The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Trevor Stephenson announces the new season of the Madison Bach Musicians on YouTube. It features smaller concerts and familiar comfort music
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By Jacob Stockinger
At a time when so many concerts are being canceled, it is especially welcome when a local ensemble announces plans for the 2020-21 season.
To announce the 17th season of the Madison Bach Musicians — a period-instrument group that uses historically informed performance practices — the founder and artistic director Trevor Stephenson (below), who also plays the harpsichord, fortepiano and piano, has made and posted a 13-1/2 minute YouTube video.
The season will also be posted on the MBM website in early June, and will also be announced with more details about times and ticket prices via email and postal mailings.
In the video, Stephenson plays the harpsichord. He opens the video with the familiar Aria from the “Goldberg” Variations and closes with two contrasting Gavottes from the English Suite in G minor.
As usual, Stephenson offers insights in the programs that feature some very well-known and appealing works that are sure to attract audiences anxious to once again experience the comfort of hearing familiar music performed live.
One thing Stephenson does not say is that there seems to be fewer ambitious programs and fewer imported guest artists. It’s only a guess, but The Ear suspects that that is because it is less expensive to stage smaller concerts and it also allows for easier cancellation, should that be required by a continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
If the speculation proves true, such an adaptive move is smart and makes great sense artistically, financially and socially given the coronavirus public health crisis.
After all, this past spring the MBM had to cancel a much anticipated, expensive and very ambitious production, with many out-of-town guests artists, of the “Vespers of 1610” by Claudio Monteverdi. Nonetheless, MBM tried to pay as much as it could afford to the musicians, who are unsalaried “gig” workers who usually don’t qualify for unemployment payments.
“Hope and Joy” is a timely, welcome and much-needed theme of the new season.
The new season starts on Saturday night, Oct. 3, at Grace Episcopal Church downtown on the Capitol Square, and then Sunday afternoon, Oct. 4, at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton.
The program is Haydn and Mozart: songs composed in English and German by Haydn plus songs by Mozart; the great violin sonata in E minor by Mozart; and two keyboard trios, one in C major by Haydn and one in G major by Mozart.
Only four players will be required. They include: Stephenson on the fortepiano; concertmaster Kangwon Kim on baroque violin; James Waldo on a Classical-era cello; and soprano Morgan Balfour (below), who won the 2019 Handel Aria Competition in Madison.
On Saturday night, Dec. 12, in the First Congregational United Church of Christ, near Camp Randall Stadium, MBM will perform its 10th annual holiday concert of seasonal music.
The program includes several selections from the “Christmas Oratorio” by Johann Sebastian Bach; a Vivaldi concerto for bassoon with UW-Madison professor Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill) as soloist; and the popular “Christmas Concerto” by Arcangelo Corelli.
On Saturday night, April 24, at Grace Episcopal Church and Sunday afternoon, April 25, at Holy Wisdom Monastery, the MBM will perform a concert of German Baroque masterworks with the internationally renowned baroque violinist Marc Destrubé (below).
The program features Handel and Bach but also composers who are not often played today but who were well known to and respected by Bach and his contemporaries.
Specifically, there will be a suite by Christoph Graupner (below top) and a work by Carl Heinrich Graun (below bottom).
There will also be a concerto grosso by George Frideric Handel and two very well-known concertos by Bach – the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and the Concerto for Two Violins.
Here is the complete video:
What do you think of the Madison Bach Musicians’ new season?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: The Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras start their seasons with a strike by the players.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The new concert season is just getting under way.
But not all is happy news and gala events.
Two of the country’s best and most respected orchestras — the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia Symphony Orchestras – have gone on strike. Issues include pay cuts, salary raises and reduced staff.
Performances were cancelled.
The Philadelphians even walked out right on opening night (below, in two photos by Mark Makela for The New York Times). And they played in the streets.
The Fort Worth Symphony in Texas is also out on strike.
Here is a fine story, with a lot of background, from The New York Times:
And here is a story from The Washington Post with other details:
It is enough to deepen your appreciation for the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top), which very successfully opened its season last weekend, and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below bottom), which will open its season in two weeks.
