The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music plus tips for watching Monday’s solar eclipse
2 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
This coming Monday, April 8, will see a rare solar eclipse crossing the United States and visible to varying degrees (below) in different locations. In Madison, it will start at 12:50 p.m. CST, peak at 2:05 and end at 3:20.
It got The Ear to thinking about appropriate classical music to listen to.
But some other information seems more important to convey first:
For last-minute tracking of the eclipse and traveling to see it, here are stories from NPR (National Public Radio) and PBS:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-to-watch-the-2024-total-solar-eclipse
And from, MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), here are tips in the form of a Q&A about how to make the most out of viewing the eclipse:
https://news.mit.edu/2024/qa-brian-mernoff-tips-for-viewing-solar-eclipse-0404
NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has some advice about watching the eclipse safely:
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety
If you want to watch the eclipse in real time from a place where a total eclipse — known as totality — will take place, the PBS NewsHour will live-stream it on YouTube. Here is a link, which also allows you to set up a notification starting at noon on Monday for the real-time broadcast:
A solar eclipse is an event that inspired awe and fear. It caused our pre-historic ancestors to beat the ground with sticks and exchange stories about the wrath of the gods.
These days it leads to even more conspiracy theories by more primitive-minded, far-right conspiracy theorists. Here is an an overview from Rolling Stone magazine of the nonsense that is being promulgated by Alex Jones (below, from Getty Images) and other popular science- and fact-deniers.
The Ear looked for some music to capture the feeling of the eclipse — the mystery and awe when it is happening, and the relief when it is over.
He’s pretty sure that on the radio, internet and elsewhere you will hear excerpts from “The Planets” by Gustav Holst; the “Moonlight” Sonata by Beethoven; maybe Haydn’s “Sunrise” string quartet, “Clair de lune” by Debussy; “Morning Mood” from “Peer Gynt Suite Suite” by Edvard Grieg; “Sunrise” from the “Grand Canyon Suite” by Ferde Grofé; the beautiful sunrise opening of the “Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2” by Ravel; and of course the dramatic opening sunrise to “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, which was made famous in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
But The Ear settled on the “Helios Overture” (in the YouTube video at the bottom) by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen. It is a haunting performance by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the American conductor Alan Gilbert.
Do you have a piece of classical music that you think would be appropriate for watching the eclipse?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 2024, 88.7 FM, 89.9, advice, Alan Gilbert, Alex Jones, AM, America, American, Amsterdam, ancestor, Android, annular eclipse, Apple, appropriate, April, April 8, Arts, astronomy, audience, awe, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Broadcast, Cello, Central Daylight Time, Chamber music, choral music, Clair de Lune, Classical, Classical music, composer, Concert, Concertgebouw, conservative, conspiracy theory, CST, Danish, Daphnis and Chloe, Debussy, denier, Denmark, different, dramatic, Dutch, Early music, eclipse, Facebook, fact-denier, facts, famous, fear, film, FM, God, gods, Google Alert, Google Search, Grand Canyon, Grieg, Grofe, happen, haunting, Haydn, Helios Overture, idiots, information, Infowars, Internet, Jacob Stockinger, link, live-stream, Ludwig van Beethoven, lunatics, Madison, magazine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Microsoft Bing, MIT, Monday, moon, moonlight, Morning Mood, movie, Music, Musica Antiqua, mystery, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Netherlands, Nielsen, nonsense, notification, NPR, online, opera, Orchestra, OS, over, Overture, partial, PBS, PBS Newshour, Peer Gynt, peform, performance, Piano, popular, prehistoric, primitive, Radio, rare, Ravel, relief, right-wing, Rolling Stone, royal, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Schubert, science, science-denier, search engine, share, singer, Singing, solar, solar eclipse, Sonata, song, soundtrack, space, stories, story, Strauss, stream, String quartet, Suite, sun, sunrise, symphony, tag, Television, The Ear, The Well-Tempered Ear, Thus Spake Zarathustra, tips, total, totality, TV, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, watch, Well-Tempered, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT, WORT FM, WPR, wrath, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Opera’s virtual Opera in the Park goes online for FREE this Saturday night and stays up until Aug. 25. Listen to it indoors or outdoors
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park isn’t in a park this year — as it has been in past years (below) — but it will be available for people to enjoy for free in their backyards, in their living rooms or anywhere else with an internet connection.
The digital concert will be released on this Saturday, July 25, at 8 p.m. CDT, and can be watched on Madison Opera’s website, www.madisonopera.org/digital, where you can find complete information and, soon, a complete program to download.
The annual free concert has moved online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a newly created program of opera arias and more.
Digital Opera in the Park features: soprano Jasmine Habersham; soprano Karen Slack; tenor Andres Acosta; and baritone Weston Hurt. (The last two will sing the justly famous baritone-tenor duet “Au fond du temple saint” from Bizet’s “The Pearl Fishers,” which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Habersham (below) makes her Madison Opera debut with this unique performance, and will sing Susanna in the company’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro next April.
Slack (below) debuted with the company in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and will be part of the company’s digital fall season.
Acosta (below) sang Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers with Madison Opera this past February.
Hurt (below) debuted as Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata last season and is part of the company’s digital fall season.
The four singers will be joined by several important local artists. They include violinist Suzanne Beia, the assistant concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the second violin of the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet.
There will also be a fleet of eight pianists. They include MSO music director and Madison Opera’s artist director John DeMain (below top, in a photo by Prasad) and the UW-Madison graduate and composer Scott Gendel (below bottom). The two will play multiple numbers, including DeMain accompanying Beia on the beautiful “Meditation” from Thaïs.
Each singer recorded their arias with an accompanist in their home cities, and chorusmaster Anthony Cao (below top) both accompanies and conducts the Madison Opera Chorus (below bottom) in a virtual “Anvil Chorus” from Il Trovatore.
The evening will be hosted by Madison Opera’s General Director Kathryn Smith and by WKOW TV’s Channel 27 News co-anchor George Smith.
