The Well-Tempered Ear
Soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey wins a Grammy Award
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By Jacob Stockinger
Soprano Sarah Brailey (below), a native of Wisconsin — who now lives, works and studies in Madison — won a Grammy Award last night.
Brailey received the prestigious award (below) in the category “Best Classical Solo Album” category. It was for her role in the long-neglected, opera-like choral symphony “The Prison” by English composer Dame Ethel Smyth on the Chandos label. (You can hear an excerpt from the Brailey recording in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Brailey’s win is especially noteworthy because it comes early in her career.
Although she has toured nationally and internationally, and has established herself as a professional singer of note, Brailey is a busy graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where she is finishing her doctoral degree.
Here is a link to her website: https://sarahbrailey.com
Brailey is also one of the city’s busiest and most respected musicians.
During the pandemic year, she explained and help spark benefit concerts and fundraising for musicians whose livelihoods suffered due to cancelled performances. Here is a link: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=sarah+brailey
She also hosts the Sunday morning radio show “Musica Antiqua” – which features early music — on WORT-FM 89.9.
Recently, Brailey became the artistic director of “Grace Presents,” a series of free concerts at the downtown Grace Episcopal Church across from the state Capitol.
An avid early music performer, Brailey — who won and now directs the annual Handel Aria Competition — also co-founded and co-directs the free monthly series of Just Bach concerts (below, second from right), the lastest of which takes place this Wednesday, March 17. She sings solos, greets listeners and viewers, and often leads the final sing-along chorale from a Bach cantata.
You can hear many of her performances duing the Just Bach concerts on the Just Bach channel on YouTube.
Leave your own congratulations and thoughts about her performances in the Coment section.
The Ear will post a complete list of the classical music Grammy Award nominees and winners later this week.
PS: Another native of the Madison area was nominated for a non-classical Grammy is Bill Rahko, who co-produced the album “Everyday Life” for the rock band Coldplay. The album was nominated for Album of the Year, but lost to Taylor Swift’s “Folklore.”
Here is a link to a story on NBC 15 about Rahko, who attended Middleton High School: https://www.nbc15.com/2021/03/14/madison-area-native-up-for-grammy-award-for-album-of-the-year/
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The Madison Symphony Orchestra seeks matching funds as it launches a musicians’ relief fund to reach $355,000 by Nov. 5
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO, below in a photo by Peter Rodgers) has announced that a Musicians’ Relief Fund has been established with the goal of securing $355,000 to cover 100% of the orchestra payrolls for the canceled September through December 2020 subscription concerts.
This initiative is in addition to the compensation already provided to its musicians for canceled services from April 2020 to date.
To launch the fund, the MSO Board of Directors has committed current Symphony resources to guarantee 52% of the $355,000 total — $184,000 — and has informed the orchestra that the September and October orchestra payrolls will be paid in full.
MSO is seeking community support to help us raise another $171,000 to assure the orchestra’s compensation for the canceled November and December 2020 subscription concerts.
All contributions to this effort will directly support the musicians. An Anonymous Donor has launched the appeal with a $50,000 lead gift. The campaign seeks to raise the additional funds by Nov. 5, 2020.
All contributions to the MSO Musicians’ Relief Fund are tax-deductible and will be used for musicians’ compensation.
Donations can be mailed to the Madison Symphony Orchestra, 222 W. Washington Ave., Suite 460, Madison WI, 53703.
An online donation form is found at madisonsymphony.org/relief-gift.
To contribute gifts of appreciated stock or to discuss other options, contact Jeff Breisach, Manager of Individual Giving, at jbreisach@madisonsymphony.org.
“The 91 members of the Symphony are a core cultural asset of the greater Madison community,” said MSO Board President Ellsworth Brown (below). “We are committed to doing all we can to assist them through the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“While some MSO musicians have other day jobs, many rely heavily on the wages they earn performing with this Symphony, as well as other orchestras and ensembles in the region,” said MSO Executive Director Rick Mackie (below). “The cancellations of services have caused stress and anxiety for our artists.”
The MSO has demonstrated support of its musicians since April of this year, compensating the orchestra for all canceled rehearsals and performances.
Generous donors, strong financial management and a federal Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Loan enabled the Symphony to pay 100% of the orchestra payrolls for the April and May subscription concerts, the spring youth education programs, HeartStrings®, Madison Opera and Overture Presents engagements, and Concert on the Green.
