The Well-Tempered Ear
Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will build a new $25 million home on East Washington Avenue
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following major announcement to post:
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) has announced plans to construct a new $25 million-building in the 1100 block of East Washington Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin.
The new home will occupy three lots and will replace the historic Avenue Bar (below)
The new music center will continue WYSO’s vision to expand instrumental music education and performance opportunities for young people of diverse backgrounds and inspire excellence and a lifelong connection to music.
More than 500 young musicians from communities throughout southern Wisconsin currently participate in WYSO’s programs.
This 500 percent growth in student numbers since the organization’s founding is driving the need for facilities large enough to support both the organization’s programs and its mission of providing transformational musical experiences and opportunities.
For more information about WYSO, go to its home website: https://wysomusic.org
The purchase of the property and the kick-off of WYSO’s capital campaign have been made possible by two lead gifts totaling $18 million from Pleasant Rowland and Jerry Frautschi, who have long been supporters of the organization.
The planned 40,000 sq. ft- building will provide state-of-the-art rehearsal spaces sized for full orchestras; a room designed for percussion including a world-class array of percussion instruments; rehearsal rooms perfect for ensembles and chamber music; a piano laboratory; and small teaching studios for private lessons.
The building will also hold all of WYSO’s current orchestra and Music Makers programs, administrative offices, a music library— and provide opportunity to grow.
But the building will NOT contain public performance spaces. WYSO will continue to rent and use venues that already exist.
Since the fall of 2020, the organization – which used to be located in the UW-Madison School of Music — has been without a home base and has pieced out its program in different facilities throughout the Madison area. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the WYSO Youth Orchestra give a virtual and socially distanced performance last year of the finale of Rossini’s Overture to “William Tell.”)
This new building will allow all of WYSO’s programs to thrive under a single roof and provide the space, location, resources and connections necessary for WYSO to become a key collaborator in a growing youth arts community.
WYSO’s new home will be around the corner from the newly constructed Madison Youth Arts (My Arts), creating a vibrant youth arts synergy on the near east side. (An architect’s renderings of the exterior and interior theater are below.)
Located on a major transit corridor for easy access with adequate parking, the building will be in proximity to area performing arts venues, with space for WYSO’s programs and community events.
Says WYSO’s Executive Director Bridget Fraser: “Thanks to the incredible generosity of Pleasant Rowland and Jerry Frautschi, musicians of all ages will have state-of-the-art rehearsal facilities to call home. It’s a dream come true!”
WYSO has partnered with Urban Assets, city planners with experience in real estate development; Strang, an integrated architecture, engineering, interior design and planning firm with a history of designing for the civic and cultural sectors; Talaske Sound, experts in architectural acoustics; and J.H. Findorff & Son, a local construction firm passionate about youth education and the arts.
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The Wisconsin Union Theater closes its 2020-21 season with only one online concert this weekend. Sō Percussion on Saturday night has been CANCELED. The Wisconsin Sound all-Beethoven concert with the Pro Arte Quartet will take place at noon on Sunday.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Two online concerts this weekend were supposed to close the 2020-21 season at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
On Saturday night at 7:30 p.m., the usual subscriber season was supposed to wind up with an online concert by the Sō Percussion Ensemble with the contemporary Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw.
That concert has been CANCELED. No reason is listed.
On this Sunday, May 2, at noon CDT, however, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s acclaimed string quartet, the Pro Arte Quartet (below top), will by joined by pianist and UW-Madison graduate Thomas Kasdorf (below bottom) in an all-Beethoven concert.
This will be the last concert of the WUT’s innovative Wisconsin Sounds – they feature local performers– this season.
Here are more details:
PROGRAM and PERFORMERS
The “Beethoven in C Minor” program will feature two works:
String Trio in C minor, Op. 9, No. 3 (1797-98). Performers are Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello; and David Perry, violin.
Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3 (1793-4). Performers are: Suzanne Beia, violin; Parry Karp, cello; and Thomas Kasdorf, piano. You can hear the opening movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The Pro Arte Quartet’s performance of early works by the young Beethoven (below) is part of the Wisconsin Sound Series, which showcases and supports local musicians and artists during the coronavirus pandemic.
Learn more about the series.
To learn more about the Pro Arte Quartet, go to the group’s Website or page on Facebook
TICKETS
Tickets cost $15 and are available at the Wisconsin Union Theater box office. You can purchase tickets and also see more information about the program and performers here: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/pro-arte-quartet/
For ticket buyers who purchase a ticket less than two hours before the event start time, the link to view the concert will be in the confirmation email you will receive immediately following your purchase. This link will be accessible for seven days following the initial broadcast.
For all other purchases, all emails will come from https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/theater-tickets/
If you do not receive your email to your inbox, please check your junk or spam folder in case it was filtered there. If you have questions or problems, the box offices phone number is (608) 265-ARTS (2787).
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A busy weekend of online concerts features the UW Symphony, Edgewood College, Madison Opera, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Bach Around the Clock and more
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By Jacob Stockinger
With only a little over a month left before the academic year ends at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it’s not surprising that the last weekend in March is very busy with noteworthy – and competing – online concerts.
Each morning at 8 through Friday, Bach Around the Clock will release the last concerts of its 10-day online festival. You can find the programs – including the finale Friday night at 7 with Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 — and link for streaming here: https://bachclock.com/concert-schedule
The weekend starts tonight with one of The Ear’s favorite groups during the Pandemic Year: the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra
Here is a day-by-day lineup. All times are Central Daylight Time:
TONIGHT, MARCH 25
The UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) performs a FREE virtual online concert TONIGHT starting at 7:30 p.m.
The concert will be preceded by a 7 p.m. talk about Igor Stravinsky with modern musicologist and Penn State Professor Maureen Carr as well as conductor Oriol Sans and Susan Cook, UW musicologist and director of the Mead Witter School of Music.
The program is: Suite from the opera “Dido and Aeneas” by Henry Purcell, with student conductor Alison Norris; Duet for Two Violins and String Orchestra by the contemporary American composer Steve Reich; and the Neo-Classical “Apollon musagète” (Apollo, Leader of the Muses) by Stravinsky. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear an excerpt of the Stravinsky played by the Berlin Philharmonic with Simon Rattle conducting.)
Here is the link to the talk and concert. Click on more and you can also see the members of the orchestra and the two violin soloists: https://youtu.be/2rgHQ4lWTV8
For more information about the program, including notes, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-madison-symphony-orchestra/
FRIDAY, MARCH 26
At 7:30 p.m. the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra will post for three days the third of its four online chamber music concerts (below). There will be excerpts of music by Beethoven and Brahms as well as complete works by Jessie Montgomery and Alyssa Morris.
Tickets to the online on-demand event are $30, with some discounts available, and are good through Monday evening.
Here is a link to more about this concert, including program notes by conductor and music director Andrew Sewell, and how to purchase tickets: https://wcoconcerts.org/events/winter-chamber-series-no-iii
At 8 p.m., the music department at Edgewood College will give a FREE online Spring Celebration concert. It will be livestreamed via music.edgewood.edu
The performers include: the Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Sergei Pavlov (below); the Guitar Ensemble, under the direction of Nathan Wysock; and the Chamber Winds, directed by Carrie Backman.
Highlights include the Guitar Ensemble’s performance of Wish You Were Here, by David Gilmour and Rogers Waters, and the Chamber Winds epic Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Chamber Orchestra, which will perform live, will feature Musical moment No. 3, by Franz Schubert and Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg.
SATURDAY, MARCH 27
At noon, in Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol Square downtown, there will be a FREE online concert. Grace Presents: “A Patient Enduring”: This early music program of medieval conductus (a musical setting of metrical Latin texts) and ballade, English lute song, and duets from the early Italian Baroque features two sopranos, Grammy-winnner Sarah Brailey (below) and Kristina Boerger, with Brandon Acker on lute and theorbo.
