The Well-Tempered Ear
Here are the nominees, winners and trends of the 2023 classical music Grammys
1 Comment
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
Chances are good you have already heard about Beyoncé and Lizzo, about Bonnie Raitt and Harry Styles, and how they won their Grammy awards last Sunday night.
But it is not by chance that you have to scroll way, way, way down the list of Grammy nominees and winners to find the ones for classical music. (It comes a third from the end, just before the list of short-form and long-form videos.)
No doubt it is in part a question of respect. Classical is not even listed with other “Musical Genres” on the Grammys’ home website while you will find: Pop; Rock; R&B; Country; Rap; Latin; Global; Gospel and Contemporary Christian; New Age; Jazz; and Alternative.
It seems like the most important thing to say about classical music is that pop star Beyoncé (below above) surpassed the record for individual Grammys previously held for decades by the late Hungarian-born conductor Sir George Solti (below bottom). He had won 31, she has won 32. But it seems like an unfair comparison since The Ear suspects many more categories are open to Beyoncé and her pop music than were open to Solti and classical music.
But even more than respect, it is a question of popularity and money.
We mustn’t forget that the Grammys are above all an industry event designed to reward those who make the commercial recording industry flourish.
Still, there are trends to take note of.
You’ll notice that quite a few of the nominees and winners have performed had their music performed in Madison. They include composers Caroline Shaw and Kevin Puts; the Imani Winds and Valerie Coleman; the Attacca Quartet; singer Will Liverman; Third Coast Percussion; Hilary Hahn; and producer Judith Sherman (below, in 2016)), who has overseen recent recordings by the UW-Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet and won many such Grammys.
Also, just as in Madison this has also been a big year for performers and composers of color — Black, Indigenous, Latin and Asian — as well as women composers and performers. Florence Price, Valerie Coleman and Jessie Montgomery (below and in the YouTube video at the end of her composition “Strum”), who is now composer-in-residence at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and was just named Composer of the Year by Musical America; and Valerie Coleman.
Local presenters and performers can be proud of reflecting the same priorities. They include: the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music; the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO); the Madison Symphony Orchestra; the Madison Opera; the Wisconsin Union Theater; the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; the Willy Street Chamber Players; the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society; Edgewood College; and Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT-FM among others.
See for yourself which ones you caught and which ones you missed.
Here is a list of the classical music winners of the 65th annual Grammy awards. It is provided by the insightful Australian arts and culture journal Limelight Magazine:
The 2023 Grammy Awards: Classical winners announced
And here is the complete list of the Grammy nominees along with the winners, so you can compare them all, find out details and judge for yourself. The Ear thinks many of the nominees are often just as worthwhile to check out and listen to as the winners:
https://www.grammy.com/awards/65th-annual-grammy-awards-2022
What do you think of the Grammy nominees and winners?
The Ear wants to hear.
Tags: #African-AmericanMusic, #BachDancingandDynamiteSociety, #BlogPost, #ChristianMusic, #ClassicalRecording, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FlorencePrice, #GeorgeSolti, #GospelMusic, #HarryStyles, #Hip-hopmusic, #JessieMontgomery, #KevinPuts, #LimelightMagazine, #MadisonOpera, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicalGenre, #PeopleofColor, #TheEar, #TheGrammys, #TheUW-Madison, #WillyStreetChamberPlayers, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WorldMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, 2023, Adele, African American, alternative, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Australia, Bach, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, Baroque, BDDS, Beethoven, Beyonce, BIPOC, black, blog, blues, Bonnie Raitt, Caroline Shaw, Cello, Chamber music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, China, Chinese, choral music, Christian, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, country, culture, Early music, Edgewood College, Facebook, Florence Price, genre, George Solti, global, gospel, gospel music, Grammys, Harry Styles, Hillary Hahn, hip-hop, Hispanic, Imani Winds, Indigenous, industry, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Jessie Montgomery, Johann Sebastian Bach, Judith Sherman, Kevin Puts, Latin, Limelight, Limelight magazine, link, listen, Lizzo, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Opera, Madison Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, magazine, Mead Witter School of Music, money, Mozart, Music, Musical America, New Age, nominee, opera, Orchestra, Overture Center, people of color, Piano, pop, popularity, Pro Arte Quartet, R&B, rap, recording, respect, Rock, share, Sonata, String quartet, symphony, tag, The Ear, trend, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, VALERIE COLEMAN, Viola, Violin, vocal music, Website, Willy Street Chamber Players, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, World music, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, WPR, WYSO, YouTube
This Sunday at 4 p.m., the Salon Piano Series debuts an online recital by pianist Kangwoo Jin. He plays music by Scarlatti, Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann. It is up until May 9
Leave a Comment
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
This Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. CDT, the Salon Piano Series, hosted by Farley’s House of Pianos, will debut an online concert by pianist Kangwoo Jin (below, in a photo by Andy Manis).
The concert, which was recorded at Luther Memorial Church, costs $10 and will be available online through May 9.
The program is:
Scarlatti – Sonatas in D minor and D Major, K. 213 and 214 (ca. 1756-1757)
Beethoven – Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2, “Moonlight” (1801)
Liszt – Transcriptions for solo piano of the songs “Widmung” (Dedication) by Robert Schumann and “Litanei” (Litany) by Franz Schubert
Schumann – Symphonic Etudes, Op.13 (1830)
Bishop – Home, Sweet Home
Tickets are only available online at eventbrite.com. Service fees apply. Complete program and concert information is at salonpianoseries.org
PROGRAM NOTES
Jin has written the following program notes for The Ear:
“As a musician, I am always eager to share music with the public. I am very excited to be able to reach out to the audience with this unprecedented Salon Piano Series Virtual Concert.
