The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Concerts on the Square begin this Wednesday night – and half of the six concerts feature classical music
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By Jacob Stockinger
The 36th annual FREE summer series of six Concerts on the Square, performed by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) and guest soloists, will begin this Wednesday night, June 26, at 7 p.m. on the King Street Corner of the Capitol Square in downtown Madison.
Each concert draws an average of 30,000 people.
But if you think it is largely a pops concert event, think again.
One of the many outstanding achievements that WCO music director Andrew Sewell (below) has brought to the event – billed as “the Biggest Picnic of Summer” — over the past 20 years is an increased emphasis on classical music, perhaps to help build new audiences for the WCO’s winter Masterworks concerts.
The opening concert, for example, has become a tradition, a chance to introduce to the public the latest winner of the WCO’s young people’s concerto competition – and this year is no different.
Three of the six concerts will be also all-classical – and that’s not counting Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” that will be featured on the Fourth of July program on July 3.
There will also be pops music of course, including a tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ iconic album “Abbey Road”; patriotic fare for Independence Day; and an evening of movie scores, most composed by John Williams, with concertmaster Suzanne Beia as violin soloist in the theme from “Schindler’s List.”
All concerts are on six consecutive Wednesday nights from June 28 through July 31. Performances begin at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capitol Square. They usually last about two hours.
To find out more, including the programs and biographies of performers for each program, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performance-listing/category/concerts-on-the-square
Once there, if you click on a specific date, on the right hand side you will also find information about concert etiquette, seating on the Capitol lawn, weather cancellations, catering menus, food vendor sales and other information, including details about volunteering and donating. Here is a link to general guidelines:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/concerts-on-the-square/attending-the-concert/
Here are the three classical concerts:
JUNE 26
“East Meets West” features the WCO’s concerto competition winner pianist Sakurako Eriksen (below) – a Madison native now living in Milwaukee — in the popular and virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev.
Also on the program are “Francesca da Rimini” by Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; “Noble and Sentimental Waltzes” by French composer by Maurice Ravel; and an unnamed work by Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz.
JULY 10
“Finlandia” features the Russian-born and Moscow Conservatory-trained accordion virtuoso Sergei Belkin (below).
On the program are unnamed works by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak and Alexander Glazunov; “Oblivion” by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla; the “Sabre Dance” by Russian composer Aram Khachaturian; and “Finlandia” by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.
JULY 31
“Rockin’ Rachmaninov” features Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev (below), a frequent WCO guest artist who teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York City.
The program includes the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, by Sergei Rachmaninov; the Overture to the opera “The Magic Flute” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the 1944 “Cornish Rhapsody” piano concerto score, composed by English composer Hubert Bath for the World War II film “Love Story”; and a Suite from “The Firebird” by Igor Stravinsky.
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Classical music: Pianist James Giles will replace Ya-Fei Chuang for TONIGHT’s recital at Farley’s House of Pianos
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the followed announcement from Farley’s House of Pianos about its solo recital tonight.
“We are sad to announce that pianist Ya-Fei Chuang has sustained an injury that will prevent her from performing for us TONIGHT and teaching a master class on Sunday. It is our intent to reschedule her as soon as her health and schedule permit.
“In the meantime, we are very fortunate that James Giles (below), of Northwestern University, is able to step in and perform for us, and we are excited about the program and repertoire he has shaped for us.
“We apologize for this last-minute change, but are excited to introduce James Giles to our Salon Piano Series audience, and look forward to seeing you TONIGHT at 7:30 p.m. at 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.”
His recital at Salon Piano Series will include works of Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Isaac Albeniz, Ignaz Jan Paderewski, Leopold Godowsky and others.
An artist’s reception will follow the concert.
