The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music: Bach Around the Clock 2019 is looking for performers of all kinds to play on March 2

January 20, 2019
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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

Do you like the music of Johann Sebastian Bach (below, followed by photos of performances from past years)?

Then attention individuals and groups!

Amateurs and professionals!

Students and teachers!

Young people and old!

Instrumentalists and singers!

Bach Around the Clock – the annual one-day festival to mark the birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach – is looking for performers for the 12 hours of celebration.

This year, the event takes place on Saturday, March 2.

Here is an official announcement with complete details about participating in and supporting the event:

Would YOU like to perform at Bach Around the Clock (BATC)?

Plan to join in the celebration of the 334th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Musicians — amateur and professional — are invited to perform their favorite piece by Bach.

To request a performance spot, go to the BATC website and click on “Contact Us” to find our online sign-up request form.

Tell us who you are, whether it’s you alone or in a group, what you would like to perform, what instrument(s) and the approximate amount of time you would like for your performance. We will get back in touch with you with complete details.

Here is a link: https://bachclock.com/

Performances will take place on Saturday, March 2, at St. Andrew’s Church, 1833 Regent St., Madison, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. It will be live-streamed on local radio stations and websites.

P.S.  You can help keep this festival free and open to all! Bach Around the Clock welcomes donations to help meet the costs of offering this free community event. To make a secure online contribution, click below:

Donate

Bach Around the Clock is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

The Ear, who finds the event instructive and enjoyable, wants to add that although he loves and appreciates performances of Bach’s works as they were originally intended, he especially enjoys unusual arrangements that show the plasticity and genius of Bach’s music. He loves bluegrass Bach, roots Bach, jazz Bach, fell Bach and more.

From past years, he remembers hearing Two-Part Inventions written for keyboard played by a bassoon and flute duo. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.) Similarly, he found it entrancing when one of the suites for solo cello was played on a saxophone and another on an electric bass guitar.

The Ear loves such unexpected variety – and is sure that Johann Sebastian himself, who often borrowed from and transcribed his own works, would approve.


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Classical music: This week’s “Just Bach” concert on Wednesday afternoon features Halloween fare as well as instrumental and vocal music typical of Johann Sebastian

October 29, 2018
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

By Jacob Stockinger

BOO!!

But this time it’s all treat and no trick!

This month’s FREE concert in the new midday series of Just Bach (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) falls on Wednesday – that is, on Halloween!

In keeping with the spooky holiday, this week’s Just Bach concert will feature one of the traditional pieces of classical music used on Halloween: the mighty and well-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ. (You can see an abstract and fascinating animated graphic depiction of the work in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The FREE concert runs from 1 to 2 p.m. at Luther Memorial Church (below) at 1021 University Avenue. The audience is permitted to eat lunch and drink refreshments during the midday concert.

Two other works are on the program.

One is the Suite No. 5 in C minor for solo cello, played by James Waldo (below). A discerning friend of The Ear heard Waldo play a different solo cello suite at a concert last month by the Madison Bach Musicians, and said it was probably the finest interpretation he had ever heard. And he has heard a lot of them.

The last work will be the Cantata No. 163 “Nur Jedem das Seine,” or “To Each His Own,” with singers and instrumentalists performing on period instruments with historically informed performance practices.

For information about the series, go to: https://justbach.org

Specifically, if you want to know more about the dates and programs, go to:

https://justbach.org/concerts/

And if you want to know more about the performers, go to: https://justbach.org/about-us/

Finally, if you want to know more about the background and genesis of the new concert series, here is a link to a previous post:

https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=Just+Bach


Classical music: Cellist-composer Steuart Pincombe performs music by Bach, Biber and Abel on this Thursday night at the Chocolaterian Cafe in Middleton

September 17, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement about a special and unusual populist concert:

Cellist Steuart Pincombe (below) can regularly be found playing in some of the world’s more prestigious concert halls, premiering new compositions and soloing in major festivals.

On this coming Thursday night, Sept. 20, at 7:30 p.m., Pincombe will perform music in a more intimate setting: the Chocolaterian Cafe (below), located at 6637 University Avenue in Middleton. Phone is 608 836-1156.)

The concert is part of an international movement called Music in Familiar Spaces, which is bringing the classical music experience at its highest level into homes, cafes, breweries, bookstores or any place where people feel comfortable.

One of the aims of the Music in Familiar Spaces is to make classical music accessible to a wide and varied audience. This is accomplished not only by performing in familiar, comfortable and untraditional spaces, but by designing programs that invite the audience to experience the music in a new and engaging way.

The program at the Chocolaterian is titled “Sweet Sorrow” and features music of some of the Baroque period’s most beloved composers: Karl Friedrich Abel (below top in a painting by Thomas Gainsborough), Heinrich Biber (below middle) and Johann Sebastian Bach (below bottom) plus an original composition by Pincombe.

Pincombe will be joined by local violinist and concertmaster of the Madison Bach Musicians Kangwon Kim (below) in a selection from Biber’s Rosary Sonatas.

Here is the program:

Selections in D minor (From 27 Pieces for Viola da gamba) by Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)

Violin Sonata No. 10 in G minor, “Crucifixion” (From the Rosary sonatas) by Heinrich Biber (1644-1702)

Suite No. 5 in C minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1011, by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). You can hear Mischa Maisky playing the Prelude to the Bach suite in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Psalm 56 for Voice and Viola da gamba by Steuart Pincombe (1987-)

In order to make the concert accessible to anyone, the audience is asked to name-their-own-ticket-price for the concert, paying what they can afford and what they deem the concert is worth.

The suggested ticket price is $15-30 per person, plus the cost of whatever food and drink you wish to purchase from the cafe.

Want to know more about Steuart Pincombe?

Here is a link to his home website: https://www.steuartpincombe.com

Steuart Pincombe’s career as a cellist has brought him to leading halls and festivals across North America and Europe and he has been named by the Strad Magazine as a “superb solo cellist” and a “gorgeous player [with] perfect intonation, imaginative phrasing” by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Highlights of Steuart’s recent concert seasons include being a featured soloist with Solistenensemble Kaleidoskop (Germany), festival appearances with Asko | Schönberg (Netherlands), Cello8ctet Amsterdam (Netherlands), Ensemble Ansonia (Belgium), Oerknal! (Netherlands), performing with Holland Baroque Society (Netherlands) for King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands, appearing as soloist at the Amsterdam Cello Bienalle (Netherlands), and recording Bach’s Cello Suite No. 2 in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw for All of Bach.

His concert “Bach and Beer” was selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of the Top 10 Classical Events of the Year and a concert in which he appeared as soloist with Rene Schiffer and Apollo’s Fire was numbered in London’s ‘5 Best Classical Music Moments of 2014’ according to The Telegraph (United Kingdom).

In 2015-2016, Pincombe toured North America for one year bringing classical music to new spaces and new audiences in a project he started called Music in Familiar Spaces.

He is currently visiting Teacher of Historical Performance at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.


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