The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Meet Alexander Gonzalez, the new assistant band director at the UW-Madison who is also a UW alumnus
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following press release from the UW-Madison about its new assistant band director. Like many of his musician colleagues at the UW-Madison, he is likely to see his duties curtailed because of the coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19.
After the completion of a national search, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music is pleased to announce the hiring of Alexander Gonzalez (below, in a photo by Robb McCormick) as the new assistant director of bands.
Gonzalez will conduct the Tuesday Night University Band, assist the University of Wisconsin Marching Band, direct the Men’s Hockey Band, and teach courses in conducting.
Gonzalez comes to Wisconsin after studying conducting at Ohio State University as a Doctorate of Musical Arts candidate, where he worked with all concert ensembles and the marching band. Alongside his studies, he was the director of the Professional School Orchestra and taught conducting at Capital University’s Conservatory of Music.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alexander and his wife Haley to the University of Wisconsin Marching Band family,” said Associate Director of Bands Corey Pompey (below). “Alexander is a supremely gifted musician and pedagogue whose role is integral to the success of our band program. He is thoughtful, engaging and direct. Our students will benefit in immeasurable ways from what he has to offer.”
Prior to his studies in Ohio, Gonzalez was a public school educator in Colorado and Florida, where he taught an array of courses at middle school and high school levels.
While participating in his Master’s degree in Wind Conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he was the director of the Middleton High School Symphony Orchestra’s Wind Octet and worked in education and community outreach with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Alexander Gonzalez conducting the UW-Madison’s University Band in Michael J. Miller’s “Tribute for Band” in Mills Hall in 2014.)
“I am beyond excited to return to a place I consider home,” said Gonzalez (below). “The bands at UW-Madison were integral in forming the educator I am today. And I am equally excited to create a musical environment where present and future students can feel as loved, challenged and respected as I did.”
Gonzalez holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Florida and is an active member in the National Association for Music Education, the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, Phi Mu Alpha, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma.
“Professor Gonzalez brings with him a wealth of knowledge from his background in teaching music at the public school and college levels,” said Director of Bands Scott Teeple (below). “He is an extraordinary musician, pedagogue and individual. Alexander’s contributions to the UW Band program and the Mead Witter School of Music will deepen the musical experiences of our students. We consider ourselves fortunate to have him as a member of our team.”
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Classical music: Classical music is hardly dying. As the new seasons begins, National Public Radio (NPR) surveys the many new works and world premieres that will take place across the U.S.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Tonight marks the opening of a lot of concert seasons across the country. That includes the new season right here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
UW-Madison flutist Stephanie Jutt (below, in a photo by C&N Photography) will perform a FREE program of Latin American music and German music at tonight 8 p.m. in Morphy Hall. She will be accompanied by UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor and UW-Milwaukee pianist Elena Abend.
And over the next several weeks the many other classical music institutions in Madison will also open their seasons: the Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Greg Anderson, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians and so on.
Yet the idea that classical music is moribund, that it is a dying form of culture and art, persists. And critical observers cite smaller audiences, older audiences and debt-strapped organizations as proof.
But if you want to judge the vitality – and possible future -– of classical music in America, you might want to take a look at the season preview that was posted on the outstanding Deceptive Cadence blog by NPR or National Public Radio.
The preview looks at world premieres of new works and unusual events or programming of all kinds — but mostly orchestral and operatic — that will take place around the country. The story includes new works by such well-known and prize-winning composers as Jennifer Higdon (below top), John Adams, John Corigliano and Kevin Puts (below bottom) — all of whom have had works performed in Madison.
The Ear finds it encouraging and heartening, although he finds it dispiriting that Madison doesn’t make the list, and wonders why? Is it an oversight on the part of NPR? Or the lack of large-scale new music here, despite upcoming appearances by the Jack Quartet and premieres of works by UW-Madison composer Laura Schwendinger (below) and the world premiere on Sept. 26 by the Pro Arte Quartet of a commissioned Clarinet Quintet by composer Pierre Jalbert. And this summer saw a world premiere by Jeff Stanek at the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival.
Anyway, whet your appetite for the new music and for repeat performances of it elsewhere -– like here at home — by reading about it or, better, listening to it. One of the important sites for new works is the impressive outdoor amphitheater at the Santa Fe Opera, (below, in photo by Ken Howard for the Santa Fe Opera).
Here is a link:
Do you think classical music, for all the challenges it faces, is a dying art form?
Or will it persist in some form or another?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: Arts, Chamber music, Classical music, Jacob Stockinger, Jennifer Higdon, John Adams, John Corigliano, Kevin Puts, Laura Schwendinger, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Music, National Public Radio, New Music, NPR, opera, Orchestra, Pierre Jalbert, Pro Arte Quartet, Santa Fe Opera, symohony, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, world premiere
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