These unexpected paychecks provided relief to the MSO staff and to our musicians (below, with music director and conductor John DeMain in a photo by Peter Rodgers) were forthcoming with their individual appreciation.
HERE ARE SAMPLES OF THE MUSICIANS OF THE MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA EXPRESSING THEIR GRATITUDE FOR COMPENSATION RELIEF
“I am very grateful that our organization values the health of its musicians and patrons yet also understands the financial difficulty imposed on musicians by being unable to work due to the pandemic. The MSO is a gem of an organization, and if you haven’t heard it enough lately, please let me reiterate my gratitude.”
“WOW! I am humbled to be a part of the Madison Symphony Orchestra. Thank you so much for valuing the musicians and honoring us with payment for cancelled rehearsals and performances. The news made me cry.”
“As someone who makes a living totally from teaching and playing, this has been an incredibly difficult time. I lost half of my students, because they do not want to study online, and of course, all gigs were cancelled. I am truly grateful to you for making this possible. You have no idea how much this will help not only financially, but mentally as well. THANK YOU!!!
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Classical music: Madison Opera’s annual FREE Opera in the Park returns this Saturday night, July 20, in Garner Park and celebrates 18 years plus a glimpse of the upcoming season
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post about one of the most highly anticipated musical events of summer, one that offers lots of family-friendly fun and serious musical enjoyment:
Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park (below, in a photo by James Gill) celebrates its 18th year on this coming Saturday night, July 20, at 8 p.m. in Garner Park, on Madison’s far west side at the intersection of Rosa Road and Mineral Point Road.
The annual free concert of opera and Broadway favorites closes the company’s 2018-19 season and provides a preview of the 2019-20 season. (You can hear a sample of past years in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
A Madison summer tradition that often attracts over 14,000 people, Opera in the Park is an enchanting evening of music under the stars, featuring selections from opera and Broadway.
Opera in the Park 2019 features soprano Jeni Houser, soprano Michelle Johnson, tenor David Blalock and baritone Ben Edquist.
Jeni Houser (below) has sung many roles with Madison Opera, most recently in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and she returns next season as Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld.
Michelle Johnson (below) scored a major success with Madison Opera as Santuzza in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana last season.
David Blalock (below) debuted with Madison Opera in 2014 and returns this season as Orpheus in Orpheus in the Underworld.
Ben Edquist (below) is making his debut, and will return to the company as Hawkins Fuller in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers, about the Lavender Scare against LGBTQ people, in February.
The four soloists are joined by the Madison Opera Chorus and Madison Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson).
The evening is hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and WKOW TV’s 27 News co-anchor George Smith (below, in a photo by Simon Fowler).
“Opera in the Park is the greatest performance in Madison Opera’s season,” says Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill). “It offers a truly magical blend of beautiful voices, music from many centuries, and thousands of members of our community relaxing together under the same night sky. I am grateful to all of our supporters who share our belief in the community-building power of music and help us produce this concert every summer.”
Opera in the Park 2019 features arias and ensembles from Verdi’s La Traviata, which opens the 2019-20 season in November; Spears’ Fellow Travelers, which will be performed in February; and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, which will be performed in April.
The program also includes selections from Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Forza del Destino (The Force of Destiny); Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and Don Pasquale; Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City); Romberg’s The Student Prince; Funny Girl; Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel; and more. As always, this spectacular evening will include one number conducted by the audience with light sticks (below).
Garner Park is located at 333 South Rosa Road. Parking is available in the CUNA Mutual Group and University Research Park lots. Attendees are encouraged to bring picnics, blankets and chairs. Alcohol is permitted but not sold in the park.
On the day of the concert, Garner Park will open at 7 a.m. Audience members may not leave items in the park prior to this time. Lots of porta potties will be provided. Transportation via golf carts is available for those who have limited mobility.
The rain date for Opera in the Park is Sunday, July 21, at 8 p.m.
For more details about attending Opera in the Park and for more extensive biographies of the singers, go to: https://www.madisonopera.org/2018-2019-season/oitp/
While Opera in the Park is free to attend, it would not be possible without the generous support of many foundations, corporations, and individuals who believe in the importance of music in the community.
