The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society closes its 28th season this weekend by honoring three guest artists. Plus, here are all the winners of the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition
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ALERT: The Ear has been following two competitors in the 16th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia who have local ties. (The only American to win Gold was cellist Zlatomir Fung.) The final results are in: trumpet player Ansel Norris took fifth place and received an artist’s diploma; pianist Kenneth Broberg shared the third prize with two other winners. For a complete list of winners in all the categories — piano, violin, cello, voice, brass and woodwinds — go to this page: https://tch16.com/en/news/
You can also watch and listen to, via live streaming, the two Gala Concerts for the winners today at 11 a.m. and on Saturday at 1 a.m. Valery Gergiev will conduct both. Go to https://tch16.medici.tv
By Jacob Stockinger
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society will close out its 28th annual summer chamber music season with concerts in Madison, Stoughton and Spring Green.
Judging by the first two weekends of concerts, The Ear expects it to be a memorable conclusion of the season with the punning theme of “Name Dropping.”
Here is the announcement he received.
“Our third week of concerts celebrates three great musicians, all of whom are audience favorites: cellist couple Anthony (“Tony”) Ross and Beth Rapier; and firebrand violinist Carmit Zori.
“And the Tony Award for Rapier Wit goes to…” is a program centered around cello duets. Rapier and Ross (below), principal and co-principal cellists with the Minnesota Orchestra, start the program with George Frideric Handel’s gorgeous Sonata in G minor for two cellos and piano. (You can hear the Handel sonata, payed by Amit Peled in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
They both display crazy virtuosity in Luigi Boccherini’s Quintet in B-flat Major for flute, violin, viola and two cellos.
The first half ends with Gian Carlo Menotti’s Suite for two cellos and piano, a work that they have performed to acclaim around the world.
The second half of the program is given over to one of Brahms’ greatest works, the Sextet in G Major, Op. 36, for two violins, two violas and two cellos.
Ross and Rapier are joined by violinists Carmit Zori and Leanne League (assistant concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra) and violists Toby Appel (below, a faculty member at the Juilliard School who plays in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center) and Katrin Talbot (a Madisonian who performs with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra) in this spectacular piece.
“And the Tony Award for Rapier Wit goes to…” will be performed at the Stoughton Opera House on Friday, June 28, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater at Taliesin on Sunday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m.
Firebrand violinist Carmit Zori (below), founder and artistic director of the Brooklyn Chamber Music Society in New York City, will sizzle her way through the second program, entitled “The Legend of Zori.”
The program will open with Johannes Brahms’ Sonata in G Major for violin and piano. Viaje, by living Chinese composer Zhou Tian, is a fun and exciting new piece featuring flute and string quartet.
Zori will bring the program home with the torridly passionate Piano Quintet in F minor by Cesar Franck (below), a work written while Franck was in the throes of a love affair with one of his young students.
“The Legend of Zori” will be performed at The Playhouse at the Overture Center for the Arts on Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater at Taliesin, on Sunday, June 30, at 6:30 p.m.
Venue Locations: the Stoughton Opera House is at 381 East Main Street; the Overture Center in Madison is at 201 State Street; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Hillside Theater in on County Highway 23 in Spring Green.
Single admission tickets start are $43 and $49. Student tickets are always $10. All single tickets must now be purchased from Overture Center for the Arts, www.overturecenter.org or (608) 258-4141 (additional fees apply) or at the box office. Tickets are available at the door at all locations.
You can also enjoy a pre-ordered picnic at the Hillside Theater made with love from Pasture and Plenty, using ingredients from local farmers and producers. They are available for pick up at the Hillside Theater after the 2:30 p.m. concert or before the 6:30 p.m. concert, for $18.
Spread a blanket on the beautiful Hillside Theater grounds or eat in the Taliesin Architecture School Dining Room, which will be open exclusively to BDDS concert-goers.
Choose from Green Goddess Chicken Salad, Market Veggie Quiche with Greens, or Hearty Greens and Grains with Seasonal Veggie Bowl (gluten-free/vegan). Seasonal sweet treat and beverage included. See the BDDS order form or call BDDS at 608 255-9866.
Tags: #AmitPeled, #AnselNorris, #AnthonyRoss, #AsianComposer, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BaroqueMusic, #BethRapier, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #BrooklynChamberMusicSociety, #CarmitZori, #CelloMusic, #CelloSonata, #CesarFranck, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #Chinesecomposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #CriticalAcclaim, #DiningRoom, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FluteMusic, #FoodandDrink, #FrankLloydWright, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GianCarloMenotti, #Gluten-Free, #GraduateStudent, #HillsideTheater, #InternationalTchaikovskyCompetition, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JuilliardSchool, #KatrinTalbot, #KennethBroberg, #LeanneLeague, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #LoveAffair, #LuigiBoccherini, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MediciTV, #MinnesotaOrchestra, #MoscowRussia, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OvertureCenter, #PastureandPlenty, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoQuintet, #PrincipalCellist, #SaintPetersburg, #SpringGreen, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StoughtonWisconsin, #StringMusic, #StringQuartet, #SweetTreat, #Taliesincompound, #TheEar, #ThePlayhouse, #TheU.S., #TobyAppel, #TonyAward, #TrumpetMusic, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ValeryGergiev, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #ViolinSonata, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WoodwindInstruments, #WoodwindMusic, #YouTubevideo, #ZhouTian, #ZlatomirFung, acclaim, accompaniment, address, America, American, Amit Peled, annoucement, Ansel Norris, Anthony Ross, artist, Arts, Asia, assistant, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, Baroque music, Beth Rapier, beverage, blanket, blog, bowl, box office, Brooklyn Chamber Music Society, Carmit Zori, categories, catgeory, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, chicken, China, Chinese, Classical music, co-principal, composer, Concert, concertmaster, conclusion, conduct, conductor, contemporary music, couple, critical, dining room, diploma, door, duo, Early music, Facebook, faculty member, farmers, fifth, firebrand, flute, food, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Friday, fun, gala, George Frideric Handel, Gian-Carlo Menotti, grain, great, greens, grounds, Hillside Theater, ingredients, International Tchaikovsky Competition, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Juilliard School, Katrin Talbot, Kenneth Broberg, Leanne League, legend, listen, live streaming, living, Living composer, local, location, Love, Luigi Boccherini, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, medici.tv, Moscow, Music, Musician, name, New Music, New York City, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Pasture and Plenty, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quintet, picnic, piece, principal, prize, producers, program, pun, quiche, reception, Russia, Saint Petersburg, salad, Saturday, Season, seasonal, sizzle, Sonata, spectacular, Spring Green, St. Petersburg, Stoughton, Stoughton Opera House, string music, String quartet, strings, Student, Suite, Sunday, sweet, sweet treat, Taliesin, The Ear, The Playhouse, theme, third, ticket, ties, Toby Appel, Tony Award, treat, Trumpet, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Valery Gergiev, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, veggie, venue, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtuosity, vocal music, voice, watch, weekend, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wit, woodwinds, world, young, YouTube, Zhou Tian, Zlatomir Fung
Classical music: The Madison Chamber Choir plus instrumentalists turn in a beautiful and memorable performance of a too rarely heard “madrigal fable” by Gian Carlo Menotti.
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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 for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Barker also provided performance photos for this review.
By John W. Barker
The Madison Chamber Choir (below) delivered a true spring treat on Friday evening at the First Presbyterian Church downtown.
The curtain-raiser was a group of Four Pastorales by American composer Cecil Effinger (below), to texts by Thomas Hornsby Ferril. The poems are varied and sensitive, and are set with a good feeling for choral texture.
The catch is that Effinger composed an obbligato part for a single instrument (oboe or, as here, clarinet) that is generally irrelevant musically and even a hindrance at times to choral projection and diction. It may have been partly the composer’s fault, but the diction could have been more clearly delivered, too. (Hit those consonants, folks!)
Diction issues were somewhat lessened, thanks to the composer’s care, in the major work of the concert.
Gian Carlo Menotti (below) was at a creative peak in 1956, when he created his work for 10 dancers, nine instrumentalists, and chorus, entitled The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore, or the Three Sundays of a Poet. He called this a “madrigal fable,” using the Renaissance form of the “madrigal comedy,” in which action is conveyed without soloists but by the choir.
This Italian idiom of the late 16th-century was something Menotti apparently discovered as he mastered Renaissance polyphonic style for the choruses in his supreme opera, The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954)—following his triumphs of The Consul (1950) and Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951).
