The Well-Tempered Ear
This Sunday at 4 p.m., the Salon Piano Series debuts an online recital by pianist Kangwoo Jin. He plays music by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann. It is up until May 9
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. CDT, the Salon Piano Series, hosted by Farley’s House of Pianos, will debut an online concert by pianist Kangwoo Jin (below, in a photo by Andy Manis).
The concert, which was recorded at Luther Memorial Church, costs $10 and will be available online through May 9.
The program is:
Scarlatti – Sonatas in D minor and D Major, K. 213 and 214 (ca. 1756-1757)
Beethoven – Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” (1801)
Liszt – Transcriptions for solo piano of the songs “Widmung” (Dedication) by Robert Schumann and “Litanei” (Litany) by Franz Schubert
Schumann – Symphonic Etudes, Op.13 (1830)
Bishop – Home, Sweet Home
Tickets are only available online at eventbrite.com. Service fees apply. Complete program and concert information is at salonpianoseries.org
PROGRAM NOTES
Jin has written the following program notes for The Ear:
“As a musician, I am always eager to share music with the public. I am very excited to be able to reach out to the audience with this unprecedented Salon Piano Series Virtual Concert.
“I believe music soothes our mental health in difficult times regardless of age, gender or race. I very much hope my performance will contribute to this collective healing we feel through music.
“I wanted to include three different styles, as I usually do for recitals. This time I have Baroque, Classical and Romantic music.
“I chose one of the most famous Beethoven sonatas in order to celebrate his 250th birth year (2020), which I did not have a chance to mark last year.
“This piece is popular with the title of “Moonlight,” which Beethoven (below) never intended. Five years after his death, the German critic Ludwig Rellstab used the word “Moonlight” in order to describe the first movement. But it was really inspired by the funeral march in Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni.” I try to bring out the tragic color of the first movement. (You can hear Jin play the exciting final movement of the sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“I also wanted to play the virtuosic masterpiece “Symphonic Etudes,” Op. 13, by Robert Schumann (below), including the beautiful posthumous variations 4 and 5.
I find this piece special in the sense that Schumann intended to make this piece “symphonic.” He created multiple layers of voices in various ways through each etude and created orchestral sounds. This polyphonic writing with multiple layers and a thick texture is what makes this piece difficult to play.
“I also specifically wanted to include one of the piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt (below) of Schubert’s Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen (Litany for the Feast of All Souls), D. 343.
“Schubert (below) used the poem “Litany” by Johann Jacobi (1740-1814). It is written for comforting the deceased. Robert Capell, the author of the book “Schubert’s Songs” (1929), said about this lied: There was never a truer or more touching expression of simple devotion and consoled grief … “The music rises from a pure well of affection and humility.”
“I would like to dedicate this piece to all the people who suffered from Covid 19.”
BACKGROUND
Here is a link to Kangwoo Jin’s impressive website where you can see many photos, learn about his extensive career as a teacher and hear many samples of his playing: https://www.pianistkangwoojin.com
Praised for his “refined tone quality with powerful energy” (Chosun Daily Newspaper), Jin (below, in a photo by Steve Apps for the Wisconsin State Journal) concertizes nationally and internationally, including performances in Germany, Italy, China, Indonesia and South Korea.
He gave his debut concert at the Sejong Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea, sponsored by the Chosun Daily Newspaper. He has given live performances on Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT 89.9 FM.
Jin appears frequently as a guest artist at music festivals, universities and various concert series. Recent invitations include UW-River Falls, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Tongji University in Shanghai. Kawai Pianos USA has also invited him as a guest artist at the annual Piano Technicians Guild Convention and Technical Institute in Florida.
Jin completed the Bachelor of Music degree at Hanyang University in South Korea, then earned his Performer Diploma and Master’s of Music at Indiana University, where he worked as an associate instructor.
He is the recipient of the J. Battista Scholarship for performance excellence at Indiana University and received the Collins Distinguished Fellowship for his doctoral studies, completed last year, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied piano with Christopher Taylor and piano pedagogy with Jessica Johnson.
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Madison Opera cancels its January production of “She Loves Me.” Will other groups follow suit? Plus, tonight is the last online concert by the LunART Festival of music by Black women
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ALERT: TONIGHT, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. the third LunART Festival will wrap up with the second of its two FREE streamed “Human Family” concerts featuring the works of Black women (below). Due to popular demand, last week’s concert is still posted and available for viewing. This week’s concert will be followed by a virtual party. Here are links for information, programs and biographies: https://www.lunartfestival.org/2020virtualfestival and https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=LunART
By Jacob Stockinger
The coronavirus pandemic continues to slowly take its toll on local live productions during the current season.
The Madison Opera has now canceled its second production of the season, the Broadway musical “She Loves Me” by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, which was scheduled for late January in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
Here are details from Madison Opera: “We will replace She Loves Me with a Digital Winter season that lasts from January to March. Details will be announced in December. (She Loves Me will be part of our 2021/22 season, so it’s only a delay!)”
