idea | The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: What music is helping you get through the Coronavirus by staying home? Help create a Pandemic Playlist

March 25, 2020
9 Comments

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

Starting today, Wisconsin joins other states and countries in proclaiming a stay-at-home emergency condition to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.

That means non-essential businesses and schools are closed; restaurants can only deliver food and do pick-up; and residents must stay at home except for essential services and travel such as buying food, seeing a doctor and getting medicine.

For a couple of weeks, many of us have already been spending almost all our time hunkering down at home.

And the Internet and other mass media are full of helpful hints about how to handle the loneliness, fear and anxiety that can come with self-isolation and self-quarantining.

For many, music proves a reliable coping strategy.

Since there are no live concerts to preview or review, now seems like a good time for The Ear to ask readers: What music helps you deal with the isolation of staying at home?

Is listening to music a part of your daily schedule, structure or routine?

Maybe you are using the time to discover new music or neglected composers, works and performers.

Maybe you are using the time to revisit old favorites by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.

Maybe you prefer darker and deeper, more introverted works such as symphonies by Mahler, Bruckner and Shostakovich?

Maybe you prefer the stories and drama of operas by Verdi and Puccini, oratorios by Handel and songs by Schubert?

Maybe, like The Ear, you find the music of Baroque Italian composers, such as the violin concertos by Vivaldi and Corelli, to be a great, upbeat way to start the day with energy and a good mood.

One more modern but neo-classical work that The Ear likes to turn to — a work that is rarely heard or performed live – is the beautiful “Eclogue” for piano and strings by the 20th-century British composer Gerald Finzi (below).

Finzi wrote it as a slow movement to a piano concerto, but then never finished the concerto. The “Eclogue” — a short pastoral poem — was never performed in his lifetime. So it continues to stand alone.

But like so much English pastoral music, the poignant Eclogue feels like sonic balm, some restorative comfort that can transport you to a calmer and quieter place, put you in a mood that you find soothing rather than agitated.

Hear it for yourself and decide by listening to it in the YouTube video at the bottom, then let The Ear know what you think.

Perhaps you have many other pieces to suggest for the same purpose.

But the series of reader suggestions is meant to be ongoing.

The idea is to build a collective “Pandemic Playlist.”

So right now and for this time, please post just ONE suggestion – with a YouTube link, if possible — in the Comment section with perhaps what you like about it and why it works for you during this time of physical, psychological and emotional distress from COVID-19.

What do you think of the idea of creating a Pandemic Playlist?

The Ear hopes that you like his choice, and that he and other readers like yours.

Be well and stay well.

Let’s get through this together.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #20thCentury, #AntonBruckner, #AntonioVivaldi, #ArcangeloCorelli, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BritishMusic, #CentersforDiseaseControl, #ChoralMusic, #COVID-19, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmotionalImpact, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GeraldFinzi, #GiacomoPuccini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #GoodMood, #GustavMahler, #HandelOratorio, #HealthCare, #HolidayFavorites, #HunkerDown, #ItalianBaroque, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiveConcert, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MassMedia, #ModernMusic, #MusicReview, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #NewMusic, #OperaMusic, #PandemicPlaylist, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #Self-Isolation, #shelter-at-home, #SlowMovement, #SocialDistancing, #Stayathome, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, agitating, agitation, alone, Anton Bruckner, Antonio Vivaldi, anxiety, Arcangelo Corelli, Arts, audience, Bach, balm, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Bruckner, Business, buy, calm, Centers for Disease Control, Chamber music, choice, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, closed, collective, comfort, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, condition, cope, coping, Corelli, coronavirus, countries, country, COVID19, create, daily, darker, day, decide, deeper, deliver, discover, distress, Dmitri Shostakovich, doctor, drama, Early music, Eclogue, Education, emergency, emotional, energy, English, essential, Facebook, favorites, fear, fight, finish, Finzi, food, forward, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Finzi, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, good, good mood, Gustav Mahler, Handel, health care, help, helpful, hints, Home, hunker down, idea, Internet, introvert, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, lifetime, like, link, live, live concert, Living composer, lockdown, loneliness, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, mass media, media, medicine, modern, mood, Mozart, Music, music review, neglected, neglected composer, neo-Classical, new, New Music, non-essential, old, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, pandemic, pandemic playlist, pastoral, performer, physical, Pianist, Piano, pick-up, piece, playlist, poem, poignant, post, posting, prefer, prevention, preview, proclaim, prove, psychological, psychology, Puccini, quarantine, quiet, quieter, rare, reliable, resident, restaurants, restorative, review, revisit, routine, schedule, school, schools, Schubert, self-isolating, Self-Quarantining, services, share, shelter, short, Shostakovich, sing, Singing, Slow movement, social, social distancing, song, songs, sonic, soothing, spend, start, state, stay at home, stories, strategy, stress, strings, structure, suggest, suggestion, symphony, tag, The Ear, think, thought, time, together, transport, travel, United States, use, Verdi, Viola, Violin, virus, Vivaldi, vocal music, weeks, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube

Classical music: Starting this Sunday, radio station WORT-FM 89.9 will air recordings that Rich Samuels made of many live performances in the Madison area

March 21, 2020
6 Comments

ALERT: The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will be suspending the remainder of its spring season until further notice. Music director Kyle Knox and executive director Bridget Fraser says they are hopeful that an adjusted end-of-year schedule might be possible. Many ideas are under consideration. But they say they have no idea at this point what might be possible given the restrictions currently in place at the UW-Madison. “All we can do is explore possible scenarios and be ready to react if the restrictions are lifted,” they add.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following note from Rich Samuels (below), a retired Chicago reporter and broadcaster who is often seen at concerts with microphones and a laptop computer. His public service is especially commendable and useful during the current coronavirus pandemic when almost all live concerts in music-rich Madison have been canceled or postponed for the foreseeable future.

Jake:

WORT (89.9 FM and at wortfm.org) will shortly start to air recordings of past public performances by Madison area classical musicians within its regularly scheduled classical music broadcasts.

This should help keep our local musician friends in the public ear even though their local venues have been shuttered and their gigs canceled.

I’ve had the good fortune to record hundreds of hours of local performances since 2012. I’m now editing them into segments that can be inserted into the shows of WORT’s classical music hosts.

The first segment to air, if all goes well, will be part of the “Musica Antiqua” early music program, hosted by Carol Moseson, this Sunday, March 22, from 8 to 11 a.m.

It will feature Eric Miller on viola da gamba and Daniel Sullivan on harpsichord performing a suite by French Baroque composer Louis Couperin. I recorded the concert (below) last Oct. 11 in the Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS).

Other such segments will follow on the weekday classical music shows that air from 5 to 8 a.m. We are still working on the details.

