The Well-Tempered Ear
The UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet performs a FREE online virtual concert this Wednesday night. Plus, local music critic Greg Hettmansberger has died
4 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.
NEWS ALERT: Local music critic and blogger Greg Hettmansberger (below) was killed in a car accident on Dec. 2, near Wichita, Kansas. Hettmansberger, 65, was driving when he hit a deer and then another car hit him. His wife survived but remains hospitalized in Wichita in critical condition. Here is a link to a news account: https://www.kake.com/story/42993718/man-dies-in-crash-caused-by-deer-in-pratt-county
By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night, Dec. 9, the UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet (below, in 2017) will perform a FREE virtual online concert from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Here is a direct link to the pre-recorded video premiere on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/e1NhVZJW2cA
Due to the pandemic, the Wingra Wind Quintet has been unable to perform chamber music in a traditional way since March 2020. (You can hear the quintet play “On, Wisconsin” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In response, the quintet put together a program that allowed each member to record parts separately and have those parts edited together.
Current faculty members (below) are: Conor Nelson, flute; Lindsay Flowers, oboe; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Marc Vallon, bassoon; and Devin Cobleigh-Morrison, horn
The engineer/producer is Kris Saebo.
The program is:
The first piece “Allegro scherzando” from Three Pieces by Walter Piston (below, 1894-1976)
The Chaconne from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst (below, 1874-1934)
“Retracing” by Elliott Carter (below, 1908-2012)
Selections from “Mikrokosmos” by Bela Bartok (below, 1881-1945)
“A 6 letter letter” by Elliott Carter
Intermezzo from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst
“Esprit rude/esprit doux” by Elliott Carter
Since its formation in 1965, the Wingra Wind Quintet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music has established a tradition of artistic and teaching excellence.
The ensemble has been featured in performance at national conferences such as MENC (Miami), MTNA (Kansas City), and the International Double Reed Society (Minneapolis).
The quintet also presented an invitational concert on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess series at the Chicago Public Library, broadcast live on radio station WFMT.
In addition to its extensive home state touring, the quintet has been invited to perform at numerous college campuses, including the universities of Alaska-Fairbanks, Northwestern, Chicago, Nebraska, Western Michigan, Florida State, Cornell, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Paris Conservatoire, where quintet members offered master classes.
The Wingra Wind Quintet has recorded for Golden Crest, Spectrum, and the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music recording series and is featured on an educational video entitled Developing Woodwind Ensembles.
Always on the lookout for new music of merit, the Wingra has premiered new works of Hilmar Luckhardt, Vern Reynolds, Alec Wilder, Edith Boroff, James Christensen and David Ott. The group recently gave the Midwest regional premiere of William Bolcom’s “Five Fold Five,” a sextet for woodwind quintet and piano, with UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (below).
New York Times critic Peter Davis, in reviewing the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall appearance, stated “The performances were consistently sophisticated, sensitive and thoroughly vital.”
The Wingra Wind Quintet is one of three faculty chamber ensembles in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
Deeply committed to the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the group travels widely to offer its concerts and educational services to students and the public in all corners of the state. (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea, which seems more relevant today than ever, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea.)
Portions of this recording were made at the Hamel Music Center, a venue of the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tags: #20thCentury, #AlecWilder, #AliciaLee, #AmericanComposer, #BelaBartok, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChicagoPublicLibrary, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClarinetMusic, #ConcertSeries, #ConorNelson, #ConservatoiredeParis, #CornellUniversity, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidOtt, #DevonCobleigh-Morrison, #DoubleReed, #EdithBoroff, #ElliottCarter, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyConcert, #FloridaStateUniversity, #FluteMusic, #GoldCrestRecords, #GregHettmansberger, #GustavHolst, #HamelMusicCenter, #HilmarLuckhardt, #HomeState, #husband-and-wife, #InterlochenArtsAcademy, #InternationalDoubleReedSociety, #JacobStockinger, #JamesChristensen, #KansasCity, #KrisSaebo, #LindsayFlowers, #LiveBroadcast, #MarcVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiamiFlorida, #MilitaryBand, #MinneapolisMinnesota, #ModernMusic, #MusicCritic, #MusicEducation, #Musicfaculty, #MusicReview, #MyraHess, #NationalConferences, #NewMusic, #NewWorks, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkTimes, #NorthwesternUniversity, #OnlineConcert, #ParisConservatory, #ParisFrance, #RecordedMusic, #RegionalPremiere, #SarasotaFlorida, #SpectrumRecords, #TheEar, #TheUW, #ThreePieces, #UniversityofAlaska-Fairbanks, #UniversityofChicago, #UniversityofNebraska, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VerneReynolds, #VirtualConcert, #WalterPiston, #WesternMichiganUniversity, #WFMTRadioStation, #WichitaKansas, #Wikipediaentry, #WilliamBolcom, #WindMusic, #WingraWindQuintet, #WisconsinIdea, #WoodwindInstruments, #WoodwindMusic, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 20th-century, accident, Alaska, Alec Wilder, Alicia Lee, allegro scherzando, American, American composer, artistic, Arts, audience, auto, automobile, band, Bartok, Bassoon, bassoonist, Béla Bartók, blog, blogger, Bolcom, Boroff, Broadcast, Campus, Carnegie Hall, Carter, chaconne, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Public Library, Christensen, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, college, Colleges and Universities, composer, Concert, concert series, condicition, Conor Nelson, Conservatoirre de Paris, Cornell University, coronavirus, critical, current, dame, David Ott, death, deer, Devin Cobleigh-Morrison, died, direct, double reed, drive, edited, Edith Boroff, Elliott Carter, engineer, ensemble, ever, excellence, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, faculty, Fairbanks, feature, Florida State University, flowers, flute, flutist, formation, forward, France, free, Gold Crest Records, Greg Hettmansberger, Gustav Holst, Hamel Music Center, Hilmar Luckhardt, Holst, Home, Horn, horn player, hornist, Hospital, hospitalized, husband, ILLINOIS, Interlochen Arts Academy, intermezzo, International Double Reed Society, invitational, Jacob Stockinger, James Christensen, Kansas, Kansas City, killed, Kris Saebo, Lee, letter, like, Lindsay Flowers, link, live, local, Luckhardt, Madison, Marc Vallon, march, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, merit, Miami, Michigan, Midwest, Mikrokosmos, military, military band, Minneapolis, modern music, Music, music critic, Music education, music faculty, music review, Myra Hess, national conferences, Nebraska, Nelson, new, New Music, new works, New York, New York City, New York Times, Northwestern University, Oboe, oboist, On, online, Ott, pandemic, Paris, Paris Conservatory, parts, perform, performerance, Pianist, Piano, pieces, Piston, post, posting, pre-recorded, premiere, premiered, prestigious, producer, program, public, quintet, recorded, recorded music, regional, regional premiere, relevant, response, Reynolds, sare, selections, sensitive, separately edit, sophisticated, Spectrum Records, spirit, state, Suite, survive, tag, Taylor, teaching, The Ear, Three Pieces, today, together, tour, touring, traditional, travels, United States, universities, university, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, University of Chicago, University of Nebraska, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, UW, UW-Madison, Vallon, venue, Verne Reynolds, video, virtual, vital, Walter Piston, way, Wednesday, Western Michigan University, WFMT, Wichita, wife, Wikipedia, Wilder, WILLIAM BOLCOM, wind music, Wingra Wind Quintet, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Idea, woodwind, woodwind music, YouTube
Classical music: UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet resumes its FREE Beethoven cycle virtual and online this Friday night with two other programs this semester
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 University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet (below, performing the first all-Beethoven program in Collins Recital Hall) will resume its complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets online and virtually this coming Friday night.
