The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Here is how the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) plan to continue lessons and performances this fall despite the coronavirus pandemic
Leave a 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.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has just received the following updates from an email newsletter about the upcoming season of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO). Over more than 50 years, WYSO has served tens of thousands of middle school and high school students in southcentral Wisconsin and northern Illinois. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the WYSO Youth Orchestra play a virtual performance from the past season of the famous finale from Rossini’s “William Tell” Overture.)
After many weeks of planning, and in consultation with Public Health Madison and Dane County (PHMDC) and the McFarland School District, WYSO is excited to announce a fall semester plan that will mark a safe return to in-person music-making—and our first season at the McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) https://www.wysomusic.org/the-wyso-weekly-tune-up-april-17-2020-wysos-new-home/
We had a brief delay last Friday when PHMDC released Emergency Statement #9 delaying in-person start dates for all schools in Dane County. We checked in with the Public Health agency and they re-affirmed that WYSO is not a school —and the 15 students maximum-sized groups outlined in this plan are absolutely perfect. It is time to set up the tents!
The WYSO season will begin on the weekend of Sept. 5, when the winds and brass students from all three full orchestras (Youth, Philharmonia and Concert) will begin their fall rehearsals outside under two enormous tents in the McFarland High School parking lot (below). The 60 winds and brass students will be divided into approximately nine or 10 cohorts, who will meet in two-hour blocks on Saturdays and Sundays.
With a single cohort of masked and socially distanced students spread out within the 40′ x 60′ tent, with “bell covers and bags” for their instruments, the season will not look like any previous WYSO Fall.
If you’ve not been involved in the new science of aerosol transmission, this whole scenario might seem very curious. The reasoning is simple: The winds and brass instruments have been singled out as more problematic since you have to blow into them to make music. The blowing releases more “aerosols,” the tiny droplets that can transmit the coronavirus.
However, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have recently released the first results from a five-month study and have found that the following actions bring down the transmission risk considerably:
- Social distancing 9 to 15 feet apart.
- Adding bell covers and bags (below) for the instruments (essentially the instruments have to wear masks as well as the students).
- Playing outside, which reduces risks due to the increased air circulation.
Because we are in Wisconsin, the “outdoor” location shortens the season for the winds and brass players so by beginning the season on Sept. 5 and ending on the weekend of Oct. 24, they can just squeeze in an 8-week cycle.
Meanwhile, the WYSO string and percussion players, approximately 300 in number and representing all five orchestras, will begin their fall season indoors on Oct. 17, after McFarland moves to a hybrid model for the school year.
The string players will be divided into 15-student cohorts by orchestra, with a wonderful mix of violins, violas, cellos and basses in each group, and with the groups spread throughout one wing of the high school in large music rooms and atriums.
The percussionists have been scheduled into the new Black Box Theater and they are excited to begin playing on the brand new marimbas and timpani so recently acquired by WYSO through a gift from an incredibly generous anonymous donor.
Everything has been carefully scheduled so that at any given time there will not be more than 125 students, conductors and staff in the building.
Start and end times have been staggered. The large beautiful spaces at McFarland will easily hold the socially distanced and mask-wearing players. And the orchestras will again be scheduled into Saturday and Sunday mornings and afternoons. Even the WYSO Chamber Music Program (below) has been scheduled into the intricate puzzle.
The rest of this exciting fall story has to do with adding incredibly talented professional musicians to lead some of the cohorts and the amazing repertoire available for groups of 15 musicians, whether they play winds, brass, strings or percussion.
From Mozart’s “Gran Partita” to Beethoven’s Symphonies No. 2 and 6; from Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella Suite” to Bartok’s Divertimento, and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings — there is almost an “embarrassment of riches” of exciting, seldom-played repertoire, to quote WYSO Music Director Kyle Knox (below). And this fall, that repertoire will be right in WYSO’s wheelhouse.
WYSO will video-capture this year’s Fall Concerts of students playing in the beautiful McFarland Performing Arts Center to 800 empty seats and let you know the exact Fall Concert dates as we get closer. Click here for additional information.
While WYSO is incredibly excited about our in-person plan for rehearsals and playing music together, we have also drawn up two alternate plans, and know that not everyone will be able to participate in-person.
WYSO Registration is underway, and we are asking those who cannot participate in the McFarland experience to let us know their needs through the registration process, so that we can create the best virtual experience possible for those involved. Tuition payment is not due at registration.
