The Well-Tempered Ear
Will you help revive the UW Choral Union?
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By Jacob Stockinger
Soprano Janet Murphy was a longtime and enthusiastic participant in the UW Choral Union.
(You can see it below performing Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “A Sea Symphony” under former director Beverly Taylor during its inaugural appearance with the UW Symphony Orchestra in Hamel Hall. At the bottom you can see and hear the UW Choral Union singing “He Watching Over Israel” from Mendelssohn’s oratorio “Elijah” 12 years ago in Mills Hall).
In the wake of the Choral Union being ended by former music school director Susan C. Cook this past summer, many participants were outraged and disappointed that the campus-community group would no longer exist.
Among them, Murphy formed a support group, Friends of the Choral Union, and met in person with the new director of the UW School of Music.
Murphy now seems optimistic that the Choral Union can be revived — IF there is enough public support.
She sent the following appeal and asked The Ear to post it:
A message from Friends of the UW Choral Union:
As many of you know, the UW Mead Witter School of Music decided to disband the Choral Union after 130 years. They have heard a great deal from the community about that!
Dan Cavanagh, the new director of the School of Music, has graciously offered to hold a conversation with the community this Monday evening.
He seems open to re-establishing the Choral Union if there is a lot of support for that.
It’s now or never for classical music lovers and fans of the Wisconsin Idea to show the School of Music that we want the Choral Union back.
We need many hundreds of fans to come.
A big turnout will mean as much as anything we say.
Please…
Bring your family and friends
Post on social media
Email broadly
A conversation with Dan Cavanagh (below top) and Director of Choral Activities Mariana Farah (below bottom) will take place this Monday October 23, 7-8:15 p.m. in Hamel Music Center, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, 740 University Ave.
That’s where the UW Choral Union overfilled the 660-seat concert hall last April. Let’s fill the hall again!
Editor’s note: If you are looking for background, here are the previous stories dating back to the announcement of ending the Choral Union in June. It is also telling to read the many comments from participants and the public:
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Public ‘autopsy’ of UW Choral Union is Monday, Oct. 23
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By Jacob Stockinger
What was the cause of death?
Ever since last June — when the University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music announced it was killing off the UW Choral Union after 130 years — the school has not issued any kind of public statement, specific explanation or response to the overwhelming negative reactions from the community.
That is finally about to change.
On Monday, Oct. 23, 2023 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall of the Hamel Music Center, the School of Music’s new director Dan Cavanagh will meet with former Choral Union singers and others members of the public to discuss the decision to cancel and to explore the future off campus-community choral activities.
Here is the email invitation that Cavanagh (below) sent out this week:
October 10, 2023
Dear Choral Union Singers,
I have been fortunate to meet several of you in my first few months in Madison as the new Director of the Mead Witter School of Music (MWSoM). I have felt welcomed and excited to make Madison my home, both personally and professionally.
As you know well, I started my position during a time of change here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I have learned much over the past few months about the long history, impact, and value that the Choral Union has had here in Madison and beyond.
I understand that many have felt disappointed by the decision to discontinue the Choral Union (shown below under longtime but now retired choral director Beverly Taylor) as it has been a longstanding and stalwart example of the Wisconsin Idea in action. I have begun having discussions with the local choral community writ large to explore ways to serve the Madison area in a way that honors that tradition while ensuring that we are able to serve our students in the most pedagogically and fiscally responsible way.
With the above in mind, I am writing to invite you and those interested to a conversation on Monday, October 23, from 7:00 p.m.-8:15 p.m. in the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the Hamel Music Center.
Janet Murphy has, in parallel, reached out to me about the new “Friends of the Choral Union” group, and I plan to meet with her and a few others prior to this larger meeting so that I can come prepared to be responsive and engaged in the discussion.
I hope to come away from our conversation having had a chance to explain in more detail why the original decision was made last spring before I arrived, as well as having had a chance to hear your concerns and hopes for how we can partner together in the future to serve the choral community around us.
