The Well-Tempered Ear

Will you help revive the UW Choral Union?

October 20, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

Soprano Janet Murphy was a longtime and enthusiastic participant in the UW Choral Union.

(You can see it below performing Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “A Sea Symphony” under former director Beverly Taylor during its inaugural appearance with the UW Symphony Orchestra in Hamel Hall. At the bottom you can see and hear the UW Choral Union singing “He Watching Over Israel” from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” 12 years ago in Mills Hall).

In the wake of the Choral Union being ended by former music school director Susan C. Cook this past summer, many participants were outraged and disappointed that the campus-community group would no longer exist.

Among them, Murphy formed a support group, Friends of the Choral Union, and met in person with the new director of the UW School of Music.

Murphy now seems optimistic that the Choral Union can be revived — IF there is enough public support.

She sent the following appeal and asked The Ear to post it:

A message from Friends of the UW Choral Union:

As many of you know, the UW Mead Witter School of Music decided to disband the Choral Union after 130 years. They have heard a great deal from the community about that!

Dan Cavanagh, the new director of the School of Music, has graciously offered to hold a conversation with the community this Monday evening.

He seems open to re-establishing the Choral Union if there is a lot of support for that.

It’s now or never for classical music lovers and fans of the Wisconsin Idea to show the School of Music that we want the Choral Union back.

We need many hundreds of fans to come.

A big turnout will mean as much as anything we say.

Please…

Bring your family and friends

Post on social media

Email broadly

A conversation with Dan Cavanagh (below top) and Director of Choral Activities Mariana Farah (below bottom) will take place this Monday October 23, 7-8:15 p.m. in Hamel Music Center, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, 740 University Ave.

That’s where the UW Choral Union overfilled the 660-seat concert hall last April. Let’s fill the hall again!

Editor’s note: If you are looking for background, here are the previous stories dating back to the announcement of ending the Choral Union in June. It is also telling to read the many comments from participants and the public:


Public ‘autopsy’ of UW Choral Union is Monday, Oct. 23

October 12, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

What was the cause of death?

Ever since last June — when the University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music announced it was killing off the UW Choral Union after 130 years — the school has not issued any kind of public statement, specific explanation or response to the overwhelming negative reactions from the community.

That is finally about to change.

On Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the Hamel Music Center, the School of Music’s new director Dan Cavanagh will meet with former Choral Union singers and others members of the public to discuss the decision to cancel and to explore the future off campus-community choral activities.

Here is the email invitation that Cavanagh (below) sent out this week: 

October 10, 2023

Dear Choral Union Singers,

I have been fortunate to meet several of you in my first few months in Madison as the new Director of the Mead Witter School of Music (MWSoM). I have felt welcomed and excited to make Madison my home, both personally and professionally.

As you know well, I started my position during a time of change here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have learned much over the past few months about the long history, impact, and value that the Choral Union has had here in Madison and beyond.

I understand that many have felt disappointed by the decision to discontinue the Choral Union (shown below under longtime but now retired choral director Beverly Taylor) as it has been a longstanding and stalwart example of the Wisconsin Idea in action. I have begun having discussions with the local choral community writ large to explore ways to serve the Madison area in a way that honors that tradition while ensuring that we are able to serve our students in the most pedagogically and fiscally responsible way.

 

With the above in mind, I am writing to invite you and those interested to a conversation on Monday, October 23, from 7:00 p.m.-8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center.

 Janet Murphy has, in parallel, reached out to me about the new “Friends of the Choral Union” group, and I plan to meet with her and a few others prior to this larger meeting so that I can come prepared to be responsive and engaged in the discussion.

I hope to come away from our conversation having had a chance to explain in more detail why the original decision was made last spring before I arrived, as well as having had a chance to hear your concerns and hopes for how we can partner together in the future to serve the choral community around us.

When I interviewed for this position back in early March, I talked a lot about how Music is one of the “front doors” to the University, and how our public charge includes engaging outside the walls of the “ivory tower.” 

This philosophy is uniquely enacted through the Wisconsin Idea, and I do not use that phrase lightly. While our focus needs to remain first and foremost on our students and our ability (and resources) to adapt our pedagogical practices to a rapidly changing arts and cultural environment in this country, I am excited to work together with you and others to find ways to connect that pedagogical work with the wider community in our state and nationally.

Please consider joining me for this important conversation on October 23. No RSVP is needed. I look forward to meeting each of you in person and to hearing your passion, ideas, and concerns.

