The Well-Tempered Ear

Madison Opera cancels its January production of “She Loves Me.” Will other groups follow suit? Plus, tonight is the last online concert by the LunART Festival of music by Black women

October 17, 2020
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ALERT: TONIGHT, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. the third LunART Festival will wrap up with the second of its two FREE streamed “Human Family” concerts featuring the works of Black women (below). Due to popular demand, last week’s concert is still posted and available for viewing. This week’s concert will be followed by a virtual party. Here are links for information, programs and biographies: https://www.lunartfestival.org/2020virtualfestival and https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=LunART

By Jacob Stockinger

The coronavirus pandemic continues to slowly take its toll on local live productions during the current season.

The Madison Opera has now canceled its second production of the season, the Broadway musical “She Loves Me” by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, which was scheduled for late January in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.

Here are details from Madison Opera: “We will replace She Loves Me with a Digital Winter season that lasts from January to March. Details will be announced in December. (She Loves Me will be part of our 2021/22 season, so it’s only a delay!)”

For more about Madison Opera’s digital fall season – which costs $50 per household to subscribe to – go to: https://www.madisonopera.org/Fall2020

The next digital event is at 7:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 24, by Sun Prairie bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen (below, in a photo by Lawrence Brownlee), who has performed around the world, including at the Metropolitan Opera.

He will perform a live-streamed concert from the Madison Opera Center that will be a tribute to the American bass Giorgio Tozzi (below), who was Ketelsen’s teacher at Indiana University. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can hear Tozzi sing “This Nearly Was Mine” from “South Pacific” by Rodgers and Hammerstein.)

Here is Tozzi’s biography from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Tozzi

Soprano Emily Secor (below top) and pianist Scott Gendel (below bottom) will perform with Ketelsen.

Here is a link to details of Kyle Ketelsen’s recital: https://www.madisonopera.org/class/liveketelsen/?wcs_timestamp=1603567800

___________________________________________________________________________

The cancellation makes The Ear wonder: Are local groups and presenters being too timid or too hopeful when it comes to future plans for the current season?

After all, this past week we learned that both the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic have canceled the rest of the current season due to public health concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic. And all indications are that it will be a very rough, unsafe winter and spring in Wisconsin and Madison.

That’s why The Ear suspects that, unfortunately, the rest of the season will either be canceled or be virtual and moved online. It even seems more than plausible that there will be no live performances until the winter or spring of 2022.

So you can probably expect further word pretty soon of more cancellations, postponements and virtual online performances from the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wisconsin Union Theater, the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music, the University Opera and others.

What do you think? 

Will there be operas, orchestral performances and live chamber music sometime yet this season?

When do you think it will be safe to perform and attend live concerts?

The Ear wants to hear.

 


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Classical music: The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble and Salon Piano Series cancel and postpone concerts and master classes

April 3, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll. The Ear has received notification of the following cancellations and postponements.

WISCONSIN BAROQUE ENSEMBLE

The Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble (below) has cancelled its April 18 concert, due to the COVID-19 virus threat. Its next concert is re-scheduled for the fall, on Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. at Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church at 1833 Regent Street.

SALON PIANO SERIES

Concerts by the Grammy-nominated, New York jazz pianist Bill Charlap (below) on April 25 and April 26 plus his master class on April 25 are all cancelled and indefinitely postponed.

New dates for Charlap’s concerts and master class are yet to be determined. They will be announced via email, on the Salon Piano Series website, and on the Salon Piano Series social media. The necessary decision is made out of concern for the public’s health and well-being.

In the event that it is not feasible to reschedule the concerts, or you have a conflict and cannot attend the rescheduled event, you can get a credit for a future Salon Piano Series performance or be issued a refund.

Everyone who bought a ticket will have one week after the announcement of the new concert date in order to request a refund.

If you have a ticket for the concert, please see additional information at the end.

The Salon Piano Series — which takes place at Farley’s House of Pianos — also says that the concert by Drew Petersen (below), which was to have taken place this spring is rescheduled for Aug. 15 at 7:30 p.m. and the master class is rescheduled for Aug. 16 at a time to be determined.

To purchase tickets, go to: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4275242)

If you have a ticket and cannot attend the rescheduled event, Salon Piano Series asks that you help support the arts by not requesting a refund. For those who request a refund, the deadline for refunds has been extended through Thursday, April 9, as a courtesy.

For more information about the concert, visit salonpianoseries.org.

If you would like a refund, please follow the instructions below and allow several business days for refunds to be processed.

Paper Tickets

If you have a paper ticket, please take a photo of your ticket and email the photo to cristofori@salonpianoseries.org explaining that you would like a refund.

Online Tickets

If the ticket is not part of a season ticket, call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-(800) 838-3006.

If your ticket is part of a season ticket, contact Salon Piano Series at (608) 271-2626. Refunds for season ticket holders will be issued through Salon Piano Series by check, not through Brown Paper Tickets.

Tickets Ordered by Phone

If you purchased a ticket by phone, contact Salon Piano Series at (608) 271-2626 to request a refund.

 


Classical music: The coronavirus forces the cancellation of Bach Around the Clock plus concerts by pianist Drew Petersen and violinist Gil Shaham. Other groups will wait and see. Read local and national overviews

March 13, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The pandemic of the coronavirus (below, from by the federal Centers for Disease Control) has now put Wisconsin into a public health emergency, as declared Thursday morning by Gov. Tony Evers, and continues to take its toll on the local art scene – and does so very quickly.

Since yesterday, the threat posed by the coronavirus and COVID-19 has forced the cancellation of three more major musical events:

The biggest is the cancellation of Bach Around the Clock 2020 on Saturday, March 28.

BATC is the FREE annual event celebrating the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). It runs for 12 hours, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and offers dozens of performances by student, amateur and professional musicians.

A Saturday night concert and Sunday afternoon master class by up-and-coming pianist Drew Petersen (below)  — for the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos– has been cancelled and postponed until the summer.

And the March 28 recital by violinist Gil Shaham (below) and pianist Akira Eguchi at the Wisconsin Union Theater has been cancelled

Some other major groups are taking a wait-and-see approach about cancelling events. They include: the Madison Opera, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

You can read more about them, and about other local arts events, including pop music as well as museum openings and exhibitions, in a comprehensive overview by Michael Muckian in Isthmus: https://isthmus.com/news/news/coronavirus-impacts-arts-events/

And here is an excellent story from National Public Radio (NPR) about the national context of how the Coronavirus is impacting the arts across the U.S. https://www.npr.org/2020/03/12/814992409/in-the-age-of-covid-19-event-cancellations-precipitate-a-large-economic-impact

DETAILS ABOUT POSTPONEMENTS AND REFUNDS

Here is the announcement from BATC artistic director Marika Fischer Hoyt (below):

“Dear friends and colleagues,

“We on the BATC board have been carefully monitoring this rapidly-developing situation:  the exponentially increasing number of cases being diagnosed in the U.S., the recommendations from the medical community, and responses from other organizations large and small.

“After careful consideration, we have decided, regretfully, that the most responsible course of action is to cancel the BATC festival this March.

“We on the board are so grateful to the performers, hosts and donors, who have invested time, talent and resources in this year’s festival. Our hope is to reschedule for a date in the fall. Stand by for more information on that soon.

“But for now, we ask for your understanding.

“I hope, even though we can’t celebrate his music together on the March 28, that we will all find ways to enjoy Bach’s music this month.”

For more information, go to: https://bachclock.com and facebook.com/batcmadison

Here are details about the Drew Petersen cancellations:

“Sadly, we are postponing both the Drew Petersen concert on March 14 and his master class on March 15 until the summer.

“New dates for the concert and master class are yet to be determined. We will announce them via email, the Salon Piano Series website and on social media for the Salon Piano Series.

“We know you’ll understand that our concern for your health and well-being made this decision necessary.

“You may request a refund or keep your ticket for the concert in the summer. Everyone who bought a ticket will have one week after the announcement of the new concert date to request a refund.

“If you would like a refund immediately, please follow the instructions below. Please allow several business days for refunds to be processed.

Paper Tickets: If you have a paper ticket, please take a photo of your ticket and email the photo to cristofori@salonpianoseries.org

explaining that you would like a refund.

Online Tickets: “If the ticket is not part of a season ticket, call Brown Paper Tickets at 1-800-838-3006.

If your ticket is part of a season ticket, contact Salon Piano Series at 608-271-2626. Refunds for season ticket holders will be issued through Salon Piano Series by check, not through Brown Paper Tickets.

Tickets Ordered by Phone

If you purchased a ticket by phone, contact Salon Piano Series at 608 271-2626 to request a refund.


Posted in Classical music
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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