The Well-Tempered Ear

As the semester ends, virtual concerts allow UW students to reach many more family members, friends and listeners. Here is how the public can connect to them

April 14, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Starting tonight and over the next two weeks, as the spring semester at the UW-Madison comes to a close, there will be more than two dozen student recitals to listen to. (Below is the YouTube video for the concert this Thursday night, April 15, at 6:30 p.m. of the Marvin Rabin String Quartet that is comprised of graduate students.)

Often two or more concerts a day are scheduled, often at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. 

That much is typical.

What is not typical during the pandemic is that technology will allow the recitals to be presented live-streamed and virtual.

The downside is that the students will not experience performing before a live audience.

But there is an upside.

Going virtual also means that the recitals will be available longer to family, friends and interested listeners  here as well as around the country and — especially for international students — the world. (Below, in a photo by Bryce Richter for the UW-Madison, is the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center.)

It also means you can hear them when it is convenient for you and not at the actual scheduled times.

The Ear has heard his share of student recitals and often finds them to be exceptional events.

If you go to the Mead Witter School of Music’s website, you can see the concerts and the lineups.

You will see that there will be student recitals of vocal music, brass music, wind music, string music and piano music. There are solo recitals, chamber music and even a symphony orchestra concert. (Below, in a photo by Bryce Richter for the UW-Madison, is the Collins Recital Hall in the Hamel Music Center.)

There are too many details for each concert to list them all here individually.

But if you go to the Concerts and Events page on the music school’s outstanding website, you can hover the cursor over the event and then click on the event and get everything from the performers and programs to program notes, a performer biography and a photo with a link to the YouTube performance.

On the YouTube site, if you click on “See More” you will see more details and can even set up an alarm for when the concert starts.

Here is a link: https://www.music.wisc.edu/events/

Try it and see for yourself. Below is the YouTube link for pianist Mengwen Zhu, who performs his recital this Saturday, April 17, at 6 p.m.)

Happy listening!

Let us know what you think, especially if it is encouraging for the students.

The Ear wants to hear.


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Classical music: The second annual Mineral Point Chamber Festival – with both free and ticketed performances — takes place this coming weekend

June 5, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The summer music season in the Madison area — which kicks off big-time this weekend – just seems to get busier and busier.

The second annual Mineral Point Chamber Music Festival will take place this coming Friday through Sunday, June 8-10.

All the information — including ensembles, complete repertoire and concerts times and venues — is available at artsmp.org under “Chamber Music Festival.” You will also find there some extensive audio samples of the performers.

There are three ticketed concerts that will take place at the refurbished Mineral Point Opera House (below top, by Michael J. Smith, and bottom):

Tickets are $20, and a package pass for all three concerts is $49.

The schedule for ticketed events is:

On Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the cello-and-piano Artu Duo (below) from the University of Minnesota will perform music by Robert Schumann, Bohuslav Martinu and Ludwig van Beethoven.

On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. the Volante Winds (below) from Indiana University will perform music by Samuel Barber, Karl Pilss, Gyorgy Orban and Giulio Briccialdi.

On Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., the Altino Duo (below), from Madison, will perform music by Zoltan Kodaly, Maurice Ravel and Johan Halvorsen.

There are also two FREE concerts. They feature many other works by many other composers including George Frideric Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Jacques Ibert and Samuel Barber.

The first FREE concert is on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Congregational United Church of Christ, 300 Maiden St., and features Q&A sessions after each ensemble’s performance.

The second FREE concert — weather permitting — is on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. in Library Park (below) and features the Festival Brass.

The festival’s director Peter Schmalz explains the philosophy of the festival, which strikes The Ear as a savvy way to host a festival of fine performers and great music for very reasonable ticket prices:

“We are a festival devoted to providing opportunity to emerging talent,” says Schmalz. “At least 50 percent of the membership of each ensemble must be currently enrolled students.

“This year we ran into an insoluble problem, when one member of the Zima Piano Trio from Indiana University could not be approved for employment because of her current status as an international student.

“Hence we have the last-minute substitution of the Altino Duo from Madison – cellist Leonardo Altino and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino – who are both college professors and obviously not a student ensemble. (She teaches at the UW-Madison, and he teaches privately in Madison and at the Wheaton College Conservatory near Chicago.)

(Editor’s note: You can read more background about the Altinos, and about playing together as spouses, here: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/classical-music-what-is-it-like-to-play-music-with-a-spouse-local-wife-and-husband-violinist-and-cellist-open-the-winter-masterworks-season-of-the-wisconsin-chamber-orchestra-with-the-brahms-double/

“The Altinos were very gracious about helping us in this situation, and will present a concert Sunday, June 10, of music that is included on their recently released CD “En voyage.”” (You can hear them perform the Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly, which is on the recording, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

If you want to see the sponsors of the festival or become a sponsor, go to the bottom of the page at: http://www.artsmp.org/chamber-music-fest/


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