“Reimagining Opera in the Park in the pandemic era has been a challenge, but one we have happily embraced,” says Smith (below in a photo by James Gill). “Our wonderful artists were game to record themselves in their home towns, to sing duets with each other through headphones, and to share their artistry with our community in a new way. Over 40 choristers joined a Zoom call to get instructions, and then they recorded their parts of the ‘Anvil Chorus.’”
“While in some ways this concert has required more work than our live Opera in the Park in Garner Park, it is always a pleasure to present beautiful music for everyone to enjoy.”
Digital Opera in the Park features music from Verdi’s Il Trovatore, now canceled in live performance but originally slated to open Madison Opera’s 2020-21 season; Jerry Bock’s She Loves Me, which the company performs in January; and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, which will be performed in April.
The program also includes selections from Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, Richard Strauss’ Arabella, Verdi’s Don Pasquale, Puccini’s Tosca, Massenet’s Hérodiade and Thaïs, Rossini’s William Tell, Pablo Sarozabal’s zarzuela La Tabernera del Puerto, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, and more.
The concert will be available beginning at 8 p.m. CDT on this Saturday night, July 25, and will remain online until Aug. 25, allowing for both repeated viewing and flexibility for people who are unable to watch on the first night.
While Digital Opera in the Park will be free to watch, it would not be possible without the generous support of many foundations, corporations and individuals who believe in the importance of music. Madison Opera is grateful to the sponsors of Opera in the Park 2020:
- Presenting Sponsor: the Berbeewalsh Foundation
- Sponsors: the John and Carolyn Peterson Charitable Foundation, Full Compass Systems, the Raymond B. Preston Family Foundation, University Research Park, Colony Brands, Johnson Financial Group, MGE Foundation, National Guardian Life, Wisconsin Arts Board, Dane Arts and the Madison Arts Commission.
- Media Sponsors: WKOW, Madison Magazine, Wisconsin Public Radio, Magic 98, and La Movida.
RELATED EVENTS include:
OPERA ON THE WALL | JULY 25, 2020 | ONLINE
Madison artists Liubov Swazko (known as Triangulador) and Mike Lroy have created artwork around our community, including beautiful murals on State Street storefronts.
In an act of artistic cross-pollination, they will create an artwork that comes from their personal response to Digital Opera in the Park, offering a rare glimpse of visual artists responding to musical artists. Their creative process will be filmed in the Madison Opera Center, and shared online starting on July 25.
The finished artwork will be displayed in the Madison Opera Center. Go to Swazko’s website at triangulador.com (one work is below) and Lroy’s website at mikelroy.com to see their past work.
POST-SHOW Q&A | JULY 25, 2020, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE INITIAL STREAM
Join Kathryn Smith and the Digital Opera in the Park artists for a post-concert discussion, including an opportunity to ask questions. Details on format and platform will be available closer to the date.
Tags: #AndresAcosta, #AnthonyCao, #AnvilChorus, #ArtisticDirector, #BaritoneSinger, #Beautifulmusic, #BerbeeWalshFoundation, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BroadwayMusical, #ChamberMusic, #Channel27, #ChoralMusic, #ChorusMaster, #CityofMadison, #ColonyBrands, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaneArts, #DeadManWalking, #DigitalOperainthePark, #DonPasquale, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FamousMusic, #FellowTravelers, #FullCompassSystems, #GarnerPark, #GeneralDirector, #GeorgesBizet, #GiacomoPuccini, #GioachinoRossini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #GregorySpears, #HomeWebsite, #IlTrovatore, #JacobStockinger, #JakeHeggie, #JamesGill, #JasmineHabersham, #JerryBock, #JohnandCarolynPeterson, #JohnDeMain, #JohnsonFinancialGroup, #JosephMcCarthy, #JulesMassenet, #KarenSlack, #KathrynSmith, #LaMovida, #LaTaberneradelPuerto, #LaTraviata, #LGBTQrights, #LGBTRights, #LiubovSwazko, #LiveMusic, #LiveStreaming, #LivingRoom, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonMagazine, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonOperaCenter, #MadisonOperaChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #Magic98, #MarriageofFigaro, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MediaSponsor, #MGEFoundation, #MikeLroy, #MusicalTheater, #MusicDirector, #NationalGuardianLife, #NewsAnchor, #OperaAria, #OperaInThePark, #OperaMusic, #PabloSarozabal, #PabloZarozabal, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #ProArteQuartet, #PublicHealth, #RelatedEvent, #RichardStrauss, #RodgersandHammerstein, #ScottGendel, #Self-Isolation, #SheLovesMe, #shelter-at-home, #ShelterinPlace, #SopranoSinger, #SouthPacific, #SpanishComposer, #StateStreet, #Stayathome, #SuzanneBeia, #TenorSinger, #TheEar, #ThePearlFishers, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityResearchPark, #VisualArt, #VisualArtist, #VocalMusic, #WestonHurt, #WilliamTell, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WKOWTV, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, accompany, alumni, alumnus, anchor, Andres Acosta, annual, Anthony Cao, Anvil Chorus, anywhere, April, Arabella, aria, Artistic director, artistry, artists, Arts, artwork, assistant, audience, August, available, backyard, baritone, beautiful, believe, BerbeeWalsh Foundation, Bizat, blog, Broadway musical, call, cancel, canceled, challenge, Chamber music, channel, choral music, choristers, chorus, cities, Classical music, Colony Brands, community, company, complete, composer, Concert, concertmaster, conduct, conductor, connection, coronavirus, corporations, create, creative, creative process, Dane Arts, date, Dead Man Walking, debut, detail, digital, Digital Opera in the Park, discussion, Don