The Well-Tempered Ear
Classical music: Two performances of the annual Winter Choral Concert, to benefit the homeless, are this Sunday afternoon at 2 and 4. Other UW groups also perform during a busy end-of-semester week
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By Jacob Stockinger
As always happens towards the end of a semester, the tempo of the performances at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music picks up and accelerates.
One highlight this week is two performances of a traditional choral concert.
Under conductor and UW choral program director Beverly Taylor (below), six of seven UW-Madison choirs — Chorale, Concert Choir, Madrigal Singers, University Chorus, Women’s Chorus, Masters Singers – will perform their annual winter concert twice this Sunday afternoon.
The two performances, at 2 and 4 p.m., will be at Luther Memorial Church, located at 1021 University Avenue.
Consider arriving early since these concerts are often very well attended.
Choirs will perform choral works as individual ensembles and jointly.
Holiday carols are part of the program and concert-goers are invited to sing along.
Sorry, but no composers or titles of works have been provided.
Professor John Chappell Stowe (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will perform organ music for the season.
A free-will offering is accepted at the end of the program with proceeds after expenses donated to “The Road Home,” an organization that provides housing and food to homeless families.
THURSDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, guest artists flutist Patricia Surman (below) and pianist Michel Keller will give a FREE recital. There is no word on the program, but if you want to know more background about the two musicians, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/guest-recital-patricia-surman-flute/
FRIDAY
At 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, UW bassoonist Marc Vallon (below top, in a photo by James Gill) will perform a FREE program called “Breaking New Ground” that features the music of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Anton Webern and Yannis Xenakis among others. UW pianist Christopher Taylor (below bottom) will also play the last piano sonata, No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111, by Ludwig van Beethoven.
For the complete program, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/breaking-ground-with-marc-vallon-and-friends/
SATURDAY
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, the All-University Strings (below in a photo by Jeff Miller of the UW-Madison), which is made up of students from all fields and not just music, will perform a FREE concert under conductor Matt Chan. No word on composers or works on the program.
SUNDAY
At 12:30 p.m. in the Brittingham Gallery No. 3 of the Chazen Museum of Art, the Wingra Wind Quartet will perform on “Sunday Live at the Chazen.” Admission is free.
The program includes: “Piano Piece” by Richard Strauss and arranged by Marc Vall0n; Wind Quintet by Theodor Blumer; “Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for Woodwind Quartet” by Elliott Carter; “Opus Number Zoo” by Luciano Berio.
Members (below, from left, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) are: Marc Vallon, bassoon; Timothy Hagen, flute; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Aaron Hill, oboe; and Joanna Schulz, horn.
You can digitally stream the concert live by going to this website: https://www.chazen.wisc.edu/about/news/in-the-news/sunday-afternoon-live-with-the-wingra-wind-quintet/
For more background about the Wingra Wood Quintet, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/wingra-woodwind-quintet/
At 1 p.m in Mills Hall, the UW Concert Band (below top), under conductor Scott Teeple, will perform a FREE concert.The program features UW trombonist Mark Hetzler (below bottom). The program includes “Psalm for Band” by Vincent Persichetti (heard in the YouTube video at the bottom) “Silver Lining” by Anne McAninch, a UW doctoral student in composition; and “Falling” by Mark Hetzler.
At 4 p.m. in Mills Hall, University Bands will perform a FREE concert. No word on the program.