This third concert is free, and as you might have read in previous reviews, The Ear found the first two to be outstanding performances that also mixed works from early, middle and late periods.
The cycle is being undertaken to mark the Beethoven Year, which culminates this December with the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer (below).
Cellist Parry Karp (below) – the longest-standing member of the quartet and the person who often speaks for the quartet – sent the following note for posting:
“I thought I should bring the public up to date with the Pro Arte Quartet’s Beethoven cycle. Obviously things have had to change because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Before the pandemic, we were doing three quartets per concert. Since we now need to give the performances virtually and online, we have decided to perform two quartets per concert. Sitting at a computer for two hours at a time seemed a bit too much!
“We will be continuing the Beethoven cycle starting this Friday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. CDT. The program will consist of the early String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5; and the late String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, with the famous “Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving” (heard played by the Alban Berg Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom).
The link to watch that concert is at: https://youtu.be/Mf-Mpt3EyNk
“Charles Dill (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot), professor of musicology at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will give a short lecture about each quartet before the Pro Arte Quartet performs.
“Although the concerts will be taking place in the bigger Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center, the hall will be closed to the public for reasons of safety and public health.
“We will be playing with masks and with more separation or social distance from each other, which is a challenge and takes some adjusting to. It will also be odd to perform without a live audience.
“Unfortunately, because of copyright questions and royalties from the music editions we are using, the online concerts will not be archived for later viewing
“The other two concerts in the Pro Arte Quartet’s Beethoven cycle this semester will be on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7:30 p.m. CDT and Friday, Nov. 20, at 7:30 p.m. CST.
“We plan to complete the Beethoven cycle during the spring semester of 2021.
The programs for this semester are listed below.”
SEMESTER I SCHEDULE
Beethoven String Quartet Cycle will be performed by the Pro Arte Quartet with pre-performance lectures of the quartets by Professor Charles Dill
Pro Arte Quartet members (below in photo by Rick Langer) are: violinists David Perry and Suzanne Beia; violist Sally Chisholm; and cellist Parry Karp.
For history and background about the Pro Arte Quartet, which is the oldest active string quartet in the history of music, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/pro-arte-quartet/.
PROGRAM 3
This Friday, Oct. 2, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. CDT in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall.
String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18 No. 5 (1798-1800); and String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132 (1825)
PROGRAM 4: Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, at 7:30 p.m. CDT in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall
String Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4 (1798-1800); and the String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 127 (1825)
PROGRAM 5: Friday, Nov. 20, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. CST in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18 No. 3 (1798-1800); String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2 (1806)
Tags: #AlbanBerg, #AlbanBergQuartet, #All-Beethoven, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CharlesDill, #CollinsRecitalHall, #CompleteCycle, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidPerry, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FallSemester, #HamelMusicCenter, #JacobStockinger, #LiveAudience, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Musicfaculty, #MusicReview, #OnlineConcert, #ParryKarp, #ProArteQuartet, #PublicHealth, #SacredHymnofThanksgiving, #SallyChisholm, #SocialDistance, #SociallyDistanced, #SpringSemester, #StringQuartet, #SuzanneBeia, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #YouTubevideo, adjusting, Alban Berg, Alban Berg Quartet, anniversary, annoucement, archive, archived, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, before, Berg, bigger, biolin, birth, blog, cellist, Cello, challenge, Chamber music, change, Charles Dill, Collins Recital Hall, complete, computer, Concert, copyright, coronavirus, cycle, David Perry, December, Dill, early, edition, excellent, Facebook, fall, famous, forward, free, Friday, Hamel Music Center, hours, hymn, Jacob Stockinger, Karp, late, later, lecture, like, link, live audience, longest, Ludwig van Beethoven, masks, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, member, middle, mix, music faculty, music review, musicology, need, night, note, November, October, odd, online, opus, outstanding, pandemic, Parry Karp, perform, performance, period, plan, post, posting, Pro Arte Quartet, professor, program, public, Public health, Quartet, questions, resume, review, royalties, royalty, sacred, Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving, Sally Chisholm, semester, sfaety, share, short, sitting, social distance, socially distanced, speak, Spring, String quartet, Suzanne Beia, tag, The Eat, things, undertake, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, using, UW, UW-Madison, viewing, Viola, violinist, violist, virutal, watch, Website, YouTube
Classical music: What music is helping you get through the Coronavirus by staying home? Help create a Pandemic Playlist
10 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 today, Wisconsin joins other states and countries in proclaiming a stay-at-home emergency condition to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
That means non-essential businesses and schools are closed; restaurants can only deliver food and do pick-up; and residents must stay at home except for essential services and travel such as buying food, seeing a doctor and getting medicine.
For a couple of weeks, many of us have already been spending almost all our time hunkering down at home.
And the Internet and other mass media are full of helpful hints about how to handle the loneliness, fear and anxiety that can come with self-isolation and self-quarantining.
For many, music proves a reliable coping strategy.
Since there are no live concerts to preview or review, now seems like a good time for The Ear to ask readers: What music helps you deal with the isolation of staying at home?
Is listening to music a part of your daily schedule, structure or routine?
Maybe you are using the time to discover new music or neglected composers, works and performers.
Maybe you are using the time to revisit old favorites by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
Maybe you prefer darker and deeper, more introverted works such as symphonies by Mahler, Bruckner and Shostakovich?
Maybe you prefer the stories and drama of operas by Verdi and Puccini, oratorios by Handel and songs by Schubert?
Maybe, like The Ear, you find the music of Baroque Italian composers, such as the violin concertos by Vivaldi and Corelli, to be a great, upbeat way to start the day with energy and a good mood.
One more modern but neo-classical work that The Ear likes to turn to — a work that is rarely heard or performed live – is the beautiful “Eclogue” for piano and strings by the 20th-century British composer Gerald Finzi (below).
Finzi wrote it as a slow movement to a piano concerto, but then never finished the concerto. The “Eclogue” — a short pastoral poem — was never performed in his lifetime. So it continues to stand alone.
But like so much English pastoral music, the poignant Eclogue feels like sonic balm, some restorative comfort that can transport you to a calmer and quieter place, put you in a mood that you find soothing rather than agitated.
Hear it for yourself and decide by listening to it in the YouTube video at the bottom, then let The Ear know what you think.
Perhaps you have many other pieces to suggest for the same purpose.
But the series of reader suggestions is meant to be ongoing.
The idea is to build a collective “Pandemic Playlist.”
So right now and for this time, please post just ONE suggestion – with a YouTube link, if possible — in the Comment section with perhaps what you like about it and why it works for you during this time of physical, psychological and emotional distress from COVID-19.
What do you think of the idea of creating a Pandemic Playlist?
The Ear hopes that you like his choice, and that he and other readers like yours.
