The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Madison Opera’s Opera in the Park has been CANCELLED for tonight and RESCHEDULED for tomorrow at 8 p.m.
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By Jacob Stockinger
This news is just in from Instagram and other social media:
The Madison Opera has cancelled Opera in the Park tonight and rescheduled it for tomorrow, Sunday night, July 21, at 8 p.m. in Garner Park.
Here is a statement from Madison Opera: “For the safety and health of everyone involved, based on the current forecast and dangerously unstable weather patterns, we are postponing Opera in the Park to tomorrow, Sunday, July 21, in Garner Park. Tomorrow’s forecast is cooler and much more pleasant, so we look forward to seeing everyone in the park!”
For more details about the concert and other issues relevant to the event, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/07/15/classical-music-madison-operas-annual-free-opera-in-the-park-returns-this-saturday-night-july-20-in-garner-park-and-celebrates-18-years-in-madison-plus-a-glimpse-of-the-upcoming-season/
Pass the word on!
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Classical music: Thanks to the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society celebrating women, you can hear this beautiful Romance for violin and piano LIVE tonight in Madison and Sunday night in Spring Green
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By Jacob Stockinger
Tonight and Sunday night bring the second of six programs on the 27th annual summer series by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society.
The theme of the whole series, along with the number 27, is “Toy Stories” and this particular program is called “American Girls” because it features so much music written by women composers — something in keeping with the timeliness and relevance of the #MeToo movement.
The first performance is TONIGHT, Saturday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m. in The Playhouse at the Overture Center. The second performance is tomorrow, Sunday, June 10, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hillside Theater of Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright compound in Spring Green.
For more information about the BDDS season and about buying tickets ($43 and $48), go to http://bachdancing.org or to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/classical-music-this-weekend-kicks-of-the-27th-season-of-bach-dancing-and-dynamite-concerts-with-the-theme-of-musical-works-as-toys-to-be-played-with-for-serious-fun/
Included in the “American Girls” program is the very lyrical and beautiful Romance for Violin and Piano, Op. 23, by American composer Amy Beach (below).
If you want a taste of what awaits you if you go, at the bottom is a YouTube video of Chicago violinist Rachel Barton Pine, who has appeared in Madison with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, performing the Romance by Beach at the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert.
Pine also explains the context that includes a very famous American woman violin virtuoso, Maud Powell, whom The Ear — and probably most others –had never heard of before.
The Romance will be performed tonight and Sunday night by BDDS veteran Yura Lee (below). She is an outstanding violinist and violist who hails from New York City and performs with the prestigious Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The rest of the program includes: “Chambi’s Dreams: Snapshots for an Andean Album” for flute, violin and piano by living composer Gabriela Lena Frank (below top); “Qi” for flute, cello, piano and percussion by Chen Yi (below middle); the Piano Trio in C Major, Hob. XV:27 by Franz Joseph Haydn; and the Piano Trio by American composer Rebecca Clarke (below bottom, above the YouTube video).