For more about Madison Opera’s digital fall season – which costs $50 per household to subscribe to – go to: https://www.madisonopera.org/Fall2020
The next digital event is at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 24, by Sun Prairie bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen (below, in a photo by Lawrence Brownlee), who has performed around the world, including at the Metropolitan Opera.
He will perform a live-streamed concert from the Madison Opera Center that will be a tribute to the American bass Giorgio Tozzi (below), who was Ketelsen’s teacher at Indiana University. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Tozzi sing “This Nearly Was Mine” from “South Pacific” by Rodgers and Hammerstein.)
Here is Tozzi’s biography from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Tozzi
Soprano Emily Secor (below top) and pianist Scott Gendel (below bottom) will perform with Ketelsen.
Here is a link to details of Kyle Ketelsen’s recital: https://www.madisonopera.org/class/liveketelsen/?wcs_timestamp=1603567800
___________________________________________________________________________
The cancellation makes The Ear wonder: Are local groups and presenters being too timid or too hopeful when it comes to future plans for the current season?
After all, this past week we learned that both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic have canceled the rest of the current season due to public health concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. And all indications are that it will be a very rough, unsafe winter and spring in Wisconsin and Madison.
That’s why The Ear suspects that, unfortunately, the rest of the season will either be canceled or be virtual and moved online. It even seems more than plausible that there will be no live performances until the winter or spring of 2022.
So you can probably expect further word pretty soon of more cancellations, postponements and virtual online performances from the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, the University Opera and others.
What do you think?
Will there be operas, orchestral performances and live chamber music sometime yet this season?
When do you think it will be safe to perform and attend live concerts?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: After 54 years at the UW-Madison, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will move this fall to the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Starting this fall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO, below) will have a new home for classes, rehearsals and performances.
The news of moving to the McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) is very good for WYSO. But The Ear feels sad to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison and WYSO parting ways after a partnership of 54 years.
It feels like the UW, a distinguished public institution, is backing away from the Wisconsin Idea of public service to the citizens who fund the university. It is embodied in the saying that “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea and its Progressive Era history, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea)
It feels, in short, like a setback to community engagement by the UW-Madison and its Mead Witter School of Music, where WYSO once had offices and used Mills Concert Hall.
Be that as it may, here is a WYSO email newsletter’s account of what led up to the decision and move.
“The news from University of Wisconsin-Madison started trickling in a little at a time.
“First, Mills Hall (below), where WYSO had rehearsed almost every Saturday since the Humanities Building opened, was scheduled for transformation from a concert hall into a lecture hall. (You can see WYSO performing in Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Then the UW began to reconsider whether pre-college programs should actually share space with university departments.
“And there was the growth of WYSO itself — from one full orchestra to three, plus two string orchestras, a chamber music program (below top), a full array of ensembles, and the community-impact Music Makers (below bottom).
“Meanwhile, 12 minutes away, the town of McFarland opened an amazing 841-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center (below).
“And incredibly, the adjacent middle school and high school campus (below) had enough parking and enough rehearsal space to accommodate the entire WYSO program with room to grow — all of the student musicians, all of the orchestras, and all rehearsing at the same time.
“In a unique move of creative place-making, McFarland’s School Superintendent Andrew Briddell reached out to WYSO and suggested all of the above opportunities, plus collaboration with the McFarland schools, staff and community, and the ability to build on the creative history of the town itself.
“Passionate about music and education, Andrew Briddell, earned a double major in music and English from Indiana University, a Master’s degree in bassoon from Temple University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the UW-Madison.
“”A talented bassoon player, Briddell (below) played with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Birmingham.
“What a perfect match for this collaboration!
“It was an invitation too good to pass up. So starting in the fall of 2020, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will be in residence at the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.”
To read more details about WYSO’s new home, including design and acoustics, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/the-wyso-weekly-tune-up-april-17-2020-wysos-new-home/
What do you think about the new move WYSO?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Acclaimed native son Kenneth Woods returns this weekend to conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He talks to The Ear about what Madison meant to him and his international career
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, native Madisonian Kenneth Woods (below) returns from his home in the UK to conduct three performances of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
The concerts feature two MSO debuts: the prize-winning young Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor; and the acclaimed guest conductor, Kenneth Woods, leading the orchestra for the MSO premiere of Haydn’s Symphony No. 96, “Miracle” plus Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life).
Performances will be held in Overture Hall on Friday night, March 6, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night, March 7, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon, March 8, at 2:30 p.m.
Single tickets are $19-$95 each and are on sale now, along with discounted tickets, at: https://madisonsymphony.org/event/the-miracle/; through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street; or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online and phone sales.
You can view program notes for this concert online at http://bit.ly/msomar2020programnotes
A Prelude Discussion by Randal Swiggum will take place one hour before each concert.
Guest conductor Kenneth Woods is a busy and versatile musician. He is the Principal Conductor of the English Symphony Orchestra and the artistic director of both the Colorado MahlerFest and the Elgar Festival in England. (You can hear Woods conducting Carl Maria von Weber’s “Oberon” Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Woods has won accolades for rediscovering and recording the music of the Austrian-British composer Hans Gàl. Woods, who has played guitar in a rock band, is also a professional cellist who solos with orchestras and plays chamber music. He writes a respected blog. And he currently plays and records in the Briggs Piano Trio for Avie Records.
