The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: TONIGHT one longtime, generous classical music patron honors another with a FREE public, all-Schubert memorial concert at Oakwood Village West
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By Jacob Stockinger
Think of it as a well-deserved, heart-felt homage that one longtime and generous patron of classical music is paying to another patron who also happened to be a close personal friend and a professional colleague.
The public is invited to join in the one-hour, FREE all-Schubert memorial concert at Oakwood Village West (University Woods), at 6205 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall, at 7 p.m. TONIGHT, Oct. 19.
Here is an invitation from retired University of Wisconsin-Madison chemist Kato Perlman (below) about the concert she is sponsoring and funding in memory of her close friends:
“Join flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top) and pianist Thomas J. Kasdorf (below middle) for a FREE All-Schubert Evening and enjoy the music from one of the greatest composers of the 19th century, Franz Schubert (1797-1828, below bottom).
“This concert is in memory of the late Irving and Millie Shain. Irv Shain (below) was a chemistry professor and then a long-serving Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, and a great supporter of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
“He played the flute himself and these Schubert pieces belonged to some of his favorites for the flute.
“He also established, in addition to his long-running annual Beethoven piano sonata competition, a woodwind and piano competition. Both Iva Ugrcic and Thomas Kasdorf are previous winners.”
The program is:
Sonata in A Minor, D. 821 (“Arpeggione”)
Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen” (Withered Flowers) from “Die Schöne Müllerin” (The Beautiful Miller’s Daughter), D. 802 (Op. 160)
Ständchen (“Serenade”) from Schubert’s final song cycle Schwanengesang (Swan Song), D. 957 (heard in the YouTube video below)
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Classical music: The world premiere of John Harbison’s Sonata for Viola and Piano this Sunday night headlines a busy weekend at the UW that includes wind music and band music
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By Jacob Stockinger
This is a big and busy weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
The most publicized event this week, justifiably, is the world premiere of a new Sonata for Viola and Piano by composer John Harbison, who has won many awards and honors including a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur “genius” Fellowship. The guest pianist, from Minnesota, is Timothy Lovelace.
The premiere takes place in Mills Hall on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. The Pro Arte Quartet will also play the “Sunrise” Quartet by Franz Joseph Haydn and “Four Encores for Stan” by Harbison. Pro Arte violist Sally Chisholm (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) will perform the new work that was written for her. It was commissioned by an anonymous patron to mark the composer’s 80th birthday.
For more information about the concert, the piece and tickets, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/2018/12/17/world-premiere-of-john-harbisons-viola-sonata/
In addition, Harbison (below) will give a free and public master class on Monday, Feb. 18, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Mills Music Library Seminar Room (Room B162G in the Memorial Library).
But that is far from the only important or noteworthy event going on.
Here is a day-by-day schedule, not including the concert by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Youth Orchestra with guest clarinetist Amitai Vardi that takes place TODAY in Mills Hall at 4 p.m. Here is a link to more about the WYSO concert:
TODAY
At 3 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the winners’ FREE concert of the Irving Shain Woodwind-Piano Duo Competition will take place. To see the four winners and their complete programs, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/irving-shain-woodwind-piano-duo-competition-winners-recital-2/
At 7:30 p.m., faculty member bassoonist Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill), who plays with the Wingra Wind Quintet, and friends will give a FREE concert. Music to be performed includes works by Robert Schumann, John Harbison, Ida Gotkowsky, Emmanuel Chabrier, Georges Bizet, Jules Massenet and Marc Vallon, although specific titles are not listed. For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/faculty-recital-marc-vallon-bassoon-2/
SUNDAY
At 2 p.m. in Mills Hall, a FREE concert will be the inaugural Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition and its winner Midori Samson (below). Scott Teeple is the faculty conductor, and Cole Hairston and Ross Wolf are graduate student conductors. The concert will be STREAMED LIVE. Here is a link to the streaming portal, which also has an archive of other streamed concerts: https://www.music.wisc.edu/video/
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Concert Band will perform a FREE concert under the baton of its retiring director Mike Leckrone (below).
The program, subject to change, include: “Nessum Dorma” by Giacomo Puccini; “Universal Judgment” by Camille de Nardis; “Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti; “La Boutique Fantastique” by Gioacchino Rossini, arranged by Ottorino Respighi; and “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” by John Philip Sousa.
Here is a link to the program: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band/
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Classical music: Flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic is Musician of the Year for 2018
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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
The classical music scene in Madison is so rich that it is always a challenge to name a Musician of the Year.
There are just so many deserving candidates. One obvious example is conductor John DeMain, who is completing his 25th year of outstanding stewardship in directing the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera.
But part of the intent behind such an honor is not just to recognize well-known figures. It is to encourage a broader awareness of those people who do a lot for local classical music but who often fly under the radar for many people.
That is why The Ear is naming flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic (below) as the Musician of the Year for 2018.
As both a performer and entrepreneur, Ugrcic is always very busy broadening her varied career. Being both a player and an activist, she is making a difference, musically and socially, that deserves to be recognized and supported.
Serbian by birth and educated in Belgrade and Paris, she came to Madison where she completed her doctorate in flute performance and also took business courses at the UW-Madison Business School.
She is a first-rate performer who has won a national prize for performing. While at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, she won both the concerto competition (below) and the Irving Shain competition for wind instruments in duets. (You can hear her amazing technique in the YouTube video at the bottom. In it Ugrcic performs “Voice” for solo flute by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.)
She now plays with the Black Marigold Wind Quintet and Sound Out Loud, both of which are based in Madison and both of which devote themselves to contemporary composers and new music.
This year, Urgcic also soloed with the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), performing to critical acclaim a relatively unknown concerto by 19th-century composer Carl Reinecke.
This year, Urgcic also took over as artistic director of the Rural Musicians Forum, which brings classical music, jazz, world music and ethnic music, played by outstanding performers to the Spring Green area, often at the Taliesin compound of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
But perhaps her most long-lasting contribution is her founding and now directing the LunART Festival that, in the same year of the Me Too movement, sought to present an all-women event that featured composers, performers, visual artists and writers.
