Purchase tickets
General admission: $15
Students: Free (ticket required)
Live stream: $7

Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Ensemble Series

David Perry, violin
Suzanne Beia, violin
Sally Chisholm, viola
Parry Karp, violoncello

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Program

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The Pro Arte Quartet (PAQ) is one of the world’s most distinguished string quartets. Founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912, it became one of the most celebrated ensembles in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century and was named Court Quartet to the Queen of Belgium. Its world reputation blossomed in 1919 when the quartet began the first of many tours that enticed notable composers such as Milhaud, Honegger, Martin, and Casella to write new works for the ensemble. In addition, Bartók dedicated his fourth quartet to the PAQ (1927), and in 1936 PAQ premiered Barber’s Op. 11 quartet, with the now-famous “Adagio for Strings” as its slow movement.

The Pro Arte made its New York debut in 1926 and toured the United States frequently under the auspices of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The quartet was performing in Madison, Wisconsin in May 1940 when Nazi forces invaded Belgium. The University of Wisconsin responded to the emergency by offering the quartet a permanent campus home, the first such arrangement at a major American university. The UW Pro Arte residency became a model of artist residencies that is now widely emulated throughout the country.

As the first and only quartet ever to reach its centennial anniversary (2012), the Pro Arte’s 100th birthday was the occasion for a grand multi-year celebration. At its center was the commission of six new works by some of today’s most important composers: William Bolcom, Paul Schoenfield, John Harbison, Walter Mays, and Pierre Jalbert (United States), along with Benoît Mernier from Belgium. Other initiatives included a lecture series, museum exhibits, recordings on the Albany label, a video documentary broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television and available on DVD, a concert tour to Belgium, and an upcoming book on the storied history of this illustrious quartet.

The Pro Arte Quartet performs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and continues to champion equally both standard repertoire and new music. The group is an ensemble in residence at the Mead Witter School of Music and resident quartet of the Chazen Museum of Art, performing regularly on the concert series of both institutions. The quartet has performed at the White House and, during the centennial celebration, played for the King’s Counselor in Belgium. Recent projects include the complete quartets of Bartók and Shostakovich and, in collaboration with the Orion and Emerson String Quartets, the complete quartets of Beethoven. Regular chamber music collaborators that perform with Pro Arte include Samuel Rhodes, viola; Bonnie Hampton, cello; and Leon Fleischer and Christopher Taylor, piano.

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The purchase of this ticket directly supports off-campus faculty ensemble educational activities in K-12 settings. Our faculty ensembles continue to expand their involvement with Wisconsin communities by providing mentoring, educational leadership, and training opportunities to students of all ages and backgrounds. We thank you for your support.

Purchase tickets
General admission: $15
Students: Free (ticket required)

Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Artist Series

Parry Karp, cello

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Cellist Parry Karp is Artist-in Residence, and the Robert and Linda Graebner Professor of Chamber Music and Cello, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is director of the string chamber music program. He has been cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet for the past 45 years, the longest tenure of any member in the quartet’s over 100-year history.

Parry Karp is an active solo artist, performing numerous recitals annually in the United States with pianists Howard and Frances Karp, and Eli Kalman. Mr. Karp has played concerti throughout the United States and gave the first performance in Romania of Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo with the National Radio Orchestra in Bucharest in 2002.

He is active as a performer of new music and has performed in the premieres of dozens of works, many of which were written for him, including concerti, sonatas and chamber music. As a solo recording artist, he has recorded the solo cello works of Ernest Bloch, and works of Frank Bridge, Rebecca Clarke, Ernest Chausson, Edward Collins, Georges Enesco, John Ireland, Alberic Magnard, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Miklos Rosza, and Richard Strauss. Unearthing and performing unjustly neglected repertoire for cello is a passion of Mr. Karp’s. In recent years he has transcribed for cello many masterpieces written for other instruments. This project has included performances of all of the Duo Sonatas of Brahms, as well as compositions of Bach, Beethoven, Dvorak, Hindemith, Strauss, Schumann,  Stravinsky and Szymanowski. He is presently in the process of transcribing all of the Beethoven Violin Sonatas for Cello. Parry Karp performs annually in summer music festivals throughout the United States.

