The Well-Tempered Ear
TONIGHT at 7:30 the UW-Madison offers free but conflicting online concerts of opera and percussion music
1 Comment
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
Tonight – Tuesday, Nov. 24 – at 7:30 p.m. the University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music will offer two FREE but competing events online.
You would think with so many empty spots in the events calendar due to the coronavirus pandemic that such conflicts could be avoided.
In any case, whichever concert you choose to watch – or perhaps to toggle back and forth between the two – here are the details:
OPERA SCENES
The first concert, done by University Opera, is Opera Scenes.
According to the website description: “What was to be Opera Workshop’s Fall Opera Scenes program has morphed in a delightful way.
“This term, each singer undertook an in-depth study of one particular operatic role. We’ll be presenting the fruits of that study – excerpted recitatives and arias from The Coronation of Poppea, Don Giovanni and Orfeo ed Euridice – staged in each student’s adapted habitat, and filmed by the students themselves.”
Here is the program with specifics about the singers and the selections as well as other aspects such as direction and accompaniment:
UW-Madison Opera Workshop: Professors Mimmi Fulmer, Thomas Kasdorf and University Opera head David Ronis (below) are the directors; William Preston and Molly Schumacher are the TAs.
“Batti, batti” and “Vedrai carino” from “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Zerlina: Maria Steigerwald
Directors: Molly Schumacher and David Ronis
Pianist: William Preston
“Chiamo il mio ben così” and “Che farò senza Euridice” from “Orfeo ed Euridice” by Christoph Willibald Gluck
Orfeo: Emily Quartemont
Director: David Ronis
Pianist: Thomas Kasdorf
“Or sai chi l’onore” and “Non mi dir” from “Don Giovanni” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Donna Anna: Sachie Ueshima
Director: Mimmi Fulmer
Pianist: Thomas Kasdorf
Excerpts from Act I, Scenes 3, 4, and 10 from “L’incoronazione di Poppea”by Claudio Monteverdi. (Below is a photo by Michael R. Anderson of a previous fully staged production in 2018 by University Opera of the Monteverdi opera.)
Poppea: Molly Schumacher
Director: Mimmi Fulmer
Pianist: William Preston
Here is a direct link to the one-hour production: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcPY9sLGls
UW CHAMBER PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
Also tonight is a concert by the UW-Madison Chamber Percussion Ensemble (below), directed by Anthony Di Sanza and Thomas Ross.
It takes place in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the Hamel Music Center, and will run from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. No in-person attendance is allowed.
The UW-Madison Chamber Percussion Ensemble is dedicated to the performance of significant and engaging works for the Western percussion ensemble tradition. Repertoire from diverse trends in 20th and 21st century chamber composition is explored with an emphasis on new compositions for percussion.
Here is a direct link to the live-streamed concert, with more information about the program and the names of the players if you click on “Show More”: https://youtu.be/iZKO8pZmomA
And here is the program of the mostly new music:
Living Room Music (in the times of Covid) (1940) by John Cage and heard in the YouTube video at the bottom.
I. To Begin
II. Story
III. Melody
IV. End
Spanesque Oscillations (2003) by Steve Riley
For High Hats (2017) by Matt McBane
INTERMISSION
Marimbaireachd (1997) by Matthew Welch
The Lonelyness of Santa Clause (1994) by Fredrik Andersson
Metric Lips (1988) by Bela Fleck (arr. Steinquest)
Tags: #20thCentury, #21stCentury, #AnthonyDiSanza, #BaroqueComposer, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueOpera, #BelaFleck, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #ChamberPercussionEnsemble, #ChristophWillibaldGluck, #ClaudioMonteverdi, #CollaborativePianist, #ConcertProgram, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DavidRonis, #DonGiovanni, #EmperorNero, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FredrikAndersson, #HamelMusicCenter, #HighHats, #JacobStockinger, #JohnCage, #LivingComposers, #LivingRoom, #LivingRoomMusic, #MarimbaMusic, #MatthewWelch, #MattMcBane, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MetricLips, #MimmiFulmer, #ModernComposers, #Musicfaculty, #NewMusic, #OnlineConcert, #OperaAria, #OperaMusic, #OperaScenes, #OperaticRecitative, #OrfeoedEuridice, #PercussionMusic, #PianoAccompanist, #SantaClause, #SopranoSinger, #SteveRiley, #TheCoronationofPoppea, #TheEar, #TheUW, #ThomasKasdorf, #ThomasRoss, #Tuesdaynight, #UniversityOpera, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WilliamPreston, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, 2018, 20th-century, 21st century, ;ik, accompany, act, adapted, allow, Anthony Di Sanza, Arts, audience, avoid, Baroque, begin, Bela Fleck, blog, calendar, Chamber music, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Classical music, Claudio Monteverdi, competing, composer, compositions, Concert, conflict, coronation, coronavirus, David Ronis, dedicate, description, details, director, diverse, Don Giovanni, Early music, emphasis, empty, end, engaging, event, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, faculty, fall, forward, Fredrik Andersson, Gluck, habitat, Hamel Music Center, high hats, in person, in-depth, Jacob Stockinger, John Cage, like, lips, living composers, living room, Living Room Music, lonely, Madison, marimba, Matt McBane, Matthew Welch, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, melody, metric, Mimmi Fulmer, modern, Monteverdi, morph, Mozart, Music, music faculty, Nero, new, New Music, online, opera, Opera aria, opera scenes, operatic, Orfeo ed Euridice, oscillations, pandemic, percussion, Percussion music, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano accompanist, Poppea, post, posting, previous, production, professor, program, recitative, repertoire, repertory, role, run, Santa Clause, scene, selection, share, significant, singer, soprano, specifics, spot, stage, staged, Steve Riley, story, Student, study, tag, The Coronation of Poppea, The Ear, Thomas Kasdorf, Thomas Ross, toggle, tonight, tradition, trend, Tuesday, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, UW, UW-Madison, virtual, virtual concert, vocal music, watch, Western, William Preston, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, works, YouTube, Zelina
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 
Classical music: What composer or piece of music would you like to hear once the coronavirus is contained and concert halls open again?