Such was its inaugural success in 2018 that it won a national prize from the National Flute Association and a second festival will take place from June 9 through June 9, 2019.
2019 will also see the release of her second solo recording devoted to the music of the contemporary Romanian composer Doina Rotaru, even while she is working on a recording of “Beer Music” by contemporary American composer Brian DuFord.
And all that is just the beginning for such a promising talent. We will be hearing much more from her and about her in years to come.
To see her impressive biography, as well as updated activities, video and audio clips, photographs and other information, go to: https://www.ivaugrcic.com/bio
Here is one more thing that speaks to The Ear. It feels important, even necessary, to recognize the positive contributions of an immigrant at a time when the current “America First” administration under President Donald Trump seems so paranoid and negative, so xenophobic and afraid of foreigners.
The U.S government should be less intent on condemning or stigmatizing immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, and should put more emphasis on their contributions and on the long and distinguished history they have in the United States.
Iva Urgcic is yet another example of the talent we Americans stand to lose if we do not accept and encourage the gifts that immigrants bring in so many ways — from the arts, medicine, education and technology to everyday life and work.
Please join The Ear is expressing gratitude and congratulations to Iva Urgcic.
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Classical music: This weekend sees vocal music, band music, woodwind music and orchestral music at the UW-Madison. Plus, a FREE concert of early music for viola da gamba is on Friday at noon
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features Eric Miller (below) playing early music for viola da gamba by Le Sieur de Machy, Johann Schenk and Carl Abel. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
This week brings four major public events at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music: one on Friday; two on Saturday; and one on Sunday.
VOCAL MUSIC
On Friday at 5:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the students in the studio of soprano and UW-Madison voice professor Mimmi Fulmer (below) will present a FREE concert. Sorry, no word on the program.
For more information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/mimmi-fulmer-studio-recital/
WOODWIND-PIANO WINNERS
On Saturday at 4 p.m. in Morphy Hall the four winners of the annual Irving Shain Wood-Piano Duo Competition will give a FREE recital.
The pairs of winners are: bassoonist Chia-Yu Hsu with pianist Kangwoo Jin; and bassoonist Eleni Katz with pianist Rayna Slavova.
The program features music by Noël-Gallon (1891-1966); Henri Dutilleux (1916-2013); Gabriel Grovlez (1979-1944); Eugène Bourdeau (1850-1926); Robert Schumann (1810-1856); Gabriel Pierne (1863-1937); Eugène Bourdeau (1850-1926); and Charles Koechlin (1867-1950)
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/irving-shain-woodwind-piano-duo-winners-recital-2/
BAND MUSIC
On Saturday at 5 p.m. in Mills Hall, there is a FREE concert by University Bands. Conductors are Darin Olson (below), Nathan Froebe and Justin Lindgre. Sorry, no word on the program.
Sunday at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the UW Symphony Orchestra will perform with soloist and UW-Madison alumnus, bassoonist Anthony Georgeson who is Principal Bassoon of the Florida Orchestra. Retiring UW-Madison professor James Smith (below top) will conduct, but the former clarinetist will NOT be a featured performer.
The program is:
Concerto for Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, K. 191, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with alumnus Anthony Georgeson (below bottom) as bassoon soloist. (You can hear Anthony Georgeson talk about music and the cadenzas in Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Un Sourire pour Orchestra” (A Smile for Orchestra) by Olivier Messiaen
“Scheherazade” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
For more information, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-symphony-orchestra-5/
Tags: alumnus, Arts, band, Baroque, Bassoon, cadenza, Carl Abel, Cello, Chamber music, Charles Koechlin, clarinet, Classical music, Concert, concerto, conductor, duet, duo, Early music, Eugene Bourdeau, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florida Orchestra, Gabriel Pierne, Grovlez, Henri Dutilleux, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Schenk, Le sieur de Machy, Madison, Messiaen, Music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Piano, professor, retire, Retirement, Scheherazade, Schumann, singer, smile, Sonata, soprano, studio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, viola da gamba, voice, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, woodwind, YouTube
Classical music education: The three winners of the 29th annual Beethoven Sonata Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music are named, and two of the three will perform a FREE concert on Sunday afternoon.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The results of the 29th annual Beethoven Sonata Competition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music have been announced.
Two of the three winners will perform a FREE concert this Sunday afternoon at 3:30 pm in Morphy Hall with a reception to follow.
The winners (below in a photo by Katherine Esposito, the concert and public relations manager for the UW-Madison School of Music) are Zijin Yao (below right) of China, who will play the “Eroica” Variations; Oxana Khramova (bellow left), a Russian native, who played the Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3, but has an injury that will prevent her from performing on Sunday; and Yana Groves (below center), a native of Ukraine, who will perform Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 27, No. 1 (heard at the bottom played by Alfred Brendel in a YouTube video.)
Zijin Yao is a doctoral student in piano performance and pedagogy who studies with professors Martha Fischer and Jessica Johnson. Oxana Khramova is a doctoral student in piano performance and pedagogy who studies with Professor Christopher Taylor. Yana Groves will finish her master’s degree this spring and begin doctoral studies next fall in the studio of Christopher Taylor.
The judge for the competition was Karen Boe from UW-Whitewater, who also awarded an honorable mention to Haley O’Neil, who studies with Christopher Taylor.
The competition, now in its 29th year, is sponsored by former UW-Madison Chancellor Irving Shain (below).
Read more here: http://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2014/04/02/beethovencomp2014/
Tags: Alfred Brendel, Arts, Beethoven, China, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, Eroica Variations, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Piano, Piano sonata, Sonata, Ukraine, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Yana Groves, YouTube
UW-Madison sister violinists Alice and Eleanor Bartsch join Madison Symphony Orchestra organist Samuel Hutchison for a concert on Friday night. Plus, on Saturday night, UW cellist Parry Karp gives FREE recital that includes Schumann and Brahms.
