The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society again brings its surefire summery approach to serious classical chamber music when it starts its 28th annual series this weekend
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s not just the calendar that makes the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society the official start of the increasingly busy summer classical musical season in Madison.
The real reason is that the summer chamber music series, about to start its 28th annual summer this Friday night, June 14, is downright summery in its approach.
Say “summer,” and you think of lightness, of fun, of playfulness. And those are the very same qualities – along with serious, first-rate performances of great music by outstanding musicians – that BDDS brings to its six programs spread out in 12 concerts over three weekends and three venues during the month of June.
By now both the performers (below, in a photo by Dick Ainsworth for BDDS) and the audiences know that the formula works, however finely tuned or slightly changed it is from one summer to the next.
WHAT’S THE SAME
This year much remains.
There are still door prizes, spoken introductions and stories, mystery guests and a colorful art installation by UW-Madison designer Carolyn Kallenborn.
The titles of the six programs for 12 concerts over three weekends still have groan-inducing puns — “Name Dropping” in the theme for this summer — that are based on the musicians’ names like “Founteneau of Youth” after the San Francisco cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below top) and “Quadruple Axel” after the Montreal-based violin virtuoso Axel Strauss (below bottom).
There are still the usual venues: the Playhouse in the Overture Center (below top); the Stoughton Opera House (below middle); and the Hillside Theater at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright compound in Spring Green.
There are still the many distinguished and accomplished musicians among the many imported guest artists and the many local musicians, including the co-founders and co-artistic directors flutist Stephanie Jutt and pianist Jeffrey Sykes (below). The Ear can’t recall ever hearing a bad BDDS performance, even of music he didn’t like.
And there is a mix of older well-known and classic repertoire along with newer and neglected composers and works.
WHAT’S NEW
But some things are different too.
The first concert this Friday will have a post-concert reception with free champagne and dessert to celebrate the 28th season.
This summer, unlike recent ones, there is no vocal music. All music is instrumental.
At both Stoughton and Spring Green, you can get food. Go to the home website for details.
Especially new and noteworthy is that the Russian virtuoso accordion player Stas Venglevski (below), from Milwaukee, will also perform on programs. Venglevski performs on the bayan, a Russian-style accordion noted for its deep bass sound and range and purity of tone.
Venglevski will be featured in works that range from polkas and heart-on-the-sleeve tangos by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla, Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona and Russian composer Igor Stravinsky; down-and-dirty original works by Russian master Tatyana Sergeyeva and arrangements of favorite pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach and others.
This Wednesday night, June 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., Venglevski and Jutt will perform “Bayan-o-rama” at the Arts and Literature Lab, 2021 Winnebago Street. Tickets are $10 at the door. Refreshments will be served.
Here is a summary of the first weekend:
WEEK ONE
The elegance, charm, and finesse of French cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau is displayed in a program called “Fonteneau of Youth.”
It includes music written by great composers in their youth, including the ravishing Elegy for cello and piano of French composer Gabriel Fauré; the rhythmically exciting Trio for flute, cello and piano of living American composer Ned Rorem; and the astonishing D’un soir triste (One Sad Evening) and D’un matin de printemps (One Spring Morning), both for piano trio, of 21-year old Lili Boulanger (below), who was the Prix de Rome-winning composer sister of famed teacher Nadia Boulanger and who died very young. (You can hear both pieces by Lili Boulanger in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The great Franz Joseph Haydn—always the most youthful of composers, even into his late years—is represented by the masterful Piano Trio no. 28 in E major, in honor of BDDS’ 28th season.
“Fonteneau of Youth” will be performed at The Playhouse in the Overture Center for the Arts on this Friday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. A free champagne and dessert reception will be held following the performance to celebrate the 28th season opener. It will also be performed in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater on Sunday, June 16, at 2:30 p.m.
Audience favorite Axel Strauss—not just a virtuoso violinist, but a virtuoso musician and artist of the highest distinction—will brave gravity-defying musical heights in “Quadruple Axel.” Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Trio Sonata in D minor for violin, flute, cello and piano starts the program on an elegant note. Johannes Brahms’ fiery Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, raises the temperature significantly. And all sorts of hijinks are on display in Maurice Ravel’s extraordinary and ravishing Sonata for Violin and Piano.
“Quadruple Axel” will be performed at The Playhouse in the Overture Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 15, at 7:30 p.m. and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater, Sunday, June 16, at 6:30 p.m.
For more information about the full BDDS season and how to purchase tickets ($43 and $49), go to: https://bachdancing.org
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Classical music: Acclaimed a cappella vocal ensemble Cantus performs a world premiere in Edgerton this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
“Cantus: Inspiring Through Song“ will perform in concert this coming Saturday night, March 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Edgerton Performing Arts Center, 200 Elm High Drive in Edgerton, Wisconsin.
In its 2017-18 touring program “Discovery of Sight,” the a cappella ensemble Cantus (below) explores the essence of light and vision, reveling in the mystery, science and poetry of what it means to truly “see” with music.
