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Classical music: During the COVID-19 pandemic, hosts at Wisconsin Public Radio suggest music that expresses gratitude and hope

May 13, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

The various hosts of Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) — an indispensable companion during self-isolation at home — listen to a lot of music and think a lot about it, especially about its meaning and appeal to the public.

So it comes as no surprise that they have once again suggested music to listen to during the coronavirus pandemic and the mounting toll of COVID-19.

Almost two months ago, the same radio hosts suggested music that they find calming and inspiring. They did so on the WPR home page in an ongoing blog where they also included YouTube audiovisual performances.

Here is a link to that earlier posting, which is well worth reading and following: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/?s=Wisconsin+Public+Radio

This time, the various hosts – mostly of classical shows but also of folk music and world music – suggest music that inspires or expresses hope and gratitude. (Below is Ruthanne Bessman, the host of “Classics by Request,” which airs at 10 a.m. on Saturdays.)

Here is the genesis of the list and public service project:

“At a recent WPR music staff meeting, we talked about the many ways music can unite us and about how music can express the gratitude we feel for people and things that are important to us, often much better than words.

“That discussion led to this collection of music, which we wanted to share with you. It’s eclectic and interesting, just like our music staff.”

The composers cited include some familiar names such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Benjamin Britten and John Williams.

But some new music, based on historical events and written by contemporary or modern composers, is also named. It includes works by the American composer Daniel Gawthrop (b. 1949, below top) and the Israeli composer David Zehavi (1910-1977, below bottom). Here are links to their biographies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_E._Gawthrop

https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/zehavi-david

Sound-wise, it is quite an eclectic list that runs from solo harpsichord music to orchestral and choral music as well as chamber music.

Many of the performers have played in Madison at the Overture Center, with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, at the Wisconsin Union Theater, at the UW-Madison and on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos.

They include: the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; cellist Amit Peled and pianist Eli Kalman, who received his doctorate from the UW-Madison and now teaches at the UW-Oshkosh; conductor-composer John Rutter and the Cambridge Singers; and superstars violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma along with Venezuelan pianist-improviser Gabriela Montero in a quartet that played at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Here is a link to the new WPR suggestions: https://www.wpr.org/wpr-hosts-share-music-gratitude-and-hope

Happy listening!

If you read the blog or listen to the music, let us know what you think in the Comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Here are many more FREE online and streamed concerts to follow and listen to as you quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic

April 25, 2020
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By Jacob Stockinger

During the COVID-19 public health crisis and coronavirus pandemic, live streaming of concerts has taken off. It started with daily broadcasts of past productions by the Metropolitan Opera and the Berlin Philharmonic.

Local organizations have followed suit. They include the Madison Symphony Orchestra; the “couchertos” of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; the twice weekly “tiny desk concerts” by the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society sent to email newsletter subscribers and other recorded audiovisual performances; and local recordings made by Rich Samuels and aired on WORT-FM 89.9.

Here is a compilation, from the British radio station Classic FM with many other FREE listings that also get updated: https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/live-streamed-classical-music-concerts-coronavirus/

Here is another listing of FREE live streams and archived performances from Minnesota Public Radio (MPR): https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2020/03/16/free-online-classical-concerts

And below are several more that The Ear has checked out and recommends:

CARNEGIE HALL LIVE

Carnegie Hall (below), America’s premier concert venue, has started a series of live streams that include world music, jazz and of course classical music.

The format includes conversation and remarks from homes as well as first-rate live performances from the past. (You can also hear many of the concerts on radio station WQXR in New York City: https://www.wqxr.org)

This past week, The Ear heard an outstanding concert with three pianists, all of whom appeared in Madison last season: Emanuel Ax, who performed an all-Beethoven recital at the Wisconsin Union Theater, played the piano and acted as host; Orion Weiss, who performed a Mozart concerto with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; and Shai Wosner, who gave a terrific master class and a memorable recital on the Salon Piano Series at Farley’s House of Pianos. If you missed it, it is still archived and accessible.

On this Thursday, April 30, at 1 p.m. CDT you can hear violinist Joshua Bell with pianist Jeremy Denk and cellist Steven Isserlis.

Here is a link: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Explore/Watch-and-Listen/Live-with-Carnegie-Hall?sourceCode=31887&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsYigzumB6QIVjIbACh061Qz2EAAYASABEgJE3fD_BwE

DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON

Deutsche Grammophon, the world oldest record label, which was established in 1898, has several online series of live streams and archived concerts.