Tickets are $50 in at the door ($10 for tickets) and $45 in advance at:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3499200
For more information about the master class, including participants and repertoire, call Farley’s at (608) 271-2626 or go to:
Giles has been praised as “a technically polished, elegant pianist” (Sibelius Academy, Helsinki), “with a riveting intelligence given to everything he play[s],” (Wigmore Hall, London), a “distinctive interpretive persona [and] beautiful pianism … direct and unmannered” (Alice Tully Hall, New York). His Paris recital at the Salle Cortot in 2004 was hailed as “a true revelation, due equally to the pianist’s artistry as to his choice of program.” (You can hear Giles playing the Humoresque by Robert Schumann in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Giles regularly performs in important musical centers in America, Europe, and Asia, in solo and chamber recitals and as concerto soloist. A native of North Carolina, he studied at the Manhattan School, the Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, and at Oberlin College. He was awarded a Fulbright Grant to study in Italy with the legendary Russian pianist Lazar Berman.
Coordinator of the Piano Program and Director of Music Performance Graduate Studies at Northwestern University, Giles is director of the Amalfi Coast Music Festival during the summers, and was director of the 2017 American Liszt Society Festival.
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Classical music: On Thursday and Friday nights, brass music and a modernist homage to Martin Luther King round out UW-Madison concerts before spring break
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By Jacob Stockinger
Spring Break at the University of Wisconsin-Madison starts on Saturday. But there are noteworthy concerts right up to the last minute.
THURSDAY
On this Thursday night, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the acclaimed Wisconsin Brass Quintet (below, in 2017, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson) will perform a FREE concert.
The program by the faculty ensemble includes music by William Byrd; Isaac Albeniz; Leonard Bernstein; Aaron Copland; David Sampson; Anton Webern; Joan Tower; Ennio Morricone; and Reena Esmail.
For more details, including the names of quintet members and guest artists who will participate as well as the complete program with lengthy notes and background about the quintet, go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/wisconsin-brass-quintet-3-14-2019/
FRIDAY
On this Friday night, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison bassoonist Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill) – who worked in Paris with the renowned 20th-century composer and conductor Pierre Boulez – will host another concert is his series of “Le Domaine Musical” that he performs with colleagues.
Vallon explains:
Every year, I put together a concert devoted to the masterpieces of the 1950-2000 period. We call it “Domaine Musical,” which was the group founded in Paris by Pierre Boulez in the 1950s. Its subtitle is : “Unusual music for curious listeners.”
“The series offers Madison concert-goers an opportunity to hear rarely performed music of the highest quality, played by UW-Madison faculty, students and alumni.
“The program features a deeply moving piece by Luciano Berio, O King, written in 1968 after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.” (You can hear “O King” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The all-modernist program is:
Pierre Boulez (below), Dialogues de l’Ombre Double (Dialogues of the Double Shadow) for solo clarinet and electronics.
Luciano Berio (below), O King and Folk Songs.
Also included are unspecified works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Timothy Hagen.
Guest performers are Sarah Brailey, soprano (below); Alicia Lee, clarinet; Leslie Thimmig, basset horn; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello; Timothy Hagen, flute; Yana Avedyan, piano; Paran Amirinazari, violin; and Anthony DiSanza, percussion.
For more information, including a story about a previous concert in “Le Domaine Musical,” go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/le-domaine-musical-with-marc-vallon/
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Classical music: Cliburn-winning pianist Kenneth Broberg makes his Madison debut with a FREE master class this evening and a recital Sunday afternoon at Farley’s House of Pianos
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By Jacob Stockinger
A 25-year-old Minneapolis native, pianist Kenneth Broberg (below in a photo by Jeremy Enlow for The Cliburn) won the silver medal at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
His 2017-2018 debut season as a Cliburn medalist included recital engagements in cities across the United States and Europe. His debut solo album was released by Decca Gold in August 2017.
This weekend, Broberg — whose playing The Ear finds impressively beautiful — makes his Madison debut at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on the far west side near West Towne Mall, as part of the Salon Piano Series.
Broberg will be featured in a master class with local young pianists and a solo recital.