Additionally, I’ll be pre-recording three-hour broadcasts that can be run in place of the regularly scheduled classical music shows, assuming the host, for whatever reason, is unable to make it to the station.

These will hopefully include complete concert performances from the FUS Friday Noon Musicale, Grace Presents (in the YouTube video at the bottom) and Willy Street Chamber Players (below) series.

I gave up my own Thursday morning WORT show about a year ago after my wife developed some health issues. But I’ve continued to record local musicians whenever possible. (My wife, by the way, is presently in good shape).

Hopefully, this WORT effort will benefit both local musicians and their audiences. (Below is Samuels recording at Bach Around the Clock, which has been canceled this year.)

Please join The Ear in thanking Rich Samuels and WORT for their service to the community by leaving word in the Comment section.

What do you think of his project?

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BachAroundtheClock, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BridgetFraser, #CarolMoseson, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClassicalMusician, #COVID-19, #DanielSullivan, #EricMiller, #ExecutiveDirector, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #Frenchcomposer, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GoodFortune, #GracePresents, #HarpsichordMusic, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #KyleKnox, #LandmarkAuditorium, #LaptopComputer, #LiebesliederWaltzes, #LiveConcert, #LiveMusic, #LivePerformances, #LocalMusicians, #LouisCouperin, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicaAntiqua, #MusicDirector, #NewsUpdate, #PeriodInstruments, #PublicService, #RadioBroadcast, #RadioHost, #RadioStation, #RichSamuels, #SundayMorning, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VioladaGamba, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, adjust, air, area, assume, attract, audience, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, blog, Brahms, Bridget Fraser, Broadcast, broadcaster, cancel, canceled, Carol Moseson, Chamber music, Chicago, Classical, classicalmusic, commendable, comment, community, complete, computer, conductor, consideration, coronavirus, Couperin, current, Daniel Sullivan, details, ear, Early music, earlymusic, edit, end, Eric Miller, event, Executive director, explore, Facebook, first, First Unitarian Society of Madison, fortune, forward, France, French, Friday Noon Musicale, friends, FUS, future, gigs, good, good fortune, Grace Presents, harpsichord, Health, historically informed performance practices, hope, hopeful, host, hours, hundreds, idea, insert, issues, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, join, journalism, Kyle Knox, laptop, laptop computer, Liebeslieder Waltzes, like, link, live, live concert, live music, live performances, local, local musicians, Louis Couperin, Love, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, microphone, Music, Music director, Musica Antiqua, Musician, news, nite, notice, own, pandemic, performances, performers, period instruments, possible, post, posting, postpone, pre-recording, project, public, public service, Radio, radio station, react, reader, record, recording, remainder, reporter, restrictions, retired, Retirement, rich, Rich Samuels, scenario, schedule, Season, segment, series, service, share, show, shows, shuttered, Spring, station, subscriber, Suite, Sunday, suspend, tag, thank, thanking, The Ear, think, unable, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, usefuul, UW-Madison, venue, viola da gamba, Waltz, weekday, wife, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, word, work, WORT-FM 89.9, WYSO, year, YouTube

Classical music: With live concerts cancelled, what will you do for music? The Ear has some suggestions but wants to hear your ideas

March 16, 2020
6 Comments

ALERT 1: It’s official. The Madison Symphony Orchestra has cancelled its performances of Dvorak’s Requiem on April 3, 4 and 5. Sometime this week, according to the MSO website, the administration will inform ticket holders about what they can do.

ALERT 2: The Mosaic Chamber Players have cancelled their performance of Beethoven Piano Trios on March 21 at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.

By Jacob Stockinger

Now that live concerts and performances have been cancelled for the near future – thanks to the threat of the pandemic of the coronavirus and COVID-19 — music-lovers are faced with a problem:

What will we – especially those of us who are isolated at home for long periods of time — do to continue to listen to music?

Perhaps you have a large CD collection you can turn to. Or perhaps you subscribe to a streaming service such as Apple Music, SoundCloud, Amazon Music or another one.

Don’t forget local sources such as Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT-FM 89.9, both of which generously broadcast classical music, from the Renaissance to contemporary music, and often feature local performers.

Here is a link to Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR): https://www.wpr.org

Here is a link to WORT 88.9 FM: https://www.wortfm.org

There are also many other choices.

Happily, there is YouTube with its mammoth collection of free musical performances and videos. You can surf YouTube for new music and classic music, contemporary performers and historic performers, excerpts and complete works.

Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com

Those who are students or amateurs might use the time to sing – like those marvelous, uplifting Italians making music from their balconies during the crisis – or practice and play an instrument at home.

But other organizations – solo performers, chamber music ensembles, symphony orchestras, opera houses – are also trying to meet the challenge by providing FREE public access to their archives.

And it’s a good time for that.

Music can bring us together in this crisis.

Music can help us relax, and fight against the current panic and anxiety.

It’s also a good time to have a music project. Maybe you want to explore all the many symphonies or string quartets of Haydn, or perhaps the 550 keyboard sonatas by Scarlatti, or perhaps the many, many songs of Franz Schubert.

Here are some suggestions offered as possible guidance:

Here is what critics for The New York Times, including senior critic Anthony Tommasini (below) who likes Van Cliburn playing a Rachmaninoff concerto, will do: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/arts/music/coronavirus-classical-music.html

If you are an opera lover, you might want to know that, starting today, the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City will be streaming for FREE a different opera every day or night.

The productions are video recordings of operas that have been broadcast over past years in the “Live in HD” program. The titles are listed by the week and here is a link:

https://operawire.com/metropolitan-opera-to-offer-up-nightly-met-opera-streams/

If you like orchestral music, it is hard to beat the Berlin Philharmonic – considered by many critics to be the best symphony orchestra in the world — which is also opening up its archives for FREE.

Here is a background story with a link: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/coronavirus-concerts-the-music-world-contends-with-the-pandemic

Here is another link, from Norman Lebrecht’s blog “Slipped Disc,” to the Berlin Philharmonic along with some other suggestions, including the Vienna State Opera: https://slippedisc.com/2020/03/your-guide-to-the-new-world-of-free-streaming/

And if you like chamber music, you can’t beat the FREE performances being offered by the acclaimed Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, some of whom recently performed in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater and with the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra: https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/watch-and-listen/

But what about you?

What will you listen to?

Where will you go to find classical music to listen to?

Do you have certain projects, perhaps even one to recommend?

