A group of MEMF participants rehearse for "The Fairy Queen" and take mischevious poses

In The News

Media Mentions

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2020

Summer Festivals Shift Concerts And Activities Online

by Paulina Francisco
Originally published on earlymusicamerica.org, September 14, 2020

Much like the music it studies, the early music community has proven to be incredibly resilient, adaptive, and thoughtful during a time filled with uncertainty and isolation.

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The show goes on: Popular music festival transitions to virtual format

by Jackson Walker
Originally published in The Badger Herald, July 17, 2020

Madison Early Music Festival performed online this week in effort to continue its 20-plus years of commitment.

Read the full article»


Isthmus Picks (July 16–23)

by Isthmus Staff
Originally published in Isthmus, July 15, 2020

Madison Early Music Festival, Through July 18: A UW-Madison campus institution since 2000, the Madison Early Music Festival features both instructional workshops for musicians and a concert series for music lovers.

Read the full article»


Isthmus Picks (July 9–16)

by Isthmus Staff
Originally published in IsthmusJuly 8, 2020

With the printed version of Isthmus on pause, we thought it might be handy to have the Picks in a single weekly post.

Read the full article»


Classical music: The weeklong 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival is virtual and will be free online here and worldwide starting this Saturday

by Jake Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 8, 2020

The Ear has received the following announcement from the directors of the Madison Early Music Festival and the UW-Madison Division of the Arts to post: Due to the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about public health for performers and audiences, the 21st annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) will be virtual.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival on Musica Antiqua

by Musica Antiqua
Originally aired on WORT FM on Sunday, July 5

This Sunday, July 5, Musica Antiqua host Sarah Brailey talks with Cheryl Bensman-Rowe and Paul Rowe, co-directors of the Madison Early Music Festival about how this year’s festival is adapting to the constraints brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full article»
Listen to the archived show, available until Saturday, July 18


Classical music: This summer’s Madison Early Music Festival in July has been cancelled and postponed until next summer

by Jake Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, May 2019

The Ear has received the following announcement from the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) to share:

Dear MEMF Family,
Due to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s decision to suspend in-person courses, workshops and conferences for the summer term because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) has been postponed until July 10–17, 2021.

Read the full article»

2019

Marvel in the Midwest: Madison Early Music Festival

by Kyle Macmillan
Originally published in Early Music America Magazine, May 2019

When soprano Cheryl Bensman-Rowe and bass-baritone Paul Rowe decided in August 1999 to establish a summer festival devoted to early music in Madison, Wisconsin, the city of some 250,000 inhabitants had two things going for it: a major university with a picturesque lakefront campus and proximity to the substantial population centers of Milwaukee and Chicago.

Read the full article»


Going Out: Rock, or go for baroque, at fests

by Robyn Norton
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, July 5, 2019

Make time for the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) beginning Saturday and continuing until July 13.

Read the full article»


Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will present a Grand Tour of musical styles to mark its success after 20 years. The “tour” starts this Saturday, July 6, and runs through Saturday, July 13. Part 1 of 2

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 5, 2019

A big anniversary deserves a big celebration – and that is exactly what the organizers of this year’s Madison Early Music Festival (below, the All-Festival Concert in 2018) have come up with.

Read the full article»


Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival’s 20th anniversary Grand Tour includes a silent movie and rare books as well as lots of varied music to mark its success after 20 years. Part 2 of 2 

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 6, 2019

Co-artistic director Cheryl Bensman-Rowe recently wrote about the festival in a Q&A for this blog…

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival

by Wisconsin Public Radio
Originally aired on The Midday, July 8, 2019

Peter Bryant talks to Tina Chancey and Priscilla Herreid about the upcoming Madison Early Music Festival from July 6 to July 13 entitled “The Grand Tour: A 20th Anniversary Celebration.”

Read the full article»


9 events happening this weekend in Madison

by Joel Patenaude
Originally published on Madison Magazine, July 11, 2019

This is the 20th year for the Madison Early Music Festival, a weeklong (it started July 6) program of concerts, lectures and dances put on by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts.