When I interviewed for this position back in early March, I talked a lot about how Music is one of the “front doors” to the University, and how our public charge includes engaging outside the walls of the “ivory tower.”
This philosophy is uniquely enacted through the Wisconsin Idea, and I do not use that phrase lightly. While our focus needs to remain first and foremost on our students and our ability (and resources) to adapt our pedagogical practices to a rapidly changing arts and cultural environment in this country, I am excited to work together with you and others to find ways to connect that pedagogical work with the wider community in our state and nationally.
Please consider joining me for this important conversation on October 23. No RSVP is needed. I look forward to meeting each of you in person and to hearing your passion, ideas, and concerns.
With deep respect,
Dan Cavanagh
Pamela O. Hamel/Board of Advisors Director; Mead Witter School of Music Professor of Jazz Studies and Composition
University of Wisconsin-Madison: music.wisc.edu
NOTE: If you want more to see more background and reader public reactions to it, here are links to three previous blog posts:
The Ear wonders how well attended the meeting will be?
Will you attend or not? Why or why not?
Will anything change about the future of the Choral Union?
Will Mariana Farah (below top) — the highly acclaimed new Director of Choral Activities — be on hand to answer questions and offer her perspective?
Will former music school director Susan C. Cook (below bottom), who made the decision, also be there?
How convincing will the explanations for the past decision and for possible future activities be?
Did it change your mind or thinking? How?
The Ear wants to hear.
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What do current music and non-music students think about the UW-Madison killing off the Choral Union?
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By Jacob Stockinger
By now, the chances are good that you have heard about the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music’s decision to kill off the campus-community Choral Union after 130 years. (The Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra, under recently retired choral activities director Beverly Taylor, are shown below in Mills Hall, where they performed with soloists for 50 years — in this case Johann Sebastian Bach’s “St Matthew Passion” — before moving to the Hamel Music Center.)
It has had many more hits and many more replies than any other blog post in a long time.
All of the reactions so far have been strongly negative, even outraged, with no one defending or endorsing the move.
But so far those replies, often lengthy, have been received with deafening silence and no replies or detailed explanations from either faculty members or administrators in the UW-Madison School of Music. In fact, The Ear understands that the School of Music has blocked its website and Facebook site from allowing anyone to reply:
See for yourself. Here is a link to the original blog post with its many comments and replies:
Most of the replies come from people who attend the UW Choral Union concerts or those who used to sing in it or who have been singing in it as alumni or community members and taxpayers. Some threaten withdrawing financial support. Others say it is yet another attack on the Wisconsin Idea.
But this time The Ear would like to hear from CURRENT STUDENTS — music students and other student — about what they think of the move.
Do they favor the decision to end the Choral Union? Or oppose it?
Do they think ending the Choral Union will hurt their education? Or be harmless?
What would the students like the UW-Madison School of Music to do? Continue with the plan or reverse the decision? Explain the specific reasons rather than citing generalities and banalities?
End censorship by allowing the public to reply on websites and social media?
Please spread the word to family and friends, to music and non-music students at the UW-Madison and at other schools.
The Ear wants to hear.
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UW-Madison School of Music kills off the venerable campus-community Choral Union
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By Jacob Stockinger
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music will end the long-lived campus-community Choral Union (below at the top, with soloists and the UW Symphony Orchestra at the bottom) starting this fall. You can hear an excerpt from Handel’s “Elijah” performed in the old Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.
The news, dated June 1, was posted quietly and anonymously on the school’s website. As The Ear understands it, members of the Choral Union were not contacted directly. They just had to find it. Plus, the summer seems a suspicious and inauspicious time for the announcement. Student, faculty and community members are on vacation. In addition, the new director Dan Cavanagh (below) will take over the office from Susan C. Cook in a little over two weeks, on July 1. No word on how he stands about the move.
