The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The second annual Madison New Music Festival will take place this Thursday through Sunday
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The summer classical season in Madison just keeps getting busier and more interesting.
The Ear has received the following announcement from Zachary Green (below), a native Madisonian and composer who graduated from Oregon High School and the Juilliard School, which awarded him a grant to start the first Madison New Music Festival last year. He now directs the event:
Dear friends, family, colleagues, and mentors,
I am extremely pleased to invite you to the second season of the Madison New Music Festival, taking place this Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 10-12.
The Madison New Music Festival is an annual weekend-long concert series dedicated to strengthening Madison’s cultural vitality through the celebration of fresh classical music from our lifetimes.
The festival strives to affordably and accessibly share music by the world’s leading living composers with the Madison community, with special emphasis placed on Wisconsin-based composers and performers.
This year, over the course of four concerts, we will be featuring 30 performers playing the music of over 20 composers— including the music of a different living Wisconsin composer at every concert.
The concerts will take place Thursday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (8 p.m.), Friday at Bethel Lutheran Church (8 p.m.), and Saturday at the Memorial Union Terrace (3 p.m.) and Robinia Courtyard (7:30 p.m.).
PROGRAM AND TICKET INFORMATION:
Thursday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in the Overture Center. (Below is a photo at MMoCA from last year’s festival)
After an incredibly successful launch in 2016, the Madison New Music Festival is set to return to MMoCA for a concert combining contemporary visual art and new music.
The festival presents brand new pieces by emerging composers, underplayed classics of the contemporary repertoire, and shines a spotlight on new music created here in Wisconsin.
The concert at MMoCA features music with thematic ties to MMoCA’s current exhibitions, including politically charged works such as “But I Still Believe” by composer Zachary Green and inspired by Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, and “Drums of Winter” from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and environmentalist John Luther Adams (below). You can hear “Drums of Winter” in the YouTube video at the bottom.
There will be a cash bar and opportunities to walk around the exhibits. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and FREE for MMoCA members.
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13011
Friday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. in Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Avenue
The festival’s second night features an eclectic range of music, from the inventive, folk-inspired music of Romanian composer Doina Rotaru (below top) to the improvisatory soundscapes of recently departed legend Pauline Oliveros (below bottom).
Also featured is local composer Scott Gendel (below top) , who will present a set of his own music with frequent Madison Opera guest soprano Emily Birsan (below middle). Both are graduates of the UW-Madison.
Other performers include Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse (below top), local flutist Iva Ugrcic (below middle) and local violinist Lydia Sewell (below bottom). Tickets are $10, $5 for students.
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13028
Saturday, Aug. 12, at 3 p.m., Memorial Union Terrace
Local new music wind quintet Black Marigold (below top) will perform “Beer Music” by Brian DuFord (below bottom), inspired by different kinds of beer– and you can sip as you listen!
But first, get your groove on with rhythmic works by emerging composer Andy Akiho (below top), Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, and local percussionist Dave Alcorn (below bottom) of Clocks in Motion — interspersed with interactive interpretations of Renaissance motets and an electroacoustic work for vibraphone. Featured musicians include percussionist Garrett Mendelow and Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse. Admission is FREE.
Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 PM, Robinia Courtyard (Jardin Restaurant) at 827 East Washington Avenue.
Join us at Jardin Restaurant, part of the newly redeveloped Robinia Courtyard to hear local ensemble Mr. Chair (below) present an eclectic, head-banging set ranging from original compositions to versions of Erik Satie, Olivier Messiaen and Igor Stravinsky.
Also featured are the genre-bending Echelon String Quartet(below) and a mesmerizing solo bass piece performed by Grant Blaschka. Cash bar. ($10/$5 student)
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13029
Tags: 2016, acoustic music, alcorn, Andy Akiho, Art, Arts, bar, bass, Beer, beer music, Black Marigold, Brian DuFord, cash, Cello, Chamber music, Chartreuse, Chicago, church, Classical music, Clocks in Motion, colleague, composer, concerto, contemporary, courtyard, culture, Dave Alcorn, Doina Rotaru, double bass, Dramatic Soprano, drums, Drums of Winter, Echelon String Quartet, eclectic, Electronic music, Emily Birsan, environment, environmentalist, Family, festival, flute, Folk music, friend, Garrett Mendelow, Glenn Kotche, Grant Blaschka, high school, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, improvisation, interactive, interpretation, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, John Luther Adams, Juilliard School of Music, local, Lutheran, Lydia Sewell, Madison, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison New Music Festival, Madison Opera, Memorial High School, Memorial Union, mentor, Messiaen, motet, Mr Chair, Museum, Music, New Music, New York City, opera, Overture Center, Pauline Oliveros, percussion, Piano, Pulitzer Prize, Renaissance, repertoire, restaurant, rhythm, Romania, Satie, Scott Gendel, singer, Singing, Sonata, song, soundscape, speech, spotlight, Stravinsky, summer, symphony, terrace, ticket, Union Terrace, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vibraphone, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wilco, Wind quintet, winds, winter, Wisconsin, YouTube, Zachary Green
Classical music: Twin-sister pianists, the Naughtons return to their hometown this weekend to perform a Mozart concerto with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. The powerful Symphony No. 5 by Shostakovich is also on the program. On Election Day, what piece of music should be played for the new president-elect?
