The Well-Tempered Ear
This Saturday night the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and Grammy winner Sarah Brailey perform a free live-streamed concert of music by women
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By Jacob Stockinger
The Ear has received the following announcement to post:
The Wisconsin Chamber Choir (WCC, below) with a special guest — Grammy Award-winning soprano and UW-Madison graduate Sarah Brailey – will perform this Saturday, May 15, at 7 p.m.
“Music She Wrote” is a celebration of music composed by a highly diverse group of women from many ages.
Choir members will sing from their individual cars using wireless microphones, listening to the sound of the whole choir via their car radios.
The audience is invited to listen in live on YouTube and to let us know they are interested by sending an RSVP to our Facebook event.
There is no charge to view the livestream, but donations will be welcome.
Here are the links to hear the performance LIVE on YouTube or Facebook:
https://youtu.be/Iaz0wZhuG18 or:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1561155960751974/
The WCC had scheduled a regular concert with an all-female cast of composers for May 2020, which fell victim to Covid-19. As it became obvious that the pandemic would last longer, the WCC started exploring new ways of making and disseminating music.
From September 2020, we resumed activity in the shape of the Parking Lot Choir, generating local media coverage from WKOW-TV and Madison Magazine, whose story was headlined “Forget tailgates, parking lots are for choir practice.”
The result of this first rehearsal run was the widely acclaimed “Car Carols” concert in December 2020, whose format is the model for “Music She Wrote.”
In addition to the Parking Lot Choir, three smaller groups from the WCC assembled at the Edgewood College Amphitheater on Saturday mornings to rehearse (below) in widely spaced formations, wearing specially designed singer masks.
Another such group, made up of our members from southeastern Wisconsin, met in Whitewater on Sunday afternoons. Recordings by those four small groups will be aired during the May 15 broadcast in addition to live singing by the Parking Lot choristers.
The program includes: the Garden Songs by Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (Felix’s sister, below), which were intended for outdoor performance; and Ethel Smyth’s March of the Women, the anthem of the women’s suffrage movement in the English-speaking world.
In addition to works by African American composers Ysaÿe M. Barnwell (below top) and Rosephanye Powell and by Cuban composer Beatriz Corona (below second), the program includes samples from outside the Western tradition — Lamma Badaa Yatathannaa, sung in Arabic, by Shireen Abu-Shader (below third), who hails from Jordan but received her academic education in the U.S. and Canada; and two pieces by Japanese composer Makiko Kinoshita (below bottom).
Western early music is represented by Italian composers Raffaella Aleotti (below top) and Chiara Cozzolani (below bottom), who lived in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Finally, there is singer-songwriter Judy Collins with her Song for Sarajevo, composed for the children of the war in Bosnia in 1994 and arranged by her longtime collaborator, Russell Walden. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For more details, visit: https://www.wisconsinchamberchoir.org/music-she-wrote.
Sarah Brailey (below, in a photo by Miranda Loud), a native of Wisconsin, studied at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she has just completed her doctorate. A consummate musician and internationally acclaimed soloist, she recently won a Grammy Award in the Best Classical Vocal Solo Album category for her role as The Soul in the world premiere recording of Ethel Smyth’s The Prison.
She is familiar to Madison audiences not only as a performer and co-founder of Just Bach but also as the co-host of WORT’s Musica Antiqua show on FM 89.9 and the director of Grace Presents.
As a graduate student, she joined the WCC for two seasons from 2004 to 2006. We are thrilled to welcome her back! For more information on Sarah, see her website at https://sarahbrailey.com
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Classical music: Today is the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Here is disturbing music that sonically depicts the charred remains of the people and the city
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By Jacob Stockinger
Today is the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (below) and the dawn of the Atomic Age.
On this Sunday, it will be the same anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki (below).
Whether you agree or disagree with President Harry S Truman’s decision to use nuclear weapons to end World War II between Japan and the United States, the disturbing music at the bottom uses sound to help the listener picture the charred remains of the people and the devastated cities, seen below in a photo from The New York Times.
It is hard to imagine music being used more descriptively than in this disturbing and even terrifying piece that has received more than 2 million views on YouTube.
“Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima” was composed by the celebrated Polish composer Krzysztof Pederecki (1933-2020, below), who died just over four months ago. Here is a link to more information about the composer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof_Penderecki
And here are some links to historical accounts of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing:
From cable TV channel CNN, here is an account of the two bombings in photos: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/world/gallery/hiroshima-nagasaki-atomic-bomb/index.html
Here, also from CNN, is an account of Tinian Island, the place where the bombings started: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/hiroshima-atomic-bomb-75th-anniversary-intl-hnk/index.html
Here is a comprehensive history about Hiroshima and its culture, both pre-bombing and post-bombing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima
There will be much more to see, hear and read today and this weekend on National Public Radio (NPR), on many TV news channels including the History Channel and on PBS (especially The Newshour), and in many newspapers as well as on the internet.
If you know of other noteworthy accounts, please leave the name with a link in the Comment section.
What do you think of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
And what do you think about the musical depiction?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: Joel Thompson’s “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” is an eloquent and timely testament to Black victims of racism. It deserves to be performed in Madison and elsewhere
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By Jacob Stockinger
A reader recently wrote in and suggested that fellow blog fans should listen to “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” by the Atlanta-based American composer Joel Thompson (below).
So The Ear did just that.
He was both impressed and moved by the prescient piece of choral and orchestral music. It proved both powerful and beautiful.
The title alludes to the Bible’s depiction of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, but also to the musical setting of it that was composed by Franz Joseph Hadyn in the 18th century. But it stands on its own as a much needed and very accomplished updating, especially with the “last word” or phrase “I can’t breathe.”
It is hard to believe the work was written five years ago, and not last week or last month. But it couldn’t be more relevant to today.
It shows how deeply artists have been engaging with the social and political issues of the day, particularly the role of personal and structural racism in national life, and the plight of young Black men and women who face discrimination, brutality and even death at the hands of the police and a bigoted public.
The work was premiered by the Men’s Glee Club at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2015. This performance comes from the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.
The SSO and featured guest University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Men’s Glee Club, led by conductor Eugene Rogers (below) – who directs choral music and teaches conducting at the UM — premiered a 2017 commissioned fully orchestrated version of “The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.” You can hear it in the YouTube video below.
It is an eminently listenable and accessible, multi-movement work honoring the lives, deaths and personal experiences of seven Black men.
The seven last words used in the work’s text are: “Why do you have your guns out?” – Kenneth Chamberlain, 66; “What are you following me for?” – Trayvon Martin, 16; “Mom, I’m going to college.” – Amadou Diallo, 23; “I don’t have a gun. Stop shooting.” – Michael Brown, 18; “You shot me! You shot me!” – Oscar Grant, 22; “It’s not real.” – John Crawford, 22; “I can’t breathe.” – Eric Garner, 43.
The Ear thinks that once live concerts begin again after the coronavirus pandemic is contained, it should be programmed locally. It could and should be done by, among others, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Choir; or the UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra and Choral Union; or the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra with the Festival Choir of Madison; or the Wisconsin Chamber Choir.
They have all posted messages about standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and the protesters against racism. But will words lead to commitment and action?
It will be interesting to see who responds first. In addition to being timely, such a performance certainly seems like a good way to draw in young people and to attract Black listeners and other minorities to classical music.
Here is a link if you also want to check out the almost 200 very pertinent comments about the work, the performance, the performers and of course the social and political circumstances that gave rise to the work — and continue to do so with the local, regional, national and international mass protests and demonstrations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNXoqNuLRQ&app=desktop
And here is the performance itself:
What do you think of the work?
How did you react to it?
