The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Madison Choral Project performs “Finding Our Path” this Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Plus, the Madison New Music Ensemble performs a FREE concert this Friday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the critically acclaimed Madison Choral Project (below) will give two performances – in two different venues this year — of its seventh annual holiday program.
The MCP was founded and is directed and conducted by Albert Pinsonneault (below), who taught at Edgewood College and now works at Northwestern University. The group’s stated goal is to inspire, enhance and improve life through music. (You can hear them singing the Octet from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In keeping with a format that you often find in places of worship — think Scripture and hymns — the MCP once again uses a holiday formula that remains popular and works very effectively by combining the spoken word with choral music.
This year’s theme is “Finding Our Path” and features music and texts on the theme of feeling adrift, seeking guidance and finding our path.
Performances are on this Friday night, Dec. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Atrium Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive; and this Saturday afternoon, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
Noah Ovshinsky (below), the news editor at Wisconsin Public Radio, will once again serve as the narrator.
Unfortunately, The Ear has seen no word about the works or composers in the musical part of the program, except that two commissions, including a world premiere by MCP composer-in-residence Justin Merritt, will be performed.
PREFERRED SEATING has a limit of 20 per concert. A reserved seat is in an acoustically “prime” spot in the house (center, about a third of the way back from the stage) and costs $40.
GENERAL ADMISSION is $28 purchased in advance and online or $32 at the door.
STUDENT TICKETS are $10 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. Please show valid student ID at will-call to redeem the ticket.
To purchase tickets online, go to: http://themcp.org/tickets
For more information, including a list of other concerts this season as well as recordings and videos, go to: http://themcp.org/concerts-2
MADISON NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE
This Friday night, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. the Madison New Music Ensemble (below) will perform a FREE concert at the Capitol Lakes Auditorium, 333 W. Main St., in downtown Madison, two blocks off the Capitol Square.
Parking is available in the ramp across from Capitol Lakes.
The concert features music by Joseph Koykkar (below), a Madison-based composer who teaches at the UW-Madison; Gabriela Lena Frank; Gareth Farr; Astor Piazzolla; and Paul Harvey.
Performers in the Madison New Music Ensemble are: Danielle Breisach, Amy Harr, Xinyi Jiang, Elena Ross, Joseph Ross and Bethany Schultz.
For more information, go to the Madison New Music Ensemble on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madisonnewmusicensemble/
Or go to the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oehEnNWbA0Q
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Classical music: Percussion quartet Clocks in Motion gives world premieres of two works by UW-Madison composers Laura Schwendinger and Joseph Koykkar this Friday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
Performing world premieres of new compositions by Laura Schwendinger and Joseph Koykkar, Madison’s premiere percussion quartet, Clocks in Motion (below, in a photo by Strom Strandell) will present an evening of experimental new music at the First Unitarian Society of Madison on this Friday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m.
The Atrium Auditorium at 900 University Bay Drive is a stunning piece of architecture (below in a photo by Zane Williams) attached to the historic Meeting House designed by the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright and will provide a wonderful setting for this concert.
Included in this program is the first-ever performance of a new composition, Aviary, by UW-Madison composer Laura Schwendinger (below). Schwendinger’s composition, written for the members of Clocks in Motion plus piano, is a sound tapestry of imaginary bird songs.
Clocks in Motion will also premiere a new composition by composer Joseph Koykkar (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) entitled Time in Transcendence. Written specifically for Clocks in Motion, Koykkar makes use of the group’s hand-made microtonal percussion instruments and a myriad of drums and keyboard instruments.
Clocks in Motion will also perform “Workers Union” by Louis Andriessen, Mallet Quartet by Steve Reich and “Gravity” by Marc Mellitus. (You can hear Clocks in Motion perform “Gravity” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This event is supported by Dane Arts.
Admission is $15 for the general public, $5 for Students with valid ID. Cash or credit cards are accepted.
BACKGROUND
Hailed as “nothing short of remarkable” (ClevelandClassical.com) and “the most exciting addition to Madison’s classical music scene” (Isthmus), Clocks in Motion is a percussion quartet that performs new music, builds many of its own instruments, and breaks down the boundaries of the traditional concert program.
Formed in 2011, Clocks in Motion is quickly becoming a major artistic force in today’s contemporary music scene. Among its many recent and upcoming engagements, the group served as performers at the Interlochen Arts Academy (Michigan), The Stone (New York), The Overture Center for the Arts, Casper College (Wyoming), University of Michigan, Baldwin-Wallace University (Ohio), The University of North Carolina-Pembroke and The Ewell Concert Series (Virginia).
Clocks in Motion members are Matthew Coley, Kyle Flens, Sean Kleve and Andrew Veit.
Find out more at www.clocksinmotionpercussion.com
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