2 Comments
ALERT: Today is ELECTION DAY. Be sure to vote. Then leave a COMMENT and maybe a YouTube link telling The Ear what piece of classical music should be played for the new president-elect — Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement:
This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO, below), with music director John DeMain conducting, performs two early 20th-century works. One is neglected and rarely performed while the other one is considered a powerful masterpiece,.
Madison’s very own Christina and Michelle Naughton (below) also return, for a performance of the witty and energetic Concerto for Two Pianos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The concert begins with Le Printemps (“Spring”) by Claude Debussy, an Impressionist ode to the living.
The Naughton twins then perform the lyrical Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos, followed by a performance of the Symphony No. 5 by Dmitri Shostakovich. It showcases the composer’s artistic triumph over the forces of Soviet repression. This is also the piece conductor John DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) conducted for his impressive audition here over two decades ago.
The concerts are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street, on Friday night, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night, Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon, Nov. 13, at 2:30 p.m.
An early version of Debussy’s Le Printemps was actually lost in a fire. The piece, originally written in Rome in 1886-87, premiered in Paris in 1913. Upon writing the score, Debussy (below) wrote to a friend, “…I’m calling it Printemps, not ‘spring’ from the descriptive point of view but from that of living things.”
The Naughtons will then play Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos. This piece, which is said to have been a favorite of Mozart (below, with his sister), was originally written for himself and his sister Maria Anna, nicknamed “Nannerl,” to perform. (The concerto was featured in the soundtrack to the Academy Award-Winning film “Amadeus” and you can hear the last movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This is the first time this piece will be performed by the MSO. The listener will be able to imagine a smile, or at least a sly wink from Mozart to Maria Anna hidden within the harmonic score.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 was originally completed in 1937. This will be the third time this piece has been performed by the MSO.
The Soviet Union oddly enough was a major influence for this work. In 1933 a doctrine was released, which was intended to control the content and style of Soviet literature and other various forms of art, including music. Soviet music was hence used to serve the propaganda needs of the state.
Symphony No. 5, which the composer subtitled “The practical answer of a Soviet artist to criticism,” is a composition that was written to save Shostakovich (below) from imprisonment. You can hear the personal anxiety of an artist being controlled by the State in this historic symphony.
One hour before each performance, Anders Yocom (below), Wisconsin Public Radio Host, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, visit the Program Notes by MSO trombonist and UW-Whitewater professor Michael Allsen at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1617/3.Nov16.html
Single Tickets are $16 to $87 each, available online at madisonsymphony.org/naughtons, in person at the Overture Center Box Office, 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734.
For more information visit, madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office, 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is available at: madisonsymphony.org/studentrush.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Tags: "Amadeus", Academy Award, Anders Yocom, anxiety, Arts, brother, Christina and Michelle Naughton, Classical music, concerto, Debussy, Democrat, Dmitri Shostakovich, doctrine, Donald J. Trump, Election Day, energy, Hillary Clinton, John DeMain, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, movement, Mozart, Music, Nannerl Mozart, Orchestra, Oscar, Piano, President, President-elect, Printemps, professor, propaganda, repression, Republican, sister, Soviet, Soviet art, Soviet music, Spring, state, symphony, Symphony No. 5, Trombone, twins, two-piano, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USSR, UW-Whitewater, vocal music, Wisconsin, wit, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Women conductors speak out about breaking the glass ceiling with a baton
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The time has finally come!
It has been, in fact, long overdue.
The candidacy of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee to be President of the United States is a historic first.
And it is generating a lot of buzz about breaking glass ceilings in politics and elsewhere.
So it seemed very timely when The New York Times reported on women conductors at a conference-festival in Lucerne, Switzerland. The pioneering American woman conductor Marin Alsop (below), who heads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, is among them.