They include “Moment Musical” (Musical Moment) by Daniel Barenboim and guest artists, broadcast from the Pierre Boulez Saal (concert hall) in Berlin.

Barenboim, who started as a child prodigy pianist and ended up being a world-class conductor who once headed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, has done solo piano and chamber music concerts with the Piano Quintet and two solo pieces by Robert Schumann; the epic Diabelli Variations by Beethoven; and an all-Chopin program of encores. You can also find individual ones on YouTube.

Along more promotional lines, DG also offers a “Best of” series that features movements and excerpts from their newer recordings by some of the best known artists – including pianists Lang Lang, Danill Trifonov, Yuja Wang, Vikingur Olafsson, Jan Lisiecki and Seong-Jin Cho; conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Andris Nelsons; opera singers Anna Netrebko and Elina Garanca.

Here is a link to DG’s homepage from where you can get to the various series: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC34DbNyD_0t8tnOc5V38Big

MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Closer to home, every Friday you can listen to weekly concerts by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra called “Musical Journeys.”

Performers include the MSO’s new music director Ken-David Masur as well as guest conductors like Jeffrey Kahane and the past conductor Edo de Waart.

You can hear the past five episodes, and join new ones. You can also hear past concerts by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (below) on Wisconsin Public Radio. Broadcast time is Sunday at 2 p.m.

Here is a link to Musical Journeys: https://www.mso.org/about/music/mso-musical-journeys-5/

VIOLINIST DANIEL HOPE AT HOME

British violinist Daniel Hope – who has performed with the Madison Symphony Orchestra — has been streaming chamber music concerts from the living room of his home in Berlin.

A prolific concert artist and 25 recordings and four Grammy Award nominations to his credit, Hope (below) has many invited guests and offers a wide range of repertoire.

Here is a link with past episodes. You can also click in upcoming episodes: https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/RC-019356/hope-home/

Are there other sites and streamed performances that you recommend?

Please leave the name and a link in the Comment section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: Flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic is Musician of the Year for 2018

December 31, 2018
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IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.

By Jacob Stockinger

The classical music scene in Madison is so rich that it is always a challenge to name a Musician of the Year.

There are just so many deserving candidates. One obvious example is conductor John DeMain, who is completing his 25th year of outstanding stewardship in directing the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Opera.

But part of the intent behind such an honor is not just to recognize well-known figures. It is to encourage a broader awareness of those people who do a lot for local classical music but who often fly under the radar for many people.

That is why The Ear is naming flutist and activist Iva Ugrcic (below) as the Musician of the Year for 2018.

As both a performer and entrepreneur, Ugrcic is always very busy broadening her varied career. Being both a player and an activist, she is making a difference, musically and socially, that deserves to be recognized and supported.

Serbian by birth and educated in Belgrade and Paris, she came to Madison where she completed her doctorate in flute performance and also took business courses at the UW-Madison Business School.

She is a first-rate performer who has won a national prize for performing. While at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, she won both the concerto competition (below) and the Irving Shain competition for wind instruments in duets. (You can hear her amazing technique in the YouTube video at the bottom. In it Ugrcic performs “Voice” for solo flute by the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu.)

She now plays with the Black Marigold Wind Quintet and Sound Out Loud, both of which are based in Madison and both of which devote themselves to contemporary composers and new music.

This year, Urgcic also soloed with the Middleton Community Orchestra (below, in a photo by John W. Barker), performing to critical acclaim a relatively unknown concerto by 19th-century composer Carl Reinecke.

This year, Urgcic also took over as artistic director of the Rural Musicians Forum, which brings classical music, jazz, world music and ethnic music, played by outstanding performers to the Spring Green area, often at the Taliesin compound of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

But perhaps her most long-lasting contribution is her founding and now directing the LunART Festival that, in the same year of the Me Too movement, sought to present an all-women event that featured composers, performers, visual artists and writers.

Such was its inaugural success in 2018 that it won a national prize from the National Flute Association and a second festival will take place from June 9 through June 9, 2019.

2019 will also see the release of her second solo recording devoted to the music of the contemporary Romanian composer Doina Rotaru, even while she is working on a recording of “Beer Music” by contemporary American composer Brian DuFord.

And all that is just the beginning for such a promising talent. We will be hearing much more from her and about her in years to come.

