NEWS OF OUR MUSICIANS

Winter 2005
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News stories from the Winter Solstice on 21 December 2005 through the Spring Equinox on 21 March 2006 comprise this archive.

20 MARCH 2006:

EIGHTH GRADE BAND AND SOLOISTS WOW CAFETORIUM CROWD

I enjoy eighth grade band concerts, because I like to hear how much the students have improved since seventh grade, and to see which ones really love to play their instruments. Sometimes, I enjoy the concerts for the sake of the music, too. Last Thursday night's Spring COncert, featuring performances from the recent WSMA Solo and Ensemble Festival, was one of those sometimes.

The band began the evening with ROllercoaster, an evocative and very enjoyable work by Jim Mahaffey. From the audience this piece sounded like a difficult one for a Middle School band: lots of runs and accidentals, large-interval leaps, challenging rhythms, and some rather high notes in the trumpets and maybe the French horns. If it really was a stretch for the band, then kudos to Dave Heilman for putting them through it, and to the band for surviving it. Current and former Wind in the Reeds members Becca Funk, Isis Leonard, Gena Roisum, and Melissa Wilcosz were part of the performance. The full band also closed the concert, playing Rise of the Vulcan by David Shaffer.

In between, we were treated to a selection of very fine Festival performances. The joint 7th and 8th grade percussion ensemble is headed to State this year (with a perfect card from District), and on Thursday night they were magnificient. The ensemble had members enough to man the many instruments required by Chris Brooks' rich, varied Mozambique, and they made the most of it in a really joyful performance.

Among the other WSMA events, Gena gave a fine rendering of part of her Carnival of Venice clarinet solo (she got a 1 in class B at District), and Isis played some of the more exciting bits of Telemann's Sonata in F for bassoon (which she is taking to State)

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13 MARCH 2006:

MHS CHOIRS GIVE A CONCERT ABOUT SHEEP

The MHS Blue Notes Vocal Jazz Ensemble musicians are the real deal, and it's always a pleasure to hear them sing. This year they are State-bound, stylin', and stronger than ever, with help from our own Andrea Bakunowicz and Zach Staszewski. They opened Monday night's excellent MHS Choir concert with a moving take on I'll Be Seeing You (In All the Old Familiar Places), by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain by way of a Darmon Meader arrangement. The enlarged group made good use of soloists, and of a featured quartet that included Zach and Andrea - but I hope the ensemble does not continue to add singing members; eighteen is enough jazz vocalists to wrangle at one time. Blue Notes is also taking Operator, a la Manhattan Transfer, to State. So far I have heard this number only as they were warming it up at District, but any group that can sing "nnnnnn" softly and make it sound that good in four parts (six? help me, Anne) has my full confidence.

Sophie Nelson made a loving sigh of Se Tu M’ami, Se Tu Sospiri, her WSMA Solo and Ensemble piece, and scored the evening's first sheep reference; her curtsey was cute, too. (Sophie must also get a special citation for her choice of the opening topic in her report for Franz Fest"). The eclogue continued as John Langel sang The King of Love My Shepherd Is. I listened carefully to the fine performance of Hans Leo Hassler's clever, intricate madrigal Come Let Us Start a Joyful Song, but heard nary a baa. Nor were sheep explicit in Sing All Ye Joyful, by Ruth Watson Henderson. The music was both gay and pleasant, with text supposedly taken from The Hobbit - I couldn't really pin it down, but it sounded like the nonsense that the Elves are singing when Bilbo and Co. arrive in Rivendell. Maybe the tranquil parts were sheepish.

Mindful of sheep and protocol, Franz Schubert included an Agnus Dei in his Mass in G. Sometimes it is good (for me, at least) to hear a substantial musical work that you can understand in real time, while you're listening to it; this Mass is one of those. The massed choirs performed it quite ably and aptly, and seemed to have a good grasp of what was going on. Special thanks are due to the string accompanists: a quartet (half of which was drawn from the pool of talented Stenborg string women) plus a bass. The ability to perform a work of this depth in the midst of Solo and Ensemble season, and to attract qualified accompanists, is a tribute to the quality of the MHS choral music program.

Finally, Scott Brown's scheduled performance of "Sabre Dance" upon the rarely-heard E-flat alto ophecleide, was cancelled once again (see 1 March, below). This time the excuse given was "severe instrument failure". He was kind enough to share with us this photo of some of the ophecleides in his collection, and I also have an image of a much younger Scott Brown practicing his contraophecleide, which I will post in due time.

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12 MARCH 2006:

40TH ANNIVERSARY WYSO CONCERT A SMASH

Nora Hickey performed with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras' (WYSO) Youth orchestra at Overture Center's newly-opened Capitol Theater Sunday evening. The concert was superb as usual.

Richard Wagner's sinuous harmonies used to draw censure from an uptight church, which felt that music ought not to be that ambiguous, sensuous, and full of tension. Youth's Sunday performance of Wagner's Overture to "Rienzi" showed why the establishment worried. The musicians captured Rienzi's parade of abductions, uprisings, and bloodthirsty torch-waving crowds very well, transmitting a sense of seething tragedy to the audience.