MONDAY
At 8:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall, the UW Early Music Ensemble, under director Jeanne Swack will mark the 250th anniversary of the death of Baroque composer Georg Philipp Telemann (below) by performing music of Telemann, Johann Joachim Quantz, Barbara Strozzi and Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre. No word on a specific program. For more information, go to: http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/early-music-ensemble-3/
Tags: anniversary, Art, Arts, background, band, Barbara Strozzi, Baroque, Bassoon, Beethoven, benefit, break, Cantata, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carol, Cello, Chamber music, Chazen Museum of Art, Choir, choral music, Chorale, chorus, Christopher Taylor, church, clarinet, Classical music, composer, Composition, conductor, death, digital, director, donation, Early music, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Elliott Carter, ensemble, expense, Family, flute, food, free, gallery, ground, Holiday, homeless, Horn, housing, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Joachim Quantz, jointly, live, Luciano Berio, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luther, Madison, madrigal, Marc Vallon, Mark Hetzler, Master, Mead Witter School of Music, memorial, Museum, Music, Musician, new, New Music, Oboe, offering, organ, organization, Patricia Surman, perform, Piano, program, psalm, Quartet, quintet, recital, Richard Strauss, Season, semester, sing, sing-along, Sonata, stream, strings, Sunday, Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen, Telemann, Tempo, Theodor Blumer, tradition, Trombone, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vincent Persichetti, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Webern, Website, Wind, Wingra Wind Quintet, winter, Wisconsin, women, Yannis Xenakis, YouTube
Classical music: A FREE CD and a dedicated concert are perfect memorial tributes for flutist Robin Fellows — or for any musician
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By Jacob Stockinger
There was so much to like about last Friday night’s concert by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra (below), including a fantastic performance of the sublimely beautiful Violin Concerto by the American composer Samuel Barber.
The concerto, with its soaring melodies, poignant harmonies and spiky perpetual motion finale, was played superbly by Russian-born, London-based virtuoso Alexander Sitkovetsky (below), who received a masterful accompaniment from longtime music director and conductor Andrew Sewell and the WCO. (As an encore and change of pace, Sitkovetsky played the soulful Sarabande from the Partita No. 2 in D Minor for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach.)
Here are two very positive reviews, written by John W. Barker for Isthmus and Greg Hettmansbeger for Madison Magazine, with which The Ear agrees:
http://isthmus.com/music/dashing-brilliance-wisconsin-chamber-orchestra/
But The Ear notes this: Perhaps the most touching moment came off-stage.
As you may have heard, last October Robin Fellows died of cancer at 66. For 26 years, he had been the principal flutist of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and also taught at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. He also played and taught at many other places.
If you went to the indoor classical Masterworks concerts by the WCO, you heard him.
And if you went to the popular summertime Concerts on the Square, you heard him.
So it was right and fitting, as they say, for the WCO to dedicate the concert to Fellows (below). Indeed, the program seemed perfect in its homage.
We heard a new principal flutist and heard lots of prominent flute playing in works by Irish composer Joan Trumble, Swedish composer Lars-Eric Larsson and especially the Symphony No. 4 by Ludwig van Beethoven.
But the most stirring tribute happened off-stage.
That is because the family gave out a FREE memorial tribute CD of 20th-century flute music – with singers, bassoonists, clarinet, harp and piano — that was played by Fellows, recorded and released in 2002.
It includes music by Aaron Copland, Walter Piston, Albert Roussel, Ernst Toch, Daren Hagen (a UW-Madison alumnus) and Vincent Persichetti.
Out in the lobby of the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center was a table with not only the new season brochures for 2016-17, but also many stacks of FREE CDs. The audience was invited to take one by a current WCO flutist and oboist.
And as you entered and left the theater, there was a large poster with a picture of Fellows and a paragraph about his life and accomplishments.
The Ear is still sampling all the pieces on the CD.
So far, it is both enjoyable and enlightening. The Ear would include a sample, but unfortunately he doesn’t see that any tracks have been uploaded to YouTube.
Still, one cannot imagine Fellows — or any musicians, for that matter — wishing for a better tribute.
The Ear says: Kudos to the Fellows family and to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra for providing such memorable memorials.