How will you cope with the absence of live concerts?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AmazonMusic, #AnthonyTommasini, #AntoninDvorak, #AppleMusic, #BaroqueMusic, #BerlinGermany, #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicMusic, #CompactDisc, #ContemporaryMusic, #COVID-19, #DomenicoScarlatti, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #HistoricRecording, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #KeyboardSonata, #LincolnCenter, #LiveConcert, #LiveinHD, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetropolitanOpera, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #MusicCritic, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NormanLebrecht, #OperaAria, #OperaHouse, #OperaLover, #OperaWire, #OrchestralMusic, #PianoTrio, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #SlippedDisc, #StreamingService, #StringQuartet, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TheEar, #TheMet, #TheNewYorker, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TicketHolder, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VanCliburn, #ViennaAustria, #ViennaStateOpera, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, absence, access, administration, amateur, Amazon Music, amazon.com, Anthony Tommasini, Antonín Dvořák, anxiety, Apple, Apple Music, archive, Arts, audience, balcony, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, blog, Broadcast, cancel, CD, cellist, Cello, challenge, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, choral music, classic, Classical, Classical music, classicalmusic, Cliburn, collection, comment, Compact Disc, complete, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, contemporary, cope, coronavirus, crisis, critic, day, Domenico Scarlatti, Dvorak, Early music, ensemble, excerpt, Facebook, fear, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, free, future, generous, Haydn, HD, hear, historic, Home, home website, idea, instruments, isolation, Italians, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Keyboard, keyboard sonata, like, LIncoln Center, link, listen, live concert, Live in HD, live music, long, lover, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Baroque Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, marvelous, Mead Witter School of Music, Metropolitan Opera, Mosaic Chamber Players, Mozart, MSO, Music, music critic, music lover, New Music, New York City, night, Norman Lebrecht, official, opera, Opera house, Orchestra, orchestral music, Overture Center, pandemic, panic, perform, performer, period, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, play, post, posting, practice, problem, production, project, provide, public, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Radio, recommend, recording, Recordings, relx, Renaissance, Requiem, Scarlatti, Schubert, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, sing, Singing, Slipped Disc, solo, Sonata, song, SoundCloud, state, streaming, Streaming media, String quartet, Student, subscribers, surf, symphony, symphony orchestra, tag, The Ear, the Met, The New York Times, The New Yorker, threat, ticket holder, time, title, today, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, uplifting, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, Van Cliburn, video, Vienna, Vienna State Opera, Violin, violinist, vocal music, Website, week, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, works, world, worry, WORT-FM 89.9, year, you, your, YouTube

Classical music: Home or concert hall? Will older listeners follow new CDC guidelines about the coronavirus to stay home and avoid attending concerts? What will performers and presenters do in response?

March 7, 2020
17 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

Late yesterday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued new guidelines for behavior during the outbreak of the coronavirus and COVID-19.

The CDC is asking all adults over 60, especially those with compromised immune systems and serious underlying illnesses and conditions, to “stay home as much as possible” and avoid attending events with big crowds. (Below is a sample of a full house at the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Overture Hall.)

Here is the full story — which also mentions other kinds of mass events such as movie theaters, mall shopping, sports events and religious services — from CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/06/health/coronavirus-older-people-social-distancing/index.html

Moreover, the new guidelines apply nationwide — including here in Wisconsin where only one case has been confirmed and is now healthy– during the increasingly widespread, worldwide outbreak of confirmed cases and deaths.

The Ear wonders if the new advice will hit classical music especially hard because so much of the audience for it is made up of older people who are more vulnerable.

Will the guidelines affect your own attendance at concerts, even tonight and this weekend at the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin Union Theater?

Will a lack of attendance and a more severe outbreak lead to empty concert halls and the cancellation of concerts? Refunds for seniors?

Will the guidelines lead to alternative ways of “attending” and hearing, such as live-streaming and other virtual attendance?

Pretty soon we should start hearing from music presenters and performers about their reactions, solutions and advice.

Meanwhile, here is a news story from The New York Times about what one string quartet did in Venice, Italy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/arts/music/arts-coronavirus.html

Are you an older or vulnerable person?

Will you go to concerts or stay home?

What do you think presenters and performers should do to deal with the situation?

Please leave word about your plans and your thoughts.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #BigCrowd, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CentersforDiseaseControl, #ChamberMusic, #CNNNews, #ConcertHall, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FullHouse, #HomeWebsite, #ImmuneSystem, #JacobStockinger, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MallShopping, #MovieTheaters, #NewsUpdate, #ReligiousServices, #SeniorCitizen, #SocialDistance, #SportsEvents, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheU.S., #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VeniceItaly, #WisconsinUnionTheater, 60, adult, advice, advisory, alert, alternative, America, American, Arts, ask, audience, Beethoven, behavior, blog, cancel, cancellation, case, cases, CDC, Centers for Disease Control, Chamber music, church, Classical music, classicalmusic, CNN, compromised, Concert, concert hall, condition, confirm, confirmed, coronavirus, crowd, death, distance, empty, Facebook, forward, full house, games, guidelines, hearing, hit, Home, home website, idea, ill, illness, immune, immune system, isolate, isolation, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, know, large, like, live-stream, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mall, mall shopping, mass, movie theaters, Music, nationwide, new, New York City, news, online, opera, Orchestra, outbreak, Overture Center, performer, performers, plans, post, posting, presenter, prevention, quarantine, reaction, refund, Religion, religious services, senior, senior citizen, share, Shopping, sick, social, social distance, solution, Sports, spread, stay, story, String quartet, symphony, tag, The Ear, The New York Times, The U.S., theater, theatre, think, tonight, underlying, United States, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Venice, virtual, virus, vulnerable, way, Website, weekend, widespread, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, word, worldwide, yesterday

Classical music: This Sunday afternoon at Farley’s, pianist Shai Wosner performs sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert, Scarlatti and Rzewski. On Saturday afternoon, he gives a FREE public master class

February 18, 2020
1 Comment

ALERT and CORRECTION: Earlier this week, The Ear mistakenly said the concert by UW Concert Band is Wednesday night. He apologizes for the error.

It is TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave. In addition, the School of Music website has updated information about the program to be played under director and conductor Corey Pompey. Go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band-3/

By Jacob Stockinger

This coming Sunday afternoon, one of the today’s most interesting and creative concert pianists will return to Madison to make his solo recital debut.

His name is Shai Wosner (below, in a photo by Marco Borggreve) and he is an Israeli-American who is acclaimed for his technique, his tone and his subtle interpretations.

But what also makes Wosner especially noteworthy and one of the most interesting musical artists performing today is his eclectic, thoughtful and inventive approach to programming.

For more information about Wosner, go to his home website: http://www.shaiwosner.com

Wosner returns to Madison to perform his first solo recital here at 4 p.m. this coming Sunday afternoon, Feb. 23, on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos, at 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.

Born in Israel and now teaching in Boston while touring, Wosner will play sonatas by Beethoven, Scarlatti, Rzewski and Schubert.

