The Well-Tempered Ear
Madison’s Sonata à Quattro performs TONIGHT online for the prestigious Boston Early Music Festival
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following note from the local early music group, Sonata à Quattro (SAQ):
We have a very exciting announcement to share.
Tonight we will be one of the featured ensembles at the 2021 Boston Early Music Festival Fringe Concerts!
The Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is recognized as a national and international leader in the field of early music, and SAQ is thrilled to make its first appearance at this event.
Concert presented during the Boston Early Music Festival’s 2021 Fringe Concerts. Learn more at https://bemf.org/2021-festival/fringe-concerts/
The online premiere of the SAQ concert video will be TONIGHT — Thursday, June 17 — at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, and the musicians will be available to chat during and after the recorded performance.
Please join us at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSfzu6Q6DcU
The 50-minute concert, titled “Musical Meditation and Merriment,” features (below, from left) violinists Christine Hauptly Annin and Leanne League; cellist Charlie Rasmussen; and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt.
This period-instrument quartet will perform the following program: Quartet in G Major, TWV 43:G5 by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767); Duo II in D Minor, Op. 19, No. 2, for Violin and Viola by Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812); Duetto III in G Major, Op. 1, No. 3, for Violin and Cello by Giovanni Battista Cirri (1724-1808, below); and Quartet in D Major, Op. 64, No. “The Lark” by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).
The concert was live-streamed and recorded at the United Methodist Church in Whitefish Bay, Wis., on April 13, 2021.
From the austere fugal opening of the Telemann to the jaunty Finale of Haydn’s “Lark” Quartet — heard played by the Jerusalem Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom — this program offers a reflection on the unimaginable year we’ve just experienced, as well as the stirrings of hope, as we awake to a spring and summer of new beginnings.
The slow movements, with their gorgeous string sonorities, range from still, inner contemplation to poignant pleas, while the fast movements outdo one another in wit, verve and sheer joie de vivre.
Tags: #BaroqueMusic, #BejornBerkhout, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonEarlyMusicFestival, #BostonMassachusetts, #CentralTime, #ChamberMusic, #CharlieRasmussen, #ChristianChurch, #ChristineHauptlyAnnin, #CityofMadison, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #EasternTime, #FacebookPage, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FastMovement, #FranzAntonHoffmeister, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FringeConcerts, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #GiovanniBatisteCirri, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #JacobStockinger, #JerusalemQuartet, #JoiedeVivre, #LarkQuartet, #LeanneLeague, #MadisonWisconsin, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #PeriodInstruments, #RecordedMusic, #SlowMovement, #SonataaQuattro, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #UnitedMethodistChurch, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #WhitefishBay, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, announcement, appearance, Arts, audience, austere, awake, Baroque, Baroque music, beginning, blog, Boston, Boston Early Music Festival, celiist, cellist, Cello, Central Time, Chamber music, Charlie Rasmussen, chat, Christian, Christian church, Christine Hauptly Annin, church, Classical music, composer, Concert, contemplation, coronavirus, counterpoint, duet, duuo, Early music, Eastern time, ensemble, event, exciting, experience, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fast, fast movement, field, finale, first, forward, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Franz Joseph Haydn, Fringe Concerts, fugal, fugue, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Onslow, Giovanni Battista Cirri, gorgeous, Haydn, help, historically informed performance practices, Hoffmeister, hope, inner, international, Jacob Stockinger, jaunty, Jerusalem, Jerusalem Quartet, joie de vivre, lark, Lark Quartet, leader, Leanne League, learn, like, link, live-stream, local, Madison, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Massachusetts, Meditation, merriment, movement, muisicians, Music, musical, national, new, online, page, pandemic, period instruments, pleas, poignant, post, posting, premiere, present, prestigious, program, recoignize, recorded music, reflection, SAQ, share, Slow movement, Sonata, Sonata à Quattro, sonority, Spring, Still, stirrings, string, string music, summer, tag, Telemann, The Ear, thrilled, tonight, unimaginable, United Methodist Church, United States, vello, verve, video, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, wit, year, YouTube, YouTube channel, YouTube video
Will using first names with Beethoven and Mozart help fight racism and sexism in the concert hall?
5 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Why do concert programs read simply Beethoven for Beethoven (below top), but Florence Price for Florence Price (below bottom)?
According to a recent controversial essay by Chris White (below), a professor of music theory at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, it reflects and reinforces sexism and racism.
White is calling for universal “fullnaming” to put women composers and composers of color on an equal footing with the traditional canon of dead white male composers. All people may be equal, but all composers and their music are not.
You can certainly make a case for his interesting argument against using “mononyns,” as he calls them. But it still seems less than convincing to many, including The Ear. It many ways it seems downright silly and arbitrary. Isn’t it obvious that not all composers are equal in quality of their work?
It is the latest dustup in the classical music world, coming right on the heels of, and logically linked to, the idea that Beethoven is responsible for sexism and racism in the concert hall and the so-called “cancel culture” that is allied with the social and political protest movements of the past year, including Black Lives Matter.
That was treated here in a previous post: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/09/19/did-beethoven-and-his-music-especially-the-iconic-fifth-symphony-foster-racism-exclusion-and-elitism-in-the-concert-hall-the-ear-thinks-that-is-pc-nonsense-what-do-you-think/
Here is a link to the complete article by White about the inclusion and absence of first names as it appeared on Slate: https://slate.com/culture/2020/10/fullname-famous-composers-racism-sexism.html
Funny, The Ear thinks of using only last names as little more than a function of: quality, importance and time; of fame and familiarity; and sometimes of promoting clarity and preventing confusion — not of race or gender.
It is why we say Bach (below) when we mean Johann Sebastian, and why we say Wilhelm Friedemann or Carl Philipp Emmanuel or Johann Christian when we mean one of his sons.
It is why we say Richard Strauss to distinguish him from Johann Strauss.
But it also why Haydn means Franz Joseph (below), not his less important brother Michael Haydn.
And why the American composer Henry Cowell is listed with his full name and not just Cowell.
Perhaps one day – if we hear enough of the music by the recently rediscovered Black female composer Florence Price often enough and like it enough – she will be known simply as Price. After all, the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu is not usually listed as simply Takemitsu.