Tags: Aaron Copland, Albert Roussel, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Arts, Bach, Barber, Bassoon, Beethoven, cancer, CD, Cello, Chamber music, clarinet, Classical music, Compact Disc, concerto, Daren Hagen, encore, Ernst Toch, flute, Greg Hettmansberger, harp, Ireland, Irish, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Joan Trumble, John W. Barker, Lars-Erik Larsson, London, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Magazine, memorial, Music, Music director, Oboe, Orchestra, Overture Center, partita, Piano, Robin Fellows, Russia, Samuel Barber, sarabande, singer, Sweden, Swedish, symphony, tribute, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vincent Persichetti, Viola, Violin, Walter Piston, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music education: The Madison Youth Choirs perform the 11th Annual Spring Concert Series this Sunday afternoon and night. They will premiere a new work about Shakespeare’s “Macbeth by UW-Madison alumnus Scott Gendel.
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By Jacob Stockinger
On this Sunday afternoon and evening, May 18, 2014, the Madison Youth Choirs (MYC, below) will ends the celebration of their 10th anniversary and celebrate the return of spring with a lively concert series featuring several groups whose membership total over 300 talented young singers.
All concerts will take place in the Capitol Theater of the Overture Center for the Arts in downtown Madison.
Tickets are $10-$20, and can be purchased in three ways:
1. online at www.overturecenter.com
2. By phone at (608) 258-4141
3. In person at the Overture Center box office, 201 State St., Madison, Wisconsin.
Throughout this season, focused on the theme “Arts & Minds,” MYC’s singers have discovered connections between visual and vocal expressions of human creativity, using both mediums as a lens to explore the world.
Concert selections will include works from a wide variety of musical eras and cultures, including classical pieces by Bach and Vivaldi, traditional folk songs in Hebrew and Japanese, and contemporary pieces by Cindy Lauper and Eric Whitacre (below), creator of the “Virtual Choir,” which has become a global phenomenon on YouTube.
MYC’s boychoirs will make history with the world premiere of University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music alumnus Scott Gendel’s “Sound and Fury,” featuring text from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
This ambitious new work by Gendel will be a fitting prelude to the boychoirs’ upcoming summer tour to Scotland, where they will perform in the invitation-only Aberdeen International Youth Festival (below).
For more information about Scott Gendel, visit:
Continuing its commitment to celebrating the work of outstanding local music teachers, MYC will also present the Music Educator of the Year Award to Jan Vidruk. Ms. Vidruk (below center ) is a nationally recognized leader in early childhood education who has inspired young people in music and movement classes for over 40 years.
Here is the Concert Information, Schedules and Programs for Sunday, May 18, 2014
1 p.m. – Choraliers (below in a photo by Cynthia McEahern
Hashivenu…Traditional Hebrew
Bee! I’m Expecting You… Emma Lou Diemer
Ae Fond Kiss… Traditional Scottish, arr. Kesselman
The Duel… Paul Bouman
Kojo no Tsuki… Traditional Japanese, arr. Snyder
Con Gioia (below in a photo by Karen Holland)
For the Beauty of the Earth… John Rutter
The Jabberwocky… Jennings
Tres Cantos Nativos dos Indios Krao… Leite
Annie Laurie… arr. Rentz
Capriccio (below in a photo by Mike Ross)
Hark! The Echoing Air… Henry Purcell
Hotaru Koi… Ro Ogura
The Seal Lullaby… Eric Whitacre
Niska Banja… Traditional Serbian, arr. Nick Page
4 p.m.: Purcell
Gloria Tibi (from Mass)… Leonard Bernstein
Simple Gifts… Traditional
Orpheus with his Lute… Ralph Vaughan Williams
Laudamus Te (from Gloria in D Major)… Antonio Vivaldi
Britten
The Lord Bless You and Keep You … John Rutter
Er Kennt die rechten Freudenstuden … Johann Sebastian Bach
Holst
The Bird…William Billings
The Cowboy Medley…arr. R. Swiggum
Anthem (from Chess)…Anderson/Ulveas, arr. R. Swiggum
Ragazzi (below in a photo by Dan Sinclair)
dominic has a doll… Vincent Persichetti
Si, Tra i Ceppi… George Frideric Handel
Fair Phyllis… John Farmer
Madison Boychoir (Purcell, Britten, Holst — below in a photo by Karen Holland — and Ragazzi combined)
Sound and Fury (world premiere)… Scott Gendel, text from Macbeth
Will the Circle Be Unbroken?… Traditional, arr. R. Swiggum