Benjamin Britten sparks strong emotions. His opera Gloriana was a complete failure during his lifetime, intensely disliked by the Queen to whom he dedicated it, and who was the namesake of its title character ("Gloriana" was not of course the real name of the original queen, but then Britten usually orbits at at least two degrees of separation from reality.) The "Courtly Dances" music from the opera proved more durable and has been performed more or less regularly, helping at last to drag the rest of the opera back, kicking and screaming, from obscurity. Britten takes homely English, or at least Englished, tunes and serves them up not quite straight but with a twist of lurking psychosis that breaks out at odd moments in the form of braying harmonies and stuttered rhythms. Youth understood this music remarkably well.

Intermission was preceded by a span during which some guy talked about how great everyone associated with WYSO is (they are; flowers and kudos to them all) and followed by Raiph Vaughn Williams' London Symphony. Williams has a way with dense, passionate material, and London is among his best; Nora had passages of extended bassoon prominence which she carried off with her usual magbassoonificence.

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12 MARCH 2006:

SECOND STRING WAILS AT VFW

The Second String Violin Duo gave the Old Time Fiddlers a between-sets break at the Stoughton VFW Sunday afternoon, taking the stage with several of Gail Shoemaker's Suzuki-method students while the Fiddlers took a bite and a sup. Isis Leonard and Nora Hickey performed a selection of Eastern European violin duets. These included such favorites as A Lady Had a Rooster and My Life Is Very Sad. The VFW audience was the salt of the earth, and received the performance well.

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11 MARCH 2006:

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AT UW

The University Theater opened its spring season with James Maxwell's stage adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Autumn Leonard worked on the production as an electrician.

The show had a good heart. It will inevitably be compared to the recent film: bring it on: this incarnation of the stage play stands up very well, especially when UT's Elizabeth Bennet is matched against Keira Knightly's unseasoned-mashed-potatoes effort on screen. The ensemble cast was mostly quite fine, although the talent pool seems to be shallower among men than among women: the principals were very able, but the smaller roles were not especially well handled. Mr. Collins was superb, a character that is hateful when he is not pitiable, loathsome when not hateful, and pitiable the rest of the time.

The production was well attended, with a nearly full house through its closing performance Saturday night.

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5 MARCH 2006:

UW'S FIGARO OPENS TO SELLOUT

Wisconsin University Opera's performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in Music Hall Sunday afternoon was superb on all counts, combining remarkable voices, brilliant musical direction, and acting skills superior to some professional performances available on video. The Almost In Time Dixieland Jazz Band's own Autumn Leonard was in the chorus.

Mozart's warm, human opera was brought brilliantly to life by the energy and skill of these fine performers. All the principal vocalists were excellent, a tribute to the strength of the University Opera program. Baritone Thomas Weis' Figaro romped through the performance like a properly chutzpah-drunk improvisational MC, gleefully executing deceptions he instigated and falling in instantly with those he didn't. Kerianne Carlton's pure, vibrant soprano was perfect for Susanna. Keith Dixon brought to Count Almaviva a baritone rich and supple enough to express the complex feelings of a man who can't tell from moment to moment if he's in charge of everything, or the butt of everyone's jokes. Soprano Seong Shin Ra was a standout, her voice at once so powerful and so heartbreakingly expressive that her Countess Almaviva stood in exquisite relief even among so fine a cast.

Kristofer Barber's Dr. Bartolo was a minor masterpiece of dignified comedy, or comic dignity. Jill Woodhouse was absolute mistress of the role of Marcellina, who it appeared she was channeling from Beyond, in flesh and spirit; I missed her cut aria telling how rams don't make war upon ewes. Chad Graham made a deliciously cherubic smarminess of Basilio, suiting the part so well that he should perhaps worry a bit. (I missed his cut, too; what fun could he have had with the skin of an ass?). Barbarina is given one of the most lovely melodies known to man, as she searches for the lost pin at the start of Act IV. Jacqueline King brought me to tears.

Ah, but Cherubino! Of course everyone loves Cherubino, and a performer of even middling ability can mine from the role's rich lode of humanity a product sure to gain audience response. But Rachel Grasser's luminous performance Sunday looked to me like a labor of love informed by a bright, quick talent. Her soprano voice was the perfect instrument for Cherubino, delivering Ms. Grasser's every thought, emotion, and inspiration directly to the audience's hearts, clear and unimpeded. She is the sort of performer who makes me wish I had bought more tickets.

Ensemble work was clean and personal throughout, with some of the loveliest moments found in Carlton and Seong's duets. Every time the Countess and Susanna gang up on a man and sing identical lines at him in parallel thirds, the man backs down, changes tactics, or apologizes for something; Carlton and Seong wielded this weapon with deadly, delightful precision on Sunday.

The stage direction and acting were universally smart and informed, a far cry from operas that are, so to speak, nothing but voice, with "actors" who can do little more than hit their mark and then stand stock-still to deliver the next aria. Again taking recorded Figaros as reference, as for example the Glyndebourne Festival productions of 1994 and 1973, it is no exaggeration to say that the acting at the UW production was superior. People on stage knew what they were doing, and why, and had the vaulting talent needed to manage movement and facial expression while singing difficult music. The virtuosity was astonishing, and my hat is off to the entire cast. Stage Director William Farlow is a treasure. All the roles had clearly received imaginative direction, right down to the chorus members; Autumn always had something worth doing while he was on stage, and did it, singing the while.

The acoustics in Music Hall are quite good, and its size and configuration gave Sunday's performance both the closeness of intimacy, and the room for spectacle: in short, just what Figaro needs. All three nights of the run have sold out, and on Sunday the close-packed audience took part in the special magic created only when hundreds of people are thoroughly captivated by a live performance. Laughter swept the theater again and again, much of the thanks for which goes to the outstanding surtitles, whose completeness and aptness of phrase are yet another reason to prefer this Figaro.

