M A ST E R W O R K S I R E V I E W S2015/2016 INDOOR SERIES

THIS OCTOBER, WE OPENED OUR 2015-2016 season to critical acclaim with an evening of exciting music including the Madison debut of violinist Benjamin Beilman. It isn’t often that audiences hear the Beethoven Violin Concerto performed by a chamber orchestra, and the Capitol Theater provided the perfect space to present this beloved concerto in an intimate setting. The concert also highlighted works by Saint-Saëns and the New Zealand composer Douglas Lilburn. Here’s what people are saying about the concert:

“The opening of the WCO season Friday night at the Overture Center’s Capitol Theatre was, as Maestro Sewell put it himself from the stage, a mix of the “unfamiliar, less familiar and very familiar.” But the performance can be said to have added up to “three Bs”: buoyant, brilliant and beautiful… The first half of the evening was pure Sewell programming-wise, and pure playing from a suaver than ever WCO.”

- Greg Hettmansberger, Madison Magazine

“American Players Theatre core company member James Ridge read the stanzas with crystal-clear diction, while the WCO’s strings delivered the music with ravishing suavity. Lilburn’s writing for strings is idiomatic, interesting, and melodiously beautiful.”

- John W. Barker, Isthmus

“Sewell and the various sections of the WCO brought not only the kind of transparency or clarity that one expects from the WCO but also a robustness that made the orchestra seem bigger than it looked… At no point did the chamber orchestra seem to lack the horsepower needed to drive this big and iconic piece of music. Sewell and Beilman were well matched in projecting a big, rich sound and intense interpretation that engaged and excited you from beginning to end.”

- Jacob Stockinger, The Well-Tempered Ear

M E S S I A HFri., December 11, 2015 7pm · Blackhawk Church andSun., December 13, 2015 7pm · Westbrook Church

M A S T E R W O R K S I IFri., January 22, 2016 8pm · Capitol TheaterWith pianist Adam Neiman

M A S T E R W O R K S I I IFri., February 19, 2016 8pm · Capitol TheaterWith flutist Dionne Jackson

M A S T E R W O R K S I VFri., March 18, 2016 8pm · Capitol TheaterWith violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky

M A S T E R W O R K S VFri., April 22, 2016 8pm · Capitol TheaterWith pianist John O’Conor TO PURCHASE TICKETS, visit our website at wcoconcerts.org

or contact us at 608-257-0638 or wco@wcoconcerts.org.

M U S I CGET CL

OSE TO

THE

THE WISC ONSIN CHAMBER ORCHESTRA NEWSLET TERWINTER 2015

Maestro Andrew Sewell

The new canopy used at Concerts on the Square® this year has proved to be incredibly beneficial for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Many assume that it is used to protect the musicians from rain, and while it does offer some protection its main purpose is actually to improve the sound quality of the orchestra. The enclosure allows the musicians to hear each other much more clearly which has been a noticeable improvement. On top of this, the canopy gave our Concerts on the Square® stage a more professional and complete look that adds to the production value of the event.  

Our good friends at SOSONIC worked in conjunction with fabricators at ModTruss to build the unique canopy you saw at Concerts on the Square®. Due to our specific needs, the shell featured a modular design and had to be completely disassembled and reassembled weekly. This created a lot of work during setup and teardown and we are very grateful to the tireless crew members who worked long hours to make this all possible.  

We work hard to improve the Concerts on the Square® experience each year and we are proud to say that 2015 was without a doubt our best yet. However, things can always be improved and we’re already looking at ways to be even better in 2016. We look forward to seeing you all on the Square next summer!  

FROM OUR MUSIC D IRECTORARTISTIC IMPACT OF CANOPY

C O N C E RTS S Q UA R E OVERHEARD

ON THE

C ONCERT PREVIEWS MESSIAH, NUTCRACKER, MASTERWORKS

This past summer was our best yet. Every Wednesday in July, Madison residents gathered on the capitol grounds with picnic blankets and folding chairs, and came together to experience Madison’s unique summer tradition, WCO’s Concerts on the Square®. This summer saw record audiences and was an overwhelming success! Here is what people are saying about it: 

“Nothing beats packing up a small picnic basket, grabbing a blanket, and enjoying the wonderful performances. The fact that they’re offered free of charge is mind-boggling.”

“One of the best things about Summer in Madison.”

“Every performance is unique. The [Wisconsin] Chamber Orchestra provides such an incredible show, in a completely unusual setting. Fun for everyone. You haven’t been to Madison until you’ve been to [Concerts on the Square].”

“Concerts on the Square is one of those things that makes Madison, ‘Madison.’” 

