The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Madison native Ansel Norris returns to perform a FREE recital this Saturday night of songs transcribed for trumpet and piano
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CORRECTION: In some downloads of yesterday’s post, the performance by the Ancora String Quartet was mistakenly listed for Friday night. The performance is SATURDAY night. The Ear apologizes for the error. For more information, go to:
By Jacob Stockinger
On this Saturday night, July 29, at 7 p.m., trumpeter Ansel Norris and pianist Beth Wilson will perform a FREE recital of vocal music in an unusual format — for solo trumpet and piano, with the poetry that inspired the music spoken in between each song.
“In music for voice and piano there lies a special intimacy, and the composers featured each captured something close to the essence of the form,” Norris (below) told The Ear. “I wanted to see what happened if I split the songs up into a poem, read it out loud, and then played a wordless melody to follow. The result was interesting and felt meaningful, so I’ve decided to give it another go.”
The recital, in the Grand Hall at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, downtown and three blocks off the Capitol Square.
The program includes: Richard Strauss, “Morgen”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 5;” Richard Strauss, “Die Nacht”: Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 1; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 9; Johannes Brahms, “Die Mainacht”; Franz Schubert, “Der Einsame”; Johannes Brahms, “Unbewegte laue Luft”; Robert Schumann, “Liederkreis,” Op. 24, No. 3; Richard Strauss, “Befreit”; and Peter Tchaikovsky, “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt” (“None but the Lonely Heart,” sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Admission is FREE and open to the public.
Ansel Norris grew up on the east side of Madison, and last set foot in Capitol Lakes (below) in the spring of 2010, for his graduation recital. In recent years, he has distinguished himself as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician of enthusiasm and diverse taste.
Norris has won a number of prizes as a soloist, including first-prize twice in the National Trumpet Competition, and has drawn acclaim as an orchestral player, performing with the Chicago and Boston Symphonies and holding a fellowship with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.
Norris has also worked in close relationship with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, at the Tanglewood Music Center, in the summers of 2014 and 2015.
He says he is fascinated with the relationship between music and storytelling, and is currently exploring interesting formats of solo recitals to draw new connections between them. In a sense, this recital is an experiment, but one conducted with great love, care and curiosity.
While in Madison, Ansel Norris said, he was lucky to participate in a number of the diverse opportunities available to young musicians. He was a three-year member of Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Youth Orchestra and a four-year, inaugural member of the Winds of Wisconsin.
He was also a participant in the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s “Final Forte” was a winner of the Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition held by Wisconsin Public Radio. He was a devoted student of the UW-Madison’s recently retired professor of trumpet, John Aley (below), who to this day is one of his greatest inspirations.
As he grows older, Norris says, he often reflects on what a special place Madison was to grow up in, and he looks forward to every chance he has to be home.
Beth Wilson (below) currently lives in Madison and is a freelance musician and professional pianist. She is a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, playing for the “Nutcracker Ballet” and “Concerts on the Square.” She also performs with Grupo Candela, a salsa band. Broadway touring shows contract her to play in the pit orchestra including the recent shows “Wicked,” “Book of Mormon,” “Sound of Music” and “Beautiful –The Carole King Musical.”
As an accompanist, Beth Wilson has collaborated with Bernhard Scully of the Canadian Brass; Diana Gannett of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; and Ansel Norris — with whom she is now reunited after seven years.
Tags: arrangement, Arts, ballet, band, Beautiful - The Carole King Musical, Book of Mormon, Boston Symphony Orchestra, brass, Broadway, Canadian Brass, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Capitol Square, care, Carole King, chamber, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Classical music, Concerts on the Square, curiosity, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Final Forte, Florida, freelance, graduation, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Aley, Love, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Miami, Miami Beach, Music, Music education, musical, Musical theater, National Tumpet Competition, Neale-Silva Young Artist Competition, New World Symphony, None but the Lonely Heart, Nutcracker, orchestral, Piano, poem, Poetry, professor, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, recital, Retirement, Richard Strauss, Salsa, Schubert, Schumann, singer, soloist, song, Sound of Music, storytelling, summer, symphony, Tanglewood Music Festival, transcription, Trumpet, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Wicked, winds, Winds of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, WYSO, young, Youth, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra, with solo violinist Paran Amirinazari, closes its seventh season with rousing and intense performances of Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
On Wednesday night, the Middleton Community Orchestra (below) closed its seventh season with a rousing program offering three contrasting Russian works.