Among the younger generation included is the Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki (below), who is taking over as the Chief Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra this month. (You can hear her discuss her inaugural season in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is a link to the story and interviews with four female conductors. They offer some terrific advice and many memorable anecdotes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/arts/music/female-conductors-lucerne-festival.html?_r=0
Tags: America, Arts, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven, choral music, Classical music, concerto, conductors, conference, Debussy, Democrat, Democratic, female, festival, Finland, Finnish, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Hillary Clinton, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Lucerne, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Maestro, Marin Alsop, Music, New York Times, nominee, Orchestra, President, Ravel, Susanna Malkki, Switzerland, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, Viola, Violin, women, YouTube
Classical music: What piece of classical music best embodies Hillary Clinton?
11 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Today The Ear has a simple question:
What piece of classical music best embodies Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president of the United States?
Maybe an aria — by either a villain or a hero — from an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini or Richard Wagner?
Maybe an instrumental piece?
Maybe a song?
Yesterday, the same question was posed for Donald Trump.
Here is a link if you want to read that post:
Think about it.
Listen to some choices.
And let us know what you think with a COMMENT and a YouTube link to a performance.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: aria, Arts, Baroque, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, concerto, Democrat, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Early music, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, hero, Hillary Clinton, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, lieder, Madison, Music, nominee, opera, Orchestra, Piano, President, Puccini, Sonata, song, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, villain, Wagner, YouTube
Classical music: What piece of classical music best embodies Donald Trump?
15 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Today The Ear has a simple question:
What piece of classical music best embodies Donald Trump (below), the Republican nominee for president of the United States?
Maybe an aria — by either a villain or a hero — from an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini or Richard Wagner?
Maybe an instrumental piece?
Maybe a song?
Think about it.
Listen to some choices.
And let us know what you think with a COMMENT and a link to a YouTube performance.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tomorrow it is Hillary Clinton‘s turn.
Tags: aria, Arts, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Donald Trump, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, hero, Hillary Clinton, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, nominee, President, Puccini, Republican, Republican Party, Richard Wagner, song, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, villain, vocal, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Female classical musicians are coerced to sex up their image, says star violinist Nicola Benedetti
4 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear loves all the talk about female equality happening at the Democratic National Convention this week.
It seems only fitting, after all, given that Hillary Rodham Clinton last night became the first female presidential nominee of a major political party in the U.S.
Now, you might think that culture and especially the arts lead the way in such progressive matters.
And sometimes they do.
But not always.
In a story in the newspaper The Daily Mail, published in the United Kingdom, Scottish star violinist Nicola Benedetti (below) says that female classical musicians are still coerced to “sex it up” to have major careers. (Y0u can hear another interview with her in the YouTube video at the bottom. She seems both charming and candid.)
NIcola Benedetti
PIcture:- Decca/Simon Fowler
Hmmm. Sounds almost like an appropriate story at a time when conservative political genius and news director Roger Ailes was forced to leave his Fox News job because of multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
Benedetti cites her own career as an example, and also the case of singer Charlotte Church (below), who had to wear sexy lingerie in a crossover video.
It sure sounds like sexism is alive and well in the world of classical music.
Here is a link to a story with Benedetti’s charges.
Read it and see what you think:
Then tell the rest of us what your opinion is.
And if you know of other examples.
The Ear recalls a sexed up album cover for American violinist Lara St. John (below) who, on a recording of solo works by Johann Sebastian Bach, used her instrument to conceal her bare breasts.
Let us know what you think.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, breast, Chamber music, Classical music, Compact Disc, conservative, crossover, Democratic, Democratic National Convention, England, Fox News, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Lata St. John, lingerie, Madison, Music, Nicola Benedetti, progressive, Roger Ailes, Scotland, Scottish, sex, Sexism, sexual harassment, sexy, singer, The Daily Mail, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, Violin, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music: Let us now praise women composers — with the help of a new history and recent political events
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Politically, this has been a historic week and a week to remember for women.
Democrat Hillary Clinton (below), the former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, became the first woman to win the presidential nomination – barring something unexpected or a surprising turn of events – of a major political party in the United States.
That victory was soon followed by an endorsement from President Barack Obama and from another promising woman in American politics: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
So it also seems a good time to take a long look back to the 17th century and discover women composers who were overlooked and who failed to crack the glass ceiling of artistic fame or sexism in the arts in their own lifetimes.
They include the Baroque composer Barbara Strozzi, the Romantic composers Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Clara Schumann (below top, in a photo from Getty Images), and the modern composers Lili Boulanger and Elizabeth Maconchy (below bottom).