As always, Menotti wrote his own text, which reflects on the phases of the creative life (as represented by the three animals), but also satirizes the shallow understanding and reflexive faddism of ordinary folk. In the process, he showed how wonderfully he had mastered the elements of colloquial American speech patterns.
And, above all, he put this in music that combines hilarious comedy with extraordinarily moving poetry.
I know of only one prior performance of this gem of a work in Madison, by the UW-Madison Madrigal Singers, in April of 2001, and it included the dance dimension.
Dancers were not involved in this latest production, but the music still carried the work brilliantly. The nine instrumentalists (below, on flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, percussion, cello, double bass and harp) were excellent.
The chorus of 33 voices (below) sang with superb sonority and ensemble. You could see them relishing the humor as well as the pathos.
And credit is due for the church’s fine acoustics especially in furthering the richness of choral sound.
Conductor Albert Pinsonneault (below), who also teaches at Edgewood College and heads up the Madison Choral Project, led with confidence and obvious delight.
It really pains me that so wonderful a work as this is so little known and — partly for practical reasons — so rarely performed. Nothing but gratitude is due these performers for bringing it to life for us this time. And the quite sizable audience expressed that gratitude in a prolonged ovation.
Tags: acoustics, Albert Pinsonneault, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Arts, bass, Bassoon, Cecil Effinger, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, church, clarinet, Classical music, comedy, diction, double bass, Edgewood College, fable, flute, Gian-Carlo Menotti, harp, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Chamber Choir, Madison Choral Project, madrigal, Music, Oboe, pastoral, Pastorale, percussion, Poetry, polyphony, Renaissance, the Gorgon and the Manticore, The Saint of Bleeker Street, The Unicorn, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin
Classical music: The Madison Chamber Choir will perform Menotti’s madrigal fable “The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore” this Friday night. On Tuesday night, The Empire Brass and organist Douglas Major perform at the Overture Center.
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A REMINDER: Tomorrow night, Tuesday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m, in Overture Hall at the Overture Center, the Empire Brass (below left) will perform a mostly Baroque program with guest organist Douglas Major (below right). Composers on the program include Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, Henry Purcell and Michael Praetorius. Here is link to the Madison Symphony Orchestra‘s website with the complete program and background information:
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/empire
By Jacob Stockinger
Larger groups and presenters such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra , the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, Edgewood College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and the University Opera have finished their concert seasons.
Soon the major summer events — the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Madison Early Music Festival, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival and Opera in the Park — will take place.
But not before smaller groups, who are still winding up their season, have finished.
The Ear has received the follow announcement:
Dear Friends,
I’d like to make you aware of an upcoming concert by the Madison Chamber Choir (below).
The concert is this Friday night, May 15, at 7:30 p.m., in Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 East Gorham Street, in downtown Madison.
Admission is a $10 suggested donation.
The program features “The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore” by the Italian-American composer Gian Carlo Menotti (below), most famous perhaps for establishing the Spoleto Festival and for his Christmas TV opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” You can hear excerpts from the “Unicorn” in a YouTube video at the bottom.
The work is described as a “madrigal fable about an odd poet his strange pets and the shallow whims of his faddish neighbors.” Assorted guest chamber instrumentalists will join the choir for the cantata.
The artistic director of the Madison Chamber Choir is Albert Pinsonneault (below), who also teaches at Edgewood College and directs the Madison Choral Project.
Here is a link to the choir’s website about the concert:
http://www.madisonchamberchoir.net/performances/
And here is a link to a sample of the choir’s singing:
http://www.madisonchamberchoir.net/media/
Tags: 20th-century classical music, Academic term, Albert Pinsonneault, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Arts, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, Baroque music, brass, Cantata, choral music, Classical music, Edgewood College, Empire Brass, fable, Gian-Carlo Menotti, gorgon, Henry Purcell, instrumental, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison, Madison Chamber Choir, Madison Choral Project, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, madrigal, manticore, MEMF, Michael Praetorius, Music, Orchestra, organ, Overture Center, Singing, Spoleto Festival, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, unicorn, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Classical music: It’s a very busy week at the UW-Madison School of Music. Here is a roundup of the mostly FREE concerts, master classes and other events.
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By Jacob Stockinger
You always know when we are coming down to the end of a semester or the end of the school year. The music events start stacking up over the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music likes planes stacked up over O’Hare.