The opener was the Overture to Alexander Borodin’s Prince Igor, as realized by Alexander Glazunov. It served to show off the orchestra’s ever-developing string band, solid in tone, if still lacking a little in warmth.
A real gem was the second work, the Violin Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Prokofiev. By contrast with the composer’s first venture in that form — a taut, aggressive affair — this one is more relaxed and jovial, if no less demanding technically.
The soloist was Paran Amirinazari (below), stepping out of her usual concertmaster’s slot into the full spotlight. She handled admirably the great technical demands of her solo role, full of quirky and tricky writing.
But, amid all the spikiness she pointed up handsomely the real and almost neo-Romantic lyrical sweetness that Prokofiev infused into the showiness. (Just listen to the gorgeous second movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
This is one of the truly great violin concertos, and Amirinazari — the brilliant artistic director of the fabulous Willy Street Chamber Players — demonstrated that adroitly.
The final work was a grand effort: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. This is, of course, one of those “warhorses” about which The Ear has been debating lately. It is thereby the more challenging for an orchestra to present to an audience likely to be familiar with it.
Its calculated lavishness has made it a masterpiece beloved by the public, but it is still fascinating to encounter with close listening. The composer pulled out all his tricks of dazzling orchestration and melodic invention, but in the service of a grand-scaled structure that skillfully manipulates cyclical and cross-referential transformation of themes through the score’s totality.
Maestro Steve Kurr (below) by now has nurtured remarkably solid resources for an orchestra of this kind. The potent brass choir is really well consolidated, backing fine-sounding woodwinds. Kurr made the most of these resources, in a well-rehearsed performance in which the stress on intensity of playing resulted in highly dramatic results, culminating in a truly noble ending.
This was a richly satisfying program, showcasing an ensemble of which Middleton should be button-burstingly proud.
Tags: American Record Guide, Artistic director, Arts, band, Borodin, brass, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, concertmaster, critic, Early music, emeritus, ending, ensemble, gem, Glazunov, History, invention, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, lecture, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, masterpiece, Medieval, melody, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, movement, Music, nobel, Orchestra, orchestration, Overture, Paran Amarinazari, Prince Igor, professor, program, Prokofiev, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, relaxed, Romantic, Russia, Russian, solo, Steve Kurr, strings, structure, sweet, sweetness, symphony, tone, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, war horse, warhorse, warmth, Willy Street Chamber Players, Wisconsin, woodwinds, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: The 26th season of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society chamber music festival opens this weekend with two programs in three locations
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (BDDS) presents its 26th annual summer chamber music festival — Alphabet Soup — starting this weekend.
It will run from this Friday, June 9, through Sunday, June 25. The festival features 12 concerts over three weekends, and each weekend offers two different programs.
Concerts will be performed in The Playhouse at the Overture Center in Madison, the Stoughton Opera House in Stoughton and the Hillside Theater at Taliesin in Spring Green.
In the three-weekend festival, you can hear great classical masterpieces and fine contemporary works. A roster of musicians with national and international reputations will perform.
The venues are suitably intimate for chamber music: The Playhouse (below top) at the Overture Center at 201 State St.; the jewel box historic Stoughton Opera House (below middle) at 381 East Main St.; and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hillside Theater (below bottom) at Taliesin on County Highway 23 in Spring Green.
Added attractions include stories about the music, mystery guests and even door prizes. As BDDS puts it, “It’s chamber music with a bang!”
BDDS is led by co-artistic directors and performers flutist Stephanie Jutt (below right), who is principal flute with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and who just retired from the UW-Madison faculty; and pianist Jeffrey Sykes (below left), who graduated from the UW-Madison and teaches in Berkeley, California, where he is a member of the San Francisco Trio. Nineteen guest artists will also perform in the festival.
This season’s theme is Alphabet Soup, because it’s the 26th year and there are 26 letters in the alphabet. Each program is named after a combination of letters used in everyday language. Sometimes the musical interpretation of those letters is literal and sometimes it’s quite loose.