With deep respect,

Dan Cavanagh

Pamela O. Hamel/Board of Advisors Director; Mead Witter School of Music Professor of Jazz Studies and Composition

University of Wisconsin-Madison: music.wisc.edu

NOTE: If you want more to see more background and reader public reactions to it, here are links to three previous blog posts:

The Ear wonders how well attended the meeting will be?

Will you attend or not? Why or why not?

Will anything change about the future of the Choral Union?

Will Mariana Farah (below top) — the highly acclaimed new Director of Choral Activities — be on hand to answer questions and offer her perspective?

Will former music school director Susan C. Cook (below bottom), who made the decision, also be there?

How convincing will the explanations for the past decision and for possible future activities be?

Did it change your mind or thinking? How?

The Ear wants to hear.


Opera Props merges with UW-Madison, becomes Friends of University Opera 

July 29, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

After more than 40 years of supporting the opera and voice programs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, Opera Props will become Friends of University Opera. (Below is a recent poster and at bottom is YouTube video of the production of Puccini’s popular “La Bohème”).

The new organization will be jointly administered.

Here is the official announcement:

Exciting news!

Change is coming!

Opera Props is now Friends of University Opera!

Opera Props Board members, working for two years with the Mead Witter School of Music and the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, have laid the groundwork for a wonderful collaboration.

On July 1, Opera Props became Friends of University Opera!

The Friends group will continue to support the Voice and Opera program with newsletters and mailings, as well as hosting events to support our students, engage donors and encourage new audiences.

Friends will continue as advisors to Voice and Opera Faculty on use of funds for scholarships and production support.

This year we were able to award $35,000 in scholarships.

Cooperation with the Foundation will help us do even more! 

Gifts to the University of Wisconsin Foundation will be designated for the Opera Program Fund (112625070).

Join, donate, show your support and meet the new singers at the Fall Showcase Concert ( in the beautiful Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center on campus.(Below are the participants of a past Fall Showcase concert at the First Unitarian Society in Madison)

Save the Date: Saturday, September 30, at 2 p.m.

A more detailed letter has been sent to the Opera Props mailing list under the signature of the current president Kathleen Harker.  But The Ear cannot find the full version of it posted yet online at any website.

For more information about Opera Props, now Friends of University Opera, including past email newsletters, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org

For information about the prize-winning UW-Madison Opera program, go to: https://music.wisc.edu/university-opera/


What do current music and non-music students think about the UW-Madison killing off the Choral Union?

June 24, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

By now, the chances are good that you have heard about the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music’s decision to kill off the campus-community Choral Union after 130 years. (The Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra, under recently retired choral activities director Beverly Taylor, are shown below in Mills Hall, where they performed with soloists for 50 years — in this case Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” — before moving to the Hamel Music Center.) 

It has had many more hits and many more replies than any other blog post in a long time.

All of the reactions so far have been strongly negative, even outraged, with no one defending or endorsing the move.

But so far those replies, often lengthy, have been received with deafening silence and no replies or detailed explanations from either faculty members or administrators in the UW-Madison School of Music. In fact, The Ear understands that the School of Music has blocked its website and Facebook site from allowing anyone to reply:

See for yourself. Here is a link to the original blog post with its many comments and replies:

Most of the replies come from people who attend the UW Choral Union concerts or those who used to sing in it or who have been singing in it as alumni or community members and taxpayers. Some threaten withdrawing financial support. Others say it is yet another attack on the Wisconsin Idea.

But this time The Ear would like to hear from CURRENT STUDENTS — music students and other student — about what they think of the move.

Do they favor the decision to end the Choral Union? Or oppose it?

Do they think ending the Choral Union will hurt their education? Or be harmless?

What would the students like the UW-Madison School of Music to do? Continue with the plan or reverse the decision? Explain the specific reasons rather than citing generalities and banalities?

End censorship by allowing the public to reply on websites and social media?

Please spread the word to family and friends, to music and non-music students at the UW-Madison and at other schools.

The Ear wants to hear.


UW-Madison School of Music kills off the venerable campus-community Choral Union 

June 12, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will end the long-lived campus-community Choral Union (below at the top, with soloists and the UW Symphony Orchestra at the bottom) starting this fall. You can hear an excerpt from Handel’s “Elijah” performed in the old Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.

