The Well-Tempered Ear
Pianist Jeremy Denk combines first-rate playing with innovative programs. He performs a virtual online recital this Friday night for the Wisconsin Union Theater
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.
By Jacob Stockinger
Jeremy Denk (below) is not only one of the top pianists on the concert stage today. He is also one of the most interesting and thoughtful pianists when it comes to original, innovative and eclectic programming.
Denk will display his talents again when he performs his third solo recital in Madison this Friday night, Dec. 11, for the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The concert of music by Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Missy Mazzoli is at 7:30 p.m. and will be preceded by a public Q&A at 7 p.m. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, both the discussion and the concert will be virtual and online.
Access to the online posting is $20 for the general public, $17 for Wisconsin Union members, and $10 for students.
Denk’s performance, which is part of the Theater’s 101st Annual Concert Series, will include “Papillons” (Butterflies), Op. 2, by Robert Schumann; Three Romances, Op. 21, by Clara Schumann; “Bolts of Loving Thunder” by the contemporary American composer Missy Mazzoli (below); and Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119, by Johannes Brahms. (You can hear Denk play the lyrically introspective first intermezzo of Brahms’ late Op. 119 in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To purchase tickets to Denk’s performance, visit https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk/
Ticket buyers will receive an email from the box office approximately 2 hours before the event begins that will contain their link to view the performance. Anyone who purchases a ticket within 2 hours of the event’s start time will receive their email within 15 minutes of purchase.
To The Ear, Denk’s well-planned and fascinating program seems like a probing contrast-and-compare, narrative exploration of the musical styles and close personal relationships – a kind of love triangle — between Robert and Clara Schumann (below top); between Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, whom Robert Schumann championed; and between Brahms and Clara Schumann, who also championed Brahms (below bottom) but rejected him as a lover and suitor after the premature death of her husband Robert.
One of America’s foremost pianists, Denk is a winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, and the Avery Fisher Prize, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
In the United States, Denk has performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra and frequently performs at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has toured with the world-famous Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and performed at Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms.
Denk’s talents include writing about music. Some of his stories about music have been featured on the front page of The New York Times Book Review as well as in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Guardian. Many of those writings form the basis for a forthcoming book.
His passion for composing both music and writing compositions is evident in his music-based blog “Think Denk” — “to think” in German is “denizen” — which dates back to 2005.
“Jeremy Denk is one of the greatest pianists of our generation,” says WUT director Elizabeth Snodgrass. “While many pianists specialize in a particular period or composer, Jeremy is a musical omnivore whose wide-ranging interests span centuries and styles, and he is exceptional at playing all of them. As The New York Times said, he is ‘a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.’”
Proof of that can be found in the program “c. 1300-c. 2000” he toured with and recorded last year for Nonesuch, which features a sampling tour of 700 years of keyboard compositions.
Said a critic for the Boston Globe: “Denk has “an unerring sense of the music’s dramatic structure and a great actor’s intuition for timing.”
This performance was made possible by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Endowment Fund.
Learn more about Jeremy Denk at: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website
For more information and a video clip of Denk playing different Brahms, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk/
Tags: #AcademyofSt.MartinintheFields, #AmericanAcademyofArtsandSciences, #AmericanComposer, #AveryFisherPrize, #BBCProms, #Beautifulmusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoltsofLovingThunder, #BoxOffice, #CarnegieHall, #ChamberMusic, #ChicagoSymphonyOrchestra, #ClevelandOrchestra, #ConcertStage, #ConsortLoanProgram, #Contrast-and-Compare, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidandKatoPerlmanChamberMusicSeries, #DramaticStructure, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #EmailAddress, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Fridaynight, #FrontPage, #GeniusGrant, #HomeWebsite, #husband-and-wife, #InstagramPost, #JacobStockinger, #JeremyDenk, #JohannesBrahms, #LastYear, #LosAngeles, #LosAngelesPhilharmonic, #LoveTriangle, #MacArthurFellow, #MacArthurFoundation, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MissyMazzoli, #MusicalStyle, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkPhilharmonic, #NewYorkTimes, #NewYorkTimesBookReview, #NonesuchRecords, #OnlineConcert, #PersonalRelationship, #PianoIntermezzi, #PianoMusic, #RecordedMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RoyalAlbertHall, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #StartTime, #TheEar, #TheGuardian, #TheNewRepublic, #TheNewYorker, #TheU.S., #TheUW, #ThinkDenk, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #WiscnsinUnionTheater, #World-famous, #YouTubevideo, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, access, Actor, American, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Arts, audience, Avery