Read the full article»


Brandi Berry Benson

by Wisconsin Public Radio
Originally aired on The Midday, July 11, 2019

Norman talks to Brandi Berry Benson, artistic director of the Bach & Beethoven Ensemble and who performed in the Madison Early Music Festival in Madison.

Read the full article»


Classical music: There was so much to like about the Grand Tour finale of the 2019 Madison Early Music Festival. But where were the high notes in Allegri’s legendary “Miserere”?

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 19, 2019

Fair is fair.

Before he talks about last Saturday night’s conclusion of the successful 2019 Madison Early Music Festival – which marked its 20th anniversary — The Ear has a confession to make: He generally prefers later Baroque music and he generally prefers instrumental music to vocal or choral music.

Read the full article»


Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival announces the dates and theme of next year’s 21st annual festival

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 23, 2019

The Ear has received the following news update:

As things wind down after the 2019 Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF), we want to extend a big thank you to our visiting concert artists, lecturers and faculty, all participants enrolled in the workshops, those who volunteered, and the Friends of MEMF who provided coffee and treats every morning.

Read the full article»

2018

Some Enchanted “Evening” from Madison Early Music Festival: Tuesday night’s “Abendmusik” more than the journey MEMF promised

by Greg Hettmansberger
Originally published on WhatGregSays, July 13, 2018

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.

Read the full article»


Lutes and Viols and Modes: All About Early Music

by Carrie Kaufman
Originally aired on Wisconsin Public Radio, July 12, 2018

The Early Music Festival is happening in Madison through the weekend. This hour, we learn all about early music — and what the heck a viola da gamba is (and what it sounds like — we’ve got someone who plays it for a living).

Read the full article»


Classical music: The early music, period-instrument group Sonata à Quattro plays a very varied “fringe concert” during the Madison Early Music Festival this Wednesday night
by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 9, 2018

The new early music, period-instrument group Sonata à Quattro (below, in a photo by Lori Skelton) will perform a “Fringe Concert” during this year’s Madison Early Music Festival of a program called “The Lübeck Connection.”

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival

by NBC15
Originally aired on July 7, 2018

The University of Wisconsin Madison Arts Institute announces the 19th annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) Workshop and Concert Series, “A Cabinet of Curiosities: Journey to Lübeck” from July 7-14, 2018 on the UW Madison campus.

Read the full article»


Alchemy and Other Curiosities

Originally published on UW–Madison Libraries News, July 6, 2018

This year’s Madison Early Music Festival, with its theme “A Cabinet of Curiosities: Journey to Lübeck,” offers us the opportunity to showcase our many books of curiosities from the 16th-18th centuries.

Read the full article»


Going Out: This weekend will go by fast with Festival of Speed

by Robyn Norton
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, July 6, 2018

Experience music, history and culture from northern Germany during Madison Early Music Festival Saturday through July 14.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival

by Norman Gilliland
Originally aired on The Midday on Wisconsin Public Radio, July 5, 2018

Norman welcomes Paul Rowe, artistic director for the Madison Early Music Festival as well as two members of Piffaro, Joan Kimball and Bob Wiemken.

Read the full article»


Music festival season begins with all-female musician lineup, Renaissance period concerts

by Sammy Gibbons
Originally published in Madison Magazine, July 5, 2018

Go back in time this weekend at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of the Arts Early Music Festival. You’ll leave behind today’s top 40 hits for melodies of 16th and 17th century Renaissance and baroque music.

Read the full article»


Events

Originally published on VisitMadison.com, July 5, 2018

Find fresh-air fun, arts and culture, and everything in-between by browsing our calendar below.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival

Originally published on Isthmus, July 5, 2018

UW’s annual celebration of centuries-old musical traditions continues with a concert series (titled A Cabinet of Curiosities: Journey to Lübeck) focusing on music from Northern Germany during the Protestant Reformation.

