The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra and violinist Naha Greenholtz perform this Wednesday night in the new Hamel Music Center at the UW-Madison. At noon, the FREE Just Bach concert celebrates Christmas
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ALERT 1: This Wednesday, Dec. 18, at noon in Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue, Just Bach wraps up its FREE one-hour period-instrument concerts for this semester. The program features “joyous selections” from the Christmas Oratorio, the Magnificat, and the Advent Cantata 36. For more information about the program and the performers, go to: https://justbach.org
ALERT 2: The Madison Symphony Orchestra, which just gave three sold-out performances of its Christmas concert, is holding its annual holiday ticket sale. It started Monday and runs through Dec. 31. You can save up to 50 percent on tickets to the remaining concerts of the season. For more information and to order, go to: https://madisonsymphony.org/holidaysale/
By Jacob Stockinger
Looking for a break from holiday music?
This Wednesday night, Dec. 18, the mostly amateur but critically acclaimed Middleton Community Orchestra (below) will perform in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the new Hamel Music Center at the UW-Madison – NOT at its usual venue, the Middleton Performing Arts Center that is attached to Middleton High School.
The appealing program under guest conductor Kyle Knox starts at 7:30 p.m. It features the dramatic Overture to “Die Meistersinger” (The Master Singers) by Richard Wagner (you can hear the Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom); the popular and virtuosic Symphonie Espagnole (Spanish Symphony) by French composer Edouard Lalo, with violin soloist Naha Greenholtz; and the lovely Suite from the opera “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss.
There will be a post-concert reception in the lobby.
Admission is $15; free for students. Tickets are available at the door – student tickets are available at the door only — and at the Willy Street Coop West. The hall is at 740 University Avenue with parking in the nearby Lake Street Ramp. The box office opens at 6:30 p.m. and doors to the hall open at 7 p.m.
The Ear asked the co-founders and co-directors of the group – Mindy Taranto and Larry Bevic — why they chose to play in the Hamel Music Center this time. He recieved the following reply:
“We decided to rent the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall (below top, in photo by Bryce Richter for University Communications) in the Hamel Music Center (below bottom) for several reasons.
“This is our 10th anniversary season and we wanted to give our musicians a really special experience. Many of us are curious about the new hall and are really excited to be playing there.
“Also, Kyle Knox (below) – a UW-Madison graduate and the music director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras — is a phenomenal conductor and this program is exceptionally difficult and beautiful.
“It is an honor to get to perform at the UW-Madison with Kyle conducting such a beautiful program. He has brought this orchestra along so far, and for that we are incredibly grateful. He is a brilliant musician and our work with him has improved the orchestra so remarkably over the eight years he has been regularly working with us.
“We also thought that so many of our patrons enjoy our concerts when violinist Naha Greenholtz (below, in a photo by Chris Hynes) – the concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra — is our soloist, and with the MSO connection, holding the concert at Hamel will hopefully boost attendance at the concert.
Naha sounds amazing and if you could see how much our musicians enjoy her annual appearance with MCO, you’d know why we want to play with her every year.
“As we conclude the first half of our 10th season, we are grateful to the musicians in MCO and to the community that supports us.
“We are probably one of the few organizations on the Madison arts scene that puts literally every dollar into music. As the two co-founders, we run the organization on a volunteer basis and we don’t spend any money on advertising.
“All of our resources go to hiring astonishing local musicians, renting performance space, and buying music to provide meaningful musical experiences for our musicians and our patrons.”
For information about how to join the orchestra, how to support it and what its remaining concerts are this season, go online to: http://middletoncommunityorchestra.org or call 608-212-8690.
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Classical music: From farm accident to international violin virtuoso: Augustin Hadelich will solo with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this weekend.
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear thinks that discovering and then booking young up-and-coming violinists is among the biggest success stories that the Madison Symphony Orchestra and its music director and conductor John DeMain have had over the last 20 years, ever since DeMain arrived in Madison.
One example is the Austrian violinist Augustin Hadelich, below.
Another is the Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud, below.
Both Hadelich and Kraggerud seem totally natural and complete artists who do exactly what a world-class virtuoso should do: Make the difficult seem effortless without sacrificing musicality.
Hadelich — who also has a compelling personal back story that involves overcoming adversity — will solo again this weekend with the MSO.
Here is the informative press release from the orchestra:
“How does one goes from a farm accident of severe burns to becoming a violin virtuoso, who enchants millions all over the world?
“Augustin Hadelich (pronounced HOD-uh-lick), a child prodigy with a violin in rural Tuscany, was told he might never play a violin again after he barely survived a farm accident that burned his home and him, including his bow arm at age 15.