Actually, the Ear prefers using full names for all composers — famous or not, male or female, white or black — especially when it is for the general public. But it seems more a matter of politeness, respect and education than of sociopolitical change and social justice.
That is not to say that those of us in classical music don’t see a need to correct the racism and sexism of the past, to foster diversity and inclusiveness. White has a point. Still, the whole idea of using both names in all cases seems more than a bit naïve, superficial and simplistic as a solution to racism and sexism.
It sounds a lot like the kind of theoretical speculation and contrarian thinking you might expect from an assistant professor trying to get noticed and make his mark on big contemporary issues so that he can get tenure and become an associate professor. A high public profile certainly helps that.
But whatever you think of White’s motives or purpose, his essay is causing a “meltdown” on Twitter: https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/‘fullnaming’-mozart-and-beethoven-to-fight-sexism-and-racism-twitter-squabbles-over-slate-article.1108776/
Should you want to know more about Professor White or to leave a message of either support or disagreement, here is a link to his home website: http://www.chriswmwhite.com
What do you think about the idea of using first names for all composers as a way to combat racism and sexism in classical music?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #African-AmericanComposer, #AmericanComposer, #AsianComposer, #AsianComposers, #Blackcomposers, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CancelCulture, #CarlPhilippEmanuelBach, #ChrisWhite, #ConcertProgram, #CoronavirusPandemic, #DeadWhiteMales, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstName, #FlorencePrice, #FranzJosephHaydn, #HenryCowell, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JapaneseComposer, #JohannChristianBach, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #LastName, #LatinoComposers, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MassProtests, #MichaelHaydn, #MusicProfessor, #NewYorkCity, #NorthCarolina, #RichardStrauss, #SchoolofMusic, #SocialJustice, #SocialMedia, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TheUS, #TheUSA, #ToruTakemitsu, #UniversityofMassachusetts-Amherst, #WilhelmFriedemannBach, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WomenComposers, #YaleSchoolofMusic, #YaleUniversity, #YouTubevideo, absence, African American, all, America, American, Amherst, arbitrary, argument, Arts, asian, audience, Bach, Beethoven, bias, black, Black Lives Matter, BLM, blog, brother, cancel culture, Canon, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Chris White, clarity, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, composers, Concert, concert program, confusion, contrarian, controversial, controversy, coronavirus, Cowell, criticism, culture, CUNY, dead, dead white males, disagreement, distinguish, dustup, Education, equality, essay, Facebook, faculty, fame, familiarity, fight, first name, Florence Price, footing, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, frst, fullnaming, function, Haydn, hear, Henry Cowell, home website, importance, inclusion, inclusiveness, interesting, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, last, last name, Latino, Latinx, leave, like, link, logic, Ludwig van Beethoven, male, males, Massachusetts, meltdown, message, Michael Haydn, mononym, motives, movement, Mozart, Music, music faculty, naive, New York City, North Carolina, obvious, obvious'equal, pandemic, People, Point, polite, politeness, post, posting, prefer, Prejudice, price, professor, profile, program, promote, protest, purpose, quality, Queens, Queens College, race, racism, read, recent, rediscover, reflect, reinforce, respect, Richard Strauss, School of Music, sex, Sexism, share, silly, simole, simplistic, simply, Slate, Slate.com, social justice, social media, sociopolitical, solution, speculation, Strauss, superficial, support, tag, Takemitsu, Teacher, tenure, The Ear, theoretical, theory, time, Toru Takemitsu, Twitter, U.S., United States, university, University of Massachusetts, US, USA, use, Website, white, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, women composers, Yale
Classical music: Friday night, the UW Concert Choir marks the assassination of JFK and the opening of Hamel Music Center. Plus, WYSO gives a Wisconsin premiere with a returning alumna as soloist
1 Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: This Friday night, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra, under conductor Kyle Knox, will present a concert with two guest artists performing the Wisconsin premiere of the Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon composed for them by American composer Jonathan Leshnoff, who is known for his lyricism. (Sorry, there is no word about other works on the program.) Tickets are $10, $5 for 18 years and under, and are available at the door starting at 6:15 p.m.)
The two soloists are principals with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The bassoonist is Nancy Goeres, a Lodi native who is a returning WYSO alumna. If you want to read an interview with her and get more background, you can’t do better for a preview than the piece by Greg Hettmansberger for Madison Magazine and Channel 3000. Here is a link: https://www.channel3000.com/madison-magazine/arts-and-culture/wisconsin-youth-symphony-welcomes-two-special-guests/1143372727
By Jacob Stockinger
At 8 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 22, in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, the UW-Madison Concert Choir (below) will perform its first solo concert in the new Hamel Music Center.
Conductor Beverly Taylor (below), the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison who will retire at the end of this academic year, sent the following announcement:
“The a cappella program is entitled “Fall Favorites: Houses and Homecomings.”
“This year I’m particularly picking some of the pieces I like the best from my years here, although I’ll still add a few new things.
“The “Houses” part is primarily “Behold I Build an House” by American composer Lukas Foss (below), which was written for the dedication of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, and which I thought was a good piece for the opening of the Hamel Music Center.
“We’re also performing the wonderful -and difficult —“Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing,” which British composer Herbert Howells (below top) wrote in memory of John F. Kennedy (below bottom). You’ll notice our concert is also on Nov. 22, the same day in 1963 when JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. (You can hear the Howells work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Besides these two big works are wonderful motets by Orlando di Lasso, Maurice Duruflé, Heinrich Schütz and Melchior Vulpius, plus some African, American and African-American folk songs.”