(You can hear a lovely Romance for solo piano by Clara Schumann, a virtuoso pianist who championed the works of her husband Robert Schumann, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Ear doubts there is a better guide than Anna Beer (below top, in a photo by Jeff Overs) and her new book “Sounds and Sweet Airs: Forgotten Women of Classical Music” (below bottom):
The historian and writer recently spoke with Rachel Martin of NPR or National Public Radio, about her history. Here is a link to the blog site, which also has links to related stories:
Tags: Anna Beer, Arts, Barack Obama, Baroque, candidate, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, composer, composers, Democratic Party, Election, Elizabeth Warren, female, Getty Images, Hillary Clinton, History, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, modern, Music, National Public Radio, nomination, nominee, NPR, Pianist, Piano, President, presidential, Robert Schumann, Romantic, Romanticism, Senate, Sonata, Sounds and Sweet Airs, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, women, YouTube
Classical music: Presidential debates should include questions about funding and supporting the arts and humanities
11 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Well, well.
Tomorrow night — from 7 to 9 p.m. CDT on CNBC — there will be another presidential debate.
The always astonishing and amazing Republicans, led by the always astonishing and amazing Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, will debate in Boulder, Colorado.
The Ear has watched three presidential debates so far — two Republican and one Democratic.
But he still has no idea of where the various candidates on both sides stand when it comes to government support of the arts –- including music — and the humanities.
Please tell us, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, what you think?
And you too, Donald Trump and Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum and Chris Christie and Jeb Bush and Rand Paul and John Kasich and ….
Do you want to defund PBS?
Or defund NPR?
Or will you support these important and historic cultural commitments? Why or why not?
Along the same lines, do you want to defund, sustain or enhance the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities?
Why or why not?
Some funny reasoning is going on here. Some of the candidates want to eliminate all subsidies to the arts, which are a form of economic development after all – at a time when a lot of conservatives don’t mind funding big rich corporations in the same name of economic development.
The arts create a lot of jobs and spark a lot of spending and stimulus. Or don’t the culture-challenged charlatans realize that?
Stop and think a minute about the local situation. The Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Overture Center (below), public schools, the University of Wisconsin and its School of Music — all rely in part on public funding. They employ a lot of people and generate a lot of value.
Don’t these issues deserve a public airing? Doesn’t the arts consuming public have a right to know where the various candidates stand on these issues? Shouldn’t voters know what they might be getting in those areas?
As The Ear understand its, one flank of the attack has to do with the so called left-leaning liberal or progressive bias and politics of PBS and NPR.
Plus, there is the view that the art that public taxpayer money is helping to create doesn’t defend the so-called family values that the most radically conservative Republicans and Christian fundamentalists and Evangelicals want defended.
The other flank of the attack has to do with the stance that government should be smaller and that therefore should be funding less in general.
Makes you wonder just how the radical “freedom coalition” and Tea Party people in South Carolina, Texas and California feel about having a smaller government when it comes to providing aid for victims of torrential floods and devastating wildfires. And how is that kind of help for those in need different from funding education or health care?
AUSTIN, TX – MAY 25, 2015
Extreme flooding takes place in Austin, Texas May 25, 2015.
(Photo by Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images)
Anyway, wouldn’t it be appropriate for some of the panelists to question the candidates on the issues pertaining to the arts and humanities?
The Ear is reminded of Sir Winston Churchill’s comment during World War II. Some members of the British Parliament asked him if funding for the arts shouldn’t be cut and used instead to fight Hitler and the Nazis. He said no and added, “Then what would we be fighting for?”
Tell the Ear what you think. Leave a COMMENT.
Maybe, just maybe, someone else will read it and pass it along and we will finally get a substantive discussion from the candidates about where they stand on arts and humanities funding by the federal government.
Tags: Arts, Ben Carson, Bernie Sanders, Boulder, California, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, Christian, Classical music, Colorado, conservative, corporations, Democratic, Democratic Party (United States), Donald Trump, economic development, Evangelicals, family values, fire, floods, Freedom Caucus, Freedom Coalition, fundamentalism, Hillary Clinton, Hitler, Jacob Stockinger, Jeb Bush, left, leftist, liberal, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, Nazis, Nazism, NPR, Overture Center, PBS, Politics, presidential debate, progressive, public schools, Rand Paul, Republican, Republican Party United States, Rick Santorum, South Carolina, Tea Party, Ted Cruz, Texas, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Winston Churchill, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, World War II, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Bratsche on Is a lot of ‘woke’ music infer… |
 | Nicholas Ennos on Classical music: The Ear gener… |
 | bbead on Is a lot of ‘woke’ music infer… |
 | Elissa Strauss on Is a lot of ‘woke’ music infer… |
 | Becky on Is a lot of ‘woke’ music infer… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 