Here is a link: YouTube.com/GracePresentsConcerts
You can also go to this webpage for a link: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/grace-presents-a-patient-enduring/
At 3 p.m. the Perlman Trio, a piano trio that is made up of UW-Madison graduate students, will give a FREE online concert. The program includes piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert.
Here is a link to the YouTube video: https://youtu.be/EAjK0DfWB3A
Here is a link to the complete program plus background, names and photos of the performers as well as to the performance: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/perlman-piano-trio/
At 7 p.m. the UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quntet (below) will perform a FREE pre-recorded online concert. Here is a link to the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn7eobSnfr8
And here is a link to the page with more background information about the faculty members – including bassoonist Marc Vallon (below top) and flutist Conor Nelson (below bottom) – and to the complete program: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/wingra-wind-quintet/
SUNDAY, MARCH 28
From 4 to 5:30 p.m., guest mezzo-soprano Julia Ubank (below) will give a free online recital with pianist Thomas Kasdorf.
The program features songs by Mahler, Debussy, deFalla, Jake Heggie and Ellen Cogen.
Here is the complete program plus a link to the recital: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/julia-urbank-voice-recital/
From 4 to 5:30 p.m. the Madison Opera will host a Opera Up Close cocktail hour discussion with four general directors of opera companies. Here is the website’s description:
“Four opera general directors walk into a chat room…. Stepping outside the Madison Opera family, Kathryn Smith (below, in a photo by James Gill) is joined by three colleagues: Michael Egel of Des Moines Metro Opera, Ashley Magnus of Chicago Opera Theater, and Lee Anne Myslewski of Wolf Trap Opera.
“From how they got into opera, to the ups and downs of running an opera company, their favorite productions, funniest moments, and more, it will be a unique and entertaining afternoon.
Here is a link with more information including the cost of a subscription: https://www.madisonopera.org/class/general-directors/?wcs_timestamp=1616947200
At 6 p.m., Rachel Reese, a UW-Madison doctoral student in violin, will give a lecture-concert about the Violin Concerto No. 2 by the rediscovered African-American composer Florence Price (below). She will be accompanied by pianist Aubrie Jacobson.
Here is a link to the concert plus background about Rachel Reese: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/rachel-reese-lecture-recital/
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The acclaimed Meccore String Quartet performs an online concert of works by Mozart, Beethoven and Penderecki this Sunday night as part of the Wisconsin Union Theater season
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The Wisconsin Union Theater will stream an online Concert Series performance by the Meccore String Quartet (below, in a photo by Arkadiusz Berbecki) this Sunday night, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. CST.
The program is: String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; String Quartet No. 3 “Leaves from an Unwritten Diary” by 20th-century Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki; and String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, by Ludwig van Beethoven.
The ensemble includes violinists Wojciech Koprowski and Aleksandra Bryla; violist Michal Bryla; and cellist Marcin Maczynski.
As one of Europe’s most compelling ensembles, the Meccore String Quartet has appeared at many influential music festivals around the globe, such as the Rheingau Musik Festival and the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
The ensemble was the first-ever Polish string quartet to perform during the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Bundestag, the national parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The Meccore String Quartet has also received many international awards, including a nomination for the Paszport Polityki award in the classical music category for its “innovative approach to the music and for breaking the musical stereotypes.”
The musicians won the Premio Paolo Borciani International String Quartet Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.
When they are not performing, Meccore’s members lead chamber music and individual instrumental classes at the Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland.
Praised for their technical accuracy, Meccore is also known for its deep musicality and expressiveness. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the Meccore playing an excerpt from Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 2 n G Major, Op. 18, No. 2.)
“The Meccore String Quartet brings an unparalleled energy and emotional depth to its performances,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass (below). “This ensemble is admired the world over, and our patrons will experience why the Quartet has earned global praise during its virtual Wisconsin Union Theater performance.”
Information about purchasing tickets can be found here. Tickets for this online event are $10 for UW-Madison students; $17 for Wisconsin Union members, UW-Madison staff and faculty, and students that do not attend UW-Madison; and $20 for all other patrons. Tickets are good for access for a week, through next Sunday, March 7.
The performance by the Meccore String Quartet is sponsored by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Fund. The Wisconsin Union Theater presents this event, in part, with the help of financial support from Wisconsin Arts Board funding from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information about the Meccore String Quartet’s upcoming performance, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/meccore-quartet.
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This Friday night the Verona Quartet performs an online concert of Brahms and Dvorak for the Wisconsin Union Theater. Plus, longtime music critic Jess Anderson has died
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ALERT: Jess Anderson (below), a longtime local music critic for Isthmus, an active participant in the local music scene and a veteran radio host of an early music program for WORT-FM 89.9, died this past Sunday. He was 85. When more information is known, The Ear will devote a blog post to Jess, who was also a friend.
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The Wisconsin Union Theater’s Concert Series will continue this season with a performance by the Verona Quartet (below) on this Friday, Jan. 29, at 7:30 p.m. CST. It will be preceded by a question-and-answer session with the Quartet at 7 p.m. CST.
The Quartet will perform two complete works: the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2, by Johannes Brahms; and the famous String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96, the “American,” by Antonin Dvorak. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the Verona Quartet perform the familiar last movement of the string quartet by Dvorak.)
The Verona Quartet rose to international fame by sweeping top prizes at competitions, including the Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award in 2020.
Hailing from four different parts of the world, differences unify the Quartet’s members and music. Its music aims to show how diverse experiences can come together in harmony.
“The Verona Quartet brings fresh approaches to classical music masterpieces,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass (below). “The Quartet has risen to become one of the world’s most sought-after string quartets. We are honored to include them in our Concert Series season.”
Ticket purchase information can be found here. Tickets for this virtual online event are $10 for UW-Madison students, $17 for Wisconsin Union members and students who do not attend the UW-Madison, and $20 for all other patrons.
Ticket buyers will receive an email from approximately 2 hours before the event begins that contains the link to view the performance.
Anyone who purchases a ticket within 2 hours of the event’s start time will receive their link in their confirmation email immediately following their purchase. Only 1 ticket per household is needed to view this concert.
The link will remain active until Friday, Feb. 5, at 9:30 p.m. (CST) to view whenever you would like.
This performance will include the Quartet’s regular violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, and violist Abigail Rojansky.
But due to challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic, Quartet member and cellist Jonathan Dormand will not be part of the event. Instead, cellist Dmitry Kouzov (below top) will perform the string quartet by Brahms and cellist Annie Jacobs-Perkins (below bottom, in a photo by C. Tihms Van Velden) will perform the string quartet by Dvorak.
The Verona Quartet’s performance is made possible by the David and Kato Perlman Chamber Music Endowment Fund, with additional support from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
An additional Concert Series performance will take place on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. CDT and features the Meccore Quartet.
For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors and provides a variety of performing arts events.
The Theater’s Concert Series began more than a century ago and is one of the oldest uninterrupted series of its kind in the United States.
The Wisconsin Union Theater team presents the Concert Series in collaboration with the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee.
The Theater team strives for all of its spaces to be accessible, and those that need accommodations can reach out by email to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at: wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu
For more information about the Verona Quartet, including how to purchase tickets, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/verona-quartet.
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TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24, at noon — a video concert by the Willy Street Chamber Players will kick off the Wisconsin Union Theater’s new concert series “Wisconsin Sound”
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Union Theater is excited to pilot “Wisconsin Sound,” a new video concert series featuring musicians from our very own state.
The series, which includes the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet, will have five concerts, once a month between January and May and begins with celebrated, locally grown Willy Street Chamber Players (WSCP, below in a photo by Lloyd Schultz) on TODAY — Sunday, Jan. 24 — at noon CDT.
You can see the full lineup with dates and purchase single tickets for the performance or discounted subscription for all Wisconsin Sound events here. Single tickets are $15 and subscription tickets to all five concerts are $50.
The Willy Street Chamber Players began just six years ago but has already made its mark on the Madison community, garnering accolades for its fun approach to music, accessibility and dedication to community partnerships.
The group will perform Fantasiestucke (Fantasy Pieces) for Cello and Piano, Op. 73, by Robert Schumann; Fantasy No. 2 for Violin and Piano by Florence Price (below top); Kiép Nào Có Yeu Nhau (Vietnamese Love Song) for Violin and Piano by Rachel Eubanks (below bottom); and Adagio and Allegro for Cello and Piano, Op. 70, by Robert Schumann. (You can hear the Fantasy by Florence Price in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
You may have heard these dynamic performers during our Summer Serenades at Memorial Union Terrace and other Wisconsin festivals.
The pandemic has not stopped this group from bringing beautiful music to the community; it has continued to perform virtually as well as give in-person “Micro-concerts” for one to two people and safety in mind.
“We are honored they agreed to be the first artist in this pilot series. We share in Willy Street Chamber Players’ goal of creating community through music and thought they’d be a great group to kick off the new series for that very reason,” says Wisconsin Union Theater director Elizabeth Snodgrass.
“Everyone in the arts is trying so hard to stay connected and the group’s music and positivity invite that connection,” Snodgrass adds. “I hope this will reach Wisconsin patrons as well as new listeners who may not have had the chance to hear Willy Street Chamber Players or who have not been to the Wisconsin Union Theater before.”
This blog named the Willys “Musicians of the Year” for 2016. The players were called “a fantastic breath of fresh air who invest their performances of even well-known works, such as the glorious Octet by Mendelssohn, with energy and drive, zest and good humor.” You can read that story here.
Click here for more information about Wisconsin Sound, including other upcoming performances.
Tags: #AdagioandAllegro, #African-AmericanComposer, #African-Americanmusician, #ArtisticDirector, #Beautifulmusic, #BlackComposer, #BlackWomen, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #ElizabethSnodgrass, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FantasyPieces, #FlorencePrice, #Freshair, #GoodHumor, #JacobStockinger, #KiépNàoCóYeuNhau, #LoveSong, #MakeMusicMadison, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialUnionTerrrace, #NeglectedMusic, #OnlineConcert, #ProArteQuartet, #PublicHealth, #RachelEubanks, #RobertSchumann, #SeasonSubscription, #ShannonHall, #SummerSerenades, #TheEar, #TheUW, #TicketSales, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinSound, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WomenComposers, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, accessibility, accolades, Adagio and Allegro, African American, ago, agree, approach, artist, Arts, audience, beautiful, Beautiful music, black, blog, breath, celebrated, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chance, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, concert series, connect, coronavirus, dedication, director, discount, drive, dynamic, ecited, Elizabeth Snodgrass, energy, Eubanks, everyone, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, fantastic, fantasy, Feix Mendelssohn, Felix Medelssohn, festivals, Florence Price, forward, fresh air, fun, garner, good humor, group, hard, hear, honor, in person, information, invest, Jacob Stockinger, Kiép Nào Có Yeu Nhau, kick off, kickoff, like, lineup, link, listeners, local, love song, Madison, make, Mead Witter School of Music, Memorial Union Terrace, micro-concerts, mind, month, Music, Musician, neglected music, new, Octet, online, pandemic, partners, partnerships, patron, People, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, pieces, pilot, post, posting, price, Pro Arte Quartet, Public health, purchase, Rachel Eubanks, reason, Robert Schumann, safety, Schumann, Serenade, Shannon Hall, share, Snodgrass, subscription, summer, Summer Serenades, tag, Te Ear, though, tickets, try, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, upcoming, UW, UW-Madison, video, Vietnamese, Violin, violinist, virtual, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Sound, Wisconsin Union Theater, women, women composers, WUT, years, YouTube, zest
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra starts its four-concert Winter Chamber Series TONIGHT at 7:30. Tickets are $30 for one-time access from Friday night to Monday night
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By Jacob Stockinger
The new semester of virtual online concerts begins tonight with the inauguration of the Winter Chamber Series by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO, below in a photo by Mike Gorski).
Tonight’s program features music by Giovanni Gabrieli, Valerie Coleman, Alec Wilder, Craig Russell and Franz Schubert. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear the first movement of the Schubert Cello Quintet, played by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.)
The programs are short and feature classic works as well as new music and neglected composers. Often single movements or excerpts rather than complete works are performed.
Concerts all debut on Fridays and remain available through Monday night. Debut dates are TONIGHT, Jan. 22; Feb. 26; March 26; and April 16. A ticket entitles the purchaser to one viewing.
Here is a description of the chamber music series from the WCO:
“While full orchestras remain sidelined, the WCO is excited to present the Winter Chamber Series. This new series will feature chamber works for multiple ensembles ranging from trios to octets, showcasing the versatility and caliber of the WCO’s 34 world-class musicians.
“Patrons will enjoy the four-concert series in the comfort of their own home, streaming each concert on WCO Live on-demand starting at 7:30 p.m. on the evening of the concert launch.
“All programs will be 60–75 minutes in length, with not only music but also stories from the WCO’s own musicians on their journey to becoming professional musicians.
“Also included is a pre-concert talk with maestro Andrew Sewell and Norman Gilliland, as well as a post-concert reflection with musicians of the WCO.”
Here is a link to the concerts, with programs plus notes by music director and conductor Sewell (below in a photo by Alex Cruz) as well as a link to purchase tickets from the Overture Center box office: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/winter-chamber-series
In addition, the WCO has started a musician’s relief fund. It seeks donations to pay musicians for the wages they have lost due to postponed or canceled concerts.
Here is a link: https://wcoconcerts.org/support/donate
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Pianist Jeremy Denk combines first-rate playing with innovative programs. He performs a virtual online recital this Friday night for the Wisconsin Union Theater
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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/
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The 10th annual Baroque Holiday Concert by the Madison Bach Musicians is next Saturday night and will be virtual and online
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By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Saturday night, Dec. 12, the Madison Bach Musicians will present their 10th annual Baroque Holiday Concert (below is a photo of a previous year’s holiday concert).
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s one-hour concert will be a virtual web event.
The program features Baroque masterworks by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Philipp Telemann, Arcangelo Corelli, Joseph Dall’Abaco, Jean Daniel Braun and Marc-Antoine Charpentier. It was recorded Dec. 1-6 in several acoustically superior venues.
Links to the MBM holiday program can be purchased at $15 per household at https://madisonbachmusicians.org. Patrons purchasing the link can view the program the evening of Dec. 12 and anytime afterward through Friday, Dec. 26.
Festivities begin at 7:30 p.m. with MBM director Trevor Stephenson’s 30-minute pre-concert lecture about the repertoire, the composers and the period instruments.
At 8 p.m., viewers will see the 60-minute, high-definition video of the concert portion of the program, followed by a 30-minute Zoom Q&A session with the musicians from their homes. Questions for the Zoom session should be submitted by email to MBM manager Karen Rebholz at madisonbachmusicians.manager@gmail.com.
The concert begins with a selection of nine pieces from the Schemelli Songbook. Georg Schemelli collaborated with Johann Sebastian Bach (below, 1685-1750) in assembling this magnificent collection of spiritual songs, published in Leipzig in 1736. Bach provided most of the bass lines and wonderful harmonizations.
Grammy Award-winning soprano Estelí Gomez and harpsichordist Trevor Stephenson (both below) perform this set in the beautiful chapel at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.
From the sanctuary of Grace Episcopal Church, on the Capitol Square in downtown Madison, baroque cellist James Waldo (below) will perform Bach’s magisterial Solo Cello Suite No. 4 in E-flat major.
UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music bassoon faculty member Marc Vallon (below top, in a photo by James Gill) and esteemed baroque cellist Martha Vallon (below bottom) team up in the Collins Recital Hall of the UW”s Hamel Music Center for a Duo Sonata by Jean Daniel Braun (1703-1738).
Marc will also play a solo bassoon transcription of two Fantasias, originally for solo flute, by Telemann (1681-1767). Martha will perform the meditative Capriccio no. 4 in D minor by Dall’Abaco (1710-1805).
The program concludes at The Crossing in Madison with MBM concertmaster violinist Kangwon Kim (below top), violist Micah Behr (below bottom) and cellist James Waldo joining in a medley of holiday favorites.
They include Greensleeves variations over a ground (repeated bass line); three movements from Christmas Music for Instruments by Charpentier (1643-1704); the Adagio from the Christmas Concerto Op. 6, No. 8 by Corelli (1653-1713), which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom; and two beloved carols — Lo How a Rose and Sussex Carol – in arrangements by Micah Behr.
MBM wishes to thank Geneva Campus Church for their collaboration in filming this portion of the program as a contribution to their weekly services.
Tags: #AppletonWisconsin, #ArcangeloCorelli, #BaroqueBassoon, #BaroqueCello, #BaroqueFlute, #BaroqueMusic, #Baroquesinging, #BaroqueViola, #BaroqueViolin, #BassLines, #BassoonMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolSquare, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristmasCarol, #ChristmasConcerto, #ChristmasMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClassicalMusician, #CollinsRecitalHall, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DuoSonata, #EstelíGomez, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GenevaCampusChurch, #GeorgPhilippTelemann, #GeorgSchemelli, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #GrammyAward, #HamelMusicCenter, #HighDefinition, #HistoricallyInformedPerformancePractices, #HolidayConcert, #HolidayFavorites, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #James Waldo, #JeanDanielBraun, #JesusChrist, #JohannSebastianBach, #JosephDell'Abaco, #KangwonKim, #KarenRebholz, #LawrenceUniversity, #LeipzigGermany, #LoHowaRose, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonWisconsin, #Marc-AntoineCharpentier, #MarcVallon, #MarthaVallon, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MicahBehr, #Musicfaculty, #OnlineConcert, #PeriodInstruments, #Pre-concertLecture, #RecordedMusic, #SocialDistance, #SociallyDistanced, #SoloCelloSuite, #SpecialCollection, #SpiritualMusic, #SussexCarol, #TheCrossing, #TheEar, #ThemeAndVariations, #TheUW, #TrevorStephenson, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #YouTubevideo, #ZoomMeeting, acoustics, Appleton, Arcangelo Corelli, Arts, assemble, assembling, audience, Bach, Baroque, Baroque cello, Baroque music, bass, bass lines, Bassoon, blog, Braun, Campus, Capitol Square, Capriccio, Carol, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, Charpentier, Christ, Christian, Christian church, Christmas, church, Classical music, classical musician, classicalmusic, collaborate, collection, Collins Recital Hall, composer, Concert, concertmaster, concerto, conclude, contribution, Corelli, coronavirus, December, director, downtown, duo sonata, Early music, earlymusic, Estelí Gomez, evening, event, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Fantasia, festivities, film, filming, flute, forward, Geneva Campus Church, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Schemelli, Grace Episcopal Church, Grammy Award, Greensleeves, ground, Hamel Music Center, harmonization, harpsichord, harpsichordist, High definition, historically informed performance practices, holiday concert, holiday favorites, Home, home website, hour, Jacob Stockinger, Jean Daniel Braun, Jesus, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Dall'Abaco, Kangwoo Kim, Karen Rebholz, Lawrence University, Leipzig, like, link, Lo How a Rose, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, magisterial, magnificent, Marc Vallon, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Martha Vallon, mask, Masterworks, Mead Witter School of Music, meditative, medley, Micah Behr, movement, Music, music faculty, online, pandemic, patrons, perform, period instruments, photo, piece, pieces, play, portion, post, posting, pre-concert, previous, professor, program, publish, published, purchase, Q&A, question-and-answer, questions, recorded, recorded music, sanctuary, services, set, share, Singing, social distance, socially distanced, solo, solo cello suite, Sonata, song, songbook, soprano, spiritual, submit, Superior, Sussex Carol, tag, technology, Telemann, The Crossing, The Ear, theme and variations, tickets, transcription, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, venues, view, viewer, Viola, Violin, violinist, virtual, vocal music, web, Website, weekly, Wisconsin, wonderful, year, YouTube, Zoom
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra cancels its first Masterworks concert and launches an online virtual Winter Chamber Series in January
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By Jacob Stockinger
With the surge in the coronavirus pandemic, the dominos are starting to fall again — this time for the spring series of live, in-person concerts that had been planned.
Friday night brought important news from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in photo by Mike Gorski).
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO) has canceled its first Masterworks concert, with guest cellist Amit Peled, in late January. In its place the WCO is launching its first-ever digital Winter Chamber Series.
The virtual, online series of digital concerts will feature the ensemble’s 34 players in smaller groups of four to eight, That will be safer for both players and audiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Four home-viewable virtual online concerts are planned: Jan. 22, Feb. 26, March 26, and April 16. Programs are not available except for the first concert.
Also included are a pre-concert talk with WCO music director and maestro Andrew Sewell (below top, in a photo by Alex Cruz) and Wisconsin Public Radio host Norman Gilliland (below bottom), and post-concert reflections with musicians of the WCO.
The ticket price for each concert, which will run 60-75 minutes, is $30 per household. A ticket entitles you to one viewing of the concert between Friday, Jan. 22, and Monday, Jan. 25. The concert will start streaming at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.
Patrons who have already purchased season subscription tickets can apply that to the full series of four concerts.
Tickets are available online at the Overture Center box office. See below.
The program for the first Winter Chamber Concert on Jan. 22 is:
Four Canzonas by the Baroque Italian composer Giovanni Gabrieli (below):
“Tzigane” (a term for music by Hungarian gypsies or Romani) for Wind Quintet by the contemporary American composer Valerie Coleman (below):
The first movement of the famed String Quintet in C major, D. 956, by the Austrian Romantic composer Franz Schubert (below):
Four Octets by the 20th-century American composer and jazz musician Alec Wilder (below), which you can sample in the YouTube video at the bottom.
To see more background about the composers, more details about the concert and purchase tickets, go to: https://www.overture.org/events/wco-chamber-series
You can also check out the series as it progressively gets announced on the WCO home website: https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/winter-chamber-series
The concert series sounds like a terrific substitution for the regular concerts that cannot yet take place.
But The Ear wonders if the price per concert is a bit steep, given that comparable concerts by UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music , the Wllly Street Chamber Players and Just Bach are free – although they do ask for donations — and that the Madison Opera charged $50 for its entire fall digital series while the Wisconsin Union Theater charges between $10 and $20 per virtual concert.
The Ear likes the eclectic programming, but also thinks it is kind of teasing and unsatisfying to offer just the first movement of such an organic masterpiece and profoundly beautiful work as the Schubert Cello Quintet. Doing one movement of a chamber music work somehow seems very different from doing one movement of a symphony.
It would also be nice to see the programs for all the concerts plus a series discount as an incentive.
What do you think about the WCO’s Winter Chamber Series?
What do you think about the price and the programming?
The Ear wants to hear.
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