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ALERT: UW-Madison cellist Parry Karp (below), who heads the UW School of Music’s chamber music program and who perform with the Pro Arte Quartet, will give a FREE and PUBLIC recital on Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. He will perform with his father and mother, Howard and Frances Karp, as piano accompanists. The program includes: “Poem for Cello and Piano” by Charles Tournemire; “Eight Pieces” by Theordor Kirchner; “Pieces in the folk Style for Cello and Piano” by Robert Schumann; and the late Sonata for Clarinet (or viola) and Piano in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2, by Johannes Brahms as transcribed by Parry Karp.
By Jacob Stockinger
Word has reached The Ear:
Sister violinists Alice and Eleanor Bartsch (below respectively, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will join the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s organist, Samuel Hutchison, in a recital of music for organ and violin on this Friday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall at the Overture Center.
The generous program includes Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins; the Double Concerto in D Minor by Antonio Vivaldi; the Finale from Sonata No. 6 by Felix Mendelssohn; the Suite for Violin and Organ by Josef Rheinberger; the Prelude and Fugue in B Major by Marcel Dupre; the Coronation March from “Le Prophete” by Giacomo Meyerbeer; and the “Preludium and Allegro in the Style of Pugnani” by Fritz Kreisler (heard at the bottom in a very popular YouTube by superstar violinist Itzhak Perlman.)
Adds Teri Venker, the marketing director, in a press release for the Madison Symphony Orchestra:
“Sisters Alice and Eleanor Bartsch are a dynamic pairing: both are members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s first violin section with impressive performance credits.
“Each sister has also won prestigious competitions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) School of Music, where they are students.
“Currently, Eleanor is a first-year master’s student at UW and a Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellow, and Alice is a senior at UW working toward a bachelor of music degree in performance.
“The Madison Symphony Orchestra’s Samuel Hutchison (below, in a photo by Joe DeMaio) is a seasoned recitalist and will round out the powerful trio.
“When asked about playing on Overture Stage, Eleanor Bartsch (below) said, it “still takes our breath away! There’s actually a ‘sweet spot’ on stage: If you stand exactly right, the sound seems to ‘jump’ out of the violin and soar all the way to the balcony. I wish I could practice in Overture Hall every day!”
“Alice Bartsch said, “The Bach Double Violin Concerto is a piece we have been performing since we were little girls. The concert has a little bit of everything from the romanticism of Kreisler and Rheinberger to the powerful “Chaconne” by Tomaso Vitali. For baroque music lovers, we will play the lively Double Concerto by Vivaldi.”
Both Alice and Eleanor agree that they have a “sister vibe” about timing and musical phrasing that makes playing together easy, fun, and rewarding.
For more information about the Bartsch sisters and their major funders including retired Citibank executive Paul Collins, retired UW chemistry professor Kato Perlman and retired UW-Madison Chancellor Irving Shain, read the fine posting by Public Relations Director and Concert Manager Kathy Esposito on the UW School of Music’s new blog “Fanfare” :
http://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/bartsch-sisters/
In addition to accompanying the Bartsch sisters, Hutchison will also perform solo works for organ by Marcel Dupré, Herbert Howells, Josef Rheinberger, and Tomaso Vitali.
Hutchison said, “It is a great privilege to be joined by Alice and Eleanor Bartsch in this program for organ and violins. Each brings a great joy and freshness to this music, which will be infectious for the audience. We look forward to sharing some audience favorites as well as some new pieces with our listeners in Overture Hall.”
General admission for the concert is $20, and tickets can be purchased at http://www.madisonsymphony.org/bartsch, the Overture Center Box Office or (608) 258-4141. Student rush tickets are $10 the day of the show with a valid student ID. (See http://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush).
The performance is sponsored by Kato L. Perlman, and by Alfred P. and Ann M. Moore, with additional funding from Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund. With a gift from Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the dramatic backdrop of all MSO concerts.
For more Overture Concert Organ information, visit http://www.madisonsymphony.org/organseason
Tags: Antonio Vivaldi, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Felix Mendelssohn, Fritz Kreisler, Irving Shain, Itzhak Perlman, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Josef Rheinberger, Kato Perlman, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marcel Dupré, organ, organ music, Overture Center, Overture Concert Organ, Paul Collins, Pro Arte Quartet, Robert Schumann, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison School of Music, Viola, YouTube
Classical music: Here is the impressive concert lineup for Semester II — the Spring Semester — for the 2013-14 season at the University of Wisconsin School of Music.
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is only mid-July and Kathy Esposito, the concert manager and director of public relations at the University of Wisconsin School of Music is on the job.
Kathy has sent out the copy for the UW School of Music’s new brochure with the dates and artists for the impressive lineup of concert during the upcoming 2013-2014 season.
You will notice that a lot of artists and groups have still not yet submitted programs. But whatever is available right now is here.
So get out your datebooks and start checking for conflicts and penciling in your favorites.
The list is long, so the first semester – the Fall Semester — appeared yesterday; only the second semester – the Spring semester — is featured TODAY.
Here is Kathy’s introduction:
Hello all,
Attached herewith is our 2013-14 season schedule, which is in the end stages of design and will be printed and mailed this August. I wanted to give you a heads-up, for obvious reasons.
You’ll notice a slew of very interesting concerts. We will feature several highly successful UW alumni, including conductor Ken Woods (below, now working in England); Nate Stampley, Broadway singer; Chris Washburne, a trombonist now based in NYC; and Ilia Radoslavov, a pianist now at Truman State University.
Other guests include Todd Reynolds, a violinist from NYC, Taiseer Elias & Menachem Wiesenberg (presenting classical Arabic and Israeli music), duoARtia (the piano duo of Jeri-Mae G. Astolfi & Holly Roadfeldt), and Third Coast Percussion of Chicago.
Our tuba professor and SOM director John Stevens (below top) is retiring this year, and he will conduct Chicago Symphony Oecgestra’s Gene Pokorny in the work that Stevens wrote for CSO, some years ago. Opera director Bill Farlow (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will also retire, and will present Hector Berlioz’ “Beatrice et Benedict” in his final appearance as director.
We also have much in the way of more contemporary music, both new classical and electro-acoustic, plus many masterclasses and talks that are open to the public. There’s a lot of experimentation happening all the time at the UW School of Music (SOM).
Best of all: all concerts are free – unless noted otherwise with $$.
SEMESTER II
JANUARY
Martha Fischer, piano, and Friends will celebrate the birthday of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) with an all-Schubert program. Faculty Concert
Fri 31, Mills Hall, 8 pm
FEBRUARY
Stephanie Jutt, flute Faculty Concert
Sat 1, Morphy Hall, 8 pm
Les Thimmig, “The Feldman Trios” Part III Faculty Concert
Sun 2, Mills Hall, 1 pm
Prof. Les Thimmig, flutes; Jennifer Hedstrom, keyboards; Sean Kleve, percussion.
Three lecture-performances of the late-period work of American composer Morton Feldman. Final concert.
UW Symphony Orchestra with Concerto Competition Winners
Sat 8, Mills Hall, 8 pm
James Smith, conductor
Our school’s talented musicians perform with the university symphony orchestra.
John Stevens, tuba Faculty Concert
Tues 11, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
With guest artists David Perry, Sally Chisholm, Parry Karp, & Martha Fischer
Mozart’s Horn Quintet, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer, and Brahms’s Horn Trio. All works adapted for tuba.
Daniel Grabois, horn Faculty Concert
Wed 12, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Works by UW composers John Stevens, Laura Schwendinger (premiere), and Les Thimmig.
UW Black Music Ensemble
Thurs 13, Morphy Hall, 8:30 pm
Richard Davis, director
An eclectic group of musicians exploring repertoire of black composers.
Tues 18, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
James Smith, conductor
Todd Reynolds, Violinist Guest Artist
Concert: Wed 19, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Masterclasses on composing, electronic music, violin performance, & entrepreneurship: Wed/Thurs 19/20
Violinist, composer, educator, and technologist Todd Reynolds (below) is the violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, and Bang on a Can, and is a founder of the string quartet Ethel. His performance and compositional style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multi-disciplinary aesthetic, and pan-genre composition and improvisation. Emerging from the classical tradition, Reynolds is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Reynolds studied with violin legend Jascha Heifetz and was principal second violin of the Rochester Philharmonic.
UW Western Percussion Ensemble
Thurs 20, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Anthony Di Sanza & Tom Ross, directors
UW Wind Ensemble
Sat 22, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Scott Teeple, director
Woodwind-Piano Duo Competition: Winners’ Recital
Sun 23, Morphy Hall, 1:30 pm
Generously supported by former UW Chancellor Irving Shain.
UW Concert Band
Sun 23, Mills Hall, 2 pm
Michael Leckrone, director
Hunt Quartet
Sun 23, Morphy Hall, 3:30 pm
Paran Amirinazari, Ju Dee Ang, Lindsey Crabb, Elspeth Stalter
The Hunt Quartet, a joint effort of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, UW and area schools, is comprised of outstanding graduate students from the School of Music who introduce students in grades K-3 to chassical music. This year’s members include Paran Amirinazari, Ju Dee Ang, Lindsey Crabb, and Elsbeth Stalter.
Hunt quartet
UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Tues 25, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
UW composer Laura Schwendinger, director (below)
CCE continues its mission to present the music of living composers. This year’s featured composers include Kathryn Alexander, Suzanne Sorkin, and David Gompper.
Wingra Woodwind Quintet UW Ensemble in Residence
Thurs 27, Morphy Hall, 7:30 pm
Stephanie Jutt, flute; Kostas Tiliakos, oboe; Linda Bartley, clarinet; Marc Vallon, bassoon; Linda Kimball, horn
Christopher Taylor, piano Faculty Concert
Fri 28, Mills Hall, 8 pm
MARCH
Musicians of the Sibelius Academy, Finland Guest Artists
Aulikki Eerola, Pertti Eerola, & Eija Järvelä
In residency: March 1-8
Concert: Sat 8, Luther Memorial Church, time TBD.
Masterclasses: Please check website for details.
Three revered Finnish musicians, all from the faculty of the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, will be in residency at the School of Music during the first week of March 2014 to present master classes, workshops, discussions on Finnish music education, and a concert at Luther Memorial Church on Saturday, March 8th. This residency is made possible by support from the Vilas Trust, the Kemper Knapp Bequest, the Finlandia Foundation, the Department of Scandinavian Studies, Luther Memorial Church, and the Association of Church Musicians.
Pro Arte Quartet UW Ensemble in Residence
Sat 1, Mills Hall, 8 pm
David Perry & Suzanne Beia, violin; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello
Music of Arriaga, Korngold, and Beethoven.
Piano Performance Extravaganza
Featuring Prof. Johannes Wallmann and the students of Martha Fischer, Jessica Johnson, Christopher Taylor, and Todd Welbourne.
Performances: Sat 1, Morphy Hall, all day
Masterclasses & workshops: See website for details.
UW University Bands
Sun 2, Mills Hall, 2 pm
Matthew Mireles, conductor
Winds of Wisconsin
Sun 2, Mills Hall, 6 pm
Scott Teeple, director
A premier high school wind ensemble on the UW-Madison campus.
Blue Note Ensemble, Jazz Composers’ Septet, & Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Thurs 6, Morphy Hall, 7:30 pm
Johannes Wallmann & Les Thimmig, directors
Ilia Radoslavov, piano Guest Artist & UW Alumnus
Fri 7, Morphy Hall, 8 pm
A native of Bulgaria, pianist Ilia Radoslavov (below) earned his doctorate in piano performance at UW-Madison, where he studied with Christopher Taylor and received the Paul Collins Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. In 2009, Radoslavov was the gold medalist in the 2009 Seattle International Piano Competition and also earned first prize in the American Protege International Piano and Strings Competition, followed by a performance at Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall. Dr. Radoslavov is now on faculty at Truman State University.