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #African-AmericanMusic, #AmericanComposer, #AssassinationofJKF, #AssassinationofJohnF.Kennedy, #BaroqueMusic, #BassoonConcerto, #BassoonMusic, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BostonUniversity, #BritishComposer, #Channel3000, #ChoralMusic, #ClarinetConcerto, #ClarinetMusic, #ConcertChoir, #DallasTexas, #DoubleConcerto, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #folksongs, #Frenchcomposer, #Fridaynight, #GermanComposer, #GregHettmansberger, #GuestArtist, #HamelMusicCenter, #HeinrichSchütz, #HerbertHowells, #JohnF.Kennedy, #JohnFitzgeraldKennedy, #JonathanLeshnoff, #KyleKnox, #LivingComposer, #LukasFoss, #MadisonMagazine, #MarshChapel, #MauriceDuruflé, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MelchiorVulpius, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #NancyGoeres, #NewMusic, #OrlandodiLasso, #PittsburghSymphony, #PresidentKennedy, #PrincipalBassoon, #TheEar, #UniversityofTexas-ElPaso, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWConcertChoir, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinPremiere, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouthOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, a cappella, academic, activities, African, African American, alumna, American, annoucement, Arts, assassination, assassination of JFK, Assassination of John F. Kennedy, audience, background, Baroque, Bassoon, best, Beverly Taylor, big, blog, Boston, Boston University, British, British composer, build, Channel 3000, Channel3000.com, chapel, cherish, cherishing, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, composer, Concert, Concert Choir, concerto, conductor, Dallas, dedication, di Lasso, difficult, director, door, double concerto, Durufle, Early music, earlymusic, Earth, Facebook, fall, folk songs, France, French, Friday, German, Germany, good, Greg Hettmansberger, guest artist, Hamel Music Center, Heinrich Schütz, Herbert Howells, Homecoming, House, interview, Jacob Stockinger, JFK, John F Kennedy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Jonathan Leshnoff, KENNEDY, Kyle Knox, like, link'tag, Living composer, Lodi, Lukas Foss, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Magazine, Marsh Chapel, Massachusetts, Maurice Durufle, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Melchior Vulpius, Mills Hall, motet, Music, music critic, Music education, Nancy Goeres, native, new, New Music, night, opening, Orchestra, Orlando di Lasso, perform, piece, Pittsburgh, premiere, President, preview, principal, program, read, retire, Retirement, Schütz, Season, share, solo, soloist, symphony, take, Texas, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Concert Choir, UW-Madison, vocal music, Vulpius, Wisconsin Premiere, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, wonderful, works, written, WYSO, year, years, Youth, Youth Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: On Saturday and Sunday, the Madison Savoyards and Central Wisconsin Ballet team up in Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Pineapple Poll” and “Trial by Jury.” Plus, the first Stoughton Chamber Music Festival starts Saturday
Leave a Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: The two concerts of the first Stoughton Chamber Music Festival will take place on this Saturday afternoon, Aug. 17, at 3 p.m. and on Monday night, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Stoughton Opera House, 381 East Main Street. Admission is FREE with a suggested donation of $15.
Featured is music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Samuel Barber, Edvard Grieg, George Gershwin and Paul Schoenfield as well as Norwegian folk music. The Ear did not receive details, but here is more information from a story in Isthmus: https://isthmus.com/events/stoughton-chamber-music-festival/
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Savoyards and Central Midwest Ballet Academy team up to present two of the less well-known works by Gilbert and Sullivan: the comic ballet Pineapple Poll and the operetta Trial by Jury (below, in a photo by Kat Stiennon).
The performances of the two one-acts are in the Mitby Theater at Madison College (formerly Madison Area Technical College), located at 1701 Wright Street on Madison’s east side, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night, Aug. 17, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 18.
Tickets are $30 for adults; $28 for seniors; and $15 for young people and students. Children 3 and under get in for free.
For more information, call the Mitby Theater Box Office at (608) 243-4000 or got to: www.TrialbyPineapple.com
The music director and conductor of the professional orchestra, who is making his debut with the Madison Savoyards, is Sergei Pavlov (below), who teaches at Edgewood College and directs the Festival Choir of Madison.
The “Pineapple Poll” choreography is by Marguerite Luksik (below) of the Central Midwest Ballet Academy.
The stage director of “Trial by Jury” is J. Adam Shelton (below).
PROGRAM NOTES
Here are some program notes provided by The Madison Savoyards:
In an age of international copyright and patent tension, Pineapple Poll ballet suite is an intriguing story. The composer, Arthur Sullivan, had died in 1900. The 50-year copyright moratorium on his music expired in 1950, but his librettist partner, W.S. Gilbert, died in 1911. So in 1950, the leading 20th-century conductor, the late Sir Charles Mackerras (below), could only use the work of the former to create a new work in their honor.
From this legal oddity came the only ballet based on the works of Gilbert and Sullivan (below) and, according to The Times of London, one of the best loved of English ballets. It was first performed in the United States in 1970 by the Joffrey Ballet in New York City; and, most recently, in El Paso, Tulsa, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Livermore, Sarasota and Northampton, Mass.
The music for Pineapple Poll,as a suite, has been played in numerous venues in the U.S., including a performance with band director Mike Leckrone at the UW-Madison in 2008 and at the UW-La Crosse in 2015, thus indicating a strong Wisconsin interest in the music alone.
From its opening notes leaping off the pages of Mikado, Pineapple Poll is a vigorous listen and a visual delight. Clement Crisp of the Financial Times called it, “that rarest of delights, a true balletic comedy.” The National Association for Music Education had identified it as a model piece for elementary school children. In 2003, Christopher Rawson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette observed that, in its pairing with Trial by Jury, “if there’s ever been a Gilbert and Sullivan show for people who don’t like Gilbert and Sullivan, this is it.”
Trial by Jury contrasts with the non-verbal Pineapple Poll, showcasing Gilbert’s lyric style in songs that tell the Victorian tale of marital promissory breach with the resulting farcical trial ending in marriage. It was Gilbert and Sullivan’s second collaboration and established their successful reputations. (In photos by Aimee Broman, below top shows Thore Dosdall playing the defendant Edwin (at left) getting the feeling that the jury is not on his side. Below bottom shows the plaintiff Angelina, played by Megan McCarthy).
The Central Midwest Ballet Academy’s Marguerite Luksik and Michael Knight have created original choreography for Pineapple Poll, and performances will feature students from the Academy’s pre-professional level.
In contrast to the tragic-dramatic plots of traditional ballets, the lighthearted nature of Pineapple Poll appeals to a broader audience. Pineapple Poll presents a combination of balanced spectacle and the challenge of experimental work.
Yoked to Trial by Jury, the two productions spark social and artistic novelty, critique and entertainment.
