The Well-Tempered Ear
FREE birthday bash for Johann Sebastian Bach is this Saturday in Madison
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear thinks of this week’s Bach Around the Clock — which runs March 6-10 — as a double celebration.
The primary one is to mark the 339th birthday of composer Johann Sebastian Bach (below, March 20, 1685-July 28, 1750), whom many consider to be the Big Bang of Western classical music.
The second celebration is to honor the late Madison violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below), who with help resurrected Bach Around the Clock in Madison after it had been dropped by Wisconsin Public Radio.
Talented, hard-working and congenial, Fischer — who died a year ago of cancer — was a fixture of the local music scene. She was a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and spent 20 years playing in the Madison Symphony Orchestra. An outstanding chamber musician, she also helped found and played in the Ancora String Quartet.
An avid proponent of early music using period instruments and historically informed performance practices, Fischer Hoyt helped found and play in the weekly free Just Bach concerts. She performed regularly with the Madison Bach Musicians and with an early music string group she helped found, Sonata à Quattro.
Here is a link to a complete schedule on the BATC website:
The Ear thinks Marika would be very pleased and proud of this year’s event.
It will feature Bach’s original choral and instrumental music in many genres and transcriptions. Soloists and groups of varying sizes will take part. And Bach’s music — so central to the repertoire and all levels of musicianship — will be performed by students (below are members of the Suzuki Strings), by amateurs and by professionals (in the YouTube video at the bottom) — making BATC a truly community-wide celebration of Bach.
The hours for the Birthday Bash concert, which used to run 12 hours, have been cut back to a reasonable and accessible 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent St., on Madison’s near west side. But a birthday cake will still be cut at the end.
And in case you want to duck in and out or catch certain performances or performers, here is a full program schedule for Saturday:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CIRby29h6wZjyngZgyMPpTrLNiMC_1OR/view
You can find links to all other events and programs — printed in blue — on the main website for the March 6-10 festival.
Performances by performers in their own homes and studios will air online as part of the Virtual Festival held of BATC’s YouTube channel, starting at midnight on this Sunday, March 10. Its runs without a time limit and can be accessed worldwide.
Here is a link to the YouTube channel, which also has past performances
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHBRPHSGd_fNECp-qrWsqlQ
Have you attended or heard other Bach Around the Clocks?
What do you think of the celebration?
The Ear wants to hear.
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ALL Bach Around the Clock 2023 concerts are now online. Here are the links and some stats
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following news from Bach Around the Clock 2023 (BATC). Please note that there is no time limit or expiration date on viewing and listening to the online postings (see the example video of a string quartet arrangement from “The Art of Fugue” at the bottom):
| BATC 2023 Festival video recordings are now available at BachClock.com and on YouTube |
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BATC 2023 recordings have been organized into playlists: Guest Artist Lawrence Quinnett; String Soloists; Keyboard soloists; Ensembles and Studios; Festival Finale; Virtual Performances Recordings for Just Bach’s Concert and Bach on Marimba lecture/performance are also available. |
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Thank you to BATC 2023 performers! True to our mission, Bach Around The Clock welcomed the participation of over 115 performers (below in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church), including amateurs and professionals of all ages and experience levels, sharing their love of Bach’s music with the community. |
| 85 musicians performed at St. Andrew’s on Saturday, March 11. 30 musicians submitted recordings from their homes and studios. 28 hours of Bach Around The Clock performances are available. |
| Thank you to our audience members (below in Grace Episcopal Church)! In-person and online — BATC 2023 performances have been enjoyed by record-setting numbers of Bach enthusiasts. |
| Thank you to our BATC Donors, acknowledged here. With the generous support of over 40 BATC fans and business sponsors, we achieved our fundraising goal of covering all 2023 festival expenses! New contributions will help us with planning for the future of Bach Around The Clock. |
New contributions will help us with planning for the future of Bach Around The Clock.
You can donate here: https://bachclock.com/donate
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Today – Monday, March 22 — is Day 6 of the 2021 online Bach Around the Clock festival. The program features string, keyboard, percussion and vocal music with some interesting transcriptions
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By Jacob Stockinger
Yesterday – Sunday, March 21 — was the actual birthday, the 336th, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
But the 10-day virtual and online celebration being held by Bach Around the Clock (BATC) continues.
Here are the pieces and performers that will take place.
The Ear is especaially pleased by some of the transcriptions, which offer more proof of just how indestructible and versatile Bach’s music remains.
Particularly interesting is the string quartet version of the famous cantata “Wachet auf” (Sleepers, Wake) and the Three-Part Inventions or Sinfonias transcribed for marimba, and played by Sean Kleve (below), a UW-Madison graduate who performs with the critically acclaimed experimental Madison-based percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.
Monday’s program is available starting at 8 a.m.
Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.
Performers
• Minuet 2 in G Major, Anh 116; Suite in G Minor, BWV 822; Gavotte from Double Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043, I. Vivace. Suzuki Strings Sonora Ensemble
• Cantata 140: “Wachet Auf” (Sleeper, Wake), arranged for string quartet. St. Croix Valley String Quartet: Janette Cysewski and Debbie Lanzen, violins; Dianne Wiik, viola; and Joel Anderson, cello.
• French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for keyboard, BWV 814: Sarabande, Anglaise, Menuett and Trio. Kris Sankaran
• Sinfonia 1 in C Major, BWV 787; Sinfonia 7 in E Minor, BWV 793; Sinfonia 10 in G Major, BWV 796; Sinfonia 11 in G Minor, BWV 797; Sinfonia 15 in B Minor, BWV 801. Sean Kleve, marimba. (You can hear Glenn Gould playing the original version of the first Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
• Chorale: We thank Thee, Lord, for sending. Katie Hultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ
Live and Recorded Evening Program at 7 p.m.
Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.
BATC audiences will remember pianist Lawrence Quinnett (below) from his exquisite renderings of selections from The Well-Tempered Clavier, at the 2018 Festival.
Quinnett, on the piano faculty of Livingstone College, returns in 2021 to give a brief talk on his approach to ornamentation in the six French Suites, as a prelude to his live performance of Suite No. 5. The floor will open for questions, followed by Quinnett’s recorded performance of the remaining five Suites.
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Classical music: This year’s virtual Bach Around the Clock proved a 10-day success. Here is a news update with a date for 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following message from artistic director and violist Marika Fischer Hoyt (below top) about this year’s virtual Bach Around the Clock and the dates for next year’s festival when amateur and professional musicians will again celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750):
Greetings! I hope this finds you well and finding ways to maintain equilibrium in these tumultuous times.
I’d like to thank you all again for making our 10-day 2020 Virtual Festival (one example is in the YouTube video at the bottom) such a success.
After the sad cancellation of our in-person festival, it was wonderful to see so many of you playing and singing Bach! It reminded me of the Dr. Seuss book; the COVID Grinch may have stolen the trappings of our festival, but we just held it anyway! (Below are members of the Suzuki Strings from a previous BATC festival.)
With the summer over, the BATC board of directors is looking ahead to next year’s festival, which will take place on Saturday, March 20, 2021. We don’t yet know what format it will take — whether in-person, virtual or some combination — but we will explore all available options.
If you have suggestions, please contact us.
Meanwhile, with so many concerts canceled, I hope you can find other ways to include music in your lives. I’ll continue posting Bach-related articles and performance links on our Facebook page.
If you have the means, please consider donating to artists and ensembles whose livelihoods have vanished for the foreseeable future.
Thank you again for being part of the BATC community, and please take care.
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Classical music education: Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras performs “Sounds of the Season” with area high school choirs on TV once again on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Plus, WYSO names Randal Swiggum as its new interim music director
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras has two pieces of news to report:
As in past years, WYSO will perform its popular one-hour, commercial-free “Sounds of the Season” concerts on TV on NBC 15 this weekend.
Three WYSO groups will be featured: the Youth Orchestra (below top), the Youth Brass Choir (below middle) and the Percussion Ensemble (below bottom).
There will be one performance on Christmas Eve at 10 p.m., and then two performances on Christmas Day at 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
The orchestra and ensembles will also be joined by choirs from area high schools. Sorry, but The Ear can’t find word of which ones.
You can hear part of Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” as performed by WYSO on “Sounds of the Season” in the YouTube video at the bottom.
For more information, photos and audiovisual clips from a last year’s “Sounds of the Season,” go to:
http://www.nbc15.com/content/misc/NBC15-Sounds-Of-The-Season-2016-406076915.html
In addition WYSO has named an interim replacement for outgoing music director James Smith (below), who is retiring from WYSO as well as from the University of Wisconsin-Madison at the end of this season.
Here are details from WYSO’s executive director Bridget Fraser:
“WYSO is very pleased to announce that Randal Swiggum (below) has been appointed WYSO Interim Artistic Director and Youth Orchestra Conductor for the 2017-2018 season.
“Randy is well-known to many WYSO students already, whether through Summer Music Clinic, the recent Wisconsin Middle Level Honors orchestra, or Suzuki Strings of Madison. He prepared the WYSO Youth Orchestra for its 2012 Overture Center performance of “To Be Certain of the Dawn,” and has subbed in with Philharmonia Orchestra and chamber music rehearsals.
“Randy is in his 19th season as Artistic Director of the award-winning Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra, a large program similar to WYSO, which draws students from 70 different communities in suburban Chicago.
“Under his direction, the EYSO has collaborated with renowned artists like Midori, Yo-Yo Ma and Rachel Barton Pine, as well as Grammy-winning chamber ensemble eighth blackbird. The EYSO has appeared on NPR’s “From the Top” and at the Ravinia Festival, where they will return to perform again in 2018.
“The Illinois Council of Orchestras has twice named him Conductor of the Year and awarded its prestigious Programming of the Year Award to the EYSO.
“A frequent guest conductor of orchestral and choral festivals, Randy recently conducted the Scottish National Youth Symphony in Glasgow, All-State Orchestras in Georgia and Illinois, the American Mennonite Schools Orchestra Festival, Northern Arizona Honors Orchestra, the APAC Orchestra Festival in Seoul, and both the Wisconsin Middle Level Honors Choir and Orchestra, among many others.
“Randy also works with a number of professional orchestras, designing and conducting concerts for young people. Last year, he led the Madison Symphony in his original “Symphony Safari: What Nature Teaches Us About the Orchestra,” attended by several thousand middle school students in Overture Hall.
“Next February, he returns for a fourth season with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in its acclaimed “Teen Partner” series, conducting the Gloria by Francis Poulenc.
“He also appears next spring with the Chippewa Valley Symphony, conducting his “Beethoven Superhero” concert, which has been popular with teachers, students and parents alike, with the Elgin Symphony and The Florida Orchestra (Tampa).
“As an author and lecturer, Randy works with teachers around the country and internationally, most recently with international school teachers in Hong Kong and at Carnegie Hall, where last summer he returned for a fourth season teaching its Music Educator Workshops, and leading members of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA.
“Randy is a proud UW-Madison graduate and lives in Madison, where you can find him on Monday nights working with the Madison Boychoir (in the Madison Youth Choirs) alongside colleague Margaret Jenks.
“WYSO is truly fortunate to have such a dedicated and tireless educator guiding its artistic vision next season.”
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