The Well-Tempered Ear
This Saturday night the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and Grammy winner Sarah Brailey perform a free live-streamed concert of music by women
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (WCC, below) with a special guest — Grammy Award-winning soprano and UW-Madison graduate Sarah Brailey – will perform this Saturday, May 15, at 7 p.m.
“Music She Wrote” is a celebration of music composed by a highly diverse group of women from many ages.
Choir members will sing from their individual cars using wireless microphones, listening to the sound of the whole choir via their car radios.
The audience is invited to listen in live on YouTube and to let us know they are interested by sending an RSVP to our Facebook event.
There is no charge to view the livestream, but donations will be welcome.
Here are the links to hear the performance LIVE on YouTube or Facebook:
https://youtu.be/Iaz0wZhuG18 or:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1561155960751974/
The WCC had scheduled a regular concert with an all-female cast of composers for May 2020, which fell victim to Covid-19. As it became obvious that the pandemic would last longer, the WCC started exploring new ways of making and disseminating music.
From September 2020, we resumed activity in the shape of the Parking Lot Choir, generating local media coverage from WKOW-TV and Madison Magazine, whose story was headlined “Forget tailgates, parking lots are for choir practice.”
The result of this first rehearsal run was the widely acclaimed “Car Carols” concert in December 2020, whose format is the model for “Music She Wrote.”
In addition to the Parking Lot Choir, three smaller groups from the WCC assembled at the Edgewood College Amphitheater on Saturday mornings to rehearse (below) in widely spaced formations, wearing specially designed singer masks.
Another such group, made up of our members from southeastern Wisconsin, met in Whitewater on Sunday afternoons. Recordings by those four small groups will be aired during the May 15 broadcast in addition to live singing by the Parking Lot choristers.
The program includes: the Garden Songs by Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (Felix’s sister, below), which were intended for outdoor performance; and Ethel Smyth’s March of the Women, the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement in the English-speaking world.
In addition to works by African American composers Ysaÿe M. Barnwell (below top) and Rosephanye Powell and by Cuban composer Beatriz Corona (below second), the program includes samples from outside the Western tradition — Lamma Badaa Yatathannaa, sung in Arabic, by Shireen Abu-Shader (below third), who hails from Jordan but received her academic education in the U.S. and Canada; and two pieces by Japanese composer Makiko Kinoshita (below bottom).
Western early music is represented by Italian composers Raffaella Aleotti (below top) and Chiara Cozzolani (below bottom), who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Finally, there is singer-songwriter Judy Collins with her Song for Sarajevo, composed for the children of the war in Bosnia in 1994 and arranged by her longtime collaborator, Russell Walden. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more details, visit: https://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org/music-she-wrote.
Sarah Brailey (below, in a photo by Miranda Loud), a native of Wisconsin, studied at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she has just completed her doctorate. A consummate musician and internationally acclaimed soloist, she recently won a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Vocal Solo Album category for her role as The Soul in the world premiere recording of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison.
She is familiar to Madison audiences not only as a performer and co-founder of Just Bach but also as the co-host of WORT’s Musica Antiqua show on FM 89.9 and the director of Grace Presents.
