shelter | The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: It’s clear to The Ear: It will be at least another full year before audiences in the U.S. can safely attend live concerts. What do you think?

August 11, 2020
7 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

All the signs point to the same conclusion: It will be at least the fall of 2021 before we can safely attend concerts again – if we are lucky.

These past two weeks, The Ear answered questionnaires sent out by the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below top), which has already canceled the season through January, and the Wisconsin Union Theater (below bottom is Shannon Hall).

If you read between the lines, both questionnaires seemed to suggest the same two things: that the entire 2020-21 concert season will be canceled or postponed; or else that it will feature virtual online performances — for ticket prices (perhaps called a “donation”) that have not yet been announced and may not be acceptable to a lot of any group’s core audience.

Perhaps you disagree. If so, The Ear would like to hear in the comment section what you think and why you think it.

Here is what The Ear, who has talked with other season subscribers and various musicians, has seen and heard.

The United States has now surpassed 5 million coronavirus infections and 163,000 Covid-19 deaths with no sign of slowing down and many signs of accelerating. One widely cited model now predicts 300,000 deaths by this Dec. 1.

Plus, too many Americans refuse to wear masks or to maintain social distancing or to shelter at home to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Add in that we will be fortunate if enough vaccines are found to be safe, efficient and approved for use by Jan 1.

Then – despite federal government’s “Warp Speed” development or fast-tracking of the search for vaccines — there is the time needed to manufacture enough of them.

Then it will take considerable time to distribute them equitably, which other countries and public health agencies around the world demand.

Then, if we hope to reach herd immunity, it will take time to convince enough people to get the vaccine, especially with the growing number of anti-vaxxers.

Then those who do get vaccinated will have to wait a month for the second shot that will be required.

Then we wait a few weeks to see if and how much the vaccine really works – if it is safe and prevents infection or at least lessens the damage of the disease if you do get infected.

Plus, it sees unreasonable to think all of these steps will go without a hitch. So maybe a few more weeks or even months should be added.

Add up the math, and the conclusion seems clear: Performing arts events, like sports and other large in-person gatherings, seem increasingly likely to be canceled or reconfigured for a full year.

Concerts are already taking place in China, and other countries in Asia and Europe seem likely to catch up soon. But music lovers in the U.S. will be lucky if they get to attend a live concert with 100 or 500 or 1,000 or 2,500 other people before the fall of 2021 – at least a full year away. Maybe more.

The Ear could well be wrong. Maybe you see a different conclusion, which we would all love to hear. Perhaps international readers will share estimates about when concerts will begin in their country.

One way or another, we will learn a lot more about how the new music season is being planned and changed in the next three weeks.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AtLeast, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ClassicalMusician, #ConcertSeason, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #EdgewoodCollege, #Europeanmusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FederalGovernment, #JacobStockinger, #LiveMusic, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MusicLover, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #OldPeople, #OperaMusic, #OrchestralMusic, #PerformingArts, #PublicHealth, #ShannonHall, #SlowDown, #SocialDistance, #Stayathome, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TicketPrice, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WarpSpeed, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WisconsinYouthSymphonyOrchestras, #YouTubevideo, 2020, 2020-21, 2021, accelerating, acceptable, add, agency, American, Americans, announced, anti-vaxxer, Arts, Asia, at least, attend, audience, blog, cancel, canceled, Centers for Disease Control, Chamber music, China, Chinese, choral music, Classical music, classicalmusic, clear, comment, commentary, Concert, conclusion, continent, core, coronavirus, countries, country, damage, dead, death, December, demand, development, die, disagree, Disease, disguise, distance, distribute, donation, Early music, Edgewood College, efficient, enough, estimate, Europe, event, Facebook, fall, fast-track, federal government, fee, fortunate, forward, group, growing, hear, hitch, Home, infection, international, Jacob Stockinger, January, lessen, like, lines, link, live music, Love, luck, lucky, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, manufacture, mask, math, Mead Witter School of Music, Middleton Community Orchestra, month, more, mused, Music, music lover, Musician, number, Oakwood Chamber Players, opera, Orchestra, orchestral music, other, Overture Center, pandemic, People, performances, performer, Performing arts, Point, post, posting, postpone, postponed, predict, prevent, price, Public health, questionnaire, reader, refuse, required, safe, same, search, Season, second, Shannon Hall, share, shelter, shot, signs, slow, slow down, social, social distance, spread, stay at home, step, subscriber, suggest, surpassed, symphony, tag, take, talk, The Ear, things, think, ticket, time, trial, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unreasonable, used, UW-Madison, vaccine, virus, vocal music, warp speed, we, wear, weeks, what, why, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, work, world, you

Classical music: Here are the world premieres of the fourth and fifth pieces of “pandemic music” commissioned by the U.S. Library of Congress

June 22, 2020
4 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

The project has reached the midway point.

Last week was when the world premieres of the 10 short pieces — written for the Library of Congress’ “Boccaccio Project” — started going public and began being posted on various social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as the Internet.

One performance is released each weekday night starting at 8 p.m. EDT.

The project is a way to capture some of the unique culture brought about by the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19.

The first piece was “Sequestered Thoughts,” a solo piano work by composed Damien Sneed and performed by Jeremy Jordan.