Would you like to see and hear it performed live where you are?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #18thCentury, #African-AmericanComposer, #African-Americanmusician, #AmadouDiallo, #AmericanComposer, #Americanconductor, #BlackLivesMatter, #BlackMen, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChoralMusic, #ChoralUnion, #ChristianReligion, #CommissionedMusic, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DeadlyForce, #EricGarner, #EugeneRogers, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FranzJosephHaydn, #GleeClub, #GuestArtist, #HolyBible, #ICan'tBreathe, #JacobStockinger, #JesusChrist, #JoelThompson, #JohnCrawford, #KennethChamberlain, #LastWord, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MassProtests, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MichaelBrown, #OrchestralMusic, #OscarGrant, #PersonalExperience, #PoliceBrutality, #PoliticalActivism, #PoliticallyRelevant, #PoliticalNews, #RacialDiscrimination, #SanFranciscoSymphony, #SevenLastWords, #SevenLastWordsofChrist, #SociallyRelevant, #TheBible, #TheCrucifixion, #TheEar, #TheSevenLastWordsoftheUnarmed, #TheUW, #TrayvonMartin, #UniversityOfMichigan, #UniversityofMichigan-AnnArbor, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #UWChoralUnion, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinChamberChoir, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinChamberOrchestraChorus, #WorldPremiere, #YoungPeople, #YouTubevideo, 18th century, accessible, accomplish, action, African American, ago, allude, Amadou Diallo, American, Arts, Atlanta, attract, audience, be, beautiful, Bible, bigot, bigoted, black, Black Lives Matter, black men, blog, brutality, choral music, Choral Union, Christian, Christianity, circumstance, Classical music, college, comments, commission, commitment, compose, composer, Concert, Conducting, conductor, contain, coronavirus, crucifixion, deadly force, death, demonstration, depiction, direct, discrimination, Eric Garner, Eugene Rogers, experience, Facebook, fan, forward, Franz Joseph Haydn, Georgia, Glee Club, guest, guest artist, guns, gunshot, Hadyn, hear, honor, I can't breathe, impress, impressed, international, issue, Jacob Stockinger, Jesus Christ, Joel Thompson, John Crawford, Kenneth Chamberlain, last, last word, lead, life, like, link, listenable, listeners, lives, local, locally, Madison, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mass protests, Mead Witter School of Music, men, men's, message, Michael Brown, minorities, minority, month, move, moved, movement, Music, musical, must, national, need, Orchestra, orchestral music, orchestrated, Oscar Grant, pandemic, performer, pertinent, phrase, police, police brutality, political, Politics, post, posting, powerful, premiere, prescient, program, protest, protesters, public, racial discrimination, racism, racist, react, reaction, regional, relevant, Religion, religious, respond, rise, San Francisco Symphony, school, see, setting, seven, Seven Last Words, Seven Last Words of Christ, share, shoot, shooting, shot, singer, Singing, social, socially relevant, solidarity, stand, standing, suggest, symphony, tag, teach, testament, text, The Ear, The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, timely, title, today, Trayvon Martin, unarm, unarmed, United States, University of Michigan, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, update, updating, use, UW, UW Choral Union, UW-Madison, UW-Madison Symphony Orchestra, victim, vocal music, week, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Chorus, women, word, words, work, world premiere, wrote, year, young people, YouTube
Classical music: The timing and political climate could not be more relevant for seeing the Madison Opera’s production of “Fellow Travelers” this Friday night and Sunday afternoon
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By Jacob Stockinger
You might recall from a previous blog posting that this weekend, the Madison Opera will present its production of the 2016 opera “Fellow Travelers.”
(A preview from the Minnesota Opera’s production, which featured the same sets and many of the same singers at the Madison Opera’s production, can be seen in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Performances are this Friday night, Feb. 7, at 8 p.m. and Sunday afternoon, Feb. 9, at 2:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center.
Here is a link to more background and details about American history, the production, the cast and tickets.
Today, all The Ear wants to do is to point out how timely this story about the “Lavender Scare” of purging and punishing gays during the Red Scare, anti-Communist witch hunt of McCarthyism in the late 1940s and 1950s.
The opera’s story is about a young man (below) who supports Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin and then finds himself romantically and sexually attracted to another man who works in the State Department, one of McCarthy’s favorite targets.
He then has to deal with hypocrisy, with the contradictions between his personal life and his political beliefs as he goes from being victimizer to victim.
The political climate for such a work exploring fear and prejudice couldn’t be more relevant .
A lot of the credit for that can go directly to President Donald Trump (below), the master of “Fake News.”
Trump is a right-wing fear-monger and name-smearer, constantly raging against “radical left-wing Democrats.” He has even called Sen. Bernie Sanders — a Democratic candidate for president — a “Communist,” even though Sanders describes himself as a democratic Socialist along the lines of Western European socialists.
It is also no secret that in addition to such unfair and insulting name-calling, Trump and his homophobic supporters – including Vice President Mike Pence and Christian Fundamentalists – are looking to roll back the civil rights and human rights of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.
And they want to do so even at a time when an openly gay man who is married, Pete Buttigieg, is running for president and seems to have just won the Iowa caucuses.
Moreover, there is a direct link between McCarthyism and the homophobia of the Liar-in-Chief.
Remember that McCarthy’ lawyer was a closeted and self-hating gay man named Roy Cohn (below right, with McCarthy). There is some evidence that McCarthy himself was secretly homosexual too.
After the humiliating end of the Army-McCarthy hearings and the premature death of McCarthy, Cohn went into private practice in New York City.
And that is where Cohn became the lawyer – and a role model of thuggish public behavior — for a young real estate developer named Donald Trump (below left, with Roy Cohn).
Such partisan times as the present seem to call for and inspire didactic art – better called “message art.” The Ear hasn’t seen the opera yet, so he can’t say how well it fits the bill.
But at first glance, the opera sure seems to fit the times we live in and the personalities of many of those who determine such a disturbing political and social climate. As The Nation magazine put it, “Trumpism is the New McCarthyism.”
In short, the opera’s plot seems both pertinent and realistic, one that could take place in today’s Washington, D.C.
The Ear is anxious to find out more and to make up his own mind, including about the music to be sung by the cast and played by the Madison Symphony Orchestra under conductor John DeMain.
He also hopes many of you will see the opera, and then leave your reactions and comments here, be they positive or negative.
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #Anti-Communist, #Army-McCarthy, #BernieSanders, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolTheater, #ChristianFundamentalist, #ChristianReligion, #CivilRights, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FakeNews, #FellowTravelers, #Fridaynight, #HomeWebsite, #HumanRights, #IowaCaucauses, #JacobStockinger, #JohnDeMain, #LavenderScare, #LGBTQrights, #LivingComposer, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #McCarthyEra, #MessageArt, #MIkePence, #MinnesotaOpera, #NewMusic, #NewYorkCity, #OperaPlot, #OvertureCenter, #PersonalLife, #PeteButtigieg, #PoliticalBeliefs, #PresidentDonaldTrump, #PresidentTrump, #RedScare, #RoleModel, #RoyCohn, #SociallyRelevant, #StateDepartment, #Sundayafternoon, #The1950s, #TheEar, #TheNation, #USArmy, #VicePresident, #VocalMusic, #WesternEurope, #WitchHunt, #YouTubevideo, 1940s, 1950s, American, anti-Communism, Army, Art, Arts, attract, audience, background, behavior, belief, Bernie Sanders, bisexual, blog, candidate, Capitol Theater, cast, choral music, Christian, Christian Fundamentalist, civil, civil rights, Classical music, climate, closeted, colleagues, comment, Communism, composer, Concert, conductor, contradiction, D.C., death, Democratic, describe, details, determine, didactic, didacticism, disturbing, do, Donald Trump, evidence, Facebook, fake news, fear, Fellow Travelers, forward, Friday night, fundamentalist, gay, heartings, homophobia, homosexual, Homosexuality, human, human rights, humiliation, hypocrisy, hypocritical, Iowa, Iowa caucuses, Jacob Stockinger, John DeMain, Lavender Scare, lawyer, left-wing, lesbian, LGBT rights, LGBTQ, liar, life, like, link, Living composer, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, man, married, McCarthyism, message, message art, Mike Pence, mind, Minnesota Opera, Music, name, name-calling, negative, new, New Music, New York City, online, open, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, Overture Center for the Arts, partisan, People, performer, personal, personal life, personalities, personality, pertinent, Pete Buttigieg, plot, political beliefs, Politics, positive, possible, post, posting, practice, premature, President, President Donald Trump, President of the United States, President Trump, preview, private, production, public, punish, punishment, purge, queer, radical, reaction, realistic, recall, recognize, Red Scare, relevant, Republican, Republican Party, right, rights, role model, Romantic, Roy Cohn, see, self-hating, senator, sets, sex, share, singer, smear, social, socialist, State Department, story, sung, supporter, tag, The Ear, The Nation, thug, tickets, time, timely, today, transgender, Trump, Trumpism, U.S. Senator, unfair, United States, vice president, victim, victimizer, vocal music, want, Washington, Website, weekend, Western Europe, Western European, win, Wisconsin, witch hunt, works, young, YouTube
Classical music: Saturday afternoon, Live From the Met in HD closes this season with an acclaimed production of “Dialogues of the Carmelites.” Here is a background story, two rave reviews, and next season’s 10 operas
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ALERT:The Brass Choirs of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will present an afternoon of brass music this Saturday afternoon, May 11, at 2:30 p.m. in Mills Concert Hall, 455 North Park Street, in Madison. Directed by Tom Curry, the program features brass musicians from WYSO’s Concert, Philharmonia and Youth Orchestras. The concert is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLC. Music to be played is by Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Giovanni Gabrieli, Charles Gounod, Edward Elgar, Paul Hindemith, Alan Hovahaness and Karel Husa.
