The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The second annual Madison New Music Festival will take place this Thursday through Sunday
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
The summer classical season in Madison just keeps getting busier and more interesting.
The Ear has received the following announcement from Zachary Green (below), a native Madisonian and composer who graduated from Oregon High School and the Juilliard School, which awarded him a grant to start the first Madison New Music Festival last year. He now directs the event:
Dear friends, family, colleagues, and mentors,
I am extremely pleased to invite you to the second season of the Madison New Music Festival, taking place this Thursday-Saturday, Aug. 10-12.
The Madison New Music Festival is an annual weekend-long concert series dedicated to strengthening Madison’s cultural vitality through the celebration of fresh classical music from our lifetimes.
The festival strives to affordably and accessibly share music by the world’s leading living composers with the Madison community, with special emphasis placed on Wisconsin-based composers and performers.
This year, over the course of four concerts, we will be featuring 30 performers playing the music of over 20 composers— including the music of a different living Wisconsin composer at every concert.
The concerts will take place Thursday at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (8 p.m.), Friday at Bethel Lutheran Church (8 p.m.), and Saturday at the Memorial Union Terrace (3 p.m.) and Robinia Courtyard (7:30 p.m.).
PROGRAM AND TICKET INFORMATION:
Thursday, Aug. 10, at 8 p.m., Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in the Overture Center. (Below is a photo at MMoCA from last year’s festival)
After an incredibly successful launch in 2016, the Madison New Music Festival is set to return to MMoCA for a concert combining contemporary visual art and new music.
The festival presents brand new pieces by emerging composers, underplayed classics of the contemporary repertoire, and shines a spotlight on new music created here in Wisconsin.
The concert at MMoCA features music with thematic ties to MMoCA’s current exhibitions, including politically charged works such as “But I Still Believe” by composer Zachary Green and inspired by Hillary Clinton’s concession speech, and “Drums of Winter” from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and environmentalist John Luther Adams (below). You can hear “Drums of Winter” in the YouTube video at the bottom.
There will be a cash bar and opportunities to walk around the exhibits. Tickets are $10, $5 for students and FREE for MMoCA members.
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13011
Friday, Aug. 11, at 8 p.m. in Bethel Lutheran Church, 312 Wisconsin Avenue
The festival’s second night features an eclectic range of music, from the inventive, folk-inspired music of Romanian composer Doina Rotaru (below top) to the improvisatory soundscapes of recently departed legend Pauline Oliveros (below bottom).
Also featured is local composer Scott Gendel (below top) , who will present a set of his own music with frequent Madison Opera guest soprano Emily Birsan (below middle). Both are graduates of the UW-Madison.
Other performers include Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse (below top), local flutist Iva Ugrcic (below middle) and local violinist Lydia Sewell (below bottom). Tickets are $10, $5 for students.
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13028
Saturday, Aug. 12, at 3 p.m., Memorial Union Terrace
Local new music wind quintet Black Marigold (below top) will perform “Beer Music” by Brian DuFord (below bottom), inspired by different kinds of beer– and you can sip as you listen!
But first, get your groove on with rhythmic works by emerging composer Andy Akiho (below top), Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, and local percussionist Dave Alcorn (below bottom) of Clocks in Motion — interspersed with interactive interpretations of Renaissance motets and an electroacoustic work for vibraphone. Featured musicians include percussionist Garrett Mendelow and Chicago-based new music ensemble Chartreuse. Admission is FREE.
Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7:30 PM, Robinia Courtyard (Jardin Restaurant) at 827 East Washington Avenue.
Join us at Jardin Restaurant, part of the newly redeveloped Robinia Courtyard to hear local ensemble Mr. Chair (below) present an eclectic, head-banging set ranging from original compositions to versions of Erik Satie, Olivier Messiaen and Igor Stravinsky.