It would be presumption to comment on Musical Director James Smith (also of WYSO); he is above praise. But he wrung wonders from the fine pit ensemble. The School of Music Wind Octet, under the direction of Marc Vallon, gave a pre-curtain performance that was a tasty sampling of music from the opera. Playing from among the audience in the back row of the balcony, they made us feel as if we'd been invited into a friend's home for some musical conviviality.

The set was spare, mostly some colored hangings and a few essential objects: a chaise for the Countess to feel faint upon, a bit of cloth so we could all pretend Cherubino was hidden, and so forth. It was enough. (The Cap Times reviewer got it wrong.) The lack of clutter left our attention upon such props as mattered at the moment, and more importantly upon the wonderful characters and the talented cast who were creating them.

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4 MARCH 2006:

WYSO CONCERT ORCHESTRA IS LORD OF THE RINGS

The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras' (WYSO) Percussion Ensemble, Concert Orchestra, and Philharmonia performed today in Mills Hall on the UW campus, with Isis Leonard on hand as bassoonist in Concert.

I have already described the sound of WYSO ensembles as "mature", so here are some new adjectives. The Concert Orchestra produces a surprisingly muscular sound for a group that's short two trombones - cues help, but the low brass deserve lots of credit for the quality of this concert. The lone tuba and lone trombone were authoritative and clear, especially the tuba, who had some nice feature passages and a fine duet with a trumpet. And the woodwinds were superb all afternoon, providing a flexibility and soulfulness that could be the envy of elder orchestras. The clarinets and bassoons were especially praiseworthy.

The group opened with Bellingrath Gardens by Ralph Ford, followed by the Marche and Impromptu from Bizet's Jeux d'Enfants; the Bizet was right on, lively and idiosyncratic. Vignettes, by Theron Kirk was sprightly and schizophrenic. The next piece was a suite arranged by John Whitney, upon themes from Howard Shore's score for The Fellowship of the Ring. This was a puzzling work: melodies were taken up and then dropped, sometimes abruptly, then returned to later without much enhancement or alteration of embellishments. In terms of performance and execution, though, the piece was a great success; the French horns, who were on exposed display whenever the Three Runners theme came up, met the challenge especially handily. Carl Strommen's Prairiesong, the closing piece, featured a lovely bassoon soli passage.

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4 MARCH 2006:

MCFARLAND S&E PERFORMERS ADVANCE TO STATE IN DROVES

Hundreds of talented young McFarland musicians saw the fruition of thousands of hours of preparation and rehearsal as they performed in the Wisconsin School Music Association District Solo and Ensemble Festival in Middleton today. The results were, as usual, a wonderful tribute to the dedication and talent of McFarland's fine (but understaffed) music programs. Bill Garvey, Dave Heilman, Anne Nichols, Brian Vanderbloemen, and Evan Riley should be very proud, for they have helped create one of the few things of lasting value: music.

Many of the best students performed in more than one event at the District festival, generally a solo and one or more ensembles; many play more than one instrument, or perform in both instrumental and vocal events. The most exceptional performers in the most advanced event classification at the critically judged festival are invited to advance to the State Solo and Ensemble competition, held in April at UW-Whitewater. McFarland has dozens of performances advancing, and many students going to State in more than one event. In the smaller world of the AITDJB, the Wind in the Reeds, and the Second String Violin Duo, Eric Adams, Scott Birrenkott, Andrea Bakunowicz, Nora Hickey, Isis Leonard, and Zach Staszewski are all advancing in at least one event, and most in several. Together these six earned at least 16 starred-first Class A ratings, which are tickets to State (they may have a few more I don't know about yet; the number is a minimum).

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1 MARCH 2006:

SOLO AND ENSEMBLE PERFORMERS PRESHOW IN NEW LIBRARY

McFarland's Wisconsin School Music Association District Solo and Ensemble Festival is this Saturday in Middleton, and if the sneak preview held tonight at our fantastic new Library is any indication, Saturday will be a day of fine music.

A good crowd was on hand to view IMMS students' art, and Bill Garvey's annual use of S&E contestants to provide background music gave the students an excellent chance to try their performances before an appreciative audience. Anne Nichols' Blue Notes Vocal Jazz Ensemble, including the AITDJB's own beloved Zach Staszewski and Andrea Bakunowicz, are on the curve to excellence. They will be performing "Operator" and another piece at the District contest. If they can clean up what the judges like to call "vertical alignment problems" - and I am sure they will - the group is surely destined to advance to the State contest.

Zach also performed with a Class A clarinet trio, and will be in clarinet choir at District. Andrea has a vocal duet and a saxophone choir, in addition to Blue Notes.

Isis Leonard and Hora Hickey gave a solid rendering of a selection from Bach's Art of the Fugue, with Isis on violin and Nora on bassoon instead of 'cello. When all goes well and the balance is right, these two give a very musical performance; I'd expect them to advance, too.

A recently-bald Scott Birrenkott switched from trombone to baritone for the MHS Tuba-Euphonium Octet's performance of The Entertainer. They have good color and a really, really powerful tuba section; if the adrenaline is high enough on Saturday, they should also advance to State.

Scott Brown's scheduled performance of "Sabre Dance" upon the rarely-heard E-flat alto ophecleide, was cancelled due to intermittent windiness. Expect more updates.