7:30 p.m. High School Ensembles
Cantilena
How Merrily We Live… Michael Este
Salut Printemps… Claude Debussy
Hope… Andrew Lippa
Hope is the Thing… Emma Lou Diemer
Ragazzi
dominic has a doll… Vincent Persichetti
Si Tra i Ceppi… George Frideric Handel
Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting…John Farmer
Cantabile
Cruel, You Pull Away Too Soon… Thomas Morley
Chiome d’Oro… Claudio Monteverdi
Mountain Nights… Zoltan Kodaly
Las Amarillas…Stephen Hatfield
Time After Time… Cyndi Lauper, arr. Michael Ross
Cantabile and Ragazzi
Come Thou Fount of Ever Blessing…arr. Mack Wilberg
A Hymn for St. Cecilia…Herbert Howells (heard at bottom in a YouTube video)
This project is supported by American Girl’s Fund for Children, the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Kenneth A. Lattman Foundation, American Family Insurance, Dane Arts with additional funds from the Evjue Foundation, charitable arm of The Capital Times, and BMO Harris Bank. This project is also supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT THE MADISON YOUTH CHOIRS (MYC)
Recognized as an innovator in youth choral education, MYC inspires enjoyment, learning, and social development through the study and performance of high-quality and diverse choral literature. The oldest youth choir organization in Wisconsin, MYC welcomes singers of all ability levels, challenging them to learn more than just notes and rhythms. Singers explore the history, context, and heart of the music, becoming “expert noticers,” using music as a lens to discover the world. MYC serves more than 500 young people, ages 7-18, in 11 single-gender choirs.
In addition to a public concert series, MYC conducts an annual spring tour of schools and retirement centers, performing for more than 7,000 students and senior citizens annually. MYC also collaborates with professional arts organizations including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Ballet, and Madison Opera, while continually supporting and recognizing the work of public schools and music educators throughout the area.
In summer 2014, MYC boychoirs will travel to Scotland for their first appearance at the invitation-only Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
For further information about attending or joining, visit http://www.madisonyouthchoirs.org contact the Madison Youth Choirs at info@madisonyouthchoirs.org, or call (608) 238-7464
Tags: Aberdeen International Youth Festival, Antonio Vivaldi, Arts, Arts & Minds, Bach, Baroque, Benjamin Britten, BMO Harris Bank, boy choir, boychoir, Choir, choral music, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi, Cyndi Lauper, Debussy, Emma Lou Diemer, Eric Whitacre, George Frideric Handel, girl choir, girlchoir, Gustav Holst, Hebrew, Henry Purcell, Herbert Howells, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Rutter, Leonard Bernstein, Madison, Madison Ballet, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Michael Ross, Music, Music education, Overture Center, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Renaissance, Scotland, Scott Gendel, Serbia, St. Cecilia, Thomas Morley, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Vincent Persichetti, Wisconsin, YouTube, Zoltan Kodaly
Classical music: Madison Youth Choirs presents its 11th Annual Winter Concert Series this coming Sunday afternoon and night.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Madison Youth Choirs (MYC) will present a winter concert series featuring over 300 talented young singers in three performances during the afternoon and evening of Sunday, December 15, at Madison’s First Congregational Church.
The nine performing choirs will raise their voices in celebration of MYC’s 11th season theme, “Arts and Minds.” Singers have spent a semester studying the connection between visual art and music, using both mediums as a lens to discover the world.
Concert selections will include works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten (below top), Palestrina, Johannes Brahms, Vincent Persichetti and Pablo Casals (below bottom), as well as a few holiday favorites and folk songs.
Cantabile, MYC’s choir for advanced high school women, will also sing a hauntingly beautiful version of U2’s “With or Without You,” which earned the choir a standing ovation during a preview concert at Hilldale Mall this month.
All concerts will take place at First Congregational Church, 1609 University Ave., Madison
Tickets are available at the door. General admission is $12 general admission at the door, and free for children under 7.
