A Journey Through Madison's Classical Music Scene
Classically Speaking |
06/13/13Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Deals Winning HandsThe 22nd incarnation of a beloved summer tradition stacks the deck with “Deuces Wild” |
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05/21/13Con Vivo!’s “Homecoming” a Nourishing CelebrationChamber group’s season closer is more of the same old (wonderful) thing |
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05/07/13Three Snapshots of a Broadway-bound BandSun Prairie High School’s Jazz Ensemble I heads to NYC this weekend to play at Lincoln Center—again |
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05/05/13Catching Up with the Ancora String QuartetMadison’s “other” string quartet continues to mature and impress |
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04/27/13Madison Opera’s 'Don Giovanni': Dark Shadows, Brilliant FlashesSome major strengths in each area add up to a strong close to the company’s season |
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04/16/13Marc Fink Offers the Best Kind of Long “Goodbye”UW Professor of Oboe gives eloquent farewell recital…with a lot of help from some very good friends |
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04/14/13Perfection? Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra Comes Close in Closing the SeasonSoprano Susanna Phillips stars individually; Sewell and the ensemble shine collectively |
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04/06/13Madison Symphony Closes Season with Surprises GaloreNaha Greenholtz charms with Mendelssohn; DeMain pulls out all the stops with choral rarities—and we learn of an unexpected retirement |
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03/23/13Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra: Two Great Halves Equal One Spectacular EveningShai Wosner’s pinch-hit pianism knocks Mozart out of the park; Sewell leads fascinating — and beautiful — Bruckner |
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03/18/13An Operatic Valentine on St. Patrick’s DayUniversity Opera offers a rare staging of the tender 'L’amico Fritz' |
Years before I contributed my first classical review to the Los Angeles Times in 1988, I started a class in music appreciation for adults that had one aim: to put a few cracks in the “ivory tower elitism” I found pervasive in the classical music world since my boyhood days. Whether as a critic, program annotator or band director, that goal has never changed. After all, Mozart and Beethoven and the gang wrote their music for people like you—not critics or professors!