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1 MARCH 2006:

WYSO CONCERT TOUR BRINGS REAL MUSIC TO SUBURBAN YOUNG 'UNS

Christine Mata Eckel

On Wednesday Isis Leonard, a bassoonist in the Concert Orchestra ensemble of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO) program, traveled with the orchestra on its annual performance tour. Under the baton of Christine Mata Eckel, the group gave concerts at Mt. Horeb Intermediate Center, Wisconsin Heights Middle School, and Glacier Creek Middle School. They performed a range of modern and elderly works, not incidentally getting in some extra practice for this Saturday's Winterfest Concert. Isis says the performances were well received.

WYSO philosophy holds that tours expand and augment the regular WYSO music programs by providing unique experiences for the musicians: "WYSO members can experience significant individual growth in a setting totally apart from the daily support network of home and school. We believe the WYSO touring experience offers development potential for a member to grow independently, to increase teamwork skills and to build on the strengths of the family/school network while outside of that environment."

Every season, each of the four WYSO orchestras gives touring concerts in Madison and throughout the state. The Youth Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra generally perform in a scheduled one-day tour. Concert Orchestra and Sinfonietta typically embark on a local one-day tour to area schools or school-based cultural events. On occasion, the Youth Orchestra is asked to perform outside of Wisconsin, and every two or three years they tour nationally or internationally.

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1 MARCH 2006:

UPCOMING EVENTS - MARCH 2006

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27 FEBRUARY 2006:

CONCERT SHOWS OFF JAZZ PROGRAM'S STRENGHTS

(Send me a concert photo;
I'll put it here)

The instrumental jazz program for grades 7 - 12 is a gem in the District's crown, and last Monday night we saw plenty of sparkle as four bands, each excellent for their age bracket, gave daring, exciting performances. I always leave a McFarland jazz concert feeling happier than I was when I came in. More McFarlanders should come take advantage of this free therapy.

Brian Vanderbloemen has had several years now to shape the next academic generation of McFarland jazz musicians, and his time spent teaching technique and spirit was showcased to good effect in solid and occasionally brilliant performances by the 7th grade and 8th grade bands Monday night. The younger group featured some startling set work by Leif Larson, and we heard a fine alto sax solo by Barry Bakunowicz. In the eighth-graders' performance it was especially promising to hear the lively piano break by Kolin Walker in El Gato: it's a good sign of strong piano work to come. Any day you can hear a decent soprano sax solo is a good day, and Becca Funk made the leap from alto to soprano rather gracefully, taking turns in all three charts her group performed that night. Gena Roisum did a fine job as the lone clarinet - which is to say, I could hear her. I look forward to what she'll do when she gets her hands on a tenor sax.

Kids who started under Brian are now beginning to percolate up into the MHS jazz bands, which were already strong; as Bill and Dave start to wield the new tools Brian is sending them, the bands are only getting stronger. The MHS Concert/Symphonic Band Jazz Ensemble featured our own strong-willed Nora Hickey, playing bassoon among the trombones and taking a solo in Doug Beach's Reverend Bob. She was audible, and her solo came through much better than some she played last year, but the microphone was placed at the bell of her bassoon, from which it is still not clear to me that much sound comes. Miking the Big Pipes seems better accomplished by putting the pickup a little distance in front of the performer, pointed more or less toward the instrument's guts; I can't see how that could be accomplished gracefully on the jazz stage, though, without setting Nora off to the side as a separate entity. The Almost In Time Dixieland Jazz Band's Eric Adams lent splendid Latin spice to No Peppers, No Tomatoes, another Doug Beach / George Shutack chart. Eric is up-and-coming, increasingly fluid and assured, and looked like he was having a good time during his percussion duet with Dave. I am pleased to say that he'll be back in the Gazebo with the Dixie band this summer. Finally, Frank Ransley was also on stage, rounding out the trumpet line. He has been heroically attending early-morning rehearsals and doughnut-tastings. I am delighted that he, too, will be performing with the AITDJB again this summer.

The Early Bird Jazz Ensemble is not only excellent for its age bracket: it's just excellent. Bill and Dave do a great job of picking charts from all over the jazz roadmap; by the time a musician makes it into Early Bird, they've had a chance to wrangle with everything from Latin to rock, standards to near-funk, and plenty more. They are solid enough to grips with a great arrangement like The Incredibles, skillfully distilled by Stephen Bulla from Michael Giacchino's excellent film score. Early Bird played this piece at the 2005 Pep Band concert, and I loved it then. Monday night it was even more bold and confident. Bravo to the band for revisiting it! Scott Birrenkott, who stepped up to the red bowtie with the AITDJB at the 2005 McFarland Family Festival last fall, had sleek trombone solos in Bubblehead, Big Mama Cass, and another in George Shutack's 'Chili Pepper' series, Romancing the Chili Pepper. Scott will be back with the AITDJB this summer, and judging by his work on stage Monday night we'll have a good season. (And speaking of work on stage: is it conceivable that David Michaels could play anything but bari sax? Loved his riffs in Big Mama Cass.) Lastly I must offer cheers for Early Bird's wonderful tradition of including a vocal soloist now and then - one per concert would not be too many, I think. Andrea Bakunowicz could not have been more perfectly suited to perform You Made Me Love You (even without Judy Garland's "Dear Mr. Gable" intro). To my taste, her rendition had it all over, say, Al Jolson's. And yes, we'll get to hear more of Andrea on tenor sax, and maybe vocals, with the AITDJB this summer.