“40,000 people can’t be wrong.” 

“It’s an idyllic way to spend a summer evening with your friends and neighbors. It’s a fantastic and easily accessible way to expose yourself to beautiful music.”

“The Midwest at its Best”Source: Yelp & Trip Advisor

MESSIAH Our annual performance of Messiah will once again take place at Blackhawk Church in Middleton, and we are pleased to announce our inaugural performance in Hartland, WI as well. Vocalists Sarah Lawrence, Jamie Van Eyck, Calland Metts and Peter Van de Graaff will join the orchestra and the WCO Chorus to bring George Frideric Handel’s timeless masterpiece to life. Maestro Andrew Sewell will lead the orchestra and chorus through the oratorio. Although Handel composed Messiah in 1741 the message of the piece still resonates with audiences today, never more so than at Christmastime. Join us and embrace the spirit of the season!NUTCRACKER This year we are proud to once again work alongside the Madison Ballet on The Nutcracker. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s brilliant score for this ballet is a renowned classic and we are naturally looking forward to the opportunity to perform this seminal work. It is always a thrill to see the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra paired with the Madison Ballet and W. Earle Smith’s brilliant choreography. Outstanding performers, a powerful score and the enchanting story of Clara and her Nutcracker are all bundled together in this holiday classic. The Nutcracker is sure to bring wonder and joy to all, from the young to the young at heart.

MASTERWORKS II We return to the Capitol Theatre in January to ring in 2016 with our good friend Adam Neiman. In 2008 Neiman recorded an album of early Mozart concerti with us, and we couldn’t be happier to work alongside him again. This time around he’ll tackle two modern concertos, Shostakovich’s well-loved Piano Concerto No. 2 as well as Poulenc’s Piano Concerto in C-sharp minor. The orchestra will also perform Schubert’s Symphony No. 6 and Mozart’s magnificent Overture to Cosi Fan Tutti. This is a concert not to be missed!

MASTERWORKS III After making her debut appearance with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in 2000, Maestro Sewell’s first year as Music Director, flutist Dionne Jackson returns to grace our stage once more. This time she will perform two concertos ‒ Nielsen’s Flute Concerto and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. The latter is a work perfectly suited for chamber orchestra, a 20th century work that is based on lute music from the Renaissance. Haydn’s Symphony No. 79 serves as the riveting finale to this diverse program.

®

EXECUTIVE D IRECTOR WELC OME MARK CANTRELL

MUSICIAN C ORNER MEET OUR NEW VIOLINISTS

Welcome to the first issue of “Get Close to the Music,” Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s new quarterly newsletter. 2015

has been a wonderful year for WCO, and with lots of new and exciting things on the horizon, 2016 promises to be even more exciting.

This past summer was perhaps the best Concerts on the Square® season in our history. We were able to share the

Anna Carlson is an active performer and teacher in the Chicago area. In addition to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, she is currently a member of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, South Bend Symphony Orchestra, and Dubuque

Symphony Orchestra. A devoted teacher, Anna is on faculty at the People’s Music School Uptown, and she maintains a private studio on the North side of Chicago.

Emily Herdeman Kelly enjoys a diverse career as a performer and an educator. Ms. Kelly has performed as a member of the Houston Symphony and the Austin Symphony, and has been a substitute with the Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, and the New World Symphony. Ms. Kelly grew up in Rockford, IL and is looking forward to performing again in the Midwest with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra!

Beth Larson is a Wisconsin native and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She currently serves as the Associate Concertmaster of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and performs with their outreach ensemble, Heartstrings Quartet. In

addition to her performing career, Beth is a passionate and enthusiastic teacher. She maintains two private violin and viola studios in Oregon, WI and Madison and coaches for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony.

Wes Luke is a violinist and educator who performs and teaches across the upper Midwest. He currently serves as the Concertmaster of the LaCrosse Symphony Orchestra, and as a section violinist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He is also the Principal Second Violinist of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and regularly plays in the Wisconsin Philharmonic. He is currently on the teaching faculties of the University of Dubuque, Divine Word

College, and Loras College.

With our new canopy in place, Concerts on the Square® had a brand new look in 2015. It took a great deal of effort and coordination to bring the structure to the capitol steps but we couldn’t be happier with the results. The musicians are able to hear each other more clearly under the canopy which has made our performances sound better than ever before! Many thanks to the Department of Administration and the State Capitol for making this happen. The orchestra is already looking forward to performing under the canopy again next summer. Concerts on the Square® 2016 is just around the corner – we hope to see you there!

transformative power of music with more than 220,000 people! As you may have noticed, this year we introduced a new stage and canopy for Concerts on the Square®. I could not be more pleased with the artistic benefits this has made for the orchestra! Aside from protecting our musicians from unpredictable weather, the canopy also significantly enhanced the artistic quality of the orchestra.