HERE IS A MASTER SCHEDULE
1:30 P.M. – CANTILENA, CANTABILE, AND RAGAZZI (below, in a photo by Dan Sinclair) (HIGH SCHOOL ENSEMBLES)
Selections from the 1:30 p.m. concert include:
“Turn Then Thine Eyes” (from “The Fairy-Queen”) by Henry Purcell
“Nigra Sum” by Pablo Casals
“Sicut Rosa” by Orlando di Lasso
“The Roadside Fire” (from “Songs of Travel”) by Ralph Vaughan Williams
“The Young Man’s Song” (premiere) by Eric William Barnum
“Ich weiss nicht” by Johannes Brahms
“Les Berceaux” (The Cradles) by Gabriel Faure
“Sam Was a Man” by Vincent Persichetti
4:30 P.M. – PURCELL, BRITTEN, HOLST, AND RAGAZZI (BOYCHOIRS)
Selections from 4:30 p.m. concert include:
“Bright is the Ring of Words” (from “Songs of Travel”) by Ralph Vaughan Williams
“Ich will den Herrn” by Georg Philipp Telemann
“Magno Gaudens: by Anonymous (12th century)
“All Things Bright and Beautiful” by John Rutter
“Sicut Rosa” by Orlando di Lasso
“The Roadside Fire” (from “Songs of Travel”) by Ralph Vaughan Williams
“The Young Man’s Song” (premiere) by Eric William Barnum
“Fancie” by Benjamin Britten
“Exultate Justi in Domino” by Lodovico Viadana
“All Ye Who Music Love” by Baldassare Donato (text from the 18th century, Thomas Oliphant)
7 P.M. – CHORALIERS (below, in a photo by Cynthia Hawkinson), CON GIOIA, AND CAPRICCIO (GIRLCHOIRS)
Selections from the 7 p.m. concert include:
“Non Nobis Domine” by William Byrd
“Yet Gentle Will the Griffin Be” by Franciso Nuñez
“Fire” by Mary Goetze
“Dona Nobis Pacem,” attributed to Clemens non Papa
“Ich jauze, ich lache” (from BWV 15) by Johann Sebastian Bach
“Pavane” by Gabriel Fauré (at bottom in a popular YouTube video that features painting by Claude Monet and that has almost two million hits)
This project is supported by American Girl’s Fund for Children, by Dane Arts with additional funds from the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times, and by BMO Harris Bank.
ABOUT THE MADISON YOUTH CHOIRS (MYC)
Here is some additional impressive information from the Madison Youth Choirs:
Recognized as an innovator in youth choral education, Madison Youth Choirs inspires enjoyment, learning and social development through the study and performance of high-quality and diverse choral literature.
The oldest youth choir organization in Wisconsin, MYC welcomes singers of all ability levels, challenging them to learn more than just notes and rhythms. Singers explore the history, context, and heart of the music, becoming “expert noticers,” using music as a lens to discover the world. MYC serves more than 500 young people, ages 7-18, in 11 single-gender choirs.
In addition to a public concert series, MYC conducts an annual spring tour of schools and retirement centers, performing for more than 7,000 students and senior citizens annually. MYC also collaborates with professional arts organizations including the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Madison Ballet and the Madison Opera, while continually supporting and recognizing the work of public schools and music educators throughout the area.
In summer 2014, MYC boychoirs will travel to Scotland for their first appearance at the prestigious “by invitation-only” Aberdeen International Youth Festival.
For more information – and to hear samples under the MEDIA section or find out about joining the group — visit: http://www.madisonyouthchoirs.org
Tags: Aberdeen International Youth Festival, Benjamin Britten, BMO Harris Bank, boychoir, Georg Philipp Telemann, Henry Purcell, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, John Rutter, Madison, Madison Ballet, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Orlando di Lasso, Pablo Casals, Palestrina, Ralph Vaughan Williams, U2, Vincent Persichetti, William Byrd, Wisconsin, YouTube
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