Tags: #AmericanComposer, #AmericanGirl, #AmyBeach, #AndesMountains, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #CelebratingWomen, #CelloMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberMusicSocietyofLIncolnCenter, #ChenYi, #FemaleComposer, #FluteMusic, #FrankLloydWright, #FranzJosephHaydn, #GabrielaLenaFrank, #HillsideTheater, #LincolnCenter, #LivingComposer, #LyricalMusic, #MaudePowell, #MaudPowell, #MemorialConcert, #MeToo, #MyraHess, #OvertureCenter, #PercussionMusic, #PianoMusic, #PianoTrio, #RachelBartonPine, #RebeccaClarke, #SpringGreen, #ThePlayhouse, #ToyStory, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WomenComposer, #YouTubevideo, #YuraLee, America, American, Arts, BDDS, Cello, Chamber music, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chen Yi, Chicago, Classical music, composer, female, flute, Gabriela Lena Frank, Haydn, Jacob Stockinger, LIncoln Center, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, movement, Music, New York City, night, number, Overture Center, percussion, Piano, Piano Trio, program, Rebecca Clarke, relevance, relevant, Romance, Saturday, Sunday, theater, theatre, theme, timeliness, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Veteran, video, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtuoso, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, women, YouTube, Yura Lee
Classical music: Madison Opera’s “Seraglio” stood out for its singing and staging, its local sets and costumes, and provided a crowd-pleasing comic romp in trying times. Plus, Friday brings FREE piano and viola da gamba concerts
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FRDAY ALERTS: This Friday’s FREE Noon Musicale at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features Eric Miller playing the viola da gamba in a recital of early baroque music by Marais, Forquery, Sainte-Colombe, Abel, Hume and Ortiz. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
Then on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the critically acclaimed guest pianist Marina Lomazov will perform a FREE recital of all-Russian music that includes “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. Lomazov’s recital is part of a larger event, “Keyboard Day,” that has a French focus and takes place all day Saturday at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music. See tomorrow’s post for more information about Saturday. For more about Lomazov, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-artist-marina-lomazov-piano/
By Jacob Stockinger
The Opera Guy filed this review of last weekend’s production by the Madison Opera:
By Larry Wells
On Sunday afternoon, I attended the second and final performance of Madison Opera’s production of Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio” in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
This comic romp utilized a beautiful set and wonderful costumes designed and constructed in-house. (Below, Matt Bueller as Osmin peers out the door of the palace, or seraglio, at David Walton as Belmont.)
The orchestra, drawn from the Madison Symphony Orchestra and ably led by maestro John DeMain, was situated backstage. This was an effective novelty, although the sound was somewhat muffled, at least from where I sat in mid-orchestra.
The dialogue was in English while the singing was in German with English supertitles. I looked over the lengthy original libretto and was thankful that it had been heavily abridged for this two-hour production.
It had also been updated to be both hip and politically correct about Islamic culture and Turkey, where the story takes place. But it made me idly wonder what the reaction would be if the music had been likewise updated to be more in tune with the times.
The production was all about the singing.
David Walton’s Belmonte (below right, with Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze) was beautifully sung, particularly in the second act. He has a Benjamin Britten tenor voice with remarkable breath control.
Eric Neuville’s Pedrillo was also admirably sung. Neuville is an accomplished comic actor, as well.
Ashly Neumann’s singing as Blonde (below center, with women of the Madison Opera Chorus) was clean, clear and bell-like.
Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze (below right with Brian Belz as Pasha Selim) was virtuosic. She displayed vocal fireworks several times and was especially effective in her lament toward the end of the first act.
This quartet’s ensemble work in the second act was a vocal high point. (You can hear the quartet from a different production in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
But to me the most impressive singing and comic acting belonged to Matt Boehler as Osmin. His bass was simply majestic. (Below, from left, are Brian Belz as Pasha Selim; David Walton as Belmonte; Matt Boehler as Osmin; Eric Neuville as Pedrillo; Ashly Neumann as Blonde; and Amanda Woodbury as Konstanze.)
The well-prepared chorus appeared briefly in each act, adding some color and motion to the production.
Musically and visually the production was a success. The audience responded with 19 ovations during the performance – yes, I counted. Every time the orchestra reached a cadence and paused, the audience members applauded as if they were at a musical. With the incessant coughing throughout the performance, I felt like I was at a performance of “South Pacific” in a tuberculosis ward.
The audience leapt to its feet at the end, and this made me wonder what it was that they found so praiseworthy. The story itself is inconsequential and has little relevance to life today.
The singing was very good, but this is not La Scala.
The music itself, with the exception of a couple of sublime moments, does little more than foreshadow the mature Mozart of “The Magic Flute.”
I concluded that the opera is unalarming, unthreatening, and simple. This is perhaps what people long for in these trying times.
I do look forward to the Madison Opera’s production of Daniel Catan’s “Florencia en el Amazonas” this spring. Based on repeated hearings of the recording, I guarantee that Madison will be in for a treat. And there is nothing threatening or alarming or complex about the music, despite it being a work of the late 20th century.
Tags: #BenjaminBritten, #LaScala, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #PoliticallyCorrect, #TheMagicFlute, #UnitarianSociety, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, 20th-century, Abduction From the Seraglio, Abel, abridged, act, Actor, alarming, applauded, applause, Arts, audience, backstage, Baroque, bass, beautiful, Bell, Benjamin Britten, breath, Britten, cadence, Capitol Theater, Cello, Chamber music, chorus, Classical music, clean, clear, comedy, comic, complex, composer, Concert, construction, control, costume, cough, coughing, Daniel Catan, design, dialogue, door, Early music, English, ensemble, Fireworks, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Florencia en el Amazonas, foreshadow, Forquery, France, free, French, Friday, German, hearing, high point, hip, Hume, impressive, inconsequential, Islam, Islamic, John DeMain, Keyboard, lament, libretto, life, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Opera Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Magic Flute, majestic, Marin Marais, Marina Lomazov, mature, Modest Mussorgsky, moment, Mozart, Music, musical, musically, novelty, opera, Ortiz, ovation, Overture Center, palace, pause, People, performance, Pictures at an Exhibition, politically correct, production, reaction, recording, relevance, relevant, review, romp, Russia, Russian, Sainte-Colombe, Saturday, set, simple, singer, Singing, Sound, South Pacific, Spring, story, sublime, success, supertitles, tenor, The Magic Flute, threaten, threatening, time, times, today, treat, trying times, tubercular, tuberculosis, Turkey, unalarming, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, viola da gamba, virtuosic, visually, vocal music, voice, ward, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, YouTube
Classical music: Madison Choral Project gives a concert of new music focusing on the social and political theme of “Privilege” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
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ALERT: This week’s FREE Friday Noon Musicale, held at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, features David Miller, trumpet; Amy Harr, cello; and Jane Peckham, piano. They will play music by Bach, Schmidt, Piazzolla, Honegger and Cooman. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
Call it activist beauty or beautiful activism.
It sure seems that political and social relevance is making a comeback in the arts during an era in which inequality in race, gender, ethnicity, wealth, education, health, employment, immigration status and other issues loom larger and larger.
For the Madison Choral Project (below), for example, singing is about more than making music. It can also be about social justice.
Writes the Project:
“The Madison Choral Project believes that too often the classical music concert is simply a museum of the beautiful. Yet the worlds of theater, art and literature can so brilliantly combine beauty with material that provokes contemplation and understanding.
“Our world is increasingly complicated, and we seek to provide voices exploring important emotional and social concerns of today.”
That means that, in its two concerts this weekend, the Madison Choral Project will explore the concept of privilege in two performances this weekend.
The repertoire is all new music or contemporary music by living composers.
The Madison Choral Project, under the direction of Albert Pinsonneault (below), who formerly taught at Edgewood College and is now at Northwestern University, presents their 10th Project – Privilege – on this Friday night, April 21, at 8:30 p.m. (NOT 7:30, as originally announced, because of noise from a nearby football game); and on Sunday afternoon, April 23, at 3 p.m.
Both performances are at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium.
General admission is $24 in advance and online; $28 at the door; and $10 for students either in advance or at the door. A limited number of preferred seats are offered for $40.
The Privilege concerts feature the work Privilege by Ted Hearne (b. 1982), which Hearne (below) writes “are settings of little texts questioning a contemporary privileged life (mine).”
With texts that range from the inequality of educational experiences, to the unfair playing field brought through race, the work sets thought-provoking texts in a beautiful and musically accessible way. (NOTE: You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The program also includes the world premiere of a new piece of music from Wisconsin composer and UW-Madison graduate D. Jasper Sussman (b. 1989, below), whose piece Work: “What choice?” is a contemplation of society’s confusing and hypocritical demands on women, their bodies and their appearance.
Sussman writes “I have never identified as a feminist. It’d be impossible, however, for me to remain ignorant of the clumsily uneven climate of our world, and certainly of this country. Work: “What Choice?” is an attempt at telling a common story shared by many.”
Included on the concert are two works of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang (b. 1957, below), whose new minimalism includes sonorities influenced by rock and popular music, but with layered repetition that gives the pieces a meditative and contemplative quality.
Also featured is When David Heard by Eric Whitacre (b. 1970, below), a gorgeous and devastating monologue contemplating the death of one’s child.
