Music school begins concert season

The School of Music will presents five concerts Sept. 21-26, beginning with the Black Music Ensemble and concluding with University Opera.

Between these events, the Faculty Concert Series continues with programs by the Pro Arte Quartet and tenor James Doing, and the Guest Artist Series sponsors pianist Ian Hobson.

The Black Music Ensemble performs for the first time this season on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 6:30 p.m. in a free Morphy Hall concert. Under the direction of professor Richard Davis, the ensemble’s 17 musicians divide into two smaller bands for the program, each consisting of vocalists, saxophones, and a rhythm section of piano, bass, and drums.

The Pro Arte Quartet opens its season at Mills Hall Friday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. The quartet performs Three Pieces for String Quartet, by Stravinsky; String Quartet in D minor, by Wolf; and String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4, by Beethoven. Members of the quartet are David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola, and Parry Karp, cello.

Guest artist Ian Hobson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign visits Madison for a solo piano recital Saturday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m. in Mills Hall. Hobson has appeared as piano soloist with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Scottish National Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and many others in Europe, New Zealand, and the U. S.

For his Mills Hall recital, Hobson has chosen the Wanderer Fantasy, Op. 15, by Schubert; Fantasy, Op. 17, by Schumann; Mirrors (1992-2000), by Benjamin Lees, written for Ian Hobson, and the 1913 original version of Sonata in B-flat minor, by Rachmaninoff.

On Sunday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Mills Hall, professor James Doing presents a concert of solo cantatas by J. S. Bach and his contemporaries, commemorating the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. Doing, a tenor, is accompanied on the five cantatas by cellist Anton Tenwolde and harpsichordist Bruce Bengtson. The balance of the performers include Tom Boehm, flute and recorder; Jeanne Swack, recorder; Carrie Smith, oboe; Marc Fink, oboe d’amore; Patricia Ahern and Leanne League, violins; Deidre Buckley, viola; and students from the teaching studio of Prof. Doing. Professor Jeanne Swack, a specialist in baroque music, presents historical background on each cantata.

University Opera’s free first program of the year features four short works by 20th and 21st century composers, presented Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in Music Hall. Susan Savage-Day, soprano, and Jane Peckham, piano, perform Songs from Letters, by Libby Larsen, a cycle of songs based on letters sent by Calamity Jane to her daughter Janey, 1880-1902. The work was premiered in 1989. Susan Savage-Day is a doctoral candidate in voice at the School of Music.

Prof. Mimmi Fulmer, soprano, and Bill Lutes, piano, perform Erwartung, a monodrama by Arnold Schoenberg, with stage direction by William Farlow, Director of University Opera. The work’s premiere took place in 1924.

Tickets for the Faculty Concert Series $8 general, $6 for seniors and non-UW-Madison students, free to UW–Madison students with valid student ID) may be purchased through the Vilas Hall Box Office, 262-1500. Tickets also may be purchased at the door beginning 45 minutes prior to each concert.

Call the Concert Line at 263-9485 for weekly updated announcements of programs.