As a graduate student, she joined the WCC for two seasons from 2004 to 2006. We are thrilled to welcome her back! For more information on Sarah, see her website at https://sarahbrailey.com
Tags: #All-Female, #All-FemaleConcert, #ArabicComposer, #BaroqueMusic, #BeatrizCorona, #BlackComposer, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BosnianWar, #CarCarols, #CarRadio, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #CityofMadison, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #Cubancomposer, #EastmanSchoolofMusic, #EdgewoodCollege, #EthelSmyth, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FannyMendelssohn-Hensel, #FelixMendelssohn, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #GracePresents, #Grammy-winning, #GrammyAward, #GuestArtist, #italianComposer, #JacobStockinger, #JapaneseComposer, #JudyCollins, #JustBach, #LiveStreaming, #MadisonMagazine, #MadisonWisconsin, #MakikoKinoshita, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicaAntiqua, #MusicEducation, #MusicSheWrote, #NewMusic, #NoCharge, #OnlineConcert, #ParkingLotChoir, #PopMusic, #RadioHost, #RaffaellaAleotti, #RomeItaly, #RosephanyePowell, #SarahBrailey, #ShireenAbu-Shader, #SocialDistance, #SongforSarajevo, #SongWriter, #SopranoSinger, #TheEar, #TheInternet, #ThePrison, #TheU.S., #TheUW, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WarnerPark, #Whitewater, #WhitewaterWisconsin, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WKOWTV, #Women'sSuffrage, #WomenComposers, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, #YsayeBarnwell, activity, African American, ages, anthem, Arab, Arabic, Arabic composer, arrangement, Arts, audience, auto, Baroque, Beatriz Corona, black composer, blog, Bosnia, Brailey, Broadcast, Canada, car, Car Carols, car radio, category, celebration, Chiara Cozzolani, children, Choir, choral music, chorus, Christian, church, Classical music, collaborator, Collins, compose, composer, Concert, Corona, coronavirus, Cuban, Cubas, design, director, disseminate, diverse, doctorate, donation, Early music, Eastman School of Music, Edgewood College, Education, English, Ethel Smyth, European, event, explore, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, familiar, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, farden, Felix Mendelssohn, formation, forward, free, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, graduate, Grammy, group, guest artist, headline, hear, information, interest, Internet, Italian, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese composer, Jordan, Judy Collins, Just Bach, Kinoshita, know, like, link, listen, live, livestream, local, longtime, Madison, Madison Magazine, make, Makiko Kinoshita, march, masks, Mead Witter School of Music, media, microphones, model, morning, Music, Music education, Music She Wrote, Musica Antiqua, native, New Music, no charge, online, outdoor, pandemic, Parking Lot Choir, performance, performer, pieces, pop, pop music, popular, post, posting, Powell, prison, Radio, radio host, Raffaella Aleotti, register, rehearsal, resume, role, Rosephanye Powell, RSVP, Sarah Brailey, Saturday, schedule, send, shape, share, Shireen Abu-Khader, singer, Singing, Smyth, social distance, solo, song, Song for Sarajevo, soprano, soul, Sound, speak, special, story, suffrage, sung, tag, tailgate, Television, The Ear, tradition, TV, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW-Madison, victim, view, virtual, vocal music, war, Warner Park, WCC, wear, Website, welcome, Western, wireless, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Choir, WKOW TV, women, women composers, women's suffrage, world, WORT FM 88.9, YouTube, Ysaye Barnwell
The third LunART Festival celebrates Black women in the arts with FREE streaming concerts and events this Saturday night, Oct. 10, and next Saturday night, Oct. 17
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The LunART Festival is back for its third season, continuing its mission to support, inspire, promote and celebrate women in the arts, with a special presentation, “Human Family,” available via two FREE video livestreams on LunART’s website and Facebook page on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. CDT.
The events will be co-hosted by LunART founder and flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top), and by vocalist and art administrator Deja Mason (below bottom).
In response to the most recent and ongoing racial inequality and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, LunART will present the “Human Family” virtual festival featuring art created by Black women.
These FREE streamed events will feature a palette of emerging and established artists drawn from Madison’s rich arts scene, while also celebrating those who have paved the way for generations to come.
Radical inclusivity has been part of LunART’s mission from its conception. While women have historically been underrepresented in the arts, we cannot deny that there are segments of women that have been doubly marginalized, including women of color, women in the LGBTQIA+ community, older women and women with disabilities.
Part of creating a more just, inclusive world means recognizing that even within the space of underrepresentation, there remain disparities.
Works from the past include Florence Price’s “Five Folksongs of Counterpoint” for string quartet (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), which is deeply rooted in the African-American spiritual tradition; Margaret Bonds’ Spiritual Suite for solo piano, written in a neo-Romantic classical style infused by jazz harmonies and rhythms; Afro-American Suite for flute, cello and piano by Undine Smith Moore, based on authentic spiritual songs used to express and record everyday life of slaves in America.
Florence Price (below), Margaret Bonds and Undine Smith Moore all fought against both racial and gender discrimination throughout their lives. To be a woman composing classical music in the mid-20th century was unusual; to be a Black woman composer was even more so. And yet, these women forged ahead, making history and paving the way for the women who would follow them.
Along with these pioneers of the past, LunART will also celebrate contemporary Black women who are making a big impact in the world of arts, culture, advocacy and activism, following the footsteps of their predecessors.
“Voodoo Dolls” for string quartet by Jessie Montgomery (below in a photo by Jiyang Chen) is influenced by West African drumming patterns that are interwoven with lyrical motifs in the improvisatory style.