The second was “shadow of a difference/falling” by composer Richard Drehoff Jr. and solo oboist Andrew Nogal of the Grossman Ensemble.

There were featured in this blog last week.

The fourth and fifth pieces were premiered last Thursday and Friday, bringing the project to the halfway point before the Summer Solstice, Father’s Day and Make Music Madison weekend.

The fourth work is “Bridges,” a solo piano work composed by Cliff Eidelman (below top) and performed at home by Jenny Lin (below bottom, in a photo by Liz Linder).

The title refers to the composer’s focus on finding bridges from the peculiar coronavirus pandemic back to normal life.

https://www.loc.gov/concerts/boccaccio-project/eidelman-lin.html

The fifth piece is “Hello World” by composer by Erin Rogers (below top, in a photo by Aleksandr Karjaka), an exploratory work for solo flute that is performed by Erin Lesser (below bottom) of the Wet Ink Ensemble.

https://www.loc.gov/concerts/boccaccio-project/rogers-lesser.html

On the same page as the performance you can read what the composer and sometimes the performer have to say about the new work and what it strives to mean or express.

You can use links to go to the five past performances and premieres.

You can also follow links on the bottom of the page to see more information about both the composer and the performer, and to general background of the project.

If you would like some more background, along with some commentary and questions from The Ear, go to https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/classical-music-the-library-of-congress-has-commissioned-new-music-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-you-can-listen-to-the-premieres-from-this-monday-june-15-through-june-28/

What do you think of the pieces?

What do you think of the project?

Will you like to hear more of the commissioned music?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AndrewNogal, #AWeekendintheCountry, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoccaccioProject, #ChamberMusic, #CliffEidelman, #CommissionedMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DamienSneed, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Father'sDay, #GiovanniBoccaccio, #GrossmanEnsemble, #HelloWorld, #JacobStockinger, #JennyLin, #JeremyJordan, #LibraryofCongress, #MakeMusicDay, #MakeMusicMadison, #NewMusic, #NormalLife, #RichardDrehoffJr., #Self-Isolation, #Stayathome, #SummerSolstice, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #TheU.S., #U.S.Government, #ViolaMusic, #ViolinMusic, #WetInkEnsemble, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubevideo, Andrew Nogal, Arts, audience, background, blog, Boccaccio, Boccaccio Project, bridge, California, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, Cliff Eidelman, commentary, commission, composer, Congress, coronavirus, culture, Damien Sneed, difference, ensemble, exploratory, explore, express, Facebook, falling, fathers day, federal, fifth, first, flute, flutist, forward, fourth, Friday, general, Giovanni Boccaccio, government, Grossman Ensemble, halfway, hear, hello, Hello World, Home, Internet, isolation, Jacob Stockinger, Jenny Lin, Jeremy Jordan, last, library, Library of Congress, life, like, link, Madison, Make Music Day, Make Music Madison, mean, Music, New Music, New York City, night, normal, Oboe, oboist, page, pandemic, past, peculiar, performance, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, piuece, Point, posting, project, public, questions, reader, Richard Drehoff Jr., say, second, self-isolating, shadow, share, shelter, short, solo, solstice, stay at home, summer, Summer solstice, tag, The Ear, think, third, Thursday, Twitter, U.S., unique, United States, Viola, violoist, week, weekday, weekend, Wet Ink Ensemble, world, world premiere, YouTube

Classical music: Meet the “Stay at Home” Symphony Orchestra. How do they sound so close and tight? Plus, today is May Day. What music would you play to celebrate workers?

May 1, 2020
2 Comments

ALERT: Today is May Day, a time to honor workers. What music would you play to celebrate and thank all the frontline workers — doctors, nurses, EMTs, police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, cleaners and janitors, grocery store workers, delivery people and others — who are now so indispensable?

By Jacob Stockinger

Many musicians — both singers and instrumentalists (below) — are self-isolating and doing their at-home best to keep those of us also sheltering in place entertained by performing virtual concerts.

It is something listeners can be grateful for. The players do an admirable and free public service during the COVID-19 crisis and coronavirus pandemic.

Of course, the virtual performances also have practical purposes.

The musicians keep their skills sharp during isolation.

And the virtual performances help to keep the names of individuals and groups, of composers and pieces, in the public’s mind at a time when live concerts have all been canceled or postponed.

There are many, many virtual concerts to choose from – made by local, regional, national and international musicians, some amateurs and some professional.

Many of them are solo performances given by an individual member of an orchestra, chamber music group or choral ensemble as well as big-name soloists such as pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The individual ones are appreciated and impressive, even if some of the performances seem amateur-like in the sound or awkwardness.

What really impresses The Ear is when large groups, such as symphony orchestras and choirs, perform something with all the players at home and yet somehow the whole finished product sounds incredibly tight in and incredibly professional.

Last Saturday, the Metropolitan Opera even held a four-hour online gala with singers and instrumentalists from all over the world.

It makes The Ear wonder why they sound so good. How they do it, with all the complications and variables of timing and tempo, of rhythm, pitch and dynamics?

Is it the planning?

The processing and editing?

In any case, a very good example comes from the “Stay at Home” Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Overture to the opera “The Marriage of Figaro.”

You can hear the YouTube video of the performance below.

Are there other such performances that you can point out to The Ear and you would like to see posted on this blog?