CORRECTION: The Madison Youth Choirs will perform its “Legacy” concerts this weekend in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center on Saturday and Sunday — NOT Friday, as mistakenly listed and then corrected in the original post, which is below: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2019/05/08/classical-music-the-madison-youth-choirs-will-explore-the-theme-of-legacy-in-three-concerts-this-saturday-and-sunday-in-the-capitol-theater-of-the-overture-center/
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By Jacob Stockinger
This Saturday afternoon, May 11, the last production of this season’s “Live From the Met in HD” series, broadcast worldwide via satellite to cinemas, is Francis Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites.”
By all accounts, it would be hard to end on a higher, stronger or more darkly dramatic note, given the outstanding music and performance of the score as well as the superb acting. (There is a brief preview of short scenes in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The world premiere of the opera took place in 1957 at La Scala in Milan, Italy. One of the most successful operas of the later decades of the 20th century, “Dialogues of the Carmelites” is a rare case of a modern work that is equally esteemed by audiences and experts, according to program notes from the Metropolitan Opera.
The opera focuses on a young member of the order of Carmelite nuns, the aristocratic Blanche de la Force, who must overcome a pathological timidity in order to answer her life’s calling. The score reflects key aspects of its composer’s personality: Francis Poulenc (below) was an urbane Parisian with a profound mystical dimension, and the opera addresses both the characters’ internal lives and their external realities.
The opera takes place between 1789 and 1794 in Paris and in the town of Compiègne in northeastern France, the site of the Carmelite nuns’ convent.
Its historical basis is the martyrdom of a group of 16 Carmelite nuns and lay sisters from Compiègne, who chose to offer themselves as victims for the restoration of peace to France during the French Revolution.
The Met uses the classic John Dexter production of Poulenc’s devastating story of faith and martyrdom.
Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (below right) sings the touching role of Blanche and soprano Karita Mattila (below left), a legend in her own time, returns to the Met as the Prioress.
The conductor for the performance is the Met’s highly acclaimed new music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who also leads the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal.
The high-definition broadcast of the live performance from the Metropolitan Opera (below) in New York City starts at noon and runs until 3:10 p.m. with two intermissions. (It will also air at noon on Wisconsin Public Radio.)
The encore HD showings are next Wednesday, May 15, at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The opera will be sung in French with supertitles in English, German and Spanish.
Tickets for Saturday broadcasts are $24 for adults and $22 for seniors and children under 13. For encore showings, all tickets are $18.
The cinemas where the opera can be seen are two Marcus Cinemas: the Point Cinema on the far west side of Madison (608 833-3980) and the Palace Cinema (608 242-2100) in Sun Prairie.
Here is a link to the Marcus website for addresses and more information. You can also use them to purchase tickets:
https://www.movietickets.com/movies
Here is a link to the Metropolitan Opera’s website where you can find the titles, dates, casts, production information and video clips of all 10 productions this past season — PLUS an announcement, with dates and titles, for next season’s 10 productions (which feature five new productions but no Verdi):
https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/
Here is a background story that focuses on the French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who leads the orchestra in this production and is the new music director of the Metropolitan Opera:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/arts/music/met-opera-dialogues-des-carmelites.html
Here is a rave review of “Dialogues of the Carmelites” by senior classical music critic Anthony Tommasini for The New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/05/arts/music/dialogues-des-carmelites-met-opera-review.html
And here is another rave review from New York Classical Review:
http://newyorkclassicalreview.com/2019/05/met-closes-season-with-a-riveting-devastating-carmelites/
Here are links to a synopsis and program notes:
https://www.metopera.org/discover/synopses/dialogues-des-carmelites/
https://www.metopera.org/season/2018-19-season/dialogues-des-carmelites/
And here is a Wikipedia history of the hi-def broadcast series that gives you more information about how many cinemas it uses, the enormous size of the worldwide audience – now including Russia, China and Israel — and how much money it makes for The Met.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera_Live_in_HD
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Classical music: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra offers FREE concert tickets to furloughed federal workers
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By Jacob Stockinger
Restaurants, food banks, retail stores and other organizations have responded with compassion and generosity to victims of the ongoing partial shutdown of the U.S. government.
Here is an announcement of a timely move that The Ear thinks is terrific news for budget-strapped workers who have to cut back on entertainment or discretionary expenses. It should be a model for other local groups as well as statewide, regional and national arts presenters.
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below) is offering free tickets to furloughed federal workers for the Masterworks performance on Friday, Jan. 25, featuring the young cello prodigy and sensation, Miriam K. Smith.
Fresh from performances with the Cincinnati and Louisville symphonies, Smith (below) will perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor by Camille Saint-Saëns. (You can hear her perform a violin and cello duet by George Frideric Handel and Johan Halvorsen in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
If you want to know more about Smith, go to her website: https://miriamksmith.com
A forgotten gem by Domenico Cimarosa, Overture to The Secret Marriage, will open the concert, and the performance concludes with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, the sunniest of his even-numbered symphonies.
The concert, under the baton of WCO music director Andrew Sewell, will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Capitol Theater at the Overture Center for the Arts, 201 State St.
If you are a furloughed federal employee, you can call the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra offices at (608) 257-0638, and mention your place of employment. Best available tickets are on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are limited to two per person.
Others who want to attend this concert can find information about the soloist, the program and tickets at: https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/masterworks-i-4/
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Classical music: The New Yorker critic Alex Ross profiles and praises violinist Augustin Hadelich, who performs Dvorak with the Madison Symphony Orchestra this weekend
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By Jacob Stockinger
The timing could not be more perfect.
Alex Ross, the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning writer who writes for The New Yorker and is considered by many to be the best classical music critic today, recently went to Detroit to report about the dramatic the rebirth of the Detroit Symphony.
He ended up devoting half the story to a great profile of the Italian-German violinist Augustin Hadelich (below), who was there as a guest soloist to play the rarely programmed Violin Concerto by the British composer Benjamin Britten.
Now it just so happens that the Grammy Award-winning Hadelich returns to Madison for the third time this weekend to perform another rarely heard violin concerto – the Violin Concerto by Antonin Dvorak – with the Madison Symphony Orchestra under MSO music director and conductor John DeMain (below in a photo by Peter Rodgers).
The “String Fever” program includes the rarely performed Sinfonia da Requiem by Benjamin Britten and the “Spring” Symphony by Robert Schumann, which is surprisingly the MSO’s first performance of this well-known work.
Performances are in Overture Hall of the Overture Center, 201 State St., on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday night at 8 p.m.; and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10-$90.
For more information about the artists and the program as well as how to obtain tickets, go to:
https://www.madisonsymphony.org/hadelich
For program notes by MSO trombonist and UW-Whitewater professor Michael Allsen, go to:
http://www.allsenmusic.com/NOTES/1718/7.Apr18.html
And as usual there will be a Prelude Discussion – this time by John DeMain — one hour before each performance.
In addition, the MSO encourages audiences to arrive early because of security check-ins at the Overture Center.
But let’s go back to the profile by Alex Ross (below) of Augustin Hadelich.
In it you will read that:
Hadelich is focusing more on unusual repertoire by Britten, Henry Dutilleux, Gygorgy Ligeti and Thomas Adès than on the well-known violin concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Bartok.