Fisher Prize, basis, BBC, BBC Proms, beautiful, best, blog, Bolts of Loving Thunder, Book, box office, Brahms, butterflies, Carnegie Hall, centuries, Chamber music, champion, Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Clara Schumann, Classical music, Cleveland, Cleveland Orchestra, clip, compare, composer, compositions, Concert, concert stage, concerto, contemporary, contrast, coronavirus, David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Series, Denk, discussion, display, drama, dramatic, Early music, eclectic, Elizabeth Snodgrass, email, event, evident, exceptional, exploration, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fascinating, form, forthcoming, forward, Friday, front page, generation, genius grant, German, great, greatest, handful, hear, home website, husband, information, innovate, innovative, Instagram, interesting, interests, intermezzo, international, introspective, intuition, investigation, Jacob Stockinger, Jeremy Denk, Johannes Brahms, Kato Perlman, Keyboard, last year, late, learn, like, link, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Love, love triangle, lover, loving, lyrical, MacArthur Fellow, MacArthur Foundation, Madison, Mazzoli, Mead Witter School of Music, member, minutes, Missy Mazzoli, Music, musical, musical style, narrative, New Music, New York City, New York Philharmonic, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, night, Nonesuch Records, omnivore, online, original, pandemic, Papillons, particular, Passion, perform, performance, period, personal, personal relationship, Pianist, Piano, piano music, pieces, playing, post, posting, precede, probing, program, programming, public, purchase, Q&A, question-and-answer, receive, recital, record, recorded music, reject, relationship, rhapsody, Robert Schumann, Romance, Royal Albert Hall, sample, sampling, San Francisco, San Francisco Symphony, Schumann, sense, share, solo, spans, specialist, specialize, start, story, structure, Student, style, suitor, tag, talent, The Ear, The Guardian, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Think Denk, thoughtful, time, timing, tour, triangle, Twitter, U.S., unerring, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, view, virtual, want, Website, well-planned, wife, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, writing, WUT, you, YouTube
Classical music: It’s summer. Which composers and musical works have been inspired by insects?
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
It’s summer.
The Ear likes to watch the fireflies or lightning bugs and hear the crickets that come with the season.
But he is much less fond of ants and spiders, of bees and wasps, and especially of mosquitoes, which seem particularly plentiful and aggressive after the very wet spring Wisconsin experienced.
But it turns out that, over many centuries, insects have inspired a lot of composers to write music that mimicked them and their noises and movements.
Professional violist and music educator Miles Hoffman (below) recently discussed insect music on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Here is a link:
You can read the printed transcript, but the real fun and learning come if you listen to the audio clip that includes musical excerpts.
Some prominent ones were overlooked or not mentioned, including Romantic composer Robert Schumann’s “Papillons” (Butterflies) for solo piano, which you can hear played by Wilhelm Kempff in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Can you think of other composers and pieces that focus on insects?
Leave the name or title, plus a YouTube link to a performance if possible, in the COMMENT section.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #LightningBug, #MilesHoffman, #MorningEdition, #MusicEducation, #NationalPublicRadio, #PianoMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticComposer, #RomanticMusic, #WilhelmKempff, #YouTubevideo, aggressive, ant, Arts, Baroque, bee, bug, butterflies, butterfly, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, composer, cricket, Early music, fireflies, firefly, insect, inspiration, Jacob Stockinger, lightening bug, lightning bug, Madison, Miles Hoffman, Morning Edition, mosquito, movement, Music, Music education, National Public Radio, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Papillons, Piano, spider, Spring, summer, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, wasp, wet, Wilhelm Kempff, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Choral Project gives its fourth annual holiday concert, “I Was Glad,” this Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Plus, pianist Bill Lutes gives a FREE recital of Schubert and Schumann this Friday at noon
1 Comment
ALERT: The week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features pianist Bill Lutes in a solo recital. The program includes the “Papillons” (Butterflies) by Robert Schumann and the final Sonata in B-Fat Major, D. 960, by Franz Schubert. The program runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
For more information about Bill Lutes and his series of recitals, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
This weekend, the Madison Choral Project (below top), Madison’s professional choir under the direction of Albert Pinnsoneault (below bottom), a former Edgewood College professor who now teaches at Northwestern University, will present two performances of its fourth annual Holiday-themed program “I Was Glad.”
The performances are on Friday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday Dec. 17, at 3 p.m. Both performances will be held at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
Tickets are available in advance at www.themcp.org, or at the door.
(Preferred Seating is $40, General Admission is $24/$28 and Students are $10)
The concerts feature a carefully curated selection of vocal music and readings, with the intent to lead the listener along a sublime journey of music and text.