For much more information about Kenneth Woods, including his blog “A View From the Podium,” go to: https://kennethwoods.net/blog1/
Woods recently spoke via email to The Ear about what Madison has meant to him and to his international career.
How did living in Madison play a role in your decision to become a professional musician?
Madison offered me a chance to hear music at an early age. I was taken to watch a rehearsal of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra as a very young kid, maybe three or four years old. That made a huge impression on me, especially seeing the rehearsal process. Later, my parents took us to all the UW Symphony Orchestra concerts for years.
There’s really no reason not to take young kids to concerts! For me, a love of live music led to a love of recorded music, listening to records at home, and from there, to an interest in playing music as a kid.
We were lucky to have a very strong music program in the Madison public schools when I was growing up here. The orchestras at Memorial High School played some really impressive repertoire under Tom Buchhauser (below top, in a photo by Jon Harlow). The UW Summer Music Clinic made being a musician social – it was a great immersion with one’s peers.
Most important, however, was probably the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO). Playing under Jim Smith (below bottom) was the most fantastic education in orchestral playing one could hope for. He and Tom are a big part of why I became a conductor.
Madison in those days wasn’t a super-pressurized scene, like one might encounter around the big pre-college programs in New York or LA. But what I might have missed in terms of conservatory-level instrumentalists in every corridor, one made up in terms of feeling like you could find your own path. By the time I was in high school, I pretty much knew music was that path.
How did your experiences in Madison help prepare you for that career?
I learned so much about rehearsing from Jim Smith. In his first year, we worked on Dvorak’s 8th Symphony pretty much all year. Every week, he opened our ears to new facets of the music. I’ve never forgotten that.
I went off to Indiana University to do my Bachelor’s degree, but returned to Madison for a Master’s, when I studied cello with UW-Madison professor Parry Karp (below top).
Those were wonderful years for me. I learned an enormous amount from Parry as both a cello teacher and chamber music coach (and especially as a person).
I played in fantastic chamber groups, did lots of wacky new music and had solo opportunities. UW Symphony Orchestra conductor David Becker (below bottom) even gave me my first meaningful chance to rehearse an orchestra when he had me take a couple of rehearsals on the Copland Clarinet Concerto.
And I played in both the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. I came away from that time with both new skills and new confidence.
What does returning to your hometown to conduct the Madison Symphony Orchestra mean to you?
It’s both very exciting and a little surreal. Under the leadership of John DeMain (below top, in a photo by Greg Anderson), the MSO (below bottom, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) has come so far since the time I was in it. And the new hall is such a treasure for all of Wisconsin – it’s practically a different orchestra.
I still have many friends and former mentors in the orchestra and it’s going to be wonderful to see them all and make music together again after so long.
But it’s more than a homecoming. It’s a chance to celebrate where we’ve all been and what we’ve all done the last 20 years or so. My musical life has mostly been in the UK for a long time, so to re-connect with my musical roots here is rather magical.
What are your major current and upcoming projects?
The English Symphony Orchestra (below) represents the biggest chunk of my musical life. This year we’re celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the orchestra’s 40th anniversary.
The ESO has a special commitment to new and unknown music, and right now we’re in the midst of something called the 21st Century Symphony Project, which involves commissioning, premiering and recording nine new symphonies by diverse composers. It’s one of the most ambitious commissioning projects I’ve ever heard of, let alone been involved in.
I’m also excited about this year’s Colorado MahlerFest in Boulder, where we’re focusing on Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” this May, which will crown a week of music exploring themes of color and visual art with music by Wagner, Messiaen and British composer Philip Sawyers.
Is the MSO program special to you?
I must say that it was incredibly generous of John DeMain to offer me such a fantastic program. Not every music director is gentleman enough to let a guest have Ein Heldenleben.
What would you like the public to know about your approach to music and about the specific works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss?
Haydn’s music is maybe the richest discovery of my adult life. I didn’t get it as a kid, largely because most performances I heard were so dull.
His music is so varied, and his personality so complex, one mustn’t try to reduce him down to a simplistic figure. The late symphonies, of which this is one of the finest, are inexhaustible sources of wisdom, beauty, humor and sanity.
The Mendelssohn is really an astonishing piece. I’ve probably conducted it as much as any piece of music, with so many different soloists, all of whom had hugely different temperaments, personalities, sounds and approaches.
I’ve played it with some of the greatest violinists in the world and with young students. Somehow, whoever is playing, it always leaves me, and the audience, smiling. I’m pretty sure we can continue that streak with Blake Pouliot (below, in a photo by Jeff Fasano).
The Strauss is a rich, personal, wise, funny and moving work. It’s always a challenge, particularly bringing out all the astonishing detail in the score, but it’s also a real joy to perform. If the Mendelssohn always leaves me smiling, the Strauss always leaves me smiling with a tear in my eye.