Wrap up? An electric concert, with signs all over it of more great concerts to come. Kudos to all involved!

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20 FEBRUARY 2006:

ISIS TO STUDY WITH MIDORI

Isis Leonard and the other members of her Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) chamber ensemble group will be studying with noted violinist and teacher Midori. Midori is a talented soloist with an international reputation, and a powerful force in music education. She has founded programs to involve young people in orchestra and to bring Japanese and Western musical traditions to a better mutual understanding. She performs over 100 concerts each year, often teaching master classes to local violin students at the cities in which she is performing.

Midori will perform at the Wisconsin Union Theater on Friday 7 April 2006, and will teach at the Wingra Middle School one day during the week of 3 April.

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13 FEBRUARY 2006:

ZACH DIES FOR HONOR IN A PLAY OF LOVE

Zach Staszewski took the stage Friday and Saturday nights as the fiery Tybalt in an MHS production of Romeo and Juliet, showing an intense darkness of character some might not have suspected in him. As the rash young man who slays Mercutio while the play is tipping from comedy to tragedy, Zach stalked the stage looking as though he might at any moment explode. His gravity looked like suppressed rage to me, and made for a powerful stage presence. When he made his final entrance, for his appointment to be killed by Romeo, his gaze was so stern it could have quarried stone. I think from now on I'll have to wonder what lies behind his more usual smiles.

The young lovers were played by Isaac Siegmann and Erin Shannon with a freshness that I found endearing, though they may be weary by now of both those descriptors. Shannon in particular was bright as a new penny Friday night, showing signs of close direction in the balcony scene, and was better still on Saturday. The pair also brought some serious snogging to the MHS stage. Chris DuCharme made a fine job of being poor Paris, to whom nobody - even for a moment - wishes success in his quest of Juliet. And he died with a most convincing death rattle. David Michaels' assurance in the role of Friar Laurence was a pleasure to watch. His Friar was properly fatherly and tranquil and, even though he's a drug dealer, formed a solid anchor for the rest of the mercurial characters. Luke Spring showed powers of vocal nuance and expression that lifted Capulet rather above the low profile that might be expected of that role in a school production. It's encouraging to see that the MHS drama program has enough depth that they could afford to assign the part a good actor. And every time Bobby Rothwell takes part in a production, I am happy to see him on stage; I wish him all the best.

Lauren Meyer has built an MHS drama career out of portrayals of powerful older women, and in this play she was a force of nature. She delivered the "Romeo must not live" line as if she were a professional knife thrower; if it had been aimed at me, I'd've been scared spitless. Not every school has a young woman with enough brass to play the Nurse as she ought to be played, but Bridget Norris went far in the right direction, milking her trimmed speeches for plenty of juice. I look forward to seeing what she'll tackle next year. And lastly, Mercutio, the play's pivot and the engine of the whole plot - each time I see the play, I become more convinced that he is its actual main character. It would have been unimaginable that anyone but JT Stocks be cast, and he lived up to all expectations. He gave us both barrels every moment he was on stage, and yet still kept back enough range to build his "plague" lines from inside joke to satisfying rant. There is madness in Mercutio that JT did not quite explore - partly because of line cuts - but if he lands this part again some day in another production, I would enjoy seeing him.

The dances at the feast were done prettily and unselfconsciously, no small achievement in a sequence that involves the entire company. At the feast we also got the surprise treat of hearing Aaron Siegmann as the Troubadour pop star that stops conversation. The several swordfights were done well enough, and were as believable as they needed to be, but ran perhaps a little long for such a shortened form of the play.

Costumes and properties were excellent, as always, and well fitted to each character's rank, station, and function in the play (I suppose it is no accident that Mercutio got the sword with a crossguard so big it's actually unseemly). One caveat: actual dancing tights for men may be more expensive than are disposable women's panty hose, but it is transparently clear which are more suitable on stage.

The five-entrance set was attractive and clean. Two platforms with stone facades and an entrance between them made up its stationary portion; the right platform had one entrance, the left, two entrances and The Balcony. The very clever design also included three large, movable Gothic arches which were shifted between scenes. These were used to excellent effect, defining clerestories, cells, and wings entrances as needed. There were a few other odds and ends: a removable fountain so Mercutio could wet his brow, some catafalques in the tomb scene, and of course a tree with a convenient stump so Romeo could get at Juliet for more snogging (clearly audible on the body mikes). The whole set was a perfect sufficiency.

In fact the whole production was admirable, considering that it was built upon so few scraps of the original text, a brutal abridgement far removed from the deft recensions we have seen on the MHS stage in Much Ado About Nothing and in The Importance of Being Earnest, for example. Whole swaths of colorful dialogue were missing entirely, many short speeches had had lines sifted out of them, and few even of the more important soliloquies remained intact. Much of the fever was sacrilegiously subtracted from Mercutio's brain, and the poor Nurse, compared to the gushing bawdy Shakespeare meant for her mouth, was cut nearly to dumbshows. Particularly galling were instances of one line of a rhyming pair being left in, but its fellow being inexplicably cut out. The cutting was a disservice both to those familiar with the play, who spent the evening tensely listening for lines that never came, and - worse - to those meeting Shakespeare for the first time, who were robbed of much of the Bard's best fire. We love Shakespeare for the vibrant characters he draws for us, and for the wonderful words with which he draws them. It is not well to hobble the actors who must portray the one, by allotting them so few of the other.

