The Well-Tempered Ear
UW-Madison alumna Kathryn Lounsbery gives a FREE virtual online talk this Tuesday night about how musicians can develop and market new skills during COVID
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is no secret that the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic have been especially hard on gig workers and artists worldwide – hurting musicians financially and professionally as well as psychologically and artistically.
But this Tuesday night, Nov. 10, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. UW-Madison alumna Kathryn Lounsbery (below) will give a FREE virtual and interactive talk about developing marketable skills that can help carry musicians through the pandemic and beyond.
There is no in-person attendance. But here is a link to the live-streaming session of YouTube video: https://youtu.be/me1tC0LfEVU
Here is more information from the Mead Witter School of Music:
“Pure talent does not always equal a paycheck. Now, more than ever, musicians need to be savvy and employ out-of-the-box thinking with regards to their careers.
“Kathryn Lounsbery — a graduate of the UW-Madison School of Music — has taken her two classical piano degrees and crafted a life in music that includes teaching, performing, comedy, workshops, music-directing, cabaret and more.
“In this interactive session, she will pass on ways in which musicians can craft creative and rewarding careers for themselves, all while making a living.
“Lounsbery is a Los Angeles-based pianist, vocal coach, educator, comedian, music director, composer, arranger and educator. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California (2004) and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2000).
“She has served on the faculty of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) for a decade. Many of her former students are currently on Broadway and have been in feature films and television shows. Prior to her tenure at AMDA, she was on the faculty at Sonoma State University.
“Lounsbery is endorsed by Roland Pianos and frequently gives concerts and clinics on their behalf across the U.S. and abroad.
“For seven years, she served as a Keyboard Editor at Alfred Music Publishing, the world’s largest educational music publisher.
“Lounsbery has worked alongside entertainment industry greats including David Foster, Jim Brickman, Evan Rachel Wood, Travis Barker, Kathy Najimy, Charlotte Rae, Laura Benanti and Aubrey Plaza to name a few. She has been a music coach for HBO, Showtime and ABC series.
“As a comedian, Kathryn was featured on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and has appeared at The Laugh Factory and The Improv, and has headlined at The World Famous Comedy Store. Her musical improv skills lead her to hold the position of music director at the famed Second City in Chicago for several years.
“Lounsbery is the creator and director of “Authenticity and Bad-Assery,” a popular performance-based workshop in Los Angeles. There is currently a waitlist to participate.
“She has toured the country with her solo show “Kathryn Lounsbery Presents Kathryn Lounsbery.” Her comedy videos have garnered millions of views and have been shown at film festivals around the world. (You can see a comedy beefcake video based on Beethoven’s “Pathetique” piano sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“She is also the music arranger on “The Potters” an animated feature to be released through Lionsgate in 2021.”
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Classical music: Cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio talks about the human quality of French music. She performs Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1 on an all-French program with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this weekend.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The award-winning cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio (below) makes her solo debut with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO) in an all-French program this coming weekend.
Sant’Ambrogio will solo in Camille Saint-Saëns’ stormy Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, a first-time performance of the work by the MSO under its music director and conductor John DeMain.
The opening piece, Maurice Ravel’s sensuous Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, showcases the classical simplicity and ultimate decadence of the waltz, and the colors of all the instruments in the orchestra.
Finally, the MSO will perform the groundbreaking Symphonie Fantastique by Romantic composer Hector Berlioz (below). It is an unorthodox five-movement work that vividly captures an artist’s tortured infatuation and the haunted hallucinations of an opium trip.
The concerts are in Overture Hall on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. in the Overture Center, 201 State Street.
Sara Sant’Ambrogio is an internationally-renowned soloist and founding member of the Eroica Trio (below). She launched her international career when she was a winner at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Violoncello Competition in Moscow, Russia. She holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for Leonard Bernstein‘s “Arias and Barcarolles.” She last appeared with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 2001 as part of the Eroica Trio.
Written in 1872, Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 was instantly regarded as a masterpiece by the Paris public. Saint-Saëns rejected the standard concerto form in this work by interlinking the piece’s three movements into one continuous musical expanse, held together by the rich lyrical power of the cello.
The composer found the Cello Concerto No.1 difficult to write, so much so that he vowed never to compose for cello again; Saint-Saëns broke this vow 30 years later with his Cello Concerto No. 2.
One hour before each performance, John DeMain, music director and principal conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, will lead a FREE 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
More background on the music can also be found in the Program Notes at http://www.madisonsymphony.org/santambrogio
Single Tickets are $16 to $85 each, available at www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets and through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street or call the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25 percent by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information visit, www.madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is at: www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush. Students can receive 20 percent savings on seats in select areas of the hall on advance ticket purchases.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20 percent savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts cannot be combined.
Find more information at www.madisonsymphony.org.
Major funding for the November concerts is provided by Barbara Ryder, DeEtte Beilfuss-Eager and Leonard P. Eager, Jr., in memory of Karen “Lovey” Johnson, and Rosemarie Blancke. Additional funding is provided by Martha and Charles Casey, Sunseed Research, LLC, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Sara Sant’Ambrogio (below) recently agreed to an email Q&A with The Ear:
Could you briefly bring readers up to date on your career since 2001 when you last appeared with the Madison Symphony Orchestra as part of the Eroica Trio and performed the Triple Concerto for piano trio? What are current and future major plans and projects?
Wow, a lot has happened since 2001! I had a son, Sebastian, who just turned 11. I’ve recorded for solo CDs, the complete Bach solo suites, the Chopin collection and “Dreaming,” which has had a number of tracks used in movie soundtracks such as the HBO movie “A Matter of Taste.” I’ve recorded another Eroica Trio CD, “An American Journey,” which was nominated for a Grammy award.
I’ve toured China and all over Asia, and also the Arabian peninsula, which was amazing and mind-blowing. Petra in Jordan was like being in an Indiana Jones movie. It has been a truly amazing 14 years!
There seems to be a revival or rediscovery going on of the works of the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Why do you think that is?
Saint-Saens (below) has been grossly underrated in my view. His music has a wonderful mix of gorgeous melodies that speak to the human condition, sparkling virtuous pyrotechnics and a joie de vivre, which is just infectious! What’s not to love!
You are performing on an all-French program with Berlioz’ “Symphonie Fantastique” and Ravel’s “Valses Nobles et Sentimentales.” What elements or traits do identify as being typically French in classical music, and does Saint-Saëns fit the mold?
I think there is a lushness to French music that Saint-Saens shares. There is also a very human quality to the best of French music.
What would you like to say about the piece you will be performing in Madison, the Cello Concerto No. 1? What is typical or unusual about it? What in particular would you like the public to listen to and notice?
Just to have a blast! The Saint-Saens starts with a bang and never lets up till the joyous end! (Note: You can hear it played by the late Russian cellist, conductor and human rights activist Mstislav Rostropovich in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
What else would you like to say?
I can’t wait to come back and play in Madison again. I had such a fantastic time playing there last time with my trio that the town loomed so large in my imagination, I had no idea until this interview that it had been 14 years since I was last there.
Tags: A Matter of Taste, An American Journey, Arabia, Arts, Asia, Bach, Baroque, Berloz, Cello, Cello Concerto, Chamber music, China, Chopin, Classical music, concerto, conductor, Curtis Institute, Curtis Institute of Music, drugs, Eroica Trio, France, French music, funding, Grammy, HBO, human rights, International Tchaikovsky Competition, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, Juilliard School, Leonard Bernstein, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maurice Ravel, movie, Mstislav Rostropovich, Music, National Endowment for the Arts, New York City, opium, Paris, Piano, Piano Trio, Prelude, Ravel, Russia, Russian music, Saint-Saens, Sara Sant'Ambrogio, Sara Sant-Ambrogio, Saudi Arabia, Solo Cello Suites, solo suites, sponsors, State of Wisconsin, suites, Symphonie Fantastique, Tchaikovsky International Competition, Triple Concerto, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Valses nobles et sentimentales, Violin, Wisconsin Arts Board, YouTube
Classical music education: Superstar violinist Joshua Bell talks about the importance of music education and reaching people in unusual places — like subways. Plus, his terrific new all-Bach CD merits your attention.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The perennially boyish Joshua Bell, now a veteran of the concert stage and recording studio for more than 25 years, is in his third season as the artistic director of the famed British chamber orchestra Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.
Sony Classical has just released his new recording – which has a program that is all by Johann Sebastian Bach (below). It features two violin concertos plus three arrangements, including the famous Chaconne from the Solo Partita No. 2, for violin and orchestra. (His previous release as conductor and concertmaster of the ASMF players was a fine reading of Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven.)
And despite his Pretty Boy status, Bell — who has performed recitals here at the Wisconsin Union Theater and concertos with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — once again shows himself to be a gifted and serious musician. The Ear finds that he makes sense of notes that often get passed over by other violinists. Bells finds patterns in scales of climbing notes that help give the music momentum and melodic appeal. When he wants, Bell can be absolutely revelatory.
The Ear is not alone in his admiration for Bell at his best. Read the review by New York Times critic Steve Smith when Bell performed the glorious Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at this past summer’s “Mostly Mozart” Festival.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/22/arts/music/joshua-bell-plays-mostly-mozart.html?_r=0
But perhaps the achievement these days it that Bell has become an adamant advocate of music education.
In that capacity he recently was featured in a 30-minute HBO special program about master classes with 9 students.
The Ear recently heard and saw him defend music education as a means not just to raise musicians but to give student more self-esteem and self-confidence. Playing music also brings other benefits, he adds, from better grades and a better sense of teamwork to a lower likelihood of drug and alcohol abuse.
But it is best to let Joshua Bell speak for himself.
Here is a link to an interview his did with NPR or National Public Radio:
And here is a link to a television interview Bell did with reporter Jeffrey Brown of PBS’ The NewsHour as well as to the second, and final, subway appearance. (You may recall how his first anonymous appearance, at the bottom in a popular YouTube video with more than 5 million hits, made such a splash and even won the reporter a Pulitzer Prize.)
Here is a 10-question video interview Bell did with Time magazine, in which he also discusses his love of gambling, his $5-million violin and possible alternative career choices:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9grpRj-KvtU
And here is the original “anonymous” “Stop and Hear the Music” subway busking “concert” with more than 5 million hits:
Do you have any thoughts about Joshua Bell?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Academy of St Martin in the Fields, arrangement, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Bell, chaconne, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Classical music, concerto, HBO, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joshua Bell, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mostly Mozart Festival, Mozart, Music, New York Times, NPR, Orchestra, Pulitzer Prize, Sinfonia Concertante, symphony, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
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