Tags: #21stCentury, #AaronCopland, #AntoninDvorak, #ArtisticDirector, #AvieRecords, #AViewFromthePodium, #Bachelor'sDegree, #BeethovenYear, #BlakePouliot, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BloomingtonIndiana, #BoxOffice, #BriggsPianoTrio, #BritishComposer, #CarlMariavonWeber, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClarinetConcerto, #ClarinetMusic, #ColoradoMahlerFest, #CommissionedMusic, #DavidBecker, #EdwardElgar, #EinHeldenleben, #EnglishSymphonyOrchestra, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FranzJosephHaydn, #Fridaynight, #GreatBritain, #GrowingUp, #GuestArtist, #GustavMahler, #HansGàl, #HighNotes, #HighSchool, #HomeWebsite, #IndianaUniversity, #JacobStockinger, #JamesSmith, #JimSmith, #JohnDeMain, #KennethWoods, #LiveMusic, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesCalifornia, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonMemorialHighSchool, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MakeMusic, #Master'sDegree, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialHighSchool, #MiracleSymphony, #MusicClinic, #MusicEducation, #NativeSon, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OlivierMessiaen, #OrchestralMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #ParryKarp, #PhilipSawyers, #PianoTrio, #PreludeDiscussion, #Prize-Winning, #ProfessionalMusician, #ProgramNotes, #PublicSchools, #RandalSwiggum, #RecordedMusic, #ResurrectionSymphony, #RichardStrauss, #RichardWagner, #RockBand, #SaturdayNight, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheU.K., #TheUK, #ThomasBuchhauser, #TomBuchhauser, #TonePoem, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UnknownMusic, #UWProfessor, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VirtuosoViolinist, #VisualArt, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouTubevideo, 21st century, A View From the Podium, Aaron Copland, accolades, accomplished, adult, age, ambitious, anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, approach, Art, Artistic director, Arts, astonishing, audience, Austrian, Avie Records, Bachelor's degree, band, beauty, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birthday, Blake Pouliot, blog, Bloomington, Boulder, box office, Briggs Piano Trio, British, busy, Canada, Canadian, career, Carl Maria von Weber, celebrate, cellist, Cello, challenging, Chamber music, chance, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, coach, college, color, Colorado, Colorado MahlerFest, commission, commitment, Compact Disc, complex, composer, Concert, concerto, conduct, conductor, confidence, conservatory, Copland, David Becker, debut, decision, detail, different, discount, discovery, discussion, dukk, Dvorak, early, ears, Education, Edward Elgar, Ein Heldenleben, Elgar, email, England, English, English Symphony Orchestra, enormous, event, excited, exciting, experience, eye, Facebook, facet, fantastic, fee, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, finest, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Friday, friend, funny, generous, gentleman, Great Britain, growing up, guest artist, guitar, Gustav Mahler, hall, Hans Gàl, Haydn, hear, hero, high school, Home, home website, Homecoming, huge, Humor, immersion, important, impression, impressive, Indiana, Indiana University, inexhaustible, information, instrumentalist, instrumentalists, interest, international, interview, Jacob Stockinger, James Madison Memorial High School, James Smith, Jim Smith, John DeMain, Kenneth Woods, kid, kids, know, LA, late, leadership, learn, life, like, link, listening, live music, living, Los Angeles, Love, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Memorial High School, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madisonian, magical, Mahler, make, master's, masters degree, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial High School, Mendelssohn, mentor, Messiaen, Miracle Symphony, moving, MSO, Music, music clinic, Music education, musical, Musician, native, new, New Music, New York City, night, notes, Oberon, Olivier Messiaen, online, Orchestra, orchestral music, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, parents, Parry Karp, path, peers, perform, performance, performer, personal, personality, Philip Sawyers, Piano Trio, play, podium, poem, pre-college, premiere, prepare, pressure, principal, prize, process, professional, professor, program, program notes, project, public, public schools, Q&A, Randal Swiggum, re-connect, record, recorded music, records, rediscover, rehearsal, repertoire, respect, respected, Resurrection Symphony, return, rich, Richard Strauss, Richard Wagner, rock band, role, roots, sale, sanity, Saturday, scene, score, share, simplistic, skill, smile, smiling, social, soloist, son, Sound, Strauss, strong, study, Sunday, surreal, symphony, tag, talk, Teacher, tear, temperament, The Ear, theme, Thomas Buchhauser, tickets, Tom Buchhauser, tone, tone poem, treasure, U.K., UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unknown, unknown music, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, varied, versatile, view, Violin, violinist, visual art, Wagner, Website, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, wisdom, won, wonderful, works, write, WYSO, year, young, YouTube
Classical music: The second annual Mineral Point Chamber Festival – with both free and ticketed performances — takes place this coming weekend
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By Jacob Stockinger
The summer music season in the Madison area — which kicks off big-time this weekend – just seems to get busier and busier.
The second annual Mineral Point Chamber Music Festival will take place this coming Friday through Sunday, June 8-10.
All the information — including ensembles, complete repertoire and concerts times and venues — is available at artsmp.org under “Chamber Music Festival.” You will also find there some extensive audio samples of the performers.
