Classical music: Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra music director and conductor Andrew Sewell launches his own website
Just two weeks before he mounts the podium on Friday, Jan. 25, for the first Masterworks Concert by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra this season, maestro Andrew Sewell (below) has launched his own website.
Sewell, who was born in New Zealand and became a naturalized American citizen, is the music director and conductor of the WCO, and is also now in his second season as music director and conductor of the San Luis Obispo Symphony in California. Plus, he has many guest appearances, from London to Hong Kong, and numerous awards to his credit. (You can hear an interview with Sewell in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The homepage of his new website, which features becoming black-and-white photos of Sewell, looks deceptively simple to navigate.
But there is much more than is apparent at first to learn there.
Under BIO you can read about his life in detail and also listen and watch archival videos of him conducting the Wichita and the San Luis Obispo orchestras in major works by Haydn, Beethoven, Berlioz and Brahms, along with critical praise for his performances and programming.
Under SCHEDULE, you see concert dates and soloists but no programs — at first. But if you click on the yellow words for PURCHASE TICKETS and either MASTERWORKS or CONCERT, you will be directed to full information about all the concerts by both of the orchestras he heads.
And by clicking on GALLERY you will find a generous montage of color photos, both serious and playful, of the friendly and talented Sewell at work and at ease.
Here is a link to the website:
https://www.andrewsewell.net/?fbclid=IwAR3zaRVX5psZMfYQNBW2XKIj6AvgY5fiVMQXZw-yOALDQDmZTvBElX6U3us
The Ear finds this a useful and appealing tool to learn more about a Madison maestro whose achievements have consistently stood out for almost 20 years and have altered the landscape of local music-making for the better.
The handsome new website is a job well done, and is well worth your time to check out, bookmark and use regularly.
Bravo, maestro!
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Classical music: Today is the Fourth of July. Independence Day is the right time to celebrate American classical composers and patriotic concert music. Here are three ways to do that
Today is the Fourth of July – Independence Day.
That makes it exactly the right time to think about American composers and American patriotic music – both of which have been receiving well-deserved airplay all week on Wisconsin Public Radio.
Here are three items that seem appropriate because they pertain to American composers and American classical music.
Tonight at 7 p.m. on the King Street corner of the Capital Square in downtown Madison, guest conductor Huw Edwards (below) will lead the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra in its Concert on the Square for the Fourth of July.
The "American Salute" program includes: "American Salute" by Morton Gould; the Overture to "Candide" by Leonard Bernstein; "Wisconsin Forward Forever" by march king John Philip Sousa; and, of course, "The 1812 Overture" by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Blankets can go down on the ground starting at 3 p.m. For more general information about attending the concert including weather updates, rules and etiquette, and food caterers and vendors, go to:
https://wisconsinchamberorchestra.org/performances/concerts-on-the-square-2-2/
Can you name 30 American classical composers? The Ear tried and it's not easy.
But thanks to Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, California – which will also play and stream (click on the Listen tab) such music today — it isn't hard.
http://www.capradio.org/music/classical/2018/07/02/the-30-american-composers-were-featuring-on-the-fourth-of-july/
You can click on the link "Playlist for Independence Day" and see the photo of the composers and the titles of compositions that will be played.
You can also click on the composer's name in the alphabetized list and see a biography in Wikipedia.
Can you think of American composers who didn't make the list? Leave the name or names – Henry Cowell and Virgil Thomson (below) come to mind — in the COMMENT section.
Finally, given the controversial political issues of the day surrounding immigration, The Ear offers this take on perhaps the most virtuosic piano transcription of patriotic music ever played.
It was done by someone who immigrated permanently to the U.S. in 1939 and then became a naturalized citizen in 1944. He also raised millions through war bonds during World War II.
He was the Russian-born pianist Vladimir Horowitz, here playing his own celebrated virtuoso arrangement – done in 1945 for a patriotic rally and war bonds concert in Central Park — of "The Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa.
Here is a link to his biography in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Horowitz
And here is the YouTube audio of his own performance of the Sousa piece, with the score, including all the special technical demands, especially lots of Horowitz's famous octaves, to follow along with. It's a performance that has become justifiably legendary:
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