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AmateurMusician, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BusDriver, #ChoralMusic, #Classicalera, #COVID-19, #EmanuelAx, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GroceryStore, #LiveMusic, #MarriageofFigaro, #MayDay, #MetropolitanOpera, #OrchestralMusic, #PoliceOfficers, #ProfessionalMusician, #PublicHealth, #Self-Isolation, #ShelterinPlace, #SocialDistance, #SocialDistancing, #Stayathome, #StayatHomeSymphonyOrchestra, #SymphonyOrchestra, #TheMet, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #Yo-YoMa, #YouTubevideo, admiran;e, amateur, Arts, at home, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, big-name, blog, bus driver, cancel, canceled, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Choir, choral music, Classical, Classical music, cleaner, complications, composer, Concert, coronavirus, crisis, delivery, doctors, dynamics, editing, Emanuel Ax, EMT, entertain, era, example, execution, Facebook, finish, firefighters, forward, free, frontline, gala, good, grateful, grocery, grocery store, group, hear, Home, honor, impress, impressive, indispensible, individual, instrumentalists, international, isolation, Jacob Stockinger, janitor, Johann Sebastian Bach, like, link, listeners, live music, local, Ludwig van Beethoven, Ma, Marriage of Figaro, May Day, member, Metropolitan Opera, mind, Mozart, Music, national, nurses, online, opera, Orchestra, Overture, pandemic, perform, performer, Pianist, Piano, piece, pitch, planning, play, police, police officers, post, posting, postpone, practical, processing, product, professional, Public health, purpose, regional, self-isolating, share, sharp, shelter, shelter in place, singer, skill, social distance, social distancing, solo, soloists, Sound, stay at home, Stay at Home Symphony Orchestra, symphony, symphony orchestra, tag, Tempo, The Marriage of Figaro, the Met, tight, time, timing, United States, variable, Viola, Violin, virtual, vocal music, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, workers, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube

Classical music: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra will start this summer’s six Concerts on the Square in late July and move them to Tuesdays at 6 p.m. Plus, other changes for the WCO are in the works

April 11, 2020
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcements from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra:

Greetings to the family of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (WCO, below in photo by Mike Gorski)!

For 37 summers, Concerts on the Square (below) has brought us together as a community to enjoy world-class music with our friends, family and neighbors.

To try and ensure these performances continue despite uncertain times, the WCO is delaying the start of Concerts on the Square to July 28, 2020 — starting at our new time, Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

The opening concert will feature 2020 Gilmore Young Artist Maxim Lando (below, in a photo by Matt Dine) – who recently gave a solo recital on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos – performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1

It’s our hope that by delaying the concerts by five weeks, larger community gatherings will be safe and permitted, and we can continue to entertain the thousands of patrons who join us at each Concerts on the Square performance.

We plan to retain the same number of key performances. Visit www.wconconcerts.org for an up-to-date schedule, the names of guest artists and the programs.

Concerts on the Square is something we all look forward to each year, which is why our goal is to preserve it this summer. We will all be eager to get outside and enjoy the WCO tradition, but we need to be smart and safe about it.

The series will return to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays next year.

Here is the complete schedule of the series of FREE concerts that draw an average of 20,000 people to the downtown Capitol Square for each concert:

Concerts on the Square #1 – Tuesday, July 28, 6 p.m.

Concerts on the Square #2 – Tuesday, Aug. 4, 6 p.m.

Concerts on the Square #3 – Tuesday, Aug. 11, 6 p.m.

Concerts on the Square #4 – Tuesday, Aug. 18, 6 p.m.

Concerts on the Square #5 – Tuesday, Aug. 25, 6 p.m.

Concerts on the Square #6 – Tuesday, Sept. 1, 6 p.m.

The WCO moved the series to Tuesday for scheduling needs and to avoid interrupting other local performances in late summer.

To keep up-to-date with performance schedules, community members can sign up for email updates on the WCO website or follow the orchestra on Facebook and Instagram.

“The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is alive and well – and there is nothing more we want than to perform for our community during these uncertain times,” says Joe Loehnis (below), CEO of the WCO. “At the same time, we want to be responsible and mindful of community safety. In that light, we believe the best thing to do is to push the start of Concerts on the Square into late July.”

OTHER NEWS

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is also using this time to move the organization forward for its fans.

In the coming weeks the orchestra is rolling out a new logo and new website, as well as launching the Friends of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra membership program.

#Coucherto: WCO MUSICIANS PERFORM ONLINE

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra is home to talented and creative musicians, so it’s no surprise they are reaching for their instruments during the stay-at-home order.

Sharing solo performances from their homes as part of the WCO’s #coucherto series, orchestra members are delivering music – and messages – for everyone to enjoy while stuck on their sofas.

“Our musicians are the backbone – the lifeblood – of the WCO, and we couldn’t just sit back and not perform,” Loehnis said. “I firmly believe music makes everything better and if we can provide a bright spot for our community right now we’re going to jump at the opportunity.”

The #coucherto series is available on the WCO’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and website pages. Additionally, the WCO will share previously recorded concerts during the order.

MUSICIAN RELIEF FUND IS LIVE

With live performances delayed, the WCO remains committed to helping its musicians.