Be well and stay well.
Let’s get through this together.
Tags: #20thCentury, #AntonBruckner, #AntonioVivaldi, #ArcangeloCorelli, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BritishMusic, #CentersforDiseaseControl, #ChoralMusic, #COVID-19, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmotionalImpact, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GeraldFinzi, #GiacomoPuccini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #GoodMood, #GustavMahler, #HandelOratorio, #HealthCare, #HolidayFavorites, #HunkerDown, #ItalianBaroque, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiveConcert, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MassMedia, #ModernMusic, #MusicReview, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #NewMusic, #OperaMusic, #PandemicPlaylist, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #Self-Isolation, #shelter-at-home, #SlowMovement, #SocialDistancing, #Stayathome, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, agitating, agitation, alone, Anton Bruckner, Antonio Vivaldi, anxiety, Arcangelo Corelli, Arts, audience, Bach, balm, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Bruckner, Business, buy, calm, Centers for Disease Control, Chamber music, choice, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, closed, collective, comfort, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, condition, cope, coping, Corelli, coronavirus, countries, country, COVID19, create, daily, darker, day, decide, deeper, deliver, discover, distress, Dmitri Shostakovich, doctor, drama, Early music, Eclogue, Education, emergency, emotional, energy, English, essential, Facebook, favorites, fear, fight, finish, Finzi, food, forward, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Finzi, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, good, good mood, Gustav Mahler, Handel, health care, help, helpful, hints, Home, hunker down, idea, Internet, introvert, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, lifetime, like, link, live, live concert, Living composer, lockdown, loneliness, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, mass media, media, medicine, modern, mood, Mozart, Music, music review, neglected, neglected composer, neo-Classical, new, New Music, non-essential, old, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, pandemic, pandemic playlist, pastoral, performer, physical, Pianist, Piano, pick-up, piece, playlist, poem, poignant, post, posting, prefer, prevention, preview, proclaim, prove, psychological, psychology, Puccini, quarantine, quiet, quieter, rare, reliable, resident, restaurants, restorative, review, revisit, routine, schedule, school, schools, Schubert, self-isolating, Self-Quarantining, services, share, shelter, short, Shostakovich, sing, Singing, Slow movement, social, social distancing, song, songs, sonic, soothing, spend, start, state, stay at home, stories, strategy, stress, strings, structure, suggest, suggestion, symphony, tag, The Ear, think, thought, time, together, transport, travel, United States, use, Verdi, Viola, Violin, virus, Vivaldi, vocal music, weeks, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Acclaimed local soprano Sarah Brailey explains why performing artists and presenters need help during the COVID-19 pandemic
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
Sarah Brailey (below) is worried.
And with good reason.
Chances are good that you have seen the local soprano or heard her sing.
She is the artistic director of the Handel Aria Competition, which she herself won in 2015. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Brailey sing the aria “Will the Sun Forget to Streak” from Handel’s oratorio “Solomon,” with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra under conductor Julian Wachner, in the St. Paul Chapel in New York City.)
Brailey is a co-founder of and participant in the monthly free Just Bach concerts here. In addition, while pursuing graduate studies at the UW-Madison, she is a concert artist with a budding international career. For more about her, including a rave review from The New York Times and sample videos, go to: https://sarahbrailey.com
But right now the Wisconsin native is especially concerned about the lasting impact that the Coronavirus pandemic will have on her own career as well as on the careers of others like her and on the well-being of arts presenters.
Brailey (below, in photo by Miranda Loud) sent The Ear the following essay:
By Sarah Brailey
This is a scary time for everyone, but particularly for anyone who works as an independent contractor.
I am a freelance classical soprano based in Madison. I maintain a very active performing career, traveling all over the globe, and I am also a doctoral student at the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
When COVID-19 hit the United States, presenting organizations on the east and west coasts started canceling concerts to comply with social distancing recommendations.
I initially thought I was lucky to be living in the middle of the country where our lesser population density might save us. Plus, I am a Teaching Assistant at the UW right now, so I will still be getting my stipend — although teaching virtual voice lessons will be its own special challenge!
But many of my colleagues are not so lucky and are facing bankruptcy. If the government doesn’t include independent contractors in its relief packages, a lot of people are going to be insolvent.
And I myself am not immune. As the seriousness of the situation became clear, all my concerts in the next two months soon disappeared one by one.
While not being able to perform is emotionally devastating, these cancellations are also financially devastating.
There exists a clause in every standard performance contract called “force majeure” (superior force), which is idiomatically referred to as, “an act of God.” This clause excuses a party from not honoring its contractual obligations that becomes impossible or impracticable, due to an event or effect that the parties could not have anticipated or controlled.
This can come in handy for a presenter if there is, say, a blizzard that necessitates the cancellation of a concert. (This happened to me a few seasons ago with the Boston Symphony.) If the presenter will not make any money on ticket sales, they are not then further injured by having to pay the musicians for the canceled concert. (Below, Brailey sings Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” with the Colorado Symphony.)
The ramifications of this pandemic are unprecedented. Every freelance musician I know is suddenly out of work. The current conventions put all of the upfront financial burden on the artists. We are paid in one lump sum at the end of a project. We do not get a fee for the countless hours of preparation.
We often book travel and lodging on our own dime, and are not reimbursed until the end of the gig. We pay for our own health insurance, and we cannot file for unemployment because our work is paid via IRS Form 1099 and not W2s. The abrupt work stoppage caused by this pandemic means insolvency – or even bankruptcy — for many artists. (Below, Brailey sings Handel’s “Messiah” at the famed Trinity Church on Wall Street in New York City.)
Many institutions — and, unfortunately, many of the bigger players like The Metropolitan Opera — are invoking force majeure without much regard for how their artists are struggling.
My colleague, tenor Zach Finkelstein, is covering this in great detail on his blog The Middle Class Artist, as is Alex Ross, the prize-winning music critic for The New Yorker. Read his piece on force majeure here.
However, there are also thankfully some good stories to tell. The Bach Society of Minnesota reimbursed all my travel expenses and is paying 75 percent of my fee, as is the Lyra Baroque Orchestra.
I am helping Zach keep track of the organizations that are helping their artists in this time of need. (Read about them here. Madison Opera is on the list.)
The arts are not just cultural enrichment; they are an essential part of our economy. In 2017, the industry contributed $877.8 billion, or 4.5 percent, to U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employed over 5 million workers. We cannot afford to let this industry disappear. I fear that many individual artists and arts organizations will not recover from this. (Below, Brailey sings Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Magnificat” at the Bucknell Bach Festival.)
While we wait out this storm, I implore you to donate to a Madison arts organization. Here is a short list of recommendations along with some national relief funds for artists.