For more information and tickets, go to www.themcp.org
You can also go to a fine story in The Capital Times:
The Madison Choral Project is Wisconsin’s only fully professional choir. All the singers on stage are paid, professional musicians.
Tags: Activism, activist, Albert Pinsonneault, Art, Arts, Bach, Baroque, beautiful, beauty, Camp Randall Stadium, Chamber music, Child, choral music, Classical music, climate, composer, contemporary, Cooman, country, D. Jasper Sussman, David Lang, death, Edgewood College, Education, emotion, employment, Eric Whitacre, Ethnicity, feminism, feminist, First Unitarian Society of Madison, gender, Health, Honegger, immigration, Income Disparity, income inequality, inequality, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, literature, Madison, Madison Choral Project, minimalism, monologue, Music, New Music, Northwestern University, Piano, Piazzolla, political, Politics, pop, popular music, privilege, professional, Pulitzer Prize, race, relevance, repetition, Rock, Schmidt, singer, Singing, social, social justice, society, Ted Hearne, theater, Trumpet, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, wealth, wealth gay, Wisconsin, world premiere, YouTube
Classical music: Fresco Opera Theatre and TAPIT/New Works are eastside neighbors and tonight premiere their inaugural collaboration about Urban Development of a convenience store on the streets of Madison. Plus, you can check in on Day 8 of the WYSO tour to Argentina.
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ALERT: The Youth Orchestra under University of Wisconsin-Madison conductor James Smith (below), of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO), is into Day 8 of its 10-day tour to Argentina. Here is a link to the live blog:
By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following word from Jeff Turk of Fresco Opera Theatre, who is a loyal follower of and contributor to this blog:
“Good Day, Jake —
“Fresco Opera Theatre has teamed up with our next door neighbor, “TAPIT/New Works,” in developing a piece that incorporates music (specifically, opera), theater and history.
“Convenience” is a production that includes a walking tour of our neighborhood, the Schenk’s Corners neighborhood on Madison’s far east side.
Here is a description from our press release:
Summer’s here, and the time is right for singing and acting in the streets -– at least on Madison’s east side.
Next-door neighbor arts organizations TAPIT/new works Ensemble Theater and Fresco Opera Theatre are teaming up to celebrate their shared neighborhood in Convenience, a new production opening at 1957 Winnebago St. at 7:30 p.m. on tomorrow night, Friday, Aug. 1.
Other performances at 1957 Winnebago Street, on the city’s east side, are at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, Friday, Aug. 8; and Sunday, Aug. 9; and at 4 p.m. on Sundays, Aug. 3 and Aug. 10.
General admission is $20, $15 for students and seniors. Details are below.
Combining comedy, opera and a walking tour of Schenk’s Corners, “Convenience” tells the story of a fictionalized, east side convenience store and its eccentric customers, including a developer and an activist, as well as conspiracy theorists, musicians, know-it-alls and assorted neighborhood characters.
When the developer and the activist hatch competing plans for the store, the stage is set for conflict – and a most unlikely romance.
Here is the trailer for the production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUPo07eKYc8
And here is the ticket information: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/763023
If you have the opportunity, we would love a mention in “The Ear.”
Thanks for your consideration, Jake!”
Jeff Turk
President, Board Of Directors, Fresco Opera Theatre
The Ear says the cooperative production sounds very intriguing, no? It seems like a new kind of multi-media production, one worthy of Mad City for its social, economic, political and artistic relevance, all of which aspects — given the 1 Percent Movement and concerns about gentrification and urban development in general — sound like they may once again become important values in art, much like they were in the 1930s, 1960s and 1970s, to say nothing of earlier eras.
Here is a video preview — with tap dancing and singing to whet the appetite — of the new collaborative production that seems to combine Verdi and tap dancing:
Tags: Argentina, Arts, Classical music, economics, Fresco Opera Theatre, Giuseppe Verdi, History, Jacob Stockinger, Jeff Turk, Mad City, Madison, Music, opera, Orchestra, political, relevance, Singing, social relevance, tap dancing, TAPIT/New Works, theater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, urban development, Verdi, Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Madison, WYSO, YouTube
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