To see her impressive biography, as well as updated activities, video and audio clips, photographs and other information, go to: https://www.ivaugrcic.com/bio

Here is one more thing that speaks to The Ear. It feels important, even necessary, to recognize the positive contributions of an immigrant at a time when the current “America First” administration under President Donald Trump seems so paranoid and negative, so xenophobic and afraid of foreigners.

The U.S government should be less intent on condemning or stigmatizing immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, and should put more emphasis on their contributions and on the long and distinguished history they have in the United States.

Iva Urgcic is yet another example of the talent we Americans stand to lose if we do not accept and encourage the gifts that immigrants bring in so many ways — from the arts, medicine, education and technology to everyday life and work.

Please join The Ear is expressing gratitude and congratulations to Iva Urgcic.

Posted in Classical music
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Classical music: A ticket to the concert here by the Imani Winds is an ideal gift to mark the African-American holiday Kwanzaa

December 27, 2018
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By Jacob Stockinger

The African-American and Pan-African harvest and heritage holiday of Kwanzaa started Wednesday and runs through Jan. 1.

Many people know the name of the events that mark the African Diaspora.

But do you know more about the holiday itself?

Do you know the seven principles of Kwanzaa?

Do you know the history and person behind the celebration, which started the United States in 1966?

Here is a link to a comprehensive view of Kwanzaa in Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa

If you are looking for a suitable gift to give during Kwanzaa, it would be hard to beat tickets to the concert by the Imani Winds (below) on Friday, Feb. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall at the Wisconsin Union Theater.

The Imani Winds have been nominated for a Grammy Award, and have established a reputation for world music and commissioning new works.

For more information about the group, the performers, ticket prices and how to buy tickets, go to: https://union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/imani-winds/

The group’s name comes from a principle of Kwanzaa — namely, faith. And one member, Valerie Coleman, composed a signature piece based on the first principle of Kwanzaa – Umoji, or Unity. You can hear that work in the YouTube video at the bottom.

Then in June, from June 6 to June 9, Valerie Coleman (below) returns to Madison as the Composer-in-Residence for the second annual LunArt Festival — a cultural and all-women festival devoted to performers, composers, writers and artists.

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Classical music: Wednesday brings the fifth annual Make Music Madison celebration of the summer solstice. You can hear FREE music of all kinds from morning to night, outdoors and indoors

June 20, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

Registration has closed and the fifth annual Make Music Madison festival is set to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, June 21, 2017. ( A promotional video from the 2013 event is in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

The annual celebration of the Summer Solstice, which arrives at 11;24 p.m. tonight, will run all day, featuring all kinds of music from morning to night, and take place indoors and outdoors.

And it is FREE and completely local.

So far, there are more than 275 artists registered to perform at 108 venues in every area across the city, including the Dane County Regional Airport, Henry Vilas Zoo, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, the Goodman Center, Hilldale Mall, the First Congregational United Church of Christ, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

For a complete listing, go to: http://www.makemusicmadison.org

Once you are on the website, go to the map on the right hand side and under FILTER and GENRE and click on classical. You will find more than 20 events.

Then click on the VENUE’s tear-drop shaped red indicator to see the name of artists, group and kind of music you can hear.

They include a cello choir, an early music group, a guitar ensemble, string quartets and the Suzuki Strings of Madison (seen below at last spring’s Bach Around the Clock.) There is plenty of amateur music-making, which The Ear loves to see, but also some professional performances.

The click on the name and you will get more detailed background and a program, if one is available.

You can also search by ARTIST and VENUE – including general areas of the city — and well as by GENRE.

Take it from The Ear: This site has some really impressive and easy-to-use organization for getting at its information. So The Ear gives big shout-outs to to the people who designed the website and put it together.

Of course there are many more events in other genres and kinds of music, including blues, jazz, rock, roots, folk, world music and others. But many of them overlap or pertain to classical music, and you won’t want to miss them.

There is plenty to go around.

The Ear might even meet you at one of the events.

Enjoy! Have fun!

Classical music: Let us now praise — and program — Lou Harrison, the prophetic American composer who pioneered both personal and professional diversity in music

May 20, 2017
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has heard the name of Lou Harrison.

But he doesn’t recall ever actually hearing any music by Lou Harrison (below).

Maybe that will change, now that the centennial of Harrison’s birth is being marked.

Perhaps the UW-Madison or a smaller local group will do something, since neither the Madison Symphony Orchestra nor the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has programmed anything by Harrison in their next seasons.