Musicians for Week One include three veteran string players: Naumberg Award-winning violinist Carmit Zori (below top); Madison’s very own violist Sally Chisholm (below middle) of the Pro Arte Quartet; and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s principal cellist Joseph Johnson (below bottom).
They will be joined by young artists who are participants in the newly formed Dynamite Factory, a BDDS program for nurturing and furthering the talents of three exceptional young musicians — violist Jeremy Kienbaum, violinist Misha Vayman and cellist Trace Johnson.
In one of two “sandwich” programs this weekend, PB&J, Carmit Zori will play the haunting Violin Sonata in F minor by Sergei Prokofiev and the program includes the heavenly Piano Quartet in A Major of Johannes Brahms.
The Dynamite Factory artists are featured in the emotional String Trio by Gideon Klein (below), a work he wrote at the Auschwitz concentration camp shortly before his death. (You can hear the trio by Gideon Klein in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
PB&J will be performed at the Stoughton Opera House on Friday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m.; and in Spring Green at the Hillside Theater, Sunday, June 11, at 2:30 p.m.
A second “sandwich” program, BLT, features the emotionally complex Cello Sonata (featuring Joseph Johnson) by Benjamin Britten (below top); all of the artists working together in the great “London” Symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn as arranged by Haydn’s contemporary and impresario Johann Peter Salomon (below bottom); and the beautiful string sextet “Souvenir de Florence” by Peter Tchaikovsky.
BLT will be performed at The Playhouse, Overture Center for the Arts, on Saturday, June 10, at 7:30 p.m. and at the Hillside Theater, Taliesin, Spring Green, on Sunday, June 11, at 6:30 p.m.
For the seventh year, BDDS will perform two FREE family concerts, interactive events intended for all ages.
One event takes place 11–11:45 AM, on Saturday, June 10, in The Playhouse of the Overture Center. The other will be at the Central Library Bubbler on this Thursday afternoon, June 8, from 4 to 5 p.m.
This is a performance for families with children of all ages and seating will be first come, first served. CUNA Mutual Group, Pat Powers and Thomas Wolfe and the Overture Center underwrite these performances.
Photos by Dick Ainsworth of BDDS performances and behind-the-scenes are on exhibit in The Playhouse Gallery through July 9.
Single general admission tickets are $43. Student tickets are always $10.
Tickets can also be purchased at Overture Center for the Arts, (608) 258-4141, www.overturecenter.org (additional fees apply). Tickets are available at the door at all locations.
For more information about the group, performers and programs, including audiovisual clips, go to: http://bachdancing.org
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Classical music: Pianist Stephen Hough returns to solo with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this weekend in a program of “firsts” that includes music by Barber and Saint-Saens as well as Tchaikovsky’s famous “Pathétique” Symphony
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below) offers one of the best must-hear programs of the season – or so thinks The Ear.
Pianist Stephen Hough (below, in a photo by Sim Canetty-Clarke) returns for his fourth appearance with the Madison Symphony Orchestra (MSO), led by music director and conductor John DeMain.
The concert will open with Samuel Barber’s Second Essay, a dramatic piece written in the midst of World War II, followed by a performance of the exotic Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Egyptian”) featuring soloist Stephen Hough, who won major awards for his recordings of the complete works for piano and orchestra by Saint-Saëns. The concert will close with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s emotional Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”).
The concerts are Friday, Feb. 17, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 19, at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State Street. (Ticket information is below.)
Samuel Barber (below) was one of the new generation of mid-20th century American composers with contemporaries Howard Hanson, Aaron Copland, David Diamond and, later, Leonard Bernstein.
His Second Essay was written in 1942, in the middle of the Second World War. Barber once wrote: “Although it has no program, one perhaps hears that it was written in a war-time.” This will be the first time this piece is performed by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
The Piano Concerto No. 5 (“Egyptian”) by Camille Saint-Saëns (below) was composed while he was on a winter vacation in the Egyptian temple city of Luxor, in 1895-96. The location of this piece is important because it helped give the piece its nickname, and also influenced the sound of the score. This will be the first time this piece is performed by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (below) wrote his final piece between February and August 1893. The Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) was then performed in Oct. 1893 and was conducted by Tchaikovsky himself. Nine days later he was dead.
Tchaikovsky’s late symphonies are autobiographical, and the sixth being “the best, and certainly the most open-hearted,” according to Tchaikovsky himself. Seeing that he was a troubled man, dealing with a dark depression, Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) is filled with poignancy and deep sorrow, as you can hear in the finale in the YouTube video at the bottom.
One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below), artistic director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director and the newly appointed Interim Music Director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience.
For more background on the music, read the program notes by MSO trombonist and UW-Whitewater professor Michael Allsen (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) at: http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1617/5.Feb17.html
Single Tickets are $16 to $87 each, and are available at madisonsymphony.org/hough and through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information visit, madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is at: madisonsymphony.org/studentrush. Students can receive 20% savings on seats in select areas of the hall on advance ticket purchases.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Find more information at madisonsymphony.org
Major funding for the February concerts is provided by: Irving and Dorothy Levy Family Foundation, Inc., Stephen Morton, and BMO Wealth Management. Additional funding is provided by: Boardman & Clark LLP, Forte Research Systems & Nimblify, James and Joan Johnston, and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Arts, autobiography, Barber, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cello, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, conductor, David Diamond, death, depression, discount, discussion, Egypt, Egyptian, Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, essay, Howard Hanson, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Leonard Bernstein, Luxor, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, Music director, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, nickname, Orchestra, Overture Center, Pathetique Symphony, photo, Piano, Piano concerto, Prelude, professor, program, program notes, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Randal Swiggum, recording, Second World War, senior, State of Wisconsin, Stephen Hough, Student, Tchaikovsky, ticket, Trombone, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, Viola, Violin, war, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Youth Symhony Orchestras, World War II, YouTube
Classical music: On Saturday night, The Mosaic Chamber Players will perform the fourth of five concerts devoted to the string sonatas of Beethoven.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Mosaic Chamber Players (below) will begin their 2016-2017 season with an all-Beethoven program this Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of First Unitarian Society at 900 University Bay Drive.
The performance will be the fourth concert of five in a cycle featuring the complete string sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven (below).
On this program are: the Violin Sonata in A Minor, Op. 23, a favorite of The Ear, which can be heard in the YouTube video at the bottom; the Violin Sonata in G Major Op. 30, No. 3; and the Cello Sonata in F Major, Op. 5, No. 1.
Admission is $15 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Tickets are available at the door. Cash and checks only will be accepted – no credit cards.
Members of the Mosaic Chamber Players are founder and pianist Jess Salek (above left); violinists Wes Luke and Laura Burns (above center); and cellist Michael Allen (above right).
The members teach and play with other local groups, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Ancora String Quartet and the Oakwood Chamber Players.
For more information, including the programs for this upcoming season, which feature piano trios by Felix Mendelssohn, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Charles Ives) and violin sonatas by Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, go to:
http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
Tags: Ancora String Quartet, Arts, Beethoven, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Copland, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, John Corigliano, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mendelssohn, Music, Oakwood Chamber Players, Orchestra, Piano, Piano Trio, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sonata, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: The FREE weekly Friday Noon Musicales resume this Friday at the First Unitarian Society of Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Friday, the weekly Friday Noon Musicales will start a new season at the First Unitarian Society of Madison (below), 900 University Bay Drive, in the near west side.
The FREE concerts take place in the historic Landmark Auditorium (below) of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Meeting House.
The concert runs from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m.
This week features guitarist Christopher Allen, violinist Shannon Farley and lutenist Doug Towne.
The trio will perform music by Peter Tchaikovsky, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Luigi Legnani.
Sorry, but The Ear has no word about specific program or pieces.
Tags: Arts, Chamber music, Classical music, guitar, Jacob Stockinger, Luigi Legnani, lute, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Music, Piano, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sonata, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet opens its new season this Saturday night with a new first violinist and works by Beethoven, Turina and Tchaikovsky
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By Jacob Stockinger
The critically acclaimed, Madison-based Ancora String Quartet welcomes its new first violinist Wes Luke – who replaces Leanne Kelso League — for the launch of the string quartet’s 16th season.
The concert is this coming Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
The program includes the String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2, by Ludwig van Beethoven; “The Bullfighter’s Prayer” by the Spanish composer Joaquin Turina; and the String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, by Russian composer Peter Tchaikovsky.
Tickets at the door are $15 for general admission; $12 for seniors and students; and $6 for children under 12.
Members of the Ancora (above from left) are: first violinist Wes Luke — who filled in for the past two seasons — plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra, the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and the Mosaic Chamber Players; second violinist Robin Ryan, who plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra; violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (she performs on both modern and early instruments) who plays with the Madison Bach Musicians, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble; and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and frequently performs chamber music.
According to program notes: “Beethoven’s charming and lyrical early quartet shows him bridging the divide between the Classical and Romantic eras; Turina’s dramatic tone poem fuses French Impressionism with musical elements from his native Seville; and Tchaikovsky’s first quartet includes the poignant Andante Cantabile, which moved writer Leo Tolstoy to tears. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
A champagne reception will close the evening.
Tags: Ancora String Quartet, Andante Cantabile, Arts, Baroque, Beethoven, bullfight, Cello, Chamber music, champagne, charm, Classical, Classical music, composer, First Unitarian Society of Madison, France, Frank Lloyd Wright, Impressionism, instrument, Jacob Stockinger, Joaquin Turina, LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, modern, Mosaic Chamber Players, Music, prayer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, reception, Romantic, Romanticism, Russia, Russian music, Seville, Spain, Spanish music, String quartet, Tchaikovsky, tone poem, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Whitewater, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music education: The Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra ends as it began — with an impressive display of young talent in both classic and contemporary music
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By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 12 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
On Friday evening, the Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra (MAYCO, below in a photo by John W. Barker) gave, in the Atrium Auditorium at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, the concert that concluded its sixth season.
Founded in 2011, it has been a remarkable venture that has given student musicians of high-school level the chance to enjoy full-scale orchestral experience.
But the group’s founder and director, the versatile and multi-talented Madison native Mikko Rankin Utevsky (below), is apparently irreplaceable in this effort; and he has found that he must move on in his career. So, this latest and 10th concert was also the orchestra’s last.
To mark the occasion, Utevsky, who just graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, is an enthusiastic champion of new music, and the orchestra commissioned a new composition, which then received its world premiere on Friday night.
The composer is the 25-year-old, Minneapolis-based avant-garde musician Ben Davis (below) who created a work with the not very helpful title of “is a is a is b is.” (I’m not making that up!) It is scored for a full ensemble of strings, winds and percussion plus an electronic screeching machine.
It is, in truth, not a piece of music at all, but a 20-minute experiment in the kinds of unusual — and not particularly pleasant — sounds that a group of orchestral players can make with their instruments. There are passages of repeated unison notes (the same one over and over) at goodly volume. And the last three minutes or so is an unaccompanied solo for the screeching machine on a single, piercing tone.
Whether this made a worthy valedictory salute to MAYCO’s audience and supporters is, I suppose, a matter of taste.
Fortunately, this new work was cushioned on either side by much more familiar material.
Opening the program was the beloved Overture to the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini. This was brought off with full-steam-ahead momentum by the players under Utevsky’s enthusiastic leadership.
And then, to conclude, came the same work that Utevsky included in the very first MAYCO program: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
The players were clearly quite fired up at the chance to tackle this score and did themselves genuine credit. Utevsky provided fast and forceful leadership that stressed the dramatic power of this music—which was, in its day, as surprising and shocking as a lot of “new” music today, we must remember.
The audience shared with the performers a rousing experience.
Among his other functions, Utevsky also wrote admirably illuminating program notes for the Rossini and Beethoven works—contrasting with those contributed by Davis, which were as nose-thumbing as his composition.
It is sad to think that MAYCO is now a thing of the past. What a wonderful idea it has been, something that testifies to the remarkable quantity and quality of young musical talent here.
If his orchestra is now gone, we must certainly keep our eyes and ears open for what the gifted Utevsky moves on to next.
Tags: American Record Guide, Arts, avant-garde, Beethoven, Ben Davis, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, commission, composer, Concert, conductor, contemporary music, Education, Fifth Symphony, First Unitarian Society of Madison, History, Isthmus, John Williams, lectures, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Area Youth Chamber Orchestra, Madison Early Music Festival, MAYCO, Medieval, Mikko Utevsky, Music, Music education, New Music, opera, Orchestra, Overture, professor, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Rossini, symphony, The Barber of Seville, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, world premiere, WORT-FM 89.9
Classical music: On the eve of his performance at The Proms, meet Ivan Fischer – a modest maestro who gets great results from his orchestra
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By Jacob Stockinger
In less than a week from now, on this coming Friday night, Hungarian maestro Ivan Fischer (below) will make his debut at the famed British BBC Proms with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
In an age of jet-set, millionaire celebrity maestros, The Ear finds that the modest Fischer – a pianist by training who is also the music director of the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Germany — shows a refreshing lack of ego and ambition.
Fisher — who has also challenged the conservative right-wing government of Hungary –seems to have a healthy perspective on making music, which depends on taking the long view, with the acclaimed Budapest Festival Orchestra (below), which he founded and still leads.
Fischer is also extremely thoughtful and articulate in words as well as music, as you seen in his insightful remarks about the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Fischer is also well know for his recorded interpretations of Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, Antonin Dvorak, Peter Tchaikovsky, Bela Bartok and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
In short, Ivan Fischer seems a model non-superstar musician.
The Ear hopes you agree.
Here is a terrific profile that appeared in The Guardian newspaper in the UK:
Tags: Arts, Bartok, BBC Proms, Beethoven, Berlin, Brahms, Bruckner, Budapest, Budapest Festival Orchestra, choral music, Classical music, concerto, conductor, Dvorak, Germany, Hungary, interview, Ivan Fischer, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maestro, Mahler, Music, Orchestra, Piano, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, symphony, Tchaikovsky, The Guardian, UK, United Kingdom, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin, YouTube
Classical music: Earth Day will be celebrated with Handel’s “Ode for St. Cecelia’s Day” this Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Plus, the UW Symphony and soprano Elizabeth Hagedorn perform music by Weber, Wagner and Tchaikovsky in a FREE concert Friday night.
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ALERT: This Friday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, guest conductor Andreas Stoehr of Vienna will lead the UW Symphony Orchestra and his Wisconsin-born wife, soprano Elizabeth Hagedorn, who has taught at the UW-Madison for the past three years, in a FREE concert.
The program includes the Overture to the opera “Der Freischuetz” by Carl Maria von Weber; the “Wesendonck Lieder,” or songs, by Richard Wagner; and the Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The Ear hears from a knowledgeable source that the concert will be outstanding.
For more about the impressive background of the conductor, visit:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-symphony-orchestra-2/
And here is a link to a story on the A Temp blog with some quotes from the conductor about the program:
https://uwmadisonschoolofmusic.wordpress.com
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following notice:
The Madison Area community is invited to celebrate the 46th anniversary of Earth Day – which was founded by former Wisconsin Governor and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson — with an afternoon concert and reception on this Saturday, April 23, and Sunday, April 24.
The event is sponsored and organized by the group Maestro Productions.
The Madison Area Community Earth Day Celebration Concert and Reception features the Madison Area Community Chorus and Orchestra (below, from 2015) with guest soloists and the Ringing Badgers Handbell Ensemble.
It will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1021 Spaight Street, on Saturday, April 23, at 2 p.m. and on Sunday, April 24, at 2 p.m.
The program opens with Maestro’s Ringing Badgers Handbell Ensemble.
Following intermission, the Madison Area Community Chorus and Orchestra, under the direction of Mark Bloedow (below), presents George Frideric Handel‘s choral work”Ode for St. Cecelia’s Day” and other selections. (You can hear an excerpt from the Handel work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Guest soloists include soprano Rachel Edie Warrick (below top) and lyric tenor J. Adam Shelton (below bottom).
A reception will follow the concert in Immanuel’s Lakeview Room.
Tickets for the event are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $8 for children and students. They are available from Willy Street Co-op Stores (East and West Locations), online at http://maestroproductions.brownpapertickets.com, and at the door.
More information is available at Maestro’s website: www.maestroproductions.org.
Tags: Arts, Austria, Baroque, Cello, Choir, choral music, Classical music, Der Freischuetz, Der Freischutz, Early music, Earth Day, Gaylord Nelson, George Frideric Handel, governor, handbell, Handel, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Music, ode, Orchestra, Pathetique Symphony, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Richard Wagner, singer, songs, soprano, St. Cecilia, symphony, Tchaikovsky, tenor, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Symphony Orchestra, Vienna, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wesendonck Lieder, YouTube
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