Madison Opera is grateful to the sponsors of Opera in the Park 2019.The Presenting Sponsor is the BerbeeWalsh Foundation. Other sponsors are the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation; Full Compass Systems; the Raymond B. Preston Family Foundation; University Research Park; Colony Brands; the Evjue Foundation; Johnson Financial Group; MGE Foundation; National Guardian Life; the Wisconsin Arts Board; Dane Arts; and the Madison Arts Commission.
WKOW, Madison Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, Magic 98, and La Movida are media sponsors for this community event.
RELATED EVENTS
The Prelude Dinner at Opera in the Park 2019 is at 6 p.m. This annual fundraiser to benefit Opera in the Park helps support Madison Opera’s free gift to the community.
The event includes dinner catered by Upstairs Downstairs, VIP seating at the concert, and a reception with the artists following the performance. Tickets are $150 per person or $1,150 for a table of eight.
More information about Opera in the Park and about the 2019-20 season, including subscriptions, is available at Madison’s Opera’s home website www.madisonopera.org
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Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will present a Grand Tour of musical styles to mark its success after 20 years. The “tour” starts this Saturday, July 6, and runs through Saturday, July 13. Part 1 of 2
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By Jacob Stockinger
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival (below, the All-Festival Concert in 2018) have come up with.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A interview for this blog. Here is Part 1 of 2:
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Madison Early Music Festival. Can you briefly summarize the progress of the festival over all those years and how you – through audience size, participants, media coverage – measure the success it has achieved?
How successful is this year’s festival compared to the beginning festival and to others in terms of enrollment, budgets and performers? How does this of MEMF’s reach nationally or even internationally compare to previous years?
What can you say about where the festival will go in the coming years?
As the 20th Madison Early Music Festival approaches, we have looked back at how far we have come from 1999 when we were a little festival of 60 participants and faculty. We have grown to our current size of 140 faculty members and participants — fellow lovers of early music.
Last year, we had the largest group of participants when 120 students enrolled. MEMF now attracts students of all ages, from 18 to 91, amateurs and professionals, from all over North America and Europe.
Our success is due to the help and support of many individuals and outside organizations. We could not manage MEMF without the amazing staff at the Division of the Arts at UW-Madison. They help with everything from printed materials, website design and management, social media, grant writing, fundraising, proofreading and on-site assistance at all of our events and more.
Paul and I (below) work with Sarah Marty, the Program Director of MEMF, who keeps things organized and running smoothly throughout the year.
Also, we are grateful to our dedicated MEMF Board, donations from many individuals, grants, and the generosity of William Wartmann, who created an endowment for the festival, and after his death left an additional $400,000 for our endowment. It takes a village!
Not only have we become an important part of the summer music scene in Madison, but we have contributed to the national and international early music community. The 2019 concert series will be featuring artists from California to New York, Indiana to Massachusetts, and from Leipzig, Germany.
We hope to have many old and new audience members join us for this exciting celebration of our 20th year. For future seasons our motto is “To infinity and beyond!” as we continue to build on our past successes.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and performers?
This year we have a new program, the Advanced Voice Intensive, which provides an opportunity for auditioned advanced singers who are interested in a capella vocal music from the Renaissance – singing sacred polyphony and madrigals to improve their skills as ensemble singers.
Twenty singers from all over the country will be joining the inaugural program to rehearse and perform music from Italy, England and Germany.
At the end of the week they will sing in a masterclass with the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) on Thursday, July 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. On Saturday, July 13, they will perform in a FREE concert with the popular Advanced Loud Band ensemble in Morphy Recital Hall.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. and the concerts in Mils Hall begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass; each individual concert is $22, for students $12. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee, or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
We also have two Fringe Concerts this year featuring new vocal ensembles from Wisconsin. On Monday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at Pres House, Schola Cantorum of Eau Claire (below), a 12-voice ensemble directed by UW-Madison graduate Jerry Hui, will perform “Mystery and Mirth: A Spanish Christmas.”
And on Wednesday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the Milwaukee-based Aperi Animam (below) perform “Libera Nos,” a program of sacred vocal music.
The Fringe Concerts are FREE with donations accepted at the door.
Why was the theme of “The Grand Tour” chosen for the festival? What is the origin of the conceit, and what major composers and works will be highlighted?
We decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary by choosing a theme that would be broader than previous years and portray what people might experience when they are 20 years old – traveling abroad on a gap year.