Pasquale, donor, download, duet, else, embrace, enjoy, era, event, everyone, Facebook, fall, famous, feature, February, Fellow Travelers, film, fleet, flexibility, format, forward, foundations, free, Full Compass Systems, game, Garner Park, General director, generous, Georges Bizet, Giacomo Puccini, gift, Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, glimpse, graduate, grateful, Gregory Spears, happy', Hérodiade, headphones, home town, home website, hometown, homosexual, host, Il Trovatore, imagine, immediate, importance, important, individual, indoors, information, initial, instruction, Internet, isolation, Jacob Stockinger, Jake Heggie, James Gill, Jasmine Habersham, Jerry Bock, John and Carolyn Peterson, John DeMain, Johnson Financial Group, Joseph McCarthy, Jules Massenet, July, just, justly, Karen Slack, Kathryn Smith, kayak, La Movida, La Tabernera del Puerto, La Traviata, LGBT, LGBTQ, like, link, Liubov Swazko, live music, living room, local, Love, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, Madison Magazine, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Center, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Magic 98, manager, Marriage, Marriage of Figaro, Massenet, Master, McCarthyism, Mead Witter School of Music, media, Meditation, MGE Foundation, Mike Lroy, Mozart, MSO, multiple, mural, Music, Music director, musical, Musical theater, National Guardian Life, new, news, number, onlne, opera, Opera in the Park, opera music, opportunity, outdoors, Pablo, Pablo Sarozabal, Pablo Zarozabal, Pacific Ocean, pandemic, PAQ, Park, parts, past, People, performance, performer, photo, Pianist, Piano, piano accompaniment, Piano accompanist, platform, pleasure, post, post-concert, posting, present, Pro Arte Quartet, process, production, program, public, Public health, Puccini, Q&A, questions, Radio, rare, record, related event, relatred, remain, repeat, research, respond, Richard Strauss, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rossini, Saturday, Scott Gendel, Season, selections, September, share, She Loves Me, shelter in place, sing, singer, Singing, soprano, South Pacific, Spain, Spanish, sponsor, State Street, stay at home, store, storefront, Strauss, stream, Student, support, Suzanne Beia, symphony, tag, Television, tenor, Thaïs, The Ear, The Marriage of Figaro, The Pearl Fishers, theatre, Tosca, town, Triangulador, TV, United States, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Research Park, UW, UW-Madison, Verdi, viewing, Violin, violinist, visual art, visual artist, vocal music, wall, watch, way, WCO, Website, Weston Hurt, William Tell, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, WKOW, WKOW TV, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, wonderful, work, WPR, year, YouTube, Zarozabal, zarzuela, Zoom
Classical music: What music is helping you get through the Coronavirus by staying home? Help create a Pandemic Playlist
10 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Starting today, Wisconsin joins other states and countries in proclaiming a stay-at-home emergency condition to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
That means non-essential businesses and schools are closed; restaurants can only deliver food and do pick-up; and residents must stay at home except for essential services and travel such as buying food, seeing a doctor and getting medicine.
For a couple of weeks, many of us have already been spending almost all our time hunkering down at home.
And the Internet and other mass media are full of helpful hints about how to handle the loneliness, fear and anxiety that can come with self-isolation and self-quarantining.
For many, music proves a reliable coping strategy.
Since there are no live concerts to preview or review, now seems like a good time for The Ear to ask readers: What music helps you deal with the isolation of staying at home?
Is listening to music a part of your daily schedule, structure or routine?
Maybe you are using the time to discover new music or neglected composers, works and performers.
Maybe you are using the time to revisit old favorites by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven.
Maybe you prefer darker and deeper, more introverted works such as symphonies by Mahler, Bruckner and Shostakovich?
Maybe you prefer the stories and drama of operas by Verdi and Puccini, oratorios by Handel and songs by Schubert?
Maybe, like The Ear, you find the music of Baroque Italian composers, such as the violin concertos by Vivaldi and Corelli, to be a great, upbeat way to start the day with energy and a good mood.
One more modern but neo-classical work that The Ear likes to turn to — a work that is rarely heard or performed live – is the beautiful “Eclogue” for piano and strings by the 20th-century British composer Gerald Finzi (below).
Finzi wrote it as a slow movement to a piano concerto, but then never finished the concerto. The “Eclogue” — a short pastoral poem — was never performed in his lifetime. So it continues to stand alone.
But like so much English pastoral music, the poignant Eclogue feels like sonic balm, some restorative comfort that can transport you to a calmer and quieter place, put you in a mood that you find soothing rather than agitated.
Hear it for yourself and decide by listening to it in the YouTube video at the bottom, then let The Ear know what you think.
Perhaps you have many other pieces to suggest for the same purpose.
But the series of reader suggestions is meant to be ongoing.
The idea is to build a collective “Pandemic Playlist.”
So right now and for this time, please post just ONE suggestion – with a YouTube link, if possible — in the Comment section with perhaps what you like about it and why it works for you during this time of physical, psychological and emotional distress from COVID-19.
What do you think of the idea of creating a Pandemic Playlist?
The Ear hopes that you like his choice, and that he and other readers like yours.
Be well and stay well.
Let’s get through this together.
Tags: #20thCentury, #AntonBruckner, #AntonioVivaldi, #ArcangeloCorelli, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BritishMusic, #CentersforDiseaseControl, #ChoralMusic, #COVID-19, #DmitriShostakovich, #EmotionalImpact, #EnglishComposer, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzSchubert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GeraldFinzi, #GiacomoPuccini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #GoodMood, #GustavMahler, #HandelOratorio, #HealthCare, #HolidayFavorites, #HunkerDown, #ItalianBaroque, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #LiveConcert, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MassMedia, #ModernMusic, #MusicReview, #NeglectedComposers, #NeglectedMusic, #NeglectedWorks, #NewMusic, #OperaMusic, #PandemicPlaylist, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #Self-Isolation, #shelter-at-home, #SlowMovement, #SocialDistancing, #Stayathome, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, agitating, agitation, alone, Anton Bruckner, Antonio Vivaldi, anxiety, Arcangelo Corelli, Arts, audience, Bach, balm, Baroque, beautiful, Beethoven, blog, Bruckner, Business, buy, calm, Centers for Disease Control, Chamber music, choice, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, closed, collective, comfort, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, condition, cope, coping, Corelli, coronavirus, countries, country, COVID19, create, daily, darker, day, decide, deeper, deliver, discover, distress, Dmitri Shostakovich, doctor, drama, Early music, Eclogue, Education, emergency, emotional, energy, English, essential, Facebook, favorites, fear, fight, finish, Finzi, food, forward, Franz Schubert, George Frideric Handel, Gerald Finzi, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, good, good mood, Gustav Mahler, Handel, health care, help, helpful, hints, Home, hunker down, idea, Internet, introvert, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, lifetime, like, link, live, live concert, Living composer, lockdown, loneliness, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, mass media, media, medicine, modern, mood, Mozart, Music, music review, neglected, neglected composer, neo-Classical, new, New Music, non-essential, old, opera, oratorio, Orchestra, pandemic, pandemic playlist, pastoral, performer, physical, Pianist, Piano, pick-up, piece, playlist, poem, poignant, post, posting, prefer, prevention, preview, proclaim, prove, psychological, psychology, Puccini, quarantine, quiet, quieter, rare, reliable, resident, restaurants, restorative, review, revisit, routine, schedule, school, schools, Schubert, self-isolating, Self-Quarantining, services, share, shelter, short, Shostakovich, sing, Singing, Slow movement, social, social distancing, song, songs, sonic, soothing, spend, start, state, stay at home, stories, strategy, stress, strings, structure, suggest, suggestion, symphony, tag, The Ear, think, thought, time, together, transport, travel, United States, use, Verdi, Viola, Violin, virus, Vivaldi, vocal music, weeks, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: This Friday brings a FREE concert at noon of cello and violin sonatas by Beethoven. At night, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra explores rarely heard works and composers plus the “Jupiter” Symphony by Mozart
4 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
ALERT: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features the Mosaic Chamber Players performing a one-hour, all-Beethoven concert in honor of the Beethoven Year, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The program is: Cello Sonata, Op. 5, No. 1; and two violin sonatas, Op. 12, No. 3, and Op. 30, No. 2. For more information, go to: http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
By Jacob Stockinger
Can you tell the difference between the real Mozart and the “Swedish Mozart”?
You’ll have the chance to find out this Friday night, Feb. 21, if you go to the concert by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below, in a photo by Mike Gorski) at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
That is when you can hear the Symphony in C-Sharp Minor, VB 140, by Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1791, below), an 18th-century German-born, short-lived composer who, as an exact contemporary of Mozart, spent most of his career at the court in Stockholm, Sweden, and became known as the “Swedish Mozart.”
(You can hear the opening movement of the Kraus symphony, played by Concerto Koln, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is more about Kraus (below): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Martin_Kraus
The Kraus symphony opens the WCO concert.
Then for the purpose of comparison, the concert closes with Mozart’s “Jupiter” Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551. It is often cited as Mozart’s most accomplished work in the symphonic form, and is renowned for its melodies and harmonies, and for the masterful, even spectacular, counterpoint in the last movement.
But that kind of discovery and approach to programming is not unusual for WCO maestro Andrew Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz), who has a penchant for exposing audiences to rarely heard works and composers as well as to well-known masterpieces.
For this concert, Sewell will be helped by the return of guest violin virtuoso Giora Schmidt (below in a photo by David Getzschman), who has been acclaimed for his technique, tone, lyricism and riveting interpretations. He played the Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor by Sergei Prokofiev with the WCO in 2018.
Schmidt will solo in two rarely heard works for violin and orchestra: the 16-minute Violin Concerto, Op. 48, by the Russian composer Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904-1987); and the 8-minute Romance by the Norwegian composer Johan Svendsen (1840-1911).
For more about Kabalevsky (below), go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Kabalevsky
For more about Svendsen (below), who was a conductor and violinist as well as a composer, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Svendsen
To purchase tickets ($10-$77) and to read a detailed biography of soloist Schmidt and find out more about the concert, go to: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-ii-5/
Tags: #18thCentury, #All-Beethoven, #AndrewSewell, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolTheater, #CelloSonata, #ConcertoKoln, #CourtMusic, #DmitryKabalevsky, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GioraSchmidt, #GuestArtist, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JohanSvendsen, #JosephMartinKraus, #JupiterSymphony, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #MusicalInterpretation, #NoonMusicale, #NorwegianComposer, #OvertureCenter, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #SergeiProkofiev, #SwedishMozart, #TheEar, #ViolinRomance, #ViolinSonata, #Wikipediabiography, #Wikipediaentry, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 18th century, 2018, accompany, accomplished, Andrew Sewell, anniversary, Arts, audience, Beethoven, biography, birth, blog, born, Capitol Theater, career, celebrate, cellist, Cello, century, chance, close, comparison, composer, Concert, concerto, Concerto Koln, conductor, contemporary, counterpoint, court, difference, discovery, Dmitry Kabalevsky, exact, exposing, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, form, forward, free, Friday, German, Germany, Giora Schmidt, guest, guest artist, harmony, honor, hour, information, interpretation, Jacob Stockinger, Johan Svendsen, Joseph Martin Kraus, Jupiter Symphony, Kochel, Kraus, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyrical, Madison, Maestro, masterpiece, melody, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Mozart, Music, musical, Noon Musicale, Norway, Norwegian, online, Orchestra, Overture Center, penchant, performer, Piano, play, post, posting, program, purpose, rare, real, Romance, Sergei Prokofiev, Sewell, share, short, short-lived, solo, soloist, Sonata, Stockholm, Sweden, Swedish, Swedish Mozart, symphonic, symphony, tag, technique, tell, The Ear, tickets, tone, United States, Violin, violinist, virtuoso, WCO, Website, well-known, Wikipedia, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison-based string quartet Quartessence will perform this Sunday afternoon at the Little Brown Church in Richland County
1 Comment
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
On this Sunday, Aug. 4, at 2 p.m. the Madison-based Quartessence string quartet (below, in a photo by Ralph Russo) will perform a rare public concert of classical music at the Little Brown Church in Richland County. (The group usually performs at private events.)
Performers (below, from left) are: violinist Suzanne Beia; cellist Sarah Schaffer; violinist Laura Burns; and violist Jennifer Clare Paulson. Beia, Burns and Paulson are members of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Pro Arte String Quartet. Schaffer has a career in arts management and organizes the annual summertime Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.
The location is 29864 Brown Church Road at the intersection of Highway 130 and Highway B, approximately five miles north of Highway 14.
Tickets cost $10 for adults and $5 for students, and will be available at the door.