Local Arts Organizations
Tags: #ActofGod, #AlexRoss, #ArtisticDirector, #artsorganization, #ArtsPresenters, #BachFestival, #BachSocietyofMinnesota, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOratorio, #BigPlayer, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonSymphony, #BucknellUniversity, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClassicalMusician, #ColoradoSymphony, #ConcertArtist, #COVID-19, #CriticalAcclaim, #CulturalEnrichment, #DoctoralDegree, #EastCoast, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalGovernment, #ForceMajeure", #ForceW2, #Form1099, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GoodReason, #GraduateStudent, #GrossDomesticProduct, #Handel'sMessiah, #Handel'sSolomon, #HandelAriaCompetition, #HomeWebsite, #IndependentContractor, #InternalRevenueService, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JulianWachner, #JustBach, #Knoxville:Summerof1915, #LumpSum, #LyraBaroqueOrchestra, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetropolitanOpera, #MusicCritic, #MusicLessons, #MusicReview, #NativeAmerican, #NewYork, #NewYorkCity, #OutofWork, #PopulationDensity, #Prize-Winning, #RaveReview, #SamuelBarber, #SarahBrailey, #SocialDistance, #SocialDistancing, #SopranoSinger, #TeachingAssistant, #TenorSinger, #TheEar, #TheMagnificat, #TheMet, #TheMiddleClassArtist, #TheNewYorker, #TheNewYorkTImes, #TheU.S., #TicketSales, #timeofneed, #TravelExpenses, #TrinityChurch, #U.S.Government, #UnitedStates, #VocalMusic, #VoiceLessons, #WallSt., #WallStreet, #WestCoast, #ZachFinkelstein, abrupt, acclaim, act, Act of God, active, afford, Alex Ross, anticipate, aria, artist, Artistic director, Arts, arts organization, arts presenter, arts presenters, audience, Bach, Bach Society of Minnesota, bankrupt, bankruptcy, Barber, Baroque, Baroque music, big player, blizzard, blog, Book, booking, Boston Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bucknell, Bucknell University, budding, burden, cancellation, career, challenge, Chamber music, chances, chapel, choral music, Christian, church, Classical, Classical music, classicalmusic, clause, colleagues, Colorado, Colorado Symphony, comply, composer, Concert, concert artist, conductor, contract, contractor, contractual, control, conventions, coronavirus, country, coutnless, covering, cultural, cultural enrichment, detail, devastating, dime, disappear, doctoral, donate, donation, Early music, East Coast, economic, economy, effect, emotion, employ, emtoionally, end, enrichment, essay, essential, event, expenses, face, Facebook, famed, fear, federal government, fee, file, financial, force, force majeure, form, Form 1099, Form W2, forward, founder, free, freelance, freelancer, fund, GDP, George Frideric Handel, gig, globe, God, good, good reason, governent, graduate student, great, greater, gross domestic product, Handel, Handel Aria Competition, handy, help, home website, honor, hours, idiom, immune, impact, implore, impossible, impractical, independent, industry, injure, insolvency, insolvent, institution, Internal Revenue Service, international, IRS, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Julian Wachner, Just Bach, Knoxville, Knoxville: Summer of 1915, lasting, like, link, list, living, local, lodging, lucky, lump sum, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Opera, Madison Youth Choirs, Magnificat, Mead Witter School of Music, MEMF, Messiah, Metropolitan Opera, Minnesota, money, month, Music, music critic, music lessons, music review, Musician, myself, national, native, necessitate, need, New York, New York City, obligation, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, organization, out of work, own, package, pandemic, participant, parties, party, pay, performer, performing, piece, population, population density, post, posting, preparation, presenter, project, ramifications, rave, rave review, reader, recommendation, recover, reimburse, relief, review, sales, sample, Samuel Barber, Sarah Brailey, scary, seriousness, share, sing, singer, Singing, situation, social distance, social distancing, Solomon, song, soprano, special, St. Paul, stipend, stoppage, storm, struggling, subscriber, suddenly, summer, sun, Superior, symphony, TA, tag, tax, teaching assistant, tenor, The Boston Globe, The Ear, the Met, The Middle Class Artist, The New York Times, The New Yorker, ticket, ticket sales, time, time of need, travel, travel expenses, Trinity Church, U.S., unemployment, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unprecedented, UW, UW-Madison, video, virtual, virus, vocal music, voice, voice lessons, wait, Wall St., Wall Street, Website, well-being, west coast, winner, Wisconsin, work, workers, worried, worry, YouTube, Zach Finkelstein
Classical music: This Saturday night brings both the Escher String Quartet to the Wisconsin Union Theater and the UW-Madison Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra to the Hamel Music Center
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.
CORRECTION: The Ear received the following correction to the story he posted yesterday about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and apologizes for the error:
“There was a change to our rollout in Brookfield. We are only repeating the fifth Masterworks concert on Saturday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. We are NOT repeating this Friday’s concert in Brookfield.
“We will perform a Family Series concert of “Beethoven Lives Next Door” on Sunday, March 29, at 3 p.m. at the same Brookfield venue.”
By Jacob Stockinger
The upcoming weekend is a busy one for classical music.
The busiest night is Saturday night when two major concerts will take place: a performance by the Escher String Quartet and the postponed concert by the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra with soloists.
Here are details:
ESCHER STRING QUARTET and DAVID FINCKEL
The concert by the Escher String Quartet (below) with cellist David Finckel (below bottom. formerly of the critically acclaimed Emerson String Quartet) takes place on this Saturday night, Jan. 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The performance is part of the special season celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Concert Series.
The program includes the sublime Quintet in C Major, D. 956, with two cellos, by Franz Schubert and the String Quartet in A minor by the great early 20th-century Viennese violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler (below).
Tickets are $30-$50. For more information and to reserve tickets, go to: https://artsticketing.wisc.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=CFC3765F-5F1D-4663-BCA0-985BE3049CF5
For more information about the Escher String Quartet, including a video performance and detailed background, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/escher-string-quartet-with-david-finckel/
UW CHORAL UNION
Also on this Saturday night at 8 p.m., in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center at 740 University Avenue, the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra (below top), along with two vocal soloists – soprano Chelsie Propst (below middle) and baritone James Harrington (below bottom) — will perform a concert originally scheduled for Dec. 7 and then postponed.
The program, without intermission, is one 80-minute work: the epic and influential “A Sea Symphony” by the great 20th-century British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (below).
General admission tickets are $18 for the general public and faculty or staff; and $10 for UW students. To reserve tickets, go to Campus Arts Ticketing at: https://artsticketing.wisc.edu/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=412623A4-4FB9-40D6-BC23-A425360713EA
Beverly Taylor (below), the longtime director of choral activities at the UW who will retire this spring, sent the following note:
“The text by American poet Walt Whitman presents four symphonic scenes of great breadth and imagination, with lush harmonies and constantly varying tempos and dynamics.” (You can hear the Waves section, or third movement, from “A Sea Symphony” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Tags: #20thCentury, #ASeaSymphony, #BaritoneSinger, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrookfieldWisconsin, #ChamberMusic, #ChelsiePropst, #ChoralMusic, #ConcertSeries, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DavidFinckel, #EmersonStringQuartet, #EscherStringQuartet, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FritzKreisler, #HamelMusicCenter, #JacobStockinger, #JamesHarrington, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MusicReview, #RalphVaughanWilliams, #SaturdayNight, #ShannonHall, #SharonLynneWilsonCenterfortheArts, #SopranoSinger, #StringQuartet, #StringQuintet, #TheEar, #TheU.K., #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWChoralUnion, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #ViolinistVirtuoso, #VocalMusic, #WaltWhitman, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, A Sea Symphony, acclaimed, activity, American, American poetry, anniversary, Arts, audience, background, baritone, Beethoven, Beverly Taylor, blog, breadth, British, Brookfield, busy, celebrate, cellist, Cello, centennial, Chamber music, Chelsie Propst, choral, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, Concert, concert hall, concert series, conductor, correction, critically acclaimed, David Finckel, details, director, dynamics, Emerson String Quartet, English, epic, error, Escher String Quartet, Facebook, Family, forward, Franz Schubert, Fritz Kreisler, great, Hamel Music Center, harmony, imagination, influence, influential, information, Jacob Stockinger, James Harrington, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, lush, Madison, major, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Music, music critic, music review, night, online, Orchestra, performer, poet, Poetry, post, posting, postpone, quintet, Ralph Vaughan Williams, retire, Retirement, Saturday night, scene, sea, Season, Second Viennese School, series, Shannon Hall, share, Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, soloist, soprano, Spring, String quartet, string quintet, sublime, symphonic, symphony, tag, Tempo, text, The Ear, ticket, U.K., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, venue, Vienna, Viennese, Viola, Violin, violinist, vocal music, Walt Whitman, waves, Website, weekend, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, YouTube
Classical music: What concerts or performances in 2019 did you most like, and do you most remember and want to praise?
