sound funny, awkward or questionable.
Also, no mention was made that the gifted Rhee also won a competition with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and then played at Concerts on the Square; or that just a month ago, Rhee appeared on the regular season of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, playing the complete Brahms concerto under WCO music director Andrew Sewell.
Such experience probably qualified Rhee – a maturing prodigy — as a professional or at least a semi-professional, assuming he got paid for the WCO appearance, rather than an amateur.
Let’s be clear: This year, Rhee played the opening movement of the Violin Concerto by Tchaikovsky stupendously well. It is hard to argue with the decision of the three judges to award him first prize.
In short, Rhee did nothing wrong and everything right. His winning was not in any way tainted. He won fair and square. He played brilliantly, beautifully and engagingly.
What some people are questioning is not Rhee’s victory, but whether the rules themselves are unfair by allowing a previous first prize-winner to compete a second time. It certainly appears to put the other young competitors with less experience at a disadvantage.
Now, the rules do allow for a performer to win multiple first prizes. Historically, a couple of contestants have indeed won again, performing on different instruments for each appearance.
And no one seems to object that a second-, third- or fourth-prize winner gets a chance to try again to do better and win.
True, the eligibility rules do require that one year passes before a first-prize winner can compete again.
But the question seems to be: Are the rules fair? Or should they be modified, so that the playing field is more even for all the young participants?
Should first-prize winners be excluded from competing again?
That is the question that is being raised, however it is answered.
So The Ear and others want to know:
What do you think?
Are the rules fair or unfair?
Should first-prize winners be allowed to compete again?
Should the rules be changed or stay the same?
Leave your point of view in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Andrew Sewell, Arts, biography, Brahms, Classical music, concerto, critic, Final Forte, Greg Hettmansberger, harp, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John DeMain, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Music director, Orchestra, Piano, Ravel, review, Saint-Saens, symphony, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, Violin, Violin concerto, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, WPR, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: Teenage violin prodigy Julian Rhee performs the Brahms Violin Concerto with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra this Friday night. Also on the program are works by Stravinsky and Haydn
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By Jacob Stockinger
Over the years, The Ear has heard quite a few child prodigies, many of them impressive.
But he has heard only one Julian Rhee (below).
Rhee, from Brookfield, is a young Milwaukee area violinist who has won numerous awards from and has performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Rhee will perform again with the WCO (below), playing the complete Brahms Violin Concerto — not just separate movements or excerpts — this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
What makes Rhee so outstanding is that the level of his musicality matches his high technical mastery.
When he performed some of the Brahms concerto in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte competition, which he won two years ago, all eyes and ears popped open with the first notes. You just knew right away who was going to win.
(You can hear the Final Forte introduction to Julian Rhee, which aired on Wisconsin Public Televisi0n, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Rhee’s playing exuded a maturity that even seasoned listeners did not expect. And the Brahms is a perfect vehicle to display his interpretive maturity as well as his technical virtuosity. Surely Rhee still has room to grow musically. But his mastery is already something to behold.
If you enjoy being able to say “I heard him when …,” this concert has all the hallmarks of being a must-hear, do-not-miss event.
But there are other attractions on the program, to be played under music director Andrew Sewell, who has again combined works from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
Igor Stravinsky’s “L’histoire du soldat” (The Soldier’s Tale) will be performed with guest narrator Jim DeVita (below) of American Players Theatre in Spring Green. The story involves a soldier who sells his soul to the devil.
And there will also be the Symphony No. 102 in B-Flat Major by Franz Joseph Haydn, a composer whose style brings out the best in WCO music director and conductor Sewell (below), an accomplished interpreter of music from the Classical era.
To read Julian Rhee’s complete and impressive biography, and to find out more information about the program, the performers and tickets, go to:
http://www.wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-iii-2/
Tags: American Players Theatre, Andrew Sewell, Arts, award, Brahms, Brahms Violin Concerto, Child, Classical music, Competition, concerto, Devil, Final Forte, Haydn, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Jim DeVita, Johannes Brahms, Julian Rhee, L'histoire du soldat, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, musicality, narrator, Orchestra, prodigy, soldier, Spring Green, Stravinsky, symphony, tale, technique, teenage, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, virtuosity, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Public Televsion, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: Concerts on the Square start this Wednesday and feature a lot of classical music. Plus, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra announces its impressive 2016-17 indoors Masterworks season
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Wednesday night at 7 p.m., on the downtown Capitol Square, marks the opening of what has been billed as “The Biggest Picnic of Summer” — the six annual outdoor summer Concerts on the Square (below) by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and guest soloists.
They are big because each concert, under the baton of WCO artistic director Andrew Sewell, last year averaged a weekly crowd of more than 42,000 people, up from 35,000 the previous year, according to the Capitol Police. (The highest was 50,000; the lowest 28,000.)
You should also know that this year the Concerts on The Square will include a generous — maybe, The Ear suspects, even an unprecedented — amount of classical music on June 29, July 6, July 17, July 27 and Aug. 3.
On the programs you will find music by Felix Mendelssohn, Joaquin Turina, Aaron Copland and Ottorino Resphighi (this Wednesday); by Leo Delibes, Peter Tchaikovsky (including the annual and traditional Fourth of July or Independence Day performance of his “1812 Overture”) and Jules Massenet (with famed local Metropolitan Opera singer, mezzo-soprano Kitt Reuter-Foss on July 6); by Paul Dukas, Jean Sibelius, Niels Gade and Antonin Dvorak (on July 13); Ludwig van Beethoven (July 27); Arthur Honegger and Peter Tchaikovsky (Aug. 3).
Here is a link with more information including links to tickets, rules about behavior and seating, and food options:
http://www.wcoconcerts.org/performance-listing/category/concerts-on-the-square
Even as it prepares for this summer’s six Concerts on the Square, which start Wednesday night, June 26, and run through August 3, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has announced its 2016-27 indoor Masterworks season of five classical concerts. It is an impressive lineup that features a local violist who has made it big, Vicki Powell, and the very young violin sensation Julian Rhee, who won the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Final Forte with a jaw-dropping reading of the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms, as well as a guitarist and duo-pianists.
Here is a link to more information:
http://www.wcoconcerts.org/performance-listing/category/masterworks
Tags: 1812 Overture, Aaron Copland, Andrew Sewell, Arts, Baroque, Beethoven, Capitol, Capitol Square, Cello, Classical music, concerto, Concerts on the Square, crowd, Delibes, Dukas, duo-pianists, Dvorak, Final Forte, Fourth of July, Gade, guitar, Honegger, Independence Day, Jacob Stockinger, Joaquin Turina, Johannes Brahms, Julian Rhee, Kitt Reuter-Foss, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn, Metropolitan Opera, Mezzo-soprano, Music, opera, Orchestra, Ottorino Respighi, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Piano, police, Sibelius, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vicki Powell, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin State Capitol
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