It is worth noting that the performances this weekend are a new collaboration between two homegrown Madison troupes. The Savoyards have been performing every summer since 1963, while Central Midwest Ballet has been active since 2015.
Here is an example of the Sullivan operetta tunes patched together in the Opening Dance of “Pineapple Poll.” (You can hear the Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom):
-
- The Mikado, Opening Act 1.
- Trial By Jury, “Hark, the hour of Ten is sounding.”
- The Mikado, “So please you, sir, we much regret” (“But youth, of course, must have its fling. . .”
- Patience, “The Soldiers of our Queen.”
- Trial by Jury, “He will treat us with awe” (“Trial-la- law”).
- The Gondoliers, “Good Morrow, Pretty Maids” (orchestral accompaniment).
- Trial By Jury, “Hark, the hour of Ten is sounding.”
- The Mikado, “So please you, sir, we much regret.”
Tags: #ArthurSullivan, #BalletMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #CentralMidwestBalletAcademy, #ChamberMusic, #CharlesMackerras, #ChoralMusic, #EastSide, #EdgewoodCollege, #EdvardGrieg, #ElementarySchool, #ElPaso, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FestivalChoirofMadison, #FinancialTimes, #FolkMusic, #GilbertandSullivan, #IsthmusNewspaper, #J.AdamShelton, #JoffreyBallet, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #LondonEngland, #MadisonAreaTechnicalCollege, #MadisonCollege, #MadisonSavoyards, #MargueriteLuksik, #MikeLeckrone, #MitbyTheater, #NationalAssociationforMusicEducation, #OperaMusic, #PaulSchoenfield, #PineapplePoll, #PittsburghPost-Gazette, #SamuelBarber, #SarasotaFlorida, #SaturdayNight, #SeattleWashington, #SergeiPavlov, #StageDirector, #StoughtonChamberMusicFestival, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StoughtonWisconsin, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheGondoliers, #TheMikado", #TheTimes, #TheU.S., #TrialbyJury, #TulsaOklahoma, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-Lacrosse, #VictorianAge, #VocalMusic, #W.S.Gilbert, #YouTubevideo, active, afternoon, alert, Arthur Sullivan, artistic, Arts, audience, Bach, balance, ballet, balletic, band, blog, box office, Brahms, breach, Central Midwest Ballet Academy, challenge, Chamber music, Charles Mackerras, children, choral music, choreography, Classical music, collaboration, college, comedy, comic, composer, Concert, conductor, copyright, critique, dance, debut, delight, details, director, donation, dramatic, east side, Edgewood College, Edvard Grieg, El Paso, elementary, England, English, Entertainment, experimental, expire, expired, Facebook, farcical, Festival Choir of Madison, Financial TImes, first, Florida, Folk music, forward, free, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Gilbert and Sullivan, Gilbert&Sullivan, Grieg, homegrown, honor, inaugural, information, interest, international, intriguing, Isthmus, J. Adam Shelton, Jacob Stockinger, Joffrey Ballet, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, jury, known, LaCrosse, librettist, libretto, lighthearted, like, link, Livermore, London, Madison, Madison Area Technical College, Madison College, Madison Savoyards, maid, Marguerite Luksik, marital, Marriage, Massachusetts, MATC, Mikado, Mike Leckrone, Mitby Theater, moratorium, Music, National Association for Music Education, nature, New York City, Newspaper, night, non-verbal, Northampton, Norway, Norwegian, novelty, Oklahoma, one-act, opera, Operetta, Orchestra, original, pages, partner, patent, patience, Paul Schoenfield, Pennsylvania, performer, Pineapple Poll, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, please, plot, post, posting, production, professional, promissory, protection, queen, reputation, Samuel Barber, Sarasota, Saturday, Saturday night, Seattle, Sergei Pavlov, share, sing, singer, Singing, social, soldier, songs, spectacle, stage, stage director, story, Stoughton, Stoughton Chamber Music Festival, Stoughton Opera House, students, subscriber, successful, suggested, Suite, summer, Sunday, tag, tale, technical, Texas, The Ear, The Gondoliers, The Times, Tragic, trial, Trial by Jury, troupe, Tulsa, tune, United States, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venue, Victorian, vigorous, vocal music, Washington, weekend, Wisconsin, word, work, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will present a Grand Tour of musical styles to mark its success after 20 years. The “tour” starts this Saturday, July 6, and runs through Saturday, July 13. Part 1 of 2
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival (below, the All-Festival Concert in 2018) have come up with.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A interview for this blog. Here is Part 1 of 2:
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Madison Early Music Festival. Can you briefly summarize the progress of the festival over all those years and how you – through audience size, participants, media coverage – measure the success it has achieved?
How successful is this year’s festival compared to the beginning festival and to others in terms of enrollment, budgets and performers? How does this of MEMF’s reach nationally or even internationally compare to previous years?
What can you say about where the festival will go in the coming years?
As the 20th Madison Early Music Festival approaches, we have looked back at how far we have come from 1999 when we were a little festival of 60 participants and faculty. We have grown to our current size of 140 faculty members and participants — fellow lovers of early music.
Last year, we had the largest group of participants when 120 students enrolled. MEMF now attracts students of all ages, from 18 to 91, amateurs and professionals, from all over North America and Europe.
Our success is due to the help and support of many individuals and outside organizations. We could not manage MEMF without the amazing staff at the Division of the Arts at UW-Madison. They help with everything from printed materials, website design and management, social media, grant writing, fundraising, proofreading and on-site assistance at all of our events and more.
Paul and I (below) work with Sarah Marty, the Program Director of MEMF, who keeps things organized and running smoothly throughout the year.
Also, we are grateful to our dedicated MEMF Board, donations from many individuals, grants, and the generosity of William Wartmann, who created an endowment for the festival, and after his death left an additional $400,000 for our endowment. It takes a village!
Not only have we become an important part of the summer music scene in Madison, but we have contributed to the national and international early music community. The 2019 concert series will be featuring artists from California to New York, Indiana to Massachusetts, and from Leipzig, Germany.
We hope to have many old and new audience members join us for this exciting celebration of our 20th year. For future seasons our motto is “To infinity and beyond!” as we continue to build on our past successes.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and performers?
This year we have a new program, the Advanced Voice Intensive, which provides an opportunity for auditioned advanced singers who are interested in a capella vocal music from the Renaissance – singing sacred polyphony and madrigals to improve their skills as ensemble singers.
Twenty singers from all over the country will be joining the inaugural program to rehearse and perform music from Italy, England and Germany.
At the end of the week they will sing in a masterclass with the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) on Thursday, July 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. On Saturday, July 13, they will perform in a FREE concert with the popular Advanced Loud Band ensemble in Morphy Recital Hall.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. and the concerts in Mils Hall begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass; each individual concert is $22, for students $12. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee, or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
We also have two Fringe Concerts this year featuring new vocal ensembles from Wisconsin. On Monday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at Pres House, Schola Cantorum of Eau Claire (below), a 12-voice ensemble directed by UW-Madison graduate Jerry Hui, will perform “Mystery and Mirth: A Spanish Christmas.”
And on Wednesday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the Milwaukee-based Aperi Animam (below) perform “Libera Nos,” a program of sacred vocal music.
The Fringe Concerts are FREE with donations accepted at the door.
Why was the theme of “The Grand Tour” chosen for the festival? What is the origin of the conceit, and what major composers and works will be highlighted?
We decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary by choosing a theme that would be broader than previous years and portray what people might experience when they are 20 years old – traveling abroad on a gap year.
We were also inspired by Englishman Thomas Coryat, aka “The First Tourist.” He published his travelogue Crudities in 1611, an amusing and thorough account of his five months of travel throughout Europe. This tradition of the Grand Tour of Europe continued through the 17th and 18th centuries, especially when wealthy young aristocrats finished their formal schooling.
Several of the concert programs this summer feature quotes from different travelogues, including Coryat’s, as an organizational concept. If you search all over Europe, you find an American at Versailles learning courtly manners, and a fictional Englishman, born in 1620, sending postcards from the Grand Tour.
We will also have a stop at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with the silent film version of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and a musical tour of sacred vocal music and madrigals. This theme allowed us to include music from many different time periods from all over Europe — a rich Grand Tour of musical offerings!
The opening concert on this Saturday, July 6, features Dark Horse Consort returning to Madison with Wanderlust, their newly created program for MEMF’s Grand Tour theme. The program follows the misadventures of an English gentleman as he embarks on a continental Grand Tour adventure in search of love and fulfillment.
Our hero’s travelogue includes springtime consort songs by Alfonso Ferrabosco and William Byrd; Erasmus Widmann’s beguiling German dances dedicated to women; the wooing songs of the Italian gondolier; and sultry Spanish airs.
On Sunday, July 7, Alchymy Viols (below) performs “American at Versailles,” an original ballet masque of French baroque music, dance and drama written and choreographed by Sarah Edgar, featuring Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano; Sarah Edgar, director and dancer; and guest soprano Paulina Francisco. The American on the Grand Tour encounters the exotic world of French baroque manners, dress, dance and love.
TOMORROW: Part 2 explores the rest of the festival next week, including a rare book exhibit and the All-Festival finale on Saturday night
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #AlchymyViols, #AlfonsoFerrabosco, #AperiAnimam, #ArtisticDirector, #BandMusic, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #CarrieHennemanShaw, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChristianChurch, #DarkHorseConsort, #EauClaire, #EndowmentFund, #EnglishMusic, #ErasmusWidmann, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrenchDance, #FrenchMusic, #GapYear, #Germandances, #GermanMusic, #GrantWriting, #ItalianMusic, #JerryHui, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeipzigGermany, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialUnion, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MusicalStyle, #NorthAmerica, #NotreDamedeParis, #PaulinaFrancisco, #PaulRowe, #PolyphonicMusic, #PresHouse, #ProfessionalMusician, #Proofreading, #RenaissanceMadrigal, #RenaissanceMusic, #RenaissancePolyphony, #SacredMusic, #SarahEdgar, #SarahMarty, #ScolaCantorum, #SilentFilm, #SocialMedia, #TheHunchbackofNotreDame, #ThomasCoryat, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WesternEurope, #WilliamByrd, #WilliamWartmann, a cappella, advanced, airs, Alchymy Viols, Alfonso Ferrabosco, amateur, American, anniversary, Aperi Animam, aristocrats, Artistic director, Arts, assistance, audience, ballet, band, Baroque, Baroque music, beyond, big, blog, Book, box office, budget, California, Campus, Carrie Henemann Shaw, cathedral, celebrate, celebration, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, choreograph, Christian, Christmas, church, Classical music, community, composer, concept, Concert, continental, country, coverage', dance, dancer, Dark Horse Consort, death, design, donation, door, drama, dress, Early music, Eau Claire, endowment, England, Englishman, enrollment, ensemble, Erasmus Widmann, Europe, event, exhibit, exotic, experience, Facebook, faculty, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, film, finale, forward, free, French, fringe, fulfillment, Fundraising, future, gap year, gentleman, German dances, Germany, gondolier, grand, grant, guest, help, important, inaugural, Indiana, individuals, infinity, intensive, international, interview, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, like, link, little, loud, Love, lover, lovers, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, management, manners, masque, Massachusetts, masterclass, material, Mead Witter School of Music, media, MEMF, Memorial Union, Milwaukee, mirth, motto, movie, Music, musical, mystery, national, new, North America, Notre Dame, old, online, organization, outside, part, participant, Paul Rowe, Paulina Francisco, People, performer, polyphony, postcard, Pres House, printed, professional, progress, Q&A, rare, reader, Renaissance, sacred, Sarah Edgar, Sarah Marty, scene, school, schooling, Scola Cantorum, share, silent film, sing, singer, Singing, size, skill, social media, song, soprano, Spanish, springtime, Student, style, subscriber, success, summer, support, tag, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, theme, Thomas Coryat, ticket, time, tour, tourist, travel, traveling, travelogue, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Arts Institute, Versailles, village, Viol, Violin, vocal, vocal music, voice, wanderlust, wealthy, Website, William Byrd, William Wartmann, Wisconsin, women, woo, written, wrote, years
Classical music: The acclaimed Isthmus Vocal Ensemble performs old and new music this Friday night and Sunday afternoon when its new director also makes his debut
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Since it was founded in 2002, the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble (below) has been critically acclaimed for the concert it puts together each summer in just a couple of weeks or less. (You can hear a sample in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This summer, the group will be under the baton of its new artistic director, Michael McGaghie (below), who will be making his performing debut with the group.