The program includes: music by baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi; the “Brook Green” Suite by Gustav Holst; the String Quartet in G Major, K. 156, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Household Music: Three Preludes on Welsh Hymn Tunes” by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (originally written for organ, one of the preludes can be heard in an orchestral arrangement in the YouTube video at the bottom); and “Painting the Floors Blue” and “Thanks, Victor” by the contemporary American composer John Harbison.
The concert is sponsored by a family, and proceeds will be used by the Friends of the Little Brown Church for maintenance of the building. The donors are happy to be able to provide this opportunity to music lovers in the community.
The refurbished building is air-conditioned, so you can take a break from the hot weather while you enjoy the music.
Here is some background from Harriet Statz (below, far right), who organizes the event because the Little Brown Church is special to her:
“Last year we started what is turning out to be an annual event (maybe) at the Brown Church (below) in Richland County. That’s up the road (Highway 131) from where I lived in the late 1970s.
“Since then Julie Jazicek and I have been in contact about fencing for this historic place, as she is sort of the manager and deserves much credit for keeping both the building and grounds beautiful. Over the years some concerts have been held in the church, but until 2018 nothing classical. So we fixed that!
“Last year’s concert by the Quartessence Quartet was a resounding success. An audience of about 60 people encouraged us to keep going, so we did, and hope for even a larger turnout to fill up the place. As it turns out the acoustics are outstanding!
“The location is west of Spring Green and north of Lone Rock. It’s a lovely drive. So I invite you to mark this Sunday Aug. 4, on your calendar and come out to the country for a lovely afternoon of music. Bring friends! Share rides!”
For information, call 608-356-8421 or send an email to: FriendsOfLittleBrownChurch@gmail.com
Tags: #AirConditioning, #AmericanComposer, #AntonioVivaldi, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BritishComposer, #BrookGreenSuite, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ContemporaryMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GreatBritain, #HarrietStatz, #HistoricBuilding, #HotWeather, #JenniferClarePaulson, #JohnHarbison, #JulieJazicek, #LauraBurns, #LittleBrownChurch, #LivingComposer, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MusicLover, #OrchestralMusic, #PaintingtheFloorsBlue, #ProArteQuartet, #RalphRusso, #RalphVaughanWilliams, #RichlandCounty, #SarahSchaffer, #StringQuartet, #SuzanneBeia, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, AC, acoustics, adult, afternoon, air conditioning, air-conditioned, American, annual, Antonio Vivaldi, arrangement, Arts, audience, available, Baroque, beautiful, blog, British, brook, Brook Green Suite, building, call, career, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, classicalmusic, community, composer, Concert, contemporary music, cost, country, credit, donor, door, Early music, email, encourage, English, event, Facebook, Family, fencing, festival, friends, Great Britain, green, grounds, Harriet Statz, highway, historic, hot, hot weather, hymn, intersection, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Clare Paulson, John Harbison, Julie Jazicek, Kochel, last year, Laura Burns, like, link, Little Brown Church, live, Living composer, lovely, lover, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, maintenance, management, manager, Mozart, Music, music lover, Orchestra, orchestral, organ, organize, outstanding, Painting the Floors Blue, People, performer, performers, place, Prelude, private, Pro Aret Quartet, proceeds, public, Quartessence, Ralph Vaughan Williams, rare, resounding, Richland County, ride, road, Sarah Schaffer, share, sponsor, String quartet, Student, success, Suite, summer, summertime, Suzanne Beia, tag, thanks, ticket, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, tune, turnout, UK, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Victor, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, Vivaldi, weather, Welsh, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube, YouTube video
Classical music: There was so much to like about the Grand Tour finale of the 2019 Madison Early Music Festival. But where were the high notes in Allegri’s legendary “Miserere”?
8 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
Fair is fair.
Before he talks about last Saturday night’s conclusion of the successful 2019 Madison Early Music Festival – which marked its 20th anniversary — The Ear has a confession to make: He generally prefers later Baroque music and he generally prefers instrumental music to vocal or choral music.
That said, he nonetheless had a memorable and very enjoyable time on the “Grand Tour” during the well-attended All-Festival concert. There was so much to like and to admire.
The concert used the conceit of a Grand Tour by a composite 17th-century traveler going to London, Venice, Rome, Naples, Paris and Dresden to take in the local sights and local music, and included lesser-known composers such as William Lawes and William Child as well as such famous figures as Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli , Jean-Baptiste Lullyand Heinrich Schütz.
Like most journeys, this one – once again assembled in an ingenious scissors-and-paste job by early music specialist Grant Herreid (below) – had many entertaining and uplifting moments.
But it also had one big disappointment.
The Ear really looked forward to hearing a live performance of the famous “Miserere” by Gregorio Allegri (below) as a high point. But those haunting, ultra-high descant notes that give you goosebumps and that you never forget hearing just never materialized.
Maybe it had to do with the different ornamentation that the MEMF forces used. Maybe it was based on a different manuscript or score. Maybe there was no one capable of singing those spellbinding and unforgettable high notes.
Whatever the reason, The Ear’s hope for a live performance of the dramatic and iconic work were dashed and the famous, even classic, recorded versions – the 1980 recording by the Tallis Scholars is heard in the YouTube video at the bottom — remain for him the unsurpassed standard.
The evening also had its ironies. That same night on the NBC TV news The Ear saw a story about “overtourism” in Europe and China. Venice, for example, has now shrunk to only about 50,000 unhappy residents who put up with some 20 million tourists a year.
But centuries ago, travel was a rare and exotic luxury of the wealthy and well-educated, not an affordable indulgence or curiosity by ever-expanding middle classes. And this metaphorical trip proved an ideal vehicle to sample 16th- and 17th-century music in England, France, Germany and Italy.
Combining high culture and low, Herreid chose witty and detailed travelogue texts that gave the audience the rich flavor of various cultures at the time.
Details mattered to the four sharp-eyed travelers on which this tour was based. So as “our hero” wandered, we got to hear about the “libidinous ladies” of Naples and the musical talented courtesans of Venice as well as the richly attired archbishop of Paris attending a feast day service in the newly finished Notre-Dame cathedral.
Such descriptions were well delivered by unnamed narrators (below) from the chorus and proved a refreshingly earthy and entertaining counterpoint to the more serious spiritual and religious music of the era.
Another big satisfaction was the exceptional quality of the ensemble playing – exhibited even in large amounts of less interesting music — by the many singers and instrumentalists on the stage of Mills Hall, and, at one point, in the hall’s balcony.
Whether the players and singers were conducted by Herreid or by assistant conductor Jerry Hui — a UW-Madison graduate who is now a tenured professor at UW-Stout — the music sounded tight, authentic and expressive.
As for more superficial pleasures, it is great visual fun watching such early versions of modern string, wind and percussion instruments being played — trombone-like sackbuts, oboe-like shawms, flute-like recorders and lute-like theorbos. (Below are cello-like viols.)
The players, both faculty and students, were particularly convincing on their own in the sound painting done to depict battle scenes and political upheaval. And who will ever forget the surprise of loud foot-stomping by all the performers and conductor?
Herreid was absolutely spot-on to keep the program to about 80 minutes with no intermission. It helped the audience stay in the spirit of the Grand Tour and added cohesion to the program.
The Grand Tour, in short, proved outstanding in concept and excellent in execution.
But was The Ear alone in missing to those high notes?
Tags: #All-FestivalConcert, #ArgentineanComposer, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOrnamentation, #BaroqueRecorder, #BaroqueSingingStyle, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BlogReview, #ChineseTourism, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalRecording, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #DresdenGermany, #EnsemblePlaying, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FeastDay, #GiovanniGabrieli, #GrandTour, #GrantHerreid, #GregorioAllegri, #HeinrichSchütz, #HighCulture, #HighPoint, #InstrumentalMusic, #Jean-BaptisteLully, #JerryHui, #LivePerformance, #LondonEngland, #LowCulture, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #Middle-Class, #MillsHall, #Musicfaculty, #MusicReview, #NaplesItaly, #NBCNews, #NotreDame, #NotreDamedeParis, #ParisFrance, #ReligiousMusic, #RomeItaly, #SaturdayNight, #Scissors-and-Paste, #Sharp-eyed, #SistineChapel, #SoundPainting, #TallisScholars, #TelevisionNews, #theorbomusic, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VeniceItaly, #VocalMusic, #WealthyPeople, #Well-Attended, #Well-Education, #WilliamLawes, #YouTubevideo, ago, All-Festival concert, anniversary, anonymous, archbishop, Arts, attire, audience, authentic, balcony, Baroque, Baroque music, battle, blog, capable, cathedral, Cello, centuries, century, China, choral music, chorus, classic, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, cohere, cohesion, Compact Disc, composer, composite, concept, Concert, conduct, conductor, confession, counterpoint, courtesan, culture, cultures, deliver, delivered, description, detail, detailed, disappointment, drama, dramatic, Dresden, Early music, earthy, England, enjoyable, ensemble, entertaining, era, Europe, evening, excellent, execution, exotic, expressive, Facebook, faculty, fair, famous, feast day, fine, finish, flavor, flute, foot, forces, forget, forward, France, fun, Germany, Giovanni Gabrieli, goosebumps, Grand Tour, Grant Herreid, Gregorio Allegri, haunting, Heinrich Schütz, high, high culture, high notes, high point, iconic, ideal, ingenious, instrumental, instrumental music, instrumentalists, interesting, intermission, ironies, irony, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jerry Hui, journey, ladies, lesser-known, libidinous, libido, like, link, live performance, local, London, loud, low, low culture, Lully, lute, luxury, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, manuscript, materialize, matter, Mead Witter School of Music, MEMF, memorable, metaphorical, million, Mills Hall, Miserere, moment, Music, music review, Naples, narrator, NBC, new, news, nightly, Notre Dame, Notre Dame de Paris, Oboe, Orchestra, ornamentation, outstanding, overtourism, Paris, percussion, performer, playing, pleasurer, political, post, posting, prefer, professor, program, rare, reader, recorder, recording, refreshing, religious, religious music, resident, review, rich, Rome, sackbut, sample, satisfaction, Saturday night, scene, score, serious, service, share, shawm, short, sights, singers, Singing, Sistine Chapel, Sound, sound painting, spellbinding, spirit, spiritual, stage, standard, stomp, string, successful, superficial, surprise, tag, talented, Tallis Scholars, Television, television news, tenure, texts, theorbo, tight, time, tourism, tourists, traveler, travelogue, trip, Trombone, TV, unforgettable, unhappy, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unknown, unnamed, unsurpassed, upheaval, uplifting, UW-Stout, Vatican, vehicle, Venice, version, Viol, Viola, Violin, vocal music, watch, wealth, wealthy, well-educated, William Lawes, Wind, Wisconsin, witty, year, YouTube
Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will present a Grand Tour of musical styles to mark its success after 20 years. The “tour” starts this Saturday, July 6, and runs through Saturday, July 13. Part 1 of 2
1 Comment
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
A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival (below, the All-Festival Concert in 2018) have come up with.
Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A interview for this blog. Here is Part 1 of 2:
This summer marks the 20th anniversary of the Madison Early Music Festival. Can you briefly summarize the progress of the festival over all those years and how you – through audience size, participants, media coverage – measure the success it has achieved?
How successful is this year’s festival compared to the beginning festival and to others in terms of enrollment, budgets and performers? How does this of MEMF’s reach nationally or even internationally compare to previous years?
What can you say about where the festival will go in the coming years?
As the 20th Madison Early Music Festival approaches, we have looked back at how far we have come from 1999 when we were a little festival of 60 participants and faculty. We have grown to our current size of 140 faculty members and participants — fellow lovers of early music.
Last year, we had the largest group of participants when 120 students enrolled. MEMF now attracts students of all ages, from 18 to 91, amateurs and professionals, from all over North America and Europe.
Our success is due to the help and support of many individuals and outside organizations. We could not manage MEMF without the amazing staff at the Division of the Arts at UW-Madison. They help with everything from printed materials, website design and management, social media, grant writing, fundraising, proofreading and on-site assistance at all of our events and more.