“I believe music soothes our mental health in difficult times regardless of age, gender or race. I very much hope my performance will contribute to this collective healing we feel through music.
“I wanted to include three different styles, as I usually do for recitals. This time I have Baroque, Classical and Romantic music.
“I chose one of the most famous Beethoven sonatas in order to celebrate his 250th birth year (2020), which I did not have a chance to mark last year.
“This piece is popular with the title of “Moonlight,” which Beethoven (below) never intended. Five years after his death, the German critic Ludwig Rellstab used the word “Moonlight” in order to describe the first movement. But it was really inspired by the funeral march in Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni.” I try to bring out the tragic color of the first movement. (You can hear Jin play the exciting final movement of the sonata in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
“I also wanted to play the virtuosic masterpiece “Symphonic Etudes,” Op. 13, by Robert Schumann (below), including the beautiful posthumous variations 4 and 5.
I find this piece special in the sense that Schumann intended to make this piece “symphonic.” He created multiple layers of voices in various ways through each etude and created orchestral sounds. This polyphonic writing with multiple layers and a thick texture is what makes this piece difficult to play.
“I also specifically wanted to include one of the piano transcriptions by Franz Liszt (below) of Schubert’s Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen (Litany for the Feast of All Souls), D. 343.
“Schubert (below) used the poem “Litany” by Johann Jacobi (1740-1814). It is written for comforting the deceased. Robert Capell, the author of the book “Schubert’s Songs” (1929), said about this lied: There was never a truer or more touching expression of simple devotion and consoled grief … “The music rises from a pure well of affection and humility.”
“I would like to dedicate this piece to all the people who suffered from Covid 19.”
BACKGROUND
Here is a link to Kangwoo Jin’s impressive website where you can see many photos, learn about his extensive career as a teacher and hear many samples of his playing: https://www.pianistkangwoojin.com
Praised for his “refined tone quality with powerful energy” (Chosun Daily Newspaper), Jin (below, in a photo by Steve Apps for the Wisconsin State Journal) concertizes nationally and internationally, including performances in Germany, Italy, China, Indonesia and South Korea.
He gave his debut concert at the Sejong Arts Center in Seoul, South Korea, sponsored by the Chosun Daily Newspaper. He has given live performances on Wisconsin Public Radio and WORT 89.9 FM.
Jin appears frequently as a guest artist at music festivals, universities and various concert series. Recent invitations include UW-River Falls, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, and Tongji University in Shanghai. Kawai Pianos USA has also invited him as a guest artist at the annual Piano Technicians Guild Convention and Technical Institute in Florida.
Jin completed the Bachelor of Music degree at Hanyang University in South Korea, then earned his Performer Diploma and Master’s of Music at Indiana University, where he worked as an associate instructor.
He is the recipient of the J. Battista Scholarship for performance excellence at Indiana University and received the Collins Distinguished Fellowship for his doctoral studies, completed last year, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied piano with Christopher Taylor and piano pedagogy with Jessica Johnson.
Tags: #AmericanPlayersTheatre, #ArtsCenter, #ArtSong, #BachelorofMusic, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BeethovenYear, #BeijingChina, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChosunDailyNewspaper, #ChristianChurch, #ChristopherTaylor, #Classicalera, #ClassicalMusician, #CoronavirusPandemic, #CorpusChristi, #COVID-19, #DifficultTime, #DoctoralStudies, #DomenicoScarlatti, #DonGiovanni, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Farley'sHouseofPianos, #FeastofAllSouls, #FranzLiszt, #FranzSchubert, #FuneralMarch, #GuestArtist, #HanyangUniversity, #HomeWebsite, #IndianaUniversity, #JacobStockinger, #JohannJacobi, #KangwooJin, #KawaiPianos, #LivePerformance, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MajorKey, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MentalHealth, #MinorKey, #MoonlightSonata, #MusicCritic, #Musicfaculty, #MusicProfessor, #OnlineConcert, #OperaMusic, #PerformerDiploma, #PianoTechnician, #PolyphonicMusic, #ProgramNotes, #RobertSchumann, #RomanticEra, #RomanticMusic, #SalonPIanoSeries, #SchubertLieder, #SeoulSouthKorea, #ServiceFee, #ShanghaiChina, #SouthKorea, #SouthKorean, #SteveApps, #Sundayafternoon, #SymphonicEtudes, #TexasA&M, #TheEar, #TheUW, #Tongjiniversity, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UW-RiverFalls, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #WisconsinStateJournal, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, affection, afternoon, age, April, art song, Arts, arts center, audience, auhtor, available, Bachelor of Music, Baroque, Baroque music, beautiful, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birth, Bishop, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Book, China, Chosun Daily Newspaper, Christian, Christian church, Christopher Taylor, church, Classical, Classical era, Classical music, classicalmusic, collective, Collins, color, comfort, complete, composer, Concert, concertize, console, contribute, convention, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, Corpus