For more about Broberg, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Broberg
And to the pianist’s home web site: https://kennybroberg.com
For more about the Salon Piano Series and the other three concerts this season, along with videos and reviews, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org
You can also hear Broberg play a lyrical and well-known Impromptu by Franz Schubert in the YouTube video at the bottom. He also has many other performances on YouTube, including some from the Cliburn competition.
Here are details about his appearances:
MASTER CLASS
Broberg will give a master class with local piano students THIS EVENING from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Farley’s House of Pianos.
The literature being played is: Sonata in B-Flat Major, K. 333, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Des Abends” (Evening) and “Grillen” (Whims) from “Fantasiestuecke (Fantasy Pieces) Op. 12, by Robert Schumann; and “Evocation” and “El Puerto” for the “Iberia” Suite by Isaac Albéniz
The master class is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Children must be age 6 and over to attend.
SOLO RECITAL
On Sunday afternoon, Nov. 4, at 4 p.m. Broberg will perform a solo recital at Farley’s House of Pianos in the main showroom.
The program includes: Prelude, Fugue and Variation, Op. 18, by Cesar Franck and Harold Bauer; Sonata in E minor “Night Wind,” Op. 25, No. 2, by Nikolai Medtner; Toccata on “L’Homme armé” by Marc-André Hamelin; “Children’s Corner” Suite by Claude Debussy (movements are “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum; Jimbo’s Lullaby; Serenade for the Doll; The Snow Is Dancing; The Little Shepherd; and Golliwog’s Cakewalk); and Three Preludes by George Gershwin.
Advance and online tickets are $45 for adults and $10 for students, and are available at brownpapertickets.com or at Farley’s House of Pianos (608) 271-2626. Tickets at the door are $50. More details are at SalonPianoSeries.org
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Classical music: Duo-pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung perform Schubert and Poulenc at Farley’s House of Pianos this Sunday afternoon. Plus, a FREE guitar concert takes place at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: The week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, held from 12:15 to 1 pm. at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features guitarist Steve Waugh, who will perform music by Johann Sebastian Bach, John Dowland, Isaac Albeniz, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Francisco Tarrega and more.
By Jacob Stockinger
As part of the Salon Piano Series held at Farley’s House of Pianos, Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung (below) will perform numerous pieces by Franz Schubert and a concerto by Francis Poulenc, all for one piano-four hands and for two pianos.
The concert is this Sunday, Jan. 17, starting at 4 p.m. when Bill Lutes, a local distinguished piano teacher who also used to be the music director and a program host at Wisconsin Public Radio and a voice coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music and University Opera, will give an introduction to the concert.
Tickets are $45 in advance or $50 at the door, and are available online at salonpianoseries.org, or at Farley’s House of Pianos (call 608 271-2626) or Orange Tree Imports.
But a new development will help students, says Renee Farley.
“The Salon Piano Series recently got word of being awarded a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board,” says Farley. “Their board liked what we do, but wanted us to increase our outreach to younger people. So, effective today we are offering student tickets to this concert for $30 each. Right now this is just being offered for the Bax-Chung concert. But our SPS board meets later this month and will discuss how to handle it for future programs.”
The two-piano pieces will be played on rare “twin” pianos restored by Farley’s House of Pianos: a 1914 Mason & Hamlin CC and a 1914 Mason & Hamlin BB.
Bax, a winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, started off 2016 performing several concerts in Japan with other concerts scheduled in Spain, Chile, South Korea and China.
Chung, an alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, is a winner of the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts and an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Governor General of Canada. In 2015, she performed in Canada, Italy, Germany and Argentina.
Here is the program:
Fantasia in F Minor, D. 940 — Schubert
Andantino varie, D. 823 — Schubert
Military March No. 1, D. 733 — Schubert
Lebensstürme, D. 947 — Schubert
Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in D minor, original transcription for two solo pianos — Poulenc (NOTE: You can hear the poignant Mozartian second movement in its original form and with the composer at a keyboard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Salon Piano Series is a non-profit organization founded by Tim and Renée Farley to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts at Farley’s House of Pianos.
