The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: This Friday night, horn player Dafydd Bevil performs a FREE recital of music by concert-hall composers who also wrote film scores

September 19, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

Attention, brass fans!

This coming night Friday, Sept. 21, at 7:30 p.m., horn player Dafydd Bevil (below) will perform a FREE recital at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, in Madison.

The program features the music of composers equally adept at creating music for the concert hall or the big screen.

The program includes Fantasy for Solo Horn by Malcom Arnold; Castel del Monte by Nino Rota; Romance by Camille Saint-Saens; Elegy for Mippy I by Leonard Bernstein (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Horn Concerto by John Williams. UW-Madison graduate piano student Satoko Hayami (below) will collaborate with Bevil.

Bevil is in the process of recording an album of original works for horn written by film composers, which will be released in the spring of 2019.

While pursuing his doctoral degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, Bevil is currently an Associate Lecturer of Horn at UW-Whitewater; the brass section coach of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras; and a freelance performer throughout the upper Midwest.

For further information about the performer, go to his website at: www.dafyddbevil.com.


Classical music education: Here are two blogs that allow you to follow the tour of Peru by the Youth Orchestra of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras

July 7, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Youth Orchestra (below top) of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras has landed in Peru, and has already rehearsed, and will officially launch its 10-day tour — which includes the capital city of Cusco and the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu (below bottom) — with a performance tonight in Lima.

And thanks to the foresight of the WYSO staff, you can follow the young musicians, along with retired WYSO music director and conductor James Smith, each step of the way until the tour ends on July 15:

Here is a link to a typical kind of blog:

https://wysoperutour.wordpress.com

Here is another version about the tour on Instagram:

www.instagram.com/wysoperutour/

And here is a link to more about the tour — including repertoire by Leonard Bernstein , Malcolm Arnold and Dmitri Shostakovich — and to the group, which gave its send-off concert this past Tuesday night at Olbrich Botanical Gardens:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/06/30/classical-music-wysos-youth-orchestra-give-a-free-farewell-concert-on-tuesday-night-at-olbrich-gardens-before-departing-on-its-tour-of-peru/

Check them out and forward this tour blog story, or a link to it, to friends and family, classmates and the community at large.

You can leave a COMMENT and words of encouragement and praise,

They are making Wisconsin proud — and at a time when the United States could sure use some goodwill ambassadors around the world.


Classical music education: WYSO’s Youth Orchestra gives a FREE farewell concert on Tuesday night at Olbrich Gardens before departing on its tour of Peru. Plus, Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gillliand gets an award

June 30, 2018
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The 80 members of the Youth Orchestra of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will perform a FREE farewell or bon voyage concert on this coming Tuesday night, July 3, at 7 p.m. at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison before departing on an international tour to Peru.

The conductor for both this concert and the tour to Peru is James Smith (below), the retired head of orchestras at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music and the retired music director of WYSO.

The program includes: the Overture to “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein (arranged by Peress); Oberture para una comedia (Overture to a Comedy) by Enrique Iturriaga; the Little Suite No. 2 by Malcolm Arnold (heard performed by a youth orchestra in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Symphony No. 9 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

The historic city of Cusco, once the capital of the vast Inca Empire, is one stop along the way for WYSO students on tour. Other destinations include the Peruvian capital of Lima; Puno; Lake Titicaca; and the legendary Machu Picchu (below), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The students will also perform with the National Youth Orchestra of Peru and attend one concert event.

For more about the tour, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/international-tour-takes-wyso-students-to-peruvian-highlands-and-more/

Youth Orchestra violist Hannah Wendorf says she is looking forward to the experience.

“I am super excited to experience the culture of Peru,” Wendorf says. “I can’t wait to visit both the ancient and modern marvels the country has to offer. Performing for a new audience with friends is going to be amazing!”

Historically, WYSO’s Youth Orchestra has embarked every few years on an extended tour during the summer months for one to two weeks. An extended tour entails substantial expense and detailed planning over a two-year period. The Board of Directors Tour Committee and the WYSO staff are responsible for researching and investigating potential tours and coordinating all tour activities.

During the farewell concert, WYSO will also honor Norman Gilliland (below) with the Rabin Youth Arts Award in the Individual Artistic Achievement category.

Gilliland has been a classical radio host with Wisconsin Public Radio since 1984. He has featured interviews and performances by hundreds of young Wisconsin artists on the weekday classical program, The Midday.

For years, Gilliland brought weekly music lessons to classrooms all over the state as part of WPR’s School of the Air program. He was also a founder of WPR’s Neale-Silva Young Artists’ Competition, which between 1990 and 2013 recognized the accomplishments and artistry of hundreds of young Wisconsin musicians.

For more information about WYSO, including a schedule of concerts and how to join WYSO and support it, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org


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