The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Prodigy violinist Julian Rhee performs a recital of Bach, Beethoven and others in Spring Green on Monday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement from the Rural Musicians Forum:
“His performance knocked our socks off.”
That remark came two years ago from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra about the competition performance by violinist Julian Rhee (below, at 14) with the orchestra. This February he played the entire Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms with the WCO.
Then in March, Rhee (below at 16) won first place in the Madison Symphony Wisconsin Young Artists Final Forte competition with his brilliant performance of the first movement of Peter Tchaikovsky’s virtuosic Violin Concerto in D Major. And that is just 2017!
Now 16 and a junior at Brookfield East High School, Julian Rhee has been winning violin competitions almost every year since he was 7.
And he has received accolades to match, such as this quote from classical music blog The Well Tempered Ear: “What makes Rhee so outstanding is that the level of his musicality matches his high technical mastery.” (You can hear him talk about himself and his playing in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
His recital on this coming Monday night, June 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Spring Green will feature beautiful works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Henryk Wieniawski and Eugene Ysaye. (Sorry, no word on specific works.)
He will be performing at Taliesin’s Hillside Theater (below), at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin compound in Spring Green.
This will be the second concert of the Rural Musicians Forum 2017 Summer Series, “Beautiful Music in a Beautiful Space.”
A free-will donation will be requested.
The Hillside Theater is located at 6604 County Highway 23, in Spring Green.
Don’t miss this concert. You’ll be able to say, “I heard him before he became famous!”
For more information about the Rural Musicians Forum, go to: http://ruralmusiciansforum.org
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, Eugene Ysaye, Frank Lloyd Wright, Henryk Wieniawski, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Orchestra, Overture Center, Piano, rural, Rural Musicians Forum, Sonata, symphony, Taliesin, Tchaikovsky, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: Which violin concertos have the hardest openings? You may be surprised
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By Jacob Stockinger
Recently The Ear stumbled upon a fascinating story, on a blog by Nathan Cole, about famous violin concertos.
It was NOT about the Top 10 Best Violin Concertos ranked in order.
It was NOT about the Top 10 Most Difficult Violin Concertos.
It was simply about the most difficult openings of violin concertos – about what happens when the violinist walks on stage and starts up along with the orchestra or before it or after it.
It uses the Olympics’ sports competitions as a model and awards degrees of difficulty along with explanations for the scoring.
(For a close to simultaneous start by orchestra and soloist, listen to American violinist Hillary Hahn, who played a recital last spring at the Wisconsin Union Theater, and conductor Paavo Jarvi in the opening of the popular Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn in the YouTube video at the bottom. It has over 8 million hits and it is very relevant to the story.)
The story reminds The Ear of famous literary critic Frank Kermode’s classic book “The Sense of an Ending” — only now it would be “The Sense of a Beginning,” a subject the late literary critic, cultural analyst and Palestinian activist Edward Said wrote about in his book “Beginnings: Intention and Method.”
The musical discussion features accessible and informative analysis by an accomplished violinist as well as terrific audio-visual clips of each concerto and the openings in question.
It’s a long piece – good for weekend reading, perhaps because it can be done in different segments at different times.
But even if you read only a part of it, it certainly imparts a sense of the challenges that a soloist faces. You vicariously experience the thrill and intimidation of walking out on stage and starting to play.
And it enhances your appreciation of some famous violin concertos and of what it takes to pull them off in live performance.
Like The Ear, you will come away with a new appreciation of the challenges that any concerto soloist – violinist, pianist, cellist, brass player, wind player, whatever — faces.
Here is a link:
http://www.violinist.com/blog/ncole78/20169/19726/
The Ear also hopes the website violinist.com follows up with a listing or ranking of the most difficult ENDINGS of violin concertos and a discussion of what makes them so difficult.
In the meantime, The Ears asks:
Do violinists out there agree or disagree with the scoring and reasons?
Do they care to leave a comment one way or the other?
Do they have other candidates – say, Baroque concertos by Antonio Vivaldi or Johann Sebastian Bach — to rank for the difficult of starting?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Alexander Glazunov, Arts, Bach, Baroque, Bartok, Beethoven, Berg, blog, Brahms, brass, Bruch, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, comeptition, Compact Disc, concerto, conductor, Dvorak, Felix Mendelssohn, Henryk Wieniawski, Hilary Hahn, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Lalo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Music, Olympic, Olympics, Orchestra, Paarvo Jarvi, Paganini, Pavvo Jarvi, Piano, Prokofiev, Sibelius, soloist, Sport, Stravinsky, strings, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, Violin Concerto (Mendelssohn), Vivaldi, Website, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Violinist Alexander Ayers gives a FREE recital on Monday night at Taliesin in Spring Green
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Due to technical difficulties beyond his control at the web site host, The Ear cannot publish a new post today that has many links in the text. He apologizes and will let you know if and when the problems are solved. In the meantime, he will offer what he can.
By Jacob Stockinger
The following announcement has been sent for posting by The Ear by the Rural Musicians Forum:
Widely praised for his shimmering virtuosity and technical precision, violinist Alexander Ayers performs a FREE recital at 7:30 p.m. on this Monday, June 27, in a concert sponsored by the Rural Musicians Forum in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hillside Theater at Taliesin, south of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Ayers (below, in a photo by O’Brien Photos of Waukesha), a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, joined the Milwaukee Symphony in 2013. He was previously a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
After studying nine years at the String Academy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee he studied at Indiana University, and in 2006 he won the grand prize of the Milwaukee Symphony Stars of Tomorrow Competition. This resulted in performances of the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Sergei Prokofiev with the MSO. He has performed collaboratively with Joshua Bell, Alex Kerr, Jaime Laredo, Gilles Apap and Soovin Kim.
Ayers’ June 27 program is international in scope. It includes works by German-born Ludwig van Beethoven and Parisian Camille Saint-Saens as well as the Belgian violinist and composer Eugene Ysaye and virtuosic Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski, who was regarded by many as an exciting and flamboyant re-incarnation of Niccolo Paganini.
About the concert RMF Artistic Director Kent Mayfield said, “We are honored to work in close collaboration with Taliesin Preservation Inc. to host much of this year’s series at Taliesin’s Hillside Theater (below). It provides an especially dramatic but intimate setting for Ayers’ performance which will be totally consistent with Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision: imaginative, bold and beautiful.”
Hillside Theater is located at 6604 Highway 23, Spring Green.
The concert is not ticketed and is open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken to support the concert series.
For additional information and driving directions, see www.ruralmusiciansforum.org
Tags: Alexander Ayers, Arts, Beethoven, Belgium, Camille Saint-Saëns, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, Eugene Ysaye, France, Frank Lloyd Wright, Germany, Henryk Wieniawski, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Kent Mayfield, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, Paganini, Paris, Piano, Poland, Prokofiev, Rural Musicians Forum, Sonata, Spring Green, Taliesin, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, virtuosity
Classical music: Con Vivo! will perform Russian and Eastern European chamber music this Saturday night.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Con Vivo! … music with life, concludes its 12th season of chamber music with a concert entitled “Eastern Block Party” on Saturday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, across from Camp Randall.
The program includes the Serenade for violin, viola, cello and two clarinets by Bohuslav Martinu (below top), the Polonaise No. 1 in D Major for violin and piano by Henryk Wieniawski (below middle), and Spiegel im Spiegel for clarinet and piano by Arvo Pärt (below bottom in a YouTube video that features the viola rater than the clarinet).
The performance will also feature the outstanding church organ with the Prelude in G Major by Friedrich Constantin Homilius. To conclude the evening’s offering, con vivo! will perform the Piano Quintet for two violins, viola, cello and piano by Dimitri Shostakovich (below).
Audience members are invited to join Con Vivo! musicians after the concert for a free reception to discuss this chamber music literature and to hear about their Carnegie Hall debut this past December.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for $18 for adults and $15 for seniors and students.
Artistic Director Robert Taylor, talking about the concert, said: “As is our tradition, con vivo!’s post Carnegie Hall debut season brings to our audience works that are familiar and some that are new. We’ve been honored as the “Best Classical Concert of 2013” by reviewer John W. Barker (below). With this concert, we aim to continue that trend.”
Con Vivo! is a professional chamber music ensemble comprised of Madison area musicians assembled from the ranks of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and various other performing groups familiar to Madison audiences.
Tags: Arts, Arvo Part, Baltic music, Bohuslav Martinu, Camp Randall, Carnegie Hall, Chamber music, Classical, Classical music, Congregational United Church of Christ, Dmitri Shostakovich, Eastern Europe, Eastern European music, Henryk Wienawski, Henryk Wieniawski, Homilius, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Piano, Russia, Russian, Russian culture, Russian music, Shostakovich, Spiegel im Spiegel, Violin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music education: Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras offer fall concerts all day this Sunday in Madison. UW violinist Tyrone Greive performs tonight.
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ALERT: Tonight at 7:30 p.m in Mills Hall, UW violinist and former Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Tyrone Greive (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will perform a FREE recital on the UW-Madison Faculty Concert Series. Greive will be joined by pianists Martha Fischer and Ted Reinke and as well as his wife cellist Janet Greive. The program will feature Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, Op. 115 by Jean Sibelius; Sonata in E for violin and piano by Paul Hindemith; Sonata in D minor, Op. 9 by Karol Szymanowski; a collection of short duets for violin and cello; Romance in E-flat Major, Op. 44, No. 1, by Henryk Wieniawski; and Three Dances by Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will hold the first performance series of the season, the Steenbock Fall Concerts, all day this coming Sunday, Nov. 18. More than 350 young musicians will display their talents to the community during the three concerts, which are dedicated to local music teachers.
The Evelyn Steenbock Fall Concerts will be held in Mills Concert Hall in the UW Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street, in Madison.
WYSO concerts are generally about an hour and a half in length, providing a great orchestral concert opportunity for families. Tickets are available at the door, $10 for adults and $5 for youth 18 and under. WYSO was founded in 1966 and has served nearly 5,000 young musicians from more than 100 communities in southern Wisconsin.
On Sunday, WYSO’s youngest members, the string orchestra Sinfonietta (below), will kick off the concert series at 1:30 p.m. with selections including “Four Royal Dances” by Eric Ewazen. The Concert Orchestra will follow with works by Berlioz and von Gluck.
At 4 p.m., the popular Percussion Ensemble (below top) will perform an arrangement of Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor under the direction of Vicki Jenks, in her 31st season at WYSO. The Philharmonia Orchestra (below bottom, photo by Jon Harlow) will then entertain the audience with Copland’s “An Outdoor Overture,” and works by Strauss, Vaughan Williams and Borodin.
At 7 p.m., the Harp Ensemble (below top), a unique group of performers age 11-17, will perform Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E minor. The Youth Orchestra (below bottom) will close out the concert series with Joaquin Turina’s “Danzas fantásticas” and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Symphony No. 2.
The Ear would only add that the playing is much better than you might think from student groups (listen to the finale of Shostakovich’s epic Symphony No. 5 on YouTube at the bottom). And it is also great fun to see the large WYSO audiences, which are made up of young friends, family members and admirers. WYSO concerts draw the youngest, most animated and most enthusiastic audiences in town.
Especially in this time of tight family and educational budgets, special mention should be made of sponsors. This WYSO project is supported by Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation and the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times. This project is also supported by the Alliant Energy Foundation and by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 