“Fanmi Imen,” a work for flute and piano by Valerie Coleman (below) — LunART’s 2019 Composer-in-Residence) — is based on a powerful poem by Maya Angelou, “Human Family.” Angelou calls for peace and unity, while acknowledging differences due to ethnic and cultural background in her famous refrain: “we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
The chamber music will be performed by Madison’s finest musicians: Isabella Lippi, Karl Lavine, Peter Miliczky, Magdalena Sas, Marie Pauls, Satoko Hayami, Yana Avedyan and Iva Ugrcic.
Celebrating women’s creativity across many art forms has been a core component of LunART’s artistic mission from its inception, and this year is no exception. While music will create a sound painting, “Human Family” will also feature women who use words and movement to tell their story.
Enter a world of phenomenal talent with emerging singer-songwriters Danielle Crim and Akornefa Akyea performing their most recent original songs; magically moving poems and spoken-word pieces by Jamie Dawson and Shasparay Lighteard; and join dancer and choreographer Kimi Evelyn in self-exploration of what happens when the body and the soul are left in complete solitude through her powerful piece “Body, Sweet Home.”
To commemorate the Festival events, LunART has commissioned digital artwork (below) by local artist and activist Amira Caire, which is inspired by the “Human Family” concept. This stunning piece of art will be available for purchase in printed form on LunART’s website.
We are calling our community to eat local, drink local and support local. By supporting LunART, you are also supporting local nonprofits and small businesses.
This project would not be possible without the generosity of Madison’s creative media agency Microtone Media, The Piano Gal Shop from Sun Prairie, Dane Arts and a grant from the Madison Arts Commission at https://www.cityofmadison.com/dpced/planning/madison-arts-commission/1580/, with the additional funds from the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Events are free and available for anyone to watch online, and donations are welcomed. For more details about the artists, events, programs and links, and donation methods, please visit https://www.lunartfestival.org
Tags: #20thCentury, #African-AmericanMusic, #ArtsScene, #ArttForm, #BlackComposer, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackWomen, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #CityofMadison, #ClassicalStyle, #ClassiclaMusic, #Composer-in-Residence, #ContemporaryComposers, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DaneArts, #DejaMason, #DigitalMedia, #DisabilityRights, #EmergingArtist, #EstablishedArtist, #EthnicDiversity, #EverydayLife, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #folksongs, #HomeWebsite, #HumanFamily, #ImaniWinds, #IsabellaLippi, #IvaUgrcic, #JacobStockinger, #JessieMontgomery, #LGBTQrights, #LGBTRights, #LiveStreaming, #LivingComposer, #LunARTFestival, #LyricalMusic, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonWisconsin, #MargaretBonds, #MariePauls, #MayaAngelou, #MicrotoneMedia, #MusicalStyle, #NewMusic, #NonprofitOrganization, #OnlineConcert, #PeterMiliczky, #RacialInequality, #SatokoHayami, #Shostkovich, #SmallBusiness, #SongWriter, #SoundPainting, #SpokenWord, #StateOfWisconsin, #StringQuartet, #SunPrairie, #SunPrairieWisconsin, #TheEar, #ThePianoGalShop, #TheU.S., #UndineSmithMoore, #ValerieColeman, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #VocalMusic, #VoodooDolls, #WestAfrica, #WindMusic, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WomenofColor, #YanaAvedyan, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, 20th-century classical music, 20th-century music, acknowledge, Activism, activist, administrator, advocacy, Africa, African, African American, agency, America, art form, artists, Arts, artwork, audience, authentic, available, based, black, Black Lives Matter, Black women, BLM, blog, body, call, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, choreographer, Classical, Classical music, commemorate, community, component, compose, composer, conception, Concert, contemporary, continue, core, coronavirus, counterpoint, create, creativity, culture, dance, dancer, Dane Arts, Deja Mason, difference, digital, disability, discrimination, disparity, doll, donation, doubly, drink, drumming, eat, emerging, established, ethnic, event, events, everyday, exploration, express, Facebook, feature, festival, Florence Price, flute, flutist, forward, friend, gender, generation, generosity, harmony, historically, History, home website, host, human family, Imani Winds, impact, improvisation, improvistory, inception, inclusive, inclusivity, inequality, influence, infuse, inspire, interwoven, Isabella Lippi, Iva Ugrcic, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jessie Montgomery, just, Karl