(An impressive virtuoso, whom Ross praises for both technical brilliance and musicality, Hadelich can be heard performing the famously difficult and familiar Caprice No. 24 by Paganini in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Hadelich has high praise for regional symphony orchestras that gave his career a boost, including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, which he mentions by name along with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He also points out how underappreciated many such regional orchestras are.
Hadelich is a methodical performing artist. The interview has fascinating background about how he works, including taking notes about each performance, and how he prepares for performances, including what kind of food he eats and when he eats it.
And there is more about Hadlelich’s compelling personal story as a recovered burn victim, about his outstanding playing, and about the life of an up-and-coming concert artist on the road.
The Ear found it fascinating on its own and excellent preparation for hearing Hadelich live. He hopes you do too. Here is a link:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/09/augustin-hadelichs-bold-violin-explorations
Tags: #AlexRoss, #AntoninDvorak, #AugustinHadelich, #BelaBartok, #BenjaminBritten, #BurnVictim, #DetroitSymphony, #FelixMendelssohn, #GrammyAwards, #GyorgyLigeti, #HenriDutilleux, #JeanSibelius, #JohannesBrahms, #JohnDeMain, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MilwaukeeSymphonyOrchestra, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #NationalBookCriticsCircleAward, #NiccoloPaganini, #OvertureCenter, #PeterIlyichTchaikovsky, #RobertSchumann, #TheNewYorker, #TheNewYorkerMagazine, #ThomasAdès, #UniversityofWisconsin, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinMusic, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, Adès, Arts, Augustin Hadelich, award, Bach, Baroque, Bartok, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, biography, British, burn, Classical music, Compact Disc, composer, concerto, critic, Detroit, Detroit Symphony, England, English, food, Friday, Germany, Grammy, Great Britain, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, Ligeti, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Mozart, Music, Orchestra, Overture Center, Paganini, recovered, recovery, regional, Saturday, sinfonia, Spring, Spring Symphony, Sunday, symphony, The New Yorker, tour, Trombone, UK, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, victim, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society announces its upcoming summer season of “Alphabet Soup” this June
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By Jacob Stockinger
The time for announcing new seasons has arrived.
Pretty soon, over the next several weeks and months, The Ear will hear from larger and smaller presenters and ensembles in the Madison area, and post their new seasons.
First out of the gate is the critically acclaimed and popular summer group, the Madison-based Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. (You can see a short promo video about BDDS on the YouTube video at the bottom.)
It has just announced its upcoming summer season this June, and sent out brochures with the season’s details.
This will be the 26th annual summer season and it has the theme of “Alphabet Soup.”
The concept is explained online and in a brochure newsletter (also online) in an editorial essay by BDDS co-founder and co-artistic director flutist Stephanie Jutt (seen below with co-founder and co-director pianist Jeffrey Sykes).
By the way, Jutt is retiring from the UW-Madison this spring but will continue to play principal flute with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and to work and perform with BDDS.
In many ways it will be a typical season of the eclectic group. It will feature local and imported artists. Many of both are favorites of The Ear.
His local favorites include UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor; violist Sally Chisholm of the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet; UW violinist Soh-Hyun Park Altino (below top, in a photo by Caroline Bittencourt); and Pro Arte cellist Parry Karp (below bottom).
Among The Ear’s favorite guest artists are violinist Carmit Zori, clarinetist Alan Kay, the San Francisco Piano Trio (below top); UW alumna soprano Emily Birsan; pianist Randall Hodgkinson; and baritone Timothy Jones (below bottom).
As usual, the season features 12 concerts of six programs over three weeks (June 9-25) in three venues – the Playhouse in the Overture Center (below top), the Hillside Theater (below middle) at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin compound in Spring Green and the Stoughton Opera House (below bottom).
In addition, there is a FREE family concert in the Overture Playhouse on June 10.
What does seem somewhat new is the number of unknown composers and an edgier, more adventurous choice of pieces, including more new music and more neglected composers.
Oh, there will be classics by such composers as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Luigi Boccherini, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, Arnold Schoenberg, Benjamin Britten and others. These are the ABC’s of the alphabet soup, according to BDDS.
But also represented are composers such as Philippe Gaubert, Czech Holocaust victim Gideon Klein (below), Guillaume Conneson, Carl Czerny, Paul Moravec and Franz Doppler. These are the XYZ’s of the alphabet soup.