Here is the music school’s website posting: https://music.wisc.edu/choral-ensembles/
It doesn’t come as a complete surprise to The Ear, since performances were reduced from two semesters to one semester shortly after Mariana Farah (below) became the new Director of Choral Activities in 2021 after the retirement of Beverly Taylor, who continues to serve as the choral director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Student, alumni and community protests are already coming in expressing the resolve to reverse the decision.
Little wonder since the Choral Union was founded in 1893 and is one of the oldest on-going organizations on campus. It is hard to think of a better embodiment of the Wisconsin Idea. That concept is that the public university is to serve the taxpaying public that funds it — and these days community engagement is still supposed to be a high priority.
The Choral Union also seems like an exemplary educational program that gets soloists, the choir of students and the public, and the symphony to work together on a major project that also raises money for the music school.
Over many years, the Choral Union performances have also provided much of the most memorable music-making The Ear has ever heard at the university — or in the city. Works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Verdi, Faure and Benjamin Britten, among others, come to mind.
Here is the exact text, which is vague about any reasons for the cancellation of the 130-year-old Choral Union:
Choral Union Update (June 1, 2023)
“Starting Fall 2023, the Mead Witter School of Music will no longer offer Choral Union. This change will allow the School of Music to devote resources to our core mission of serving UW–Madison students as well as to focus our public programming around new goals.
“The School of Music and its choral program deeply value and appreciate the partnerships we have formed over the years with the Madison-area choral community. And we recognize that ending the Choral Union may be disappointing to some.
“We hope that community members who participated in the Choral Union will continue to partake of the many opportunities available to engage with the School of Music such as choral concerts and the multitude of performances, lectures, and workshops we offer every year.”
The negative reactions and feedback have already started. Here is one example:
The oldest organization at the UW-Madison has been canceled with an unsigned email and no public input?
This can’t be right.
The Choral Union is a beloved institution.
We won’t let it go like this. We need to know what the issues are and solve them.
Let the discussion begin.
–Janet Murphy, alto member of the Choral Union, 2008-present
Spread the word. Should you or others wish to express an opinion of support or opposition, here are some email addresses and phone numbers:
General office:music@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
School director Susan C. Cook: director@music.wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
Director of Choral Activities: mariana.farah@wisc.edu; 608.263.1900
What do you think of the UW killing off the Choral Union?
What would you like to know about the decision?
Would you like the UW School of Music to reverse its decision?
The Ear wants to hear.
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A jazz-pop composer is the new director of the UW School of Music
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By Jacob Stockinger
Dan Cavanagh (below) from Texas has been named the next director of the UW-Madison School of Music, effective July 1, 2023.
Cavanagh’s appointment concludes a national search led by Associate Dean Susan Zaeske of the College of Letters and Science; music professors Mimmi Fulmer, Christopher Taylor, Scott Teeple, Conor Nelson and Daniel Grabois; and School of Music Assistant Director Wendy Johnson.
The Ear can’t be the only person wondering what a jazz and pop musician — a performer, arranger and composer — means for the school that has always selected its leaders from classical music and music education as the top administrators.
But there is no doubt about Cavanagh’s impressive credentials.
Here is the official press release from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music.
“I am thrilled that Dan will bring to the directorship of the Mead Witter School of Music a cutting-edge vision of research and curricular excellence combined with the wherewithal to get things done thanks to his many years of experience as a music and liberal arts administrator,” Dean Zaeske said.
Cavanagh is a composer and pianist who has garnered numerous awards in both areas. As a composer he has written or arranged for Latin Grammy-winning AfroBop Alliance, the legendary Patti LaBelle, and a wide range of classical and jazz performers across North America and Europe. He has released five critically acclaimed jazz CDs as a leader.
His music can be heard on many other recordings both classical and jazz and he continues to be commissioned and programmed around the world. Cavanagh has also performed extensively in North America and internationally. He has been a finalist in the EuropaFest Jazz Contest in Bucharest, and in the Jacksonville Jazz Festival Piano Competition.
