The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Here is a true tale of a famous Mozart opera, sexual assault and Trump Tower
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By Jacob Stockinger
World-famous avant-garde stage director Peter Sellars (below, in a photo by Christian Carisius for the European Press Photo Agency) is known for his unorthodox recasting of operas and Bach cantatas.
But one of his productions, done almost 30 years ago, has proven especially prescient.
It involved the opera “The Marriage of Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which years ago he set in Trump Tower.
The plot centers on the medieval “droit du seigneur” that allowed a nobleman to be entitled by law to have sex with a servant on her wedding night before the husband did. (In the YouTube video at bottom is the famous and so breathtakingly beautiful Forgiveness scene, featured in the Oscar-winning film “Amadeus,” with the faithful Countess and the philandering Count that ends the masterpiece opera.)
In 1988 Sellars set the opera on the 52nd floor of the luxurious Trump Tower (below), as the equivalent of an aristocratic estate, of net-feudalistic excess and wealth.
With great insight and articulateness, Sellars recently discussed with The New York Times the inspired settings in light of the past history, campaign and recent election of President-elect Donald Trump.
The Ear found the interview both enlightening and entertaining, and he hopes you do too.
Here is a link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/arts/music/remember-when-figaro-was-set-in-trump-tower.html?_r=0
It makes you wonder: How will other forms of art deal with the new administration?
Could it be that we are in for more activist protest art, something of a return to the 1960s and such efforts as Barbara Garson’s 1967 “MacBird,” which recast Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth” as a theatrical satire of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, or LBJ, and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson as the Macbeths following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or JFK?
What do you think?
Can you think of other works that lend themselves to such an approach to contemporary affairs?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: "Amadeus", Academy Award, Activism, activist, aristocrat, Art, Arts, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Barbara Garson, Baroque, Classical era, Classical music, Donald Trump, estate, excess, feudal, film, First Lady, forgiveness, Jacob Stockinger, JFK, Ladybird, LBJ, luxury, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Macbeth, MacBird, Madison, masterpiece, movie, Mozart, Music, New York City, New York Times, nobleman, opera, Orchestra, Oscar, Peter Sellars, President, President-elect, protest, servant, sex, sexual assault, Shakespeare, The Marriage of Figaro, Trump Tower, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, wealth, wedding, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Oakwood Chamber Players concludes its season with performances of “Summer Splash” this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet and music by Samuel Barber is included.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement from the outstanding Oakwood Chamber Players, known for giving fine performances of programs that feature both unusual repertoire and classic works:
The Oakwood Chamber Players will round out its 2015-2016 season with a concert entitled Summer Splash on this Saturday, May 14, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 15, at 1:30 p.m.
The concerts will both be held at the Oakwood Village University Woods Center for Arts and Education, 6209 Mineral Point Road, on Madison‘s far west side near West Towne Mall.
Tickets can be purchased with cash or personal checks at the door – $20 general admission, $15 seniors and $5 students. Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.
The concert will honor the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death through Six Pieces After Shakespeare by American composer Craig Bohmler (below). This piece – which was commissioned by the Oakwood Chamber Players and which is receiving its world premiere — explores some of the Bard’s most emblematic comedic and dramatic characters: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and string bass depict the quicksilver movements of Puck, pathos of Ophelia, eeriness of Macbeth’s witches and rollicking nature of Falstaff.
The program will also include Romanesque by Argentine/French composer Reynaldo Hahn (below), a work that radiates charm with its simplicity and heart as well as its sweetly flowing melody. The expressive musical lines are even more emphasized by the melded flute and viola timbres as they join together in unison.
The complexity and artistry of Summer Music by Samuel Barber (below) make it an enduring and fascinating piece of music. Its slow and bluesy beginning shifts to flashes of dissonance with contrasting lofty and flowing lines. As the work draws to its conclusion the listener is returned to the lazily unfolding material of the start, echoing the idle quality of summertime.
Finally, the concert will close with the delightful and uplifting theme and variations movement from the beloved “Trout” Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667, for violin, viola, cello, bass and piano, by Franz Schubert (below). The work gets its nickname from the theme and variations movement based on the song “The Trout” by Schubert. (You can hear that movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for over 30 years.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation.
Tags: Argentina, Arts, Bard, blues, brass, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Classical music, Craig Bohmler, dissonance, Falstaff, flute, France, Franz Schubert, Horn, Jacob Stockinger, Macbeth, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Oakwood Chamber Players, Oboe, Ophelia, Piano, Puck, quintet, Reynaldo Hahn, Shakespeare, splash, string bass, strings, summer, Trout Quintet, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, winds, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Pianist Stephen Hough offers good advice about dealing with stage fright. Plus, “The Met Live in HD” screenings start today with Verdi’s “Macbeth and the UW-Madison brass festival features its spotlight concert TONIGHT.”
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REMINDERS:
“Live from the MET in HD” kicks off today at 11:55 a.m. with soprano Anna Netrebko in a critically acclaimed production of Giuseppe Verdi‘s opera “Macbeth,” based on the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare. The show is at Point Cinemas on the city’s far west side and Eastgate Cinemas on the city’s far east side. Here is a link to more information:
http://www.metopera.org/metopera/liveinhd/live-in-hd-2014-15-season
ALSO: Just a reminder that the spotlight concert of the University of Wisconsin-Madison brass festival is TONIGHT AT 8 P.M. IN MILLS HALL. Admission is $25 for the public, but all students get in for FREE. Here is a link to details about this concert and the whole festival, which winds up Monday.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/brass-festival/
By Jacob Stockinger
Do you suffer from stage fright -– better known as performance anxiety?
The Ear sure does.
But the British pianist Stephen Hough (below) is a breathtaking virtuoso who at least seems never to suffer from stage fright or performance anxiety –- at least not judging by the performances of recitals and concertos that I have heard him give in Madison at the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where he offered master classes.
But what about the rest of us?
It is surprising how many professional musicians, as well as amateur musicians, suffer from performance anxiety and state fright. The same goes for actors and public speakers of all kinds.
But Hough, who writes a wonderful blog that is both very readable and very informative for The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom, recently dealt with the topic in a way that The Ear really admired and found helpful.
Maybe you will feel the same way.
Here is a link:
Do you suffer form stage fright and performance anxiety?
What have you found helpful to overcome it?
Dr. Noa Kageyama (below), a performance psychologist who is a Juilliard School graduate and who writes a respected blog, also has some good advice in a YouTube video at the bottom:
Tags: Anna Netrebko, Arts, brass, brass music, Classical music, concerto, Giuseppe Verdi, Guardian, Jacob Stockinger, Macbeth, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master class, Met Live in HD, Metropolitan Opera, Noa Kageyama, opera, performance anxiety, Piano, recital, Shakespeare, stage fright, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, William Shakespeare, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Classical music education: TONIGHT brings two FREE sendoff concerts by the local youth musicians -– the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Madison Youth Choirs -– before they head off on international tours to Argentina and Scotland.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This is a reminder.
This is A Tale of Two Tours.
Like the tours, both of which will run exactly from July 24 through August 3, the two local groups will also offer competing sendoff concerts at exactly the same time — tonight, Tuesday, July 22, at 7 p.m.
But it is best not to dwell on the conflict or competition.
Instead, The Ear prefers to see it as a reminder that Madison, Wisconsin, is a great place to be not only for culture in general and for classical music, but for classical music education, which has been shown again and again by researchers to reap lifelong benefits in terms of development and maturity.
It involves two FREE sendoff concerts by two important groups of young musicians in Madison.
One is by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ Youth Choir, under conductor UW-Madison professor James Smith, which will perform tonight at 7 p.m. at Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Madison’s East side. The program, a preview of the concert fare to be performd in Argentina, features music by Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Peter Tchaikovsky and Alberto Ginastera.
Here is a link to a previous blog posting about the WYSO concert:
The other concert is the Madison Boychoir (below, in a photo by Jon Harlow), which will perform tonight at 7 p.m. in the Covenant Presbyterian Church, 326 South Segoe Road, on Madison’s near west side.
And here is a statement from Nicole Sparacino, the director of development for the Madison Youth Choirs:
“By a strange coincidence, the MYC send off concert is the same night as WYSO’s send off concert, and the dates of both tours are exactly the same, July 24-August 3!
“It’s pretty neat to think that, combined, over 100 of Madison’s finest young musicians will be sharing their talents on two very different parts of the world’s stage at the same time.
“Over the course of the tour, 71 MYC boys ages 9-18 will sing in medieval cathedrals, perform a joint concert with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and have the chance to meet hundreds of other young artists from across the world. Our boys will even get the chance to test their foreign language skills, as they will have the honor of singing the national anthems of all participating countries during the festival’s Opening Ceremony. (You can see a promotional video for the Scotland tour at the bottom in a YouTube video.)
“We’re so excited for the boys to have this outstanding opportunity.
“Tonight, over 70 boys ages 9-18 from Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) will share an exciting free concert with the community before taking off to perform at the Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Scotland.
“As the only boychoir from the United States invited to perform at the festival, MYC’s lads (below, in a photo by Jon Harlow) will pay homage to the rich musical traditions of their homeland, from folk songs to cowboy melodies.
“It will perform classic boychoir repertoire in three different languages. Concert selections will include the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts,” the powerful “Anthem” from the musical Chess, “Laudamus Te” by Antonio Vivaldi and the Shakespeare and “Macbeth”-inspired “Sound and Fury.”’
The latter is a world premiere work by composer Scott Gendel (below), who is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
For further information: visit www.madisonyouthchoirs.org or call (608) 238-7464.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Aberdeen International Youth Festival, Alberto Ginastera, Antonio Vivaldi, Argentina, Arts, boychoir, choral music, chorus, Classical music, composer, Jacob Stockinger, Leonard Bernstein, Macbeth, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Music, Music education, MYC, National Youth Choir of Scotland, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Orchestra, Peter Tchaikovsky, Scotland, Scott Gendel, Shakespeare, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, video, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, Youth Orchestra, YouTube
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