He has performed with orchestras throughout the U.S. and Europe, and records for Onyx Classics. “His feel for keyboard color and voicing is wonderful,” said The Washington Post.

The Madison program is: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 15 in D Major (“Pastoral”), Op. 28; Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor, K. 141, Allegro, with Rzewskis’ Nanosonata No. 36 (“To A Young Man”); Scarlatti’s Sonata in D minor, K. 9, Allegro, with Rzewski’s Nanosonata No. 38 (“To A Great Guy”); Scarlatti’s Sonata in C minor, K. 23, with Rzewski’s Nanosonata No. 12; and Schubert’s last Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960.

An artist’s reception will follow the concert.

Tickets are $45 in advance (students $10) or $50 at the door. Service fees may apply. Tickets are also for sale at Farley’s House of Pianos. Call (608) 271-2626.

Student tickets can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the event.

To purchase tickets, go to: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/706809

For more information about Wosner’s FREE public master class at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22, including the names of local students and their teachers plus the titles of works by Mozart, Debussy and Ravel to be played, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html

Wosner (below) recently did an email Q&A with The Ear:

In concerts and recordings, you like to mix and intersperse or alternate composers: Brahms and Schoenberg; Haydn and Ligeti; Schubert and Missy Mazzoli; and Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Dvorak, Ives and Gershwin. Why do you pair sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) and the American composer Frederic Rzewski (1938-) in this program?

I like to pair together composers from very different periods in ways that, hopefully, bring out certain things they have in common in spite of the differences.

Perhaps it is a way of looking for the underlying principles that make music work, for the ideas that go beyond styles and time periods and that stimulate composers across centuries.

In the case of Scarlatti (below top) and Rzewski (below bottom), it is the extreme conciseness of their sonatas and also their almost impulsive kind of writing with ideas and twists and turns kept unpredictably spontaneous, almost in the style of stream-of-consciousness.

Their sonatas are closer to the literal meaning of the word – “a piece that is played” as opposed to sung (which was more common in Scarlatti’s time perhaps). They are also very much about treatment of the keyboard and gestural writing rather than the more essay-type sonatas that were the dominant idiom for Beethoven and Schubert.

Why did you pick these particular sonatas by Beethoven and Schubert to bookend the program?

The sonata by Beethoven (below top) is quite unusual for him, without many contrasts and very lyrical, which perhaps is a certain parallel with the Schubert sonata. (You can hear Wosner playing an excerpt from another Beethoven sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

But they are also very different. Beethoven’s sonata looks around it and is about idyllic nature — the title “Pastoral” isn’t by Beethoven but it is written in that kind of style — and the sonata by Schubert (below bottom) is more introspective, perhaps about human nature.

What would you like the public to know about specific works and composers on your Madison program?

I think it’s always stimulating to challenge preconceptions we have about composers.

Beethoven is often associated with a certain “heroic” style and bold, dramatic gestures while this piece is quite understated in many ways.

Schubert’s last sonata is often seen as a farewell to the world. But at the same time Schubert himself may not have been aware of his impending death as much as we think – he made some plans right near the end that may suggest otherwise.

I prefer to let everyone find in this music what they will, of course. But I think these works reveal other aspects of these composers that we don’t always think of. Is Schubert’s piece really about his own tragedy? It is probably much broader than that.

Now that your acclaimed Schubert project is completed, what are your current or upcoming projects?

I am currently working with five other composers on a project that is a collection of five short pieces written as “variations” for which the theme is a quote from a 1938 speech by FDR: “remember, remember always, that all of us… are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

Each composer chose a figure of an immigrant — some famous, some not — to write about. The composers are Vijay Iyer, Derek Bermel (below top), Anthony Cheung, Wang Lu and John Harbison (below bottom).

These “variations” will be paired with Beethoven’s “Diabelli” Variations.

What else would you like to say about your career and, after several concerto appearances with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, about your solo recital debut in Madison?

Madison has a lovely audience that I was fortunate to meet in the past, and I certainly look forward to being back there!

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AmericanOrchestras, #AnthonyCheung, #AntoninDvorak, #ArnoldSchoenberg, #BandMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BrownPaperTickets, #CharlesIves, #ClaudeDebussy, #CommissionedMusic, #ConcertBand, #ContemporaryComposer, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoreyPompey, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DerekBermel, #DiabelliVariations, #DomenicoScarlatti, #EclecticMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FranklinDelanoRoosevelt, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #FredericRzewski, #GyorgyLigeti, #HamelMusicCenter, #HomeWebsite, #HumanNature, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnHarbison, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LyricalMusic, #MarcoBorggreve, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MissyMazzoli, #MusicalArtist, #MusicalInterpretation, #MusicalStyle, #MusicCommission, #NanoSonata, #NewMusic, #NewsUpdate, #OnyxClassics, #PastoralSonata, #PianoConcert, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #ShaiWosner, #Stream-of-Consciousness, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheGoldenDoor, #ThemeAndVariations, #TheWashingtonPost, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWConcertBand, #VijayIyer, #WangLu, #WestTowneMall, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YoungMan, #YouTubevideo, advance, afternoon, alert, alternate, American, Anthony Cheung, Antonín Dvořák, apologize, appearance, approach, Arnold Schoenberg, artist, Arts, audience, aware, band music, Baroque, Beethoven, Bermel, blog, bold, bookend, Boston, Brahms, Brown Paper Tickets, career, centuries, challenge, Charles Ives, Cheung, Chopin, Classical music, classicalmusic, Claude Debussy, color, commission, common, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, Concert Band, concerto, conciseness, consciousness, contemporary, contrast, Corey Pompey, correction, creative, critically acclaimed, death, Debussy, debut, Derek Bermel, descend, descended, Diabelli Variations, difference, Domenico Scarlatti, dominant, door, dramatic, Dvorak, Early music, eclectic, email, end, essay, Europe, everyone, excerpt, extreme, Facebook, familiar, famous, farewell, Farley's House of Pianos, FDR, find, fortunate, forward, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, Frédéric Chopin, Frederic Rzewski, free, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Gershwin, gestural, great, guy, György Ligeti, Hamel Music Center, Harbison, Haydn, heroic, Home, human nature, idea, idiom, idyllic, immigrants, impulsive, information, interesting, interpretation, intersperse, interview, introspective, inventive, Israel, Israeli, Israeli-American, Ives, Iyer, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Harbison, Keyboard, last, let, Ligeti, like, link, Liszt, literal, look, lovely, Lu, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Marco Borggreve, master class, masterclass, Maurice Ravel, Mazzoli, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, Missy Mazzoli, Mozart, Music, musical artist, name, nano, nature, New Music, noteworthy, online, Onyx Classics, Orchestra, pair, parallel, past, Pastoral Sonata, performer, period, periods, Pianist, Piano, pieces, plans, played, playing, preconceptions, prefer, principle, program, programming, project, public, purchase, Q&A, Ravel, recital, remember, revolutionists, Roosevelt, Salon Piano Music, Scarlatti, Schoenberg, Schubert, Shai Wosner, share, short, solo, Sonata, speech, spontaneous, stimulate, Student, style, subtle, Sunday, sung, tag, Teacher, teaching, technique, The Ear, The Washington Post, theme, theme and variations, thoughtful, tickets, time, together, tone, tour, touring, tragedy, treatment, turns, twists, type, U.S., underlying, understated, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unusual, update, UW Concert Band, UW-Madison, variations, Vijay Iyer, voicing, Wang Lu, Website, west side, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, working, world, writing, young man, YouTube

Classical music: Artificial Intelligence will complete Beethoven’s 10th Symphony

December 20, 2019
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The timing of the announcement and project couldn’t be more perfect as we are now about the enter The Beethoven Year.