“I am very excited to join UW–Madison as the next Pamela O. Hamel/Music Board of Advisors Professor and Director of the Mead Witter School of Music,” Cavanagh said. “The school’s national reputation is bolstered by its amazing faculty, talented students, and accomplished staff.”
Cavanagh is currently the interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington. Prior to serving as interim Dean, Cavanagh held various academic leadership roles, including program director, music department chair, and associate dean. He has also served in high-profile shared governance roles in the University of Texas System, including as Chair of the Faculty Advisory Council representing over 21,000 faculty members across the 14 institutions in the system.
From 2015-2020, he served as the Co-Chair of Region VI for the Society of Composers and currently serves on the executive board of a2ru (the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities). Cavanagh serves on the board of directors for Downtown Arlington Management Corporation (Arlington, TX), chairs Downtown Arlington’s Cultural Arts District Partners group and serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Dallas Winds, a five-time Grammy nominated professional Wind Symphony.
Cavanagh succeeds Director Susan C. Cook, who will be on sabbatical during the 2023-24 academic year after serving 10 years as director of the School of Music.
“I look forward to engaging with the Board of Advisors, colleagues across the University, and individuals throughout the community to continue growing the impact, reach and excellence the School of Music creates every day, and to advance the ideals of the Wisconsin Idea through the creative work and scholarship we will produce together,” Cavanagh said.
Do you have any questions or comments you want to share?
The Ear wants too hear.
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The UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet performs a FREE online virtual concert this Wednesday night. Plus, local music critic Greg Hettmansberger has died
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NEWS ALERT: Local music critic and blogger Greg Hettmansberger (below) was killed in a car accident on Dec. 2, near Wichita, Kansas. Hettmansberger, 65, was driving when he hit a deer and then another car hit him. His wife survived but remains hospitalized in Wichita in critical condition. Here is a link to a news account: https://www.kake.com/story/42993718/man-dies-in-crash-caused-by-deer-in-pratt-county
By Jacob Stockinger
This Wednesday night, Dec. 9, the UW-Madison’s Wingra Wind Quintet (below, in 2017) will perform a FREE virtual online concert from 7:30 to 9 p.m.
Here is a direct link to the pre-recorded video premiere on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/e1NhVZJW2cA
Due to the pandemic, the Wingra Wind Quintet has been unable to perform chamber music in a traditional way since March 2020. (You can hear the quintet play “On, Wisconsin” in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
In response, the quintet put together a program that allowed each member to record parts separately and have those parts edited together.
Current faculty members (below) are: Conor Nelson, flute; Lindsay Flowers, oboe; Alicia Lee, clarinet; Marc Vallon, bassoon; and Devin Cobleigh-Morrison, horn
The engineer/producer is Kris Saebo.
The program is:
The first piece “Allegro scherzando” from Three Pieces by Walter Piston (below, 1894-1976)
The Chaconne from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst (below, 1874-1934)
“Retracing” by Elliott Carter (below, 1908-2012)
Selections from “Mikrokosmos” by Bela Bartok (below, 1881-1945)
“A 6 letter letter” by Elliott Carter
Intermezzo from the First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst
“Esprit rude/esprit doux” by Elliott Carter
Since its formation in 1965, the Wingra Wind Quintet at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music has established a tradition of artistic and teaching excellence.
The ensemble has been featured in performance at national conferences such as MENC (Miami), MTNA (Kansas City), and the International Double Reed Society (Minneapolis).
The quintet also presented an invitational concert on the prestigious Dame Myra Hess series at the Chicago Public Library, broadcast live on radio station WFMT.
In addition to its extensive home state touring, the quintet has been invited to perform at numerous college campuses, including the universities of Alaska-Fairbanks, Northwestern, Chicago, Nebraska, Western Michigan, Florida State, Cornell, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Paris Conservatoire, where quintet members offered master classes.