7 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 concert season’s winter intermission will soon draw to a close.
So this is a good time to recall favorite concerts and performances of last year.
But let’s be clear.
This is a not a request to name “The Best Concerts of 2019.”
Calling them the most memorable concerts doesn’t necessarily mean they were the best.
Perfection or “the best” sounds so objective, but can really be quite personal and subjective. So much can depend not only on the music and the performers, but also on your own mood and your taste or preferences.
So please share the concerts or performances that you most liked and enjoyed, the one that most still linger in your mind. And, if you can pin it down, tell us why you liked them so much and why they linger for you.
There are so many excellent groups and concerts, so much fine classical music, in the Madison area that there should be lots of candidates.
Here are several performances or complete concerts that The Ear remembers with special fondness.
The MADISON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers) held a season-long celebration of the 25th anniversary of John DeMain’s tenure as its music director and conductor. The big event came at the end: Mahler’s massive Symphony No. 8 – the so-called “Symphony of a Thousand” – that brought together the MSO and the MSO Chorus as well as the Madison Youth Choirs and the UW-Madison Choral Union.
It proved an impressive, overwhelming and moving display of coordination and musicianship, a testament to how far DeMain (below, in a photo by Prasad) has brought the orchestra.
(Also memorable on the MSO season were pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin in Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto in G Major and UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor in the Leonard Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety” symphony during the MSO tribute to Bernstein, with whom DeMain worked closely.)
The WISCONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski), under its veteran music director Andrew Sewell, continues to test its own limits and surpass them. Particularly impressive was the last concert of the winter season with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 14 featuring two outstanding soloists: soprano Mary Mackenzie and bass Timothy Jones.
The playing of the difficult score was precise but moving, and the singing blended beautifully. It made one understand why during this season – when the orchestra marks 60 years and maestro Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz) marks his 20th season — the WCO has deservingly graduated to two performances of each Masterwork concert (one here on Friday nights followed by one in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield on Saturday night).
Also memorable was an impressive concert by the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed MIDDLETON COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA. The Ear likes amateur musicians, and for their 10th anniversary concert they really delivered the goods in Dvorak’s famous Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” and, with fabulous guest soloist J.J. Koh (below — principal clarinet of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — in Mozart’s sublime Clarinet Concerto.
But it wasn’t only large-scale works that The Ear remembers.
Three chamber music concerts continue to stand out.
During the summer, the WILLY STREET CHAMBER PLAYERS and guest UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (both below) delivered a performance of Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major that would be hard for any group to match, let alone surpass, for its tightness and energy, its lyricism and drama.
The same goes for the veteran PRO ARTE QUARTET at the UW-Madison, which this fall started its complete cycle of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets in the new Hamel Music Center to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020 when we mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The quartet played early, middle and late quartets with complete mastery and subtlety. Treat yourself. Don’t miss the remaining five concerts, which resume in February and take place over the next year at the Hamel center and also at the Chazen Museum of Art, from where they will also be live-streamed.
Finally, The Ear will always remember the wholly unexpected and thoroughly captivating virtuoso accordion playing he heard last summer by Milwaukeean Stas Venglevski (below) at a concert by the BACH DANCING AND DYNAMITE SOCIETY. Venglevski performed music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Igor Stravinsky and Astor Piazzolla in a new and enthralling way.
Unfortunately, for various reasons The Ear missed many other concerts – by the Madison Opera and the University Opera among others – that promised to be memorable performances.
But perhaps you can fill him in as we start 2020 concerts next weekend.
What concerts in 2019 did you like most and do you most remember and praise? Why?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #AccordionMusic, #AgeofAnxiety, #AmateurMusicians, #AmericanJazz, #AndrewSewell, #AntoninDvorak, #AstorPiazzolla, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BassSinger, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrookfieldWisconsin, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberOrchestra, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralUnion, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClarinetConcerto, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DmitriShostakovich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FromtheNewWorld, #GustavMahler, #HamelMusicCenter, #IgorStravinsky, #J.J.Koh, #JacobStockinger, #JazzMusic, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnDeMain, #LeonardBernstein, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MaryMackenzie, #MasterworksConcerts, #MauriceRavel, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicDirector, #MusicReview, #NewWorldSymphony, #OrchestralMusic, #PianoConcerto, #PianoQuintet, #PrincipalClarinet, #ProArteQuartet, #SopranoSinger, #StanislasVenglevski, #StasVenglevski, #StringQuartet, #SymphonyofaThousand, #TheEar, #TimothyJones, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VocalMusic, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, 2019, 2020, accordion, Age of Anxiety, amateur, Andrew Sewell, anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, area, Arts, attract, audience, Ástor Piazzolla, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, bass, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, Bernstein, best, birth, blog, Brookfield, candidate, captivating, celebrate, celebration, Chamber music, chamber orchestra, Chazen Museum of Art, choral music, Choral Union, chorus, Christopher Taylor, clarinet, clarinet concerto, clarinetist, Classical music, comment, complete, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, critically acclaimed, cycle, dance, deliver, deserving, difficult, Dmitri Shostakovich, drama, drive, Dvorak, early, end, energy, enjoy, enthralling, Facebook, favorite, February, fond, fondness, forward, From the New World, good, goods, graduate, group, Gustav Mahler, Hamel Music Center, help, Igor Stravinsky, impressive, intermission, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, last, late, Leonard Bernstein, like, limits, linger, link, live-stream, live-streamed, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Maestro, Mahler, Mary Mackenzie, masterwork, mastery, Maurice Ravel, Mead Witter School of Music, member, memorable, memory, middle, Middleton Community Orchestra, Milwaukee, mind, mood, Mozart, Music, Music director, music review, Musician, new, New World Symphony, objective, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, outstanding, Overture Center, overwhelming, past, perfection, performance, performer, personal, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quintet, Piazzolla, post, posting, praise, precise, preference, principal, Pro Arte Quartet, quintet, Ravel, reader, score, Season, Sewell, share, Shostakovich, society, soloist, soloists, soprano, Stas Venglevski, Stravinsky, stream, String quartet, subjective, sublime, subscriber, subtlety, suburb, summer, surpass, symphony, Symphony of a Thousand, tag, tang, taste, tenure, test, testimonial, The Ear, tightness, Timothy Jones, tribute, unexpected, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW Choral Union, UW-Madison, Veteran, virtuoso, vocal music, WCO, Willy Street Chamber Players, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, year, you, your
Classical music: This Saturday night, Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev returns to the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos to perform popular works by Beethoven, Liszt and Gershwin
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
This coming Saturday night, Jan. 11, at 7:30 p.m., the acclaimed Russian-born pianist Ilya Yakushev (below) will make his fourth recital appearance at the Salon Piano Series.