McGaghie directs choral activities at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also conducts the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Chorus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The program this weekend ranges from the 16th century and early Baroque to the contemporary.
It will begin with works from established masters such as Thomas Tallis, Heinrich Schütz and the Soviet conductor-composer Nikolai Golovanov.
It will then explore works from contemporary composers such as Jocelyn Hagen, Morten Lauridsen and Dale Trumbore in a program called Horizons. (Sorry, The Ear has not received the titles of specific works on the program.)
Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for students. Tickets can be bought at the door or ordered at the links below.
Concert venues are:
This Friday, Aug. 3, at 7:30 p.m. in the Lutheran Church of the Living Christ, 110 North Gammon Road, on Madison’s west side. For tickets, go to:
https://isthmusvocalens.yapsody.com/event/index/282736/ive-2018-friday-concert
This Sunday, Aug. 5, at 3 p.m. in Christ Presbyterian Church, 944 East Gorham Street. For tickets, go to:
https://isthmusvocalens.yapsody.com/event/index/282791/ive-2018-sunday-concert
For more about the impressive background of the new director, go to: https://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org/artisticdirector/
For more about the past performances and the organization, including sound samples to listen to and how to join or support the group, go to: https://www.isthmusvocalensemble.org
Tags: #ArtisticDirector, #BaroqueMusic, #CambridgeMassachusetts, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #ChristPresbyterianChurch, #ContemporaryComposers, #ContemporaryMusic, #DaleTrumbore, #GleeClub, #HarvardGleeClub, #HarvardGleeClubAlumniChorus, #HarvardUniversity, #HeinrichSchütz, #IsthmusVocalEnsemble, #JesusChrist, #JocelynHagen, #LivingComposer, #LutheranChurch, #LutheranChurchoftheLivingChrist, #MacalesterCollege, #MichaelMcGaghie, #MortenLauridsen, #NewMusic, #NikolaiGolovanov, #SoundSample, #Sovietcomposer, #SovietMusic, #Sovietmusicians, #St.PaulMinnesota, #ThomasTallis, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, admission, Artistic director, Arts, Audio, background, Baroque, Cambridge, choral music, chorus, Christ, Christ Presbyterian Church, Christian, church, Classical music, composer, conductor, Dale Trumbore, debut, Early music, earlymusic, established, Glee, Glee Club, Harvard University, Heinrich Schütz, horizon, Isthmus Vocal Ensemble, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus Christ, Jocelyn Hagen, Living composer, living composers, Madison, Massachusetts, Master, Michael McGaghie, Minnesota, Morten Lauridsen, Music, New Music, Nikolai Golovanov, performance, program, sample, Sound, Soviet, St. Paul, support, Thomas Tallis, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, vocal music, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: The Green Lake Festival’s popular “Barn Concert” is this Saturday night and features a “Circle of Sound” with faculty and students in the string program as well as additional free seating
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The annual Green Lake Festival of Music has sent the following announcement to post:
The ever-popular barn concert this Saturday night, July 7, at 7:30 p.m., at the centennial “Boston Farm” will feature Green Lake Festival Chamber Music string faculty and students, and will include their signature “Circle of Sound” performance that surrounds the audience.
The faculty includes international chamber musicians of the Boston and Seattle Chamber Music Societies who perform regularly with concert pianist Andrew Armstrong, the director of the Chamber Music Camp. Students also come from all over the country, and this year a violinist from South Korea is a participant.
Registration for FREE tickets had been closed at the barn’s capacity, but so many have asked to attend this concert that the Festival is providing overflow seating at tables at the base of the barn where the music can be heard through the large opening above.
Hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar begin at 6:30 p.m. with the concert at 7:30 p.m. Admission is FREE, and donations will support the Green Lake Festival Chamber Music program.
The event is located at W3320 State Road 23 in Green Lake, Wisconsin.
To read about the Chamber Music faculty or see more information about the Festival, go to: www.GreenLakeFestival.org, or write to info@GreenLakeFestival.org, or call (920) 748-9398.
Tags: #AndrewArmstrong, #BostonChamberMusicSociety, #CashBar, #ChamberMusic, #CircleofSound, #GreenLake, #GreenLakeFestival, #MusicCamp, #MusicFestival, #SeattleChamberMusicSociett, #SouthKorea, #StringMusic, Arts, audience, Boston, camp, cash bar, Cello, Chamber music, Circle of Sound, Classical music, composer, director, free, Jacob Stockinger, Massachusetts, Music, music camp, Pianist, Piano, Seattle, signature, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Washington, Wisconsin, Wiscosnin
Classical music: Piano and viola duo Vis-à-Vis gives a FREE concert this Saturday at noon as part of Grace Presents
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
For a while, the acclaimed FREE community outreach concert series Grace Presents had folded.
But now it is back.
Grace Presents’ new coordinator Yanzel Rivera, who is a graduate student at the UW-Madison Mead-Witter School of Music, has sent the following information to post:
“Grace Presents, which offers free monthly concerts on the Capitol Square, will feature the Vis-À-Vis duo (below) of violist Brandin Kreuder and pianist Craig Jordan.
“The one-hour concert, called “Clarke and Brahms” will take place this Saturday, Jan. 13, at noon at the Grace Episcopal Church, 116 West Washington Avenue, across from the Capitol Square.
The program features: Four Pieces by British composer Frank Bridge, (1879-1941); a Sonata by British composer Rebecca Clarke, (1886-1979, below top); “Un regard dans le vide” or ‘A Look Into the Void” (2017) by American composer Christian Messier (b. 1995, below bottom), who studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin; and the Sonata in F Minor by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
“Duo Vis-À-Vis aims to bring engaging and explorative chamber music performances to communities across the country and share their love for musical collaboration and expression.
“The duo is comprised of violinist/violist Brandin Kreuder, and pianist, Craig Jordan. Brandin is a native of Burlington, Wisconsin, and a 2016 graduate of Lawrence University and Conservatory (below) who holds a B.A. in Studio Art and a B.M. in Violin Performance.