Through its newly created Musicians Relief Fund, the orchestra has raised more than $10,000 to help pay its musicians during this time. The WCO is working on several fronts to ensure its artists receive financial support.

“Our musicians aren’t just wonderful artists, they’re wonderful people. They’re our friends. They have families. And it’s vital as an organization we support them at all times,” says maestro Andrew Sewell (below, in a photo by Alex Cruz), who is in his 20th year as WCO’s music director. “The music will go on. But first and foremost, we need to do everything we can to help our musicians.”

To donate, visit wcoconcerts.org/donate.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AndrewSewell, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrightSpot, #CapitolSquare, #ConcertsontheSquare, #Couchtero, #CouchteroSeries, #COVID-19, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FriendsoftheWisconsinChamberOrchestra, #GilmoreCompetition, #InstagramPost, #JacobStockinger, #JoeLoehnis, #LiveMusic, #MaximLando, #MusicalTradition, #MusicDirector, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #PianoConcerto, #SalonPIanoSeries, #ShelterinPlace, #SocialDistancing, #StartingTime, #Stayathome, #TheEar, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YoungArtist, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, alive, Andrew Sewell, announcements, artist, Arts, audience, August, available, average, avoid, backbone, believe, better, blog, bright, Capitol Square, CEO, Classical music, classicalmusic, community, complete, Concert, Concerts on the Square, coronavirus, coucherto, creative, delay, deliver, downtown, draw, email, enjoy, everyone, everything, Facebook, Family, fan, Farley's House of Pianos, forward, free, friends, Friends of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, fund, Gilmore, hashtag, help, Home, Instagram, interrupt, interrupting, Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, Jacob Stockinger, Joe Loehnis, late, launch, lifeblood, light, like, link, live, local, logo, Maestro, Maxim Lando, member, members, membership, message, mindful, move, Music, Music director, Musician, needs, neighbor, new, nthing, online, opportunity, Orchestra, order, organization, pandemic, pay, People, performances, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Piano, Piano concerto, post, posting, program, public, push, reader, recital, relief, responsible, safe, safety, salon, Salon Piano Series, schedule, September, series, share, shelter, smart, social distancing, sofa, solo, spot, start, stay, stay at home, subscriber, summer, surprise, tag, talented, Tchaikovsky, The Ear, times, together, tradition, Tuesday, Twitter, uncertain, United States, up-to-date, update, updates, use, Viola, Violin, WCO, Website, Wednesday, weeks, well, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world-class, young, young artist, YouTube

Classical music: What music is helping you get through the Coronavirus by staying home? Help create a Pandemic Playlist

March 25, 2020
10 Comments

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.

Posted in Classical music
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 weekend brings annual holiday concerts at the UW-Madison and Edgewood College

December 3, 2019
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

As the semester comes to a close and the holidays approach, vocal and choral music is always the order of the day – or week – at both the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music and Edgewood College.

UW-MADISON WINTER CONCERTS

On this coming Sunday afternoon, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., the remaining six choirs from the UW-Madison choral program will present their annual winter concerts at Luther Memorial Church (below), 1021 University Avenue, in Madison.

The one-hour concert features individual pieces from Chorale and the Madrigal Singers (Bruce Gladstone conductor); the University Chorus (Andrew Voth, conductor); Women’s Chorus (below, Michael Johnson, conductor); Masters Singers (Andrew Voth and Michael Johnson co-conductors); and the Concert Choir (Beverly Taylor conductor).

There are two pieces in which all choirs sing.

Plus, the audience is invited to join in some seasonal carols.

The concerts are FREE and no tickets are required.

A free-will offering is accepted at the end of the program with proceeds after expenses donated to “The Road Home,” an organization that provides housing and food to homeless families.

Says Beverly Taylor, the director of choral activities at the UW-Madison who will retire this spring: “The program is designed as a concert and not a service. Seats go fast!”

For more information, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/choral-concerts-at-luther-memorial-church/2019-12-08/

EDGEWOOD COLLEGE CHRISTMAS CONCERT

This Saturday night, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m., Edgewood College will present its 92nd annual Christmas Concert.

The concert will take place in the college’s new McKinley Performing Arts Center (below and at bottom), 2219 Monroe Street., in Madison.

This yearly tradition features the Edgewood College choirs and Concert Band, along with audience sing-alongs, the Guitar Ensemble, and a post-concert reception featuring the Jazz Ensemble.

Tickets are $10, and seating is limited for this very popular annual event. Please purchase tickets online in advance.

All proceeds from this performance benefit students at Edgewood College through the Edward Walters Music Scholarship Fund.