Christi, cost, create, dead, death, deceased, dedicate, dedication, degree, different, difficult, difficult time, diploma, doctoral studies, doctorate, Domenico Scarlatti, Don Giovanni, Early music, energy, era, etude, excited, exciting, expression, Facebook, Facebook post, Facebook posting, Farley's House of Pianos, feast, Feast of All Souls, fee, festival, final, Florida, forward, Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert, funeral march, gender, German, Germany, grief, guest artist, guild, Hanyang University, healing, hear, Home, home website, hope, host, humiity, imformation, impressive, Indiana University, Indonesia, instructor, intend, internationally, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Jacobi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kangwoo Jin, Kawai, Kawai PIanos, Korea, layer, layers, lied, like, link, link'share, Liszt, litany, live performance, Ludwig van Beethoven, Luther, Luther Memorial Church, Madison, major key, masterpiece, May, Mead Witter School of Music, Mental health, minor key, Moonlight Sonata, movement, Mozart, multipile, multiple, Music, music critic, music faculty, music professor, Musician, nationally, Newspaper, online, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, pandemic, People, Performer Diploma, photo, photos, Pianist, Piano, piano technician, piece, play, playing, poem, Poetry, polyphonic, polyphony, popular, post, posthumous, posting, powerful, professor, program, program notes, Protestant, public, race, Radio, reach, recital, Robert Schumann, Romantic, Romantic music, Salon Piano Series, sample, Scarlatti, scholarship, Schubert, sense, Seoul, service, service fee, Shanghai, share, simple, Singing, Sonata, song, soothe, soul, Sound, South Korea, special, sponsor, Steve Apps, study, style, suffer, Sunday, Sweet Home, SweetHome, Symphonic Etudes, symphony, tag, Teacher, teaching, Texas A&M, texture, The Ear, theme and variations, thick, ticket, times, tone, Tongji University, touching, tragedy, Tragic, transcription, true, United States, universities, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, unprecedented, USA, UW, UW-Madison, UW-River Falls, variation, virtual, virtuosic, vocal music, voice, Website, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin State Journal, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, WPR, write, YouTube
Bach Around the Clock 2021 will be virtual again. It runs March 17-26, and will feature daily performances plus new activities
Leave a Comment
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
The Ear has received the following announcement to post from violist Marika Fischer Hoyt – the founder, participant and artistic director of the annual Bach Around the Clock (BATC). It is one of the most enjoyable events in the area and celebrates the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, below).
It features performances by student, amateur and professional individuals and groups — local, regional and national. (Performance photos come from last year’s videos, thanks to Rich Samuels, who recorded and edited the WORT-FM radio show devoted to BATC 2020, which you can hear in the impressive 3-hour YouTube video at the bottom. Listen to it in its entirety or skip around.)
The Bach Around the Clock (BATC) Board of Directors is delighted to present the BATC 2021 Festival, a series of online and virtual events designed to make the joy of Bach’s music as widely available as possible.
Our theme this year is Building Bridges with Bach, and we look forward to expanding our activities to reach new performers and new audiences. (Below is pianist Vibhu Akella playing an electric keyboard.)
The 2021 Virtual Festival launches on Wednesday, March 17, with a concert by our Ensemble-In-Residence, Sonata à Quattro (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis). SAQ will present a program recorded in Luther Memorial Church, as part of the monthly Just Bach concert series.
BATC will add a new festival program every day for 10 days, through March 26, with all programs posted FREE on our home website at https://bachclock.com. (Below is the Webb Trio.)
Interested performers should visit the “Contact/Sign Up” page to submit their proposals and ideas.
BATC participants, who are located far and wide, have two options this year: they can pre-record their performances at home or elsewhere and submit them electronically; or they can request to perform in a BATC concert venue with a professional recording crew. (Below is cellist Derick Handley.)
We will provide keyboard players with the use of a concert-level piano, organ and harpsichord in a space roomy enough to safely accommodate small ensembles. (Below is harpsichordist Dan Sullivan.)
The resulting videos will be incorporated into one of the festival day’s free public programs, and will be available to the performers to keep. This option might be particularly attractive for high school seniors, looking to augment their college applications. (Below is clarinetist Brian Gnojek.)
Other new festival initiatives include Bach Chorale sing-alongs; evening Zoom receptions; mini-courses to help participants of all ages take part; and possibly a Guest Artist. More details will be announced closer to the festival.
The BATC Board hopes the 2021 Festival provides an outlet for musicians to share their talent and passion with the warmly appreciative local community.
Live music nourishes the soul of performer and audience member alike, and the transcendent, life-giving joy woven into the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is something we need now more than ever.