Also featured are the genre-bending Echelon String Quartet(below) and a mesmerizing solo bass piece performed by Grant Blaschka. Cash bar. ($10/$5 student)
Tickets: https://www.artful.ly/madison-new-music-festival/store/events/13029
Tags: 2016, acoustic music, alcorn, Andy Akiho, Art, Arts, bar, bass, Beer, beer music, Black Marigold, Brian DuFord, cash, Cello, Chamber music, Chartreuse, Chicago, church, Classical music, Clocks in Motion, colleague, composer, concerto, contemporary, courtyard, culture, Dave Alcorn, Doina Rotaru, double bass, Dramatic Soprano, drums, Drums of Winter, Echelon String Quartet, eclectic, Electronic music, Emily Birsan, environment, environmentalist, Family, festival, flute, Folk music, friend, Garrett Mendelow, Glenn Kotche, Grant Blaschka, high school, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, improvisation, interactive, interpretation, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, John Luther Adams, Juilliard School of Music, local, Lutheran, Lydia Sewell, Madison, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison New Music Festival, Madison Opera, Memorial High School, Memorial Union, mentor, Messiaen, motet, Mr Chair, Museum, Music, New Music, New York City, opera, Overture Center, Pauline Oliveros, percussion, Piano, Pulitzer Prize, Renaissance, repertoire, restaurant, rhythm, Romania, Satie, Scott Gendel, singer, Singing, Sonata, song, soundscape, speech, spotlight, Stravinsky, summer, symphony, terrace, ticket, Union Terrace, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vibraphone, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wilco, Wind quintet, winds, winter, Wisconsin, YouTube, Zachary Green
Classical music news: How many living women composers can you name? Which ones have ties to the University of Wisconsin-Madison or will be performed there Wednesday night by The Lincoln Trio at a FREE concert?
6 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
Forgive my tardiness: Several weeks ago we celebrated international Women’s Day.
And one curator, compiler and blogger – Rob Deemer — has compied a list of 202 contemporary women composers, assuming that someone might want direction in finding such composers.
I find this list useful also as a check list of the women composers I have heard performed and ones I should watch out for.
For example, I recently heard University of Wisconsin cellist Parry Karp, with UW grad and UW-Oshkosh pianist Eli Kalman, perform a terrify work of “Twenty-Four Preludes and a Postlude” by the young Russian composer and polymath Lera Auerbach. It was a stunning piece of work, not only for its composition and sound, but also for its virtuosity. And her biography will tell you what a remarkable woman in so many ways.
Then, as I went down the list further, I noticed that one of the composers – Pauline Oliveros – served as a artist-in-residence at the UW-Madison, where she composer and premiered an opera, for semester (or maybe a year).
And then I noticed that current UW composer and professor Laura Schwendinger, who also directs the UW Contemporary Chamber Ensemble ,was listed.
So I will admit it: I personally know the work of only a very few of these women composers – and, yes, the number I know includes Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jennifer Higdon – but there many, many more I do not know.
Some of the work of those women composers, many of whom are featured on Cedille Records‘ series “Notable Women,” will be performed in a FREE upcoming concert on this Wednesday, April 11, at 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Hall at the UW-Madison by the acclaimed guest artists, The Lincoln Trio (below).
Here is a link to the complete list:
http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/a-helpful-list/
And here are some links to reviews of the “Notable Women” CD:
Notable Women is named a January Critics Choice: Naxoshttp://www.naxos.com/feature/Critics_Choice_January_2012.asp
Notable Women is also named one of “hidden gems” by The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/dec/18/hidden-gems-classical-2011-maddocks
Notable Women lands on Audiophile Audition’s Best of the Year Discs round-up for 2011:
http://audaud.com/2011/12/best-of-the-year-discs-for-2011/
So now I turn to you, readers of The Ear.
How many of these women composers do you personally know of or have heard?
Do you have favorite composers or works?
Which ones do you recommend the most and which pieces do you like the best?
And are there others who have been left out?
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: As Pride month comes to an end, let us proudly recall LGBTQ classical composers and musicians. Plus, you hear a concert of queer composers and performers
6 Comments
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE 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 weekend, this whole past month, the Rainbow flags (below) have been flying openly and high.
We saw all sorts of major Pride parades for LGBTQ rights as well as the 50th anniversary of the riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City that eventually gave birth to a worldwide movement to ensure that queer people receive the human rights they deserve.
Since today is the last day of June, of Pride month, it seems fitting to recall the many LGBTQ composers and performers in classical music.
The gay rights movement has opened the closet doors not only of individual lives today but also of historical figures.
So here are several lists that may teach you something new about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer musicians.
Some of the calls seem iffy, unconvincing or overstated. Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin, for example, lived when homoerotic friendship did not necessarily mean a queer sexual identity. But one way or the other, historical proof and documentation can be hard to come by. And clearly there is much more to know about the past.
But take a look. At least you will see how scholars are undertaking new research and often undermining the heterosexual assumption that has wrapped so many historical and even contemporary figures in wrong or mistaken gender identity.
And if you find someone missing, please leave the name and appropriate information in the comment section.
Freedom, acceptance and respect are not zero-sum games in which one person or group can win only if another one loses. There is enough of each to go around. All can celebrate pride.
So enjoy the information, whether it is new or not, and the respect it should inspire for the central role of LGBTQ people in the arts both past and present.
Here is a pretty extensive and comprehensive list, in alphabetical order, from Wikipedia of LGBT composers, both living and dead. It includes Chester Biscardi (below) who did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Pauline Oliveros who did a residency at the UW-Madison several years ago. You don’t have to click on each name. Just hover the cursor arrow over the name and you will see a photo and biographical blurb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_composers
And here is a list, also in alphabetical order and also from Wikipedia, of LGBT musicians and performers, not all of them classical. It works by clicking on sub-categories that include nationality – though one wonders if musicians from extremely homophobic countries and cultures are included.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:LGBT_musicians
Here is a more selective list from The Advocate, an LGBTQ magazine, of 18 queer composers — including Corelli — who made history and you should know about:
https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2017/2/08/18-queer-composers-who-made-music-history?pg=full
And here is a similarly selective list from radio station WFMT in Chicago of 15 LGBT composers — including Handel and Lully — you should know about:
https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/25/15-queer-composers-know/
And in the YouTube video at the bottom is a Pride concert — 1 hour and 43 minutes long — recently held in New York City at the Greene Space, and hosted and recorded by radio stations WQXR and WNYC.
It features music by queer composers and performances by queer artists. Metropolitan Opera star Anthony Roth Constanzo performs. Also playing are pianists Steven Blier and Sara Davis Buechner, who have performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, respectively. The New York Gay Men’s Chorus sings. The Ear found the concert timely and moving.
If you have questions, comments or additional names, please do leave word in the comment section.
Happy Pride!
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AlphabeticalOrder, #AnthonyRothCostanzo, #ArcangeloCorelli, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CamilleSaint-Saens, #ChamberMusic, #ChesterBiscardi, #ChicagoIllinois, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryComposers, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FrancisPoulenc, #FranzSchubert, #FredericChopin, #GayRights, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GianCarloMenotti, #GraduateStudent, #GraduateWork, #HumanRights, #Jean-BaptisteLully, #LeonardBernstein, #LGBTRights, #LivingComposers, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetropolitanOpera, #NewComposers, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #NewYorkGayMen'sChorus, #PaulineOliveros, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PrideFlag, #PrideMonth, #SamuelBarber, #SaraDavisBuechner, #SexualIdentity, #StevenBlier, #StonewallInn, #StonewallRiot, #StonewallUprising, #TheAdvocate, #TheGreeneSpace, #TheMet, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #Wikipediaentry, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WQXRradio, #YouTubevideo, Aaron Copland, acceptance, alphabetical, anniversary, Anthony Roth Costanzo, arrow, Arts, assumption, audience, Baroque, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, biographical, birth, bisexual, blog, blurb, call, Camille Saint-Saëns, celebrate, central, Chamber music, Chester Biscardi, Chicago, Chopin, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, click, closet, comments, composer, comprehensive, contemporary, Corelli, countries, country, culture, cultures, cursor, dead, documentation, door, Early music, Facebook, figure, flag, forward, freedom, friendship, game, gay, gay rights, gender, Gian-Carlo Menotti, graduate work, group, Handel, heterosexual, historical, History, homoerotic, homophobic, homosexual, Homosexuality, human rights, identity, iffy, individual, information, inn, Jean-Baptiste Lully, June, Leonard Bernstein, lesbian, LGBT, LGBT rights, LGBT rights in the United States, LGBTQ, like, link, list, living, living composers, Ludwig van Bethoven, Lully, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Mead Witter School of Music, member, Metropolitan Opera, mistaken, month, movement, Mozart, name, nationality, new, New York City, New York Gay Men's Chorus, opera, overstate, overstatement, parade, past, Pauline Oliveros, People, performer, person, photo, Pianist, Piano, Poulenc, present, pride, Pride flag, Pride month, proof, queer, questions, Radio, radio statio, reader, recall, research, residency, resident, respect, rights, riot, role, Samuel Barber, Sara Davis Buechner, scholar, scholarship, Schubert, selective, sexual, sexual identity, share, sing, Singing, solo, spread, star, Steven Blier, Stonewall, Stonewall Inn, Stonewall riots, straight, sub-category, subscriber, tag, Tchaikovsky, teach, The Advocate, the Met, timely, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, transgender, University of Wisconsin–Madison, uprising, vocal music, weekend, Wikipedia, WMFT, WNYC, word, worldwide, WQXR, WQXR-FM, wring, you, YouTube, zero sum