In between come others. Contemporary American composer, and Pulitzer Prize winner, Kevin Puts (below) is a BDDS favorite and is well represented. You will also find less performed works by Ned Rorem, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Gerald Finzi.
For the complete programs and schedules as well as the list of performers, some YouTube videos and ticket prices, both for season tickets ($109.50, $146, $182 and $219) and for individual concerts ($43), and other information, go to:
http://bachdancinganddynamite.org/concerts/festival-concerts/
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Going live! Here are some links to newly announced summer concerts and 2021-22 seasons
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PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Get out your datebooks.
Now that the pandemic is fast abating, at least locally, music groups and music presenters in the Madison area have been announcing a return to live music and their new seasons and summer events in a relentless way.
The Ear had been out of commission since mid-May until this week. But in any case, The Ear was overwhelmed and just couldn’t keep up with a separate post for each one.
Still, he thought it might be helpful to be able to check the dates, performers, programs, tickets and other information in one place.
Remember that the Madison Early Music Festival is no more. It has been absorbed into the regular music curriculum at the UW.
Please know that many groups – including, but not limited to, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music (below is the UW Symphony Orchestra — masked, socially distanced and virtually streamed — during the pandemic), University Opera, Edgewood College, Just Bach, Grace Presents, the Salon Piano Series, the First Unitarian Society of Madison, Bach Around the Clock, the Festival Choir of Madison, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and the Madison Bach Musicians – have not yet released details of their new seasons.
But most of their websites say that an announcement of their new season is coming soon.
There are also some trends you may notice.
Many of the groups are raising prices and persistently seek donations as well as subscribers, no doubt to help make up for the loss of revenue during the pandemic.
The Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have reduced the number of concerts or start later.
Some have simply rescheduled events, like the Wisconsin Union Theater closing its season with soprano Renée Fleming. And the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s new season is largely the same one they were planning to have to celebrate the Beethoven Year in 2020-21.
The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, the Middleton Community Orchestra and the Willy Street Chamber Players all have pop-up concerts and scheduled outdoor concerts in parks. Some have also scheduled individual mini-concerts or personal sessions.
If you look at programs, you will see an emphasis on Black composers and performers by almost all groups. (The Madison Symphony Orchestra has scheduled “Lyric for Strings” by George Walker, below. You can hear it performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
What is most disappointing is that no group seems to have announced a special concert or event to pay homage to the public ordeal, health care workers and victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ear keeps thinking a performance of a suitable requiem (by perhaps Mozart, Faure, Brahms, Verdi or Britten) or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony would have been an appropriate way to start the in-person season and, at the same time, acknowledge the more than 7,000 deaths in Wisconsin and almost 600,000 deaths in the U.S. and almost 4 million worldwide as of now. Maybe even Barber’s overplayed Adagio for Strings would suffice.
Finally, very few groups seem to be offering online virtual concert attendance as a possibility for those listeners who found that they actually enjoyed at least some the music in their own homes and at their own times.
IN ANY CASE, HERE IS WHAT HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE OR IS STILL ON TAP. CHECK IT OUT!
Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in free live and for-pay recorded concerts: https://bachdancing.org
Middleton Community Orchestra’s summer concerts at Fireman’s Park (below) in Middleton: https://middletoncommunityorchestra.org
Madison Bach Musicians summer workshops (below): https://madisonbachmusicians.org/2021-summer-chamber-music-workshop/
Concerts on the Square with limited paid admission at Breese Stevens Field (below): https://wcoconcerts.org/concerts-tickets/concerts-on-the-square
Madison Symphony Orchestra (below, in a photo by Peter Rodgers): https://madisonsymphony.org/concerts-events/madison-symphony-orchestra-concerts/
Madison Opera and Opera in the Park (below): https://www.madisonopera.org/oitp21/; and https://www.madisonopera.org/21-22/
Wisconsin Union Theater: https://union.wisc.edu/visit/wisconsin-union-theater/seasonevents/concert-series/
Willy Street Chamber Players (below) at Orton Park: http://www.willystreetchamberplayers.org/2021-summer-concert-series.html
If you know of more entries or have observations to make about these, please leave word and, when possible, a link in the comment section.
The Ear wants to hear.
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