Tags: #10Days, #AtHome, #AudienceMember, #BachAroundtheClock, #BachChorale, #BaroqueMusic, #BarryLewis, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BoardofDirectors, #BrassMusic, #ChamberMusic, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianaLiberis, #ChristianChurch, #ConcertSeries, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #ElectricKeyboard, #Ensemble-in-residence, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FrenchHorn, #GuestArtist, #HighSchool, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JustBach, #LiveMusic, #LutherMemorialChurch, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicaAntiqua, #OnlineConcert, #OnlineFestival, #RecordedMusic, #RichSamuels, #SarahBrailey, #SignUp, #SonataaQuattro, #TheEar, #TheUW, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #VirtualFestival, #VocalMusic, #WindMusic, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, #ZoomMeeting, 10 days, 2021, accommodate, add, ages, amateur, announcement, annual, application, appreciative, area, around, Artistic director, Arts, at home, attractive, audience, augment, available, Bach, Bach Around the Clock, Bach chorale, Baroque, Barry Lewis, BATC, birthday, blog, Blog post, blog posting, Board of Directors, brass, bridge, building, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, choral music, Chorale, Christian church, Christianity, church, clarinet, clarinetist, Classical music, closer, college, community, composer, Concert, concert series, concert-level, concerto, contact, coronavirus, courses, crew, daily, days, delight, designed joy, details, Early music, edit, electric, electric keyboard, electronically, elsewhere, enjoyable, enough, evening, event, ever, every day, everyday, expand, Facebook, far, festival, forward, founder, free, group, guest artist, hear, high school, home website, Horn, hour, idea, impressive, incorporate, individual, initiative, interested, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Joy, Just Bach, keep, Keyboard, launch, life-giving, like, link, listen, live, live music, local, locate, Luther Memorial Church, march, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Mead Witter School of Music, member, mini-course, Music, Musica Antiqua, Musician, need, new, nourish, online, option, Orchestra, organ, organist, outlet, page, pandemic, pandemic playlist, participant, Passion, performer, photo, Pianist, Piano, play, playing, pre-record, present, professional, program, proposal, provide, public, reception, record, recorded, recorded music, recording, Rich Samuels, roomy, safely, Sarah Brailey, senior, seniors, share, sign-up, sing-along, skip, Sonata, Sonata à Quattro, soul, space, Student, submit, symphony, tag, talent, The Ear, theme, transcendent, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, violist, virtual, virtual festival, vocal music, we, Website, wide, Wind, Wisconsin, WORT, year, YouTube, Zoom
Classical music: This Friday night, the Wisconsin Union Theater presents a world-class Spanish string quartet and will also announce the special concerts to mark its centennial anniversary next season
2 Comments
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
Think of it as a two-fer, and then some, at the Wisconsin Union Theater this Friday night, March 1.
The main event is the Madison debut of a world-class string quartet from Spain.
The other event is the announcement of the schedule for the Concert Series’ 2019-2020 season — the series’ 100th season.
The first event is the concert by Cuarteto Casals (below) at 7:30 p.m. in Shannon Hall.
Prices for the event are: the general public, $25-40; for Union members, $25-36; for UW faculty and staff members, $25-38; for young people, $20; and for UW-Madison students, $10. Tickets can be bought online, by phone at 608-265-ARTS (2787) or in person. See locations and hours here.
The program includes the String Quartet in C Major “The Bird,” Op. 33, No. 3, by Franz Joseph Haydn; the String Quartet No. 3 by Bela Bartok; selections from the Fantasies for String Quartet by Henry Purcell; and the String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10, by Claude Debussy. (You can hear the Cuarteto Casals play a movement of a different Haydn string quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
Cuarteto Casals was founded in 1997 at the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid. They are named after great 20th-century Catalan cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals (below). Members of the quartet are Vera Martinez Mehner and Abel Tomas, violins; Jonathan Brown, viola; and Arnau Tomas, cello.
The group achieved international recognition after winning First Prizes at the London and Brahms-Hamburg competitions. After receiving the prestigious Burletti-Buitoni Trust award designed to assist young musicians, the quartet acquired a matching set of Baroque and Classical period bows, used to distinguish between musical styles.
The year 2017 marked the 20th anniversary of the quartet, and also the start of a commemorative project: a six-concert series of the complete Beethoven quartets, accompanied by six commissioned works from great composers since the 17th century.
The quartet was selected as ambassadors of Catalan culture by the Generalitat of Catalunya, and accompanies the King of Spain on diplomatic visits.
It is the quartet-in-residence at the Spanish Royal Palace through 2020 and the quartet-in-residence at the Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Carol Carlson (below) will offer a free pre-concert lecture at 6 p.m. Carol holds both Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in violin performance from the UW-Madison.
Carlson dedicates herself to music education as co-founder, co-director and teacher of Music con Brio, a non-profit organization that provides affordable violin lessons and equipment for students at Emerson Elementary School in Madison. Music con Brio (below, in a photo by Scott Maurer) will perform on the stage of Shannon Hall from 7 to 7:20 p.m.
This program was 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. The media sponsor is WORT 89.9 FM.
Tags: #BarcelonaSpain, #BaroquePeriod, #BelaBartok, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #Burletti-BuitoniTrust, #CarolCarlson, #CatalanCulture, #ChamberMusic, #Classicalperiod, #ClaudeDebussy, #ConcertSeries, #CuartetoCasals, #DoctorofMusicalArts, #EmersonElementarySchool, #EscolaSuperiordeMusicadeCatalunya, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstPrize, #FranzJosephHaydn, #HamburgGermany, #HenryPurcell, #JohannesBrahms, #KingofSpain, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadridSpain, #MasterofMusic, #MediaSponsor, #MusicalStyle, #MusicconBrio, #MusicEducation, #MusicLessons, #NationalEndowmentfortheArts, #NonprofitOrganization, #PabloCasals, #PauCasals, #Quartet-in-Residence, #ShannonHall, #SpanishRoyalPalace, #StateofWiscosnin, #StringQuartet, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinArtsBoard, #WisconsinUnionTheater, #WORT-FM89.9, #YoungPeople, #YouTubevideo, admission, affordable, ambassador, anniversary, announcement, Arts, audience, award, Barcelona, Baroque, Béla Bartók, Beethoven, bird, blog, bow, Brahms, Burletti-Buitoni Trust, Carol Carlson, Catalan culture, Catalonia, Cello, centennial, Chamber music, Classical, Classical music, Claude Debussy, Compact Disc, Competition, composer, Concert, concert series, Cuarteto Casals, culture, debut, degree, diplomatic, director, Doctor of Musical Arts, Emerson Elementary School, equipment, Escola Superior de Musica de Catalunya, event, Facebook, fantasies, fantasy, first prize, forward, founder, Franz Joseph Haydn, free, Hamburg, Henry Purcell, international, Jacob Stockinger, Johannes Brahms, King, lecture, lessons, like, link, London, Ludwig van Bethoven, Madison, Madrid, Master of Music, matching, media, member, Music, Music con Brio, Music education, musical style, National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, non-profit, organization, Pablo Casals, Pau Casals, performance, performer, period, pre-concert, prestigious, price, public, recognition, schedule, Season, series, set, Shannon Hall, share, Spain, Spanish Royal Palace, sponsor, State of Wisconsin, String quartet, Student, style, tag, Teacher, two-fer, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Union Theater, word, works-class, world-class, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, young people, YouTube
Classical music: The Middleton Community Orchestra reveals a leaner Sibelius and violin soloist Tim Kamps proves masterful in a rarely heard concerto by Alexander Glazunov
Leave a Comment
CORRECTION: The performances by the Madison Symphony Chorus that were incorrectly listed for this coming Sunday in yesterday’s post took place last Sunday. The Ear apologizes and regrets the error.