Lavine, KarlLavine, LGBT, LGBTQ, life, like, link, lives, livestream, Living composer, local, LunART Festival, lyrical, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, Magdalena Sas, make, Margaret Bonds, marginalized, Marie Pauls, Maya Angelou, media, method, Microtone Media, mission, motif, movement, Music, musical, Musician, neo-Romantic, New Music, nonprofit, older, ongoing, online, original, page, painting, palette, pandemic, patterns, peace, performer, Peter Miliczky, Pianist, Piano, piece, pioneer, poem, post, posting, powerful, predecessor, presentation, program, project, promote, race, racial, racial inequality, radical, recent, record, refrain, response, rhythm, Satoko Hayami, Saturday, scene, Season, segments, self, share, singer, Singing, slavery, slaves, small business, solidarity, solitude, solo, song, soul, Sound, sound painting, space, special, spiritual, spoken word, State of Wisconsin, story, stream, String quartet, style, Suite, Sun Prairie, support, tag, talent, tell, The Ear, The Piano Gal Shop, tradition, U.S., underrepresented, Undine Smith Morre, United States, unity, unusual, use, VALERIE COLEMAN, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtual, virtual festival, vocal music, vocalist, Voodoo, Voodoo Dolls, Website, West Africa, wind music, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, women, women of color, words, works, world, Yana Avedyan, year, YouTube
Classical music: The Winter Concert Series by the Madison Youth Choirs next Saturday and Sunday feature the theme of “Resilience” with guest artist Tony Memmel
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
This semester, the Madison Youth Choirs welcome guest artist Tony Memmel, a singer-songwriter and guitarist whose story of ingenuity and resilience will inspire young singers and audience members alike.
Born without a left forearm or hand, Memmel (below) taught himself to play guitar by building a homemade cast out of Gorilla Tape, and has become an internationally acclaimed musician, thoughtful teacher and ambassador for young people with limb differences. (You can hear Memmel talk about himself in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
On this coming Saturday night, Dec. 8, and Sunday afternoon, Dec., 9, at the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School at 2100 Bristol Street, Memmel will join the Madison Youth Choirs in a Winter Concert Series called “Resilience” because it focuses on the ability to overcome challenges both visible and invisible, and along the way discover the limitless possibilities that exist inside each of us.
Here is the schedule:
Saturday, Dec. 8, at 7:00 p.m. – Purcell, Britten, Holst and Ragazzi choirs
Sunday, Dec. 9, at 4:00 p.m. – Choraliers, Con Gioia, Capriccio, Cantilena and Cantabile choir
Tickets will be available at the door, $10 for general admission; $5 for students 7-18; and free for children under 7.
These concerts are generously endowed by the Diane Ballweg Performance Fund with additional support from our sponsors, American Girl’s Fund for Children, BMO Harris Bank, Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. This project is also supported by the Madison Arts Commission and the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
About Madison Youth Choirs (MYC): Recognized as an innovator in youth choral music education, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) welcomes singers of all ability levels, annually serving more than 1,000 young people, ages 7-18, through a wide variety of choral programs in our community.
Cultivating a comprehensive music education philosophy that inspires self-confidence, personal responsibility, and a spirit of inquiry leading students to become “expert noticers,” MYC creates accessible, meaningful opportunities for youth to thrive in the arts and beyond.
For more information about supporting or joining MYC, go to: https://www.madisonyouthchoirs.org
HERE IS THE COMPLETE REPERTOIRE OF THE MYC 2018 WINTER CONCERT SERIES “RESILIENCE”:
SATURDAY, DEC. 8, at 7:00 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Boychoirs)
Combined Boychoirs with Tony Memmel
“Clenched Hands, Brave Demands” by Tony Memmel
“Though My Soul May Set in Darkness,” text by Sarah Williams, composer unknown
Purcell
“Who Can Sail” Scandinavian Folk Song, arr. Jeanne Julseth-Heinrich
“Hine Ma Tov” Hebrew Folk Song, arr. Henry Leck
Britten
“Jerusalem,” poem by William Blake, music by Sir Hubert Parry
“This Little Babe” from A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten
Holst
“Keep Your Lamps,” traditional spiritual, arr. André Thomas
“Out of the Deep” by John Wall Callcott
“Shosholoza,” Traditional song from Zimbabwe, arr. Albert Pinsonneault
Combined Boychoirs
“Angels’ Carol” by John Rutter
Tony Memmel
Selections to be announced
Ragazzi
“Wie Melodien” (Op. 5, No. 1) by Johannes Brahms
“The Chemical Worker’s Song” by Ron Angel, arr. after Great Big Sea
“Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight” by Abbie Betinis
Combined Boychoirs with Tony Memmel (below)
“America to Go” by Tony Memmel
SUNDAY, DEC. 9, at 4:00 p.m. Concert (featuring MYC Girlchoirs)
Combined Girlchoirs with Tony Memmel
“Clenched Hands, Brave Demands” by Tony Memmel
Choraliers
“Be Like a Bird,” Text from Victor Hugo, music by Arthur Frackenpohl
“Art Thou Troubled” by George Frideric Handel
“Blustery Day” by Victoria Ebel-Sabo
Con Gioia
“Bist du bei mir” by Johann Sebastian Bach from “The Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach”
“I Heard a Bird Sing” by Cyndee Giebler
“Ask the Moon” from Three Settings of the Moon by Ron Nelson
“I’ll Overcome Someday” by C.A. Tindley
“We Shall Overcome” arr. by Marie McManama and Con Gioia
“i shall imagine” by Daniel Brewbaker, text by e.e. cummings
South African National Anthem by E.M. Sontonga and M.L. de Villiers
Capriccio
“Resilience” by Abbie Betinis
“Be Like the Bird” by Abbie Betinis
“Esurientes” from Magnificat in G minor by Antonio Vivaldi
“And Ain’t I a Woman!” by Susan Borwick, adapted from a speech by Sojourner Truth
Tony Memmel
Selections to be announced by Tony Memmel
Cantilena
“Vanitas vanitatum” by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
“Chant for a Long Day” by Stephen Hatfield
“Wir eilen mit schwachen doch emsigen Schritten”(from BWV 78) by Johann Sebastian Bach
“The Storm is Passing Over” by Charles Albert Tindley, arr. Barbara Baker
Cantabile
“Ich weiss nicht”(Op. 113, No. 11) by Johannes Brahms, text by Friedrich Rueckert
“Widmung” (Op.25, No. 1) by Johannes Brahms, text by Friedrich Rueckert
“I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Charles Davidson
Combined Choirs with Tony Memmel
“America to Go” by Tony Memmel
Tags: #AbrahamLincoln, #ACeremonyofCarols, #AlbertPinsonneault, #AmericanGirl, #AntonioVivaldi, #AudienceMembers, #BaroqueMusic, #BenjaminBritten, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BMOHarrisBank, #ChoralMusic, #DaneArts, #DianeBallweg, #EndresMfg.Company, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FolkMusic, #FriedrichRueckert, #GeorgeFridericHandel, #GorillaTape, #GuestArtist, #GuitarMusic, #GustavHolst, #Hebrewmusic, #HenryPurcell, #HolidayCarol, #HubertParry, #JanPieterszoonSweelinck, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnRutter, #MadisonArtsCommission, #MadisonYouthChoirs, #MiddletonHighSchool, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #MiddletonWisconsin, #MusicEducation, #NationalAnthem, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #PersonalResponsibility, #PleasantRowland, #SojournerTruth, #SongWriter, #SouthAfrica, #TheCapitalTimes, #TheEvjueFoundation, #TonyMemmel, #VictorHugo, #W.JeromeFrautschi, #WeShallOvercome, #WilliamBlake, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #YoungPeople, #YoungSinger, #YouTubevideo, A Ceremony of Carols, ability, Abraham Lincoln, acclaimed, Albert Pinsonneault, ambassador, America, American, American Girl, angel, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, audience, babe, Bach, Baroque, Benjamin Britten, BMO Harris Bank, boychoir, boys, Brahms, butterfly, cantabile, Capriccio, Carol, cast, challenge, children, Choir, choral music, Classical music, community, composer, Concert, Dane Arts, Diane Ballweg, disability, e.e. cummings, Endres Mfg. Company, Evjue Foundation, Facebook, folk, Folk music, folk song, folksong, forearm, Frautschi, Friedrich Rueckert, George Frideric Handel, girlchoir, girls, Gorilla Tape, guest artist, guitar, guitarist, hand, Hebrew, Holst, homemade, Hubert Parry, imagine, inspiration, inspire, international, Jacob Stockinger, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Jerusalem, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Rutter, left, level, limb, Madison, Madison Arts Commission, Madison Youth Choirs, Magnificat, melodies, melody, Middleton, Middleton High School, Middleton Performing Arts Center, Music, Music education, Musician, national anthem, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, original, personal responsibility, philosophy, Piano, Pleasant Rowland, poem, Poetry, Purcell, resilience, Scandinavian, self-confidence, series, singer, Singing, Sojourner Truth, song, South Africa, spirit, spiritual, sponsor, Teacher, teenager, text, Tony Memmel, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Victor Hugo, We Shall Overcome, Wiliam Blake, winter, Wisconsin Arts Board, woman, worker, YouTube, Zimbabwe
Classical music: The inaugural LunART Festival — celebrating women creators and performers — will take place this coming Thursday through Saturday
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By Jacob Stockinger
The timing couldn’t be better or more relevant, given the rise of the #MeToo movement and the increased attention being paid to the role of women in the creative and performing arts.