To register, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/members/wyso-registration-form/
Tags: #AirCirculation, #BelaBartok, #BellLaboratories, #BlackBoxTheater, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassMusic, #BrassSection, #ChamberMusic, #CheckIn, #CityofMadison, #ConcertSeason, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaneCounty, #DoubleBassist, #EmptySeats, #EndTime, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FallSemester, #GioachinoRossini, #GranPartita, #HighSchool, #IgorStravinsky, #JacobStockinger, #KyleKnox, #LaborDay, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #McFarlandHighSchool, #McFarlandPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddleSchool, #Music-Making, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #MusicRoom, #OnlineConcert, #OrchestralMusic, #ParkingLot, #PercussionSection, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PhilharmoniaOrchestra, #PublicHealth, #PulcinellaSuite, #RegistrationForm, #SchoolDistrict, #SchoolYear, #SerenadeforStrings, #SetUp, #SocialDistance, #SocialDistancing, #StartTime, #StringMusic, #StringPlayers, #StringSection, #TheEar, #UniversityofColorado-Boulder, #WilliamTell, #WilliamTellOverture, #WindMusic, #WindSection, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WYSOChamberMusicProgram, #WYSOconcerts, #YouthOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, action, actions, additional, aerosol, afternoon, agency, air, air circulation, alternate, amazing, anonymous, approximately, Arts, ATRIUM, audience, bags, Bartok, bass, basses, bassist, Béla Bartók, Beethoven, beginning, Bell, black, Black Box Theater, blocks, blog, blow, blowing, Boulder, Box, brass, brass music, brass section, brief, capture, cellist, Cello, central, Chamber music, check, check in, circulation, Classical music, cohorts, Colorado, composer, Concert, Concert Orchestra, conductor, consultation, coronavirus, covers, curious, cycle, Dane County, dates, delay, divertimento, divide, divided, donor, double bass, droplet, due, email, embarrassment, emergency, empty, empty seats, end, end time, ending, enormous, everyone, excited, experience, Facebook, fall, famous, finale, first, Friday, generous, gift, Gioacchino Rossini, Gran Partita, group, groups, high school, hour, hybrid, Igor Stravinsky, ILLINOIS, in person, increase, increased, incredible, information, instrument, intricate, Jacob Stockinger, Knox, Kyle Knox, Labor Day, large, like, link, location, look, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, make, marimba, mask, masked, masks, maximum, McFarland, McFarland High School, McFarland Performing Arts Center, meet, Middle school, mix, model, morning, Mozart, Music, Music director, Music education, music room, needs, newsletter, north, Northern, October, online, Orchestra, orchestral music, outside, Overture, pandemic, parking, parking lot, participant, participate, partita, payment, percussion, percussionist, perfect, perform, performer, person, Peter Tchaikovsky, Philharmonia Orchestra, plan, planning, play, players, playing, post, posting, problematic, process, program, Public health, Pulcinella Suite, puzzle, quite, quote, re-affirm, reasoning, registration, rehearsal, release, repertoire, repertory, research, researchers, return, riches, risk, room, Rossini, safe, safety, Saturday, scenario, schedule, school, school district, school year, science, Season, seats, seldom-played, semester, September, Serenade, Serenade for Strings, set up, share, simple, size, social distance, social distancing, south, Southern, spread, squeeze, staggered, start, start time, statement, Stravinsky, string, string music, string players, string section, Student, study, Suite, Sunday, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, tens, tent, tents, The Ear, theater, theatre, thousands, time, tiny, together, transmission, transmit, tuition, tympani, United States, university, University of Colorado-Boulder, upcoming, video, video-capture, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, week, weekend, whole, William Tell, William Tell Overture, wind music, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wonderful, WYSO, WYSO Chamber Music Program, WYSO concerts, year, years, young people, Youth, Youth Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: After 54 years at the UW-Madison, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will move this fall to the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.
11 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
Starting this fall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO, below) will have a new home for classes, rehearsals and performances.
The news of moving to the McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) is very good for WYSO. But The Ear feels sad to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison and WYSO parting ways after a partnership of 54 years.
It feels like the UW, a distinguished public institution, is backing away from the Wisconsin Idea of public service to the citizens who fund the university. It is embodied in the saying that “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea and its Progressive Era history, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea)
It feels, in short, like a setback to community engagement by the UW-Madison and its Mead Witter School of Music, where WYSO once had offices and used Mills Concert Hall.
Be that as it may, here is a WYSO email newsletter’s account of what led up to the decision and move.
“The news from University of Wisconsin-Madison started trickling in a little at a time.
“First, Mills Hall (below), where WYSO had rehearsed almost every Saturday since the Humanities Building opened, was scheduled for transformation from a concert hall into a lecture hall. (You can see WYSO performing in Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Then the UW began to reconsider whether pre-college programs should actually share space with university departments.
“And there was the growth of WYSO itself — from one full orchestra to three, plus two string orchestras, a chamber music program (below top), a full array of ensembles, and the community-impact Music Makers (below bottom).
“Meanwhile, 12 minutes away, the town of McFarland opened an amazing 841-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center (below).
“And incredibly, the adjacent middle school and high school campus (below) had enough parking and enough rehearsal space to accommodate the entire WYSO program with room to grow — all of the student musicians, all of the orchestras, and all rehearsing at the same time.
“In a unique move of creative place-making, McFarland’s School Superintendent Andrew Briddell reached out to WYSO and suggested all of the above opportunities, plus collaboration with the McFarland schools, staff and community, and the ability to build on the creative history of the town itself.
“Passionate about music and education, Andrew Briddell, earned a double major in music and English from Indiana University, a Master’s degree in bassoon from Temple University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the UW-Madison.
“”A talented bassoon player, Briddell (below) played with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Birmingham.
“What a perfect match for this collaboration!
“It was an invitation too good to pass up. So starting in the fall of 2020, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will be in residence at the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.”
To read more details about WYSO’s new home, including design and acoustics, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/the-wyso-weekly-tune-up-april-17-2020-wysos-new-home/
What do you think about the new move WYSO?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AlabamaSymphonyOrchestra, #AndrewBriddell, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ConcertHall, #DoctoralDegree, #DoubleMajor, #EmailNewsletter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #HarpEnsemble, #HighSchool, #HumanitiesBuilding, #IndianaUniversity, #JacobStockinger, #LectureHall, #Master'sDegree, #McFarlandHighSchool, #McFarlandPerformingArtsCenter, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddleSchool, #MillsHall, #MosseHumanitiesBuilding, #MusicDirector, #MusicEducation, #MusicMakers, #PassUp, #PercussionEnsemble, #PerformingArts, #PerformingArtsCenter, #PublicService, #SchoolSuperintendent, #StringMusic, #StringOrchestra, #StudentMusicians, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TempleUniversity, #TheEar, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinIdea, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouthSymphonyOrchestraofBirmingham, #YouTubevideo, ability, accomodate, account, acoustics, Alabama, analysis, Andrew Briddell, Arts, audience, bassoonist, Birmingham, blog, border, boundary, build, Campus, Chamber music, citizen, classes, Classical music, collaboration, community, Concert, concerto, concerto hall, creative, degree, department, design, detail, doctorate, double major, downtown, Education, educational, email, embody, English, ensemble, entire, Facebook, fall, forward, full, fund, good, grow, grown, high school, History, Home, humanities, humanities building, impact, Indiana University, institution, invitation, Jacob Stockinger, leadership, lecture hall, like, link, Madison, major, masters degree, match, McFarland, McFarland High School, McFarland Performing Arts Center, Mead Witter School of Music, Middle school, Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building, move, Music, Music director, Music education, Music Makers, new, newsletter, oepn, opportunities, Orchestra, PAC, parking, partnership, pass, pass up, percussion, perfect, perform, performance, performer, Performing arts, Performing Arts Center, Piano, player, policy, post, posting, pre-college, program, progressive, Progressive Era, public, public service, rehearsal, residence, room, saying, schedule, school, school superintendent, share, sharspace, space, staff\, state, state-of-the-art, string music, String Orchestra, student musicians, symphony, symphony orchestra, tag, talented, Temple University, The Ear, think, town, transformation, unique, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, up, UW-Madison, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Idea, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, years, Youth Symphony Orchestra of Birmingham, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra announces an ambitious 2020-21 season with new guest soloists and conductors, but with no Middleton venue
Leave a 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.
By Jacob Stockinger
Amid all the concert cancellations due to COVID-19 comes good news.
The mostly amateur and critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (MCO, below) — which has canceled and postponed concerts for the remainder of this season — has announced its five-concert line-up for the 2020-21 season.
It is undeniably ambitious on several counts.
But unfortunately it usual venue — the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School — will be undergoing renovations.
That means that the MCO will be using other venues besides its home base (below) for its 11th season.
The new venues include the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall (below) in the new Hamel Music Center, 740 University Ave., at the UW-Madison, which will host three of the concerts.
Also included for the other two concerts are the brand new McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) – where the MCO will give the center’s inaugural public concert on Oct. 7 — and Madison Memorial High School.
Concert dates and times are usually Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. They are Oct. 7, Dec. 16, Feb. 17, April 2 (Friday) and May 26. Admission will remain $15 with free admission for students. And, as usual, post-concert meet-and-greet receptions will be held at all performances.
The ambitious new season includes some familiar faces but also some new names.
On Oct. 7, pianist Thomas Kasdorf (below) will open the season by performing the Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninoff; and then, on May 26, he will close the season with the Piano Concerto No. 1 by Beethoven as the first installment of a complete cycle of Beethoven piano concertos.
On Oct. 7, UW professor and Pro Arte Quartet first violinist David Perry (below top) will make his MCO debut in the Violin Concerto No. 4 by Mozart; and on Dec. 16, Madison Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Naha Greenholtz (below bottom) will return to play the Violin Concerto by Brahms.
On April 2, the Festival Choir of Madison (below), under its director Sergei Pavlov, will makes its MCO debut in the movie-score cantata “Alexander Nevsky” by Prokofiev.
And the teenage winners of the second Youth Concerto Competition, to be held next December, will perform with the orchestra on Feb. 17.
The conductor for three concerts will be Kyle Knox, the music director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) and associate conductor of the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO).
A frequent MCO guest conductor, Knox has also agreed to become the ensemble’s new principal conductor and artistic adviser. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Kyle Knox conducting the MCO last December in Wagner’s Overture to the opera “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (The Master Singers of Nuremberg) at the UW’s Hamel Music Center.)
Two guest conductors will be making their MCO debuts: UW-Whitewater professor Christopher Ramaekers (below top) on Oct. 7 and Edgewood College professor Sergei Pavlov (below bottom) on April 2.
Some repertoire still hasn’t been decided. For up-to-date information, as well as information about how to audition for the MCO, how to subscribe to its email newsletter and how to support it, go to the newly redesigned website at: https://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
“We will also try to schedule the concert with this year’s Youth Concerto Competition winners for this summer, even if it means going to an outdoor venue,” says MCO co-founder and co-artistic director Mindy Taranto. The winners are: violinists Ava Kenny and Dexter Mott, and cellist Andrew Siehr.
Adds Taranto: “We are really excited about the lineup of guest soloists and new conductors, and are especially grateful to Kyle Knox for his continued association with us. We’re going to have a fantastic year.”
Tags: #AlexanderNevsky, #AmateurMusicians, #AndrewSiehr, #ArtisticAdviser, #AssociateConductor, #AvaKenney, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrandNew, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristopherRamaekers, #Co-ArtisticDirector, #CommunitySupport, #CompleteCycle, #COVID-19, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DavidPerry, #DexterMott, #DieMeistersinger, #EdgewoodCollege, #EmailNewsletter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FestivalChoir, #FestivalChoirofMadison, #FilmMusic, #FilmScore, #FourSeasons, #GuestArtist, #HamelMusicCenter, #HomeBase, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #KyleKnox, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #McFarlandPerformingArtsCenter, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Meet-and-Greet, #MemorialHighSchool, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MindyTaranto, #MovieScore, #MusicDirector, #MusicMusic, #NahaGreenholtz, #PerformingArts, #PerformingArtsCenter, #PianoConcerto, #PrinicpalConductor, #ProArteQuartet, #RichardWagner, #SergeiPavlov, #SergeiProkofiev, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #ThomasKasdorf, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #ViolinConcerto, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouthConcertoCompetition, #YouTubevideo, acclaim, admisison, adviser, Alexander Nevsky, amateur, ambitious, Andrew Siehr, announce, artistic, artistic adviser, Arts, associate conductor, audience, audition, Ava Kenney, Beethoven, blog, Brahms, brand new, cancellations, Cantata, cellist, Cello, center, Chamber music, choral music, Christopher Ramaekers, Classical music, co-artistic director, co-founder, community, composer, Concert, concertmaster, concerto, conductor, coronavirus, COVID19, cycle, date, David Perry, debut, design, Dexter Mott, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Edgewood College, email, ensemble, Facebook, Festival Choir, Festival Choir of Madison, film, first, free, guest artist, Hamel Music Center, home base, inaugural, installment, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, join, Kyle Knox, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, McFarland, McFarland Performing Arts Center, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial High School, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, Mindy Taranto, movie, Mozart, MSO, Music, Music director, Naha Greenholtz, newsletter, opera, Orchestra, outdoor, outdoors, Overture, PAC, performers, Performing arts, Performing Arts Center, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, postpone, praise, Prelude, principal, principal conductor, Pro Arte Quartet, professor, Prokofiev, public, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, reception, redesigned, remainder, renovations, Richard Wagner, score, Season, Sergei Pavlov, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, share, singer, soloist, String quartet, Student, students, summer, support, symphony, tag, teenage, The Ear, The Master Singers, Thomas Kasdorf, tickets, time, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Whitewater, venue, Violin, vocal music, Wagner, Wednesday, winner, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WYSO, Youth, Youth Concerto Competition, YouTube