Parry Karp, cello Faculty Concert
Sat 8, Mills Hall, 8 pm
With Eli Kalman, piano
Works of Beethoven, Ettore Desderi, and Shostakovich/Lera Auerbach.
John Stevens, tuba & euphonium Faculty Concert
Sat 8, Music Hall, 4 pm
A chamber music concert featuring compositions of Prof. Stevens, with guests from the Wisconsin Brass Quintet.
Tuba/Euphonium Extravaganza
Sun 9, Mills Hall, 2 pm
Matthew Mireles, director
Presenting the works of Prof. John Stevens, performed by current and former students.
UW Symphony Orchestra with guest artist Gene Pokorny
Sun 9, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
James Smith, conductor, and John Stevens, guest conductor
Performing Journey, composed by UW Prof. John Stevens.
Gene Pokorny (below) has been the tuba player in the Chicago Symphony since 1989 and was previously a member of the Israel Philharmonic, Utah Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In addition to playing film scores in Hollywood such as Jurassic Park and The Fugitive, he has played in chamber music, opera orchestras, and orchestra festivals worldwide. Journey, a concerto for tuba written by UW Prof. John Stevens, was originally commissioned and premiered in 2000 by Gene Pokorny and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
John Stevens, who will retire from UW-Madison at the end of this year, has been professor of tuba and euphonium at UW-Madison since 1985 and was director of the School of Music from 1991-1996 and 2011-2013. He is also a member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. As a composer and arranger Stevens is internationally renowned for his works for brass, particularly for solo tuba, euphonium and trombone, tuba/euphonium ensemble, brass quintet, and other brass chamber combinations. In addition to Journey, Stevens’ other compositions include the Concerto for Euphonium and Orchestra composed for Brian Bowman, Symphony in Three Movements, a composition for wind band commissioned by a consortium of fourteen American universities, and Monument for solo tuba and strings, commissioned by tuba icon Roger Bobo in memory of the great LA studio tubist, the late Tommy Johnson. Stevens has been a member of the International Tuba Euphonium Association (ITEA) Executive Committee and was recently been awarded the ITEA’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor in his field.
UW Jazz Orchestra & UW Platteville Jazz Ensemble
Mon 10, Location TBD, 7:30 pm
Johannes Wallmann & Allen Cordingley, directors
Opera Workshop
Tues 11, Music Hall, 7:30 pm
William Farlow & Mimmi Fulmer, directors
UW Chamber Orchestra
Wed 12, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
James Smith, conductor
UW Percussion Studio Recital
Thurs 13, Morphy Hall, 7:30 pm
Anthony Di Sanza, Todd Hammes, & Tom Ross, directors
UW Concert Band
Tues 25, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Michael Leckrone, director
Paul Rowe and Martha Fischer Faculty Concert
Wed 26, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch performed by guest artist and UW voice almuna Julia Foster, soprano.
Wisconsin Brass Quintet Ensemble in Residence
Sat 29, Mills Hall, 8 pm
John Aley & Jessica Jensen, trumpets; Dan Grabois, horn; Mark Hetzler, trombone; John Stevens, tuba
APRIL
James Doing & Martha Fischer, tenor & piano Faculty Concert
Thurs 3, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Marc Vallon Faculty Concert
Fri 4, Morphy Hall, 6:30 pm
Presenting “Domaine Musicale”, an homage to Pierre Boulez’s legendary group.
Uri Vardi, cello, with Taiseer Elias & Menachem Wiesenberg Guest Artists
Sat 5, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Presenting “Fusions Continuum,” a recital of Jewish music and Arabic art music.
A master of both Eastern and Western music, oud and violin artist Taiseer Elias enjoys an international career as a performer, conductor, and composer. He is founder and conductor of the first Orchestra of Classical Arabic Music in Israel and is currently the musical director and conductor of the Arab-Jewish Youth Orchestra.
Menachem Wiesenberg is a Professor and Dean of Composition, Conducting, and Music Education at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and also a senior consultant to the Jerusalem Music Center.
Uri Vardi (below) is professor of cello at UW-Madison.
Beethoven Piano Competition: Winners’ Recital
Sun 6, Morphy Hall, 3:30 pm
Generously supported by former UW Chancellor Irving Shain.
Kostas Tiliakos, oboe Faculty Concert
Mon 7, Morphy Hall, 7:30 pm
Twisted Metal
Tues 29, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
The UW horns perform their second annual concert as Twisted Metal, a rock band playing original songs and arrangements by ensemble members.
University Opera $$
Fri 11, 7:30 pm / Sun 13, 3 pm / Tues 15, 7:30 pm, Music Hall
William Farlow, director
James Smith, conductor
Hector Berlioz, Beatrice et Benedict
Call (608) 265-ARTS (2787) for ticket info.
The Center for New Music, University of Iowa Guest Artists
Fri 11, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Presenting performances devoted to late 20th and early 21st-century repertoire.
UW Concert Choir & UW Chamber Orchestra $$
Sat 12, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Beverly Taylor, conductor
J.S. Bach, The Passion of St. John
The Perlman Piano Trio
Sat 12, Morphy Hall, 3:30 pm
Daniel Ma, violoncello; Alice Bartsch, violin; SeungWha Baek, piano
The Perlman Piano Trio 2012 members below) is sponsored by retired UW research scientist Dr. Kato Perlman and provides annual awards for a violinist, cellist, and pianist who present one concert each year of great masterpieces of the piano literature. The UW thanks Dr. Perlman for her support.