The news, dated June 1, was posted quietly and anonymously on the school’s website. As The Ear understands it, members of the Choral Union were not contacted directly. They just had to find it. Plus, the summer seems a suspicious and inauspicious time for the announcement. Student, faculty and community members are on vacation. In addition, the new director Dan Cavanagh (below) will take over the office from Susan C. Cook in a little over two weeks, on July 1. No word on how he stands about the move.

Here is the music school’s website posting: https://music.wisc.edu/choral-ensembles/

It doesn’t come as a complete surprise to The Ear, since performances were reduced from two semesters to one semester shortly after Mariana Farah (below) became the new Director of Choral Activities in 2021 after the retirement of Beverly Taylor, who continues to serve as the choral director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

Student, alumni and community protests are already coming in expressing the resolve to reverse the decision.

Little wonder since the Choral Union was founded in 1893 and is one of the oldest on-going organizations on campus. It is hard to think of a better embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea. That concept is that the public university is to serve the taxpaying public that funds it — and these days community engagement is still supposed to be a high priority.

The Choral Union also seems like an exemplary educational program that gets soloists, the choir of students and the public, and the symphony to work together on a major project that also raises money for the music school.

Over many years, the Choral Union performances have also provided much of the most memorable music-making The Ear has ever heard at the university — or in the city. Works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Verdi, Faure and Benjamin Britten, among others, come to mind.

Here is the exact text, which is vague about any reasons for the cancellation of the 130-year-old Choral Union: 

Choral Union Update (June 1, 2023)

“Starting Fall 2023, the Mead Witter School of Music will no longer offer Choral Union. This change will allow the School of Music to devote resources to our core mission of serving UW–Madison students as well as to focus our public programming around new goals. 

“The School of Music and its choral program deeply value and appreciate the partnerships we have formed over the years with the Madison-area choral community. And we recognize that ending the Choral Union may be disappointing to some. 

“We hope that community members who participated in the Choral Union will continue to partake of the many opportunities available to engage with the School of Music such as choral concerts and the multitude of performances, lectures, and workshops we offer every year.” 

The negative reactions and feedback have already started. Here is one example:

The oldest organization at the UW-Madison has been canceled with an unsigned email and no public input?

This can’t be right.

The Choral Union is a beloved institution. 

We won’t let it go like this. We need to know what the issues are and solve them.

Let the discussion begin.

–Janet Murphy, alto member of the Choral Union, 2008-present

Spread the word. Should you or others wish to express an opinion of support or opposition, here are some email addresses and phone numbers:

General office:music@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900

School director Susan C. Cook: director@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900

Director of Choral Activities: mariana.farah@wisc.edu; 608.263.1900

What do you think of the UW killing off the Choral Union?

What would you like to know about the decision?

Would you like the UW School of Music to reverse its decision?

The Ear wants to hear.


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Why isn’t music education in Madison better, ranked higher? 

May 16, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear saw where the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation recently announced its annual list honoring cities, school districts and individual schools in the U.S. for outstanding music education.

Here is a brief explanation:

“Now in its 24th year, the 2023 Best Communities for Music Education program recognizes 830 school districts and 78 schools across 43 states for the outstanding efforts by teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community leaders and their support for music education as part of a well-rounded education for all children.”

Here is link to the overview of the award program: 

https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nammfoundation.org%2Farticles%2F2023-04-18%2Fnamm-foundation-celebrates-best-music-education-honors-830-school-districts-and&data=05%7C01%7C%7C9c6c039f5e8544d5986a08db54cb7947%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638197005102315311%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=LRuj9PsrcrK33NhHkuBZWHHxPm7H3Iz5GdU%2BwA2ghDg%3D&reserved=0

 

I figured with its active music life, Madison should be, even must bet, on the list.

And I did find Madison.

But it was Madison New Jersey — not Wisconsin.

I found no mention of Madison, Wisconsin.

It disappointed me, since study after study shows the importance of music education in academic achievement.

It also perplexed me.

How could music education not be noteworthy in a city that is home to nationally famous Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (below is UW’s Hamel Music Center)? 

In a city with Edgewood College’s music department?

With the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra — all of which have educational outreach programs?

With the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Willy Street Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Oakwood Chamber Players and so many other chamber music and early music groups? 

Where the statewide, nationally recognized Wisconsin School Music Association is located in nearby Waunakee

In the same city where the pioneering Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (below) has been located for 57 years and is building an impressive new headquarters with teaching facilities and a concert hall on East Washington Avenue?

Take a look for yourself. 

Here is a link to the list which can be filtered and narrowed down alphabetically by state, city, school district, school and past history: https://www.nammfoundation.org/articles/bcme-2023-schools

In Wisconsin you will find Dousman, Richland Center and Salem listed. But not Milwaukee or Green Bay or LaCrosse or Eau Claire or Appleton.

And no Madison.

What explains it?

What do school boards and administrators have to say about it?

What role do budget cuts, curriculum and staffing priorities play?

Is the list somehow biased?

Does not being named to list jibe with the reality of music education in public schools in Madison and nearby communities?

Why isn’t music education in Madison better and more noteworthy?

What do teachers, parents and students themselves have to say about the problem — and the solution?

The Ear wants to hear.


The UW Symphony strings and Pro Arte Quartet team up Thursday night for a free online MUST-HEAR concert of Shostakovich, Elgar and Caroline Shaw. TONIGHT you can hear free piano and percussion recitals

April 21, 2021
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All times are Central Daylight Time.

ALERTS: Tonight from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center, the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will present a departmental piano recital with undergraduate and master’s students. There is no listing of performers and pieces yet. One assumes they will be announced during the live-stream. Here is the link to take you to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7muCH_gupA

Then from 7:30 to 9 p.m., the UW Chamber Percussion Ensemble will live-stream a concert from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall. Here is the YouTube link. If you click on Show More, you will find the details of the program and composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWv285nZutI

By Jacob Stockinger

This Thursday night, April 22, you can hear two of the musical groups that The Ear found most impressive and consistently excellent during the Pandemic Year.

At 7:30 p.m., the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra’s string section (below) and the Pro Arte Quartet will team up to perform a free 90-minute, live-streamed concert online.

It is one of the last major concerts of this school year and will be conducted by the outstanding music director and conductor of the orchestra, Professor Oriol Sans (below).

For The Ear, it is a MUST-HEAR concert.

Here is a link to the YouTube site where you can see and hear it: https://youtu.be/TN2PftBJ4yg. If you click on Show More, you can see the members of the orchestra’s strings along with a list of the graduating seniors.

All the works on the innovative program are closely informed by the string quartet.

The program includes the darkly dramatic five-movement Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a, based on the famous and popular String Quartet No. 8, by Dmitri Shostakovich; the orchestral version of the entrancing and quietly hypnotic “Entr’acte” — heard in the YouTube video at the bottom — that was originally written for string quartet by the Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw (below, in a photo by Kait Moreno); and the Introduction and Allegro for String Quartet and String Orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar.

The UW-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet (below) is the soloist and will join forces with the orchestra for the Elgar work. Quartet members are: David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.

And here is a link to more information about the program and to more extensive program notes: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-8/


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

April 14, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

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

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

That much is typical.

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

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

But there is an upside.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy listening!

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

The Ear wants to hear.


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From Beethoven to today: The next five days at the UW-Madison are busy with FREE online concerts of new music, string music, brass music and more

April 8, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

From now through Monday, April 13, there are many FREE online concerts – virtual or pre-recorded – at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.

The schedule includes three different concerts on Saturday, April 10, alone. (All times are central and many concerts will be available for longer than a day.)

The variety of music is terrific and features all kinds of instruments and genres of music.

Here is a link to all of them, which will appear on YouTube. If your click on “Show More,” you will see more information about the performers and the programs. You can also set a convenient Reminder Timer to help you remember to listen: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZZ2F66Bu2yAfccvsugEtsA

You can read all of them by yourself. But the Ear wants to single out several of special interest.

NEW MUSIC: TONIGHT

If you are a fan of new music, there are two concerts you should consider listenIing to.

TONIGHT, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. and then at 8:30 p.m. are two concerts of new music.

The first concert is by the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.

Titled “Colors” (below is the poster) the concert features music by Debussy, Lang, San Martin, UW-Madison professor Laura Schwendinger and Edgard Varese.

The performance are by faculty performers violist Sally Chisholm, flutist Conor Nelson and pianist Christopher Taylor, as well as alumni and students Eric Tran, Eric Delgado, Heidi Keener, Ben Therrell and Ben Yats.

Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5Gxe7yTWpI

Then at 8:30 p.m., a studio recital by composition students (below) at the UW-Madison will take place. No names of performers or pieces are listed. But here is the link that is given: https://youtu.be/WmTBoLD9IQc

BEETHOVEN QUARTET CYCLE 7: FRIDAY NIGHT

At 7:30 p.m. is the seventh installment of the cycle, which is part of the Pro Arte Quartet’s yearlong retrospective of Beethoven’s string quartets to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Members are David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.

The program has two late quartets: the famous last one, Op. 135, in F major (1826) with the :”Muss es sein” (Must It Be?) motif, which can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom of the final movement played by the Cypress String Quartet;  and the famous “Grosse Fuge” quartet and ending in B-flat Major, Opp. 130 and 133 (1825-6).

The Ear — who particularly likes Beethoven’s return to clarity and classicism in his final quartet — has listened to all the installments and they have all been superb. There’s no reason to expect anything different with this installment.

UW professor of musicology Charles Dill will give short introductory talks before each quartet. You can find extended program notes about the quartet and the program here: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-7/

And here is the link to the live-streamed concert from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIW_5NVgGaA

UNIVERSITY OPERA SINGS SONGS OF RACIAL AND SOCIAL JUSTICE: SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

This spring, University Opera follows up its groundbreaking video production on the life and times of composer Marc Blitzstein with another video.

What’s Past is Prologue: The Unfinished American Conversation, a program of staged and filmed songs and song cycles with social and racial justice themes, will be released on the Mead Witter School of Music YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/7Up_OXD6K2U this Saturday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m., with an encore stream this Sunday, April 11, at 2 p.m. David Ronis, Director of University Opera, is the director, and Thomas Kasdorf is the musical director, who accompanies the singers on piano.

For more background, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/university-opera-presents-whats-past-is-prologue-the-unfinished-american-conversation/

For the performance, go to: https://youtu.be/7Up_OXD6K2U


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The UW Symphony Orchestra performs a FREE online concert Thursday night and Friday night the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra debuts its second chamber music concert. But in-person micro-concerts on Sunday by the the Willy Street Chamber Players are sold-out

February 24, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The second half of the music season is well under way, with just about every major group performing online – or in one case even in person.

Here are three selections this week:

THURSDAY

Two of the most musically and technically impressive concerts The Ear heard last semester took place at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. They were by the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Oriol Sans (below).

First, Sans conducted a socially distanced and virtual all-strings concert (below).

Then, for the second concert, the conductor had the winds and brass – which spray dangerous aerosol droplets – record their parts individually. Then for the live performance, Sans donned earphones and masterfully combined all the forces into a full orchestra performance (below).

You can see similar results – with percussion joining for the strings for the last piece — this Thursday night, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. on YouTube when the UW Symphony Orchestra live-streams a 90-muinute concert from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center. No in-person attendance is allowed.

Here is the program:

I Crisantemi (Chyrsanthemums) by Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), with Michael Dolan, guest conductor

“Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout” by contemporary American composer Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972) Coqueteos (Flirtations)

“Carmen” Suite (after the opera by Georges Bizet) by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin (b.1932): Introduction; Dance; Carmen’s entrance and Habanera Torero; Adagio; Fortune-telling; and Finale.

Here is a link to the live-streamed video: https://youtu.be/GSrMLKrjlVg

And here is a link to more information, including program notes and the names of members of the orchestra: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-2/

FRIDAY NIGHT

On Friday night at 7:30 p.m. the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) will offer the second of its Winter Chamber Series. It will run between 60 and 75 minutes.

There will be string, brass and percussion music by Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Steve Reich, Craig H. Russell and Thomas Siwe. Be aware that three of the works – string quartets by Mozart and Beethoven and a string sonata by Rossini — are presented in excerpts. That is not listed on the webpage.

The cost for one-time access between Friday night and Monday night is $30.

Here is a link to more information, including a link to ticket sales from the Overture Center box office and program notes by WCO music director and conductor Andrew Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz): https://wcoconcerts.org/events/winter-chamber-series-no-ii

SOLD-OUT

The Micro-concerts scheduled for this coming Sunday, Feb. 28, by the esteemed Willy Street Chamber Players (below), are SOLD-OUT.

The 10-minute private concerts for two, which require masks and social distancing for all, are perhaps the most innovative move by any local music group during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Ear, who expects concert habits to change after the pandemic, thinks such micro-concerts have a very bright future even after the pandemic is under control and audiences can return safely to mass events.

The concert are pay-what-you can but a $20 donation for two was suggested.

For more information about the micro-concerts, listen to the YouTube video at the bottom and go to: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/micro-concerts.html

 


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