The Wingra Wind Quintet has recorded for Golden Crest, Spectrum, and the UW-Madison Mead Witter School of Music recording series and is featured on an educational video entitled Developing Woodwind Ensembles.
Always on the lookout for new music of merit, the Wingra has premiered new works of Hilmar Luckhardt, Vern Reynolds, Alec Wilder, Edith Boroff, James Christensen and David Ott. The group recently gave the Midwest regional premiere of William Bolcom’s “Five Fold Five,” a sextet for woodwind quintet and piano, with UW-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor (below).
New York Times critic Peter Davis, in reviewing the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall appearance, stated “The performances were consistently sophisticated, sensitive and thoroughly vital.”
The Wingra Wind Quintet is one of three faculty chamber ensembles in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
Deeply committed to the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the group travels widely to offer its concerts and educational services to students and the public in all corners of the state. (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea, which seems more relevant today than ever, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea.)
Portions of this recording were made at the Hamel Music Center, a venue of the Mead Witter School of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Classical music: After 54 years at the UW-Madison, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) will move this fall to the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.
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By Jacob Stockinger
Starting this fall, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO, below) will have a new home for classes, rehearsals and performances.
The news of moving to the McFarland Performing Arts Center (below) is very good for WYSO. But The Ear feels sad to see the University of Wisconsin-Madison and WYSO parting ways after a partnership of 54 years.
It feels like the UW, a distinguished public institution, is backing away from the Wisconsin Idea of public service to the citizens who fund the university. It is embodied in the saying that “the boundaries of the university are the boundaries of the state.” (Editor’s note: For more about the Wisconsin Idea and its Progressive Era history, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisconsin_Idea)
It feels, in short, like a setback to community engagement by the UW-Madison and its Mead Witter School of Music, where WYSO once had offices and used Mills Concert Hall.
Be that as it may, here is a WYSO email newsletter’s account of what led up to the decision and move.
“The news from University of Wisconsin-Madison started trickling in a little at a time.
“First, Mills Hall (below), where WYSO had rehearsed almost every Saturday since the Humanities Building opened, was scheduled for transformation from a concert hall into a lecture hall. (You can see WYSO performing in Mills Hall in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“Then the UW began to reconsider whether pre-college programs should actually share space with university departments.
“And there was the growth of WYSO itself — from one full orchestra to three, plus two string orchestras, a chamber music program (below top), a full array of ensembles, and the community-impact Music Makers (below bottom).
“Meanwhile, 12 minutes away, the town of McFarland opened an amazing 841-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center (below).
“And incredibly, the adjacent middle school and high school campus (below) had enough parking and enough rehearsal space to accommodate the entire WYSO program with room to grow — all of the student musicians, all of the orchestras, and all rehearsing at the same time.
“In a unique move of creative place-making, McFarland’s School Superintendent Andrew Briddell reached out to WYSO and suggested all of the above opportunities, plus collaboration with the McFarland schools, staff and community, and the ability to build on the creative history of the town itself.
“Passionate about music and education, Andrew Briddell, earned a double major in music and English from Indiana University, a Master’s degree in bassoon from Temple University, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the UW-Madison.
“”A talented bassoon player, Briddell (below) played with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and was music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of Birmingham.
“What a perfect match for this collaboration!
“It was an invitation too good to pass up. So starting in the fall of 2020, the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras will be in residence at the new McFarland Performing Arts Center.”
To read more details about WYSO’s new home, including design and acoustics, go to: https://www.wysomusic.org/the-wyso-weekly-tune-up-april-17-2020-wysos-new-home/
What do you think about the new move WYSO?
The Ear wants to hear.
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Classical music: This Friday night is a FREE sampler concert of great German art songs based on great German poetry
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By Jacob Stockinger
There is a good reason why art songs are usually referred to by their German name ”Lieder.”
It is because the 19th century in Germany remains a Golden Age when great German Romantic composers such as Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann drew inspiration from great German Romantic poets such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (below top) and Heinrich Heine (below bottom).
