Opening Night for 2018-19 will be Friday, Oct. 12. That’s when Brown County Civic Music will begin its new season with a special Weidner Center organ-recital concert by one of the world’s most dazzling young players, the charismatic Raul Prieto Ramirez, of Barcelona, Spain. We’ll return to our traditional home, West H.S., in November with a choral concert by the excellent Cantus vocal ensemble. Concerts by the Siberian Virtuosi string ensemble, the classical/jazz crossover combo Janoska, from Vienna, and our customary season finale with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra will follow. Watch for more details shortly.
Month: February 2018
Please join us for the post-concert reception
Please join us for the post-concert reception at Titletown Brewing Co., 200 Dousman St., following the Saturday, March 3, Imani Winds concert at West High School.
Opera returns, as a summer bonus
Many years ago, Civic Music regularly featured opera, with visits by such luminaries as the Met’s Roberta Peters and Robert Merrill, before those bookings became cost-prohibitive. We’ll honor that history at 4 p.m. Sunday, June 10, with a special “Opera at the Garden” event in partnership with Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera at the Green Bay Botanical Garden. A bonus to our five-show series and free with next year’s membership, it will be the sort of semi-informal summer concert that has been popular in other Midwest cities. More details to come.
Remember: April 7 at Ashwaubenon
There’s something exciting about our third concert beyond the series debut of the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo and the sight of two big, beautiful Steinways side by side, on stage. On April 7, Civic Music will join in celebrating the first season of the new Ashwaubenon Performing Arts Center on the campus of Ashwaubenon High School, 2391 S. Ridge Road, with a unique visit to this 750-seat venue. Doors will open an hour before the 7:30 p.m. start, so there’s plenty of time to look around and get situated.
Seraph Brass, April 24, is your makeup concert
We’ve landed a super sub for the November cancellation that occurred when East Coast weather grounded Solid Brass. Unable to reschedule, we turned to an exciting young group we had already been eying for next year’s series: the all-female Seraph Brass led by trumpet standout Mary Bowden. They’ll perform for us at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24. (Use your tickets for the cancelled show for this one; if you’ve misplaced them, just check in at our Civic Music table in the lobby.)
Imani Winds – Biography
Season Listing | Program | Program Notes | Biography
Members
Julietta Curenton, flute
Toyin Spellman-Diaz, oboe
Mark Dover, clarinet
Jeff Scott, French horn/composer
Monica Ellis, bassoon
Celebrating 20 Years
Extolled by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “what triumph sounds like”, Imani Winds has established itself as one of the most successful chamber music ensembles in the United States. Since 1997, the Grammy nominated quintet has taken a unique path, carving out a distinct presence in the classical music world with its dynamic playing, culturally poignant programming, adventurous collaborations, and inspirational outreach programs. With two member composers and a deep commitment to commissioning new work, the group is enriching the traditional wind quintet repertoire while meaningfully bridging European, American, African and Latin American traditions. Read More
Imani Winds – Program
Season Listing | Program | Program Notes | Biography
Imani Winds
Brown County Civic Music Association
March 3, 2018
Old Made New
Startin Sumthin Jeff Scott (b. 1967)
Scheherazade Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) arr. Jonathan Russell
Contrabajissimo Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) arr. Jeff Scott
— Intermission —
Sechs Bagatellen György Ligeti (1923-2006)
- Allegro con spirito
- Rubato. Lamentoso
- Allegro grazioso
- Presto ruvido
- Adagio. Mesto
- Molto vivace. Capriccioso
The Light is the Same Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
Commissioned by Lied Center of Kansas.
Premiered March 15, 2017 at University of Kansas, Lawrence.
Tzigane Valerie Coleman (b. 1970)
Imani Winds – Program Notes
Season Listing | Program | Program Notes | Biography
Jeff Scott
Startin Sumthin (note by Jeff Scott)
Born 1967, Queens, NY
Startin Sumthin is a modern take on the genre of Ragtime music. With an emphasis on ragged! The defining characteristic of Ragtime music is a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents occur between metrical beats. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat. The ultimate (and intended) effect on the listener is actually to accentuate the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music. Scott Joplin, the composer/pianist known as the “King of Ragtime”, called the effect “weird and intoxicating.”