2020 will see the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven (below).

And word is that hi tech in the form of AI will come to rescue of art through a powerful computer program.

That is, artificial intelligence will be used to complete the drafts and sketches of an unfinished 10th symphony by Beethoven. (Below is Beethoven’s manuscript for the opening of the iconic Fifth Symphony.)

It will not be the first time. You can hear a well researched if less rigorous and less technological version of Beethoven’s 10th, assembled by Barry Cooper, in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Whether we end up with a piece of music that can be performed or that we want to hear remains to be seen. After all, how many times do you hear — or want to hear — live performances of completed versions of Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony or Mahler’s unfinished 10th?

So Beethoven’s 10th may end up being more a curiosity than a work of art.

But at least we may get an idea of where Beethoven was headed after his unconventional and revolutionary Ninth Symphony that influenced so many later composers.

You can learn more about it by going to the homepage of Classical FM, an important British radio station. Here is a link:

https://www.classicfm.com/composers/beethoven/news/computer-completes-unfinished-tenth-symphony/

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #ArtificialIntelligence, #BarryCooper, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalFM, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FifthSymphony, #FranzSchubert, #GustavMahler, #HighTechnology, #HomePage, #InstrumentalMusic, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #NinthSymphony, #RadioStation, #UnfinishedSymphony, #VocalMusic, #WorkofArt, #YouTubevideo, AI, anniversary, announcement, Art, artificial intelligence, Arts, Barry Cooper, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Beethoven's Fifth, birth, birthday, blog, British, choral music, Classical FM, Classical music, composer, computer, curiosity, curious, draft, Facebook, Fifth Symphony, forward, Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler, hi tech, high tech, iconic, idea, influence, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, like, link, live music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, manuscript, Music, Ninth Symphony, Orchestra, perfect, performance, project, Radio, radio station, reader, rescue, revolutionary, Schubert, share, sketch, subscription, symphony, tag, technology, time, timing, UK, unconventional, unfinished, Unfinished Symphony, United Kingdom, United States, version, vocal music, Wisconsin, work of art, YouTube

Classical music: This Friday night, Nov. 22, the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet begins its 14-month complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets. Here are programs and information about the six concerts

November 19, 2019
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

As you might have already heard, 2020 is a Beethoven Year. Musicians are already marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827, below).

One of the big local events – unfolding over the next 14 months — is that the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet will perform a complete, six-concert cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets, which are considered to be a monumental milestone in chamber music and in the development of the genre.

They encompass the styles of Beethoven’s early, middle and late periods, and often served as an experimental laboratory for musical ideas he used on other works. Each of the Pro Arte’s programs wisely features works from different periods, which makes comparisons and differences easier to understand. (You can hear Beethoven biographer Jan Stafford discuss the late quartets in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

For more about Beethoven’s string quartets, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:String_quartets_by_Ludwig_van_Beethoven

A Beethoven cycle is also what originally brought the Pro Arte Quartet from Belgium — where it was founded by students at the Royal Conservatory in 1912 — to Madison, where they performed it at the Wisconsin Union Theater in 1940. In fact, they were in the process of performing the cycle when they heard that their homeland of Belgium has been invaded by Hitler and the Nazis, and they could not go home.

Stranded here by World War II, they were offered a chance to be artists-in-residence at the UW-Madison. They accepted — and the quartet has remained here since, becoming the longest performing quartet in music history.

For more about the history of the Pro Arte (below, in 1928), go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/pro-arte-quartet/

Current members of the Pro Arte Quartet (below from left, in a photo by Rick Langer) are: David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.

PROGRAM I: Friday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall

String Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 “Serioso” (1810)

String Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 130 (1825-6)

PROGRAM II: Friday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m., Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 74 “Harp” (1809)

String Quartet in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 131 (1826)

PROGRAM III: Thursday, April 16 (NOT April 23, as was mistakenly listed in a press release), 7:30 p.m., Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall

String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (1806)

String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 127 (1825)

PROGRAM IV: Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, 8 p.m., Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall

String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132 (1825)

PROGRAM V: Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, 8 p.m., Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall

String Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 (1798-1800)

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135 (1826)

String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 (1806)

PROGRAM VI: Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021, 8 p.m., Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 (1806)

String Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 130 with the Great Fugue Finale, Op. 133 (1825)

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AdolfHitler, #Artists-in-Residence, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrusselsBelgium, #ChamberMusic, #CollinsRecitalHall, #ConcertHall, #DavidPerry, #EarlyQuartet, #EarlyStyle, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #JanSwafford, #LateQuartet, #LateStyle, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddleQuartet, #MiddleStyle, #MusicSchool, #NaziGermany, #ParryKarp, #ProArteQuartet, #RoyalConservatory, #SallyChisholm, #SchoolofMusic, #StringQuartet, #SuzanneBeia, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WorldWarII, anniversary, audience, Beethoven Year, Belgium, big, birth, blog, Brussels, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Collins Recital Hall, comparison, complete, concert hall, conservatory, current, cycle, David Perry, development, difference, discuss, early, early style, event, Facebook, fact, forward, genre, Germany, harp, History, Hitler, Home, homeland, idea, invasion, Jan Swafford, Laboratory, late, late style, like, link, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, middle, middle style, milestone, moumental, music history, music school, Musician, Nazi, opus, Opus number, Parry Karp, performer, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, Quartet, royal, Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Sally Chisholm, School of Music, share, stranded, String quartet, Student, Suzanne Beia, tag, The Ear, understand, University of Wisconsin–Madison, use, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, Wikipedia, Wild War II, Wisconsin Union Theater, wise

Classical music: Happy Bastille Day! But instead of militarism, let’s celebrate the holiday with revolutionary French music by a revolutionary French composer. What French music would you choose?