Classical music: FREE Handel aria concert by area high school singers is this Saturday afternoon at Capitol Lakes
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature flutist Marilyn Chohaney, of The Oakwood Chamber Players, with pianist Joseph Ross and clarinetist James Smith. The program is salon music by Arnold Bax, Florent Schmitt, Claude Debussy and Dmitri Shostakovich. Sorry, no titles have been given. The concerts run from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Saturday afternoon, Jan. 26 at 2 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street – two blocks off the Capitol Square — there will be an hour-long program featuring five young singers performing Handel arias.
There will also be a guest performance of a Handel duet by the Handel Aria Competition’s new artistic director Sarah Brailey (below top) and founding artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe (below bottom).
You can hear Brailey, who won the Handel Aria Competition in 2015 and is now doing graduate work at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music while pursuing her growing career, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Karlos Moser, professor emeritus of the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music’s opera program, will accompany on the piano.
The performance is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
“Our goal is to encourage high school singers in the Madison, Wisconsin area to explore works from Handel’s vocal repertoire,” says Brailey.
All participating high school singers will receive a $100 Handel Aria Competition scholarship towards voice lessons or membership in the Madison Youth Choirs.
The high school singers who will perform are: Allana Beilke from Madison West High School; Daphne Buan from Verona Area High School; Ava DeCroix from Middleton High School; Cecilia League from McFarland High School; and Virginia Morgan from Madison West High School.
The students are all very active in the local arts scene and have participated in Wisconsin Badger All-State Choir, the Madison Opera Youth Apprentice Program, the Madison Symphony Chorus, the 50th anniversary Wisconsin School Music Association State Honors Treble Choir, and have won numerous awards in the National Association for Teachers of Singing Student Auditions and the State Solo and Ensemble Festival.
The program will include selections from operas and oratorios “Agrippina,” “Joshua,” “L’Allegro,” “Semele” and “Solomon.”
Tags: #All-State, #AllanaBeilke, #ArnoldBax, #ArtisticDirector, #AvaDeCroix, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolLakesRetirementCenter, #CeciliaLeague, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChoralMusic, #ClarinetMusic, #ClaudeDebussy, #DaphneBuan, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FlorentSchmitt, #FluteMusic, #FreeAdmission, #FridayNoonMusicale, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GraduateStudent, #GraduateWork, #HandelAriaCompetition, #HandelOpera, #HandelOratorio, #HighSchool, #HighSchoolSingersShowcase, #JamesSmith, #JosephRoss, #KarlosMoser, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWestHighSchool, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MarilynChohaney, #McFarlandHighSchool, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Mezzo-sopranoSinger, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MusicEducation, #MusicTeacher, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OperaAria, #OperaDuet, #OratorioAria, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #SalonMusic, #SarahBrailey, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VeronaHighSchool, #VeronaWisconsin, #VirginiaMorgan, #VocalDuet, #WisconsinBadgerAllStateChoir, #WisconsinSchoolMusicAssociation, #YoungArtists, #YouTubevideo, Agrippina, Allana Beilke, Arnold Bax, Artistic director, Arts, audience, audition, Ava DeCroix, awards, Badger, Baroque, blog, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, career, Cecilia League, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, composer, Daphne Buan, Debussy, director, duet, Early music, ensemble, Facebook, festival, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florent Schmitt, flute, flutist, forward, free, Friday, Friday Noon Musicale, George Frideric Handel, graduate student, Handel Aria Competition, high school, High School Singers Showcase, honors, Jacob Stockinger, James Smith, Joseph Ross, Joshua, Karlos Moser, L'Allegro, like, link, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison West High School, Madison Youth Choirs, Marilyn Chohaney, McFarland, McFarland High School, member, membership, mezzo-sorpano, Middleton, Middleton High School, Music, Music education, music teacher, new, Oakwood Chamber Players, opera, Opera aria, oratorio, performer, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, professor, program, repertoire, Retirement, salon music, Sarah Brailey, scholarship, Semele, Shostakovich, singer, solo, Solomon, soprano, state, Student, tag, Teacher, title, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, Verona, Verona High School, Virginia Morgan, vocal music, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Badger All State Choir, Wisconsin School Music Association, won, young, young people, YouTube
Classical music: The Oakwood Chamber Players conclude their season by performing Australian and New Zealand music this Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. On Saturday afternoon, the Arbor Ensemble performs a benefit concert of works by English composers.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: Violist Marie Pauls, a blog reader and music teacher, writes: “I have a newer chamber group called Arbor Ensemble, and I wanted to share with you info about a benefit recital we are doing. It is called “Steeped in Tradition: A Celebration of English Composers” and it will take place this Saturday, May 17, at 2:30 p.m. at the McFarland United Church of Christ, 5710 Anthony Street in McFarland.”
