The Well-Tempered Ear
Just Bach will release its FREE online concert for this month on this Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 8 a.m. The program features a virtuosic violin and harpsichord sonata and a sing-along cantata chorale
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post from violist Marika Fischer Hoyt of the group Just Bach:
February greetings from Just Bach!
We hope this finds you all well, keeping warm and ready to experience more of the timeless beauty of Bach’s music.
As regular performers on Luther Memorial Church’s weekly “Music at Midday” concert series (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis), Just Bach presents half-hour programs on the third Wednesday of each month. This semester’s dates: Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 17, April 21 and May 19.
Our concerts are FREE and online indefinitely once they are released at 8 a.m. They are posted on the Just Bach and Luther Memorial YouTube Channels.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ
Concert viewers are invited to a 30-minute live Zoom Post-concert reception on this Wednesday, Feb. 17,at 7:30 p.m. Those who would like to join us and chat with the performers can follow this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84516271617?pwd=THR5bTFwRkh0VTBIWDlzR2VxSGIrUT09
Viewing the concerts is free, but we ask those who are able, to help us pay our musicians with a tax-deductible donation. https://justbach.org/donate/
Our February concert opens with Just Bach co-founder, Grammy-nominated soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey (below), providing welcoming remarks.
The program offers the sonata for that belongs to a set of six that Bach wrote for violin and harpsichord.
Violinist Kangwon Kim (below left, in a photo by Dave Parminter) and harpsichordist Professor John Chappell Stowe (below right), of the UW-Madison, join forces for a performance of the Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 1019.
This five-movement work includes an extraordinary middle movement for solo keyboard — a jaunty Allegro in E minor that has more attitude than any Allegro has a right to!
Sarah closes the program with the final chorale from Cantata 159, “Jesu, deine Passion ist mir lauter Freude” (Jesus, Your passion is pure joy to me), which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.
We encourage viewers to sing along by following the chorale sheet music, which will be displayed on the computer screen as Sarah sings and Professor Stowe accompanies on the organ.
The videographer is Dave Parminter.
For more information, contact Marika Fischer Hoyt, a co-founder and performer, at the Just Bach Concert Series: justbach.marika@gmail.com
Here are more links, including a preview with the Allegro movement in the last one:
youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ?
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This Wednesday, Just Bach debuts its free 30-minute online concert of solo and chamber organ music with a sing-along cantata chorale
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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
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
Happy New Year from Just Bach!
We hope this finds you all well, and ready to experience more of the timeless beauty of music by Johann Sebastian Bach (below, 1685-1750) in 2021, because we have a lovely new program ready to debut on this Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 8 a.m. (It will stay up indefinitely after the premiere, so you can listen to it before or after the Inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.)
As regular performers on Luther Memorial Church’s weekly “Music at Midday” concert series, Just Bach presents half-hour programs on the third Wednesday of each month. The spring semester’s dates are: Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 17, April 21 and May 19.
Our online concerts — Dave Parminter is the videographer — are posted early Wednesday mornings at 8 a.m. on the Just Bach and Luther Memorial YouTube Channels. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ
Viewing the virtual concerts is free to the public, but we ask those who are able to help us pay our musicians with a tax-deductible donation at https://www.paypal.com/donate/?cmd=_s-xclick…
Our January concert opens with Just Bach co-founder and Grammy-nominated soprano Sarah Brailey (below) – a graduate student at the UW-Madison — providing welcoming remarks.
The program offers two trio sonatas from the set of six that Bach composed for solo organ. Bruce Bengston (below) will perform Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, BWV 528, on the big Austin organ up in the church’s balcony.
Then Bruce will switch to the small portative organ and join violinist Kangwon Kim (below top) and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below middle) in a performance of Sonata No. 2 in C Minor, BWV 526, arranged for violin, viola and organ continuo (a rehearsal photo is below bottom).
Sarah, who also recorded herself paying a cello part, closes the program with the final chorale from Cantata 149 —Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein (Ah, Lord, let your dear little angel) — a powerfully transcendent movement that Bach also used to close the St. John Passion. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
We encourage viewers to sing along by following the chorale sheet music, which will be displayed on the computer screen as Sarah sings and Bruce accompanies on the organ.
The world needs this soul-centering music now more than ever. Please join us this Wednesday, Jan. 20.
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Classical music: Grammy-winning Eighth Blackbird performs Saturday night at the Wisconsin Union Theater. Go early and don’t miss the half-hour student “warm-up” show
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By Jacob Stockinger
Of course the main event at the Wisconsin Union Theater this Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. is the performance by the four-time Grammy-winning group Eighth Blackbird (below), which specializes in performing contemporary composers and new music.
Here is a link with more information – videos, sound samples, reviews, the program and tickets — about the concert by Eighth Blackbird, which you can hear giving a Tiny Desk Concert for National Public Radio (NPR) in the YouTube video at the bottom.
https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/eighth-blackbird/
But if you can, go to the concert early.
That’s because The Ear wants to give a loud shout-out to the Wisconsin Union Theater for offering a pre-concert concert of student players at 7 p.m. (There is also a free pre-concert lecture by conductor Randal Swiggum at 6 p.m.)
The students play Bach, Vivaldi, folk music and more. They set the mood and get you ready, kind of like the warm-up band at a rock concert. They also restore your faith in the future of classical music.
This time the young performers will be the Suzuki Sonora Strings of Madison.
They are fun, impressive and inspiring. The Ear remembers hearing violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn praise the Suzuki Sonora Strings and the Suzuki method for starting her on her own career. (Hahn, far right in the front, is seen below with the students.)
And below is a statement provided by Esty Dinur, the director of marketing for the Wisconsin Union Theater, about why they feature the students — an idea that The Ear praises highly because he thinks it expands and rewards the audience as well as the students.
Music education needs more of this kind of public visibility that doesn’t isolate the young learners and performers but instead integrates them into the mainstream classical music scene.
Here is the statement by Dinur:
“We have so far hosted two groups of young musicians, the Suzuki Sonora Strings and the group known previously as Madison Music Makers and currently as the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) Music Makers.
“The Sonora Strings (below, seen from the balcony) performed before the concerts by Hilary Hahn in the 2015-2016 season and Joshua Bell in the 2016-2017 season. They will be performing again this Saturday ahead of the concert by Eighth Blackbird.
“WYSO Music Makers (below) performed before last season’s Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (and I learned that one of the LAGQ musicians played with them—from behind the shell!). We may add other young musicians in the future.
“We view them as the artists, teachers, audience members and advocates of the future, the people who will continue loving and spreading the love of classical and other music.
“As such, we’re excited to have the ability to provide them with experiences by world-class musicians in a world-class venue.
“It is always wonderful to see them working so hard on stage, being serious and intent and excited. It is also wonderful to see their parents and families derive such pleasure and justified pride for the accomplishments of their kids.
“We are also delighted to be able to present groups that are more diverse than the usual classical music crowd. The future promises to be significantly more diverse than the present. It’s nice to be able to bring that future onto our stage and our audience right now.
“Reactions from all quarters have been great. The kids, their teachers and their families are all very appreciative of the opportunity. So far, I’ve heard nothing but good feedback from the audience which seems to enjoy both watching and listening to the youngsters and to appreciate the intent behind their performances.
“Finally, these shows may be taxing at times for our staff but they’re happy to shoulder the challenges in order to participate in this important work.”
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