July 14, 2019
3 Comments

IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

Today is July 14, known in the U.S. as Bastille Day.

That is the day in 1789 when the infamous Bastille Prison in Paris was stormed by the masses and political prisoners were freed – marking the beginning of the French Revolution.

The tradition is to play “La Marseillaise,” the French national anthem that grew out of the revolution. Usually there is a military side to the arrangement of the anthem and the performance of it.

After all, it was a Bastille Day parade that even inspired President Trump to stage his egotistical “Salute to America” – satirically dubbed “Tanksgiving” — on the Fourth of July this year in Washington, D.C..

But The Ear has had quite enough of militarism and of the lying draft dodger who became commander-in-chief using patriotism to camouflage his un-American actions and ideas.

With no disrespect to those who served or are serving in the armed forces, there are many ways besides the military to be patriotic and even revolutionary.

So this year The Ear is choosing something subtle and less martial to mark the day.

It is a performance of “Feux d’artifice” (Fireworks), a prelude for solo piano by Claude Debussy (below), who described himself – in an age where German and Italian music ruled – simply as a “French musician.” But make no mistake: Debussy, who was rejected for admission to the Paris Conservatory, was indeed a revolutionary figure in music history for his innovations in harmony and form.

(Perhaps this past season, you heard Marc-André Hamelin give an astoundingly virtuosic performance of “Fireworks” as an encore after his Sunday afternoon concerto performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra.)

Listen carefully and at the very end you will hear a subtle reference to the Marseillaise that adds the right touch to the pyrotechnical celebration of “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.”

Added to that, the fiery performance in the YouTube video at the bottom is by Robert Casadesus, a deservedly famous French pianist.

Finally, The Ear thinks you can celebrate Bastille Day with any number of French composers and French works, many of which remain neglected and underperformed. (The Ear is particularly partial to the music of Gabriel Faure, below, who taught Maurice Ravel.)

Who is your favorite French composer?

What is your favorite French piece of classical music?

Leave a comment with, if possible, a YouTube link.

Happy Bastille Day!!

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #ArmedForces, #BastilleDay, #BastillePrison, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ClaudeDebussy, #DraftDodger, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Feuxd'artifice, #FourthofJuly, #FrenchRevolution, #GabrielFaure, #GermanMusic, #HolidayTradition, #ItalianMusic, #July14, #LaMarseillaise, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Marc-AndréHamelin, #MauriceRavel, #MusicHistory, #NationalAnthem, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #ParisConservatory, #ParisFrance, #PatrioticMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #PianoPrelude, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #RedWhiteandBlue, #RobertCasadesus, #SalutetoAmerica, #SoloPiano, #SoloPianoMusic, #Tanksgiving, #UnitedStates, #WashingtonD.C., #YouTubevideo, action, admission, age, armed forces, Arts, audience, Bastille Day, Bastille prison, beginning, blog, blue, camouflage, celebrate, celebration, Claude Debussy, commander-in-chief, composer, Concert, concerto, day, describe, display, disrespect, Donald Trump, draft, ego, egotistical, equality, Facebook, famous, fiery, fight planes, Fireworks, form, forward, Fourth of July, France, fraternity, free, freed, French, French Revolution, Gabriel Fauré, German, happy', harmony, History, Holiday, idea, Independence Day, infamous, innovation, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, July 14, La Marseillaise, liberty, lies, like, link, lying, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marc-André Hamelin, mark, martial, masses, Maurice Ravel, military, Music, national, national anthem, nationalism, neglected, Orchestra, parade, Paris, Paris Conservatory, patriot, patriotic, patriotism, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano concerto, piano prelude, political, political prisoners, President Trump, prison, prisoner, pyrotechnical, reader, red, reject, revolution, revolutionary, Robert Casadesus, Salute to America, serve, share, solo piano, storm, subscriber, Sunday, tag, tanks, tradition, tricolor, U.S., un-American, United States, US, virtuosic, viruosity, Washington D.C., white, Wisconsin, work, works, YouTube

Classical music: The second LunART Festival will spotlight women in the performing and creative arts. Here is Part 2 of 2 with more about new music, comedy and a full schedule

June 3, 2019
Leave a Comment

IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

ALERT: The second Van Cliburn Junior Piano Competition resumes today — Monday, June 3 — in Dallas at 2:20 p.m. CDT. The young players range from 13 to 17 and come from around the world, and they are terrific. Plus the quality of the live streaming is outstanding, especially for the camera work of the keyboard. It’s all FREE. If you want to see it, here is a link: https://www.cliburn.org. You might also be interested to know that among the jurors are Alessio Bax, who has performed in Madison at Farley’s House of Pianos, and Philippe Bianconi, who has soloed several times with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. All that and you get to vote for the Audience Award too!

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received a long and detailed announcement about the upcoming second LunART Festival. Here is Part 2 of two parts with more information about new music, comedy and a schedule of events. Yesterday was Part 1 — a link is below — with background and participants.

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/06/02/classical-music-starting-wednesday-the-second-lunart-festival-will-again-spotlight-women-in-the-performing-and-creative-arts-here-is-the-first-of-a-two-part-preview/

The LunART Festival, co-founded and co-directed by Iva Ugrcic and Laura Medisky, is back for its second season from this Wednesday, June 5, through Sunday, June 9, and will continue its mission of supporting, inspiring, promoting and celebrating women in the arts.

The 2019 season brings 10 events to eight venues in the Madison area, providing accessible, high-quality, engaging concerts and events with diverse programming from various arts fields.

The festival will showcase over 100 artists this season, including many familiar local artists and performers as well as guest artists hailing from Missouri to Texas, Minnesota to Florida and as far away as Peru.

LunART’s 2019 call for scores was open to women composers of all ages and nationalities, and received an impressive 98 applicants from around the globe. Scores were evaluated by a committee of 17 LunART Festival musicians and directors, and three works were selected to be performed at each of the Gala concerts.

The winning composers are Eunike Tanzil (below top), Edna Alejandra Longoria (below middle) and Kirsten Volness (below bottom). All three will be in attendance at the festival. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear a piece for cello and piano, with the composer playing the piano, by Eunike Tanzil.)

The “From Page to Stage: Emerging Composers” educational program also returns, bringing six composers to Madison to work with flutist and composer-in-residence Valerie Coleman (below).

During the festival she will mentor participants in developing practical skills to express their creative ideas, cultivate relationships with performers and master the art of collaboration. The program culminates with a free public concert featuring their music on Saturday, June 8, at 2 p.m. in the Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, 333 West Main street, downtown and two blocks from the Capitol Square.

On Friday, June 7 at Overture Center in Promenade Hall, Meaghan Heinrich (below) presents her pre-concert lecture, “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman,” which explores what it means to be a woman artist in the 21st century, and how women’s experiences shape their artistic expressions.