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Barker also took the performance photos.
By John W. Barker
Under maestro Steve Kurr, the Middleton Community Orchestra (below) again showed its capacities for offering surprisingly excellent concerts with its latest one on Wednesday night at the Middleton Performing Arts Center.
The guest soloist was a fine young local violinist, Tim Kamps (below). His vehicle was an interesting venture off the beaten path. How often do we hear the Violin Concerto in A minor by Alexander Glazunov? Well, we were given a chance this time.
This is not your typical Romantic concerto. It is not long, and is essentially an entity in four sections—not distinct movements, but a steady continuity, with interconnecting thematic material. Glazunov did not always do the best by his themes, somewhat burying them in the total texture. Still, this is very listenable music, with a solo part that is full of virtuosic demands but avoids overstatements.
Kamps (below) did full justice to the florid parts, but used his sweet and suave tone to emphasize the lyrical side of the writing as much as he could. In all, he provided a worthwhile encounter with an underplayed work of individual quality. Kamps is an experienced member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, but he deserves more solo exposure like this.
The program opened with Rossini’s overture to his comic opera La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie). There is a lot of good fun in this piece, but a corrupt edition was used which reinforced the brass section to coarse effect. Moreover, Kurr gave the music a somewhat leisurely pace, rather diminishing its vitality and thrust. (You can hear the familiar Overture in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The big work of the program was the Symphony No. 2 by Jean Sibelius. Here again, as so often before, conductor Kurr and his players bravely took on a workhorse piece of challenging familiarity. There were a few rough moments, especially some slight slurring here and there by the violin sections.
But Kurr (below) wisely chose not to seek polished sound for its own sake. Rather, he drove the orchestra to convey constant tension and drama, with a fine ear for the frequent exchanges and dialogues between instrumental groups, notably in the long and high-powered second movement.
By such means, we were able to hear less of the Late Romantic bombast usually stressed and more of the lean textures that Sibelius was to perfect in his subsequent symphonic and orchestral writing.
The orchestra played with steady devotion, once again demonstrating what an “amateur” orchestra could work itself up to achieving.
Tags: #AlexanderGlazunov, #AmericanRecordGuide, #JeanSibelius, #JohnWBarker, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MadisonSymphonyChorus, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MedievalHistory, #MiddletonCommunityOrchestra, #MiddletonPerformingArtsCenter, #RomanticMusic, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, Alexander Glazunov, amateur, American Record Guide, Arts, bombast, Cello, challenge, Classical music, comedy, comic, composer, concerto, continuity, correction, corrupt, dialogue, drama, Early music, edition, emeritus, error, experience, exposure, familiar, familiarity, Gioachino Rossini, group, History, instrumental, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, La Gazza Ladra, listenable, local, lyrical, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Maestro, member, Middleton, Middleton Community Orchestra, Middleton Performing Arts Center, movement, Music, night, opera, Orchestra, orchestral, overstatement, performance, photo, Polish, professor, Radio, Romantic, Rossini, section, Sibelius, solo, soloist, Sound, suave, Sunday, sweet, symphonic, symphony, tension, texture, The Thieving Magpie, theme, tone, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venture, Violin, virtuosic, Wednesday, workhorse, WORT, writing, young, YouTube
Classical music: Award-winning British composer Cecilia McDowall to headline a three-day residency this week, with public workshops and concerts, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music.
5 Comments
ALERT: On this Wednesday, Feb. 18, at noon, British composer Cecilia McDowall will be featured live on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Midday” show with host Norman Gilliland (88.7 FM). On this Thursday morning on WORT Radio (89.9 FM), host Rich Samuels plans a half-hour special on McDowall that he pre-recorded with organizer UW-Madison professor of trumpet John Aley. It will be broadcast at 7:15 a.m.
By Jacob Stockinger
A major event involving new music and contemporary music is taking place this week at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music:
Here is a round-up provided by the UW-Madison School of Music and concert manager Kathy Esposito:
British composer Cecilia McDowall (below), who in December was awarded the 2014 British Composer Award (BCA) for Choral Composition, will visit UW-Madison’s School of Music this week for a three-day series of concerts and discussions.
The visit, to take place Thursday through Saturday, marks McDowall’s first United States residency and will include one colloquium and two concerts, all open to the public.
McDowall won the BCA prize for “Night Flight,” a work for a cappella choir and solo cello that honors Harriet Quimby (below), an aviatrix who was the first woman to fly over the English Channel. Download a BCA news release here.
