The Well-Tempered Ear

Wisconsin Ensemble Project’s string quartet program to benefit the United Way of Dane County debuts online this Friday night

May 11, 2021
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PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

This Friday night, May 14, the Wisconsin Ensemble Project will present a recorded concert (below, in an image by Katrin Talbot) in partnership with United Way of Dane County (UWDC). 

This is their second in a series of performances to benefit local and international organizations.  

This production offers viewers a meaningful program that leads to direct impact with a focus on housing stability and family well-being.  You will hear the story and see the face of UWDC woven throughout a chamber music performance. 

The program of works for string quartet includes “Park”  by Daniel Bernard Roumain (below top); the “Heiliger Dankgesang” (Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving, which you can hear played by the Alban Berg Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom) from Beethoven’s Opus 132; and selections from Five Folksongs in Counterpoint by Florence Price (below bottom).

WE Project members and performers are local, professional musicians who work together in the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra: violinists Leanne League and Mary Theodore; violist Jen Paulson; and cellist Karl Lavine.

“The WE Project is rooted in the quartet’s desire not only to delve deeply into chamber music repertoire, but also to address some of the many pressing social justice issues of our time,” says member Mary Theodore.

When exploring organizations to partner with for their second project, the quartet was inspired by the work of United Way of Dane County. The WE Project approached United Way out of their concern over housing security, with the understanding that one of UWDC’s key goals is to help more individuals and families find pathways out of poverty through housing and employment initiatives.

The recorded production will be available by registering at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wisconsin-ensemble-project-spring-benefit-concert-registration-151923670789 from 6 p.m. this Friday, May 14, for 72 hours. Admission is free and contributions are strongly encouraged.

Contributions can be made through the website and will help to cover basic production costs and get funds directly into the hands of this very worthy organization which, most importantly, brings aid to the people they serve.


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Classical music: The UW-Madison School of Music will NOT have a complete brochure for the new season. Use the website and sign up for an email newsletter. The 40th Karp Family Labor Day Concert is Sept. 3

August 19, 2019
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

Summer is almost over and the new concert season is about to begin in just a couple weeks.

Just about all the groups in the Madison area, large and small, have announced their upcoming seasons.

But it you are wondering why the brochure for the hundreds of events that will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music hasn’t arrived yet, here is the answer.

There isn’t one this year.

For many years the UW-Madison’s SOM  — as the School of Music is often abbreviated – has issued a handsome season brochure (below) with names and dates, if not always complete programs.

In the past couple of years, the brochure has been particularly informative with background about performers and events at the school as well as about students and alumni.

But due to a variety of factors, there will be no season brochure although there will be a special brochure for the opening weekend on the new Hamel Music Center (below), which is Oct. 25-27.

A variety of reasons has caused the lack of a brochure, says Publicist and Concert Manager Katherine Esposito. But the familiar full-season brochure will return for the 2020-21 season.

It the meantime, Esposito recommends that you go to the Concert and Events calendar, which has been updated and made more user-friendly, on the website for the school of music. It also features information about faculty and staff as well as news about the school. Here is a link:

https://www.music.wisc.edu/events/

On the right hand side is a menu that allows you to view the calendar as a running list or by the month, week or day with maps or photos.

On the left hand side is another menu that allows you to search by musical category (performers and ensemble) as well as concert date, time, venue and admission cost, if any.

Esposito always recommends that you subscribe to the email newsletters. You can see past ones and sign up to receive future ones if you go to this part of the home website: https://www.music.wisc.edu/recent-newsletters/

As usual, the season at the UW-Madison will open with 40th FREE Karp Family Labor Day Concert, which now takes place the day after the holiday, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall.

Over four decades, the Karps (below are the brothers pianist Christopher Karp with cellist Parry Karp, who will team up again this year) have never repeated a piece on the the Labor Day concerts.

The program this year includes the sublime Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, K. 493, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (you can hear the first movement with a visual schematic in the YouTube video at the bottom); the late Sonata No. 10 for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 96, by Ludwig van Beethoven, which has been transcribed by Parry Karp for cello and piano; and lesser known works by Robert Schumann and Antonin Dvorak.

For more about the program and the performers, who include guest violinist Suzanne Beia of the Pro Arte Quartet, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/40th-karp-family-concert/


Posted in Classical music
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