We were pleased to welcome our friends from Jeans ‘n Classics back featuring the music of The Eagles and to share this with over 50,000 Madisonians. The following weekend, July 24th and 25th, WCO was proud to partner with

CONCERTS ON THE SQUARE®CANOPY

the Verona Area Chamber of Commerce to present the inaugural Verona Music Festival. The festival was a great success in its first year and we hope to see it continue to expand in years to come.

I urge you to stay tuned to future editions of “Get Close to the Music” for exclusive previews of our upcoming shows including Concerts on the Square® 2016. Thank you for reading and thank you for your continued support of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra!

TO READ FULL BIOGRAPHIES OF ALL OUR MUSICIANS, visit our website at wcoconcerts.org/about/musicians

This fall, WCO invited four new violinists to join the orchestra and it’s our pleasure to introduce them to you!  We recently had the opportunity to sit down with one of our new violinists, Beth Larson, and learn a little more about her and the audition process at WCO.  Be sure to listen to the entire interview in our upcoming podcasts!

Mark Cantrell Tell us a little bit about yourself.  Where are you from?  

Beth Larson  I am originally from the Rockford, Illinois area, but I moved to Middleton when I was in middle school. I took lessons from Gene Perdue in high school and I went to UW Madison where I studied with David Perry for my undergraduate degree. I also went through the Wisconsin Youth Symphony growing up which is cool because I’m back there now working for WYSO. I coach their first violin sectionals and I get to go back and see everyone I know there. It’s a lot of fun. 

MC  It sounds like you came full circle and are now back working with a great organization that helped you develop as a musician.  When did you actually start playing the violin? 

BL  I have been playing since I got my first violin on my fourth birthday.  I had been going to my sister’s group Suzuki lessons for a while and I had seen kids playing violin there and always loved it and thought it looked like so much fun.   

MC  Let’s talk about the audition process. What does your preparation process look like for a professional orchestra audition?  Was there anything unique about the WCO audition process? 

BL I think that the WCO audition was a pretty comfortable audition for me because I had just done three other auditions right before it. I had just been in these three very high pressure situations and I

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GIVE THE GIFT OF MUSIC Gift certificates are available in any denomination. Plato said it well: “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” What better gift to give? Call the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra today! 608.257.0638 | wcoconcerts.org

JOIN US FOR WCO’S MASTERWORKS SERIES.

INTERVIEW WITH WC O V IOL IN IST BETH LARSON THE AUDITION PROCESS

Violinist Beth Larson

knew the things I needed to do to feel good about an audition and go in and show them what I could do.  

My preparation process is mostly about the slow and steady method.  That works best for me. Keeping a good level of preparation for a couple months before hand is the best way to do it. I think that it helps when you set a minimum bar of preparation to make yourself feel more comfortable. As long as you know you’ve put in a certain amount of work, you know you can’t completely fail the audition. Also, knowing that you prepared all you could and practiced all you could gives you the confidence to know that you will do the best you can and that’s all you can really do. 

MC Do you get nervous before an audition?  How do you deal with the nerves?  Do you have any rituals for audition day? 

BL  I always get nervous before an audition. I think that, from the moment I wake up on audition day, I try to have my head in the calmest state possible. I try to plan my day far ahead of time to make sure I can be as calm as possible and avoid being stressed out. Having that really calm mindset helps me a lot. As for rituals, I always eat a banana on audition day. I was told at some point that it calms your nerves and now I always have to have a banana! 

MC  In your perspective, what  comes to mind when I say Chamber Orchestra? What is unique about that to you? What are some of the unique opportunities at WCO? 

BL The first word that comes to mind when I think about a chamber orchestra is the word intimacy. As a musician, not only am I sitting closer to all of the violins, but to the rest of the orchestra as well. It’s a much more intimate and close experience. I get to hear everything. I feel like it’s also a much more intimate experience for the audience and for the relationship between the musicians and the audience as well.  As musicians, we all want to have that personal connection with the audience.  At the WCO, we have musicians that are very enthusiastic and excited to be a part of the orchestra and engage with the audience.  I think that engagement is a key part of keeping orchestras going and I think it’s about communicating a story. I know that I want to look out into the audience and see people I know instead of just a block of faces. I think that makes my performance better and I think that makes everyone feel more connected.   

MC Thank you for your time and thanks for giving us a glimpse into the life of a professional musician! We’re really looking forward to the rest of the season! 

BL Thank you!