Here is a link to several reviews and a reprise of the opening MSO concert:
Long live labor peace in Madison and its performing arts groups!
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Classical music education: Here is the latest update on the search for a new director of University Opera.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Recently, a reader asked The Ear about the status of the nationwide search for a new artistic director of University Opera after two years of having David Ronis (below, in a photo by Luke Delalio) as a popular guest director from New York City after the retirement of William Farlow.
That’s when word came from Martha Fischer (below), professor of collaborative piano at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. Fischer is the head of the search committee to find a new director of the opera program.
Here is what Professor Fischer sent: her official update with the PVL (Professional Vacancy Listing) attached:
Writes Fischer as a prefatory comment: “We are incredibly fortunate, thanks to the Karen K. Bishop fund, to be able to search for a full-time tenure track Assistant Professor of Opera. At a time when the University as a whole is feeling extreme budget pressures, it is indeed something to celebrate.
“We are currently accepting applications from a broad and diverse pool of applicants with a deadline of Dec. 1, 2015.
“We are following the University of Wisconsin‘s strict guidelines about how searches are conducted to ensure a fair and equitable process.
“We are hopeful that we will be able to announce a new opera director sometime in the spring.”
The Ear notes that under Wisconsin’s open record laws, there will be no word about the dozens of individual applicants until the finalist stage of the search. That is designed to help protect the current jobs of applicants who do not make it into the pool of four or five finalists who are invited to visit the campus. (Below is a photo by Michael R. Anderson from the most recent production, “The Marriage of Figaro” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.)
Marriage of Figaro dress rehearsal. Tia Cleveland (Marcellina), Joel Rathmann (Figaro), Anna Whiteway (Susanna), Thomas Weis (Bartolo).
Here is the official notice for the UW-Madison School of Music Position Vacancy Listing for the Karen K. Bishop Director of Opera:
“The School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison invites applications for an Artistic Director of University Opera and teacher of operatic performance, interpretation, and literature.
“This is a full-time, tenure-track appointment at the Assistant Professor level beginning August 2016. Successful candidates will demonstrate evidence of an established or emerging national/international career, along with an ability to enhance the School’s educational mission and overall commitment to teaching.
“Candidates will be expected to pursue creative activities or research interests appropriate to a tenure-track position.
“Candidates will also be expected to help recruit and teach a diverse student body of undergraduate and graduate students, to advise and mentor students, to serve on graduate degree committees, and to carry out leadership and service within the School, College, and University.
Duties:
- Serve as Artistic Director of University Opera
- – Organize, administer and coordinate all facets of the program, recruiting and fundraising as necessary
- – Direct and supervise all facets of two major productions each year
- Coordinate and co-teach the University Opera Workshop Course
– Prepare scenes and productions, including stage movement and character development;
- Promote and participate in local and state outreach programs
- Nurture relationships and serve as liaison with community and regional arts organizations
- Teach related courses as needed and according to the candidate’s expertise
- Supervise doctoral minors in opera/voice coaching and in opera production
- Minimum Qualifications:
- Master’s degree with significant professional experience
- Proven excellence as an opera director in the professional and/or academic setting
- Comprehensive knowledge of operatic literature, styles and traditions
- Ability to pursue research and/or creative activity and service to the profession at the national/international level
- Ability to teach effectively in the classroom and in rehearsal, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels
- Ability to guide research and advise on the preparation of graduate documents and exams
- Ability to work effectively and collaborate within the School of Music and with outside groups and community arts organizations
- Ability to serve as advisor for doctoral minors
- Commitment to recruitment for the School of Music
- Ability to collaborate with the voice faculty, School of Music, and university in developing and planning for the opera program
Preferred Qualifications:
- PhD/DMA/MFA completed
- Ability to conduct/lead musical rehearsals
- Ability to coach singers from the piano
- Fluency in standard operatic languages (French, German, Italian, English)
- Experience as an operatic performer
- Salary: $65,000 (minimum)
(Below is a photo of the University Opera’s 2011 production of Giacomo Puccini‘s “La Bohème.”)
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