The concert will be held at Farley’s House of Pianos, 6522 Seybold Road, on Madison’s far west side near West Towne Mall.
Yakushev — who studied in his native St. Petersburg and at the Mannes School of Music in New York City — has also performed several times with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
He never fails to impress with both his virtuosic technique and his insightful interpretations, whether he is playing Russian repertoire by Mussorgsky, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev or jazzy American classics like Gershwin.
“Yakushev is one of the very best young pianists before the public today,” said the American Record Guide about Yakushev who has also won major international competitions.
For more information about Yakushev, including critics’ reviews, a biography, concert dates and a discography, go to his website: http://www.ilyayakushev.com
The Madison program includes:
Beethoven – Sonata “Pathetique,” Op. 13
Liszt – “Six Consolations” (You can hear the famous Consolation No. 3, often learned by students and played as an encore by concert artists, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Gershwin – music from the opera “Porgy and Bess” in an arrangement for solo piano
An artist’s reception will follow the concert.
Tickets are $45 in advance ($10 for students) or $50 at the door. Service fees may apply. Student tickets can only be purchased online and are not available the day of the event.
You can purchase tickets on line at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/706809
For more information, go to: https://salonpianoseries.org/concerts.html
This concert is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Salon Piano Series is a nonprofit founded to continue the tradition of intimate salon concerts featuring exceptional artists. For more information about the series, including upcoming concerts and how to support it, call (608) 271-2626 or go to: https://salonpianoseries.org.
Tags: #AmericanRecordGuide, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrownPaperTickets, #ConcertArtist, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FranzLiszt, #HomeWebsite, #IlyaYakushev, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #Mannes School of Music, #ModestMussorgsky, #MusicalInterpretation, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NewYorkCity, #OperaMusic, #PianoMusic, #PianoSonata, #PorgyandBess, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SaturdayNight, #SergeiRachmaninoff, #SergeiRachmaninov, #ServiceFee, #StateOfWisconsin, #TheEar, #VirtuosoPianist, #WestSide, #WestTowneMall, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, age, American, American Record Guide, appearance, artist, Arts, audience, Beethoven, best, biogra[hy, blog, born, Brown Paper Tickets, Classical music, classics, Competition, composer, Concert, concert artist, concerto, consolation, critic, date, day, discography, encore, event, Facebook, fail, Farley's House of Pianos, forward, found, Franz Liszt, George Gershwin, georgegershwin, Gershwin, grant, home website, Ilya Yakushev, impress, information, insightful, international, interpretation, intimate, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, jazzy, like, link, Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Modest Mussorgsky, Music, music review, Mussorgsky, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, New York City, nonprofit, opera, pathetique, Pathetique Sonata, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano sonata, Porgy and Bess, post, posting, prize, Prokofiev, public, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, reception, recital, Russia, Russian, salon, Salon Piano Series, Saturday night, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sergei Rachmaninov, service fee, share, solo, Sonata, St. Petersburg, State of Wisconsin, Student, tag, technique, The Ear, ticket, today, tradition, transcription, United States, virtuosic, virtuoso, Website, west side, West Towne, West Towne Mall, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, young, YouTube
Classical music: A FREE concert of stripped down Opera Scenes takes place this Tuesday night at UW-Madison
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
It has been a busy week for students and staff in the opera program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
Last week saw three sold-out and critically acclaimed performances of Benjamin Britten’s opera “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Here is a review: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/11/23/classical-music-university-opera-succeeded-brilliantly-by-staging-brittens-a-midsummer-nights-dream-as-a-pop-project-of-andy-warhol-and-the-factory-in-the-1960s/
This week – on Tuesday night, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall (below) at the foot of Bascom Hill – the UW-Madison Opera Workshop will present a concert that presents a series of stripped down, quasi-staged opera scenes. There is piano accompaniment instead of an orchestra, and sometimes a prop with the suggestion of a costume instead of full costumes and full sets.
Admission is FREE to the public and no tickets are required.
David Ronis (below top, in a photo by Luke Delalio) and Mimmi Fulmer (below bottom) are the directors, and Ben Hopkins is the Teaching Assistant
No specific roles, arias or works are listed.
But the program features scenes from: “Werther” by the French composer Jules Massenet; “Fidelio” by Ludwig van Beethoven; “Little Women” by American composer Mark Adamo (below top); “Eugene Onegin” by Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; “A Little Night Music” by American Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim; “Dead Man Walking” by American composer Jake Heggie (below bottom); and “Hansel and Gretel” by German composer Engelbert Humperdinck.
Tags: #ALittleNightMusic, #AmericanComposer, #AMIdsummerNight'sDream, #BascomHill, #BenHopkins, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BroadwayMusical, #BroadwayShows, #CriticalAcclaim, #DeadManWalking, #EngelbertHumperdinck, #EugeneOnegin, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Frenchcomposer, #GermanComposer, #HanselandGretel, #JakeHeggie, #JulesMassenet, #LittleWomen, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MarkAdamo, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MimmiFulmer, #MusicHall, #MusicReview, #NewMusic, #OperaArias, #OperaMusic, #OperaScenes, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PianoAccompaniment, #RussianComposer, #StephenSondheim, #StrippedDown, #TeachingAssistant, #TheEar, #Tuesdaynight, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VocalMusic, A Little Night Music, A Midsummer Night's Dream, admission, American, aria, Arts, audience, Bascom Hill, Beethoven, Ben Hopkins, Benjamin Britten, blog, Broadway, busy, Classical music, composer, Concert, costume, critical acclaim, Dead Man Walking, director, dream, Englebert Humperdinck, Eugene Onegin, Facebook, faculty, Fidelio, forward, France, free, French, German, Germany, Hansel and Gretel, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Heggie, Jules Massenet, like, link, Little Women, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mark Adamo, Mead Witter School of Music, midsummer, Mimmi Fulmer, Music, Music Hall, music review, musical, New Music, night, opera, opera music, opera scenes, Orchestra, oublic, performance, performer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Pianist, Piano, piano accompaniment, post, posting, professor, program, prop, review, role, Russia, Russian, scene, set, share, show, sing, singer, Singing, sold-out, specific, staff\, stage, Stephen Sondheim, strip, stripped down, Student, suggestion, TA, tag, teaching assistant, The Ear, ticket, Tuesday, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW-Madison, vocal music, week, Werther, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: University Opera succeeded brilliantly by setting Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the 1960s at Andy Warhol’s The Factory
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
Larry Wells — the Opera Guy for this blog – took in two performances last weekend of the University Opera’s production of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which played to three sold-out houses at Music Hall. He filed this review. Performance photos are by Benjamin Hopkins and Michael Anderson.
