The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The weeklong 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival is virtual and will be free online here and worldwide starting this Saturday
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement from the directors of the Madison Early Music Festival and the UW-Madison Division of the Arts to post:
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about public health for performers and audiences, the 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) will be virtual.
It will be held as MEMF Online! from this Saturday, July 11, through next Saturday, July 18. It can be accessed at Facebook.com/MadisonEarly or madisonearlymusic.org.
All events are FREE. Lectures and special features begin at NOON (not 11 a.m., as first listed) and concerts begin at 7 p.m. (CDT). All events will be available nationwide and internationally.
The Madison Early Music Festival is internationally recognized as a top early music festival that features music from medieval, Renaissance and baroque eras from award-winning performers and distinguished faculty.
The uncertainty of the future for the arts and MEMF is daunting, but we have persevered and put together a virtual experience to showcase the musicians and faculty members that were supposed to perform this summer.
Each ensemble prepared a special video of highlights from past performances, and other faculty members recorded lectures.
Our focus was going to be “Musical Life from the Burgundian Court,” and the videos of the Orlando Consort, Piffaro, performances and lectures by Michael Allsen and Peggy Murray reflect that theme.
The other two ensembles, Trefoil and Nota Bene, sent us live concert recordings of Trecento and Italian repertoire.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are launching a fundraiser campaign to help support the artists that were to perform this season. It is critical that we help these musicians as many of them have lost substantial and irreplaceable income for the foreseeable future.
People can donate online at madisonearlymusic.org — where you can also see the concert programs — and click on the Support tab at the top of our home page. All money raised is for the MEMF musicians.
HERE IS A COMPLETE SCHEDULE OF MEMF ONLINE:
Different events will be released each day of the festival, but the content will be available after that time for later viewing.
Saturday, July 11, at 7 p.m.: Orlando Consort (below) in 15th-Century Chansons from the Library of Congress
Sunday, July 12, at 7 p.m.: Piffaro, The Renaissance Band: (below) Excerpts from Burgundian Beginnings and Beyond, Philadelphia
Monday, July 13, at noon: Michael Allsen (below), Musical Life and History at the Burgundian Court
Tuesday, July 14, at 7 p.m.: Trefoil (below): Trecento Music from Bowerbird Concert Series, Philadelphia
Wednesday, July 15, at noon: T-shirt challenge! Post a photo wearing a MEMF T-shirt! #MEMF2020; plus Lecture by William Hudson (below) on style in singing and ornamenting Baroque songs
Thursday, July 16, noon: Renaissance Valois Dance at the Burgundian Court, a lecture by Peggy Murray (below)
Friday, July 17, at 7 p.m.: Nota Bene viol consort (below) in Sonetti Spirituali; Italian Madrigals and Divine Poetry of the High Renaissance composed by Pietro Vinci (c.1525–1584) to settings of the poetry of Vittoria Colonna (1492-1547) Brandeis University in Boston
Saturday, July 18, at 7 p.m.: All-Festival Concert videos from previous festivals. There will be a sing-along of Pastime With Good Company! by King Henry VIII (below). It will be led by a virtual MEMF Faculty Ensemble. You can hear the popular song — also known as “The King’s Ballad” — in the YouTube video at the bottom. (You can download the music and lyrics at: https://memf.wisc.edu/annual/online-program/)
We hope to see everyone in 2021, and that a vaccine is approved to help us gather again as a community experiencing all the arts with musicians, artists and audiences — at MEMF in Madison and around the world.