We were also inspired by Englishman Thomas Coryat, aka “The First Tourist.” He published his travelogue Crudities in 1611, an amusing and thorough account of his five months of travel throughout Europe. This tradition of the Grand Tour of Europe continued through the 17th and 18th centuries, especially when wealthy young aristocrats finished their formal schooling.
Several of the concert programs this summer feature quotes from different travelogues, including Coryat’s, as an organizational concept. If you search all over Europe, you find an American at Versailles learning courtly manners, and a fictional Englishman, born in 1620, sending postcards from the Grand Tour.
We will also have a stop at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with the silent film version of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and a musical tour of sacred vocal music and madrigals. This theme allowed us to include music from many different time periods from all over Europe — a rich Grand Tour of musical offerings!
The opening concert on this Saturday, July 6, features Dark Horse Consort returning to Madison with Wanderlust, their newly created program for MEMF’s Grand Tour theme. The program follows the misadventures of an English gentleman as he embarks on a continental Grand Tour adventure in search of love and fulfillment.
Our hero’s travelogue includes springtime consort songs by Alfonso Ferrabosco and William Byrd; Erasmus Widmann’s beguiling German dances dedicated to women; the wooing songs of the Italian gondolier; and sultry Spanish airs.
On Sunday, July 7, Alchymy Viols (below) performs “American at Versailles,” an original ballet masque of French baroque music, dance and drama written and choreographed by Sarah Edgar, featuring Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano; Sarah Edgar, director and dancer; and guest soprano Paulina Francisco. The American on the Grand Tour encounters the exotic world of French baroque manners, dress, dance and love.
TOMORROW: Part 2 explores the rest of the festival next week, including a rare book exhibit and the All-Festival finale on Saturday night
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #AlchymyViols, #AlfonsoFerrabosco, #AperiAnimam, #ArtisticDirector, #BandMusic, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #CarrieHennemanShaw, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChristianChurch, #DarkHorseConsort, #EauClaire, #EndowmentFund, #EnglishMusic, #ErasmusWidmann, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrenchDance, #FrenchMusic, #GapYear, #Germandances, #GermanMusic, #GrantWriting, #ItalianMusic, #JerryHui, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeipzigGermany, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialUnion, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MusicalStyle, #NorthAmerica, #NotreDamedeParis, #PaulinaFrancisco, #PaulRowe, #PolyphonicMusic, #PresHouse, #ProfessionalMusician, #Proofreading, #RenaissanceMadrigal, #RenaissanceMusic, #RenaissancePolyphony, #SacredMusic, #SarahEdgar, #SarahMarty, #ScolaCantorum, #SilentFilm, #SocialMedia, #TheHunchbackofNotreDame, #ThomasCoryat, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WesternEurope, #WilliamByrd, #WilliamWartmann, a cappella, advanced, airs, Alchymy Viols, Alfonso Ferrabosco, amateur, American, anniversary, Aperi Animam, aristocrats, Artistic director, Arts, assistance, audience, ballet, band, Baroque, Baroque music, beyond, big, blog, Book, box office, budget, California, Campus, Carrie Henemann Shaw, cathedral, celebrate, celebration, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, choreograph, Christian, Christmas, church, Classical music, community, composer, concept, Concert, continental, country, coverage', dance, dancer, Dark Horse Consort, death, design, donation, door, drama, dress, Early music, Eau Claire, endowment, England, Englishman, enrollment, ensemble, Erasmus Widmann, Europe, event, exhibit, exotic, experience, Facebook, faculty, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, film, finale, forward, free, French, fringe, fulfillment, Fundraising, future, gap year, gentleman, German dances, Germany, gondolier, grand, grant, guest, help, important, inaugural, Indiana, individuals, infinity, intensive, international, interview, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, like, link, little, loud, Love, lover, lovers, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, management, manners, masque, Massachusetts, masterclass, material, Mead Witter School of Music, media, MEMF, Memorial Union, Milwaukee, mirth, motto, movie, Music, musical, mystery, national, new, North America, Notre Dame, old, online, organization, outside, part, participant, Paul Rowe, Paulina Francisco, People, performer, polyphony, postcard, Pres House, printed, professional, progress, Q&A, rare, reader, Renaissance, sacred, Sarah Edgar, Sarah Marty, scene, school, schooling, Scola Cantorum, share, silent film, sing, singer, Singing, size, skill, social media, song, soprano, Spanish, springtime, Student, style, subscriber, success, summer, support, tag, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, theme, Thomas Coryat, ticket, time, tour, tourist, travel, traveling, travelogue, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Arts Institute, Versailles, village, Viol, Violin, vocal, vocal music, voice, wanderlust, wealthy, Website, William Byrd, William Wartmann, Wisconsin, women, woo, written, wrote, years
Classical music: The new FREE concert brochure for the UW-Madison’s music school is both entertaining and informative — it’s a MUST-GET, MUST-READ and MUST-USE
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By Jacob Stockinger
The new 2018-19 concert season has started. And the Internet makes it very easy to take out your date book and plan out what you want to attend.