The Ear certainly hopes to hear some of Harrison’s intriguing and prophetic music, which seems to be a harbinger of contemporary globalism and world music, performed live. Harrison’s work seems to presage Yo-Yo Ma‘s crossover and cross-cultural Silk Road Ensemble, but was way ahead of its time and without the commercial success.

In any case, it seems very few composers pioneered and championed both personal and professional diversity through Asian sounds and an openly gay identity. Completely genuine, Harrison seemed creative and imaginative in just about everything he touched and did.

If you, like The Ear, know little about the maverick Lou Harrison, an excellent background piece, recently done by Tom Huizinga of National Public Radio (NPR), is a fine introduction.

Here is a link to the story:

http://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2017/05/13/525919082/lou-harrison-the-maverick-composer-with-asia-in-his-ears

Harrison composed a lot of music, including concertos for piano and violin, that shows Asian influences and combines them with traditional Western classical music. Below is a YouTube recording of his Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Javanese Gamelan from 1981-82.

Have you heard or performed Harrison’s music?

What do you think of it?

Would you like to hear it programmed for live performance more often?

Leave your opinion in the COMMENT section.

The Ear wants to hear.

Classical music: The Summer Solstice arrives today, and the third annual Make Music Madison takes place TOMORROW to celebrate it

June 20, 2016
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By Jacob Stockinger

Today at 5:34 p.m. the Summer Solstice will happen. Summer officially arrives, and the days will start getting shorter while the nights will get longer.

Can that really be happening already?

Locally, the Summer Solstice will be marked TOMORROW, Tuesday, June 21, by the third annual Make Music Madison celebration.

The city-wide event features more than 400 FREE performances in over 100 venues. It relies on volunteers and costs about $55,000 – a lot less than the cost of one new traffic light, according to the website.

Both amateurs and professionals, both adults and young students, will perform.

And all different kinds of music will be played: classical, swing, pop, rock, bluegrass, country, folk, jazz, soul, blues, reggae, world – you name it.

Want to know more?

For general background, including how to support the events, who are its major sponsors and to see photos of past events, go to:

http://makemusicmadison.org

For a map and a listing of events and artists taking place tomorrow:

http://makemusicmadison.org/listings/2016/artists/

To find out by location, go to:

http://makemusicmadison.org/listings/2016/locations/

The web site also has search engines that allow you to find specific artists and venues.

Classical music: The Festival Choir of Madison performs “The Romance of Music” — featuring beloved favorites — this Saturday night. Plus, a concert of Indian music and Beethoven will take place SUNDAY night.

November 5, 2015
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ALERT: A noteworthy new event — and perhaps a new tradition — will take place at 7 p.m. this SUNDAY night (NOT Saturday night as mistakenly first listed here) in Mills Hall. That’s when the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra welcomes sitarist Chitravina N. Ravikiran (below) in the third edition of the cross-cultural and world music Melharmony Festival. The music is by Indian composer Dikshitar and Ludwig van Beethoven, who were contemporaries at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Andrew Sewell will conduct.

For more information about the event, the players and tickets ($10-$35), visit:

http://www.wcoconcerts.org/performances/melharmony-festival/

By Jacob Stockinger

Friends at The Festival Choir of Madison have sent the following word:

The Festival Choir of Madison (below top) will perform “The Romance of Music,” conducted by Sergei Pavlov (below bottom), who also teaches at Edgewood College.

The concert is this Saturday night, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.

Tickets are $15 for general admission; $12 for seniors; and $9 for students.

Do you remember when you fell in love with music? Was it a time and place? A person and feeling? Rediscover your love of music with trios of sacred songs, gypsy tunes and lullabies, straight from our heart to yours.

The program features such favorites as: “Jesu Meine Freude” (Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring) by Johann Sebastian Bach (at bottom in a YouTube video); “Hear My Prayer” by Felix Mendelssohn; “Bless the Lord, Oh My Soul” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky; the “Humming Chorus” from “Madama Butterfly” by Giacomo Puccini; the “Gypsy Chorus“or “Anvil Chorus” from the opera “Il Trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi; “Cantique de Jean Racine” by Gabriel Faure; and more.

The Festival Choir is a mixed voice choir of 40 to 50 singers.

Special guest musicians — who often perform with the Kat Trio, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra — for this concert include: Victoria Gorbich (below top) on violin; Vladislav Gorbich (below second) on clarinet; Mary Ann Harr Grinde on harp (below third); and James McKenzie (below bottom) on percussion.