Tickets are available online until noon on Thursday, Dec. 5, or until the performance sells out.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #AndrewVoth, #BenefitConcert, #BeverlyTaylor, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BruceGladstone, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClassicalGuitar, #ConcertBand, #ConcertChoir, #EdgewoodCollege, #EdwardWalters, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FreewillOffering, #GeneralAdmission, #GuitarEnsemble, #GuitarMusic, #HomelessFamilies, #JazzEnsemble, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MadrigalSingers, #MasterSingers, #McKinleyPerformingArtsCenter, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MichaelJohnson, #MusicEducation, #RomanCatholic, #SaturdayNight, #Sundayafternoon, #TheEar, #TheHomeless, #TheRoadHome, #UniversityChorus, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWChorale, #VocalMusic, #WinterConcert, #Women'sChorus, activity, afternoon, Andrew Voth, annual, Arts, Baroque, beautiful, benefit, benefit concert, Beverly Taylor, blog, Bruce Gladstone, Carols, Cello, charity, Choir, choral music, choral program, Chorale, chorus, Christian, Christianity, Christmas, church, Classical music, college, composer, Concert, Concert Band, Concert Choir, concert hall, conductor, day, director, donation, door, Edgewood College, Edward Walters, Facebook, families, Family, fast, food, free, free will offering, fund, general admission, great, guitar, guitar ensemble, guitar music, hall, hear, Holidays, homeless, homeless families, housing, individual, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jazz Ensemble, like, link, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, Madrigal Singers, Master Singers, McKinley Performing Arts Center, Mead Witter School of Music, Michael Johnson, mixture, mood, Music, Music education, night, non-stop, online, only, Orchestra, perform, performance, performer, phone, piece, post, posting, present, proceeds, professional, program, provide, reception, retire, Retirement, retiring, Roman Catholic, Saturday, scholarship, sea, Season, seasonal, seat, sell, semester, service, share, shelter, sing-along, singer, Singing, Spring, students, Sunday, symphony, tag, telephone, text, The Ear, The Road Home, the sea, thrilling, United States, university, University Chorus, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW Concert Choir, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, vocal music, week, weekend, winter, winter concerts, Wisconsin, women, women's chorus, work, YouTube

Classical music: Flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic is Musician of the Year for 2018

December 31, 2018
3 Comments

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

The classical music scene in Madison is so rich that it is always a challenge to name a Musician of the Year.

There are just so many deserving candidates. One obvious example is conductor John DeMain, who is completing his 25th year of outstanding stewardship in directing the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera.

But part of the intent behind such an honor is not just to recognize well-known figures. It is to encourage a broader awareness of those people who do a lot for local classical music but who often fly under the radar for many people.

That is why The Ear is naming flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic (below) as the Musician of the Year for 2018.

As both a performer and entrepreneur, Ugrcic is always very busy broadening her varied career. Being both a player and an activist, she is making a difference, musically and socially, that deserves to be recognized and supported.

Serbian by birth and educated in Belgrade and Paris, she came to Madison where she completed her doctorate in flute performance and also took business courses at the UW-Madison Business School.

She is a first-rate performer who has won a national prize for performing. While at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, she won both the concerto competition (below) and the Irving Shain competition for wind instruments in duets. (You can hear her amazing technique in the YouTube video at the bottom. In it Ugrcic performs “Voice” for solo flute by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.)

She now plays with the Black Marigold Wind Quintet and Sound Out Loud, both of which are based in Madison and both of which devote themselves to contemporary composers and new music.

This year, Urgcic also soloed with the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), performing to critical acclaim a relatively unknown concerto by 19th-century composer Carl Reinecke.

This year, Urgcic also took over as artistic director of the Rural Musicians Forum, which brings classical music, jazz, world music and ethnic music, played by outstanding performers to the Spring Green area, often at the Taliesin compound of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

But perhaps her most long-lasting contribution is her founding and now directing the LunART Festival that, in the same year of the Me Too movement, sought to present an all-women event that featured composers, performers, visual artists and writers.

Such was its inaugural success in 2018 that it won a national prize from the National Flute Association and a second festival will take place from June 9 through June 9, 2019.

2019 will also see the release of her second solo recording devoted to the music of the contemporary Romanian composer Doina Rotaru, even while she is working on a recording of “Beer Music” by contemporary American composer Brian DuFord.

And all that is just the beginning for such a promising talent. We will be hearing much more from her and about her in years to come.

To see her impressive biography, as well as updated activities, video and audio clips, photographs and other information, go to: https://www.ivaugrcic.com/bio

Here is one more thing that speaks to The Ear. It feels important, even necessary, to recognize the positive contributions of an immigrant at a time when the current “America First” administration under President Donald Trump seems so paranoid and negative, so xenophobic and afraid of foreigners.

The U.S government should be less intent on condemning or stigmatizing immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, and should put more emphasis on their contributions and on the long and distinguished history they have in the United States.

Iva Urgcic is yet another example of the talent we Americans stand to lose if we do not accept and encourage the gifts that immigrants bring in so many ways — from the arts, medicine, education and technology to everyday life and work.

