The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Saturday is busy with baroque music by Vivaldi and Bach at the Wisconsin Union Theater; Wagner’s opera “Die Walküre” in cinemas; and FREE Beethoven performances for families by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
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
This Saturday, March 30, is busy with classical music from morning until night.
In the morning, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s Family Series features two FREE performances of “Beethoven Lives Next Door” featuring Beethoven’s iconic Fifth Symphony.
They start with pre-concert educational activities at 9 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. with 40-minute concerts at 9:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.
All activities take place at the Warner Park Recreational Center, 1625 Northport Drive.
To get FREE tickets and see more information, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/education/wco-connect-family-concerts/
From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the penultimate Live From the Met in HD production of this season will feature “Die Walküre” (The Valkyries), the Metropolitan Opera’s second installment of the epic “Ring” cycle by Richard Wagner.
Screenings will be at the Point Cinema on the west side, near West Towne Mall, and the Palace Cinema in Sun Prairie.
The encore HD showings are next Wednesday, April 3, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The opera will be sung in German with supertitles in English, Italian and Spanish.
Tickets for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults and $22 for seniors and children under 13. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.
It will also be broadcast live on Wisconsin Public Radio, starting at 11 a.m. (You can hear the famous and dramatic “Ride of the Valkyries” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For a cast list and synopsis, go to:
https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/synopsiscast/2018-19/die-walkure/?performanceNumber=15381
For information about the production, go to:
https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/die-walkure/
But the big local event is the Madison debut of Apollo’s Fire (below), a period-instrument baroque group that just won a 2019 Grammy Award, at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall of the Wisconsin Union Theater.
The program features suite and concertos by Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach. Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins and “The Goldfinch” Flute Concerto will be featured as will Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 2 and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.
Trevor Stephenson, founder and director of the Madison Bach Musicians, will give a FREE pre-concert lecture at 6 p.m. in the Old Madison Room.
For more information and samples of rare reviews about the Cleveland-based group devoted to passionate and dramatic performances of early music, go to:
For the full program, background, videos and ticket information ($10-$47), go to:
https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/apollos-fire/
Tags: #Apollo'sFire, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrandenburgConcerto, #ChamberMusic, #ClevelandOhio, #DieWalküre, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FifthSymphony, #FluteConcerto, #GrammyAward, #JohannSebastianBach, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonBachMusicians, #Marcus, #MetropolitanOpera, #MetropolitanOperaLiveinHD, #MusicEducation, #MusicReview, #NewYorkCity, #OrchestralSuite, #PalaceCinema, #PointCinema, #RaveReview, #RichardWagner, #RideoftheValkyries, #TheMet, #TheRing, #TrevorStephenson, #ViolinConcerto, #WarnerPark, #WestTowneMall, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #YouTubevideo, activities, activity, Apollo's Fire, Arts, audience, Bach, background, Baroque, Baroque music, Beethoven, blog, Brandenburg Concerto, cast, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Cleveland, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, cycle, devoted, Die Walküre, director, drama, dramatic, Early music, epic, Facebook, families, Family, Fifth Symphony, flute, founder, free, Grammy Award, group, HD, iconic, information, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, lecture, like, link, live, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Baroque Musicians, Metropolitan Opera, Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, Music, Music education, New York City, Ohio, opera, Orchestra, Orchestral Suite, Palace Cinema, Passion, passionate, penultimate, performance, performer, Point Cinema, production, program, rave, Recreation, review, Ride of the Valkyries, Season, share, Suite, symphony, synopsis, tag, the Met, The Ring, ticket, Trevor Stephenson, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, video, Viola, Violin, Wagner, Warner Park, West Towne Mall, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, WPR, YouTube
Classical music: New biography explains the professional importance and personal quirks of famed maestro Arturo Toscanini
3 Comments
By Jacob Stockinger
You know how sometimes a movie preview or trailer gives so much away of the story that it leaves you feeling you don’t really need to see the movie.
That’s how The Ear felt when he read a recent review in The New York Times of a new and exhaustive biography by Harvey Sachs of the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini (below).
Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini (1867 – 1957) conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a televised recording of Verdi‘s ‘Hymn of the Nations‘, 1944. (Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
This is the second time that Sachs has written about the maestro. This time, however, he had access to recently released private papers.
And boy, are there some surprises.
In his lengthy review, Robert Gottlieb gives The Ear just about all he wants to know or needs to know about the Italian master from his youth (below, ca. 1890) to old age — and then some. (In the YouTube video at the bottom you can hear and see Toscanini conducting “The Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner in 1948.)
The Ear knew Toscanini was important. But he was never really quite sure why.
Now he knows.
Here is a link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/books/review/toscanini-biography-harvey-sachs.html
Read the review and see if you agree.
And tell us what you make of Toscanini the musician and Toscanini the man.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Arturo Toscanini, Beethoven, biography, Book, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Classical music, Compact Disc, critic, Franz Schubert, Getty Images, Harvey Sachs, hear, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, man, movie, Mozart, Music, Musician, NBC, New York Times, opera, Orchestra, personal, preview, professional, quirk, review, Ride of the Valkyries, see, story, symphony, The New York Times, Toscanini, trailer, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Verdi, video, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: British razzle-dazzle concert organist Thomas Trotter returns for a fifth appearance in Overture Hall on this coming Tuesday night.
Leave a Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
On this coming Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, the virtuoso British concert organist Thomas Trotter (below) will return for a fifth recital to mark the 10th anniversary of his unforgettable inaugural recital on the colossal custom-made Klais organ.
Trotter’s performance that night drew a sold-out crowd and he extraordinarily performed “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov — with his feet! (At the bottom, you can hear him play in “The Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner in a YouTube video.)
Admission is $20.
Student Rush Tickets: $10 day of concert at Overture Box Office.
Adds the magazine The American Organist: “… Thomas Trotter completely deserves his high repute in the organ world…”
For more information and background about Trotter and the remaining organ concerts on the overture Concert Organ (below) this season, visit:
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/trotter
Here is the program, a mix of old and contemporary music, for Tuesday night:
Charles Villiers Stanford (below, 1852-1924)
Fantasia and Toccata in D minor
John Stanley (1712-1786)
Voluntary in F, Op. 7 no. 6
Andante-Vivace
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Trio Sonata No. 1 BWV 525
Allegro-Adagio-Allegro
Jonathan Dove (below)
The Dancing Pipes (2014)
INTERMISSION
Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
The World Awaiting the Saviour
(1st movement from Passion Symphony)
William Bolcom (below, b. 1938)
Two Gospel Preludes: Sweet Hour of Prayer; Free Fantasia on “O Zion, Haste” and “How Firm a Foundation”
Paul Dukas (1865-1935)
arranged by Thomas Trotter
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Overture to St. Paul
arranged by W.T. Best
Tags: Arts, Bach, Baroque, Classical music, concert organ, Dukas, Flight of the Bumblebee, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Klais, Klais Orgelbau, Madison, Marcel Dupré, Mendelssohn, Music, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, organ, Overture Center, Richard Wagner, Ride of the Valkyries, Stanford, Stanley, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, WILLIAM BOLCOM, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 