For ticket information and concert details see salonpianoseries.org.
All events are held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near the Beltline. Plenty of free parking is available and it is easy to reach by bicycle or Madison Metro.
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Classical music: The Ear hears the impressive young pianist Joyce Yang and thinks Madison needs more piano recitals. Plus, a FREE concert of female vocal duets is at noon on Friday.
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, held 12:15-1 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature sopranos Susan Savage Day and Rebekah Demaree with pianist Sharon Jensen in duets by Gabriel Faure, Jacques Aubert, Jules Massenet, Claudio Monteverdi, UW-Madison alumnus Lee Hoiby and more.
By Jacob Stockinger
There he was last Thursday, sitting in the lower balcony in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The Ear was in Piano Himmel, listening to a masterful performance.
The occasion was a solo piano recital by Joyce Yang (below), an up-and-coming, prize-winning Korea-born and America-trained pianist, still in her late 20s, who was making her Madison debut.
And the same thought haunted The Ear, himself an avid amateur pianist, that also came to him during a fine student piano recital this summer.
That thought was simply this: Madison needs to have many more solo piano recitals.
The piano is perhaps the one most commonly studied musical instrument and is a staple of music education, so the potential audience should be there. The repertoire is vast and wonderful. And the piano just hasn’t been receiving its due compared to the many new choral groups and chamber music ensembles that always seem to be proliferating in the area.
The Wise Teacher recalls years ago when almost a dozen solo piano recitals happened during a single season. This season there are only three -– and two have already taken place.
One was the recital of Mendelssohn, Franck and Chopin by Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino (below top) on Oct. 4 at Farley’s House of Pianos on its Salon Piano Series. (The Ear couldn’t go because he is was in Chicago that afternoon hearing a piano recital by Maurizio Pollini.) The second was by Joyce Yang. The third one will be the performance by UW-Madison virtuoso professor Christopher Taylor (below bottom) on Friday, Feb 26. (No program has yet been announced.)
Here is an afterthought: Maybe the Madison Symphony Orchestra could start a piano series like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra offers on Sunday afternoons?
Let’s be clear: This is a matter more of pleasure and education than of justice.
Take Yang’s performance, which drew an unfortunately small house of only 300-400.
The first half was remarkable for both the clarity and color she possessed. Ethnic themes, folk songs and folk dances, especially Latin American and Spanish in nature, united the first half of her program.
She opened with two sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the three “Estampes” or Prints by Claude Debussy and two pieces from “Iberia” by Isaac Albeniz and three virtuosic “cowboy” dances by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera.
In all those works, Yang proved a complete and mature keyboard artist. Her technique is rock solid, but it is her musicality that most impresses the listener. The Ear was particularly struck by Yang’s command of dynamics, her ability to play softly and still project, and to delineate and balance various voices.
The second half, all works by Sergei Rachmaninoff, proved less satisfying to The Ear, if not to the audience. It featured two transcriptions of vocal works or songs — “Dreams” and “Vocalise” — by the late American virtuoso pianist Earl Wild (below).
Unfortunately, Wild himself possessed a Lisztean (or Horowitzean) command of keyboard technique. And like Franz Liszt (or Vladimir Horowitz), Wild just couldn’t resist adding Liberace-like flourishes, flash and trash to his transcriptions in places where simplicity rather than Big Chords would have more than sufficed.
At certain points in a Wild transcription, the work inevitably sounds louche or decadent and over-the-top, like something you might hear at a piano bar or in a cocktail lounge. In short, they are more piano than music. (You can listen to Earl Wild himself performing his own transcription of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise” in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Then came the Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor by Rachmaninoff (below) in its revised 1931 edition. To be honest, this is a Big Piece that is full of sound and fury signifying not very much that The Ear can discern. (The Ear much prefers Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos, preludes and Etudes Tableaux.)
To be sure, the bombastic sonata requires impressive and powerful piano playing, which must explain the muscular work’s popularity among professional pianists and certain segments of the public. It is a Wower and wow us it does, although many of us would rather be seduced than wowed.
The sonata surely is effective in live performance and brought an immediate standing ovation. That, in turn, was rewarded with another Earl Wild transcription this time of George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.” Too bad the love once again seemed overpowered by difficult but flawlessly executed scales and runs.
But putting those shortcomings aside, the sound of an amazingly played piano recital was such a welcome experience.
The Ear hopes that many more of them are somehow in store.
Tags: Argentina, Arts, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chopin, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, concerto, dance, Daniel del Pino, Debussy, Domenico Scarlatti, Dreams, duet, Earl Wild, Estampes, etude, Farley's House of Pianos, Faure, First Unitarian Society of Madison, folk dance, Folk music, Franck, George Gershwin, Ginastera, Horowitz, Iberia, Isaac Albéniz, Jacob Stockinger, Joyce Yang, Jules Massenet, Korea, Lee Hoiby, Liberace, lieder, Liszt, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn, Monteverdi, Music, music educaiton, Musical instrument, Piano, Piano concerto, Prelude, prints, recital, Sonata, songs, soprano, Spain, student recitals, The Man I Love, transcription, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vladimir Horowitz, vocal music, vocalise, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Classical music: The venerable Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble opens its 18th season with fabulous Baroque music fabulously played. Plus, pianist Joyce Yang gives a FREE and PUBLIC master class Wednesday afternoon.
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ALERT: Late news comes that pianist Joyce Yang will give a FREE and PUBLIC master class for the UW-Madison School of Music on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Play Circle of the Wisconsin Union Theater. On Thursday at 8 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater, Yang will perform a solo recital of music by Domenico Scarlatti, Claude Debussy, Isaac Albeniz, Alberto Ginastera and Sergei Rachmaninoff. For more information about Joyce Yang, the concert and tickets, visit:
http://www.uniontheater.wisc.edu/Season15-16/joyce-yang.html
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) opened its new season in Madison with a fine concert at the Gates of Heaven on Saturday night.
As always, the program was varied in contents and in performer involvements.
Running as a thread throughout was the artistry of University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music professor and soprano Mimmi Fulmer (below center left, in a photo by John W. Barker) and mezzo-soprano Consuelo Sañudo (below center right), a familiar team.
At intervals, they sang a pair of madrigals by Girolamo Frescobaldi (most familiar as a keyboard composer); an extended setting by Marc-Antoine Charpentier of the Miserere Psalm, with concluding lines added from the Lamentations of Jeremiah; and an Ave Maria by the really obscure Dutch composer Benedictus Buns (c.1642-1716), also known as Benedictus a Sancto Josepho.
The instrumentalists (Nathan Giglierano, Mary Parkinson, violins; Brett Lipshutz and Monica Steger, flutes; Eric Miller, gamba; plus cellist Anton TenWolde and Max Yount, harpsichord, as continuo) joined with them variously as appropriate, to lovely effects.
At one extreme of texture, violinist Perkinson, supported by continuo, played a richly demanding sonata by Johann Heinrich Schmelzer. At the other extreme, all the players joined in for a vivacious finale with excerpts from the Suite in E minor from the first book of Georg Philipp Telemann’s Musique de Table (Tafelmusik) anthologies.
For me, however, and I think for a lot of the good-sized audience, the real high point of the program came just after the intermission, when the two violinists, with continuo, gave an absolutely smashing rendition of the Follia Sonata, the last of the 12 Trio Sonatas, Op. 1, by Antonio Vivaldi. (Below in an ensemble shot by John W. Barker.)
In this tour de force of writing, Vivaldi surpassed his model, Arcangelo Corelli’s Violin Sonata Op. 5, No. 12, whose 19 variations, cascade one virtuosic extravagance after another. (You can hear the Vivaldi’s “La Follia” sonata in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
Fabulous Late Baroque music, fabulously played!