Talk about Train Wreck Weekends! And this is just the UW. There is plenty more to come, as you will see here over the course of this week.
In a way, it is a testament to the vitality of the music scene here in the Madison area.
But it is also too bad to the degree that so many events almost guarantee that some audiences will be smaller than they might otherwise be because people just can’t keep up with so many things that are so closely scheduled that they compete with each other for listeners’ free time. And we are not even talking about big draws like the three performances of the annual concert and show by the UW-Madison Varsity Band.
TUESDAY
Guest artists the Elaris Duo (below) will give master classes Tuesday night, April 14. The violin class with Larisa Elisha will be from 6-7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, and the cello class will be with Steven Elisha from 8-9:30 p.m. They perform a concert Wednesday night at 8 in Mills Hall. See below.
WEDNESDAY
A FREE concert will be given by the UW-Madison Guitar Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall under the direction of Javier Calderon (below top). Sorry, The Ear has received no word about the program. For more information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/uw-guitar-ensemble-2/
$2 Broom, a FREE concert of electro-acoustic improvised music by students will be held in Music Hall, under the direction of UW-Madison horn professor Daniel Grabois (below bottom, in a photo by James Gill). For more information when it is posted, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/2-dollar-broom-2015/
A FREE concert by guest artists the Elaris Duo — husband-and-wife cellist and violinist — in Mills Hall at 8 p.m. The program includes works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zoltan Kodaly and Erwin Schulhoff. For more information, visit: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/elaris-duo-guest-artists/
THURSDAY
The Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) will perform a FREE concert at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall. The program includes the String Quartet in A Major, K. 464, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the String Quartet No. 4 by Leon Kirchner; and the early String Quartet in C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 18, No. 4. For more information about the concert and the Pro Arte Quartet, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/pro-arte-quartet_4_16/
FRIDAY
At 2 p.m. in Room 1629 of the Humanities Building, Brazilian percussionist Ney Rosauro (below) will give a master class that is open to the public. For information about the artist, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/master-class-with-brazilian-percussionist-ney-rosauro/
At 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall, the Mad City Brass Quintet, made up of UW-Madison students, will perform a FREE concert of music by UW-Madison professor emeritus of tuba and euphonium John Stevens (below) as well as by Billy Joel, Michael Kamen and Andre Lafosse. For more information, visit: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/mad-city-brass-quintet/
At 7:30 p.m. in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the UW-Madison Concert Choir, Chorale, and Madrigal Singers will perform. Bruce Gladstone will conduct. The joint concert of the three choirs is themed “O Beauty” but each ensemble will have its own section. (Below is the Concert Choir performing.)
The choirs will perform together on the following large works: Blest Pair of Sirens by C.H.H. Parry and Missa “O Pulchritudo” by Gian-Carlo Menotti.
These will be performed with UW-Madison Professor John Chappell Stowe on organ.
For information, visit: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/uw-concert-choir-chorale-and-madrigal-singers/
SATURDAY
At 3:30 in Morphy Recital Hall, the Perlman Trio (funded by local philanthropist Kato Perlman) and two guest artists (below in a photo by Tori Rogers) will perform a FREE concert. The piano trio members (three in the front) are SeungWha Baek, piano; Valerie Sanders, violin; and Daniel Ma, cello. Guests are Keisuke Yamamoto, violin, and Jeremy Kienbaum, viola.
The program includes: Piano Trio in E-flat Major, Hoboken XV: 29, by Franz Joseph Haydn; the Piano Quintet in D Major, Op. 51, by Anton Arensky; and the Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8 (original version) by Johannes Brahms. For information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/perlman-trio-recital/
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Low Brass Ensemble will offer a FREE concert. Sorry, no other details are available. When they are, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/low-brass-ensemble/
At 6 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. UW-Madison bassoonist-conductor Marc Vallon (below top, in a photo by James Gill) and Madison Bach Musicians founder, director and keyboard player Trevor Stephenson (below bottom) will host a demonstration of early music practices and period instruments, featuring performers from the Madison Bach Musicians. The event is part of the year-long “Rediscovering Rameau” music festival.
Later this week there will be two semi-staged performances of Rameau’s 1748 ballet-opera “Pygmalion” that Stephenson and the Madison Bach Musicians will give at the First Unitarian Society of Madison this Friday night at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. Go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/pygmalion-madison-bach-musicians/
![Marc Vallon 2011 James Gill (baroque & modern)[2]](https://welltempered.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/marc-vallon-2011-james-gill-baroque-modern2.jpg)
At 6:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the gala concert of the 12th annual Madison Flute Festival, “Flutes Down Under,” will take place. Admission is $5 for those not taking part in the day-long festival. It is held by the Wisconsin Flute Club and the flute studio of UW Professor Stephanie Jutt, who is Principal Flute of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and also a co-founder and co-director of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
The Madison Flute Club is winding up a fund-raising drive — nearly $15,000 — for the purchase of a contra bass flute. This instrument was made by Eva Kingma in the Netherlands, and is in transit now. This instrument will be the first contra bass flute in Wisconsin.
The Madison Flute Club also recently sponsored a composition contest for the contra bass flute, and the winning piece will be performed at the Flute Club’s Spring Recital May 9 at Midvale Lutheran Church.
At the conclusion of the Flute Festival this week, the public is invited to hear a performance featuring the family of low flutes. This concert will present pieces by Gary Shocker, Vaughan McAlley and many other composers writing for the low flutes. Attendees will hear performances on alto, bass, contra bass and subcontrabass flute –an extremely rare instrument.
Other festival events take place at the UW-Madison Pyle Center. The festival features guest artist Peter Sheridan (below), low flutes specialist visiting from Australia. Activities include flute choir reading sessions, master class, performances, presentations, vendors and competitions featuring monetary prizes. For more information, go to: http://www.madisonfluteclub.org/FluteFestival.html
and
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/gala-concert-wisconsin-flute-festival/
SUNDAY
At 3:30 p.m., the winners of UW-Madison’s annual Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition will perform. A reception will follow. The event is made possible by the generosity of former UW-Madison Chancellor Irving Shain (below bottom). For word on the winners and the sonatas to be performed, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/beethoven-competition-recital/
Tags: Anton Arensky, Arts, Australia, Bach, ballet, Baroque, Bassoon, bassooon, Beethoven, Billy Joel, Brahms, brass, Brazil, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, classical guitar, Classical music, composer, Concert Choir, Early music, Erwin Schulhoff, Euphonium, flute, Gian-Carlo Menotti, guitar, Haydn, historically informed performance practices, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Stevens, Keyboard, Kodaly, Leon Kirchner, low flute, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Music, opera, organ, Parry, percussion, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piano sonata, Piano Trio, Pro Arte Quartet, Pygmalion, Rameau, Sonata, String quartet, Tuba, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: As Pride month comes to an end, let us proudly recall LGBTQ classical composers and musicians. Plus, you hear a concert of queer composers and performers
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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
This past weekend, this whole past month, the Rainbow flags (below) have been flying openly and high.
We saw all sorts of major Pride parades for LGBTQ rights as well as the 50th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to ensure that queer people receive the human rights they deserve.
Since today is the last day of June, of Pride month, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians.
Some of the calls seem iffy, unconvincing or overstated. Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin, for example, lived when homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to know about the past.
But take a look. At least you will see how scholars are undertaking new research and often undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in wrong or mistaken gender identity.
And if you find someone missing, please leave the name and appropriate information in the comment section.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one person or group can win only if another one loses. There is enough of each to go around. All can celebrate pride.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty extensive and comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below) who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Pauline Oliveros who did a residency at the UW-Madison several years ago. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_composers
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine, of 18 queer composers — including Corelli — who made history and you should know about:
https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2017/2/08/18-queer-composers-who-made-music-history?pg=full
And here is a similarly selective list from radio station WFMT in Chicago of 15 LGBT composers — including Handel and Lully — you should know about:
https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/
And in the YouTube video at the bottom is a Pride concert — 1 hour and 43 minutes long — recently held in New York City at the Greene Space, and hosted and recorded by radio stations WQXR and WNYC.
It features music by queer composers and performances by queer artists. Metropolitan Opera star Anthony Roth Constanzo performs. Also playing are pianists Steven Blier and Sara Davis Buechner, who have performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, respectively. The New York Gay Men’s Chorus sings. The Ear found the concert timely and moving.
If you have questions, comments or additional names, please do leave word in the comment section.
Happy Pride!
The Ear wants to hear.
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