“Brandin is currently in his second year of his Master of Music degree studying viola with virtuoso violist Jodi Levitz at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami.
“Jordan, from Ames, Iowa, is a junior at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music pursuing his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance under the teaching of Catherine Kautsky, with an emphasis on Collaborative Piano. He is currently studying this fall semester at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands with Marta Liébana Martínez.
“Since its debut in spring 2016, duo Vis-A-Vis has performed three recital tours in Wisconsin, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, Colorado and Massachusetts. Their recent tour “Reminiscence” brought the duo to their widest variety of performance locations yet. One of these performances also served as the beginning of a new chamber music series hosted by the College Light Opera Company in Falmouth, Mass.
(You can hear Duo Vis-à-Vis (below) perform the Violin Sonata by Cesar Franck in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
ABOUT GRACE PRESENTS
Grace Presents features a diverse range of music, including everything from classical and folk to jazz and bluegrass. The performers include nationally recognized musicians and exceptional young talent from Madison and beyond.
The mission is to create a premier concert series that everyone in the Madison community can enjoy. Each month it welcomes a diverse audience to its concerts, including Madison residents, students, farmers’ market shoppers, tourists, and people who are homeless.
The organizers invite audiences to bring a lunch to enjoy inside the church during our concerts.
A celebrated historic landmark established in 1839, Grace Episcopal Church (below top and bottom) is the oldest church in Madison. Known for its grand Gothic architecture and distinctive red doors, the church features hand-carved woodwork, brilliant stained glass windows–including a Tiffany window–and a cathedral organ.
Grace Presents is supported in part by a grant from Dane Arts, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, the Madison Arts Commission, with additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.
The series also relies on donations from sponsors and free-will offerings at each concert.
Tags: American, Amsterdam, Appleton, architecture, Art, Arts, audience, bachelor, bluegrass, Brahms, Brandin Kreuder, British, Capitol Square, cathedral, Catherine Kautsky, Chamber music, Christian Messier, church, Classical music, collaborative, College Light Opera Company, Colorado, community, composer, Concert, country, Craig Jordan, Dane Arts, Dane County, degree, diverse, donation, duo, engaging, England, Episcopal, explorative, expression, farmer, Florida, folk, foundation, Franck, Frank Bridge, fre, Frost School of Music, Gothic, grace, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, graduate, hand-carved, historic, homeless, Iowa, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johannes Brahms, landmark, Lawrence University, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, lunch, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, market, Massachusetts, Master, Mead Witter School of Music, Missouri, Music, Netherlands, offering, opera, organ, organize, outreach, performance, Piano, piece, Rebecca Clarke, recital, resident, series, shopper, Sonata, sponsor, stained glass, Student, studio, talent, Tiffany, tour, tourist, U.S., UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Miami, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, Viola, Violin, virtuoso, Vis-à-Vis, W. Jerome Frautschi, window, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, woodwork, young, YouTube
Classical music: Madison composer Scott Gendel discusses the new piece he wrote to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It receives its world premiere this coming Sunday afternoon and Monday night in Spring Green
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
As The Ear posted yesterday, this coming Sunday afternoon and Monday night will see a special commemorative concert at the Hillside Theater of the Taliesin compound in Spring Green.
It will mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright (below).
Here is a link to an overview with more details about the concerts and program:
Certainly the standout piece will be the world premiere of a work for chorus, string quartet and piano, commissioned by Taliesin from Scott Gendel, a Madison-based composer who studied at the UW-Madison.
Gendel recently commented on his work:
“When I first heard about this opportunity to write a musical work in honor of Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday, I had a lot of grandiose ideas about big architectural music, music that would be huge in sound and concept.
“But when Taliesin Director of Music Effi Casey (below top) took me on a tour of the house and the grounds (below bottom), what struck me more than anything else was the beautiful intimacy of the spaces, the way in which every room was designed to draw you in closer.
“And then when I learned of the Taliesin Community Chorus and their love of singing together to create community, I knew “That Which Is Near” was going to take a different direction than I’d originally thought, and really become a piece about intimacy and connections between people.
““Some Flowers For Frank Lloyd Wright” by Hendrik Theodorus Wijdeveld (below) felt like the perfect text to use for such a piece. It’s stunning in its descriptions of Wright’s work, but also has a charming sweetness about it, the way he’s just offering “some flowers” rather than a huge extravagant gift.
“And so “That Which Is Near” is two things at once: First, it’s a celebration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s incredibly masterful work, and how wonderfully persistent and evergreen that work still is, 150 years after his birth.
“But second, it’s a celebration of the community at Taliesin, and the ways in which the place brings people together and fosters human connection.”
ABOUT SCOTT GENDEL
Here are some impressive biographical details about Gendel (bel0w):
Scott Gendel is a composer, vocal coach, theatrical music director and pianist living in Madison, Wisconsin. As a composer, his music has a wide-ranging scope, but Scott is particularly fond of all things vocal, and of the artistry of the human voice in all its forms. As a performing musician, Scott collaborates on vocal recitals around the country, and is the official pianist and vocal coach for Madison Opera.
Recently, he recorded his piece “At Last” with soprano Camille Zamora and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, as part of “An AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing For Hope,” a recording released on Naxos Records and GPR, benefiting amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. (You can hear “At Last” in the YouTube video at there bottom.)
Last year, his song “Advice to Those Like Me, With Hearts Like Kindling” was premiered by soprano Melody Moore in her Carnegie Hall debut recital.
This spring, Gendel’s choral-orchestral oratorio “Barbara Allen,” based on the traditional Appalachian folk song, was premiered by the Santa Clara Chorale and San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
In 2005, the same year he received his doctoral degree from UW-Madison, Gendel was awarded first prize in the ASCAP/Lotte Lehmann Foundation Song Cycle Competition, a juried national award in its inaugural year.
More recently Scott was the second prize winner of the 2016 NATS Art Song Composition Award, and winner of the 2017 Ortus International New Music Competition.
His music is published by Classical Vocal Reprints, ECS Publishing, and the Tuba/Euphonium Press. His art songs have been recorded on Albany Records, GPR Records and Naxos.
