Elvehjem concerts combine music, art

The door of Lori Skelton’s refrigerator doubles as a gallery. The pictures on exhibition there are four crayon interpretations of musical instruments: drum, cello, guitar and flute.

The artist is five-year-old Greta, whose inspiration is the Sunday Afternoon Live at the Elvehjem concert she attends regularly, says Skelton, host of the program.

Details Sunday Afternoon Live at the Elvehjem begins at 12:30 p.m. Sundays in the museum’s Brittingham Gallery III on the second floor. Concerts are free, but seating may be limited. The series will feature UW–Madison’s Pro Arte Quartet Dec. 13; Klara Fenyo Bahcall, violin and Esther Wang, piano, Dec. 20 and Milwaukee’s Duo’s Coriolan Jan. 3. There’s no concert Dec. 27. For more information, contact Brenda Mikeo at the Elvehjem, (608) 263-4115.

While Greta goes to the concerts in person, thousands of other Wisconsinites listen over the Wisconsin Public Radio network. For the last two decades, WPR and the Elvehjem Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have used music and visual art to build a statewide community stretching from Kenosha to Brule.

Currently carried by eight stations, the series draws upon predominantly Wisconsin musicians to celebrate the quality and diversity of the state’s classical music scene, according to current series producer Vicki Nonn.

Programming for both a live and a radio audience proves a challenge, she says. One important tool for accommodating both live and broadcast audiences is the concert’s intermission interview. While the gallery audience can amble about the other galleries for a few minutes, radio listeners are treated to a taped interview with Elvehjem director Russell Panczenko.

On Dec. 13, Virginia Boyd, UW–Madison professor of environment, textiles and design will discuss the chairs displayed on the Elvehjem’s lower level. On Dec. 20, Panczenko will consider a Theodore Roszak painting in the museum’s permanent collection.

Panczenko’s predecessor, the late Katherine Mead, was one of the driving forces in the creation of the Sunday Afternoon series. According to co-founder and former WPR program director Linda Clauder, the live broadcasts at the museum addressed the needs of both the station and the Elvehjem.

“We were looking for opportunities to stretch new technical capabilities with live remote broadcasts, and the Elvehjem wanted to develop new audiences. Time and faithful listeners have proved the series’ merit,” she says.

Today, the program is a Wisconsin tradition. Nonn says the live audience can range from 50 to 180 or so, and Skelton attests:

“Five years ago, when I told my mother, who lives in Delavan, that I was going to take a new job at WPR, the first thing she said was, ‘Oh yes, the station with the Elvehjem of the performances and the relaxed, informal atmosphere that appeals to classical devotees and novices alike,” including, Skelton hopes, a new generation that a constant fan like Greta represents.