By Larry Wells
The University Opera’s production of Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was set in Andy Warhol’s Factory of the 1960s with countertenor Thomas Alaan (below) as a Warhol-like Oberon presiding over the antics.
The opera by Britten (below) follows Shakespeare’s play fairly closely. The magical transformations and herbs of the original were translated to a hallucinogen-filled milieu of go-go dancing fairies, master-slave relationships and same-sex liaisons.
And for me it worked. That is to say, this production contained the same strangeness and wonder as the traditional productions I have seen. The play itself is very strange and wonderful.
Alaan is a fine singer and played a manipulative and somewhat slimy Warhol/Oberon whose flat affect seemed to be reflected in the relative lack of expressivity in the voice. Pitted against Oberon were Amanda Lauricella and Kelsey Wang alternating as Tytania.
Although the program stated that the portrayal of Tytania was loosely based on Edie Sedgwick in this production, without the platinum hair I missed the references. Both portrayals were much more assertive than Edie ever was, and both singers’ ardent coloratura voices tended to overshadow Oberon’s, which may have been intentional. Wang (below, far right) was an intense actress who put sparks into her portrayal, while Lauricella really has a superb voice.
(Below, from left, are Michael Kelley as Puck; Thomas Alaan as Oberon; Tanner Zocher as a young man; and Kelsey Wang as Tytania.)
The four lovers (below left) seemed to be employees at The Factory. Tenor Benjamin Liupaogo portrayed Lysander. The vocal part has an uncomfortable upper range, but Liupaogo’s singing in the second act particularly was up to the challenge.
His rival Demetrius was portrayed by baritone Kevin Green. Their contending affections for Hermia and Demetrius’ initial scorn for Helena were oddly lacking in ardor.
Hermia was double cast with Julia Urbank, a promising soprano, and Chloe Agostino, who was also a very good singer. Poor Helena, first ignored and then pursued by both men, was also double cast with a terrific Rachel Love and an equally gifted Jing Liu.
(The four lovers, below from left, were: Benjamin Liupaogo as Lysander; Chloe Agostino as Hermia; Jing Liu as Helena;, Kevin Green as Demetrius; and Paul Rowe as Theseus with Lindsey Meekhof as Hippolyte.)
As I have noted before, the female singers in the opera program often seem to be very solid performers. (You can hear the lovers’ quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
And then there were the “Rustics” (below), the workers who have come together to put on the play “Pyramus and Thisbe” for the upcoming wedding of the local duke, or in this case a rich art patron.
(The six rustics, below from left, were: James Harrington as Bottom; Jacob Elfner as Quince; Benjamin Galvin as Snug; Jack Innes as Starveling; Thore Dosdall as Flute; Jeffrey Larson as Snout; with Kevin Green as Demetrius, seated.)
The six men were each talented comic actors and provided many of the performance’s laughs. Foremost was James Harrington’s Bottom. Not only a very funny actor, he produced in my opinion the finest singing among the many talented students.
Mention must be made of the very amusing Flute, hysterically portrayed by Thore Dosdall, and the promising bass Benjamin Galvin as the slow learner Snug.
These men not only sang well together and separately, but also provided many guffaws whenever they appeared. (Below are: Jacob Elfner as Quince; Jeffrey Larson as Snout; James Harrington as Bottom; Jack Innes – back row up on box – as Starveling; Benjamin Galvin as Snug; and Thore Dosdall as Flute.)
Additionally we had the fairies — all female voices in this production — who sounded wonderful together and got to demonstrate their incongruous ‘60s dance moves to Britten’s score.
Professor Paul Rowe (below left, with Lindsey Meekhof as Hippolyta) made an appearance as Theseus, the duke. His singing was that of a mature artist, a quality to which the students are clearly aspiring.
As the opera drew to a close with a beautifully harmonious chorus, one felt the transformation from dissonance to harmony in the opera and conflict to resolution embodied in the original play.
Many mentions of woods and forest are made in the libretto. Director David Ronis had the walls of the factory cleverly hung with changing arrays of Warhol-like multiple images of flowers and animals. With the amount of weed being smoked and who knows what being ingested onstage, it was easy to believe that the characters might think they were in a forest despite being in a Manhattan warehouse (below).
(The cast, below from left, included Amanda Lauricella and Thomas Alaan in the foreground as Tytania and Oberon. Others were: Julia Urbank on the floor; Benjamin Liupaogo, on the floor; Chloe Flesch; Maria Steigerwald; Amanda Lauricella; Maria Marsland; Angela Fraioli; Thomas Aláan; and James Harrington lying on the couch.)
Presiding over all of this were members of the UW Symphony Orchestra led by new conductor Oriol Sans (below). I have heard maestro Sans conduct the students several times this fall, and I feel he is an outstanding addition to the music school. His control over the forces was amazing, and the subtlety he drew from the players was remarkable.
Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke Delalio) has tried original twists in several of his previous productions, but I think this has been the most outlandish. And I have to say that I really loved it. So carry on, please.
He has a penchant for Britten, one of my favorite composers. His previous productions included “Albert Herring” and “Turn of the Screw.” I wonder if readers have suggestions for another Britten opera he could conceivably produce here. I have my own wish list.
Tags: #AlbertHerring, #AMIdsummerNight'sDream, #AndyWarhol, #ArtPatron, #BaritoneSinger, #BenjaminBritten, #BenjaminLiupaogo, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #ChoralMusic, #CountertenorSinger, #DavidRonis, #DrugsandAlcohol, #EdieSedgwick, #EmeritusProfessor, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #LarryWells, #Master-Slave, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicHall, #MusicReview, #MusicSchool, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #OriolSans, #PaulRowe, #PopArt, #SopranoSinger, #TenorSinger, #The1960s, #TheaterReview, #TheEar, #TheFactory, #TheOperaGuy, #TurnoftheScrew, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWProfessor, #UWSymphonyOrchestra, #VocalMusic, #WilliamShakespeare, #WishList, #YouTubevideo, 1960s, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Actor, actress, affect, affection, Albert Herring, alcohol, amazing, Andy Warhol, animal, antics, ardent, Art, art patron, artist, Arts, aspire, assertive, baritone, beautiful, Benjamin Britten, Benjamin Liupaogo, blog, Britten, cast, challenge, characters, choral music, chorus, Classical music, coloratura, comic, composer, conductor, conflict, contend, control, countertenor, dance, dancing, David Ronis, director, dissonance, dream, drugs, duke, Edie Sedgwick, employee, expressivity, Facebook, factory, fairies, fairy, favorite, females, flat, flowers, forces, forest, forward, funny, gifted, go-go, guffaw, hair, hallucinogens, harmonious, harmony, herb, herbs, House, houses, hysterical, image, incongruous, ingest, intense, Jacob Stockinger, Larry Wells, laughs, learner, liaison, libretto, like, link, local, lover, Madison, magic, magical, male, MANHATTAN, manipulative, mature, Mead Witter School of Music, member, men, mention, milieu, move, Music, Music Hall, music review, music school, Oberon, onstage, opera, opera music, Orchestra, original, Oriol Sans, outlandish, outstanding, overshadow, patron, Paul Rowe, penchant, photos, platinum, play, pop, Pop art, portrayal, post, posting, preside, presiding, produce, produced, production, professor, promising, Puck, quality, range, reference, relationship, remarkable, resolution, rich, rustic, same-sex, score, scorn, Shakespeare, share, sing, singer, Singing, slimy, smoke, sold-out, soprano, sparks, strange, strangeness, subtlety, suggest, suggestion, summer, superb, tag, talent, talented, terrific, The Ear, The Factory, The Opera Guy, theater review, traditional, transformation, Transformations, translated, Turn of the Screw, twist, Tytania, uncomfortable, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, upper, UW, UW Symphony Orchestra, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, video, vocal music, voice, wall, warehouse, Warhol, wedding, weed, William Shakespeare, Wisconsin, wish list, women, wonder, Woods, workers, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Bill Lane on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | Augustine on The new Apple Music Classical… |
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: What will the fall concert season will look like? And what will the post-pandemic concert world be like?