The Anglophile recital program will include works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Rebecca Clarke, Ian Clarke and Sir Arthur Bliss. Tea and scones will be served following the performance.
Reservations are strongly encouraged to guarantee your place. PLEASE NOTE: Reserved tickets not claimed 10 minutes prior to the recital will be released to the public. Visit the lick below and click the “tickets link” to make your reservation today. If you are interested in donating an item to the silent auction, please contact Arbor Ensemble! Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students. All ages are welcome.
http://arborensemble.com/events
By Jacob Stockinger
Talk about performing rarely heard repertory — even in the same English-speaking world!
Plus, add in some unknown women composers, and you have the makings of a memorable event.
This Saturday night and Sunday afternoon the Oakwood Chamber Players (below) will perform “Down Under,” its final concert in the season exploring music by composers from various regions around the world, featuring a program of music by Australian and New Zealand composers.
The Oakwood Chamber Players will present the program “Down Under” on Saturday, May 17 at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, May 18, at 1 p.m., in the Oakwood Village Center for Arts and Education, 6205 Mineral Point Road, 6205 Mineral Point Road, on Madison’s far west side.
Tickets are available at the door. Admission is $20 for the general public, $15 for seniors and $5 for students.
This is the fifth and final concert in the 2013-2014 Season Series titled “Origination: Exploring Musical Regions of the World.”
Australian compositions to be performed include a string quartet (at bottom in a YouTube video performed by the Australian String Quartet) by Miriam Hyde (below top), written in the 20th century pastoral style, as well as “Concertina di Camera” for winds and piano by Peggy Glanville-Hicks (below bottom), who was a student of Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Compositions by Percy Grainger (below) will be represented with a grouping of favorites including “Country Gardens “ for solo piano and three pieces in mixed chamber ensemble settings including “Handel on the Strand”, “Shepherd’s Hey” and “Walking Tune.”
Two centuries of New Zealand compositions will be represented by Keith Statham’s melodic “Lansdown Gardens” and “Flora” for flute, clarinet and piano, by Keith Statham (below top) as well “Morningstar II” for mixed winds and strings by 21st century composer Paul Stanhope (below bottom, in a photo by Jacky Ghossein).
The lively and familiar “Jamaican Rumba” buy Australian Arthur Benjamin (below) will round out the programming.
The Oakwood Chamber Players is a group of Madison-area professional musicians who have rehearsed and performed at Oakwood Village for 30 years. Many have affiliations with and perform with well-known groups such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Madison Opera and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
Visit www.oakwoodchamberplayers.com for more information.
The Oakwood Chamber Players are a professional music ensemble proudly supported by Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries and the Oakwood Foundation, in collaboration with Friends of the Arboretum, Inc.
Tags: Arthur Benjamin, Arthur Bliss, Arts, Australia, Australian String Quartet, Chamber music, Classical music, English, English-speaking, Ian Clarke, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, McFarland, Miriam Hyde, Music, New Zealand, Oakwood Chamber Player, Orchestra, Peggy Glanville Hicks, Percy Grainger, Piano, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Rebecca Clarke, Saturday, scones, tea, United Church of Christ, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 