The WBE has been giving these concerts for the past 18 years. They continue to be unpretentious but thoroughly satisfying programs of Baroque chamber music in an appropriate chamber setting. Long may they continue!
The group’s next concert in Madison will be on Sunday, Nov. 29, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.
For more information visit: http://www.wisconsinbaroque.org
Tags: Alberto Ginastera, American Record Guide, Antonio Vivaldi, Arcangelo Corelli, Arts, Ave Maria, Baroque, Benedictus Buns, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Domenico Scarlatti, Early music, flute, gamba, Georg Philipp Telemann, harpsichord, instrumental music, Isaac Albéniz, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Joyce Yang, La Folia, la Follia, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, master class, Medieval history, Mezzo-soprano, Music, Orchestra, Schmelzer, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, Sonata, soprano, Suite, Tafelmusik, theme and variations, trio, trio sonata, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, viola da gamba, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Union Theater, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: There is a lot of FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC classical music for guitar, cello, trombone, flute and piano trio this week and weekend at the University of Wisconsin School of Music.
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By Jacob Stockinger
It is only Wednesday, and already twice this week I have already spotlighted two big and important upcoming music events at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On Friday night is the second SoundWaves lecture-concert at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery. Here is a link to that post:
Also on Friday night is the first of three performances of George Frideric Handel’s opera “Ariodante.” The performance marks the opening production of this season at the University Opera. Here is a link to that post:
But you know the semester is starting to wind towards its end when you start seeing the concerts pile up.
So consider what else in the way of smaller events is happening – what other FREE and PUBLIC concerts – at the UW-Madison during the rest of the week.
CLASSICAL GUITAR
Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW guitarist Javier Calderon (below) will give a FREE and PUBLIC recital on the UW Faculty Concert Series.
The program includes: “Ancien Lute Dances” by Abel Carlevaro; Variations, Op. 9, by Fernando Sor; Suite for Lute No. 1 BWV 996, by Johann Sebastian Bach; ”Cafe 1930” by Astor Piazzolla; “Three pieces” by Manuel Ponce; “Aire de Bolivia’ by Gaston Caba; “Torre Bermeja,” “Pavana Capriccio” and “Sevilla” by Isaac Albeniz.
When Javier Calderon played his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall, The New York Times called him “…a virtuoso with poetic sensibility.” Since then many composers, including the eminent American Alan Hovhaness and Lawrence Weiner, have been writing and dedicating guitar concertos and solo pieces to Calderon.
At age 17 Javier Calderon thrilled the audience of his native city of La Paz, Bolivia the evening he played with the Bolivian National Symphony Orchestra. Then he was invited to the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.
Soon after, the legendary Andres Segovia awarded the young guitarist a scholarship to study under his tutelage in Spain. Calderon, who is also an accomplished cellist, studied interpretation with Janos Starker. Javier Calderon now tours extensively in the United States, Europe, South America and the Far East.
He appears regularly as concert soloist with orchestras including the St. Louis and Atlanta symphonies and the Minnesota Orchestra and in solo recitals throughout the world. Javier Calderon has performed chamber music concerts with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and has been featured at numerous international music festivals.
Professor Calderon (below) founded and heads the UW-Madison guitar program.
TROMBONE AND PIANO
On Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. in Mills hall, UW-Madison trombonist Mark Hetzler (below top, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) and UW pianist Martha Fischer (below bottom) will present a special program – FREE and open to the PUBLIC — on the Faculty Concert Series.
It is called “Meditations and Visions: The Music of Anthony Plog and Anthony Barfield” and consists of two modern works that feature lyricism and technical virtuosity in a rich romantic language.
FLUTE TRIOS
On Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW saxophonist Les Thimmig will perform the second of three installments presenting the late-period Trios of American composer Morton Feldman. It is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Also performing will be Jennifer Hedstrom, keyboards; and Sean Kleve, percussion. This performance will present Feldman’s “Crippled Symmetry” (1983). The next concert in the series is February 2, 2014.