3 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
The news can be confusing and even contradictory about some specifics, but the general direction of reports and statistics about the coronavirus pandemic and deaths from COVID-19 is clear.
It is going to be a long haul until we safely get to go hear live music in large crowds again, just as The Ear talked about earlier this week. (Below is a photo of conductor John DeMain and the Madison Symphony Orchestra in Overture Hall.)
Here is a link to that post: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/classical-music-its-clear-to-the-ear-it-will-be-at-least-another-full-year-before-music-lovers-in-the-u-s-can-safely-attend-live-concerts-what-do-you-think/
When performers finally get to play, and the concert halls finally get to open, and audiences finally get to listen in person, here is what The Ear wants to know:
What composer would you like hear?
Maybe Beethoven (below) because so much of the Beethoven Year – marking the composer’s 250th birthday this coming December – has been canceled or postponed?
Maybe Johann Sebastian Bach (below) because he just seems so basic, varied and universal?
And what specific piece of music would you like to hear?
Perhaps Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony “Choral” with its “Ode to Joy”? Or maybe the “Eroica” Symphony? Or one of the string quartets?
Perhaps the “St. Mathew Passion” or the Mass in B Minor? Maybe one or more of the cantatas?
Should the music pay homage to the suffering, loss and death – perhaps with Mozart’s “Requiem”? Or Brahms’ “A German Requiem”? Or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony?
Or should the music be upbeat and joyous, like Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture” (below in the YouTube video)? Or some glittering and whirling waltzes by the Strauss family?
Is there an opera that seems especially relevant?
Would you prefer instrumental, choral or vocal music?
And what period, era or style would you prefer?
It will be great to be reacquainted with old and familiar friends. But it would also seem an ideal time to commission and perform new music.
Leave your suggestions in the Comment section with, if possible, a link to a YouTube performance to help us decide.
The Ear wants to hear.
Share this:
Like this:
Tags: #AGermanRequiem, #AntoninDvorak, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarnivalOverture, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralSymphony, #Classicalera, #CommissionedMusic, #ConcertHall, #ContemporaryMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #EroicaSymphony, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #GustavMahler, #InPerson, #InstrumentalMusic, #JacobStockinger, #JohannesBrahms, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohannStrauss, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassinBMinor, #ModernMusic, #NewMusic, #NewsReports, #NinthSymphony, #OdetoJoy, #OperaMusic, #OvertureCenter, #OvertureHall, #PublicHealth, #ResurrectionSymphony, #RomanticMusic, #St.MatthewPassion, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #VocalMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, A German Requiem, A German Requiem (Brahms), anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, audience, Bach, Baroque, basic, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birthday, blog, Brahms, cancel, canceled, Carnival Overture, Chamber music, choral, choral music, cinfusing, Classical era, clear, comment, commission, commissioned music, composer, concert hall, conductor, contain, contained, contemporary, contradictory, coronavirus, covid, crowd, death, December, direction, Dvorak, Early music, era, Eroica Symphony, Facebook, familiar, forward, friend, fundamental, gliterring, Gustav Mahler, hear, ideal, in person, instrumental music, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Strauss, Johannes Brahms, joyous, like, link, listen, live music, long haul, loss, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mahler, Mass in B Minor, modern, Mozart, new, New Music, Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy, old, open, opera, Orchestra, Overture, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, Overture Hall, pandemic, performers, period, piece, post, posting, postpone, postponed, prefer, Public health, reacquainted, relevant, reports, Requiem, Resurrection, Resurrection Symphony, Romantic, safely, safety, section, share, specific, specifics, St Matthew Passion, statistics, Strauss, String quartet, style, suggestion, syffering, symphony, tag, The Ear, time, universal, upbeat, varied, vocal, vocal music, week, whirling, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube