The Well-Tempered Ear
The Madison Symphony Orchestra seeks matching funds as it launches a musicians’ relief fund to reach $355,000 by Nov. 5
1 Comment
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
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!!!
Tags: #artsorganization, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoardofDirectors, #BoardPresident, #BrassSection, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClassicalMusician, #CommunityOutreach, #ConcertontheGreen, #ConcertSeason, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DayJob, #EllsworthBrown, #ExecutiveDirector, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FinancialManagement, #FundraisingCampaign, #HeartStrings, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JeffBreisach, #JohnDeMain, #LeadGift, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MentalHealth, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #Musicfaculty, #OperaMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OverturePresents, #PaidinFull, #PercussionSection, #ReliefFund, #RickMackie, #StringSection, #SubscriptionConcert, #ThankYou, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #YouthConcerts, #YouTubevideo, anonymous, anxiety, appeal, appreciated, appreciation, April, artists, Arts, asset, audience, blog, Board of Directors, brass, campaign, cancel, canceled, cancellation, cause, Cello, challenge, challenge grant, Chamber music, Classical music, classicalmusic, commit, community, community outreach, compensate, compensation, composer, Concert, Concert on the Green, conductor, contact, contribute, contribution, core, coronavirus, cover, Cry, cultural, current, date, day, day job, December, dicculty, difficulty, directly, discuss, donation, donor, donors, earn, Education, effort, Ellsworth Brown, engagement, establish, Executive director, express, expressing, Facebook, financial, financial management, form, forthcoming, forward, fund, Fundraising, gem, generous, gifts, gig, gigs, giving, goal, grateful, gratitude, half, Health, Heart Strings, heavily, home website, honor, humble, humbled, impose, incredile, individual, infor, initiative, Jacob Stockinger, Jeff Breisach, job, John DeMain, launch, lead, like, link, living, loan, lose, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, make, management, manager, May, Mead Witter School of Music, member, mental, Mental health, MSO, Music, Music director, Music education, music faculty, Musician, musicians, news, online, opera, option, options, Orchestra, organization, outreach, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Presents, paid, paid in full, pandemic, patron, paycheck, payment, payroll, percussion, performance, performer, performing, play, playing, possible, post, posting, President, protection, provide, region, rehearsal, reiterate, relief fund, rely, resources, rest, Rick Mackie, sample, Season, secure, seek, September, services, share, someone, staff\, stock, stress, strong, students, study, subscriber, support, symphony, tag, tax-deductible, teaching, thank you, The Ear, time, totally, understand, unexpected, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, value, Viola, Violin, virtual, virtul, wages, Website, Wisconsin, work, Youth, Youth Concerts
Classical music: Madison Area Concert Handbells (MACH) turns 20 and will give three performances of “Bells of Christmas” this coming weekend. Plus, there is a FREE concert of women composers on Friday at noon and a FREE community string quartet concert on Thursday night
Leave a Comment
ALERT 1: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the meeting house of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features Sarah Gillespie, French horn, and Susan Gaeddert, piano, in music by women composers: Fanny Hansel, Clara Schumann, Kay Gardner and Andrea Clearfield. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
ALERT 2: The Hunt Quartet, made up of UW-Madison graduate students, will perform a FREE concert at the Beth Israel Center, 1406 Mound Street, on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
The program includes the String Quartet No. 2 by Sergei Prokofiev, the String Quartet in G Major Op. 77, No. 1, by Franz Joseph Haydn, the “Langsamer Satz” (Slow Movement) by Anton Webern.
The string quartet is a joint community outreach project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and is funded by Kato Perlman. It plays at many local schools. For more information, visit: http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/hunt-quartet/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has been asked to post the following information:
It’s the 20th anniversary of Madison Area Concert Handbells (MACH) and we’re celebrating!
Our Bells of Christmas concerts will feature some best-loved pieces from the past along with exciting new ones that will showcase our ringers’ and soloists’ talents. MACH’s founder and Director Emerita, Susan Udell (below, front center with baton), will be conducting the December concerts to bring an air of fun-filled nostalgia and continuing excellence to our programs.
Performances are on Friday, Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center (bel0w), 2100 Bristol Street, Middleton. The center adjoins Middleton High School.
There is another performance on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 3 p.m. at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, 5700 Pheasant Hill Road, in Monona.
Tickets in advance are $12 for adults and $9 for students 16 and under; and $9 for seniors; at the door, tickets are $15 and $12 respectively.
Advance tickets are available at Cool Beans Coffee Café, Ward-Brodt Music, Metcalfe’s Market at Hilldale, and Orange Tree Imports.
Advance tickets can also be ordered. Go to http://www.madisonhandbells.org
To pay with check or money order, you can order by mail — please print an order form and mail with payment to MACH. Advance ticket prices apply.
Group tickets (10 or more) can be ordered in advance for $10 per person, whether adult, student or senior. These are not available at the door; to order, please print an order form and mail with payment (check or money order)
Here are program notes written by Susan Udell:
“The Bells of Christmas” opens with the timely reminder that Christmas is Coming before an array of pieces that unfold the events of Christ’s birth. “Wake, Awake,” a stirring arrangement of Philipp Nicolai’s “Wachet Auf,” is replete with giant chords, flowing passages, and the resonance of bass chimes as the city of Jerusalem is made aware of the Savior’s importance.
Next, an arrangement of the 17th century French tune “Picardy,” “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” features mysterious random ringing of bells and hand chimes while the melody is intoned. This evolves into a burst of fiery 16th-note passages and a maestoso statement of the tune before subsiding into the sound of silence punctuated by random chimes once more.