From those challenging days, he has emerged as a violinist of international renown, who will return to Madison again to join John DeMain and the Madison Symphony Orchestra for three performances this weekend in Overture Hall.
Hadelich will take the stage in the first half to perform Edouard Lalo’s exotic Symphonie Espagnole, a virtuosic concerto with a lush Spanish flavor that he performed in his 2012 debut with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
The concert will open with the wild and spontaneous Too Hot Toccata, by American composer Aaron Kernis.
The Symphony No. 2, by Sergei Rachmaninoff, is a monumental late Romantic work. It is a lush, unmistakably Russian work, and it will close the program. (The melody-rich work’s third movement — the slow Adagio that can be heard at the bottom in a popular YouTube video with conductor Andre Previn and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, part of the public broadcasting system in Japan — more than “inspired” the bestselling pop song “Never Gonna Love Again.” Carmen also “borrowed” from Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 for his bestselling song “All By Myself.”)
The concerts are in the Overture Center’s Overture Hall on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, Nov. 17, at 2:30 p.m. in Overture Hall, 201 State Street.
A free prelude discussion by UW-Madison musicology professor Charles Dill (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot for the UW School of Music) will take place one hour before each performance.
For more information, including a link to Augustin Hadelich’s website, critics’ reviews and audio/video samples, visit:
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/hadelich
Here is a link to program by notes by MSO trombonist J. Michael Allsen (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot for the Madison Symphony Orchestra) who teaches at UW-Whitewater:
ttp://facstaff.uww.edu/allsenj/MSO/NOTES/1314/3.Nov13.htm
“Symphonie Espagnole” remains Lalo’s most popular work. He composed it during a period when French composers were fascinated with Spanish music, and Lalo (below) tastefully incorporates this culture’s melodic and dance figures into the work. The soaring violin parts require both technical precision and immense musicianship.
Hadelich is often noted in the media for his “gorgeous tone,” “poetic communication” and “fast-fingered brilliance.” The New York Times wrote, “[Hadelich] has become one of the most distinctive violinists of his generation…he plays with dazzling technique, a gorgeous tone, and penetrating, spontaneous musicality.”
Kernis (below) describes his “Too Hot Toccata” as predominantly “high energy” and “out of control.” Composed in 1996, the piece excitedly works through a series of furious, oddly-metered and sometimes jazzy ideas. Multiple players in the ensemble are featured with virtuosic solos, including violin, clarinet, piccolo, trumpet and percussion.
In his Symphony No. 2, Rachmaninoff (below) achieves an unending and beautiful flow of melody, citing a motto from the opening bars throughout the piece. This is especially impressive given the size of the composition. The 320-page, carefully detailed score rivals the largest of Anton Bruckner’s or Gustav Mahler’s scores in length and breadth. The piece also promises some orchestral fireworks during an hour-long sonic experience.
Tickets are $16.50 to $82.50 each, available at www.madisonsymphony.org/singletickets and through the Overture Center Box Office at 201 State Street or call the Box Office at (608) 258-4141.
New subscribers can receive up to a 50% discount. For more information and to subscribe, visit: www.madisonsymphony.org/newsub or call (608) 257-3734.
Groups of 15 or more can save 25% by calling the MSO office at (608) 257-3734. For more information visit, www.madisonsymphony.org/groups
Student rush tickets can be purchased in person on the day of the concert at the Overture Box Office at 201 State Street. Full-time students must show a valid student ID and can receive up to two $12 or $15 tickets. More information is at: www.madisonsymphony.org/studentrush On advance ticket purchases, students can receive 20% savings on seats in select areas of the hall.
Seniors age 62 and up receive 20% savings on advance and day-of-concert ticket purchases in select areas of the hall.
Discounted seats are subject to availability, and discounts may not be combined.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra is marking its 88th concert season in 2013-2014 by celebrating John DeMain’s 20th anniversary as music director. The Symphony engages audiences of all ages and backgrounds in live classical music through a full season of concerts with established and emerging soloists of international renown, an organ series that includes free concerts, and widely respected education and community engagement programs. Find more information at www.madisonsymphony.org.
Major funding for this concert is provided by the Steinhauer Charitable Trust, UW Health Burn Center and UW-Madison Department of Surgery, and Rosemarie Blancke with additional funds from DeEtte Beilfuss-Eager and Leonard P. Eager, Jr., and the Wisconsin Arts Board.
Tags: Aaron Kernis, All By Myself, Andre Previn, Anton Bruckner, Augustin Hadelich, Eric Carmen, Gustav Mahler, Henning Kraggerud, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Times, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Overture Center, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Symphonie Espagnole, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, YouTube
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