This coming Sunday afternoon, beer and brats are about to mix with Bach, Beethoven and Brahms at Madison’s premier summer watering hole when the new FREE Summer Serenades begin at the landmark Union Terrace (below).
The Ear likes that combination a lot along with classical concerts that last only about an hour. No details on the programs yet, but hey — for an hour you can be a sport and chance it.
“Casual high-brow” increasingly seems the way to go, especially in Madison. And fittingly, a lot of the performers chosen by the Wisconsin Union Theater have ties to the UW-Madison as professors, graduates and students.
All hour-long concerts are FREE and take place on Sundays at 5 p.m., except on July 2, which will begin at 5:30 p.m.
The Willy Street Chamber Players (below) Sunday, June 18, 2017
Named 2016 Musicians of the Year by The Well-Tempered Ear Blog, their programming is adventurous, combining beloved classics and new music from contemporary composers.
Stephanie Jutt, flute (below top) and Thomas Kasdorf, piano (below bottom)
Sunday, July 2, 2017 at 5:30
Two of Madison’s most esteemed musicians will delight with melodies from their upcoming CD and will celebrate the Fourth of July weekend with patriotic tunes.
Isthmus Brass
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Comprised of the finest professional brass players in the Midwest, Isthmus Brass (below) is Wisconsin’s premiere large brass ensemble. It has performed on concert series and music festivals throughout the Midwest.
Hear a fun night of comic and classic melodies from your favorite operas. It features extraordinary lead singers from the School of Music and UW Opera Theater. Among them: Katie Anderson, soprano (below top); Courtney Kayser, mezzo-soprano (below middle); José Muñiz, tenor (below bottom); and accompanist Thomas Kasdof, piano.
Sound Out Loud and Lucia String Quartet
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Sound Out Loud (below) specializes in contemporary music from the early 20th century to the present. They expand the realm of possibilities within contemporary chamber music repertoire through the implementation of experimental techniques, the incorporation of a variety of instruments and musical styles from the Middle East and Asia, innovative performance practice, and the use of live electronics.
The Lucia String Quartet (below) has been performing at events throughout the Midwest for over 15 years. The string quartet’s repertoire puts a fresh spin on many favorite rock/pop songs as well as eloquently performing classical pieces.
Summer Serenades are presented by the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Performing Arts Committee with support from the Bill and Char Johnson Classical summer Concert Series Fund.
This is the inaugural season But Ralph Russo, director of the Wisconsin Union Theater, adds: “The 2017 Summer Serenades is a pilot program. The coordinator has put together an excellent program in a very short time and I’m confident we’ll see a good audience response.
“Assuming all goes well I’m hopeful it will continue for many summers to come. But we won’t know for certain until we do a thorough evaluation at the end of summer and determine if the donor is interested and willing to continue funding the program.”
Fresco Opera Theatre has justifiably developed a reputation for quality quirkiness.
Little wonder, then, that it has also developed a loyal following.
Fresco Opera Theatre opens its new season with FREE garage performances of “Snow White” in Madison, Waunakee and Sun Prairie.
There will be five afternoon performances, at 2 p.m., starting this Sunday afternoon and running through Aug. 28. All performances take place at different addresses.
You are advised to bring lawn chairs and blankets.
Here is what was Fresco Opera Theatre posted on Facebook:
Our 16/17 season starts with a BANG! by bringing Garage Opera out to the suburbs again!
This year, Snow White will be the story set to some of the most beautiful music the world has ever heard.
BUT WAIT! There is a twist in this tale…
While this is the story of Snow White you are familiar with, in true Fresco fashion we have added a few twists, including a mild-mannered “dwarf” of a man who befriends Snow White. And who will save her after the Evil Queen has poisoned her?
Come to Fresco’s GARAGE OPERA – SNOW WHITE to find out!
NOTE: You can hear Melanie Cain and Jeff Turk discuss with the local NBC affiliate Channel 15 Fresco’ s past production of Smackdown – which mixed high-brow opera with low-brow professional wrestling — in the YouTube video at the bottom.
It was easy to underestimate the Amazon comedy sitcom “Mozart in the Jungle” as just a commercial low-brow, rock and roll take on the high-brow world of classical music.
Until two weeks ago.
That when the TV comedy series, which portrays the trials and tribulations of being a classical musician in today’s pop-oriented culture, won two Golden Globe awards.
One award went to the accomplished Mexican actor, director and producer Gabriel Garcia Bernal (below) for the Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical. He plays Rodrigo, an orchestra conductor.
The second award went to the show as Best TV Series for Comedy or Musical.
Will any Emmys follow?
The second season has been ready for streaming since Dec. 30. And winning the two Golden Globe awards is sure to spike viewer interest. (You can see the trailer for Season 2 in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Although there are some fine things to admire in Season 2, apparently it loses steam and gets repetitive.
At least that is the assessment of music critic Zachary Woolfe, who writes for The New York Times.
One interesting sidelight of Season 2 is that several big-name classical musicians make a cameo appearance on the show.
The flamboyant Chinese superstar pianist Lang-Lang:
And mainstream American piano star Emanuel Ax, who will perform with the Madison Symphony Orchestra in March.(NOTE: Ax was to play the Symphonic Variations by Cesar Franck and the Burleske by Richard Strauss. That program has now been changed to the Piano Concerto No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven.)
To The Ear, the show still sounds like fun – if you can get past or overlook the endless sense of crisis.
Which, curiously, also just happens to be how one might feel about the real-life, non-fiction world of classical music these days with its focus on declining attendance, fewer recordings, labor strife and programming.