The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: This weekend, the Madison Symphony Orchestra celebrates the legacy and works of Leonard Bernstein
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By Jacob Stockinger
This coming weekend, Leonard Bernstein (below, in a photo by Jack Mitchell) will be remembered, honored and celebrated by his friend and Madison Symphony Orchestra music director John DeMain in a “Remembering Lenny” concert that explores Bernstein’s musical contributions as an American composer and conductor.
Original works by Bernstein will be performed by the MSO on the first half of the concert. The MSO starts with the Overture to Candide, then moves on to On The Town, and, finally, performs his Symphony No. 2 “The Age of Anxiety,” featuring Van Cliburn Competition bronze medal winner and UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor.
The second half of the program features Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7, the last work that Bernstein (1918-1990) ever conducted during a concert at the summer Tanglewood Festival of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Performances will be held in Overture Hall, 201 State Street, on this Friday night, Nov. 9, at 7:30 p.m.; this Saturday night, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m.; and this Sunday afternoon, Nov. 11, at 2:30 p.m. Ticket information is below.
Says DeMain (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson): “To have my 25th anniversary with the MSO coincide with the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth is special for me personally because of the unique opportunities I had to work with this great American musician.”
DeMain, who premiered Bernstein’s opera “A Quiet Place” in Houston, adds: “The first half of the concert celebrates Lenny the composer, culminating in the first performance by the MSO of his second symphony, The Age of Anxiety, which has a dazzling and at times jazzy part for the piano, and carries with it, still, a timely social statement. Christopher Taylor (below), a Madison favorite with whom I have often enjoyed collaborating, will perform the challenging and exciting piano part.”
DeMain describes the final work in the program: “The second half of the concert pays tribute to Lenny the conductor, and his life-long love of Beethoven. Since the Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, was the last piece Lenny conducted, I thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate Lenny and his great contribution to American musical life.” (NOTE: You can hear Bernstein conduct the famous second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 during his last public performance, just two months before he died, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Here is some more background:
Bernstein’s operetta Candide is based on the 1759 novella by French philosopher Voltaire. The well-known Overture is quick-paced, with a feverish excitement that begins from the first breath of sound. Many of the meters are in seven beats, or of other non-traditional types, and quickly change. Each player of the ensemble is required to perform with simultaneously the utmost virtuosity and togetherness.
On the Town is a dance-centric musical scored by Leonard Bernstein based on Jerome Robbins’ idea for the 1944 ballet “Fancy Free.” The story depicts three American sailors on a 24-hour shore leave in New York City during wartime, where each man meets and quickly connects with the woman of their dreams. The musical is the source of the ubiquitously popular show tune New York, New York.
The Age of Anxiety was composed between 1948 and 1949, and is inspired by a poem of the same name by W.H. Auden (below). The 80-page poem follows four lonely strangers who meet in a wartime New York bar and spend the evening ruminating on their lives and the human condition. Subtitled “a baroque eclogue” (a pastoral poem in dialogue form), the characters speak mostly in long soliloquies of alliterative tetrameter, with little distinction among the individual voices.
Composed from 1811–1812, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 premiered with Beethoven (below) himself conducting in Vienna on December 8, 1813 at a charity concert for soldiers wounded in the Battle of Hanau.
The symphony’s dance elements, vitality and sense of celebration are conveyed principally through rhythm. It is not the melodies that are so striking and memorable as the general sense of forward movement.
The Overture lobby opens 90 minutes prior to each concert. One hour before each performance, Randal Swiggum (below) will lead a 30-minute Prelude Discussion in Overture Hall to enhance concertgoers’ understanding and listening experience. It is free to ticket holders.
The MSO recommends that concert attendees arrive EARLY for each performance to make sure they have time to pass through Overture Center’s security stations, and so they can experience the Prelude Discussion.
Program notes for the concerts are available online. Go to: http://bit.ly/nov2018programnotes
Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:
- Single Tickets are $18-$93 each and are on sale now at: https://madisonsymphony.org/bernstein\through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street, or by calling the Box Office at (608) 258-4141. Fees apply to online/phone sales.
- Groups of 10 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information, visit, https://www.madisonsymphony.org/groups.
- Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street. Students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $15 or $20 tickets. More information is at: https://www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush
- Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
- Subscribers to 5 or more symphony subscription concerts can save up to 50% off single ticket prices. More information is available about the season at: https://madisonsymphony.org/18-19
- Flex-Ticket booklets of 10 vouchers for 2018-19 symphony subscription concerts are available. Learn more at: https://madisonsymphony.org/flex
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
Find more information at madisonsymphony.org
The Presenting Sponsor for the November concerts is Steinhauer Charitable Trust. Underwriting for Christopher Taylor is provided by Sharon Stark, “to Peter Livingston with love.” Major funding is provided by: Stephen D. Morton, The Gialamas Company, Inc., Myrna Larson, Madison Symphony Orchestra League, and Nancy Mohs. Additional funding is provided by Robert Benjamin and John Fields, Godfrey & Kahn, S.C., and Wisconsin Arts Board, with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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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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