“Night Flight” was premiered by the Phoenix Chorale, an Arizona ensemble that included a McDowall work on its 2008 Grammy-award winning CD, “Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary.”
Cecilia McDowall’s music has been commissioned and performed by leading choirs and instrumental groups, including the BBC Singers, the Westminster Abbey Choir, the City of Canterbury Chamber Choir, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She came to composition later in life, after raising two children, teaching and singing in choirs for many years. She holds a master’s degree in composition from Trinity College in London and is now a composer-in-residence at the Dulwich College, a pre-college school in London.
Listen to selected McDowall works on SoundCloud.
You can also listen to a sample in a YouTube video at the bottom.
Writes Guy Rickards of Gramophone magazine: “Cecilia McDowall is another of the new generation of highly communicative musicians who, though often inspired by extra-musical influences, favors writing which, without being in any way facile, is brightly cogent, freshly witty and expressive in its own right.
“She often uses minimalist ostinatos – the spirit of Steve Reich hovers – but constantly tweaks the ear with her range of spicy rhythms and colors, then suddenly produces a highly atmospheric and grippingly expressive interlude which is just as compelling. Each of the individual movements within her works is titled, sometimes descriptively, sometimes perhaps with tongue in cheek.”
On Friday, Feb. 20, in Mills Hall at UW-Madison, a student and faculty chamber orchestra (conducted by James Smith, below top), coupled with the university’s Madrigal Singers, conducted by Bruce Gladstone (below bottom), will perform the U.S. premiere of her work “Seventy Degrees Below Zero.” (Read a review here.)
“Seventy Degrees” is a cantata for solo voice (to be sung by faculty tenor James Doing, below), which McDowall composed in 2012 to commemorate the voyage of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott to the Antarctic. Scott and crew members died while on that expedition; one hundred years later, the City of London Sinfonia and the Scott Polar Research Institute commissioned the music to honor Scott and his men.
As a twist, the concert will extend the polar theme with a slideshow and lobby presentation linking Antarctic research of yesterday with today’s, presented by Michael Duvernois (below) of UW-Madison’s IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center.
McDowall’s residency will also feature the piano playing of UW-Madison’s Christopher Taylor (below) performing McDowall’s “Tapsalteerie,” described by Gramophone as “ingenious play with a cradle song by the turn-of-the-century Aberdeenshire fiddler James Scott Skinner.”
Many other UW-Madison faculty musicians will also perform. Here is a link with details about other performers:
http://www.music.wisc.edu/cecilia-mcdowall/
Events include:
THURSDAY
At noon in Mills Hall.
Meet the composer at a free public colloquium.
The topic will be “The Effects of Extra-Musical Influences”: McDowall will discuss how she interweaves composition with events, past or present; with real, imagined or visual images; or as a response to the physical environment or written text.
FRIDAY
At 8 p,m. in Mills Hall.
Concert and Presentation: UW Madrigal Singers and Concert Choir, with a faculty/student chamber orchestra, featuring the U.S. premiere of “Seventy Degrees Below Zero.” With Michael Duvernois of the UW IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center.
Meet the composer and performers at a reception to follow in Mills Hall lobby.
Tickets: $20 adults, free for students. Tickets available via the Wisconsin Union Theater prior to show (online and in person) and on the day of show at Mills Hall.
Box office: http://www.uniontheater.wisc.edu/location.html
SATURDAY
At 8 p.m. in Mills Hall.
Concert: Cool It — The Chamber Music of Cecilia McDowall.
Free concert.
For a link to this festival on our website, please see: http://www.music.wisc.edu/cecilia-mcdowall/
For an interview:
http://www.boardroommum.com/interviews-archive/cecilia-mcdowall/
Tags: 21st century, Antarctic, Antarctica, Arizona, Arts, astrophysics, BBC, Canterbury, Cecilia McDowall, Chamber music, choral music, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, English Channel, explorer, Gramophone, Harriet Quimby, Jacob Stockinger, London, Michael Duvernois, New Music, Norman Gilliland, Orchestra, Piano, Robert Scott, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, SoundCloud, Steve Reich, Trinity, United Kingdom, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vocal music, Westminster Abbey, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, WORT, YouTube
Classical music: Find out what eight famous composers were doing on Christmas Day. Plus, UW-Madison piano virtuoso Christopher Taylor performs Messiaen on WORT FM early on Christmas morning.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: Blog fan and WORT 89.9 FM radio host Rich Samuels, who also documents the local music scene, writes:
Jake:
My Christmas Day 5-8 a.m. show on WORT will include a complete performance of Olivier Messiaen‘s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jésus” by University of Wisconsin-Madison pianist Christopher Taylor, as well as an interview that I recorded with Taylor about the piece and its composer.
The performance was recorded December 11, 2012 at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Taylor performs this two-hour work from memory.)
Here’s a link to the New York Times review of the performance:
All the best in 2015.
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is an unexpected Christmas gift I stumbled across.
It consists of Christmas Day excerpts from letters and diaries by and about eight Romantic and modern composers. They include Felix Mendelssohn, Gustav Mahler, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner (see the YouTube video at the bottom), Claude Debussy, Edward Elgar, Benjamin Britten and Sergei Prokofiev.
I like that the various writings demystify the lives of composers, and artists in general, and shows their ordinary human side through what they thought, felt and did on a special day, even on a holiday.
