The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music education: On Sunday, the Madison Youth Choirs presents “Hide and Seek: Cracking the Musical Code” with music by Bach, Handel, Grieg, Poulenc, Britten, Holst, Copland and others

ALERT: This week is the season’s last FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive. Featured are violinist Maureen McCarty and keyboardist Mark Brampton Smith in music of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Antonio de Cabezon, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Pachelbel, Jules Massenet and Spirituals. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Madison Youth Choirs have sent the following announcement to post:

This spring, Madison Youth Choirs singers are sharpening their critical thinking, analytical and investigative skills as they identify patterns, puzzles and secret structures in a variety of complex musical compositions by artists including Johann Sebastian Bach, Francis Poulenc, Gustav Holst, Benjamin Britten, Georg Frideric Handel, Aaron Copland, and other composers. The results will be presented this Sunday in “Hide and Seek: Cracking the Musical Code.”

MYC’s Cantabile and Ragazzi choirs will also present excerpts from a world premiere score by Wisconsin-based composer Scott Gendel (below) inspired by the beloved novella The Snow Goose.

Please join us as we dive deep into these classical and contemporary choral works, discovering the great rewards of seeking brilliance and beauty wherever they hide.

The concerts are at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Ave., near Camp Randall Stadium.

Here is a schedule of times for various groups to perform:

Sunday, May 14, 2017

1:30 p.m. Girlchoirs

4 p.m. Boychoirs

7 p.m. High School Ensembles.

Tickets are available at the door. General admission is $10, $5 for students 7-18, and free for children under 7. A separate ticket is required for each performance. 

See below for complete programs.

These concerts are generously supported by the American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, the John A. Johnson Foundation, a component fund of the Madison Community Foundation, Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. This project is also supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

About the Madison Youth Choirs (MYC):

Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community. Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, personal responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond. (You can hear a sample of them singing in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

For more information, go to www.madisonyouthchoirs.org

Here are the concert programs for this Sunday:

1:30 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Girlchoirs)

Choraliers

Lachend…Cesar Bresgen

Two Childhood Songs…Randall Thompson

Fairest Lady (from The Nursery Rhyme Cantata)…Nick Page

Con Gioia

O Lovely Peace (from Judas Maccabeus)…George Frederic Handel

Ewig Dein…Ludwig van Beethoven

Kentucky Jazz Jam…Traditional folk songs, arr. David J. Elliott

Capriccio

Musica est Dei donum optimi…Orlando di Lasso

Herr, du siehst statt gutter Werke auf (BWV 9)…Johann Sebastian Bach

Camino, Caminante…Stephen Hatfield

Think on Me…James Quitman Muholland

Amavolovolo…Traditional Zulu, arr. Rudolf de Beer

Cantilena

Bonny Wood Green…Traditional Irish Ballad, arr. Stephen Hatfield

Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser…Folk song from Quebec, arr. Donald Patriquin

Cantabile

Love is a Rain of Diamonds…Gwyneth Walker

No Time…Traditional camp meeting songs, arr. Susan Brumfield

Combined Choirs and Audience

Blowin’ in the Wind…Bob Dylan

4 p.m. Concert (Featuring MYC Boychoirs)

Combined Boychoirs

Das Hexen Einmal-Eins (The Witch’s One-Times-One)…Franz Joseph Haydn

Purcell

Wind on the Hill…Victoria Ebel-Sabo

Mangwani M’pulele…Traditional Zulu, arr. Theodore Bikel

The Old Carrion Crow…Nova Scotian folk song, arr. Mary Goetze

Britten   

Missa Brevis in D…Benjamin Britten

Wenn Sorgen auf mich dringen…J.S. Bach

I’se the B’y…Newfoundland folk song, arr. John Govedas

Holst

Tourdion…Anonymous, 16^th century, arr. Pierre Attaignant

Bawo Thixo Somandla (sung in Xhosa)…Mxolisi Matyila

A Miner’s Life…Traditional Irish song, arr. Seth Houston

Ragazzi

Zion’s Walls…Setting by Aaron Copland, arr. Glen Koponen

Seigneur, je vous en prie…Francis Poulenc

Brothers, Sing On…Edvard Grieg

Combined Boychoirs

Blowin’ in the Wind…Bob Dylan

7 p.m. Concert (Featuring High School Ensembles)

Cantilena

Domine Deus (from Mass in G Major, BWV 236)…J.S. Bach, arr. Doreen Rao

maggie and milly and molly and may…Vincent Persichetti

Bonny Wood Green…Traditional Irish Ballad, arr. Stephen Hatfield

Ah! Si mon moine voulait danser…Folk song from Quebec, arr. Donald Patriquin

Ragazzi

Zion’s Walls…Setting by Aaron Copland, arr. Glen Koponen

Seigneur, je vous en prie…Francis Poulenc

Brothers, Sing On…Edvard Grieg

Cantabile

Suscepit Israel (from Magnificat in D, BWV 243)… J.S. Bach

Love is a Rain of Diamonds…Gwyneth Walker

No Time…Traditional camp meeting songs, arr. Susan Brumfield

Cantabile and Ragazzi

Excerpts from The Snow Goose…Scott Gendel

Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal…Traditional shape-note, arr. Alice Parker

Combined Choirs and Audience

Blowin’ in the Wind…Bob Dylan