As cellist of the Pro Arte Quartet he has performed over 1,000 concerts throughout North, Central and South America, Europe, and Japan. His discography with the group has been extensive and includes the complete string quartets of Ernest Bloch, Miklos Rosza, and Karol Szymanowski . Many of these recordings received awards from Fanfare and High Fidelity Magazines. Other composers whose string quartets or string quintets the Pro Arte Quartet  has recorded during his tenure include: Beethoven, William Bolcom, Luís de Freitas Branco, Martin Boykan, Tamar Diesendruck, Dvorak, Brian Fennelly, John Harbison, Andrew Imbrie, Pierre Jalbert, Fred Lerdahl, Walter Mays, Benoit Mernier, Mendelssohn, Karol Rathaus, Samuel Rhodes, Roger Sessions, and Ralph Shapey. As a member of the Pro Arte Quartet he has recorded the Piano Quintets of Ernest Bloch, Johannes Brahms and Armando José Fernandes with pianist Howard Karp. Guest artists with the Pro Arte during his years have included: the Emerson Quartet, Denes Koromzay, Leon Fleischer, Sidney Harth, Nobuko Imai, Gunnar Johansen, Gilbert Kalish, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert Mann, Paul Schoenfield, Samuel Rhodes, Robert Silverman, Christopher Taylor, Laszlo Varga and Tamas Vasary. Gunther Schuller conducted the group in the premiere of his String Quartet Concerto which he wrote for the Pro Arte Quartet.

The Pro Arte Quartet was one of five finalists (the others were the Juilliard, Tokyo, and Emerson Quartets, and the Beaux Arts Trio) for the First Annual Arturo Toscanini Award in the Chamber Music Category.

Free | No ticket required

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Benjamin Davies Hudson Elective Violin Recital

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Program

Partita in E major for solo Violin (BWV 1006)      Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750)
Prelude
Loure
Gavotte en Rondo
Minuet I
Minuet II
Bourrée
Gigue

Sonata for solo Violin op 27 no. 2 in A minor     Eugène Ysaÿe (1858 – 1931)
Obsession – Prelude: Poco vivace
Malinconia – Poco lento
Danse des ombres – Sarabande
Les Furies – Allegro furioso

Intermission 

Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra In E-flat Major K.364   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
Allegro maestoso
Andante
Presto

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Benjamin Davies Hudson is a sophomore at UW–Madison studying violin with Professor David Perry, and Viola with Professor Sally Chisholm. Prior to UW Benjamin studied with Janet Chisholm shortly after starting the violin at age 7. In high school, Benjamin studied harpsichord maintenance, tuning, and period performance with Trevor Stephenson.

In 2018 Benjamin was a finalist in the Milwaukee Symphony’s “Stars of Tomorrow” Concerto Competition and was given the opportunity to solo with the Milwaukee Symphony under the Baton of Maestro Yaniv Dinur performing Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. That same year Benjamin was a winner of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras’ concerto competition and performed as a soloist with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra under the Baton of Maestro Andrew Sewell. In 2022 Benjamin was a winner of the UW Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto which he will perform in the fall of 2023.

Benjamin has a passion for chamber music and loves to play inner voices. He has performed in a large variety of ensembles, from duos all the way to octets. He has worked with Arnold Steinhardt, Uri Vardi, Young Nam Kim, Kenneth Woods, Arianna Kim, Eric Nowlin, Jordan Bak, Siwoo Kim, and Eleanor Bartsch through masterclasses and chamber music festivals.

Benjamin would like to thank his musical mentors and idols, David Perry, Sally Chisholm, Janet Chisholm, Eugene Purdue, and Uri Vardi, as well as his friends and family.