Paul and I (below) work with Sarah Marty, the Program Director of MEMF, who keeps things organized and running smoothly throughout the year.
Also, we are grateful to our dedicated MEMF Board, donations from many individuals, grants, and the generosity of William Wartmann, who created an endowment for the festival, and after his death left an additional $400,000 for our endowment. It takes a village!
Not only have we become an important part of the summer music scene in Madison, but we have contributed to the national and international early music community. The 2019 concert series will be featuring artists from California to New York, Indiana to Massachusetts, and from Leipzig, Germany.
We hope to have many old and new audience members join us for this exciting celebration of our 20th year. For future seasons our motto is “To infinity and beyond!” as we continue to build on our past successes.
What is new and what is the same in terms of format, students, faculty members and performers?
This year we have a new program, the Advanced Voice Intensive, which provides an opportunity for auditioned advanced singers who are interested in a capella vocal music from the Renaissance – singing sacred polyphony and madrigals to improve their skills as ensemble singers.
Twenty singers from all over the country will be joining the inaugural program to rehearse and perform music from Italy, England and Germany.
At the end of the week they will sing in a masterclass with the vocal ensemble Calmus (below) on Thursday, July 11, at 11:30 a.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. On Saturday, July 13, they will perform in a FREE concert with the popular Advanced Loud Band ensemble in Morphy Recital Hall.
Here’s the link for all the information about MEMF: https://memf.wisc.edu/
All concerts include a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 p.m. and the concerts in Mils Hall begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $90 for an all-event pass; each individual concert is $22, for students $12. Tickets are available for purchase online and by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) with a $4 service fee, or in person at the Campus Arts Ticketing Box Office @ Memorial Union.
We also have two Fringe Concerts this year featuring new vocal ensembles from Wisconsin. On Monday, July 8, at 7 p.m. at Pres House, Schola Cantorum of Eau Claire (below), a 12-voice ensemble directed by UW-Madison graduate Jerry Hui, will perform “Mystery and Mirth: A Spanish Christmas.”
And on Wednesday, July 10, at 7 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, the Milwaukee-based Aperi Animam (below) perform “Libera Nos,” a program of sacred vocal music.
The Fringe Concerts are FREE with donations accepted at the door.
Why was the theme of “The Grand Tour” chosen for the festival? What is the origin of the conceit, and what major composers and works will be highlighted?
We decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary by choosing a theme that would be broader than previous years and portray what people might experience when they are 20 years old – traveling abroad on a gap year.
We were also inspired by Englishman Thomas Coryat, aka “The First Tourist.” He published his travelogue Crudities in 1611, an amusing and thorough account of his five months of travel throughout Europe. This tradition of the Grand Tour of Europe continued through the 17th and 18th centuries, especially when wealthy young aristocrats finished their formal schooling.
Several of the concert programs this summer feature quotes from different travelogues, including Coryat’s, as an organizational concept. If you search all over Europe, you find an American at Versailles learning courtly manners, and a fictional Englishman, born in 1620, sending postcards from the Grand Tour.
We will also have a stop at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris with the silent film version of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, and a musical tour of sacred vocal music and madrigals. This theme allowed us to include music from many different time periods from all over Europe — a rich Grand Tour of musical offerings!
The opening concert on this Saturday, July 6, features Dark Horse Consort returning to Madison with Wanderlust, their newly created program for MEMF’s Grand Tour theme. The program follows the misadventures of an English gentleman as he embarks on a continental Grand Tour adventure in search of love and fulfillment.
Our hero’s travelogue includes springtime consort songs by Alfonso Ferrabosco and William Byrd; Erasmus Widmann’s beguiling German dances dedicated to women; the wooing songs of the Italian gondolier; and sultry Spanish airs.
On Sunday, July 7, Alchymy Viols (below) performs “American at Versailles,” an original ballet masque of French baroque music, dance and drama written and choreographed by Sarah Edgar, featuring Carrie Henneman Shaw, soprano; Sarah Edgar, director and dancer; and guest soprano Paulina Francisco. The American on the Grand Tour encounters the exotic world of French baroque manners, dress, dance and love.
TOMORROW: Part 2 explores the rest of the festival next week, including a rare book exhibit and the All-Festival finale on Saturday night
Tags: #ACappella, #ACappellaMusic, #AlchymyViols, #AlfonsoFerrabosco, #AperiAnimam, #ArtisticDirector, #BandMusic, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogInterview, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoxOffice, #CarrieHennemanShaw, #ChamberMusic, #CherylBensman-Rowe, #ChristianChurch, #DarkHorseConsort, #EauClaire, #EndowmentFund, #EnglishMusic, #ErasmusWidmann, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrenchDance, #FrenchMusic, #GapYear, #Germandances, #GermanMusic, #GrantWriting, #ItalianMusic, #JerryHui, #JohannSebastianBach, #LeipzigGermany, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MemorialUnion, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #MusicalStyle, #NorthAmerica, #NotreDamedeParis, #PaulinaFrancisco, #PaulRowe, #PolyphonicMusic, #PresHouse, #ProfessionalMusician, #Proofreading, #RenaissanceMadrigal, #RenaissanceMusic, #RenaissancePolyphony, #SacredMusic, #SarahEdgar, #SarahMarty, #ScolaCantorum, #SilentFilm, #SocialMedia, #TheHunchbackofNotreDame, #ThomasCoryat, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VocalMusic, #WesternEurope, #WilliamByrd, #WilliamWartmann, a cappella, advanced, airs, Alchymy Viols, Alfonso Ferrabosco, amateur, American, anniversary, Aperi Animam, aristocrats, Artistic director, Arts, assistance, audience, ballet, band, Baroque, Baroque music, beyond, big, blog, Book, box office, budget, California, Campus, Carrie Henemann Shaw, cathedral, celebrate, celebration, Chamber music, Cheryl Bensman Rowe, choral music, choreograph, Christian, Christmas, church, Classical music, community, composer, concept, Concert, continental, country, coverage', dance, dancer, Dark Horse Consort, death, design, donation, door, drama, dress, Early music, Eau Claire, endowment, England, Englishman, enrollment, ensemble, Erasmus Widmann, Europe, event, exhibit, exotic, experience, Facebook, faculty, Felix Mendelssohn, festival, film, finale, forward, free, French, fringe, fulfillment, Fundraising, future, gap year, gentleman, German dances, Germany, gondolier, grand, grant, guest, help, important, inaugural, Indiana, individuals, infinity, intensive, international, interview, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jerry Hui, Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, like, link, little, loud, Love, lover, lovers, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, madrigal, management, manners, masque, Massachusetts, masterclass, material, Mead Witter School of Music, media, MEMF, Memorial Union, Milwaukee, mirth, motto, movie, Music, musical, mystery, national, new, North America, Notre Dame, old, online, organization, outside, part, participant, Paul Rowe, Paulina Francisco, People, performer, polyphony, postcard, Pres House, printed, professional, progress, Q&A, rare, reader, Renaissance, sacred, Sarah Edgar, Sarah Marty, scene, school, schooling, Scola Cantorum, share, silent film, sing, singer, Singing, size, skill, social media, song, soprano, Spanish, springtime, Student, style, subscriber, success, summer, support, tag, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, theme, Thomas Coryat, ticket, time, tour, tourist, travel, traveling, travelogue, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Arts Institute, Versailles, village, Viol, Violin, vocal, vocal music, voice, wanderlust, wealthy, Website, William Byrd, William Wartmann, Wisconsin, women, woo, written, wrote, years
Classical music: On Thursday and Friday nights, brass music and a modernist homage to Martin Luther King round out UW-Madison concerts before spring break
1 Comment
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
By Jacob Stockinger
Spring Break at the University of Wisconsin-Madison starts on Saturday. But there are noteworthy concerts right up to the last minute.