You can hear a generous sampler of such works, including many well-known individual songs and a famous complete song cycle, this Friday night in a FREE concert at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall.
The singers are guest tenor Wesley Dunnagan (below top) and UW faculty baritone Paul Rowe (below bottom, in a photo by Michael R. Anderson).
The pianists are Benjamin Liupaogo (below top) and UW graduate Thomas Kasdorf (below bottom), who is substituting for Martha Fischer.
The concert is also a partnership between the UW School of Music and the UW German Department. And it marks the 50th Wisconsin Workshop, a series based on the Wisconsin Idea.
For more information and background, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/faculty-recital-paul-rowe-voice-martha-fischer-piano/
If you want to prepare and check out some of the repertoire, here is the complete program:
GEDICHTE VON JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE (1749-1832)
Felix Mendelsson (1809-1847): Ich Wollt’ Meine Lieb’
Franz Schubert (1797-1828): Erster Verlust; Nähe des Geliebten; Rastlose Liebe; Musensohn; Schäfers Klagelied; An die Entfernte; Erlkönig
GEDICHTE VON HEINRICH HEINE (1797-1856)
Clara Schumann (1819-1826): Lorelei; Sie liebten sich beide; Ihr Bildnis
Franz Schubert: Ihr Bild; Das Fischermädchen
Franz Liszt (1811-1886): Lorelei
Felix Mendelssohn: Abendlied
Intermission
Robert Schumann (1810-1856): Dichterliebe, Opus 48 (1840)
Im wunderschönen Monat Mai
Aus meinen Tränen sprießen
Die Rose, die Lilie, die Taube, die Sonne
Ich will meine Seele tauchen
Im Rhein, im heiligen Strome
Ich grolle night (sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in the YouTube video at bottom)
Und wüßten’s die Blumen, die kleinen
Das ist ein Flöten und Geigen
Hör’ ich das Liedchen klingen
Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen
Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen
Ich hab’ im Traum geweinet
Allnächtlich im Traume seh’ ich dich
Aus alten Märchen
Die alten, bösen Lieder
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Classical music: Don’t “monetize” the Pro Arte Quartet, which performs three FREE concerts this week. It embodies the Wisconsin Idea
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By Jacob Stockinger
It’s no secret that the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music is strapped for money, especially for hiring staff and funding student scholarships — if less so for the construction of new buildings that are financed by selling naming rights.
Certain events, such as the UW Choral Union, have always charged admission. And most UW-Madison musical events, especially faculty and student performances, remain, thankfully, FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
But under increasing financial pressure, a few years ago the UW started charging admission to more events: the UW Brass Festival, the UW Concerto Competition Winners’ Concert and the annual Schubertiade to name a few.
So one can well imagine the temptation to “monetize” — charge admission to – concerts by the popular Pro Arte String Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer), which typically draws both critical acclaim and large audiences.
Yet The Ear thinks that would be a mistake, even if the purpose or intent is the best.
The Pro Arte Quartet, which ended up here from its native Belgium when it was exiled here on tour during World War II when Hitler and the Nazis invaded and conquered Belgium, is a primary example of The Wisconsin Idea in action.
The Wisconsin Idea – under siege now by the governor and many legislators — is that the boundaries of the UW are the borders of the state and that the UW should serve the taxpayers who support it.
No single musical group at the UW does that job that better than the hard working Pro Arte Quartet, which has done it for many decades.
The quartet practices for three hours every weekday morning. It tours and performs frequently in Madison and elsewhere in the state, including Door County. It has played in Carnegie Hall in New York City and toured Europe, South America and Asia. It has commissioned and premiered many new works. It has made numerous outstanding recordings. It is a great and revered institution.
The Pro Arte Quartet is, in short, a great ambassador for the state of Wisconsin, the UW-Madison and the UW System. It has given, and will continue to give, countless listeners a start on loving chamber music.