DUO-CELLISTS
On Sunday at 8 p.m. in Morphy Hall, duo-cellists German Marcano (a UW-Madison alumnus, below top) and Pablo Mahave-Veglia (below bottom), will present a FREE and PUBLIC program on the Guest Artist Series.
The program includes “Tonadas,” by Diaz and Galindez, arranged by German Marcano; Suite in C Major, BWV 1009 by Johann Sebastian Bach; “Sonsoneo” by Alvarez; ”Cello Tango” by Federico Ruiz; and Sonata for Two Cellos by Jose Maria Castro.
Marcano and Mahave-Veglia will also be giving a FREE and PUBLIC master class on Monday October 28 at 12:15 p.m. in Mills Hall.
On Sunday night at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW cellist Parry Karp (below), who heads the chamber music program at the UW-Madison School of Music and who performs with the Pro Arte Quartet, will be featured in a FREE program of piano trios.
Karp will perform violinist Suzanne Beia and pianist Thomas Kasdorf, who is also a UW alumnus.
The program includes: the Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 1 No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven; the Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 26, by Antonin Dvorak; and the Piano Trio in D Minor, Op. 32, by Anton Arensky. (Its gorgeously lyrical and Romantic slow movement — an elegy — is below in a YouTube video.)
Tags: Andres Segovia, Anton Arensky, Antonín Dvořák, Cello, flute, George Frideric Handel, guitar, Isaac Albéniz, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, La Paz, Les Thimmig, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mark Hetzler, Morton Feldman, Piano, Piano Trio, Pro Arte Quartet, Sunday, Trombone, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Yo-Yo Ma
Classical music: Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino returns this Friday night to Farley’s to play music by Granados, De Falla, Albeniz, Mompou and Liszt.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Farley’s House of Pianos will welcome back internationally recognized Spanish pianist Daniel del Pino on this Friday night, January 25, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. for a salon concert of mostly Spanish music, followed by a reception for the artist.
Born in Lebanon of Spanish parents, del Pino draws influences from his piano studies in Spain, as well as the United States where he earned a Master’s degree in piano performance from Yale. He has also spent time teaching piano in Austria, Jordan, Palestine and Spain.
An accomplished soloist, he has performed with orchestras around the world, including the Bucharest Philharmonic and at festivals such as Chamber Music International in Dallas.
A recipient of multiple awards in national and international piano competitions, del Pino has performed in some of the finest concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Dance is a common theme throughout del Pino’s upcoming performance, which features pieces such as the “Spanish Dances” by Enrique Granados (below top) and the “Ritual Fire Dance” by Manuel de Falla (below bottom).
The program also features works by several other Spanish composers, including Isaac Albéniz (below top, in 1901) and Federico Mompou (below bottom).
To close the concert, del Pino will perform Franz Liszt’s dramatic and virtuosic “Totentanz,” or Dance of the Dead. (You can see and hear him in a similar Liszt work in a YouTube video from 2011 at the bottom.)
To see the complete program, visit Events at farleyspianos.com.
Tickets are $30 in advance or $35 the day of the concert. A reception will follow the concert. Tickets can be purchased at Farley’s House of Pianos and Orange Tree Imports on Monroe Street, or by calling 271-2626 to reserve tickets by credit or debit card.
Farley’s House of Pianos is located at 6522 Seybold Road on Madison’s west side near the Beltline and West Towne. Plenty of free parking is available at Farley’s House of Pianos, and it is easy to reach by bicycle or Madison Metro.
Other upcoming concerts at Farley’s include:
Solo pianist Martin Kasik in works by Claude Debussy, Franz Liszt and Modeste Mussorgsky; March 23 at 7:30 p.m.
University of Wisconsin-Madison and Pro Arte String Quartet cellist Parry Karp and UW-Oshkosh pianist Eli Kalman in a complete cycle of Beethoven’s cello works: April 19at 7:30 p.m. and April 21 at 4:30 p.m.
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