Tags: #All-FestivalConcert, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOrnamentation, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BostonMassachusetts, #BowerbirdConcertSeries, #BrandeisUniversity, #BurgundyFrance, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CourtMusic, #COVID-19, #DivisionoftheArts, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FundraisingCampaign, #GreatBritain, #HenryVIII, #HomePage, #InstrumentalMusic, #ItalianMusic, #J.MIchaelAllsen, #JacobStockinger, #LibraryofCongress, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MedievalMusic, #MEMFOnline, #Musicfaculty, #NotaBene, #OrlandoConsort, #PeggyMurray, #PietroVinci, #PiffaroRenaissanceBand, #PublicHealth, #RecordedMusic, #RenaissanceMusic, #SheetMusic, #TheEar, #TheKing'sBallad, #TrefoilEnsemble, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VittoriaColonna, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, access, All-Festival concert, annual, approve, Arts, audience, available, award-winning, band, Baroque, blog, Boston, Bowerbird Concert Series, Brandeis University, Burgundy, campaign, century, challenge, Chamber music, chanson, classicalmusic, community, company, compose, composer, Concert, consort, coronavirus, court, critical, dance, daunting, distinguished, divine, division, Division of the Arts, download, early msuic, Early music, earlymusic, England, English, ensemble, era, event, excerpts, experience, Facebook, faculty, feature, festival, foreseeable, France, free, fundraiser, future, good, Great Britain, Henry VIII, highlight, History, home page, income, instrumental, international, internationally, irreplaceable, Italian, Italy, J. Michael Allsen, Jacob Stockinger, King, lecture, Library of Congress, life, like, link, live, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, Mead Witter School of Music, Medieval, MEMF, MEMF Online, Michael Alsen, money, muisician, Music, musical, nationwide, Nota Bene, online, Orlando, Orlando Consort, ornament, ornamentation, pandemic, past, pastime, Peggy Murray, perform, performers, persevere, Philadelphia, Pietro Vinci, Piffaro, Poetry, popular, post, posting, program, programming, Public health, recognize, record, recorded, reflect, Renaissance, repertoire, repertory, Saturday, schedule, Season, series, setting, share, sheet music, short, showcase, sing-along, Singing, song, specail, start, substantial, summer, support, T-shirt, tag, tee short, The Ear, The King's Ballad, theme, top, Trecento, Trefoil, Trefoil Ensemble, UK, uncertainty, unemployed, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, vaccine, video, Vinci, Viol, virtual, Vittoria Colonna, vocal music, weeklong, Wisconsin, world, YouTube
Classical music: A new opera takes listeners back to The Bad Old Days of anti-gay America – and reminds us of the bigotry today that camouflages itself as religious freedom
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CORRECTION: Yesterday’s post about the fourth annual Handel Aria Competition had a mistake about when it will be held. The correct time is next FRIDAY, July 8, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall. The Ear regrets the error. General admission is $10. Here is a link with more information:
By Jacob Stockinger
Issues pertaining to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are much in the news these days.
Of course there were the shootings and mass murder at the Pulse gay bar in Orlando, Florida.
And there were the so-called “bathroom laws” enacted against transgender people and designed to protect “normal” people who ere never really threatened.
In contrast, the military announced that transgender people could serve under the usual conditions and regulations.
Then President Obama declared the Stonewall Inn (below) in Greenwich Village in New York City, a national historical landmark. In 1969 a police raid against the gay bar led to riots that, in turn, sparked the gay liberation movement to secure human rights and civil rights for homosexuals.
This week saw a U.S. District Judge in Mississippi ruling against so-called “religious freedom” laws that many states have enacted in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage a year ago.
Such laws were ruled to discriminate against LGBT people and to unconstitutionally favor certain religions or forms of religion.
A lot of the proponents of such laws seem to have a false nostalgia for the good old days.
Well, maybe they were good for some people. But they were terrible times for many others, including LGBTQ people.
Gregory Spears’ new opera, called “Fellow Travelers” (below is a crucial scene in a photo by Philip Goushong for the Cincinnati Opera) has an interesting take on that historical era with its “Lavender Scare” that parallels the Red Scare of McCathyism.