Read the full article»


Classical music: How did a reformation in religion and a revolution in printing change music? The 19th annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) offers answers and samples this week. Part 2 of 2

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 3, 2018

The festival is called “A Cabinet of Curiosities: A Journey to Lübeck.”

Read the full article»


Classical music: This Saturday, the 19th annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) starts a week-long exploration of how the Lutheran Reformation and the invention of printing changed Western music 500 years ago. Part 1 of 2

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 2, 2018

Starting this Saturday and running through the following Saturday, the 19th annual Madison Early Music Festival will explore the profound effects that the Lutheran Reformation had on Renaissance and Baroque music of the time.

Read the full article»


Cap Times’ Evjue Foundation awards $1.6 million to UW, area nonprofit agencies

by Cap Times
Originally published in The Cap Times, May 23, 2018

The Urban League of Greater Madison, Madison College’s new south side campus and the Goodman Community Center are all recipients of $100,000 grants announced today by the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times.

Read the full article»

2017

Classical music: The 18th annual Madison Early Music Festival concludes its look at the Spanish Renaissance with another outstanding “concept concert” featuring all participants

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 19, 2017

Nobody here does “concept concerts” better than the Madison Early Music Festival. Proof came again last Saturday night in Mills Hall when the large forces of professional faculty members and workshop student participants (both below) joined to present a comprehensive overview of Renaissance music in Spain.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival Inspires Anewby Greg Hettmansberger
Originally published on WhatGregSays, July 11, 2017

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.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival

by Norman Gilliland
Originally aired on The Midday, Wisconsin Public Radio, July 10, 2017

Norman welcomes Paul Rowe, artistic director for the Madison Early Music Festival as well as three members of the “Renaissance Band” known as Piffaro. Joan Kimball, Bob Wiemken and Grant Herreid describe and play their instruments. The theme this year is called “Quixotic Musical Treasures” and runs July 8 through July 15.

Listen to the interview»


Madison Early Music Festival (multiple locations)

by Chali Pittman
Originally published on Tone Madison, July 6, 2017

The Madison Early Music Festival, now in its 18th year, offers a schedule of academic workshops for visiting musicians and scholars at UW-Madison, paired with a bunch of medieval, Renaissance, and baroque concerts open to the general public.

Read the full article»


Madison calendar, July 6 through 12

by Scott Gordon, Grant Phipps, Chali Pittman, Joel Shanahan, David Wolinsky
Originally published on Tone Madison, July 5, 2017

Jonah Parzen-Johnson, Dash Hounds, DJ Phil Money, Ben Silver, and more events of note in Madison this week.

Read the full article»


Classical music: The Madison Early Music Festival will perform familiar and unfamiliar Spanish Renaissance music. What composers and works will be performed? And what makes them different? Part 2 of 2

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 3, 2017

To provide a look at what to expect, the longtime co-artistic directors of the festival – wife-and-husband singers Cheryl Bensman Rowe and Paul Rowe (below) – provided the following overview through an email Q&A with The Ear.

Read the full article»


Early music festival adds a Spanish flair

by Gayle Worland
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, July 2, 2017

Spanish culture will be center stage this summer, too, at the Madison Early Music Festival, or MEMF. The annual festival running Saturday through July 15 will feature workshops and public concerts on the theme “Quixotic Musical Treasures from the Golden Age of Spain.”

Read the full article»


Classical music: Starting this Friday, the Madison Early Music Festival will devote a week to exploring familiar and unfamiliar Iberian music during the age of Cervantes. Part 1 of 2

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 2, 2017

This coming Friday, when the Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) starts its week-long exploration of Iberian music during the Renaissance Age of novelist Miguel de Cervantes (below) and his pioneering novel “Don Quixote,” much will be familiar but much will also be new.

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Madison Early Music Festival brings to life the Spanish Renaissance

by Michael Muckian
Originally published in Wisconsin Gazette, June 29, 2017

This year’s theme — ‘Quixotic Musical Treasures from the Golden Age of Spain’ — honors the 400th anniversary of the publication of Miguel de Cervantes’ ‘Don Quixote,’ considered the first modern novel.

Read the full article»


Don Quixote Through the Ages

Isthmus Picks
Originally published in IsthmusJune 29, 2017

WHAT TO DO: Swordplay meets Spotify

Read the full article»


Tesoros musicales de Don Quijote Xavier Díaz-Latorre de Barcelona se presenta en Madison

by Olesea Plamadeala
Originally published in La Comunidad News, June 19, 2017

El Instituto de las Artes de la Universidad de Wisconsin–Madison en colaboración con el Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Caribeños e Ibéricos y Colecciones Especiales de la bibliotecas de la Universidad de Wisconsin–Madison, anuncian el 18° taller y la serie de conciertos del festival anual de Música Temprana de Madison, Tesoros Musicales del Quijote de los Siglos de Oro de España.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival “Quixotic Musical Treasures from the Golden Age of Spain,” Concerts, Workshop & Events July 8-15, 2017

by UW-Madison Arts Institute
Originally distributed May 19, 2017

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Institute announces the 18th annual Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) Workshop and Concert Series, “Quixotic Musical Treasures from the Golden Age of Spain.” Celebrating the 400th anniversary of the novel “Don Quixote de la Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes, MEMF will explore the wealth of references to the music, art and literature that flourished and illuminated Renaissance Spain during the political rise and fall of the Spanish Habsburg Dynasty. MEMF takes place July 8-15, 2017 on the UW–Madison campus.

Read the full press release»

2016

Classical music: The superb final concert of the Madison Early Music Festival took the audience through an Elizabethan day with inventive fun

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 20, 2016

You have to hand it to early music advocate, scholar, conductor and performer Grant Herreid (below), who once again was a major player in the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival, which wrapped up this past Saturday night.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival Continues To Weave A Spell

by Greg Hettmansberger
Originally published on WhatGregSays, July 15, 2016

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.

Read the full article»


MEMF Final Concert To Stream Live Online

by Musica Antiqua
Originally published on WORT FM, July 13, 2016

The grand finale of the Madison Early Music Festival – the All-Festival concert – will be video streamed live online Saturday night 7/16 starting at 7:15 pm.

Read the full article»


Classical music: New York Polyphony opens the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival with a perfectly rendered composite portrait of Elizabethan sacred music. Plus, the winners of the fourth annual Handel Aria Competition are announced

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 11, 2016

The Ear left the concert hall thinking: Well, this will be an easy review to write. Just give it an A-plus. An easy A-plus.

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Music of Shakespeare’s day comes to Madison

by Gayle Worland
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, July 10, 2016

This is a year to have fun with Shakespeare, and the Madison Early Music Festival is no exception.

Read the full article»


Madison’s classical scene bursting with choices

by Greg Hettmansberger
Originally published in Madison Magazine, July 8, 2016

If one discounts the innumerable holiday programs of December, it may well be that July is the busiest month of all in Madison’s classical music scene.

Read the full article»


Operatic idol

by Jay Rath
Originally published in Isthmus, July 7, 2016

A Madison soprano has made it into the final round of competition for the Handel Aria Competition, a worldwide competition now in its fourth year.

Read the full article»


Classical Music: Spend a week in the Age of Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I when the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival is held, starting this Saturday. Part 2 of 2.

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 6, 2016

Starting this Saturday, the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival will take place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Read the full article»


Classical Music: Spend a week in the Age of Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I when the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival is held, starting this Saturday. Part 1 of 2.

by Jacob Stockinger
Originally published on The Well-Tempered Ear, July 5, 2016

Starting this Saturday, the 17th annual Madison Early Music Festival will take place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Read the full article»


Podcast: An Elizabethan interlude with the Madison Early Music Festival

by Sarah Witman
Originally published on Tone Madison, June 30, 2016

The Madison Early Music Festival has taken place annually since 2000, bringing international musicians and scholars of early music (generally speaking, European music ranging from 500 A.D. to the 1600s or 1700s) to campus. This year’s festival, running from July 9 through 16, is titled “Shakespeare 400: An Elizabethan Celebration” and promises a variety of classes fit for experts and dilettantes alike (from “Harpsichord technique” to “Jigging With Will: Shakespeare for Dancers”), historical lectures, and a concert series.

Read the full article»


Madison’s classical summer makes lovely warm weather melodies

by Michael Muckian
Originally published in Wisconsin Gazette, June 2, 2016

Ah, summer! The time when concert organs get their pipes cleaned, tympani get their drumheads tarped, and maestros button up their batons until autumn’s first leaves signal the start of the new music season, right?

Read the full article»


Evjue Foundation awards $1.2 million to UW, area nonprofits

by Cap Times
Originally published in The Cap Times, June 1, 2016

The Capital Times’ charitable arm, The Evjue Foundation, has announced that its directors have approved more than $1.2 million in grants to 94 area nonprofits plus funding for 28 programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Read the full article»


Madison to host a Shakespeare treasure – the First Folio

By Gayle Worland
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, April 10, 2016

One of the most important books in the history of Western Civilization is heading to Madison.

Read the full article»

2015

Cap Times’ Evjue Foundation awards $1.45 million to UW, area nonprofits

By Cap Times
Originally published in The Cap Times, June 3, 2015

The Capital Times’ charitable arm, The Evjue Foundation, announced Wednesday that its directors have approved more that $1.4 million in grants to area nonprofits plus funding for 27 programs at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Read the full article»

2014

Note-Worthy

By Sandra Knisely
Originally published in On Wisconsin Magaine, Fall 2014

Dulcians, Dante, and dancing masters are the makings for a day at court in medieval Italy – or a summer afternoon at the UW Humanities building. In July, the Madison Early Music Festival celebrated its fifteenth anniversary with a week of events dedicated to influences on Italian music from 1300 to 1600.

Read the full article»

2012

Newberry Consort runs gamut in Madison Early Music Festival

By Jessica Courtier | Special to the Capital Times
Originally published in 77 Square, July 14, 2012

Over the past two years the Madison Early Music Festival’s focus focus on North and South America has been a refreshing stretching of the boundaries of what is traditionally thought of as defining the category of “early music,” and perhaps no concert in this year’s festival stretches that boundary more than the one given by the Newberry Consort.

Read the full article»


Classical music Q&A: The 13th annual Madison Early Music Festival starts this Saturday and will focus on Canadian and early American music from the Colonial period and Revolutionary War to the Civil War. Part 1 of 2

By Jacob Stockinger
Originally published in Well-Tempered Ear, July 5, 2012

Co-director and soprano Cheryl Bensman Rowe recently gave The Ear an extended interview about the festival, its events and its participants, which includes the acclaimed singing group Anonymous 4…

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Medieval group Anonymous 4 goes gospel at Early Music Fest

By Lindsay Christians
Originally published in 77Square, June 26, 2012

The women of Anonymous 4 built their careers on medieval vocal music, from ethereal chants and polyphonic pieces to carols and motets. But their upcoming a cappella program, set to open the 12th annual Madison Early Music Festival on Saturday, July 7, is all-American. It includes traditional songs, like “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” and “Shall We Gather at the River,” that are closer in character to high-energy gospel than the serene music of monks. This year, the Madison Early Music Festival has the theme “Welcome Home Again! An American Celebration,” and will feature return performances by the Rose Ensemble and the Newberry Consort. Daily workshops and near-nightly performances are scheduled through Saturday, July 14, in Mills Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Read the full article»


History resounds at festival

By Gayle Worland
Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, July 1, 2012

The summer after Paul Rowe joined the faculty at UW-Madison’s School of Music, something felt amiss.

“In July, the building was totally lit, the air conditioning was on, and nothing was going on,” he said.

For a building meant for music-making, the whole place was eerily silent. Why not fill it, he thought, with musicians who shared his passion for early music?

Rowe’s wife, singer Cheryl Bensman-Rowe, and music professor Chelcy Bowles, UW-Madison’s director of continuing education in music, agreed. By 2000, the three had founded the Madison Early Music Festival, filling early July with sound.

MEMF, as it’s known, has now grown into a weeklong event attracting some 400 amateur, student and professional musicians from around the country. Even beginners can get in on the act.

Read the full article»

2011

Classical music review: Madison Early Music Festival 2011 revealed and explored a new world of music in the New World

By Jacob Stockinger
Originally published in Well-Tempered Clavier, July 22, 2011

How did the Madison Early Music Festival go this year? I asked a veteran early music fan. His response? “I would say it was, to used a much overused journalist’s word, revelatory.”

Well, The Ear would completely agree, even just on the basis of the concluding All-Festival concert last Saturday night.
For various reasons, I couldn’t make it to other events during the 12th annual week-long festival that explored early music in the New World. (Next year, MEMF will offer the same theme, but go north of the Mexican border into the US and French Canada.) But I heard high praise for the faculty concert and for the imported group Chatham Baroque, among other events. Was such praise exaggerated?

Not at all, judging from what I heard during the All-Festival concert. The evening got off on the right foot with a fascinating and engaging slide-lecture by guest scholar Drew Edward Davies (below) of Northwestern University. He pulled together many strands of scholarship about music in the new world in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. He synthesized musicology, ethnology, anthropology, linguistics, art history, religion and other disciplines to build a great and accessible sense of context to the music that the audience was about to hear.

Read the full article»


Madison Early Music Festival: Rose Ensemble sings lively songs of early Mexico

By Lindsay Christians
Originally published in 77Square, July 11, 2011

It would be easy to underestimate the skill of The Rose Ensemble, a group of stellar St. Paul singers accompanied by three strings (and, on Sunday evening, a guest percussionist). Their program, “Celebremos el Niño: Delights of the Mexican Baroque,” was so approachable and fun, details like articulation, tone and balance — all of which were excellent — blended into simple pleasure.

The 12th annual Madison Early Music Festival runs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison through Sunday, July 16. This year, the theme is “El Nuevo Mundo: The Age of Exploration in the New World,” and upcoming performers include Ensemble Viscera, a group of guitars and voices, and the quartet Chatham Baroque.

The Rose Ensemble performed the second show of the week, a delightful variety of Mexican dances and holiday music from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The ensemble, led by Jordan Sramek, consists of 10 singers, viola da gamba (like a cello), vihuela de mano (like a softer version of the guitar) and violin.

I attended the Rose Ensemble concert looking for entertainment above education. The early music festival offers free lectures beginning an hour before each performance; this time, I did not attend. Still, there was plenty to learn just by listening. We heard lively, dancing ballads (“jácaras”) and villancicos, Spanish musical poems akin to madrigals.

Read the full article»


Arts 2011: Isthmus critics rate the year in Madison culture

By John W. Barker
Originally published in Isthmus, December 29, 2011

Summer, busier than ever, saw the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society celebrating its 20th season with flair. The Madison Early Music Festival made a revelatory exploration of colonial Latin American music. The Madison Savoyards took on the expansive Utopia, Ltd. of Gilbert and Sullivan. The Token Creek Chamber Music Festival juggled Mozart, jazz and Bach with its customary aplomb.

The Ancora Quartet; the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble; Trevor Stevenson’s Madison Bach Musicians; Jerry Hui’s vocal ensemble Eliza’s Toyes; Codrut Birsan’s Candid Concert Opera — so much more deserving mention!

Read the full article»


Sounds of the summer

Warm-weather concerts keep classical lovers happy till fall
By John W. Barker
Originally published in Isthmus, June 9, 2011

The idea of a festival devoted to early music — music composed starting in medieval times and up to 1750 — was hatched in 1999 by Chelcy Bowles of the UW’s Continuing Education in Music and the UW music school’s baritone Paul Rowe. Helped by a small grant, they planned the first Madison Early Music Festival, a two-week program for July 2000, and invited outside performers and experts.

While the workshops did well, the public concerts drew unexpectedly large audiences. Those two dimensions quickly gave the festival a unique spirit.

Each year the festival has focused on a different area of musical literature and culture (Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque), and appropriate various performing groups are invited. The theme of this year’s festival is music of colonial Latin America, and guests include Pittsburgh’s Chatham Baroque and the Philadelphia-based ensemble Piffaro: The Renaissance Band.
With wife Cheryl Bensman Rowe, Paul Rowe now is co-artistic director of the festival, which currently runs for one week and features five concerts. The number of participants and attendees has grown, apparently unaffected by the economy.
After 11 years, the Madison Early Music Festival’s reputation is enviable nationally and internationally in the early-music world. Visiting performers, usually attending several festivals around the country each summer, say they enjoy this festival the most. Meanwhile, it has powerfully stimulated early-music interest and activity in Madison itself.

Read the full article»

2010

Classical music preview: The Madison Early Music Festival concludes Saturday night with the All-Festival concert of early English choral music

By Jacob Stockinger
Originally published in Well-Tempered Clavier, July 16, 2010

To offer a preview of the concert, the festival co-artistic directors baritone Paul Rowe (below top) and soprano Cheryl Bensman Rowe (below bottom) recently answered an e-mail Q&A for The Ear:

What is the purpose of the all-festival concert in terms of participants/performers and the public? In order to include as many different performers as possible in the All Festival concert, we have chosen several large, primarily choral works that would have been performed with voices and instruments. The Tudor era is known for smaller works but these pieces display some of the large works including Thomas Tallis’ motet for 40 voices and the “Western Wind Mass” of Taverner.

What variety of styles will be represented this year? This year’s festival has a wider than normal historical focus. We will have concerts containing music from Medieval to Elizabethan times. We have added new wrinkle by combining “original” instruments with film in the Robin Hood concert on Monday night.

What are the total forces you expect to be performing? The total number of participants is not set yet, but we expect to have approximately 120 musicians on stage for the final concert.

Read the full article»


Madison’s early music scene is remarkably vibrant

By John W. Barker
Originally published in Isthmus, March 12, 2010

Trevor Stephenson was already a local performer on harpsichord, fortepiano and early pianos when, in 2004, he organized the Madison Bach Musicians as a period-performance group. It was “a pickup thing,” he admits, that drew upon fortuitous pools of players both local and transient. The group has staged a series of landmark successes, including pioneer period performances of Bach’s “Mass in B Minor” (2008) and “St. Matthew Passion” (2009). On March 12, Stephenson will sit at a harpsichord in Good Shepherd Lutheran Church to perform, under the Madison Bach Musicians banner, music by Bach, Handel and Scarlatti.

Stephenson isn’t alone in his efforts. Early music — generally, music composed starting in medieval times and up to 1750 — has become a familiar commodity hereabouts, thanks in part to the Madison Early Music Festival. Inevitably linked to the music is the concept of “period performance” style: the attempted recovery of earlier sonorities and playing techniques.
While many larger cities have nurtured groups devoted to period-performance practice, Madison is unusual in having grown in this area on a scale quite beyond what might be expected in a city its size, and over little more than two decades.

Read the full article»

2000

Madison Early Music Festival strikes a chord

By Alex Hancock, UW-Madison
Originally published in PortalWisconsin.org, 2000

“Mention early music and most people think first of Johann Sebastian Bach,” says Professor Paul Rowe, who co-directs the Madison Early Music Festival with his wife Cheryl Bensman Rowe. “This is the fourth year of the Festival and we decided it was time to focus on the biggest name of all.”

The Festival, held July 12-19 on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, is called “Musical Connections: Bach and His World.” J.S. Bach and his musical contemporaries, predecessors and successors—including some of the master’s sons—will be featured.

“I think it’s very important (and a lot of fun!) to study the atmosphere of Bach’s time—the social and religious background, the people who influenced him musically and the people he influenced,” says Rowe.

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