If you are unfamiliar with the history of the Pro Arte Quartet, which is now over 100 years old and is the longest lived active quartet in the history of Western music, go to this link:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/pro-arte-quartet/
And you might consider attending or hearing one of the three FREE PUBLIC performances this week in the Madison area:
THURSDAY
From 7 to 9 p.m., the Pro Arte Quartet will perform FREE at Oakwood Village Auditorium, 6209 Mineral Point Road on Madison’s far west side near West Towne. The program is the same as the one listed below on Saturday.
The Oakwood Village concert is OPEN to the public.
Here is a link to more information:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-at-oakwood-village/
SATURDAY
At 8 p.m., in Mills Hall, the Pro Arte Quartet, joined by University of Maryland guest pianist Rita Sloan (below top), will perform a FREE program that features the Fuga in E-flat Major, (1827) by Felix Mendelssohn; the String Quartet No. 20 in F major, Op. 46, No. 2 (1832-33) by the prolific but neglected 19th-century French composer George Onslow (below bottom); and the rarely heard Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84, (1919) by Sir Edward Elgar. (You hear the lovely slow movement from the Elgar Piano Quintet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For information, go to:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-6/
SUNDAY
At 12:30 p.m. in the Brittingham Gallery III (below) of the Chazen Museum of Art, the Pro Arte Quartet will perform for “Sunday Afternoon Live From the Chazen,” where over the years it has become the chamber music ensemble in residence.
The program is the same as the one on Saturday night.
Here is information about reserving seats and also a link for streaming the concert live via the Internet:
Do you have an opinion about the Pro Arte Quartet?
Should admission to Pro Arte concerts be started? Or should the quartet’s performances remain free?
Leave a COMMENT below with the why and your reasoning.
The Ear wants to hear.
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The Well-Tempered Ear 
Memorial Union cancels the popular Tudor holiday dinners
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By Jacob Stockinger
It looks like the University of Wisconsin-Madison has done it again.
In June, the Mead Witter School of Music quietly posted an announcement that the campus-and-community UW Choral Union, which dated back 130 years, would be permanently disbanded. It shut down the Choral Union site on Facebook to comments and has never replied to critics. It waited until the summer and it did not contact participants to announce the decision.
Now it seems a similar thing is being done with the 90-year-old Tudor Dinner celebrations of the year-end holidays held at the Memorial Union.
The dinner features entertainment by the community Philharmonic Chorus of Madison (below):
The feasts and festivities are a popular and long-standing tradition at many universities and colleges.
And it has been at the UW-Madison, where since 1938 it has filled the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, as you can see in the 2018 promotional video on YouTube at the bottom.
But apparently no longer.
No reason has been given — not even if it is a permanent cancellation or a one-time postponement,
The lack of public transparency and common courtesy seems ironic at a campus where the music school boasts, “THE WISCONSIN IDEA AT ITS MOST AUDIBLE.”
The Ear just heard about this matter yesterday, thanks to a comment by a surprised and disappointed reader of the blog.
Here is that comment:
“Have you heard that the Union Tudor Holiday Dinner Concerts have been cancelled? I just heard today via a friend of a friend. Philharmonic Chorus members heard earlier this year that the Union cancelled them.
“I’m on the email lists for both the Tudor Dinner Concerts and the Philharmonic Chorus, and neither sent an email about the cancellation.
“The Union’s website still has information about the 2022 dinner, and no mention of future ones being cancelled.
“I made travel plans that can’t be changed based on needing to be home in Madison to attend the 2023 dinner with my elderly parents, as we’ve done for 20 years.
“Given that the dinners have been held for something like 90 years, it seemed like a safe bet to plan my trip around the dinner.
“Between this and the demise of Choral Union with an even longer tradition, plus hiding both facts and not communicating them, I’m very angry at the university.”
Everything seems to confirm this reader’s story.
And if you want to see what transpired with the dissolution of the Choral Union — including more than 40 strongly worded comments from those who attended or participated in the Choral Union concerts — here are links to previous postings on this blog:
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