Here is a story that aired on NPR or National Public Radio:
Tags: aria, Arts, bisexual, choral music, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Opera, Classical music, Florida, freedom, gay, gay bar, George Frideric Handel, Homosexuality, Jacob Stockinger, Lavender Scare, law, lesbian, LGBT, LGBTQ, mass murder, mass shooting, McCarthyism, military, Music, National Public Radio, New York City, NPR, opera, Orlando, Pulse, queer, Red Scare, reigionf, religious freedom, Same-sex marriage, service, Stonewall Inn, Supreme Court of the United States, transgender, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, YouTube
Classical music: What music would you play to honor and mourn the dead, wounded and traumatized victims of the gay night club shooting in Orlando, Florida?
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By Jacob Stockinger
It has been a week now.
A very long, hard and emotional week.
The Ear has heard some classical music dedicated to the victims — 49 killed, some 50 wounded and countless traumatized — of the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay night club in Orlando, Florida, that took place one week ago. (Below is a vigil in support of the LGBT community.)
Others might choose a standard like the famous “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber. It is undeniably moving and perfectly appropriate.
But so far the piece that most moved The Ear, unexpectedly, was a familiar one that aired on Wisconsin Public Radio: the “Nimrod” variation from the “Enigma Variations” by Sir Edward Elgar.
The Ear hears tenderness, gentleness and even love in the music. But in it he also hears strength, resilience and pride as well as sorrow, acceptance and resignation.
Plus, he likes the idea of enigma that is attached to it, given all the issues and questions — terrorism, Islamic radicalization and extremism, homophobia, self-hatred, hate crimes, gun control, protests, mass grieving — that still surround the incident and remain to be solved.
You can listen to the piece of music in the YouTube video at the bottom that features conductor Daniel Barenboim conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It has more than 3 million hits.
But The Ear is also sure that there is a great deal of other music that would suit the purpose. They include:
The passions, oratorios and cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach.
The Requiems of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppe Verdi and Gabriel Faure.
The symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky and Antonin Dvorak.
The string quartets, piano trios, duo sonatas and other chamber music by Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert as well as the solo piano music of Chopin, Schumann and so many others.
The masses of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert.
The songs of Schubert and arias and choruses from all kinds of operas, but especially those of Giacomo Puccini.
And on and on.
Leave your personal choice, with a YouTube link if possible, and your reason for choosing it in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Adagio for Strings, arias, Arts, Bach, Barber, Baroque, Beethoven, Brahms, cantatas, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chopin, choral music, choruses, Classical music, conductor, Daniel Barenboim, Early music, Elgar, enigma, Enigma Variations, Faure, Florida, Franz Schubert, gay, Giacomo Puccini, grieving, gun, gun control, hate crime, homophobia, Islam, Islamist, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, lesbian, LGBT, Ludwig van Beethoven, mass, masses, Mozart, Music, Nimrod, opera, oratorio, Orlando, Passion, Piano, Piano Trio, protest, Quartet, radicalization, Requiem, Robert Schumann, self-hatred, shooting, Sonata, song, String quartet, Tchaikovsky, terrorism, trio, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, Viola, Violin, vocal music, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Don’t overlook the many FREE and varied student recitals at the UW-Madison School of Music as the semester comes to an end. Plus, this week’s concert of new music is POSTPONED and the Fall Opera Scenes Workshop takes place on Thursday night.
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ALERTS: The concert by the UW-Madison Contemporary Chamber Ensemble that was scheduled for this Wednesday night has been POSTPONED. No word yet about the new date.
The fall edition of University Opera’s Opera Scenes will offer its latest production on this Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall. The FREE event features work by students in the Fall Opera Workshop class at the UW-Madison. Students direct, stage and sing the scenes. Piano accompaniment is again the norm, but this time a small Baroque orchestra of strings and winds will also be there.
The program will include scenes from “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber; “Arabella” by Richard Strauss; “La Clemenza di Tito” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; and “Orlando” by George Frideric Handel. Also, violist, conductor, singer and critic-blogger Mikko Rankin Utevsky will make his opera conducting debut in the half-hour excerpt of Handel, which includes a mad scene. For more information, including a list of the singers, here is a link: http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/opera-workshop-fall/
By Jacob Stockinger
There are still quite a few big, important and appealing concerts left as the semester and the year wind down, with just over six weeks remaining until 2016.