Please join The Ear is expressing gratitude and congratulations to Iva Urgcic.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #All-Female, #AmericaFirst, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanImmigration, #ArtisticDirector, #BeerMusic, #BelgradeSerbia, #BelgradeYugoslavia, #BlackMarigold, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BrianDuFord, #BusinessSchool, #CarlReinecke, #ConcertoCompetition, #ContemporaryComposers, #ContemporaryMusic, #DoinaRotaru, #DonaldTrump, #DuetMusic, #EthnicMusic, #EverydayLife, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FluteConcerto, #FluteMusic, #FrankLloydWright, #IrvingShain, #IvaUgrcic, #JapaneseComposer, #JazzMusic, #JohnDeMain, #JohnW.Barker, #LivingComposers, #LunARTFestival, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MadisonWisconsin, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MeToo, #MeToomovement, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicianoftheYear, #NationalFluteAssociation, #NewMusic, #ParisFrance, #RomanianComposer, #RuralMusiciansForum, #SocialActivism, #SocialActivist, #SoundOutLoud, #SpringGreen, #Taliesincompound, #TheEar, #ThePresident, #ToruTakemitsu, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VisualArtist, #WindMusic, #WomenPerformers, #WorldMusic, #YouTubevideo, 2018, 2019, activist, administration, all-women, America First, architect, architecture, Artistic director, Arts, Audio, awareness, Bach, Baroque, Beer, Belgrade, biography, Black Marigold, blog, Brian DuFord, Business, business school, Carl Reinecke, Chamber music, Classical music, Compact Disc, Competition, composer, concerto, condemn, congratulations, courses, doctorate, Doina Rotaru, Donald Trump, duet, Early music, Education, entrepreneur, ethnic music, everyday life, Facebook, feminism, feminist, flute, flying, foreigner, forward, France, Frank Lloyd Wright, gender, gratitude, Home, immigrant, immigration, inaugural, Irving Shain, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John DeMain, John W. Barker, labor, legal, life, like, link, LunART Festival, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Me Too, Mead Witter School of Music, medicine, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, Mozart, Music, Musician, Musician of the Year, national, National Flute Association, New Music, opera, Orchestra, paranoia, paranoid, Paris, People, performer, photographs, pictures, player, poet, post, posting, President Donald Trump, prize, radar, recording, Romania, Romanian, Rural Musicians Forum, Serbia, Serbian, share, shelter, solo, Sound Out Loud, Spring Green, stewardship, stigmatize, Student, tag, Taliesin, technique, technology, The Ear, U.S., undocumented, United States, University of Belgrade, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, varied, video, voice, Website, winds, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, women, Woodwind quintet, work, World music, Writer, xenophobia, xenophobic, year, YouTube

Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra ends its eighth season this coming THURSDAY night with an ambitious program featuring the piano concerto by Schumann and the Symphony No. 1 by Brahms

May 25, 2018
1 Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

You have to hand it to the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (below): They keep testing and pushing themselves towards bigger achievements and more difficult music.

This coming Thursday night, May 31 – NOT the usual Wednesday night performance time — the MCP will close out its eighth season with an ambitious program.

As The Ear has said many times before, both in reviews and when he named the MCO “Musician of the Year” for 2014, there is so much to praise and enjoy about the MCO:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/12/31/classical-music-the-ear-names-the-middleton-community-orchestra-and-adult-amateur-music-makers-as-musicians-of-the-year-for-2014/

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/classical-music-maybe-its-back-to-the-future-the-classical-music-scene-needs-more-groups-to-act-like-the-middleton-community-orchestra-and-break-down-barriers-between-performers-and-listene/

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/classical-music-review-let-us-now-praise-amateur-music-makers-and-restoring-sociability-to-art-here-are-9-reasons-why-i-liked-and-you-should-attend-the-middleton-community-orchestra/

The all-Romantic, all-masterpiece program this time features a familiar soloist, pianist Thomas Kasdorf (below) in the supremely lyrical Piano Concerto in A Minor by Robert Schumann. (You can hear the poignant slow movement played by Maurizio Pollini and conductor Claudio Abbado in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Kasdorf graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison‘s-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, where he is now doing graduate work in piano.

In addition, the MCO will close with the formidable Symphony No. 1 by Johannes Brahms. Sometimes called “Beethoven’s 10th,” it will be conducted by Steve Kurr (below), the usual and very able conductor of the MCO.

The concert is on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Middleton Performing Arts Center (below), which is attached to Middleton High School at 2100 Bristol Street. It is a comfortable venue, and a good shelter from the hot weather and humidity that are predicted to overtake us for the next week or so.

The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and the auditorium doors open at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $15, but students are admitted free of charge — a deal that is hard to beat.

Advance tickets can also be purchased at the Willy Street Coop West.

As always, there will be an informal meet-and-greet reception after the concert for the music-makers and the audience to mingle – the perfect way to end a season.

If you want to find out more about the MCO season or about how to join it or support it, go to: http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #ClaudioAbbado, #HotWeather, #JohannesBrahms, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MaurizioPollini, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #OrchestraConductor, #PianoConcerto, #PianoMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticComposers, #RomanticMusic, #RomanticPeriod, #SteveKurr, #SymphonyNo.1, #ThomasKasdorf, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, Arts, Beethoven, Cello, Classical music, Claudio Abbado, composer, concerto, conductor, heat, humidity, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, join, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, masterpiece, Maurizio Pollini, Middleton, Middleton High School, Music, Orchestra, Piano, shelter, support, symphony, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, web site, Wisconsin, YouTube

Classical music: What composers and what pieces give you shelter and sanctuary during troubled times?

October 1, 2017
4 Comments

By Jacob Stockinger

A week ago, The Ear went to the inspired all-Mozart program given by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet with guest cellist Jean-Michel Fonteneau (below center) and guest clarinetist Alicia Lee (below right), who was making her debut as a new UW faculty member.

He expected a fine performance and he was not disappointed. Indeed, he shares the same very positive reactions that critic John W. Barker expressed in his review for this blog. Here is a link to that review:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2017/09/30/classical-music-uws-pro-arte-quartet-and-new-uw-clarinet-professor-alicia-lee-perform-a-sublime-all-mozart-program/

But something else happened too.