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6 FEBRUARY 2006:

AUTUMN IN MOZART'S "MARRIAGE OF FIGARO"

Autumn Leonard is a chorus member in a UW-Madison production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, preparing now for performances in early March. Autumn's light baritone was last publicly heard at a benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina, held at the Kit Kat Klub or some such wretched State Street hive of scum and villainy. Figaro will find him in a more condign performance space: UW's Music Hall, the delightful, churchy building at the foot of Bascom Hill. Autumn is following where his grandfather has gone before; Kenneth Leonard spent time performing and conducting in Music Hall as he pursued his Master's degree in music.

Here are the details on the opera production:

The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte
William Farlow, Director
James Smith, Conductor
UW Chamber Orchestra

Sung in Italian with English surtitles

Friday, March 3, at 7:30 pm
Sunday, March 5, at 3 pm
Tuesday, March 7, at 7:30 pm

Carol Rennebohm Auditorium
Music Hall, University of Wisconsin - Madison
General public $18, UW-Madison students $10

Ticket information and other details are available here: University Opera

University Opera notes that they are presenting The Marriage of Figaro "to celebrate the bicenquinquagenary of the birth of Mozart". Figaro was composed in Vienna at the height of Mozart's career. Its first performance, on May 1, 1786, was an enormous success, so popular that Emperor Joseph II had to issue a decree banning encores. (No, this is not similar to what happened to Brokeback Mountain in Salt Lake City). Figaro remains one of most beloved, and most performed, masterpieces of opera buffa.

The play from which the libretto for Figaro is taken is a sequel to the play The Barber of Seville, familiar to modern audiences through Rossini's great opera. Mozart's librettist removed political content from the popular Figaro play - material that would have offended the Viennese imperial censors (the French Revolution was only a few years away) - and faithfully translated the rest into Italian. With Mozart's masterpiece of a score, the result is a witty yet profound tale of love, betrayal, and forgiveness. In Barber, Count Almaviva, with substantial help from Figaro, wooed and won the lovely Rosine away from her crusty old ward and would-be husband, Dr. Bartholo. In Figaro, the Count has married Rosine but their marriage has gone sour because of his philandering. Figaro has quit barbering and is now the Count's major-domo. Bartholo is back to seek revenge on Figaro, with the help of the slimy music-master, Don Bazile. Adding to the fun are an amorous teenager, a scheming old maid, a drunken gardener, and a silly young girl. Much happens on a single "folle journée" - a crazy day.

As to the plot: think of the film Amadeus. Figaro is the opera that Mozart is chortling about in the film, as he explains to the stuffy court music establishment how funny, natural, and human it is that the opera begins with a guy measuring a room to see if his wedding bed will fit in it - "no, really, it'll be wonderful, just fund the production"; that sort of thing. Here are three synopses: SHORT, MEDIUM, and WELL DONE. Better yet, go to the library and look in "Kobbe's Opera". Or (best), go to Music Hall and hear Autumn! He's sure to be a dashing peasant lad, or whatever he is, and his personal brand of native chutzpah will we hope be a welcome addition to the show.

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30 JANUARY 2006:

VIOLINS IN THE VAULT

Last weekend, Isis Leonard took part in the first-ever Madison Suzuki "retreat", which finished Sunday with a demonstration of synchronized sound production in the Capitol Rotunda. The rich, complex acoustics in the Rotunda present ensembles with a range of challenges, most of which the Suzuki groups were able to overcome. The violins in particular sounded very well in the space, and it was a great pleasure to find a few 'cellos on hand on to provide a glimpse of a different Suzuki playlist.

In most cases an ensemble member must give as much, if not more, attention to listening to the group as to watching the conductor. But in the Rotunda, reverberation from the many hard, flat surfaces is very strong and much delayed - an acoustic engineer might say that the sound is very "wet". As a result, if a player in the Rotunda listens too much to the ambient sound she will fall behind; if everyone listens, the whole group slows down and the piece dies a retarded death. Cohesion therefore depends upon visual cues. The Suzuki emphasis on memorization stood the group in good stead here - the players had no scores to read and so could look at the conductor all the time, and they are used to monophonic arrangements. The several vibrantly visual conductors were a boon as well. Tempos were quite solid throughout, and I heard nobody stravaging behind.

The Rotunda space is punctuated by large wings and galleries, which means that the bell curve of net reverb vs. echo time is not tightly centered around one time value, but has a great deal of temporal dispersion - that is, some echoes come back relatively soon, but many come back later and others much later. The effect can turn multivoice pieces into mush, unless they are one player to a part. But Sunday's mostly-unison playing suffered very little from this problem, and from where I was listening I could always tell what note was being played when. The violins in particular were refreshingly clean and clear, with just enough wetness to the sound to give it a sense of grand scale: on the whole, well suited to the venue.

Finally, frequency dispersion from the Rotunda's many sharp edges is rather high, so that low-pitched instruments with strong harmonics can sound muddy when massed (here I am thinking specifically of TubaChristmas), to the point of not sounding like any real instrument at all. But the violins were affected very little by this issue, at least to my ear, and retained their distinctive timbre.

There were some minor problems: the spoken announcements and the piano accompaniment were mostly swallowed up by the vast caverns of the Capitol wings, and never made it to the audience's ears. But the all-parent audience knew when to clap, so these things were not missed.

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23 JANUARY 2006:

DOUBLE THE REEDS, DOUBLE THE FUN

Frank Zappa, unquestionably one of the most creative and original musicians of the last fifty years, said in an interview: "The bassoon is one of my favorite instruments. It has a medieval aroma, like the days when everything used to sound like that. Some people crave baseball . . . I find this unfathomable, but I can easily understand why a person could get excited about playing the bassoon." Both the "medieval aroma" and the excitement of playing were on vivid display at the concert culminating the UW's Double Reed Days workshop last Sunday. There were 42 oboes, English horns, and bassoons on stage at once - so many that the staff must not have killed any off during Master Classes*. The sound was described by conductor Alan Goodman as "formidable", and he was right - a massed choir of double reeds produces an effect not to be believed by someone who hasn't heard it.

Isis Leonard and Nora Hickey both took part in the Double Reed Days workshop and played first bassoon, or perhaps primus inter pares, at Sunday's concert. The two are co-founders of United Bassoonists of Madison, and are also the founding members (actually, the only members) of the Second String Violin Duo.

Double Reed Days was organized by UW oboist Marc Fink and UW bassoonist extraordinaire Marc Vallon. With guest Goodman, they also taught Master Classes and conducted the ensembles, and under their guidance the choir melded solidly into a single, beautiful polyphonic instrument. The medieval aroma was most evident in the group's performance of Johann Caspar Friedrich Fisher's five-part suite, Journal do Printems II. (It is possible that Vallon did not use his left little toe when conducting this piece, but all the rest of him was involved, and he looks like the kind of conductor who it is impossible for the performers to misunderstand.) The bassoons were especially evocative in the lentement segment, providing a rich flavor rarely heard in arrangements that call for brass or strings, or even other reeds, in addition to bassoons.

In more diverse ensembles, English horns stand out because they sound like nothing else on this planet, unless perhaps like some semi-mythical Amazonian bird. They certainly sound like nothing else in a wind ensemble or orchestra. It is therefore a rare delight to hear them standing out, instead, because they are one distinct set of colours in a natural spectrum of double-reed voices - which on Sunday even included the awesome presence of a contrabassoon. I think such an opportunity gives the English horns at once more freedom and more support than they generally enjoy. Vallon's witty arrangement of Two Beatles Classics was a splendid example, using these elegant instruments to excellent effect. In the Michelle segment of the piece, the melody was too understated and seemed lost at sea. But Eleanor Rigby was perfectly suited to this treatment and was a joy to hear, especially in the dexterous rendering of the former 'cello part.

The group's closing piece was Aram Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance, also arranged by Vallon for double reed ensemble. I missed the trombones a little, as I'd expected to, since Pan himself probably couldn't do a true glissando on a bassoon. But I didn't miss them much, and - surprisingly - didn't miss the percussion at all. A well-disciplined reed player can deliver plenty of punch. The skillful distribution of parts and the enthusiastic musicianship of the players made the arrangement a success.

Finally I must note another performance we attended on Sunday, one which overlapped with the Double Reed Days concert. Attendees of this second event were explicitly forbidden to mention it, so I won't - explicitly. But I will say that I have never heard a more charming evocation of Flight of the Bumblebee by a flutist accompanied by live bees. And, that such a masterful rendition of Bolling's jazz suite would make one suspect that the flutist had some trick up her sleeve, except that in this case she clearly didn't.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MARC VALLON

* For those of you who don't know this hoary, standard oboe joke, here it is (with due apologies to Becky): Q: How do you get two oboes to play in tune? A: Shoot one of them.

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16 JANUARY 2006:

RARE BRIA FOOTAGE DISCOVERED IN VAULTS

The official recording of MHS Cabaret 2004 was made on a pair of VHS camcorders, and it's a slick production. But VHS image and sound quality are not exactly the kinds of things you'd write home to the Empress about, so those of us who were delighted by Bria Mason's performance of Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps were pretty much free to remember it any way we wanted to. Until now.

The vaults recently yielded a previously-unremembered tape made privately at the performance on a sometimes handheld DVD camcorder. The recording is incomplete and fragmentary. For some sequences the camcorder was left running but placed on the floor of the auditorium, under the seats - those sequences have audio that's a bit boomy and video that is uninteresting except to used-chewing-gum enthusiasts. Nevertheless much of the audio is superior to the official version, and I am pleased to debut some of it here.

Bria performed the piece three times: at Cabaret, at the 2004 Pep Band Concert (her sauciest rendition, unfortunately not preserved), and at an AITDJB concert. Sara Siegmann accompanied her on piano, Brad Anderson on congas, in a run that included a conga-and-Bria number in Anything Goes, and Autumn Leonard and Tyler Mackey were dudes in sombreros doing strategic handclaps.

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9 JANUARY 2006:

NORA HICKEY GIVES 'EM BOTH BARRELS

If bassoons were built with all their tubing in a straight line, they would be awkwardly much taller than their players. To avoid the spectacle of bassoonists mounting stepladders to reach their mouthpieces, which is especially distracting to the audience during performances of works with intermittent rests, bassoons are manufactured with a bend (or "half Nelson") in the middle. For ease of portability, most models of modern bassoon can be disassembled into between eight and ten thousand separate pieces. However, in 1879 Osvaldo Bassinetta, the renowned bassoonist and lepidopterist, missed a performance of P. D. Q. Bach's A Bassoonata because he was unable to finish assembling his bassoon in time: the concert was to begin at 7:30 P. M., but by the time Osvaldo finally got his last dull-bladed clincher in place, he found that it was January 3, 1926. Since that time most bassoonists have, between performances, disassembled their instruments only partly. The average bassoon now resting in its case has been broken down into a mere one hundred and eight parts, the most important of which are the Bell, the Heckler, and the Thorax.

Nora Hickey, a founding member of the Second String Violin Duo and also an avid bassoonist and coelocanthropist, took part in a concerto competition given by the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras (WYSO) last Saturday at the UW. Nora performed Johann Nepomuk Hummel's F major Grand Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra. It seems double reeds seldom compete in the event, and reeds of any kind seldom win it, but it need hardly be said that Nora's performance must have been magbassoonificent. The competition was closed to the public.

Jazz bands are getting under way in McFarland, and incessantly-practiced Solo and Ensemble pieces are coming to fruition, so there will be many pleasant things to report here soon. Meanwhile, please have a look at this slideshow photo retrospective of our 2005 ensembles. Just click on the link; the slides change automatically every ten seconds, and each image has an instructive caption below it. (Yes, Becca and Gena, I know there are no photos of you in the slideshow. That's not because I love you less than the others, but because I don't have any nice performance photos of you yet).

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26 DECEMBER 2005:

MANY THANKS

The music groups represented on this site receive help from many people; without that help, we could neither exist nor perform. Thanks is the exchequer of the poor, yet I draw tender on it now, for I have found that working and playing with all of you for the past year has been a gift beyond price.

Thanks to:

ALL THE PARENTS

for rearranging your schedules, clapping at performances, schlepping and hauling (especially the percussion parents), and most of all for loaning me your offspring for another year. Thanks to tolerant spouses (spice?) and S.O.s, too.

THE PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS

who have shared rehearsal space and equipment, and trained the fine young musicians who play in these groups. And extra thanks to those who have performed with us: it is a glory and a wonder to find so many of you willing to share your talents by taking the stage with us. We thank:

ANNE NICHOLS, for being seen in public with the Solstice Brass at the Bank and the Bonfire, for inviting the SB to play at your winter concert, and especially for performing at the Gazebo with the AITDJB; you are a goddess and a heroine
BRIAN VANDERBLOEMEN, for welcoming me into your bands, for giving the Wind in the Reeds woodwind quartet a friendly performance venue at your Unit VI band concert, and especially for contributing hot sax licks at a Gazebo concert with the AITDJB (and wearing the big pink bowtie like a good sport)
GAIL SHOEMAKER, for joining the WitR at the Library contributors' gala
BILL GARVEY and DAVE HEILMAN, for inviting me into your band (at a performance, yet!), loaning music stands and horns to the SB, and especially for graciously allowing the AITDJB to rehearse in your band room for the last five years
EVAN REILLEY, for giving the WitR a friendly performance venue at your Unit VI choir concert, and for loaning sheet music to Buzz Lightyear and Woody

The 2005 Solstice Brass

THE MCFARLAND SCHOOL DISTRICT:

Dr. Jim Hickey, for offering unbelievable support from and access to MHS
Gary Schneider, for trusting me, year after year, with your PA equipment
The MHS custodians, who remain cheerful and helpful even when we run late or get noisy

EVERYONE WHO HAS GIVEN US PERFORMANCE VENUES, ADVERTISING SPACE, OR FRIENDLY SUPPORT

THE MCFARLAND STATE BANK, for giving the SB a place to play indoors
NAZARETH HOUSE and HARMONY HOUSE, for giving us a chance to play our Christmas tunes one last time, once we'd finally gotten pretty good at them THE MCFARLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, for Christmas in the Village
THE MCFARLAND FAMILY FESTIVAL, for offering the AITDJB three venues in a single weekend
THE MCFARLAND COMMUNITY BAND, with which the AITDJB would have shared a concert if Bill hadn't been scared off by a few tornados
The many LOCAL BUSINESSES who have been kind enough to allow us to hang advertising flyers in their windows. Thanks particularly to the McFarland Thistle for running our performance announcements, and to Ken's Automotive for the use of their letterboard. Thanks to the Wisconsin State Journal for free access to its "Rhythm" section, and Madison Dot Com for this Web site
The SIEGMANN FAMILY for the AITDJB end-of-year party: Sara for organization, Aaron for technical support, and of course Maw and Paw for use of their back yard and their fire pit.

The 2005 Second String Violin Duo

THE MUSICIANS

who performed with us in 2005 for the first time: Eric Adams, Andrea Bakunowicz, Scott Birrenkott, Kristofer Buhalog, Stefan Buhalog, Chris DuCharme, Anne Nichols, Gena Roisum, Gail Shoemaker, Zach Staszewski, J. T. Stocks, Brian Vanderbloemen, and Sherry Wegner

And finally, to all

THE RETURNING MUSICIANS

I don't know what I've done to deserve you, but I will try never to stop. Thanks to Brad Anderson, Amanda DeBoer, Becca Funk, Nora Hickey, Autumn Leonard, Isis Leonard, Bria Mason, Tonya Neumann, Glenn Nielsen, Frank Ransley, Becky Schultz, and Sara Siegmann.

My heartfelt thanks to the many fine musicians who have given so enthusiastically of their talents and time to make the AITDJB a success, for five years running now. It is always a delight to perform with you, and frequently to rehearse with you: age cannot wither you, nor custom stale your infinite variety. Farewell 'til the next chart.

- Quinn

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