There are three ticketed concerts that will take place at the refurbished Mineral Point Opera House (below top, by Michael J. Smith, and bottom):
Tickets are $20, and a package pass for all three concerts is $49.
The schedule for ticketed events is:
On Friday night at 7:30 p.m., the cello-and-piano Artu Duo (below) from the University of Minnesota will perform music by Robert Schumann, Bohuslav Martinu and Ludwig van Beethoven.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. the Volante Winds (below) from Indiana University will perform music by Samuel Barber, Karl Pilss, Gyorgy Orban and Giulio Briccialdi.
On Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., the Altino Duo (below), from Madison, will perform music by Zoltan Kodaly, Maurice Ravel and Johan Halvorsen.
There are also two FREE concerts. They feature many other works by many other composers including George Frideric Handel, Johann Pachelbel, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Richard Strauss, Jacques Ibert and Samuel Barber.
The first FREE concert is on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Congregational United Church of Christ, 300 Maiden St., and features Q&A sessions after each ensemble’s performance.
The second FREE concert — weather permitting — is on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. in Library Park (below) and features the Festival Brass.
The festival’s director Peter Schmalz explains the philosophy of the festival, which strikes The Ear as a savvy way to host a festival of fine performers and great music for very reasonable ticket prices:
“We are a festival devoted to providing opportunity to emerging talent,” says Schmalz. “At least 50 percent of the membership of each ensemble must be currently enrolled students.
“This year we ran into an insoluble problem, when one member of the Zima Piano Trio from Indiana University could not be approved for employment because of her current status as an international student.
“Hence we have the last-minute substitution of the Altino Duo from Madison – cellist Leonardo Altino and violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino – who are both college professors and obviously not a student ensemble. (She teaches at the UW-Madison, and he teaches privately in Madison and at the Wheaton College Conservatory near Chicago.)
(Editor’s note: You can read more background about the Altinos, and about playing together as spouses, here: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/classical-music-what-is-it-like-to-play-music-with-a-spouse-local-wife-and-husband-violinist-and-cellist-open-the-winter-masterworks-season-of-the-wisconsin-chamber-orchestra-with-the-brahms-double/
“The Altinos were very gracious about helping us in this situation, and will present a concert Sunday, June 10, of music that is included on their recently released CD “En voyage.”” (You can hear them perform the Duo for Violin and Cello by Zoltan Kodaly, which is on the recording, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
If you want to see the sponsors of the festival or become a sponsor, go to the bottom of the page at: http://www.artsmp.org/chamber-music-fest/
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BohuslavMartinu, #BrassMusic, #FelixMendelssohn, #FestivalBrass, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #ForeignStudent, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GiulioBriccialdi, #GyorgyOrban, #IndianaUniversity, #InternationalStudent, #JacquesIbert, #JohanHalvorsen, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannPachelbel, #KarlPilss, #LeonardoAltino, #LibraryPark, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MineralPoint, #MineralPointChamberMusicFestival, #MineralPointOperaHouse, #PianoTrio, #RichardStrauss, #RobertSchumann, #SamuelBarber, #Soh-HyunParkAltino, #SummerMusic, #SummerSeason, #UniversityofMInnesota, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VolanteWinds, #WheatonCollege, #WheatonCollegeConservatory, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinTourism, #ZoltanKodaly, afternoon, Art Duo, Arts, Barber, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, brass, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, employment, Festival Brass, Friday, George Orban, Giulio Briccialdi, immigration, Indiana University, Johan Halvorsen, Martinu, Mead Witter School of Music, membership, Mendelssohn, night, Orban, Orchestra, Pachelbel, Piano, Richard Strauss, Saturday, Schumann, Season, Sonata, Student, summer, Sunday, tourism, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Volante Winds, weekend, Wheaton College, Wheaton College Conservatory, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: Here are this week’s FREE events at the UW-Madison where the spotlight falls on new music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This will be a busy week at the UW-Madison.
Here are the events, concerts and master classes, at the UW-Madison this week. All events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
As you can see, a lot of new music will be featured.
TUESDAY
At noon in Morphy Recital Hall, oboist Courtney Miller (below), of the University of Iowa, will give a master class.
At 7:30 p.m.in Mills Hall, Mike Leckrone (below top) will lead the UW Concert Band (below bottom) in a FREE concert. Sorry, no word on the program.
WEDNESDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, pianist Emile Naoumoff (below), from Indiana University, will give a recital.
Sorry, no word about the program. But there is a lot of background about the acclaimed French pianist who once studied at age 10 with the legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger and then later took over for her. (You can see him and Boulanger in the YouTube video at the bottom.) For information, go to http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-emile-naoumoff-pianist/
Naoumoff will also give a master class on Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall.
THURSDAY
From 10 a.m. to noon in Morphy Recital Hall, guest pianist Emile Naoumoff will give a master class. See Wednesday’s listings for information about him and his recital.
FRIDAY
At 7 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, a concert of new music will be performed by Sound Out Loud (below) in conjunction with a two-day conference. For the complete program and more information, go to:
At 7:30 in Mills Hall, the UW Wind Ensemble (below top) will give a FREE concert under conductor Scott Teeple (below bottom).
The program includes “The Leaves Are Falling” by Warren Benson as well as two Wisconsin premieres: “Across the Graining Continent” by Jonathan Newman; and Suite in E-Flat by Gustav Holst, edited by Matthews.
SATURDAY
At 1:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, the UW-Madison Trombone Quartet performs music by Tchaikovsky,Webern, Shostakovich, Tull and Bozza among others. Members of the quartet are Thomas Macaluso, Kevin Schoeller, Matthew Bragstad and Nicolas Lawrence.
At 8 p.m. the wife-and husband piano-percussion duo Sole Nero (below), consisting of Jessica Johnson (piano) and Anthony DiSanza (percussion), will perform a faculty concert of new music.
For the complete program and program notes, plus biographies, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/sole-nero-with-jessica-johnson-and-anthony-disanza/
It is also that time of the academic year when there are a lot of student recitals and lecture-recitals, especially ones by graduate students, that might interest the public. This week, The Ear sees at least half a dozen listed including those by a cellist, violinist, hornist, trumpeter and flutist.
For more information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Tags: Anton Webern, Arts, band, Baroque, Bozza, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Concert Band, Dmitri Shostakovich, Emile Naoumoff, flute, graduate students, Gustav Holst, Holst, Horn, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Jacobs School of Music, Jonathan Newman, Madison, master class, Mike Leckrone, Music, Nadia Boulanger, New Music, Oboe, percussion, Peter Tchaikovsky, Piano, premiere, program, program notes, Quartet, Scott Teeple, Sonata, Sound Out Loud, students, Trombone, Tull, United States, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Warren Benson, Webern, winds, Wisconsin, woodwinds, YouTube
Classical music: Violinist Alexander Ayers gives a FREE recital on Monday night at Taliesin in Spring Green
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Due to technical difficulties beyond his control at the web site host, The Ear cannot publish a new post today that has many links in the text. He apologizes and will let you know if and when the problems are solved. In the meantime, he will offer what he can.
By Jacob Stockinger
The following announcement has been sent for posting by The Ear by the Rural Musicians Forum:
Widely praised for his shimmering virtuosity and technical precision, violinist Alexander Ayers performs a FREE recital at 7:30 p.m. on this Monday, June 27, in a concert sponsored by the Rural Musicians Forum in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hillside Theater at Taliesin, south of Spring Green, Wisconsin.
Ayers (below, in a photo by O’Brien Photos of Waukesha), a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, joined the Milwaukee Symphony in 2013. He was previously a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
After studying nine years at the String Academy of Wisconsin-Milwaukee he studied at Indiana University, and in 2006 he won the grand prize of the Milwaukee Symphony Stars of Tomorrow Competition. This resulted in performances of the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Sergei Prokofiev with the MSO. He has performed collaboratively with Joshua Bell, Alex Kerr, Jaime Laredo, Gilles Apap and Soovin Kim.
Ayers’ June 27 program is international in scope. It includes works by German-born Ludwig van Beethoven and Parisian Camille Saint-Saens as well as the Belgian violinist and composer Eugene Ysaye and virtuosic Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski, who was regarded by many as an exciting and flamboyant re-incarnation of Niccolo Paganini.
About the concert RMF Artistic Director Kent Mayfield said, “We are honored to work in close collaboration with Taliesin Preservation Inc. to host much of this year’s series at Taliesin’s Hillside Theater (below). It provides an especially dramatic but intimate setting for Ayers’ performance which will be totally consistent with Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision: imaginative, bold and beautiful.”
Hillside Theater is located at 6604 Highway 23, Spring Green.
The concert is not ticketed and is open to the public. A free-will offering will be taken to support the concert series.
For additional information and driving directions, see www.ruralmusiciansforum.org
Tags: Alexander Ayers, Arts, Beethoven, Belgium, Camille Saint-Saëns, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, Eugene Ysaye, France, Frank Lloyd Wright, Germany, Henryk Wieniawski, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Jaime Laredo, Joshua Bell, Kent Mayfield, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Music, Paganini, Paris, Piano, Poland, Prokofiev, Rural Musicians Forum, Sonata, Spring Green, Taliesin, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Violin concerto, virtuosity
Classical music: The Madison Symphony Orchestra presents a FREE Farmers’ Market Concert of music for organ and piano this Saturday morning. Plus, there is a FREE orchestra concert and viola concert at Capitol Lakes Retirement Center TONIGHT at 7.
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ALERT: A friend writes: TONIGHT at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, downtown off the Capitol Square, UW-Madison graduate student Kyle Knox (below with the Middleton Community Orchestra) will be conducting the Serenade No. 1 by Johannes Brahms (at bottom, you can hear the Berlin Philharmonic under conductor Claudio Abbado, in a YouTube video) performed by many members of the Middleton Community Orchestra, and past and future soloists. On the second half of the program, violist Vicki Powell, who is just in Madison for the week, will perform solo works.
The Brahms sounds great. We are lucky to be joined by Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz; violinist Paran Amirinazari who will be Middleton Community Orchestra’s concertmaster in the fall; and violist Vicki Powell plus many other fine players.
THE CONCERT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
By Jacob Stockinger
It could sound like a professional wrestling match: “This Saturday the Über Steinway meets the Colossal Klais!”
The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) German (Hamburg) Steinway piano will meet the colossal Klais Overture Concert Organ (below) in a free concert featuring guest pianist Stephen Nielson and organist Samuel Hutchison.
The concert will take place during the Dane County Farmers’ Market (below) on this Saturday, June 20, at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State Street.
No tickets or reservations are needed for this 45-minute concert.
From familiar hymns to rousing patriotic medleys and stunning solos for piano and organ, this first and only Farmers’ Market organ concert of the summer promises to deliver thrills for all.
American pianist Stephen Nielson made his orchestral debut as a pianist at age 11. During a 30-year collaboration with his late colleague, Ovid Young, Nielson performed more than 3,500 concerts world-wide as part of the distinguished piano duo Nielson & Young.
His 2008 performance with Samuel Hutchison in Overture Hall garnered rave reviews from those in attendance. Nielson received his degree from Indiana University, where he also earned the Distinguished Performer and Phi Beta Kappa honors. Nielson was named a finalist in the Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels and has performed throughout Europe and Asia.
Samuel Hutchison has served as Curator and Principal Organist for Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Overture Concert Organ since 2001. An honors graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, Hutchison has presented many recitals in the U.S and in Europe in locations that include the Riverside Church, New York City; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; and Notre Dame, St. Sulpice and St. Étienne-du-Mont, Paris. He also performed the complete works of J.S. Bach in a series of 11 weekly recitals for the 300th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra and Overture Center for the Arts present the Farmers’ Market Concert in partnership with the Wisconsin State Journal/Madison.com.
Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund. With a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts.
To see the Overture Concert Organ series of concerts for 2015-16 or to subscribe at a 25% savings, visit: www.madisonsymphony.org/organseason15-16
Tags: Artistic director, Arts, Asia, Bach, Baroque, Berlin Philharmonic, Brahms, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, Chamber music, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, concertmaster, Dane County, Dane County Farmers' Market, Europe, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Klais, Klais Orgelbau, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Middleton Community Orchestra, Music, Music director, New Jersey, New York City, Orchestra, organ, Overture Center, Piano, Queen Elizabeth Competition, Riverside Church, Serenade, Steinway, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Westminster choir College, Wisconsin, Wisconsin State Journal
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet closes its 14th season this Friday and Saturday nights in Janesville and Madison with works by Beethoven, Brahms and Shostakovich.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The critically acclaimed Madison-based Ancora String Quartet (below) will present two concerts this weekend to close its 14th season.
The two events are:
A FREE performance this Friday night, May 22 at 7:30 p.m., at the Janesville Woman’s Club Association. Donations will be gratefully accepted.
A ticketed performance on Saturday night, May 23 at 7:30 p.m., in the Landmark Auditorium in the meeting house of the First Unitarian Society of Madison (below), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, at 900 University Bay Drive, in Madison.
Tickets are general seating and available at the door. They cost $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and students, $6 for children under 12.
The program includes:
The Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49, by Dmitri Shostakovich, which presents the composer’s trademark quirkiness in fresh, innocent and fantastical form.
The String Quartet No. 11, Op. 95, “Serioso” Ludwig van Beethoven, where the terse energy is lightened by a melting, lilting Allegretto.
The String Quartet No. 3 in B-Flat Major, Op. 67, by Johannes Brahms, where the beautiful lyricism of the composer’s final string quartet closes with a delightful Theme and Variations movement. (You can hear the theme-and-variations movement, as performed by the Jerusalem String Quartet, in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
A reception will follow the concert.
Current members of the Ancora (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis) are cellist Benjamin Whitcomb, who teaches at the UW-Whitewater; violinist Robin Ryan, left) and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt, who also plays with the Madison Bach Musicians and Madison Symphony Orchestra, and is a weekend host for Wisconsin Public Radio.
With first violinist Leanne League on leave until next fall, we are excited to work this spring with guest violinist Eleanor Bartsch (below), a University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music graduate and a musician of superb musicality with an impressive resume and a devoted local following.
The members’ credentials include degrees from the Indiana University School of Music and the University of Texas-Austin, as well as study at the New England Conservatory and Eastman School of Music. Individually, they have attended numerous chamber music festivals and performed across the United States and Europe.
The four players have well-established individual musical careers as soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players. They perform constantly in Madison and beyond, appearing regularly in such ensembles as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Bach Musicians, the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, and the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Tags: Arts, Bach, Beethoven, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Dmitri Shostakovich, Eastman School of Music, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Indiana University, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, New England Conservatory, Orchestra, String quartet, strings, theme and variations, University of Texas-Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, UW-Whitewater, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: The early music group Ensemble SDG will perform psalms by Heinrich Schütz and other composers as well as sonatas and a canticle this Saturday night at Luther Memorial Church.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Madison-based duo Ensemble SDG will perform a concert of early music on this Saturday night, November 22, 2014, at 7 p.m. in the Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Avenue, in Madison, Wisconsin.
The concert will feature special guests William Hudson, tenor, and Katherine Shuldiner, viola da gamba.
The program includes settings of Psalm texts by Heinrich Schütz (below with his psalms at bottom in a YouTube video), Johann Hermann Schein, and Jacques de Bournonville, with a setting by Johann Philipp Krieger of the anonymous canticle Laetare anima mea, as well as sonatas by Giovanni Battista Fontana, Dieterich Buxtehude and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre.
Ensemble SDG (below) features Madison musicians Edith Hines, baroque violin, and John Chappell Stowe, professor of harpsichord and organ at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. The duo has performed across the United States, and their recording of the complete works of J. S. Bach for violin and keyboard is soon to be released by Arabesque Records.
William Hudson is a founding member and director of LIBER: Ensemble for Early Music and was recently appointed Assistant Professor of voice and diction at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.).
Katherine Shuldiner recently graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, specializing in viola da gamba performance. She lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
Admission to the concert on November 22 is $15; admission is free for students with a valid ID.
Ensemble SDG, a baroque violin and keyboard duo formed in 2009, performs music spanning the entire Baroque period, with a particular focus on the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. The duo has presented works by German, French and Italian composers of the 17th and 18th centuries in recitals from the Midwest to the East Coast. Venues include Fringe Concerts at the 2009, 2011, and 2013 Boston Early Music Festivals; a recital featuring the Brombaugh organ at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois; the biennial meeting of the American Bach Society and the annual joint conclave of the Midwest and Southeastern Historical Keyboard Societies; the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music; Wisconsin Public Radio’s Sunday Afternoon Live from the Chazen; and multiple appearances at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, one being a performance of J.S. Bach’s six sonatas for violin and obbligato keyboard. This fall the duo will release a recording of Bach’s complete works for violin and keyboard.
Ensemble SDG takes its name from the epigraph (below top) used by Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom) to sign many of his works. Soli Deo Gloria (“to God alone the glory”) represents the members’ common approach to music and to life, and it is with this grounding that they approach their technique, choice of repertoire, and interpretative decisions.
Highly sought after as a specialist in historical performance, tenor William Hudson has been described as “positively hypnotic” by Gramophone magazine. An accomplished ensemble singer, Mr. Hudson has performed with many of the nation’s leading early music ensembles including the Boston Early Music Festival Opera, The New York Collegium, The Waverly Consort, The Rose Ensemble, Boston Bach Ensemble, and Ensemble Project Ars Nova (PAN).
As a founding member and director of LIBER: Ensemble for Early Music (formerly Liber unUsualis), he has performed extensively throughout North America and abroad at international music festivals in England, Wales, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, France, Latvia, Estonia, and Spain. Mr. Hudson also enjoys an active solo career, singing the Evangelist in Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion, Apollo in Claudio Monteverdi’s Orfeo, the title role in Giacomo Carissimi’s Jephte, Lucano in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea, Mercury in Eccles’ Judgment of Paris, and Alessandro Stradella’s oratorio San Giovanni Battista with the Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra.
An active scholar and clinician, Mr. Hudson (below, in a photo by Tall & Small Photography) was the winner of the 2009 Noah Greenberg award and has presented at the International Congress of Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo. He has led master-classes and given lecture-demonstrations in medieval performance practice at universities throughout North America. He has recorded with Naxos, Passacaille, Arsis, Titanic and Dorian. Mr. Hudson holds a Master’s degree in Historical Performance from the Longy School of Music and a Doctor of Music in Early Music from Indiana University. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor of voice and diction at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois.
Katherine Shuldiner graduated from Oberlin Conservatory in viola da gamba performance under the tutelage of Catharina Meints. She has performed with Chicago based ensembles such as The Newberry Consort, BBE: Bach and Beethoven Ensemble, and The OC (The Opera Company).
She has also performed with Washington Bach Consort and La Follia Austin Baroque. Katherine recently finished her two-year term on the board of the Viola da Gamba Society of America and was chosen to perform in the first Early Music America’s Young Performers Festival during Boston Early Music Festival. This past summer, Katherine taught at the Madison Early Music Festival as well as the VdGSA Conclave.
Tags: Arabesque, Arts, Austin, Bach, Baldwin-Wallace University, Baroque, Beethoven, Belgium, Boston, Boston Early Music Festival, canticle, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago, Classical music, Compact Disc, Dorian, Early music, Edith Hines, England, Ensemble SDG, Estonia, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florida Atlantic University, France, French music, German music, Germany, Gramphone, harpsichord, Heinrich Schütz, ILLINOIS, Illinois Wesleyan University, Indiana University, Ireland, Italian music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Chappell Stowe, Katherine Shuldiner, Latvia, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Michigan, Monteverdi, Music, Naxos, Newberry Consort, Noah Greenberg, organ, psalm, SDG, singer, Sonata, Spain, Stradella, tenor, Texas, The Rose Ensemble, Titanic, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, Violin, vocal music, William Hudson, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
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