The sublime music of Mozart (below) – especially the Larghetto slow second movement of the late Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, but also the other movements and the String Quartet in G Major, K. 387 -– took The Ear into another world, into a parenthesis in time.

(You can hear a live performance in Japan by Yo-Yo Ma and others in the Larghetto movement, plus the rest of the Clarinet Quintet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

For a brief time – perhaps a total of about 80 or 90 minutes – The Ear was totally transported. He temporarily blocked out the political strife in Washington, D.C. and the Trump White House; the government turmoil here in Madison and around the world; and the terrible, deadly natural disasters of floods, hurricanes and wildfires in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe.

He just let the transcendent music and the performances wash over him, refreshing him with their beauty before he reemerged onto the street and into the painful reality of current events after the concert ended.

So The Ear offers a deeply felt thank you to the performers for planning and playing such a timely and therapeutic program. He needed that more than he knew. And he hopes more such concerts are in store. The times demand such balm, not as escapism but as a reminder of great good things that endure.

So here is The Ear’s question: What other composers and what other pieces or works do you find offer the same kind of sanctuary or shelter?

Leave a COMMENT with a link to a performance on YouTube if possible.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: African-American music, Alicia Lee, America, Arts, Asia, balm, beauty, blog, Campus, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Clarinet Quintet, Classical, Classical music, composer, critic, curent events, current, current events, D.C., dead, deadly, debut, Donald Trump, endure, escape, escapism, event, faculty, flood, global, globe, good, good thing, good things, government, great, Hurricane, inspiration, inspired, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, John W. Barker, late, live, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, movement, Mozart, Music, natural disaster, New York City, parenthesis, performance, piece, planning, play, political, Politics, positive, President, President Donald Trump, President Trump, Pro Arte Quartet, program, Quartet, quintet, review, sanctuary, shelter, strife, String quartet, sublime, terrible, therapeutic, therapy, time, timely, times, turmoil, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, video, Viola, Violin, Washington, White House, wildfire, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, work, world, Yo-Yo Ma, YouTube

Classical music: “I like tunes,” says Academy Award-winning composer Thomas Cabaniss, who talks about his “Double Rainbow” piano concerto. The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and guest soloists will give the world premiere of the work this Friday night.

April 24, 2017
Leave a Comment

By Jacob Stockinger

Even for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below), which likes to mix things and up during its winter season, the concert this Friday night is something special to close out the current season.

The WCO will give the world premiere of the “Double Rainbow” Piano Concerto by Thomas Cabaniss, which was commissioned for the WCO.

The performance will also feature husband-and-wife duo-pianists Michael Shinn and Jessica Chow Shinn.

The concert is Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.

Also on the program is Maurice Ravel’s Neo-classical homage to World War I, “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” and the Symphony No. 2 by Robert Schumann.

Tickets are $10 to $80.

For more information about the program, the soloists and tickets, go to:

https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-v-2/

Composer Thomas Cabaniss recently did an email Q&A for The Ear:

Can you briefly introduce yourself and your career to the reader?

I’m Thomas Cabaniss (below). I am a composer and teaching artist from Charleston, South Carolina. I have lived in New York for the last 30 years, and so I greedily claim both places as home. I teach at the Juilliard School — where I met Michael and Jessica Shinn — and I also lead arts education projects at Carnegie Hall.

After graduating from Yale in 1984, I was an assistant conductor on a variety of projects including Leonard Bernstein’s opera A Quiet Place at La Scala and the Kennedy Center. Setting out to forge a career as a composer, I moved to New yolk City, which had the added benefit of being the same city where my girlfriend was attending medical school. A few years later we married and settled in Manhattan.

To start, I worked primarily as a theater composer, but I was also writing piano and chamber music on the side, and doing arts education work in between shows. In 1990 I scored and arranged a short film called The Lunch Date, which won the Palme D’Or and the Academy Award. In 1995 I joined the New York Philharmonic education programs, eventually becoming the orchestra’s Education Director.

I kept composing, and wrote a chamber opera called The Sandman, which was premiered in New York in 2002 and revived again the following season. In 2004 I was appointed to special education position with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and at the same time I wrote a series of evening length dance scores that were premiered in New York.

In 2009, I began working as composer-in-residence for the LinkUp program at Carnegie Hall, which has grown in that time to serve over 95 orchestras around the world and across the U.S. – including the Madison Symphony Orchestra.

I also helped to create the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, which serves young parents in shelters, hospitals and prisons, and we are working hard to extend that work across the country through a series of partnerships.

How would you describe your musical style in general and the style of the new two-piano concerto specifically? Accessible? Tonal or atonal? Modernist or Neo-Classical? Melodic or percussive? Are there composers or works that have influenced your style?

I like tunes. I like to write songs, and I like to sing, so my music tends to value melody. My works are generally tonal, often spiked with cluster chords and other atonal devices, but I am always interested in the musical gravity of tonal centers. (You can hear a sample of Thomas Cabaniss’ music in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

This piece is inspired by its soloists, Michael and Jessica Shinn (below), and by the image of a Double Rainbow (also the work’s title). I have written Michael and Jessica pieces for piano-four hands, and there is one piece they have championed called Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love. Something about the chemistry of their relationship as musicians (and as husband and wife) has inspired me to create music that is particularly exciting and intimate.