If you just use Google to go to home websites, you will find lots of information about the dates and times of performances; cost of tickets; works on the program; biographies of performers; and even notes about the pieces.
That is true for all large and small presenters, including the biggest presenter of all for live classical music events: The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. Just click on the Events Calendar when you go to http://www.music.wisc.edu
You can also subscribe to an email newsletter by sending an email to: join-somnews@lists.wisc.edu
And you can also download the helpful mobile app for your smart phone that gives you what is happening today with searches possible for other months and days.
But there is something more old-fashioned that you should not forego: the printed season brochure (below).
It is 8-1/2 by 11 inches big and has 24 pages, and it features numerous color photographs. Along the right hand edge is an easy-to-use calendar of major events for the month.
It is a fun and informative read that gives you even more respect for the School of Music than you already had because it contains a lot of background and human interest stories about students, faculty members, guest artists, alumni and supporters. Editor and Concert Manager Katherine Esposito and her staff of writers and photographers have done an outstanding job.
The brochure also has a lot of news, including updates about the new Hamel Music Center that is being built on the corner of Lake Street and University Avenue and will open in 2019, and about the seat-naming, fundraising campaign ($1,500-plus) that is being used for the new performance center.
A particularly useful page (23) gives you information about ordering tickets (many have increased to $17 this year) either in advance or at the door (for the latter you are asked to show up 30 minutes early to avoid long lines); about finding parking, both free and paid; and about making special arrangements for disability access.
In larger and bolder type, the brochure tells you about stand-out special events: the 100th birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein being held tonight (Saturday, Sept. 15) at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall; the fifth annual Brass Fest on Sept. 28 and 29; the University Opera’s production of Monteverdi’s “The Coronation of Poppea” on Nov. 16, 18 and 20; the annual Schubertiade on Jan. 27; the world premiere of a viola sonata by John Harbison on Feb. 17; the Choral Union’s joint performance with the Madison Symphony Orchestra of Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” (Symphony No. 8) on May 3, 4 and 5; and much, much more.
In short, the brochure is an impressive publication that also provides many hours of enjoyable browsing while you educate yourself about the state of music education at the UW-Madison.
The only major shortcoming The Ear perceives is that lack of specific programs by some individuals and groups that must surely know what they are going to perform this season but apparently didn’t report it. Maybe that can be remedied, at least in part, next year.
Still, the brochure is successful and popular, which is why the UW sent out 13,000 copies – up from 8,000 last year. If you want to get one, they will be available at concerts until supplies run out. You can also order one to be mailed to you by emailing music@music.wisc.edu
Do you have the UW music brochure?
What do you think of it?
Do you find it useful? Enjoyable?
What do you suggest to improve the brochure, either by adding something or deleting something or doing it differently?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AcademicCalendar, #BrassFest, #BrassMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #ConcertManager, #ConcertSeason, #EventsCalendar, #FacultyMember, #FranzSchubert, #FreeParking, #FundraisingCampaign, #GuestArtist, #GustavMahler, #HomeWebpage, #HomeWebsite, #HumanInterest, #JohnHarbison, #LeonardBernstein, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MobileApp, #MusicEducation, #MusicPresenter, #MusicSchool, #MusicStudent, #NamingRights, #NewMusic, #Old-fashioned, #SeasonBrochure, #SmartPhone, #SymphonyofaThousand, #TheCoronationofPoppea, #TheInternet, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWChoralUnion, #ViolaSonata, #WorldPremiere, access, accommodation, alumni, Arts, Bach, background, Baroque, Beethoven, Bernstein, biographies, biography, birthday, brochure, calendar, campaign, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Choral Union, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, concert season, concerto, conductor, cost, day, disability, donor, Early music, editor, email, enjoyable, event, events, faculty, Franz Schubert, free, fun, Fundraising, Google, human interest, information, informative, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Mead Witter School of Music, member, Mobile app, Monteverdi, month, Music education, New Music, newsletter, notes, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, paid, parking, performance, Piano, piece, popular, presenter, printed, program, Schubertiade, seat, smart phone, Sonata, story, Student, subscribe, subscription, successful, supporter, symphony, Symphony of a Thousand, The Coronation of Poppea, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, useful, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Website, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, world premiere
Classical music: On Saturday night, the UW Wind Ensemble will mark a first by performing a FREE concert that will also be live-streamed
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By Jacob Stockinger
Something important — even pioneering or groundbreaking — will take place this on Saturday night at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
At 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below) will give a FREE concert that will also be a LIVE-STREAMED – a first for the UW-Madison.
Live-streaming of concerts by students, faculty members and guest artists is something that many music schools are now doing on a regular basis.
They include big schools like the Yale School of Music and smaller institutions like the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wis.
Streaming allows alumni and other listeners all over the world to hear the concert in real time. It can be prestigious form of outreach and a terrific tool for fundraising and recruiting students. Imagine the worldwide audience for, say, the Pro Arte Quartet, which has toured to South America, Europe and Asia.
The Ear has heard several reasons why live-streaming is not yet standard practice at the UW-Madison. Those reasons include the lack of specialized staff, too little equipment, too little money, and difficulty or expense in obtaining the rights from performers and composers or publishing companies.
This time, the live streaming is being done on a paid basis by a local School of Music alumnus who has the expertise and experience. Sources at the school say that more concerts are likely to be live-streamed next season.
The program on Saturday night features the “French Suite” of Francis Poulenc; “Circuits” by Cindy McTee (below top); and the Symphony in Three Movements by the retired UW tuba professor and composer John Stevens (below bottom). You can hear the opening of the work by John Stevens, which was recorded for Naxos Records, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The performance will be done under the batons of director Scott Teeple (below top) and two graduate student assistants: O’Shae Best (below middle) and Cole Hairston (below bottom).
For the link for streaming and more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/wind-ensemble-3/
Tags: #AmericanMusic, #AppletonWisconsin, #CindyMcTee, #ConservatoryofMusic, #ContemporaryComposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #FrancisPoulenc, #FrenchMusic, #JohnStevens, #LawrenceUniversity, #LawrenceUniversityConservatoryofMusic, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #NaxosRecords, #NewMusic, #ProArteQuartet, #SouthAmerica, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWWindEnsemble, #WindEnsemble, #WindMusic, #YaleSchoolofMusic, #YaleUniversity, alumnus, Arts, Asia, audience, Chamber music, Cindy McTee, Classical music, composer, equipment, Europe, experience, expertise, Fundraising, graduate, graduate students, Jacob Stockinger, live streaming, Madison, money, Music, Orchestra, outreach, performer, Poulenc, Publishing, recuit, right, rights, staff\, stream, streaming, Streaming media, students, symphony, technical, technology, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Wind Ensemble, Wind, winds, worldwide, YouTube
Classical music: Does anyone else feel put off by the amount of requests for money from music organizations?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It happened again this weekend.
The Ear got two more mailings from local music groups.
And both solicited money – again.
It seems like all communications these days include a plea for money, more money.
Up to a point, The Ear understands why charities and non-profits seek donations and he doesn’t mind it.
But it is beginning to happen so often and to feel so off-putting that it is taking the focus away from the music.
It reminds The Ear of when he used to contribute to such worthwhile groups as Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders and the ACLU.
A generous yearly donation never seemed enough.
Every month some new “emergency” arose and they came back for more. After a while, you started to feel like a sucker, or at least a bottomless well in their eyes.
The only solution was to end the annual donation and get off the mailing list.
Now, much of the music business is starting to feel just that – too much business and too little music.
The commercialism is starting to feel overwhelming and alienating, especially when one already pays hefty prices for some tickets.
Is The Ear alone?
Should he feel differently?
Or do others feel the same way?
Leave your thoughts in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: ACLU, American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Arts, Business, cash, Classical music, comment, commercial, commercialism, communication, contribution, Doctors Without Borders, donation, Fundraising, generous, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, mail, mailing list, money, Music, non-profit, plea, price, solicitation, think, thought, thoughts, ticket, United States, weekend
Classical music: UW’s Pro Arte Quartet and new UW clarinet professor Alicia Lee perform a sublime all-Mozart program
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT–FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet has begun its 2017-18 season amid uncertainties.
The most notable one is the current indisposition of cellist Parry Karp, whose injury to two fingers of his left hand has prevented him from playing for the immediate future.
Quartet members (below in a photo by Rick Langer) are, from left, David Perry and Suzanne Beia, first and second violins; Sally Chisholm, viola: and Parry Karp, cello.
But the group has pressed on bravely, offering an all-Mozart concert last Sunday night in Mills Hall.
The first of two works was the buoyant but challenging String Quartet in G Major, K. 387. Replacing Karp was a guest cellist, Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below right and bottom), who is familiar to Madison audiences from his many appearances with the San Francisco Trio for the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s summer concerts.
Fonteneau played elegantly and fitted into the ensemble quite smoothly. And the other three players performed with their accustomed precision and style.
But just one personnel change makes a difference. Clearly missing was the robust tone and firm foundation that Karp has imparted to the ensemble’s playing for so long.
If the G major Quartet is a Mozartean model of its kind, we move to Olympian heights with the Quintet in A for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 — a chamber work (below) with only the tiniest number of peers in this scoring.
Joining the quartet this time was a new UW-Madison faculty member, clarinetist Alicia Lee (below).
Petite but totally confident, Lee brought to the string ensemble not the edgy aggressiveness so often heard from clarinetists but rather a glowing mellowness that balanced neatly with the string sounds.
The loveliest moments seemed to me to be the slower passages, and the exquisite slow movement was truly ethereal. (You can hear the Larghetto slow movement, played by clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Pacifica Quartet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Preceding the concert was an announcement by Linda Graebner of the consolidation of the Pro Arte Quartet Forward Fund, which is seeking to raise an major endowment for the quartet.
Bolstered by that effort, then, the PAQ is some five years into its second century, determined from many sides to cope with its uncertainties.
NOTE: The Pro Arte Quartet’s next performance is this coming Thursday: a FREE performance at NOON in Mills Hall of the String Quintet No. 1 in G Major, Op. 111, by Johannes Brahms. Jean-Michel Fonteneau will again be the cellist and the guest artist is the internationally renowned violist Nobuko Imai (below). Imai will also give a FREE and PUBLIC master class in strings and chamber music on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall.
Tags: aggressive, Alicia Lee, American Record Guide, Anthony McGill, Arts, blog, Brahms, Campus, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical music, Concert, critic, Early music, edgy, elegance, endowment, exquisite, festival, fund, Fundraising, future, glowing, guest artist, height, History, host, injury, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, John W. Barker, larghetto, lecture, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, master class, Medieval, mellow, Mozart, Mozartean, Music, New York City, night, noon, Olympian, Pacifica Quartet, Parry Karp, peer, precision, Pro Arte Quartet, professor, quintet, Radio, recital, robust, San Francisco, San Francisco Trio, scoring, Slow movement, strings, style, sublime, Sunday, Thursday, tone, uncertainty, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, viola quintet, Violin, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, YouTube
Classical music education: WYSO’s Art of Note benefit on Saturday, April 18, needs sponsors and donors as it seeks to raise $50,000 to benefit music education in the Greater Madison area.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Our friends at the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) write:
On Saturday, April 18, 2014, from 6 to 10 p.m., at CUNA Mutual, 5810 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side, WYSO will hold its annual Art of Note gala fundraiser, this year called “Believe in Music.”
You can join dozens of major corporate underwriters and small business sponsors as well as individual attendees in helping WYSO to meet its goal of raising $50,000 for music education.
Study after study confirms that music education reaps lifelong benefits in academic and career success that go far beyond making music. And no single music educational organization in Wisconsin reaches more students or listeners than the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), which is based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
“WYSO has served nearly 6,000 talented young musicians from more than 100 communities throughout south central Wisconsin over the past 49 years,” says executive director Bridget Fraser (below right, seen at last year’s Art of Note with Libby Bestul, chair of the Art of Note fundraiser).
But such a mission is not easy to run or cheap to fund.
WYSO provides many scholarships and undertakes local concerts and TV appearances as well as international tours — two summers ago, to Vienna, Prague and Budapest (below); this past summer to Argentina. Another international tour, to Italy, is being planned.
That is why WYSO needs your help.
Adds Fraser: “The Art of Note Gala garners community-wide support from those who people are passionate about music education, ensuring that WYSO remains one of the top youth orchestra programs in the country.”
The evening will feature fine food and live music performed by several WYSO student groups (a WYSO string quartet is below), including an honors ensemble of students from the Madison Music Makers.
Fundraising events include silent and live auctions of more than 100 items that include everything from fine wine and restaurant gift certificates to holiday getaways and tickets to major sporting and arts events.
Of special note are the recycled violins (below) that have been hand-painted and transformed into works of art by local artists.
Individual admission is $100 in advance, $110 at the door. ($65 is tax-deductible as a charitable donation per person.) Tables for 4 are available for $375; tables for 8 for $750.
For reservations and more information about attending or sponsoring the gala, about donating auction items and about WYSO’s overall program as well as upcoming concerts, visit WYSO’s home website at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu and the special event’s page with a list of sponsors at http://wyso.music.wisc.edu/artofnote/
For more information, you can also call (608) 263-3320, ext. 2.
Tags: Art, Art of Note, Arts, auction, Budapest, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Europe, Fundraising, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, Orchestra, Prague, tour, Violin, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, WYSO, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: For reviving and securing Bach Around the Clock, The Ear names Marika Fischer Hoyt as “Musician of the Year” for 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger
Regular readers of this blog know how much The Ear likes to recognize community-based initiatives, amateur participation, and events that are affordable or free to the public and so help build and widen the audience for classical music.
On all those counts, the Musician of the Year for 2017 goes to Marika Fischer Hoyt (below) who revived Bach Around the Clock and has given it a seemingly secure future.
In Madison, Bach Around the Clock was originally sponsored and put on for several years by Wisconsin Public Radio’s music director Cheryl Dring. But when Dring left for another job five years ago, WPR ended the event, which got its national start in New Orleans and is now celebrated in many other cities to mark the March birthday of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach.
Yet it is not as if Fischer Hoyt didn’t already have enough on her plate.
She is a very accomplished and very busy violist.
As a modern violist, she plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of the Ancora String Quartet (below), with which she still plays after 17 seasons. She is also a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
As a specialist on the baroque viola, she is a member (below far left) of the Madison Bach Musicians who also plays for the Handel Aria Competition and the Madison Early Music Festival.
In addition, she is a private teacher who finds time to attend early music festivals around the country.
To get an idea of what she has done to put Bach Around the Clock (BATC) on a stable footing here, read the update posting from a couple of days ago:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2017/12/28/classical-music-bach-around-the-clock-2018-is-set-for-march-10-here-is-a-year-end-update-with-more-impressive-news/
Not only did Fischer Hoyt obtain the participation of some 80 performers — students and teachers, amateurs and professionals, individuals and groups– she also got cooperation, facilities, performers and help from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street, on Madison’s near west side.
She obtained donations of money and even food to stage the event.
She herself played in the event that drew hundreds of listeners.
She lined up local sound engineers who recorded the entire event, which was then broadcast in parts by Rich Samuels (below) on WORT-FM 89.9 and streamed live as far away as London.
She served as an emcee who also conducted brief interviews about the music with the many performers (below right, with flutist Casey Oelkers)
Recognizing she can’t keep doing so much by herself, the energetic Fischer Hoyt has turned BATC into a more formal and self-sustaining organization with a board of directors.
She has sought advice from experts about Bach and Bach festivals.
She applied for and won one of five national grants from Early Music America in Boston.
She has consulted legal help to make BATC a nonprofit charitable organization, which should help guarantee a steady stream of funding.
And artistically, she has added a back-up mini-orchestra to accompany singers and instrumentalists.
The event this year is on Saturday, March 10, a little early for Bach’s 333rd birthday (March 31, 1685) but a smart decision to avoid spring break in the schools and at the UW, and to help recruit the many performers who are also important, if secondary, Musicians of the Year.
But the center of the event, the force holds it all together, is Marika Fischer Hoyt and all the hard work, done over a long time, that she has invested in making Bach Around the Clock a permanent part of Madison’s classical music schedule and cultural scene.
If you didn’t go last year, try it this year. It is wonderful, inspiring and enjoyable.
Please join The Ear in congratulating Marika Fischer Hoyt for making Bach Around the Clock the success it now is and giving it the future it now has. Leave your comments about her and BATC in the COMMENT section.
To celebrate, here is a YouTube video of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 by Johann Sebastian Bach:
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