Purchase tickets
General admission: $15
Students: Free (ticket required)

Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Ensemble Series

Jean Laurenz, trumpet
Oliver Smith, trumpet
Daniel Grabois, horn
Mark Hetzler, trombone
Tom Curry, tuba
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Regarded as one of the “superb brass ensembles in the USA” (Musicweb International) and praised for “remarkable musicianship and versatility” (International Trumpet Guild Journal), the widely acclaimed Wisconsin Brass Quintet (WBQ) has maintained a position at the forefront of brass chamber music since the group’s founding in 1972. In addition to its regular concert series on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Quintet performs extensively throughout the Midwest and nationally, including appearances in New York at Weill Recital Hall and Merkin Concert Hall. Its players have been members of the Seraph Brass, Empire Brass Quintet, and Meridian Arts Ensemble.

The WBQ’s commitment to commissioning and performing new music has attracted the attention of many renowned composers, including Verne Reynolds, Jan Bach, Karel Husa, John Harbison, and Daron Hagen. The Quintet’s premiere recordings of works by these composers and others can be found on the Summit, Mark, and Crystal record labels. American Record Guide reviewer Barry Kilpatrick writes: “The WBQ is a remarkable ensemble that plays with more reckless abandon, warmth, stylistic variety and interpretive interest than almost any quintet in memory.”

In demand for its engaging educational programs and master classes, the WBQ has presented clinics and residencies at such prestigious institutions as The Juilliard School, the Yale School of Music, the University of Michigan and Northwestern University. The WBQ has hosted several Brass Festivals, featuring concerts, master classes, and seminars held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Guest artists have included Stockholm Chamber Brass, Western Brass Quintet, Axiom Brass Quintet, tubist Øystein Baadsvik and composer Anthony Plog.

The Wisconsin Brass Quintet, with a graduate student on second trumpet, is one of three faculty chamber ensembles in-residence at the Mead Witter School of Music. Deeply committed to the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, the group travels widely to offer its concerts and educational services to students and the public in all corners of the state.

Purchase tickets
General admission: $15 ($8 with Concert Series subscription)
Live stream: $7
Live stream (UW-Madison Student): $5

Anthony McGill, clarinet
Oriol Sans, conductor

Presented in partnership with the Wisconsin Union Theater

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 Clarinetist Anthony McGill is one of classical music’s most recognizable and brilliantly multifaceted figures. He serves as the principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic, that orchestra’s first African-American principal player. Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (The New York Times), as well as for his “exquisite combination of technical refinement and expressive radiance” (The Baltimore Sun), McGill also serves as an ardent advocate for helping music education reach underserved communities. McGill was honored to take part in the inauguration of President Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams alongside violinist Itzhak Perlman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Gabriela Montero. 

McGill appears regularly as a soloist with top orchestras around North America including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, Baltimore Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Kansas City Symphony, and is a favorite collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK, Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takacs, and Tokyo Quartets, as well as Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. 

A graduate of the Curtis Institute, McGill previously served as the principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera. He serves on the faculty of the Juilliard School, the Curtis Institute of Music, Bard College’s Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music 

Purchase tickets
General admission: $15
Students: Free (ticket required)

Mead Witter School of Music Guest Artist Series
Part of DEIB Festival

Artina McCain, piano

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Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), “beautiful and fiery” (KMFA Austin) and having a “sense of color, balance and texture” (Austin Chamber Music Center) Artina McCain has a built a three-fold career as a performer, educator, and speaker. Recent performance highlights include guest appearances with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Oregon East Symphony, and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. As a recitalist, her credits include performances at the Mahidol University in Bangkok, Hatch Recital Hall in Rochester, Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, FL and the Desoto Arts Commission in Desoto,TX. In 2022, she will have her debut at Wigmore Hall in London performing the works of Fred O.

McCain’s performances have been heard on radio CKWR Toronto, KMFA Classical Austin, and Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Television appearances include features on CSPAN for the MLK 50 Commemoration. McCain is a three-time Global Music Awards winner including collaborative projects “I, Too” (Naxos),  with soprano Icy Monroe, focused on African American Spirituals and Art Songs and “Shades” a collaboration with her husband and duo partner Martin McCain.

Dedicated to promoting the works of Black and other underrepresented composers, McCain curates Black Composers Concerts for multiple arts organizations and is an American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings of these works and won a Gold Global Music Award for her recent album project Heritage. She has also won performance awards for curating the Austin Chamber Music Centers’ Black Composers Concert from the Austin Critics Table. In 2021, Hal Leonard will publish her transcriptions of African American Folk Songs.

McCain was a featured inspirational leader in the award-winning PBS documentary series Roadtrip Nation: Degree of Impact in an episode exploring the real-world impact of professionals with doctoral degrees in and outside of academia.

After years of battling a performance injury and now enjoying 10 years of full recovery, McCain is an advocate for musicians’ wellness.  Her article on performance injury and Muscle Activation Techniques was published in Clavier Companion and she is a regular contributor for the Piano Magazine.  To help other musicians, she hosts an annual Musicians Wellness Forum in Austin, TX which explores the benefits and options for alternative care. McCain has presented on these topics and others at the Music Teachers National Association Conference and the National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy.

McCain has performed and served on the faculty of numerous summer festivals including the Austin Chamber Music Festival, the Illinois Summer Youth Music, the Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, NY, and the Walled City Music International Piano Festival and Competition in Ireland. McCain graduated cum laude from Southern Methodist University. She received her Master of Music from Cleveland Institute of Music and holds a doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Currently, she is Assistant Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis and Co-Founder/Director of the Memphis International Piano Festival and Competition.

Artina McCain is a Yamaha Artist.

Purchase tickets
General admission: $15
Students: Free (ticket required)
Live stream: $7

Mead Witter School of Music Faculty Ensemble Series

David Perry, violin
Suzanne Beia, violin
Sally Chisholm, viola
Parry Karp, violoncello

……

The Pro Arte Quartet (PAQ) is one of the world’s most distinguished string quartets. Founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912, it became one of the most celebrated ensembles in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century and was named Court Quartet to the Queen of Belgium. Its world reputation blossomed in 1919 when the quartet began the first of many tours that enticed notable composers such as Milhaud, Honegger, Martin, and Casella to write new works for the ensemble. In addition, Bartók dedicated his fourth quartet to the PAQ (1927), and in 1936 PAQ premiered Barber’s Op. 11 quartet, with the now-famous “Adagio for Strings” as its slow movement.

The Pro Arte made its New York debut in 1926 and toured the United States frequently under the auspices of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The quartet was performing in Madison, Wisconsin in May 1940 when Nazi forces invaded Belgium. The University of Wisconsin responded to the emergency by offering the quartet a permanent campus home, the first such arrangement at a major American university. The UW Pro Arte residency became a model of artist residencies that is now widely emulated throughout the country.

As the first and only quartet ever to reach its centennial anniversary (2012), the Pro Arte’s 100th birthday was the occasion for a grand multi-year celebration. At its center was the commission of six new works by some of today’s most important composers: William Bolcom, Paul Schoenfield, John Harbison, Walter Mays, and Pierre Jalbert (United States), along with Benoît Mernier from Belgium. Other initiatives included a lecture series, museum exhibits, recordings on the Albany label, a video documentary broadcast on Wisconsin Public Television and available on DVD, a concert tour to Belgium, and an upcoming book on the storied history of this illustrious quartet.

The Pro Arte Quartet performs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and continues to champion equally both standard repertoire and new music. The group is an ensemble in residence at the Mead Witter School of Music and resident quartet of the Chazen Museum of Art, performing regularly on the concert series of both institutions. The quartet has performed at the White House and, during the centennial celebration, played for the King’s Counselor in Belgium. Recent projects include the complete quartets of Bartók and Shostakovich and, in collaboration with the Orion and Emerson String Quartets, the complete quartets of Beethoven. Regular chamber music collaborators that perform with Pro Arte include Samuel Rhodes, viola; Bonnie Hampton, cello; and Leon Fleischer and Christopher Taylor, piano.

……

The purchase of this ticket directly supports off-campus faculty ensemble educational activities in K-12 settings. Our faculty ensembles continue to expand their involvement with Wisconsin communities by providing mentoring, educational leadership, and training opportunities to students of all ages and backgrounds. We thank you for your support.