So The Ear is pleased to post the following announcement about the inaugural LunART Festival, which will take place this coming Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The announcement comes from festival co-directors flutist Iva Ugrcic (below top) and oboist Laura Medisky (below bottom). Both women are doctoral graduates from the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, and both are members of the Black Marigold woodwind quintet and have played with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
The first-ever LunART Festival will be held in Madison, Wisconsin, from this Thursday through Saturday, June 28-30, with the mission to support, inspire, promote and celebrate women in the arts through pubic performances, exhibitions, workshops and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The festival — showcasing 40 international women artists — will provide accessible, high-quality, engaging concerts and events with diverse programming through various arts fields. All artistic creators represented at LunART (composers, visual artists, writers, speakers) will be women.
To showcase women in the arts and bring their work into the spotlight, this three-day event includes a variety of FREE and ticketed concerts, outreach events and educational programs.
The artistic goal is to share works of women artists, and ensure the progress women have made will continue to flourish and grow, overcoming issues of gender inequity in the Arts. LunART supports artistic development of all aspiring regional, national, and international artists, whether emerging or established in their fields.
“This festival will raise awareness of the position of women in the arts through engaging, accessible concerts and events,” says founder and executive director Ugrcic. “The LunART Festival offers diverse programs representing current and relevant women in the arts,and we are committed to expanding and strengthening community ties through public performances and exhibitions. As we establish the festival’s reach into our local community and beyond, we see tremendous potential for growth in future years, with opportunities to expand our vision to theater, dance, opera and the visual arts, creating an interdisciplinary festival dedicated to women in all the arts.”
Through LunART’s mission and vision, the greater Madison community, audiences, festival musicians, artists, and the global music community will be directly impacted by:
- Raising awareness of the position of women in the arts
- Empowering women artists and creating a sense of unity and community
- Establishing artistic relationships and opening doors for future collaborations
- Creating lines for global connections rooted in Madison
- Introducing underrepresented artists to Wisconsin audiences
- Reaching diverse audiences, and drawing from underserved populations
- Providing opportunity for local businesses to be involved in the arts, supporting an organization with a specific social cause. The inaugural festival includes three ticketed evening Gala concerts of contemporary classical music and two “Starry Night” late-night performances featuring a local woman hip-hop artist, singer-songwriter, and a rock band.
Also on the schedule is an outreach concert featuring emerging women composers, a lecture about the influence of women in the arts, and a panel discussion about collaboration in the arts.
The festival’s 2018 Artist-in-Residence is award-winning composer Jenni Brandon from Long Beach, California. Brandon’s instrumental and vocal works will be showcased at the Gala concerts, including one world premiere. (You can hear a sample of her work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
To connect with women composers globally, the festival held a call for scores, from December to March, that was open to women composers of all ages and nationalities, and received scores from over 90 applicants from more than 20 countries.
- LunART Festival has partnered with area art organizations including Overture Center for the Arts, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, First United Methodist Church, Madison Public Library, Capitol Lakes Retirement Center, and First Unitarian Society of Madison, as well as local businesses Robinia Courtyard, Bos Meadery, and Field Table. LunART is supported by Dane Arts and Madison Arts Commission, won second place at the 2018 UW Arts Business Competition, and is a finalist for the 2018 National Flute Association’s C.R.E.A.T.E. Project Competition.
For a complete schedule of the varied events, go to this website and click on Learn More: https://www.lunartfestival.org/events
The main concluding event is the gala concert of “Women’s Voices” on Saturday, June 30, at 7 p.m. in the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive. Tickets are $20 for general admission, $10 for students. They can be purchased in advance by going to the website for the concert, which is below.
The website also has the full list of performers and the full program – including works by Hildegard von Bingen, Fanny Mendelssohn and Amy Beach and many contemporary women composers.
Go to: https://www.lunartfestival.org/womens-voices
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The Well-Tempered Ear 