Middleton Community Orchestra Gives a Performance Before the Season Opens

Loving tribute to John Barker goes to the heart of music making   When you get right down to it, people play music because they love it; audiences come to hear it for the same reasons. Believe it or not, critics love it, too; most of them were (and sometimes are) performers themselves. It is…

Some Enchanted “Evening” from Madison Early Music Festival

Tuesday night’s “Abendmusik” more than the journey MEMF promised   This year’s theme for the Madison Early Music Festival is “Journey to Lubeck,” the North German city that became as culturally influential in the 17th century as it had been economically. Tuesday night’s concert was titled “Abendmusik” (“Evening Music”), and further subtitled “Sounds of Grace…

Madison Early Music Festival Inspires Anew

Xavier Diaz-Latorre makes us all time travelers   It’s bad enough that the Madison Early Music Festival only blooms for eight days each summer; more’s the pity when one can only attend one of their events. But as we (finally) learned last year, even one MEMF concert can stick in the mind for a year.…

Belated Bravos for a Most Deserving Event

5th Handel Aria Competition keeps the bar high   My clarinet professor in college said this was the best piece of advice he could give: “Make your excuses before you perform.” That gives context to say that the 5th annual Handel Aria Competition took place Friday night, June 9, and I’ve been driving buses and…

Madison Early Music Festival Continues to Weave a Spell

The Baltimore Consort brings magic to music from Shakespeare I feel a little like the native New Yorker who finally visited the Statue of Liberty—Tuesday night was my long-delayed opportunity to fall under the spell of a local tradition that has for some time enjoyed national recognition. The Madison Early Music Festival’s 17th season is…