Madison Choral Project is will partner again with Wisconsin Public Radio’s news editor Noah Ovshinsky (below), who will perform readings from works of Tim O’Brien, Billy Collins, William Wordsworth and others.
The Madison Choral Project will sing an eclectic mix of holiday-themed music in four sets, ranging from the 17th century to brand new compositions.
The program features two exciting world premieres by Eric Barnum (below top), the choral director at UW-Oshkosh, and MCP’s Composer in Residence, Jasper Alice Kaye (below bottom).
The first set of pieces, “Welcome to the Holy Space,” includes A Child’s Prayer by James MacMillan, Sanctus from Mass in G by Francis Poulenc and Our Father by Alexandre Gretchaninoff.
The second set, “Winter Comforts,” features two new commissions written for Madison Choral Project. Winter by Eric William Barnum will be followed by The Invitation by Jasper Alice Kaye. Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre will finish the set.
The third set, “Glad Tidings,” includes the concert’s titular piece, I Was Glad by C.H.H. Parry (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), as well as beautiful works by Matthew Culloton, William Dawson and Jan Sandstrøm.
The final set, “Gathering and Blessing,” contains joyous settings of familiar texts set by Francis Poulenc, Ludwig van Beethoven, and arranger John Ferguson.
For more information or tickets, go to www.themcp.org.
Tags: Albert Pinsonneault, Alexander Gretchaninoff, Alexander Gretchaninov, Arts, Beethoven, Bill Lutes, Billy Collins, blessing, butterflies, butterfly, Camp Randall, Child, choral music, Christmas, Classical music, comfort, composer, Concert, Early music, Edgewood College, editor, Eric Whitacre, Eric William Barnum, First Congregational United Church of Christ, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Schubert, gathering, glad, holy, Hubert Parry, I Was Glad, Jacob Stockinger, James MacMillan, Jan Sandstrom, Jasper Alice Kaye, John Ferguson, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Choral Project, mass, Matthew Culloton, Music, musicale, New Music, New Year, news, Noah Ovshinsky, Northwestern University, Papillons, Piano, poem, Poetry, Poulenc, prayer, premiere, readings, Schubert, Schumann, Sonata, space, tidings, Tim O'Brien, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Oshkosh, vocal music, William Dawson, William Wordsworth, winter, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Classical music: Piano teacher and former radio host Bill Lutes to perform three FREE recitals of music by Bach, Haydn, Schubert and Schumann to say thank you to Madison
2 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
To mark his 40th year in Madison, piano teacher Bill Lutes will give three FREE recital programs in the coming weeks. They are:
• This Sunday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., in the Capitol Lakes Grand Hall (below)
• Sunday, Dec. 4, at 3 p.m. at Oakwood Village West Auditorium (below)
• Friday, Dec. 16, at 12:15-1 p.m. p.m. at First Unitarian Society of Madison Meeting House (below) — Schumann and Schubert only.
The program will for the first two recitals will be:
• Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major from “The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2,” by Johann Sebastian Bach. (You can hear it played by Sviatoslav Richter in the YouTube video at the bottom)
• Sonata No. 49 in E-flat major by Franz Joseph Haydn
• “Papillons” (Butterflies), Op. 2, by Robert Schumann
• Sonata in B-flat major, D. 960, by Franz Schubert
Lutes (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) is an independent piano teacher in Madison. His name may also be familiar because he was a host, producer and music director for Wisconsin Public Radio for over a decade as well as a voice coach at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, where he did his master’s degree with the late pianist Howard Karp.
In addition to teaching piano, Lutes performs with his pianist-singer wife Martha Fischer, who teaches at the UW-Madison, and he gives music talks at various venues around the city. The couple is known for performing Gilbert and Sullivan and for hosting and participating in the annual Schubertiades at the UW-Madison.
“The motivation for this program is first and foremost to express my gratitude to my friends and family, colleagues, students and the community for my rich life in Madison,” Lutes says. “I cannot begin to name all the people I’ve come to know and love in this beautiful city, which has afforded me so many wonderful opportunities.”
Adds Lutes: “I thought it would be a good idea to play a solo program of music I love to say “Thank you.’”
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Capitol Lakes, Classical music, coach, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Schubert, fugue, Gilbert and Sullivan, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison, Music, Music education, Oakwood Village, opera, Papillons, Piano, Prelude, Schubertiade, Schumann, Sonata, Sviatoslav Richter, Teacher, The Well-Tempered Clavier, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, voice, wisconsin public radio, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | samanthacrownoversbc… on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
 | Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
| welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 