Following the Friday gala concert is “Holding Court,” this season’s Starry Night event at Robinia Courtyard. This all-women comedy show features Midwestern comics Vanessa Tortolano (below top), Chastity Washington (below bottom), Vickie Lynn, Samara Suomi and Cynthia Marie who are blazing a trail of funny that will leave you gasping in their wake.

“The Multi-faceted Artist” panel discussion is for anyone interested in the ongoing trend and need for artists to wear multiple hats to succeed and thrive.

Coleman (composer and flutist) and Dr. Linda DiRaimondo (psychiatrist and aerial dancer, below top on top) serve as panelists along with Katrin Talbot (violist, poet and photographer, below bottom in a photo by Isabel Karp), and will lead the discussion on Saturday, June 8, at the downtown Madison Public Library’s Bubbler Room.

The festival wraps up on Sunday, June 9, from 10 a.m. to noon at Common Ground, 2644 Branch Street in Middleton, with “Mooning Around” poetry reading and artist mixer, featuring a performance of “One for Mileva Maric (Einstein)” by Andrea Musher, with special guests Sarah Whelan and Jackie Bradley, and poetry readings by The Line-Breakers: Andrea Potos (below), Eve Robillard, Rosemary Zurlo-Cuva and Katrin Talbot.

Everyone is welcome to come enjoy their morning coffee and pastries while making creative connections with other artists.

LunART Festival is supported by Dane Arts, the Madison Arts Commission, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the Open Meadows Foundation; it also won first place at the 2018 National Flute Association C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition and second prize at the 2018 UW Arts Business Competition.

Schedule of 2019 Festival events:

Wednesday, June 5

6-8 p.m.: “Women Against Hate United by Love” exhibition opening reception @ Rotunda Stage, Overture Center for the Arts (free event)

Thursday, June 6

9 a.m.-Noon From Page to Stage composition master class with Valerie Coleman @ First United Methodist Church (free event)
7 p.m.: Opening Gala Concert @ Maiahaus (402 E. Mifflin St.) (Tickets: $20 general/$10 students)

Friday, June 7

6 p.m.: “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Woman” pre-concert lecture by Meaghan Heinrich (free event)
7 p.m.: “Portraits of Josephine” Gala Concert @ Promenade Hall, Overture Center for the Arts (Tickets: $20 general/$10 students)
9 p.m.: Starry Night: “Holding Court” All-Women Comedy Show @ Robinia Courtyard (Tickets: $7 in advance/$10 at the door)

Saturday, June 8

10 a.m.-Noon: “The Multi-faceted Artist” Panel Discussion @ Madison Public Library Bubbler Room (free event)
2 p.m.: From Page To Stage: Emerging Composers Concert @ Capitol Lakes Grand Hall (free event)
7 p.m.: “Gaia” Closing Gala Concert @ First Unitarian Society of Madison Atrium Auditorium (Tickets: $20 general/$10 students)

Sunday, June 9

10 a.m.-Noon: “Mooning Around” poetry reading and artist mixer @ Common Ground, 2644 Branch St., Middleton (free event)

More information can be found at lunartfestival.org

video

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #21stCentury, #AlbertEinstein, #AlessioBax, #AndreaMusher, #AndreaPotos, #AtriumAuditorium, #AudienceAward, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CameraWork, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolSquare, #CelebratingWomen, #ChastityWashington, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ComedyShow, #CommonGround, #Composer-in-Residence, #CulturalDiversity, #CynthiaMarie, #DallasTexas, #DaneArts, #EdnaAlejandraLongoria, #EmergingComposers, #EthnicDiversity, #EunikeTanzil, #EveRobillard, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FirstPlace, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FirstUnitedMethodistChurch, #GenderDiversity, #High-Quality, #IsabelKarp, #IvaUgrcic, #JackieBradley, #KatrinTalbot, #KirstenVolness, #LauraMedisky, #LindaDiRaimondo, #Line-Breakers, #LIveSteaming, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonPublicLibrary, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeaghanHeinrich, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MifflinStreet, #MilevaMaric, #MusicalDiversity, #MusicEducation, #NationalFluteAssociation, #NewMusic, #OpenMeadowsFoundation, #OvertureCenter, #PanelDiscussion, #PersonalRelationship, #PhilippeBIanconi, #PoetryReading, #Pre-concertLecture, #Prize-Winning, #PromenadeHall, #RacialDiversity, #RosemaryZurlo-Cuva, #RotundaStage, #SamaraSuomi, #SarahWhelan, #SaturdayAfternoon, #SecondPrize, #SpecialGuest, #StarryNight, #TheCliburn, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ValerieColeman, #VanCliburn, #VanessaTortolano, #VickieLynn, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WomanArtist, #WomanConductor, #WomenComposers, #YouTubevideo, 21st century, accessible, aerial, afternoon, age, alert, Alessio Bax, all-women, Andrea Musher, Andrea Potos, applicants, area, artists, Arts, Atrium Auditorium, attend, attendance, audience, award, background, blazing, blog, Business, camera, Capitol, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Square, celebration, Cello, Chamber music, Chastity Washington, choral music, Christian, church, Classical music, coffee, collaboration, comedian, comedy, comedy show, comic, comics, Common Ground, Competition, composer, Concert, creative, cultivate, Cynthia Marie, Dallas, dance, Dane Arts, directors, discussion, diverse, diversity, downtown, Edna Alejandra Longoria, Education, educational, Einstein, emerging, engaging, Eunike Tanzil, Eve Robillard, events, exhibition, experiences, explore, express, expressions, Facebook, Farley's House of Pianos, festival, first, first place, First Unitarian Society of Madison, First United Methodist Church, FloridaParu, flute, flutist, forward, foundation, free, funding, funny, gala, gasp, gasping, general, guest, hate, idea, ideas, impressive, information, inspiring, Isabel Karp, Iva Ugrcic, Jackie Bradley, Jacob Stockinger, June, juror, Katrin Talbot, Keyboard, Kirsten Volness, Laura Medisky, lecture, like, lin, Linda DiRaimondo, link, live streaming, local, Love, LunART Festival, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, Madison Public Library, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maiahaus, Master, Meaghan Heinrich, mentor, Methodist, Middleton, Midwestern, Midwestern United States, Milena Maric, Minnesota, mission, Missouri, Monday, Music, Music education, National Flute Association, nationalities, nationality, New Music, Open Meadows Foundation, outstandng, Overture Center, page, panel discussion, panelist, participants, pastries, pastry, performer, Philippe Bianconi, photo, photographer, Piano, place, poet, Poetry, poetry reading, portrait, practical, pre-concert, prize, programming, Promenade Hall, promoting, psychiatrist, public, race, racial diversity, reading, reception, relationship, resume, Rosemary Zurlo-Cuva, Rotunda Stage, Samara Suomi, Sarah Whelan, Saturday, schedule, score, Season, second, second prize, select, shape, share, show, showcase, skills, solo, special, special guest, stage, Starry Night, Student, succeed, support, supporting, tag, terrific, Texas, The Cliburn, thrive, ticket, today, trail, trend, unite, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, VALERIE COLEMAN, Van Cliburn, Vanessa Tortolono, venues, Vickie Lynn, video, Viola, Violin, violist, vocal music, wake, winning, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, woman, woman artist, women, women composers, work, yesterday, young, YouTube

Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and UW duo-pianists showcase the remarkable music of Camille Saint-Saens and Mozart in the popular concert that closes its season

June 1, 2019
10 Comments

IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

By Jacob Stockinger

Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.