And yes, I suppose most composers embed hints of the music they love in the music they write, and I am no different. Tiny Bits was a kind of homage to the Brahms Waltzes for piano-four hands, and Double Rainbow nods to Leonard Bernstein, Olivier Messiaen, Leos Janacek and John Adams. I’m sure listeners will hear other influences, too.

What would you like listeners to know about and listen for in the piano concerto? What were the special challenges of writing for duo-pianists?

This is from the program note I wrote for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra:

DOUBLE RAINBOW is based on an experience I had with my family on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, about 20 years ago. On this particular August day, there was a huge rain in the early afternoon, many dark clouds, thunder (but no lightning). After the storm, from the porch of our beach rental house, we saw not one, but two rainbows (below). My sister-in-law is an avid photographer, and so she coaxed us all down onto the beach so she could get a pristine angle. That alone might have been enough inspiration for a piece of music, but when we got to the water’s edge, as Julia was snapping her photos, a dolphin jumped out of the water in a vertical launch, the tail clearing the water’s surface. It was one of those moments that seemed so unbelievable that none of us said a word.

I have always been fascinated by the search for the elusive “perfect moment,” and DOUBLE RAINBOW is a sort of study of that kind of exploration. It is all bound up in the idea of “doubleness,” represented by the two pianos. It is divided into three movements: “Surfaces” (exploring the accumulation of drops of water from tiny, atomized particles), “Disturbances” (exploring imbalances and the storms that result from them), and “Revelation” (of the Double Rainbow). Not surprising in a double concerto, there is a great deal of dialogue between the pianos, and the orchestra has more of an accompanying role in the first two movements. The final movement is different, though. Everybody is in, and the music pulses with magic. The movement seems to be headed for a big climax, but at the last moment, it suddenly slows down and there are stars.

The main challenge for me in writing a double piano concerto is all those fingers! Twenty of them, and they are capable of so much. The music I write does not usually focus on virtuosity, and yet I also wanted it to be a vehicle for them to be expressive and dynamic. I worked hard to achieve a balance between the lyricism and the fireworks – we’ll see how audiences experience it.

What else would you like to say?

I am especially excited to be able to visit Madison for the premiere. I’ll get to meet members of the family of Jessica Chow Shinn (below, she is a Madison native), and I have a former student in the orchestra (Midori Samson, Second Bassoon). My Carnegie Lullaby Project collaborators include another Madison native (Ann Gregg) and Elizabeth Snodgrass, who is originally from Appleton (I think) but recently moved to Madison. I will get to meet WCO music director Andrew Sewell (below) in person. We have been doing some Skype rehearsals and phone consultations. It will be great to watch Andrew in action.

While we are here, my wife Deborah will be giving Grand Rounds at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, and my son Will leads an a cappella group at University of Chicago (Voices In Your Head), and this year they have been singing frequently with a wonderful University of Wisconsin group (Fundamentally Sound).

The last few seasons the Madison Symphony Orchestra has been offering Carnegie Hall LinkUp concerts to kids in grades 3-5, and this year is no exception. They will perform The Orchestra Moves in May, for which I wrote two of the works (Come To Play and Away I Fly) and arranged another (Cidade Maravilhosa).

This project has been a few years in the making, and so for Michael and Jessica and me, this is a kind of celebration. We can’t wait to share DOUBLE RAINBOW with you.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: a cappella, A Quiet Place, Academy Award, Andrew Sewell, Appleton, Arts, arts education, atomized, atonal, Bassoon, beach, Brahms, Carnegie Hall, Chamber music, chamber opera, Charleston, choral music, chord, Classical music, clinic, cluster, commission, composer, conductor, Couperin, dance, dialogue, doctor, dolphin, double rainbow, drop, email, expresisone, expressive, film, Finger, Fireworks, Fundamentally Sound, Hospital, House, husband, influence, Isle of Palms, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, John Adams, Juilliard School, Kennedy Center, La Scala, Le tombeau de Couperin, Leonard Bernstein, Leos Janacek, lightening, LinkUp, Love, lullaby, Lullaby Project, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, MANHATTAN, medical school, melodic, melody, memorial, Messiaen, Michael and Jessica Shinn, modernist, movement, movie, Music, Music education, neo-Classical, New York City, New York Philharmonic, opera, Orchestra, Palme D'Or, partnership, Philadelphia Orchestra, phone, photo, photographs, physician, Piano, Piano concerto, piano-four hands, prison, psychiatry, Q&A, rain clouds, rainbow, Ravel, rehearsal, Robert Schumann, shelter, sing, Skype, song, songs, South Carolina, stars, storm, style, symphony, telephone, The Lunch Date, The Orchestra Moves, The Sandman, Thomas Cabaniss, thunder, Tiny Bits of Outrageous Love, tomb, tonal, tune, U.S., United States, University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, virtuosity, virtuoso, Voices in Your Head, Waltz, water, wife, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, world, world premiere, Yale, YouTube

	Ronnie on How do post-pandemic concert a…
	welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a…
	Polly Kuelbs on How do post-pandemic concert a…
	welltemperedear on How do post-pandemic concert a…
	Ann Boyer on How do post-pandemic concert a…

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: