The Well-Tempered Ear
The UW Symphony strings and Pro Arte Quartet team up Thursday night for a free online MUST-HEAR concert of Shostakovich, Elgar and Caroline Shaw. TONIGHT you can hear free piano and percussion recitals
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All times are Central Daylight Time.
ALERTS: Tonight from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Collins Recital Hall of the Hamel Music Center, the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will present a departmental piano recital with undergraduate and master’s students. There is no listing of performers and pieces yet. One assumes they will be announced during the live-stream. Here is the link to take you to the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7muCH_gupA
Then from 7:30 to 9 p.m., the UW Chamber Percussion Ensemble will live-stream a concert from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall. Here is the YouTube link. If you click on Show More, you will find the details of the program and composers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWv285nZutI
By Jacob Stockinger
This Thursday night, April 22, you can hear two of the musical groups that The Ear found most impressive and consistently excellent during the Pandemic Year.
At 7:30 p.m., the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra’s string section (below) and the Pro Arte Quartet will team up to perform a free 90-minute, live-streamed concert online.
It is one of the last major concerts of this school year and will be conducted by the outstanding music director and conductor of the orchestra, Professor Oriol Sans (below).
For The Ear, it is a MUST-HEAR concert.
Here is a link to the YouTube site where you can see and hear it: https://youtu.be/TN2PftBJ4yg. If you click on Show More, you can see the members of the orchestra’s strings along with a list of the graduating seniors.
All the works on the innovative program are closely informed by the string quartet.
The program includes the darkly dramatic five-movement Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a, based on the famous and popular String Quartet No. 8, by Dmitri Shostakovich; the orchestral version of the entrancing and quietly hypnotic “Entr’acte” — heard in the YouTube video at the bottom — that was originally written for string quartet by the Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary American composer Caroline Shaw (below, in a photo by Kait Moreno); and the Introduction and Allegro for String Quartet and String Orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar.
The UW-Madison’s acclaimed Pro Arte Quartet (below) is the soloist and will join forces with the orchestra for the Elgar work. Quartet members are: David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.
And here is a link to more information about the program and to more extensive program notes: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra-8/
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The Willy Street Chamber Players give a free virtual concert this Sunday at noon. It will be posted until Dec. 31
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement from The Willy Street Chamber Players (below), a relatively new group that is critically acclaimed for both its adventurous and eclectic, exploratory programming and for its outstanding performances of both the traditional repertoire and new music.
The Willy Street Chamber Players (WSCP) will play a virtual online concert this Sunday, Nov. 15, at noon CST.
Access to the “Beyond the Screen” concert is FREE and no registration is required. It will be available for free online until Dec. 31 on the group’s website. Here is a link to YouTube: https://youtu.be/j5Ved4FqYSQ
Listeners can visit the WSCP website or Facebook page Sunday at concert time for links to the 70-minute performance. Here is a link to the home website: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org
The dynamic WSCP program was recorded live, with masks and social distance, at the historic Gates of Heaven Synagogue (below, exterior and interior during the taping) in James Madison Park in downtown Madison.
The concert will premiere on Facebook live and YouTube, providing two ways to watch from the comfort and safety of your own home.
Members of WSCP will be on hand to interact with viewers in real time through the Facebook and YouTube virtual chat during the performance. They will provide spoken program notes.
Then, immediately following the concert, you can join WSCP members for a Q&A “reception” on ZOOM at 1:15 pm.
The concert program is:
Sonata for Violin and Cello (1922) by French composer Maurice Ravel (below)
“Allegro,” the first of Four Pieces for Solo Cello (1983) by Cuban-born composer Tania León (below), which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tania_León
Canción de Cuna Del Niño Negro (Cradle Song of the Black Baby, 1937) by Cuban composer Amadeo Roldán y Gardes (below), as arranged by Rachel Barton Pine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeo_Roldán
“Heart O’ the Hills” from Appalachian Duets, Op. 38, No. 8 (2001) by American composer Maria Newman (below), who is the youngest daughter of famous Hollywood film composer Alfred Newman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Newman
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 (1914), by Hungarian composer Zoltan Kodaly
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Cellist Camille Thomas makes her Madison debut online from Paris for the Wisconsin Union Theater this Saturday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater’s fall virtual Concert Series performances will begin this Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. CST with a live online performance from Paris by the acclaimed cellist Camille Thomas (below).
The “Midnight in Paris” recital – performed in Paris and streamed — features music by Claude Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Maurice Ravel and Frederic Chopin. The performance will be preceded by a live 30-40 minute online Q&A with Thomas and pianist Julien Brocal on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. CST.
Here are the specific works on the program, which will last about 75 minutes with no intermission:
Debussy, “Clair de Lune” (arr. Roelens)
Nadia Boulanger, “Three Pieces” for cello and piano
Ravel, Kaddish
Chopin, Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 65; and Introduction et Polonaise brillante, Op. 3
Tickets for this online event are $10 for UW-Madison students, $18 for Wisconsin Union members, and $20 for all other patrons.
For more information about the Thomas’ performance – including a video and how to purchase tickets — visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/camille-thomas.
Thomas (below), a Franco-Belgian cellist, says she uses her music to bring people together from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Thomas released her second album, called “Voice of Hope,” with the exclusive Deutsche Grammophon this past June. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Thomas play a solo version from the album of Gluck’s “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” from his opera “Orfeo ed Euridice.”)
Thomas plays the Feuermann Stradivarius cello (1730, below) — named for the famous 20th-century cellist Emanuel Feuermann who played it — with a bow by Eugene Sartory, who is regarded as one of the finest bow makers in history. Joining her for this performance will be pianist Julien Brocal.
“Camille Thomas’s extraordinary talent makes her one of the most captivating artists of our time, as evidenced by being the first cellist in several decades to be signed by the major record label Deutsche Grammophon,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass. “Her ‘Midnight in Paris’ program brings us closer to her roots and reflects the beauty and charm of her personality as well as her musicality.”
The Ear has listened to some of Thomas’ performances on YouTube and finds her tone, intonation and phrasing outstanding.
The performance by Camille Thomas is the start of the fall Concert Series events, which includes a concert with pianist Jeremy Denk (below, in a photo by Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times) on Friday, Dec. 11.
In its 101st year, the Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series is one of the oldest uninterrupted series of its kind in the United States.
The Wisconsin Union Theater (WUT) has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors for more than 75 years. The WUD Performing Arts Committee plans many of the Theater’s events, including the Concert Series.
While usually held in-person and most often in Shannon Hall, the Wisconsin Union Theater team will hold this fall’s theater events in a virtual format for the health and safety of patrons, artists and team members in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The team aims for all of its spaces, including online ones, to be accessible. Those that need accommodations can reach out to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu.
The WUT team says it continues to evaluate what changes may need to occur related to the spring Concert Series events as well as other spring Theater season performances.
The Wisconsin Union Theater has made multiple commitments to take a stand against racial injustice, including being more than allies, being activists; using the arts to create social justice; remembering students are future leaders and must be part of the change; using its voice to influence leadership and being firm in its resolve; and making space, stepping back and learning how to give up undeserved or unnecessary power and privilege.
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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
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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)
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Will the public pay for online virtual concerts? Will you? Consider the fate of newspapers
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By Jacob Stockinger
More and more local classical musicians and music presenters are moving concerts and music-making to virtual online events, at least for the fall and early winter – and quite possibly for the rest of the season. (Below is Shannon Hall in the Wisconsin Union Theater.)
And although we are still waiting for details, it seems all but certain that many of them will be pay-per-view and require tickets.
True, the move from free streaming to pay-for-view might be very useful in helping performers earn a much-needed living.
But it could also be disastrous – or at least extremely disruptive and disappointing.
Anthony Tommasini (below), the senior music critic for The New York Times, recently wrote a long story defending the move from being free to becoming paid for both livestreams and pre-recorded music concerts.
Tommasini — whose profession demands that he follow wherever the music goes — thinks it will, or should, work.
Here is a link to his story that includes concerts at The Metropolitan Opera and elsewhere with international stars such as soprano Renée Fleming (beow top) and pianist Daniil Trifonov (below bottom).
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/arts/music/classical-music-livestream.html
But The Ear isn’t so sure.
For one thing, many listeners might find alternatives. They might like watching outstanding performances of the same works by great and even historical performers on YouTube for free.
They might like exploring their own collections of recordings, or listening to the radio and watching TV, or even making more music as amateurs.
The Ear also suspects that now that the habit of going to live concerts has been interrupted, many people will simply find that they miss going to live performances much less than they thought they would – or than various arts groups hoped they would. (Below is the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in a photo by Mike Gorski.)
In addition, even since the coronavirus pandemic lockdown last March, listeners have become used to the free events that many organizations offered if only to keep a presence in the public’s mind.
The strategy was understandable and made sense at the time.
But The Ear thinks of what happened with newspapers.
In the early days of the internet, newspapers offered online stories for free, as a kind of extra attraction or added benefit to secure subscribers.
But as the newspapers lost both advertisers and subscribers and tried to “monetize” their online editions, they found that the horse was already out of the barn.
Many viewers did indeed subscribe to digital editions, but many others abandoned newspapers and instead turned to free online media for their news.
So what will happen in cases less prestigious than what Tommasini describes?
What do you think?
Will local pay-per-view concerts, perhaps with bigger volume if lower individual ticket prices, be successful?
Will you pay to “attend” such virtual online events?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: The coronavirus pandemic sparks a surge in piano sales
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By Jacob Stockinger
Have you or someone in your family used the COVID-19 lockdown and staying at home to practice, play or learn the piano?
You’re not alone.
A year ago, stories in the media tracked how pianos were quickly becoming a thing of the past in American homes. People were giving pianos away for free and for the cost of moving.
But then the coronavirus pandemic arrived, along with lockdowns, online learning and sheltering at home.
National news media discovered some unexpected good news, especially since public concerts have been canceled: The pandemic has brought a renewed interest in playing the piano at home – and in buying them.
The Ear wanted to find out if that same trend holds true in Madison.
“It does,” says Tim Farley, who — with his wife Renee — owns and operates Farley’s House of Pianos on the far west side near West Towne Mall. (The top photo from the store is from the Better Business Bureau. The two owners are seen below bottom in a photo from Isthmus newspaper).
“It’s weird,” he adds. “We had to close. When we re-opened, we cut back on hours and staff. Like many others, we figured there would be an end to business for a while.”
But just the opposite happened.
“Our sales are up about 34 percent compared to a year ago,” Farley adds. “We’re happy how things are going.”
Most of the sales increase has been in digital pianos, Farley says, although a lot of excellent acoustic pianos have also been sold, including a Hamburg Steinway.
Part of what accounts for the increase, he speculates, is that teachers inspire students to want better instruments.
Farley’s sells new and restored pianos (below), and also has an extensive teaching program, with online lessons during the pandemic. (For isolation practicing ideas and advice, see the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Ear wonders if the same trend is happening in Europe and especially Asia — particularly China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan — where so many great young pianists are coming from and winning international competitions.
For more about the national picture in the U.S., including background history, information about prices, increases in online sales and the demographics of buyers, you should read this oustanding story by music critic Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in The New York Times:
Here is a link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/29/arts/music/piano-sales-coronavirus.html
Have you bought a piano or another instrument during the pandemic?
Are you using the down time to return to practicing and playing a piano or another instrument?
What would you like to say about making music during the pandemic?
Has making music helped you weather this odd period of time?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: The UW Choral Union, UW Symphony Orchestra and guest soloists took the audience on a memorable musical voyage in Ralph Vaughan Williams “A Sea Symphony”
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By Jacob Stockinger
It took a postponement of almost two months before the UW Choral Union (below) finally got to perform last Saturday night in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center.
But the wait was worth it.
The combined forces – conducted by the retiring choral director Beverly Taylor – proved convincing and accomplished in the challenging score of “A Sea Symphony” by the early 20th-century British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The performers did justice to the score’s vivid sound painting. You could hear the sea wind whistling through the rigging; you could feel the ship plowing through the swells and waves.
The American poet Walt Whitman (below) – whose epic-like poetry provided the text for this ambitious nautical and musical journey – would have been proud of the performance.
After all, like Whitman’s poetry, Vaughn Williams’ music — his first symphony — can be forceful and spacious at many moments, tender and reflective or even intimate at other times. The music matches the text, and the performers matched both.
The forces were precise under Taylor’s baton, with sharp attacks and no ragged stopping. True, there were a few moments when the balance seemed a bit off, when the UW Symphony Orchestra overpowered the large campus and community chorus, especially in the very brassy and thickly scored first movement. You just wanted to hear the words better and felt frustrated not to.
But for the most part, though, the student orchestra proved impressive. They were tight and crisp, accurate and transparent, allowing listeners to hear the inner part playing and even certain modernist harmonies of the generally conservative Vaughan Williams (below).
Moreover, the symphony, the chorus and the soloists blended especially well and movingly in the symphony’s quieter moments.
Those moments included the second movement, “On the Beach at Night, Alone”; and the quiet, understated ending where the idea of voyage and exploration becomes personal and metaphorical or spiritual as well as literal: “Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me … O my brave soul! O farther, farther sail!”
(You can hear a sample in the hymn-like opening of the fourth movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In addition, the outstanding acoustics of the new hall – where the chorus sits above and behind the orchestra – brought the performance to life even more convincingly.
There were two soloists (below): soprano Chelsie Propst and baritone James Harrington.
Harrington possessed a pleasing tone, but he seemed to be holding back for some reason. He could have projected more confidence and been more energetic or assertive in his delivery. After all, neither Whitman nor Vaughan Williams is shy in this large-scale work.
Curiously, it was the woman soloist, Propst, who roared like the sea, whose big voice easily soared over the orchestra and chorus. Her singing was thoroughly beautiful and thoroughly engaging.
Unfortunately, the very successful concert was not sold out, but the audience proved attentive and very enthusiastic.
This debut performance in the new hall made one look forward all the more to another big piece and big performance by the UW Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra, one that will wrap up the season and end Taylor’s long tenure at the UW-Madison: the dramatic and operatic Requiem by Verdi on Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26.
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Classical music: Weekends are a good time to explore music and listen to it. So today The Ear starts a “2020” series for the new year.
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s a new year and the first weekend of the new year. And The Ear wanted to find some kind of organizing principle to explore recorded music in the coming weeks and months.
Turns out the year 2020 – with its symmetry of numerals and suggestions of excellent vision — held a certain appeal.
So he checked out musical works that were either Op. 20 or No. 20. They could even occur together, like, say, a Prelude that is Op. 20, No. 20.
What he found was more than he expected: Dozens of composers and works that qualify as interesting and of suitable quality.
Some are well known, but many are rarely performed live or are neglected in recordings.
They come from all periods and styles, from early music to contemporary music.
And they come in all kinds of genres from vocal and choral music to chamber music, solo instrumental music and symphonic music.
Some works are short, some are medium and some are long.
For the longer ones, which are often divided up into smaller movements or other sections, it seems better to post the whole piece and let the reader decide how long they want to listen at a time rather than to post one part at a time and limit or force the reader.
Anyway, here is the first installment.
It is a wonderful solo piano piece that is too often overlooked, even though it is by a great composer who wrote it in his prime when he was writing many of his other more popular piano works.
It is the Humoresque, Op. 20, by the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann (below). It lasts about 29 minutes but is divided into other sections.
And the performance, often praised as outstanding or even definitive, is by the Romanian pianist Radu Lupu (below, young and old, the latter by Roberto Serra), the 1966 first prize-winner of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition who recently retired because of ill health.
Here is a link to a detailed biography of the distinguished and somewhat reclusive and enigmatic 74-year-old pianist:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radu_Lupu
Here is YouTube video of Radu Lupu playing the Schumann Humoresque in a live recording from 1983:
Let The Ear know what you think of this piece and this idea for a 2020 series.
A long playlist for future 2020 postings – including works by Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and others — has already been compiled.
But if you have a favorite or suggested “2020” piece, leave word in the comment section.
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Classical music: University Opera succeeded brilliantly by setting Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the 1960s at Andy Warhol’s The Factory
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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.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: What concerts or performances in 2019 did you most like, and do you most remember and want to praise?
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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.
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