The program features works by Richard Strauss, Franz Schubert, Eric Whitacre (below top) and Einojuhani Rautavaara (below middle, in a photo by Getty Images) alongside a world premiere by Gabriel Kahane (below bottom).
Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at www.edgertonpac.com or by phone at (608) 561-6093.
Praised as “engaging” by the New Yorker magazine, the men’s vocal ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blending, and for its innovative programming and involving performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century.
The Washington Post has hailed the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power,” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making.
As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has grown in prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process.
Cantus performs more than 60 concerts each year both in national and international touring, and in its home of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Cantus has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, UCLA, San Francisco Performances, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, and Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.
You can hear Cantus perform a Tiny Desk Concert for National Public Radio (NPR) in the YouTube video at the bottom. The Ear is especially fond of the way they sing “Wanting Memories.”
For more information about Cantus, go to the ensemble’s website: www.cantussings.org
The performance is funded by the William and Joyce Wartmann Endowment for the Performing Arts.
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Classical music: University Opera’s “La Bohème” proves a complete success on all counts – from the staging and the costumes to the singing and the orchestra
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Opera Guy for The Ear went to the University Opera’s performances of “La Bohème” on Friday and Saturday nights so he could sample both student casts. He filed this review, which is accompanied by photos taken by Michael R. Anderson for the University Opera.
By Larry Wells
I attended the first two of the three performances of University Opera’s production of Puccini’s “La Bohème.” This production made use of the expansive and technically advanced Shannon Hall in the Wisconsin Union Theater. Deservedly, the hall was nearly full for both of the performances I attended.
Director David Ronis decided to update the setting to Paris in the mid-1920s primarily using posters, wigs and wonderful costumes to suggest the decade. Joseph Varga’s beautiful and clever single set incorporated ingenious slight changes act by act to suggest the opera’s various settings. Along with Sruthi Suresan’s subtle lighting design, the production was a visual delight.
Ronis’ able hand was evident in the players’ acting. The cast was consistently believable, and consequently I was drawn into their world and suffered along with their despair over love’s inconsistencies and death’s sting. Using my acid test for a performance’s success, I never glanced at my watch either night. I was fully engaged.
The orchestra was a marvel. Conductor Chad Hutchinson let it soar when it was appropriate, but the orchestra never overshadowed the singers. In fact, the key term that kept occurring to me both evenings was balance. The acting, the back-and-forth between the singers, and the interplay between the orchestra and the singers were consistently evenhanded.
As for the singers, the primary roles were double cast. Friday’s Mimi was Shaddai Solidum whose first aria “Mi chiamano Mimi” was a lesson in the mastery of legato. Saturday’s Mimi was Yanzelmalee Rivera who possesses a bell-like voice of remarkable agility.
Benjamin Liupaoga as Rodolfo sang a fine opening aria – “Che gelida manina” – with finesse and credibility. José Muñiz’s Rodolfo was initially restrained, but soared to great heights in the second act. (Below are Jose Muniz and Yanzelmalee Rivera as Rodolfo and Mimi.)
The interactions between Mimi and Rodolfo were believable, touching, and musically magical. The duet at the end of the first act “O soave fanciulla” was uplifting both evenings. I always marvel at the Wagnerian chord progression. The audience was so enthusiastic Saturday night that its applause nearly drowned out Mimi and Rodolfo’s offstage “Amor! Amor!”
I feel that Musetta is the hardest role to convey successfully. She has to come off as a combination of carefree and needy in the second and third acts and then compassionate and vulnerable in the final act. Katie Anderson and Claire Powling both handled the acting and the vocalizing with aplomb. The singing in the ensemble after Musetta’s Waltz at the end of the second act was outstanding. Below foreground are, left to right: Claire Powling (Musetta), Michael Kelley (Waiter), Jake Elfner (Alcindoro)
Matt Chastain’s Marcello was dark and brooding while James Held’s was more carefree and pragmatic. Both were able singers, and I found their ensemble work exceptional. In fact, the duets, trios, quartets and ensemble scenes throughout the opera were uniformly terrific.
The minor characters and the choruses were all excellent. But special praise must go to Benjamin Schultz-Burkel as Colline whose small aria in the fourth act (below) was a true showstopper. In the death scene finale of Act 4, left to right, are: James Held (Marcello), Claire Powling (Musetta), Jose Muniz (Rodolfo, kneeling), Yanzelmalee Rivera (Mimi), Benjamin Schultz-Burkel (Colline, standing)
My major piece of advice to the singers would be to trust their training. Some of the singers seemed initially tentative, but when they let themselves go they were fantastic. (Below is Yanzelmalee Rivera as Mimi.)
The program lists “Into the Woods” as University Opera’s production next spring in conjunction with the UW theater department. Although I personally look forward to it, I wonder about the blurring between opera and musical theater.
In any event, I was very pleased by both performances and give my heartfelt congratulations to the casts and staff for a memorable musical and theatrical experience. But I had to laugh at the supertitle for one of Mimi’s lines: “I wish the winter would last forever.”
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