A lively Caribbean tune, “The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy,” arranged by one of the handbell world’s top composers and arrangers, Hart Morris, gives a change of pace with its syncopation and moments of percussive instruments.
The noted English composer John Rutter’s “Angels’ Carol” follows, sung by our favorite guest vocalist from the past, Carrie Ingebritsen, and our own Rachel Bain; their voices blend beautifully with a liquid handbell accompaniment to give the angels’ message from that long-ago night.
Another favorite soloist, Barbara Roberts, takes the leading part in an excerpt from Benedetto Marcello’s sonata for flute that has been combined in a Gigue with “Forest Green”, an alternate tune for “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” A bell tree duet of “Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella” follows, played by MACH members Caitlin Ristow and Karen Paschke.
Then it’s time for an audience sing-along in Christmas Carol Fest III. “How Great Our Joy” closes the first half of the concert with variations on the carol “While By My Sheep” and then another opportunity for the audience to sing as “Joy to the World” affirms the events that occurred in Bethlehem so long ago.
After a brief intermission, renowned handbell composer Cynthia Dobrinski‘s arrangement of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” brings sobering and dramatic music that climaxes in a joyful affirmation that, despite all, God will prevail. Carrie Ingebritsen will help illuminate what the music portrays as she sings the verses accompanied by the bells. (You can hear a sample of Cynthia Dobrinski’s music for handbells in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
An energetic “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People” follows, based on tunes by Louis Bourgeois and George Frideric Handel, also arranged by Cynthia Dobrinski. Next, her arrangement of “On Christmas Night All Children Sing” (Sussex Carol) brings us to a light-hearted celebration of the holiday as seen through the eyes of children.
Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s famed “Nutcracker Suite” is then represented as our MACH ringers present a challenging, full-bodied arrangement of its March as transcribed by noted handbell composer William Griffin.
Former MACH member, Janet Rutkowski, returns as handbell soloist for “The Tin Soldier,” an amusing rendition of that well-known tune. Then the ever-popular “Up on the Housetop” details the gifts children anticipate at Christmas and depicts Santa’s arrival, descent of the chimney, and filling of stockings before he departs in a flash of sound.
Our concert concludes with a joyful, foot-stomping “Caroler’s Hoedown,” created and arranged by Valerie Stephenson, who received her graduate degree in composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison many years ago.
We hope you will join our 20th year’s celebration by attending one of our concerts. We will recognize past ringers and Board of Directors members in our programs as a special tribute of thanks for their support over the years.
Tags: advance, Andrea Clearfield, angel, arrangers, Arts, Bach, Baroque, bass, bells, Benedetto Marcello, Bethlehem, birth, cafe, Caribbean, Carol, Chamber music, check, children, chimes, chme, chords, Christ, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Clara Schumann, coffee, Comfort Ye My People, composers, English, Fanny Hansel, First Unitarian Society of Madison, flute, French, George Frideric Handel, gifts, gigue, God, handbells, Haydn, Holiday, Horn, Hunt Quartet, hymn, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Jacob Stockinger, Jerusalem, Jesus, John Rutter, Joseph Haydn, Joy to the World, Kay Gardner, Langsamer Satz, MACH, Madison, Madison Area Concert Handbells, mail, market, Middleton Performing Arts Center, money order, Music, Nutcracker, O Little Town of Bethlehem, online, percussion, Philipp Nicolai, Piano, Prokofiev, Santa, savior, sing, sing-along, Sonata, String quartet, Suite, Susan Udell, Sussex Carol, syncopation, Tchaikovsky, ticket, tune, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Up on the Housetop, vocal music, vocalist, Wachet auf, Webern, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Gramophone magazine names its Best of 2014 Classical Recordings. Here it is, along with several other major compilations.
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
This post wraps up the holiday gift-giving season for this year.
Over the past month or so, I have offered several major roundups of the Best of 2014 classical music recordings.
The posts have included a Top 10 list from NPR or National Public Radio:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2014/12/11/370067981/best-classical-albums-of-2014
A list from the critics at The New York Times:
A list — really, two lists — from the prize-winning critic Alex Ross (below), who writes for The New Yorker Magazine:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/ten-notable-performances-recordings-2014
A link from critic Jeremy Eichler at the Boston Globe:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/12/13/the-best-albums/6q7Tin4lPvj5RmqfCCSTFP/story.html
And a list of the classical nominations for the 57th annual Grammy Awards:
Now, as the year ends, here comes the annual compilation by the venerable Gramophone magazine out of Great Britain. Top honors go to Riccardo Chailly and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for their cycle of orchestral works, symphonies and overtures and more, by Johannes Brahms on the Decca label.
But there is a lot more to look at and listen to, and, predictably, a lot of choices with ties to United Kingdom.
Anyway, if you still need to give a gift or maybe to redeem a gift card or spend cash you received, here is the story along with the direct link to the FREE digital magazine issue (below):
http://www.exacteditions.com/read/gramophone/recordings-of-the-year-2014-41178
Tags: Alan Gilbert (conductor), Alex Ross, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Boston Globe, cash, Chamber music, Christmas, Classical music, Compact Disc, Decca, Early music, Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Puccini, gift card, gifts, Grammy Award, Gramophone, Great Britain, Holiday, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Opera, magazine, Mozart, Music, New York City, New York Times, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Piano, Riccardo Chailly, The New York Times, The New Yorker, United Kingdom, Violin, vocal music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 