Happy reading and Merry Christmas!
http://www.classical-music.com/article/8-composers-at-christmas-through-letters
Tags: Arts, Bach, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten, Chamber music, Christmas, Christmas and holiday season, Christmas Day, Christopher Taylor, Christopher Taylor (pianist), Classical music, Debussy, diary, Edward Elgar, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms, letters, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Olivier Messiaen, Orchestra, Piano, Prokofiev, Radio, Richard Wagner, Siegfried Idyll, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wagner, WORT, WORT FM 88.9, YouTube
Classical music: The Festival Choir of Madison gives a lovely and lovingly committed exploration of the rarely heard setting of the Russian Orthodox All-Night Vigil by Tchaikovsky.
1 Comment
By Jacob Stockinger
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who for 20 years hosted an early music show every other Sunday morning on WORT 89.9 FM. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
By John W. Barker
The Festival Choir of Madison (below top, in a photo by Stephanie Williams) undertook a brave venture into difficult novelty last Saturday night in the Atrium Auditorium (below bottom in a photo by Zane Williams) at the First Unitarian Society of Madison.
The venture involved the setting of the All-Night Vigil ritual for a cappella choir by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky .
One does not instantly think of Tchaikovsky as a choral composer, or in particular as a composer of sacred music. But he greatly admired the traditions of Russian Orthodox liturgical music, as it had been redefined in the 18th and 19th centuries, as bound up in the very special Russian propensity for powerful choral singing.
In 1879 he made a setting the text of the basic Orthodox Eucharistic service, the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, published as his Op. 41. It was not well received, but Tchaikovsky (below) went on in 1882 to set the cycle of Vespers and Vigil texts, his Op. 52. Indeed, during the 1880s, he composed a dozen other settings of Orthodox liturgical texts.
By his time, the functioning choral music of the Russian Orthodox Church, used amid traditional chants, was generally written by composers who specialized in the genre, quite separate from the growing school of Russian secular composers.
There were some jealousy and resentment expressed by the former against the latter. Few Russian musicians managed personally to bridge the gap between the sacred and the secular. Alexander Gretchaninoff (below) was one of the few who were successful in both.
Tchaikovsky was not given much credit for his religious writing, and his liturgical works are generally ignored. It was his successor, as it were, Sergei Rachmaninoff (below), who achieved true musical greatness in leaping from secular composition into sacred, with his own settings of the Chrysostom Liturgy and the All-Night Vigil. Indeed, the latter has come by now to be recognized as a masterpiece and is ever more frequently performed internationally. (You can hear a section in a YouTube video at the bottom.)
The Festival Choir’s conductor, Bryson Mortensen (below, with singer Nancy Vedder-Shults in a photo by Jon Lanctot) chose to preface the performance of the Tchaikovsky score with one movement from the Rachmaninoff counterpart. It was a good idea, though the brief section chosen, gorgeous in itself, was not enough to point up the contrasts in the two composers’ approaches.
Rachmaninoff’s setting is charged with imagination and rich elaboration of the traditional; chants that are the music’s foundations. He even included parts for solo voices, which Tchaikovsky did not.
On the contrary, Tchaikovsky’s approach is really quite conservative and even simplistic. He chose to devise harmonizations of the chants and their liturgical formulas, in accomplished but texturally unadventurous realizations, relying upon the sonorous Russian choral sound to carry the effects. The results are quite lovely, if a bit repetitive as a cycle.
Mortensen made one interesting attempt to bring some variety into the proceedings by having three spiritual poems by Russian writers interspersed with the music at three points. An interesting idea, but the poems chosen were rather bland, and were not well delivered.
It is more a question is the musical performance. Setting Western choirs to singing Church Slavonic texts not part of their culture is not always easy. The singers clearly were working earnestly at it.
But Church Slavonic (like modern Russian) is rich in consonants, and these were just not spat out with the spirit they required. In addition, it seems that only Russian choirs have the gutsy basses that can provide the rock-solid foundation needed for the overall texture. The Festival Singers just could not muster up such power.
Or perhaps, as I suspect, maestro Mortensen (below) chose to restrain them in the interests of a beautifully balanced and blended choral sound — which he certainly achieved — rather than to risk having a section run away with the show. On the other hand, it seemed to me that by the final sections of the score he was infusing a really exciting range of dynamic inflection into the performance.
All in all, one had to admire what this conductor and choir achieved. How often, anywhere, is one likely to encounter this music in live performance? In this concert we were given a chance, and one in which the challenges were met with devotion and lovely music-making. Slava!
Tags: a cappella, Alexander Gretchaninoff, All-Night Vigil, American Record Guide, Arts, Bryson Mortensen, Choir, choral music, Classical music, Festival Choir of Madison, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Jacob Stockinger, John W. Barker, Madison, Music, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, Russian Orthodox Church, Singing, Tchaikovsky, WORT, WORT-FM 89.9, YouTube
Classical music: Today is Thanksgiving. Which composer do you most give thanks for? The Ear’s choice is Johann Sebastian Bach – which Wisconsin Public Radio will feature in a special program today from 1 to 3 p.m. Plus, WORT FM is seeking a classical radio host for Monday mornings.
7 Comments
ALERT: Do you want to be a broadcaster? WORT FM 89.9 radio host and loyal friend of this blog Rich Samuels writes: “WORT is looking for a volunteer classical music host to cover the Monday morning 5-8 a.m. shift. If any of your readers wish to share their passion for the genre with others via terrestrial radio and the Internet, they should contact WORT’s Sybil Augustine at (608) 256-2001. Some button pushing is required.”
By Jacob Stockinger
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S.