Upcoming commissions include the original opera “Super Storm!” for Opera for the Young’s 2018-2019 season, which will be performed in nearly 200 schools around the Midwest; and a song cycle for soprano, cello and piano on the poetry of Emily Dickinson, to be premiered and recorded in her hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts by UW-trained soprano Jamie-Rose Guarrine (below), cellist Karl Knapp and the composer at the piano.
Gendel will also perform some of his art songs with soprano Emily Birsan (below), another UW-Madison graduate who also attended classes and sang at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, at the Friday night concert, Aug. 11, of the Madison New Music Festival.
Go to http://www.scottgendel.com for more information.
Tags: AIDS, Albany Records, American, American Foundation for AIDS Research, Amherst, anniversary, Appalachia, art song, Arts, ASCAP, Barbara Allen, Beethoven, birth, Camille Zamora, Carnegie Hall, Cello, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, choral music, chorus, Classical music, coach, commission, community, composer, conneciton, connection, debut, Effi Casey, Emily Birsan, Emily Dickinson, Euphonium, evergeen, flower, folk, Folk music, folk song, Frank Lloyd Wright, gift, Guarrine, hope, human, human rights, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jamie-Rose Guarrine, link, Lotte Lehman, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Madison New Music Festival, Madison Opera, Massachusetts, Midwest, Music, national, Naxos, Naxos Records, New Music, official, opera, Opera for the Young, Optus International New Music Competition, oratorio, Orchestra, People, Piano, poem, Poetry, prize, quilt, recital, San Jose, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, Santa Clara, Scott Gendel, sesquicentennial, singer, song cycle, soprano, String quartet, Super Storm, sweet, sweetness, Taliesin, Tuba, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal, vocal music, voice, Wifdeveld, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube
Classical music: A new recording of Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil” captures the Russian qualities the composer prized in this sacred music
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a record 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 hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
For reasons, astronomical and cultural, the Western and Eastern Orthodox celebrations of Easter are frequently held at separate dates. But this year they coincide (on this coming Sunday, April 16). That gives good reason to direct attention beyond familiar Western Easter music and instead to that of Eastern Orthodoxy.
A new recording of one of the landmarks of Russian Orthodox music provides further stimulus to this.
Russian Orthodox practice did not encourage extensive new compositions, but stressed elaborate liturgical rituals built around the heritage of medieval monophonic chant, while benefiting from the fabulous style of Russian choral singing—those low basses (“octavists”) in particular.
Most composers who worked to enrich the liturgical literature were professional church musicians, but a number of “secular” Russian composers also made contributions. Notable among them were Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Peter Tchaikovsky and Sergei Rachmaninoff (below).
It is the last of those three who has given us the music at hand, a truly memorable sacred creation. The work is his Op. 37, entitled “The Most Important Hymns of the ‘All-Night Vigil,” and commonly called “The All-Night Vigil” (Vsenoshchnogo Bdeniya) or else, more simplistically the “Vespers.”
It was composed during the early years of World War I, which was to bring about the collapse of the Russia that Rachmaninoff knew. It was performed in 1915, and two years later, amid the upheavals of the two Revolutions, the composer left his native land for good.
Rachmaninoff prized his Op. 37 above his other works; it was his proclamation of Russian identity, and after it he wrote no more sacred music. He even hoped that one section of it could be sung at his funeral. (A moving sample can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Orthodox Christian celebration of the Resurrection places emphasis on the Saturday night offices of Vespers and Matins, in a prolonged and elaborate ritual. (This Vigil array can also be used for other significant feasts beyond Easter.)
Given the lengths, Rachmaninoff chose to set his selection of “the most important hymns” for his Op. 37, for a total of 15 sections. He did follow working practice by building his settings on or around traditional chant melodies. He expected that individual sections might have liturgical usage; but he understood that the totality was a grand concert work.
The Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil, or “Vespers,” has been recorded many times, often by Russian choirs, which have the musical and liturgical style in their blood. But non-Russian groups and directors have also come to recognize the transcendent beauty of this masterwork.
Noteworthy among those was Robert Shaw, the great American choral master whose recording (on the Telarc label) has been acclaimed by his admirers for its predictably superb choral sound. But Shaw and his singers lack Russian sound or spiritual sensitivity.
Other American performers have joined in: the broadly paced recording with Charles Bruffy and his Phoenix and Kansas City choirs (for Chandos) is notable. Paul Hillier’s recording (for Harmonia Mundi) with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir has earned great respect.
I have just been taken by the brand new release (below) from Paraclete Recordings of Massachusetts, with the Gloria Dei Cantores and members of three other choirs under the direction of Peter Jermihov.
They number 77 singers in all and, as recorded in a church setting, they make a sumptuous sound. Their emphasis is less on clarifying individual voice parts and more on relishing the rich blends that make up the total texture.
While treating the work as a grand concert piece, this performance goes beyond most others by including intonations by clerical celebrants, recalling the liturgical context that was always in the composer’s mind.
One of the striking features of this release is its thick album booklet. This is not only richly illustrated but contains an unusually penetrating background essay. Further, in presenting the Russian texts (in Cyrillic and transliteration) with English translations, it also gives useful comments section by section, for the fullest understanding of the liturgical contexts.
This is a noteworthy addition to the crowded recording picture for this sumptuous and deeply moving sacred music.
Tags: All-Night Vigil, American, American Record Guide, Arts, astronomy, bass, booklet, Chandos, chant, Charles Bruffy, choral music, Christian, Christianity, church, Classical music, Compact Disc, Concert, culture, Cyrillic, Early music, Easter, Eastern, Eastern Orthodox Church, English, essay, Estonia, funeral, Gloria Dei Cantores, Harmonia Mundi, History, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Kansas City, lecture, liturgy, Madison, Massachusetts, matins, Medieval, monophonic, Music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, octavist, Orthodox, Paraclete Recordings, Paul Hillier, Peter Tchaikovsky, Phoenix, professor, Rachmaninoff, recording, Resurrection, revolution, ritual, Robert Shaw, Russia, Russian Orthodox, Russian Revolution, secular, singer, Tchaikovsky, Telarc, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vesper, vespers, vocal music, Western, Wisconsin, World War I, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 