THURSDAY
On this Thursday night, March 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, the acclaimed Wisconsin Brass Quintet (below, in 2017, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson) will perform a FREE concert.
The program by the faculty ensemble includes music by William Byrd; Isaac Albeniz; Leonard Bernstein; Aaron Copland; David Sampson; Anton Webern; Joan Tower; Ennio Morricone; and Reena Esmail.
For more details, including the names of quintet members and guest artists who will participate as well as the complete program with lengthy notes and background about the quintet, go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/wisconsin-brass-quintet-3-14-2019/
FRIDAY
On this Friday night, March 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW-Madison bassoonist Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill) – who worked in Paris with the renowned 20th-century composer and conductor Pierre Boulez – will host another concert is his series of “Le Domaine Musical” that he performs with colleagues.
Vallon explains:
Every year, I put together a concert devoted to the masterpieces of the 1950-2000 period. We call it “Domaine Musical,” which was the group founded in Paris by Pierre Boulez in the 1950s. Its subtitle is : “Unusual music for curious listeners.”
“The series offers Madison concert-goers an opportunity to hear rarely performed music of the highest quality, played by UW-Madison faculty, students and alumni.
“The program features a deeply moving piece by Luciano Berio, O King, written in 1968 after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr.” (You can hear “O King” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The all-modernist program is:
Pierre Boulez (below), Dialogues de l’Ombre Double (Dialogues of the Double Shadow) for solo clarinet and electronics.
Luciano Berio (below), O King and Folk Songs.
Also included are unspecified works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Timothy Hagen.
Guest performers are Sarah Brailey, soprano (below); Alicia Lee, clarinet; Leslie Thimmig, basset horn; Sally Chisholm, viola; Parry Karp, cello; Timothy Hagen, flute; Yana Avedyan, piano; Paran Amirinazari, violin; and Anthony DiSanza, percussion.
For more information, including a story about a previous concert in “Le Domaine Musical,” go to:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/le-domaine-musical-with-marc-vallon/
Tags: #AaronCopland, #AliciaLee, #AnthonyDiSanza, #AntonWebern, #BaroqueMusic, #BassetHorn, #BassoonMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrassMusic, #BrassQuintet, #CelloMusic, #ChamberEnsemble, #ChamberMusic, #CivilRights, #ClarinetMusic, #Concert-goer, #DavidSampson, #ElectronicMusic, #EnnioMorricone, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FluteMusic, #IsaacAlbeniz, #JoanTower, #KarlheinzStockhausen, #LeDomainMusical, #LeonardBernstein, #LesThimmig, #LucianoBerio, #MarcVallon, #MartinLutherKing, #MartinLutherKingJr., #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MillsHall, #Musicfaculty, #OKIng, #ParanAmirinazari, #ParisFrance, #ParryKarp, #PercussionMusic, #PianoMusic, #PierreBoulez, #ProgramNotes, #ReenaEsmail, #SallyChisholm, #SarahBrailey, #SopranoSinger, #SpringBreak, #The1950s, #The1960s, #TimothyHagen, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WilliamByrd, #WisconsinBrassQuintet, #YanaAvedyan, #YouTubevideo, 1950s, 1960s, 1968, Aaron Copland, Alicia Lee, alumni, Anthony DiSanza, Anton Webern, Arts, assassination, audience, background, Baroque, Baroque music, basset horn, Bassoon, blog, brass music, Brass quintet, Cello, Chamber music, civil rights, clarinet, Classical music, colleague, complete, composer, Concert, conductor, curious, David Sampson, death, dialpgue, double, Early music, electronic, Ennio Morricone, ensemble, Facebook, faculty, flute, folk song, folksong, forward, France, free, guest artist, information, Isaac Albéniz, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Tower, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Le Domain Musical, Leonard Bernstein, Les Thimmig, like, link, listener, listeners, Luciano Berio, Madison, Marc Vallon, march, Martin Luther King, Martin Luther King Jr, masterpiece, Mead Witter School of Music, MLK, modernist, moving, murder, Music, New Music, night, noteworthy, opportunity, Paran Amarinazari, Paris, Parry Karp, percussion, performer, Piano, Pierre Boulez, program, program notes, quality, rare, Reina Esmail, Sally Chisholm, Sarah Brailey, Saturday, shadow, share, soprano, Spring, story, students, tag, Timothy Hagen, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unspecified, unusual, Viola, Violin, vocal music, William Byrd, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Brass Quintet, word, work, Yana Avedyan, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 