In past years I have asked which piece of classical music do you think is most appropriate for the day. (And the “Heiligedankgesang” or “Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving” from the String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132, by Ludwig van Beethoven has often and justifiably been a favorite.)
Or I have asked: Which piece of classical music do you most give thanks for.
But this past year The Ear has had a very rollercoaster ride with lots of emotional up and downs.
And in that year The Composer for All Seasons proved, as he almost always does, to be Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, below).
Sad or happy, quiet or agitated, extroverted or introspective – I always felt Bach has something special to offer me, something to about the situation, something to suit. His emotional range is enormous. He encompasses the universe. And Bach’s taps into the deepest emotion of joy and loss without wearing his heart of his sleeve.
For me, Johann Sebastian Bach is The Big Bang of Western classical music. In the music of Bach, you find not only the Baroque aesthetic, but also the Classical aesthetic, the Romantic aesthetic and even the Modern aesthetic.
Is there any other composer I could listen to, day in and day out, without getting bored of? I love so many of them, including Domenico Scarlatti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Maurice Ravel. But I doubt any of them has the range, the wearing power and the sheer staying power of Bach.
But you can decide for yourself – and a special program on Bach, which will air from 1 to 3 this afternoon on Wisconsin Public Radio, might help you decide. Sorry, no advance word about the playlist due to pesky and frustrating FCC regulations or something that prohibit advance posting of program playlists. How anti-tech of them! And how unhelpful!
But I am anxious to hear what you think of my choice.
And I am also anxious to hear if you have a choice of your own.
There is so much Bach to choose from, I hardly know which piece of music to choose to link to.
So as I prepare to give tanks to the miracle of Johann Sebastian Bach, I think I will link to something that is well-known but nevertheless never fails to give me consolation I need it, to reach me when I need to be reached. It is Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” as transcribed for solo piano by Egon Petri, and in a popular YouTube video at the bottom is played superbly by Yoel Eum Son, who performs wonderfully clear voicings, at her final recital of 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
I am that sheep who may safely graze under the watchful eye and protective care of Bach’s music.
So I say: Happy Thanksgiving to Johann Sebastian!
Tags: Bach, Classical music, Domenico Scarlatti, Egon Petri, Franz Schubert, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Maurice Ravel, Mozart, Radio, Schubert, Thanksgiving, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, wisconsin public radio, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, WORT, YouTube
Classical music: The last FREE Dane County Farmer’s Market organ concert of this summer – sponsored by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Overture Center — will take place this coming Saturday morning, Aug. 17, at 11 a.m. in Overture Hall. Plus, Black Marigold Quintet will be featured on WORT-FM Thursday morning.
Leave a Comment
ALERT: Radio programmer and host as well as blog friend Rich Samuels writes: “In anticipation of the upcoming concerts by Black Marigold Woodwind Quintet (below) at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, I’ll be airing, at 7:28 a.m. this Thursday morning, during my 5- 8 a.m. program “Anything Goes” on WORT-FM 89.9, their April 13 performance at Grace Episcopal Church (recorded by Bruce Kasprzyk) of Robert Muczynski‘s Quintet for Winds. The concerts will include arrangements of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” which is 100 years old this year.” Details of the concerts were included in a blog post here yesterday.
By Jacob Stockinger
A FREE performance on the Overture Concert Organ (below) will be co-presented by the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Overture Center for the Arts during the Dane County Farmers’ Market on this upcoming Saturday, Aug. 17, at 11 a.m. at Overture Hall, 201 State Street.
No tickets or reservations are needed for the 45-minute concert featuring Sam Hutchison and 14-year-old newcomer Adrian Binkley.
The two will play Johann Sebastian Bach’s Third Movement from the Sonata in E-Flat Major BWV 525 (heard in a YouTube video at the bottom), Sir Edward Elgar’s “Imperial March,” Sir Arthur Sullivan’s “The Lost Chord,” Ennio Morricone’s “Gabriel’s Oboe” and the Prayer to Our Lady and Toccata movements from Leon Boëllmann’s “Gothic Suite.” A complete list of Overture Concert Organ performances is at www.madisonsymphony.org/organperformances .
Audiences will hear the debut of a young rising star from Waunakee, Wisconsin. Fourteen-year-old organist Adrian Binkley (below top) is a student of MSO Principal Organist Samuel Hutchison (below bottom, in a photo by Joe DeMaio). Binkley is already an experienced recital artist and plans to study organ performance at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan this fall. Both Binkley and Samuel Hutchison will perform at this concert.
The Free Farmers’ Market Concerts are generously sponsored by the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation and are presented in partnership with 77 Square. Support for all Overture Concert Organ programs is provided by the Diane Endres Ballweg Fund with additional support from Friends of the Overture Concert Organ.
With a gift from the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation, the Madison Symphony Orchestra commissioned the Overture Concert Organ, which is the stunning backdrop of all MSO concerts. As curator for the instrument, Samuel Hutchison is responsible for organ programming and education events. In addition to the Free Farmers’ Market Concerts, the instrument is featured in the MSO Christmas and April 2014 concerts along with three Free Community Hymn Sings and a Christmas Carol Sing.
Subscribers to the 2013-14 Overture Concert Organ season receive a 25% discount. To subscribe visit
http://www.madisonsymphony.org/organseason
Tags: Arthur Sullivan, Arts, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, Dane County Farmers' Market, Edward Elgar, Ennio Morricone, George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Madison Symphony Orchestra, organ, organ music, Overture Center, Overture Concert Organ, Robert Muczynski, Samuel Hutchison, Wisconsin, WORT, WORT FM, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 