3 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
This past week, The Ear listened to and read a lot of news about COVID-19 and the arts.
And it got him thinking: What will happen this fall with the new concert season? And even later, what will a post-pandemic concert world look like? (Below is the Madison Symphony Orchestra in a photo by Peter Rodgers.)
As you may have heard, the Tanglewood Festival, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been canceled this year. So too has the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Locally, American Players Theatre in Spring Green also just canceled its summer season.
So far, the summer season seems to be one big cancellation for the performing arts.
True, there are some exceptions.
The Token Creek Chamber Music Festival has yet to announce its plans for August.
One also has to wonder if crowds of up to 20,000 will feel safe enough to attend the Concerts on the Square (below), now postponed until late July and August, by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra?
Will people still want to attend the postponed Handel Aria Competition on Aug. 21 in Collins Recital Hall at the UW-Madison’s new Hamel Music Center, assuming the hall is open?
Fall events seem increasingly in question.
Last night on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that sports events and concerts will be among the last mass gatherings to take place safely, probably not until next spring or summer or even later, depending on when a vaccine becomes available.
Some public health experts also offer dire predictions about how easing up lockdown restrictions too soon might lead to an even worse second wave of the coronavirus virus pandemic this autumn and winter, despite all the happy talk and blame-shifting by Team Trump.
So, what do you think will happen beyond summer?
The Ear wonders what the fallout will be from so many music groups and opera companies turning to free online performances by solo artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles.
Will season-opening concerts be canceled or postponed? What should they be? Will you go if they are held?
Will at-home listening and viewing become more popular than before?
Will the advances that were made in using streaming and online technology (below) during the lockdown be incorporated by local groups — the UW-Madison especially comes to mind — or expected by audiences?
In short, what will concert life be like post-pandemic and especially until a vaccine is widely available and a large part of the population feels safe, especially the older at-risk audiences that attend classical music events?
Will larger groups such as symphony orchestras follow the example of the downsized Berlin Philharmonic (below, in a photo from a review by The New York Times) and play to an empty hall with a much smaller group of players, and then stream it?
Will some free streaming sites move to requiring payment as they become more popular?
Live concerts will always remain special. But will subscriptions sales decline because audiences have become more used to free online performances at home?
Will most fall concerts be canceled? Both on stage and in the audience, it seems pretty hard to maintain social distancing (below is a full concert by the Madison Symphony Orchestra). Does that mean the health of both performers – especially orchestras and choral groups – and audiences will be put in jeopardy? Will the threat of illness keep audiences away?
Even when it becomes safe to attend mass gatherings, will ticket prices fall to lure back listeners?
Will programs feature more familiar and reassuring repertoire to potential audiences who have gone for months without attending live concerts?
Will expenses be kept down and budgets cut so that less money is lost in case of cancellation? Will chamber music be more popular? (Below is the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet during its suspended Beethoven cycle.)
Will fewer players be used to hold down labor costs?
Will imported and expensive guest artists be booked less frequently so that cancellations are less complicated to do?
Will many guest artists, like much of the public, refrain from flying until it is safer and more flights are available? Will they back out of concerts?
Will all these changes leave more concert programs to be canceled or at least changed?
There are so many possibilities.
Maybe you can think of more.
And maybe you have answers, preferences or at least intuitions about some the questions asked above?
What do you think will happen during the fall and after the pandemic?
What do you intend to do?
Please leave word, with any pertinent music or news link, in the comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #60Minutes, #AirTravel, #AmericanPlayersTheatre, #BeethovenStringQuartets, #BerlinPhilharmonic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonSymphony, #BudgetCuts, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #ChoralMusic, #CollinsRecitalHall, #ConcertHall, #ConcertSeason, #ConcertsontheSquare, #COVID-19, #DonaldJ.Trump, #DonaldTrump, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalReserve, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GuestArtist, #HamelMusicCenter, #HandelAriaCompetition, #HappyTalk, #HighTechnology, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JeromePowell, #LaborCosts, #LastNight, #LiveMusic, #LiveStreaming, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassGathering, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicReview, #NewYorkTimes, #PerformingArts, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #ProArteQuartet, #PublicHealth, #RaviniaFestival, #SecondWave, #shelter-at-home, #SixtyMinutes, #SocialDistance, #SocialDistancing, #SpringGreen, #Stayathome, #StringQuartet, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TanglewoodFestival, #TheEar, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #TokenCreekFestival, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, 60 Minutes, air travel, American Players Theatre, answer, aria, artists, Arts, at home, at-risk, attend, audience, August, Autumn, Beethoven, Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, blame, blog, Book, Boston Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, budget, budget cuts, cancel, cancellation, CBS, CBS-TV, chairman, Chamber music, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, choral music, Classical music, Collins Recital Hall, comment, Competition, complicated, composer, Concert, concert hall, concert season, Concerts on the Square, coronavirus, cost, costs, do, Donald J. Trump, downsize, empty, ensemble, event, expense, expensive, Facebook, fall, fallout, familiar, Federal Reserve, flight, fly, forward, free, George Frideric Handel, guest artist, Hamel Music Center, Handel, Handel Aria Competition, happy talk, happy', Health, Home, illness, imported, intend, intuition, Jacob Stockinger, jeopardy, Jerome Powell, July, labor, labor costs, large, last night, like, link, listener, live music, lockdown, Ludwig van Beethoven, lure, Madison, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass, mass gathering, Mead Witter School of Music, MSO, Music, music review, new, New York Times, news, older, online, opera, Orchestra, pandemic, PAQ, part, past, payment, performer, Performing arts, pertinent, photo, Piano, players, popular, population, post, posting, postpone, postponement, preference, President Trump, price, pro arte hamel, Pro Arte Quartet, Public health, question, Ravinia Festival, read, reassuring, relevant, repertoire, repertory, require, restrictions, safe, safely, Season, second wave, section, share, shift, site, Sixty Minutes, social distance, social distancing, solo, Sports, Spring Green, Spring Green Wisconsin, stage, sting quartet, stream, streaming, subscriber, subscription, summer, suspend, symphony, tag, talk, Tanglewood Festival, team, technology, Television, The Ear, think, threat, ticket, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Trump, TV, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, Violin, vocal music, Website, week, winter, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wonder, world, YouTube