For more information and tickets, visit:

http://festivalchoirmadison.org

Classical music: Clocks in Motion and Transient Canvas perform new music for winds and percussion this Wednesday night. Plus, the Pro Arte Quartet performs a FREE concert of Mozart, Beethoven and Webern on Saturday night.

November 3, 2015
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ALERT: The Pro Arte Quartet, artists-in-residence at the UW-Madison School of Music, will give a FREE concert this Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. The program features: the String Quartet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 1 (1799-1800) by Ludwig van Beethoven; the Langsamer Satz (Slow Movement) for String Quartet (1905) by Anton Webern; and the String Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 428 (1783) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following word from Clocks in Motion:

Clocks in Motion (below), Madison’s premier new music ensemble, welcomes the renowned bass clarinet and marimba duo Transient Canvas to Madison for a collaborative performance of new sounds, new instruments, and new music.

Featuring a world premiere by Italian-American modernist composer Filippo Santoro, as well as rarely heard works by Daniel T. Lewis, Matthew Welch, and Franco Donatoni, this concert offers a singular chance to experience the cutting edge of new music.

The performance is this Wednesday night, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. in the DeLuca Forum (below bottom) of the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery (below top), across from the Union South at 330 North Orchard Street.

It will feature Transient Canvas (below), which consists of the “dazzling” (Boston Globe) clarinetist Amy Advocat and the “expert and vivid” (Boston Musical Intelligencer) marimbist Matthew Sharrock performing thrilling repertoire commissioned for their distinctive instrumentation, as well as larger works in partnership with Clocks in Motion.

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the show; $5 with a student ID. PURCHASE TICKETS

Advance tickets are available at https://www.artful.ly/store/events/7534

Praised by the Boston Globe as “superb,” Transient Canvas has been blazing its own trail in the world of contemporary music since 2011. In four years, they have premiered over 40 new works, essentially creating an entirely new repertoire for their unique instrumentation. Fearless in their programming and hungry for new collaborations, TC actively seeks out new composers who will stretch their instrumentation to its limits. (You can hear a sample in the YouTube video at the bottom)

Learn more about Transient Canvas at http://www.transientcanvas.com/

Hailed as “nothing short of remarkable” (ClevelandClassical.com), Clocks in Motion is a group that performs new music, builds its own instruments, and breaks down the boundaries of the traditional concert program. The group Clocks in Motion consistently performs groundbreaking concerts involving performance art, theater, and computer technology.

Featuring world premieres alongside rarely performed classic works, the ensemble strives to create a new canon of percussion repertoire.

Clocks in Motion works passionately to educate young audiences through master classes, residencies, presentations, and school assemblies. The ensemble’s unique skill sets and specialties contain an impressive mix of rock, jazz, contemporary classical, orchestral, marching, and world styles.

Clocks in Motion has served as resident performers and educators at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Casper College, the University of Michigan, Baldwin-Wallace University, VIBES Fine and Performing Arts, Traverse City West High School, Traverse City East Middle School, Rhapsody Arts Center, and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.

Formed in 2011, Clocks in Motion began as an extension of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Graduate Percussion Group, and now serves as an affiliate ensemble of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.

Posted in Classical music
Tags: Arts, Baldwin-Wallace University, bass clarinet, Beethoven, Chamber music, clarinet, Classical music, Clocks in Motion, composer, computer, Daniel T. Lewis, Filippo Santoro, Franco Donatoni, Harvard University, Interlochen, Interlochen Arts Academy, Italian-American, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, marches, marimba, Massachusetts, Matthew Welch, MMOCA, Mozart, Museum, Music, Music education, New Music, Orchestra, orchestral music, percussion, performance art, Pro Arte Quartet, Rock, String quartet, technology, The Boston Globe, theater, Transient Canvas, Union South, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Webern, winds, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, World music, YouTube

Classical music: Edgewood College performs its Spring Choral Concert this Sunday afternoon.

March 21, 2014
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By Jacob Stockinger

This Sunday, March 23, at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel, 1000 Edgewood College Drive, Edgewood College (below) will present its Spring Choral Concert.

Performing groups include The Edgewood College Chamber Singers (below top and in a YouTube video at the bottom) and Men’s Choir, under the direction of Albert Pinsonneault (below middle), will join the Edgewood College Women’s Choir, under the direction of Kathleen Otterson (below bottom), in a joint appearance.

The program includes works by Orlando di Lasso (below top), Gabriel Faure (below middle) and Richard Wagner (below bottom), along with gospel, folk and world music selections. Sorry, no word about specific pieces.

ADMISSION IS FREE.

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