UW Chorale
Sun 13, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Bruce Gladstone, director
Anthony Di Sanza, percussion Faculty Concert
Mon 14, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Guitar Ensemble
Wed 16, Mills Hall, 8:30 pm
Javier Calderon, director
Black Music Ensemble
Thurs 17, Morphy Hall, 8:30 pm
Richard Davis, director
An eclectic group of musicians exploring repertoire of black composers.
Pro Arte Quartet UW Ensemble in Residence
Thurs 17, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
David Perry & Suzanne Beia, violin; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello
Music of Onslow, Schoenberg, and Mendelssohn.
Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble
Sat 19, Mills Hall, 4 pm
John Stevens, director
Madrigal Singers
Sat 19, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Bruce Gladstone, director
Blue Note Ensemble, Jazz Composers’ Septet, & Contemporary Jazz Ensemble
Tues 22, Morphy Hall, 7:30 pm
Johannes Wallmann & Les Thimmig, directors
Western Percussion Ensemble
Wed 23, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Anthony Di Sanza & Tom Ross, directors
UW Wind Ensemble
Fri 25, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Scott Teeple, director
UW Choral Union $$
Sat 26, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Beverly Taylor, director
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Vespers
Call (608) 265-ARTS (2787) for ticket info.
University Bands
Sun 27, Mills Hall, 2 pm
Matthew Mireles, conductor
Contemporary Chamber Ensemble
Laura Schwendinger, director
Mon 28, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
CCE continues its mission to present the music of living composers. This year’s featured composers include Kathryn Alexander, Suzanne Sorkin, and David Gompper.
MAY
Brian Lynch, trumpet, with UW Jazz Orchestra & UW High School Honors Jazz Band Guest Artist
Thurs 1, Music Hall, 7:30 pm
Johannes Wallmann, director
Grammy Award Winner Brian Lynch is as comfortable negotiating the complexities of clave with Afro-Caribbean pioneer Eddie Palmieri as he is swinging through advanced harmony with bebop maestro Phil Woods. Having honed his chops as a member of both Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet, Lynch has been a valued collaborator with jazz artists such as Benny Golson, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and Charles McPherson; Latin music icons as diverse as Hector LaVoe and Lila Downs; and pop luminaries such as Prince.
World Percussion Ensemble
Sat 3, Music Hall, 12 pm
Todd Hammes & Tom Ross, directors
UW All-University Strings
Sat 3, Mills Hall, 4 pm
Janet Jensen, director
UW Women’s Chorus & University Chorus
Sat 3, Mills Hall, 8 pm
Beverly Taylor, director
UW Concert Band
Sun 4, Mills Hall, 2 pm
Michael Leckrone, director
UW Chamber Orchestra
Sun 4, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
James Smith, conductor
Master Singers
Mon 5, Mills Hall, 7:30 pm
Bruce Gladstone, conductor (bel0w)
Tags: Eastman School of Music, Franz Schubert, Gene Pokorny, Gustav Mahler, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, Laura Schwendinger, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Meredith Monk, Mills College, Mills Hall, Musical ensemble, New York City, Orchestra, Sibelius Academy, Truman State University
Classical music: Let us now praise retired chemists and classical music patrons Irving Shain and Kato Perlman whose generosity has funded the Perlman Piano Trio concert this Saturday afternoon and the Beethoven Sonata Competition this Sunday afternoon.
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ALERT: English Baroque composer Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneas” will be performed in a partially staged version this Sunday afternoon, April 21 at 2:30 p.m., at Edgewood College in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive. Edgewood College faculty member Kathleen Otterson (below) will play the sorceress. She will be joined by a cast of Madison-area performers including leads Jennifer D’Agostino (Dido) and Michael Roemer (Aeneas). Edgewood College professor Albert Pinsonneault will conduct the Edgewood Chamber Orchestra. Admission is $7, with tickets available at the door. Proceeds benefit music scholarships at Edgewood College.
By Jacob Stockinger
Before we get to the events I want to talk about, let us get to the people who made them possible.
Specifically, I want to give well-deserved shout-outs to two retired research chemists who love classical music.
And who put their money where their mouths are – or, more specifically, where their ears and hearts are.
I am talking about Dr. Kato Perlman (below), an emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
And I am talking about Dr. Irving Shain (below), a retired chemist at the UW and a former Chancellor at the UW-Madison who was also a talented amateur flutist.
Each person has funded wonderful programs at the UW School of Music, and both events annual events will take place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, putting these two figures and friends-colleagues side by side – which is so appropriate and natural.
HERE ARE THE EVENTS:
On Saturday, April 20, 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall, the Perlman Piano Trio will perform a FREE and PUBLIC concert.
Members this year (below in a photo by Kathy Esposito for the UW School of Music) are pianist Jeongmin Lee (first row), violinist Alice Bartsch (second row on the right), and cellist Taylor Skiff (second row on the left). They will perform an all-masterpiece program: the Piano Trio in G Major (“Gypsy Rondo”) by Franz Josef Haydn and the Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 66 by Felix Mendelssohn.
Then group will be joined by violinist Madlen Breckbill (top row right) and violist Daniel Jacobs (top row left) in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ dramatic and lyrical Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34. (Below is a photo of all five members.)
(The Perlman Piano Trio Fund provides annual awards for a violinist, cellist and pianist and stipulates that they will present “an annual concert of the great masterpieces of the piano trio (or on occasion, quartet or quintet) literature.” The selection of students is made under the guidance of faculty from the piano and string areas. Their concert is the culmination of a year in which they are coached, as an ensemble, by faculty members.)
Then on Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. — also in Morphy Hall — is a FREE and PUBLIC recital by the winners of the annual Beethoven Sonata Competition (it also allows Beethoven’s Variations and Bagatelles).
The event is now in its 28th year, and each year’s winners seem to get more impressive.
This year’s winners (below in a photo by Kathy Esposito for the UW School of Music) are: Sara Giusti (left), who will play Sonata in E-Flat Major, Op. 31, No. 3; Hazim Suhado (middle), who will play Sonata in F Major, Op. 54; and Evan Englestad (right), who will play Sonata in F-Sharp Major, Op. 78 (at bottom played by Daniel Barenboim in a YouTube video).
It is a great event for Beethoven fans and especially – parents and families, Take Note! — for young aspiring piano students who might be looking for inspiration which they are sure to find at the winners; recital. A reception for and with the Beethoven Sonata Competition winners follows the concert.
Want more information? Here are capsule bios of the winners, which impresses one with the high quality of the students at the UW School of Music:
An Indonesian pianist, Hazim Suhadi was born in Bandung, Indonesia. He began piano lessons at the age of seven at Yayasan Musik Jakarta (YMJ) with Yola Mathilde, and later advancing his studies with the late Soetarno Soetikno. He received his B.A in French and Francophone Studies and B.M in piano performance where he studied with Catherine Kautsky at Lawrence University. He also previously studied with Luba Poliak, Dmitri Novgorodsky, and Vadim Serebryany. His other interests include chamber music and collaborating, where he has received coaching with Wendy Warner, Gilbert Kalish and Dale Duesing. He has also served as the opera accompanist and was involved in several productions, including Bernstein’s “Candide,” Chabrier’s “L’étoile” and opera scenes. His recent accomplishments include his winning performance at the LSO Concerto Competition in 2010 with Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. He also received the Theodore L. Rehl Prize, which recognizes excellence in the performance of chamber music. He is currently finishing his Master’s at UW-Madison with Christopher Taylor.
Evan Engelstad grew up in Eugene, Oregon and graduated in 2010 from Willamette University in Salem with a double major in Music and Physics. Currently a second-year Master’s student in Piano Performance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Evan enjoys teaching piano lessons and accompanying soloists and ensembles. A student of Professor Todd Welbourne, Evan plans to continue his studies at UW-Madison next year in pursuit of a DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy. In addition to his studies, Evan works as the musician at Christ The Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison. Outside of music, Evan’s interests include nutrition, cooking, and watching college football.
Sara Giusti was born in Italy in 1983. She studied piano for eight years under the guidance of Benedetto Lupo at the Conservatorio “Nino Rota” of Monopoli. She also studied with Lazar Berman, Andrea Lucchesini, Nelso Delle Vinge-Fabbri, Riccardo Risaliti, Paolo Bordoni and Pierluigi Camicia. Sara attended Robert Levin’s course at Gargano International Festival, focusing on Beethoven’s piano works. A prize-winner of several Italian national competitions, Sara was awarded first prize, 100/100, at the 2003 Igor Stravinsky National Music Competition in Bari. She has also been particularly active in chamber music, playing concerts in duo, trio and quintet ensembles, including performances at the Conservatorio of Lugano in Switzerland. In 2013, she was a winner of the Irving Shain Woodwind-Piano Duo Competition at UW-Madison. Sara is currently a first year Master’s student in Piano Performance at the UW-Madison where she studies with Professor Christopher Taylor.
Tags: Dale Duesing, Daniel Barenboim, Dmitri Novgorodsky, Edgewood College, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, Lawrence University, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Michael Roemer, Sunday, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wendy Warner, YouTube
Classical music: This weekend boasts a wealth of 19th, 20th and 21st century chamber music and vocal concerts — all of them FREE.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend offers a lot of great music, with very varied programs. Plus, all of them are FREE.
But there just aren’t enough days in the week to write separate posting for each of them. So instead, here is a round-up:
FRIDAY, MARCH 1
From 12:15 to 1 p.m. the weekly FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature pianists Vladislava Henderson and Ludmila Syabrenko in piano duets in an unspecified program. (Below is a YouTube video of them playing Schubert‘s beautiful Fantasy in F Minor.)
At 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, University of Wisconsin cellist Parry Karp (below), who also plays with the Pro Arte String Quartet, will perform a FREE recital on the Faculty Concert Series with two of his favorite pianist: long-time collaborator and UW-Madison graduate who now teaches at the UW-Oshkosh Eli Kalman; and his mother Frances Karp.
The program features the Sonata in F Major (1913) by Giacomo Orefice with Kalman; British composer Rebecca Clarke’s Rhapsody (1923) with Frances Karp; and a cello transcription of Cesar Franck’s popular Violin Sonata with Kalman.
On the coming SUNDAY, the program — with a cello transcription of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Horn Sonata substituted for Cesar Franck’s Violin Sonata — will also be repeated and broadcast live statewide on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen” from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Gallery III (below) of the UW-Madison’s Chazen Museum of Art.
SATURDAY, MARCH 2
At noon in Grace Episcopal Church, in downtown Madison on the Capitol Square, a FREE program by Grace Presents will offer a program on art songs that also features songs and the “Liebeslieder” Waltzes of Johannes Brahms for vocal quartet and two pianists. (The church’s exterior is below top; the beautiful and acoustically superior interior is below bottom.)
The program, the order of which is yet to be determined, includes:
Mezzo-soprano Kathy Otterson (below) will sing Reynaldo Hahn’s “To Chloris” and Gabriel Faure‘s “Chanson d’Amour.”
Baritone John Bohman (below) will sing Franz Schubert‘s “Du bist die Ruh” and Robert Schumann’s “Intermezzo” from “Liederkreis” (Song Cycle).
Soprano Rachel Eve Holmes (below) will sing Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Zingara” and Donoudy’s “O del mio amato ben.”
Tenor Jesse Hoffmeister (below) will sing Norman Dello Joio‘s “There is a lady sweet and kind,” and Ned Rorem’s “The Lordly Hudson.”
The vocal quartet of Otterson (below top), Holmes, Hoffmeister and Bohman along with pianists Kirstin Ihde (below top) and Michael Roemer (below bottom) with perform all 18 of Brahm’s “Liebeslieder” Waltzes, Op. 52.
All the singers and pianists have extensive educational and performing experience in the Madison area.
On Saturday at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Wingra Woodwind Quintet (below) will offer a FREE concert. The group will perform Quintet No. 2 in E flat Major by Peter Müller; “Le Tombeau de Couperin” by Maurice Ravel, joined by UW pianist Martha Fischer; Suite, Op. 57, by Charles Lefebvre; and Dixtuor, Op. 14 by Georges Enesco.
The Wingra will be joined by a student woodwind quintet including flutist Erin Murphy, English hornist Allison Maher, clarinetist Paul Yu, bassoonist Brian Ellingboe and hornist Sarah Gillespie.
SUNDAY, MARCH 3
12:30-2 p.m.: “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen”: see above for Friday’s listing for cellist Parry Karp.
At 3:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall (with a post-concert reception in Strelow Lounge), there will be a FREE public recital by the winners of the 7th Annual Duo Competition for Woodwinds and Piano, sponsored by former UW-Madison Chancellor and chemistry professor Irving Shain (below) – an avid classical music fan (and a former devoted flutist) who also started the Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition some 30 years ago.
Here are the winning and performers and programs: Elizabeth Lieffort, flute, and Sara Giusti, piano, performing Sonata for Flute and Piano, op. 14, by Robert Muczynski; Introduction and Variations on “Trockne Blumen,” Op. 160, D. 802 by Franz Schubert; and Danielle Breisach, flute, and Yana Groves, piano, playing the Sonata for Flute and Piano, op. 14 by Robert Muczynski (different movements); Sonatine for Flute and Piano by Henri Dutilleux; Sonata for Flute and Pianoforte by Erwin Schulhoff, movements I and IV. Honorable mention team of Sergio Acosta, bassoon, and Hazim Suhadi, piano.
The program of contemporary and new music, entitled “Heartstrings,” will feature works by Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, Ross Bauer, George Perle and Robert Dick.
Performers include Dan Jacobs, Yosuke Komura, George Rochberg, Roxana Pavel, Erin Murphy, Sergio Acosta and Maxfield Wollam-Fisher.
Tags: Capitol Square, Chamber music, contemporary music, Franz Schubert, Giacomo Orefice, Horn Sonata, Irving Shain, Jacob Stockinger, Jesse Hoffmeister, Laura Schwendinger, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Norman Dello Joio, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Songs by Black composers trace their cultural realities in a free online UW performance TONIGHT of “Verisimilitudes.” Plus, the five winners of this year’s Beethoven Competition perform Sunday.
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ALERT: This Sunday, April 25, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. the five winners of this year’s Beethoven Competition at the UW-Madison will perform in a winners’ concert. Included in the program are the popular and dramatic “Appassionata” Sonata, Op. 57, and the famous and innovative last piano sonata, No. 32 in C minor, Op 111. Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMF0Hd1MJwMg. Click on “Show More” and you can see the full programs and biographical profiles of the winners.
By Jacob Stockinger
The concert could hardly be more timely or the subject more relevant.
Think of the events in and near Minneapolis, Chicago and elsewhere in the U.S.; of the Black Lives Matter movement and social protest; of the political fight for D.C. statehood and voting rights – all provide a perfect context for an impressive student project that will debut online TONIGHT, Saturday, April 24, at 7 p.m.
The one-hour free concert “Verisimilitudes: A Journey Through Art Song in Black, Brown and Tan” originated at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. It seems an ideal way for listeners to turn to music and art for social and political commentary, and to understand the racial subtexts of art.
Soprano Quanda Dawnyell Johnson (below) created, chose and performs the cycle of songs by Black composers with other Black students at the UW-Madison.
Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/-g5hjeuSumw
Click on “Show More” to see the complete program and more information.
Here is the artist’s statement:
“Within the content of this concert are 17 art songs that depict the reality of the souls of a diasporic people. Most of the lyricists and all of the composers are of African descent. In large part they come from the U.S. but also extend to Great Britain, Guadeloupe by way of France, and Sierra Leone.
“They speak to the veracity of Black life and Black feeling. A diasporic African reality in a Classical mode that challenges while it embraces a Western European vernacular. It is using “culture” as an agent of resistance.
“I refer to verisimilitude in the plural. While syntactically incorrect, as it relates to the multiple veils of reality Black people must negotiate, it is very correct.
“To be packaged in Blackness, or should I say “non-whiteness” is to ever live in a world of spiraling modalities and twirling realities. To paraphrase the great artist, Romare Bearden, in “calling and recalling” — we turn and return, then turn again to find the place that is our self.
“I welcome you to… Verisimilitudes: A Journey Through Art Song in Black, Brown, and Tan”
Here, by sections, is the complete program and a list of performers:
I. Nascence
Clear Water — Nadine Shanti
A Child’s Grace — Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
Night — Florence Price (below)
Big Lady Moon — Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
II. Awareness
Lovely, Dark, and Lonely — Harry T. Burleigh
Grief –William Grant Still (below)
Prayer — Leslie Adams
Interlude, The Creole Love Call — Duke Ellington
III. The Sophomore
Mae’s Rent Party, We Met By Chance –Jeraldine Saunders Herbison
The Barrier — Charles Brown
IV. Maturity
Three Dream Portraits: Minstrel Man, Dream Variation; I, Too — Margaret Bonds (below)
Dreams — Lawren Brianna Ware
Song Without Words — Charles Brown
Legacy
L’autre jour à l’ombrage (The Other Day in the Shade) — Joseph Boulogne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges, below)
The Verisimilitudes Team
Quanda Dawnyell Johnson — Soprano and Project Creator
Lawren Brianna Ware – -Pianist and Music Director
Rini Tarafder — Stage Manager
Akiwele Burayidi – Dancer
Jackson Neal – Dancer
Nathaniel Schmidt – Trumpet
Matthew Rodriguez – Clarinet
Craig Peaslee – Guitar
Aden Stier –Bass
Henry Ptacek – Drums
Dave Alcorn — Videographer
Here is a link to the complete program notes with lyrics and composer bios. And a preview audio sample is in the YouTube video at the bottom: https://simplebooklet.com/verisimilitudesprogramnotes#page=1
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