At the UW-Madison, there are several major choral concerts, several of them with holiday music and holiday themes, just as many other music organizations — including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Madison Bach Musicians among them — do as the holidays approach.
There are probably some noteworthy student recitals at Edgewood College too, but The Ear generally doesn’t hear about those.
So The Ear wants to direct your attention to the many student degree recitals – both undergraduate and graduate – that begin to pile up as the semester comes to a close.
All are free and usually take place at 6:30 or 8:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall.
The variety is stupendous. There are piano and chamber music recitals of all sorts. There are voice recitals. You can hear music for the flute, horn, violin, viola, saxophone, clarinet and percussion. (Below is student Sara Giusti in a recent piano recital.)
Here is a link to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music online calendar of events and concerts for November and December (click forward to advance the schedule of events):
http://www.music.wisc.edu/events/
Click on the event you are interested in for details. Some of the listings have specific programs; others don’t. But almost all are good bets, given the caliber of the teaching and performing at the UW-Madison music school.
Happy Listening!
And please use the COMMENT section to let The Ear and his readers know about outstanding results when you hear them.
Let us now praise students too!
Tags: Arabella, Arts, Autumn, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Carl Maria von Weber, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, clarinet, Classical music, contemporary music, Der Freischutz, Dmitri Shostakovich, Early music, Edgewood College, fall, flute, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, holiday music, holiday season, Horn, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, La Clemenza di Tito, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, New Music, opera, Opera Props, Orlando, percussion, Piano, Piano Trio, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, Saxophone, Sonata, song, songs, Strauss, Undergraduate education, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, voice, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical music: The Ear thinks Handel Himmel is here to stay as the annual Handel Aria Competition matures into permanence.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Last Thursday night, The Ear attended the annual Handel Aria Competition.
And once again, he found himself in Handel Himmel.
The contest – sometimes likened to a smack-down or a classical Baroque “American Idol” — is affiliated with, but not a part of, the Madison Early Music Festival.
This was the third year in a row for the competition, which was founded by local merchants and music patrons Dean and Orange Schroeder (below).
Here is a link to a Q&A post in 2013 with Dean Schroeder discussing the genesis of the competition:
And it sure seems that, with more incremental improvements yet again this year, this third time could prove the charm in establishing the competition as a permanent event.
Here is a link to the competition’s home website with news of the winners soprano Sarah Brailey (first, below center), countertenor Andrew Rader (second, below right) and mezzo-soprano Margaret Fox (third and audience prize, below left), the last of whom did graduate work at the UW-Madison School of Music:
http://handelariacompetition.com
For one, the attendance seemed bigger and applause sounded louder than in the past two years. The word is out.
Also, the competition returned to Mills Hall, which has better seating, better sight lines and better acoustics — to say nothing of better restrooms — than Music Hall, where it was held last year.
Here are some other things The Ear especially liked about this year’s Handel Aria Competition:
The Madison Bach Musicians — with harpsichord, two violins, cello, viola and especially an oboe — accompanied the singers.
That felt much more authentic for opera and oratorios than the solo harpsichord the first year or the small group last year. It sounded great and added a depth that allowed you to really hear how Georg Frideric Handel bounced parts back and forth.
One organizer told me she hopes that the ensemble will return next year. The Ear hopes so too. Everybody hopes so. They did an outstanding job and added a lot.
There were only seven contestants (below). Even so, the event started at 7:30 and ran until almost 10 p.m. That makes for a long night. Splitting them into four and three, then adding in time at the end for judging by the judges and the audience, made it more manageable than in previous years. But The Ear would like to see the finalists whittled down to five or six.
This year also saw more unusual repertoire offerings. I heard less from such well-known works as, say, “Messiah” — which should be banned from the competition — and more from unusual works such as “La Resurrezione,” “Siroe Re di Persia,” “Orlando” and “Teseo.”
That helped me to appreciate the range of Handel’s music. (Listen to the lovely aria “Ferma l’ali” from “La Resurrezione” in a YouTube video at the bottom. It was the opening piece sung by winner Sarah Brailey.)
The contestants also seem to get more evenly matched and more professional every year, showing greater ease and better stage presence. That is probably only to be expected as news of the competition spreads among early music enthusiasts.
BUT: There was one sour note. I did hear some very strong complaints from quite a few very knowledgeable listeners that soprano Kristen Knutson (below) did not receive any prize.
Yet she seemed to possess the complete package. She demonstrated a strong and expressive voice, with great pitch and diction plus terrific ornamentation, and she showed a fine stage presence.
Was she shut out — or robbed, as one listener bluntly put it — because she went first? Whatever the reason, she deserved much better recognition than she got. The Ear hope she returns next year and does as well as she deserves to.
What did you think of this year’s competition?
Of the performances and of the judging?
Tags: Arts, Baroque, bass, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, countertenor, Early music, George Frideric Handel, harpsichord, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Early Music Festival, MEMF, Messiah, Mezzo-soprano, Music, New York City, Oboe, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, Orlando, soprano, Teseo, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, YouTube
Classical music: Edgewood College performs its Spring Choral Concert this Sunday afternoon.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Sunday, March 23, at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, Edgewood College (below) will present its Spring Choral Concert.
Performing groups include The Edgewood College Chamber Singers (below top and in a YouTube video at the bottom) and Men’s Choir, under the direction of Albert Pinsonneault (below middle), will join the Edgewood College Women’s Choir, under the direction of Kathleen Otterson (below bottom), in a joint appearance.
The program includes works by Orlando di Lasso (below top), Gabriel Faure (below middle) and Richard Wagner (below bottom), along with gospel, folk and world music selections. Sorry, no word about specific pieces.
ADMISSION IS FREE.
Tags: Albert Pinsonneault, Arts, Choir, choral music, chorus, Classical music, Edgewood College, Edgewood College Drive, Faure, Folk music, Gabriel Fauré, gospel music, Jacob Stockinger, Kathleen Otterson, Madison, Music, Orlando, Orlando di Lasso, Richard Wagner, Spring Choral Concert, St. Joseph, Sunday, Wagner, Wisconsin, World music, YouTube
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: Last spring’s inaugural LunART Festival of women composers and creators in Madison wins a national prize
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By Jacob Stockinger
Some hearty applause and major congratulations are in order, especially in the #MeToo society and culture!
The inaugural LunART Festival that took place this past spring and celebrated women composers and creators just took First Prize from the National Flute Association.
Below is a photo of co-founder and co-director Iva Ugrcic holding the certificate that she received in Orlando, Florida:
And here is what she has to say, as passed along on the festival’s Facebook site, which has hundreds of congratulations and comments as well as photos:
“Over the moon for winning the 1st prize at the The National Flute Association C.R.E.A.T.E. Competition with my baby project LunART Festival”
In case you don’t recall what went into the inaugural three-day festival and what participants took part and what events resulted from it — including the combining of spoken word and music, which you can see in the YouTube video at the bottom — here is a reminder in the form of an extended festival preview:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/06/26/classical-music-the-inaugural-lunart-festival-celebrating-women-creators-and-performers-will-take-place-this-coming-thursday-through-saturday/
The festival was the brainchild of two local performers and graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
They are the flutist Iva Ugrcic, who is the new head of the Rural Musicians Forum in Spring Green, and the oboist Laura Medisky (below), who performs with the local wind quintet Black Marigold. Both musicians also play with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
The project proved savvy in how it used social media to launch it with success.
Here are some other links to keep you current with the festival as it looks forward to its second year:
Here is the festival’s home page and website:
https://www.lunartfestival.org
Here is the festival’s page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/lunartfestival/
This is the festival’s entry on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/lunartfestival
And you can also follow the LunART festival on Instagram.
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