By John W. Barker

The mostly amateur Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by Margaret Barker) closed its season Thursday night at the Middleton Performing Arts Center with a promising and well-received program.

The centerpiece featured two graduate student soloists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, pianists Thomas Kasdorf (below right) and Satoko Hayami (below left), who joined in Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat Major, K. 365, for two pianos and orchestra. The two soloists were alert and polished collaborators. (You can hear the energetic and catchy final movement, used in the Academy Award-winning film “Amadeus,” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Conductor Steve Kurr (below) set a bouncy pace but a rather fast and overpowering one, and with an orchestra — especially strings — quite overblown by the standards of Mozart’s day.

The MCO was blessed by the loan of a very special model of a Model B Steinway instrument, now owned and lovingly restored by Farley’s House of Pianos. This was paired against a Steinway of much later vintage, owned by the hall. But nowhere was there identification about which piano was which as they sat onstage, much less which pianist was playing which piano (and they switched between the two works utilizing them.) This was disappointing for it prevented making an informed comparison of the two instruments.

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921, below) is backhandedly treated as being on the margins of composer greatness. But his scope was remarkable, as witnessed by the two works that were the program’s bookends.

The opener was his humorous Suite, “Carnival of the Animals.” This set of 14 short pieces was written for one private performance, in chamber terms, one player per part. So the orchestra that was used — of 87 listed musicians, 60 of them were string players — became a crushing distortion. The two pianists were a bit formal, but ideally facile.

Saint-Saens made no provision for any kind of spoken text, certainly not in French. In the middle of the last century, the American poet of high-spirited doggerel, Ogden Nash, wrote wickedly funny verses with offbeat rhymes and puns to go with each movement.

It was these Nash verses that Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (below), who was only identified as the “narrator,” read with a good bit of tongue-in-cheek. Nowhere are these at all identified or credited in the bumbling program booklet. (Many in the audience might have just thought that they were written by Gilliland himself.)

In many of the suite’s movements, Saint-Saens quoted or alluded to hit tunes by earlier composers, for parodistic purposes. Unfortunately, there are no program notes in the booklet, so these tidbits would easily go unnoticed by many listeners.

Saint-Saens composed, among his numerous orchestral works, a total of five symphonies, only three of which are numbered. I had originally been given to expect No. 2, a charming work I love, as the program closer. All but the last of them are early works in a graceful post-Classical style.

But No. 3 was composed much later in his life, and in a more expansive style. This is a frequently performed spectacle, unconventional in plan and in scoring. It adds the two pianists and an organ — hence the nickname the “Organ Symphony.”

Unfortunately, the hall has no organ of its own, so the substitute was a rig of electronic organ with its own booming speakers and exaggerated pedal notes. Again totally unmentioned is that this contraption was played by MCO sound technician Alex Ford (below, with the portable electronic organ keyboard from Austria with its computer-screen stops).

This kind of organ could never be integrated into the full orchestral texture and served only to allow the orchestra to play this grandiose score. Such ambition was backed by really splendid and well-balanced orchestral playing.

As intended, the large local audience, with many children and families, was wildly enthusiastic.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: "Amadeus", #AcademyAward, #AlexFord, #AmadeusFilm, #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanPoet, #AmericanRecordGuide, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #CarnivaloftheAnimals, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalStyle, #ComputerScreen, #DuoPianists, #ElectricOrgan, #EmeritusProfessor, #EnsemblePlaying, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FilmSoundtrack, #GraduateStudent, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohnW.Barker, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #NormanGilliland, #OgdenNash, #OrganSymphony, #OscarAward, #PianoConcerto, #ProgramNotes, #RadioHost, #SatokoHayami, #SteinwayPiano, #SteveKurr, #StringSection, #ThomasKasdorf, #Thursdaynight, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, Academy Award, advisor, alert, Alex Ford, amateur, ambition, American, American Record Guide, Arts, audience, Austria, balance, balanced, blessed, blog, bookend, booklet, boom, booming, bumbling, Camille Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals, catchy, Cello, centerpiece, Chamber music, charm, charming, children, Classical, Classical music, Classical style, classicalmusic, collaborator, comparison, composer, computer screen, Concert, concerto, conductor, credit, critic, day, disappoint, disappointing, distortion, doggerel, Early music, emeritus professor, energetic, engineer, enthusiastic, exaggerate, facile, families, Family, Farley's House of Pianos, fast, festival, film, final movement, finale, forma;, formal, forward, funny, grace, graceful, grandiose, great, greatness, guide, hall, History, hit, host, humorous, idea, idenitfied, identification, inform, instrument, integrate, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, lecture, like, link, loan, local, loving, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, margin, Mead Witter School of Music, medieva;, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton Performing Arts Center, model, month, movement, movie, Mozart, Music, music review, Musician, narrate, narrator, nickname, night, Norman Gilliland, note, offbeat, Ogden Nash, onstage, Orchestra, organ, organ symphony, Oscar, overblown, overpowering, own, pace, pair, parody, pedal, performer, Pianist, Piano, pieces, plan, player, playing, poet, popular, portable, prevent, private, program, program notes, promising, pun, purpose, radio host, read, record, remarkable, rhyme, Satoko Hayami, scope, score, Season, share, short, show, showcase, soloist, Sound, soundtrack, speakers, special, spectacle, splendid, spoken, standards, Steinway, Steve Jobs, stop, strings, Student, style, Suite, symphonies, symphony, tag, technician, text, texture, Thomas Kasdorf, Thursday, tongue-in-cheek, tune, two-piano, unconventional, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, verse, verses, vintage, Viola, Violin, Wicked, wild, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube

	Ann Boyer on Classical music: Today is Worl…
	Mary Gordon on Classical music: Today is Worl…
	Bill Lutes on Classical music: Today is Worl…
	welltemperedear on Classical music: Today is Worl…
	Ronnie on Classical music: Today is Worl…

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: