Symphonic Wind Ensemble annual fall concert

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Symphonic Wind Ensemble will be performing its annual fall concert on Sunday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m. The event will take place in the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts on the UWP campus. Admission is free to the public.

This semester's concert will celebrate the music of the late Clifton Williams, a contemporary orchestra and concert band composer who was highly lauded by the music community.

UWP associate director of bands Matthew Gregg will be conducting "Variations on a Korean Folksong" by John Barnes Chance, an accomplished composer who studied under Williams in the '50s. UWP director of bands Barry Ellis, who researched Williams during his recent sabbatical, will conduct the remaining pieces: "Kaddish" by W. Francis McBeth, another Williams-student, and each of the five "Symphonic Dances" by Williams himself.

This event marks the world premier of all five "Symphonic Dances" being played, with the fourth dance also being a world premier. On his recent sabbatical, Ellis researched the life and music of Williams. This concert will serve as a showcase of the pieces and the players.

Contact: Barry Ellis, director of bands, (608) 342-1017, ellisb@uwplatt.edu
Written by: Ryan Werner, UWP Public Relations, wernerr@uwplatt.edu

Platteville Chorale and Children's Choir concert

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville will welcome the Platteville Chorale and Children's Choir to campus on Nov. 23. The concert will feature both groups in a joint performance. Three children's choirs will be performing, with each group set to sing three to four numbers. The children's choirs have been rehearsing since early September in preparation for this event.

The Chorale will sing seven pieces including "Mi Vidi, MiCancion" by Althouse, "Santus" by Bach, "O Lux Beatissima" by Helvey, "The Road Not Taken" by Randall Thompson, "Madabout Mozart" by Mozart and arranged by Rentz, "A Basque Lullaby" by Forrest and "Homeland" by Spring-Rice, Stroope and Holst.

Following the chorale performance, the three children's choirs will join the chorale in performing, "Why We Sing" by Greg Gilpin.

Greg Dennis is the director of the chorale with Kristi Hart accompanying. Luanne Rogers directs the Apprentice Choir (second, third and fourth graders) and is assisted by Lori Hillary, assistant director, Kathy Wagner, accompanist, and Jarod Boerst, student intern. Marcia Russell directs the Choristers (fourth, fifth and sixth graders) and is assisted by Bev Mattingly, accompanist, and Kathryn Karsten, student intern. Heidi Johnson directs the Cantabile (sixth, seventh and eighth graders) and is assisted by Terri Ellis, accompanist, and Jody Addison, student intern.

The concert will begin at 3 p.m. in the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall in the Center for the Arts on the UWP campus. Reserved seating is $6 for adults and $3 for students. For more information, contact Dwight Klaassen, chorale president and administrator, at (608) 342-2150 or klaassen@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Dwight Klaassen, chorale president and administrator, (608) 342-2150, klaassen@uwplatt.edu
Written by: Anne Killian, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, killiana@uwplatt.edu

Holiday Gala Dec.6-7

PLATTEVILLE – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s annual Holiday Gala concert offers an evening of festive holiday entertainment for the entire family on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7.

Those attending the 12th annual production also have the option to enjoy a holiday buffet dinner after the concert.

“People are going to see a new twist this year that will be even more entertaining,” said Daniel Fairchild, chair of the Department of Performing and Visual Arts at UWP. “We have some wonderful surprises up our sleeve.”

The concert will begin at 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday in UWP’s Center for the Arts. The dinner will follow at 6:15 p.m. in Velzy Commons, located in the Ullsvik Hall on the UWP campus. Seasonal music also will be performed during the dinner.

“We’re starting a little earlier and finishing a little earlier this year,” Fairchild said. “This is a great opportunity for families to enjoy a wonderful evening of holiday music.”

Tickets for the dinner and concert are: $22 for adults, $19 for UWP students and $14 for children under 13. For just the concert, tickets are $11 for adults and $7 for UWP students as well as children under 13.

Tickets are available through the University Box Office located on the ground floor of Ullsvik Hall. The University Box Office hours are Monday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m; and Saturday 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.. Tickets are available by phone at (608) 342-1298. Tickets are also available at the Center for the Arts starting one hour before the event. However, dinner tickets must be purchased by December 2.

For more information on the Holiday Gala concert, contact Fairchild at (608) 342-1123 or fairchig@uwplatt.edu.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy swings into Platteville

PLATTEVILLE-The Center for the Arts Performing Arts Series University of Wisconsin-Platteville presents Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, December 4th at 7:30pm.

As committed to their music as the swing era lifestyle, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy are not only renown for their impeccable performances, but for their classic suit and fedora styling and gentlemanly demeanor. Their fans span generations, filling concert halls around the country for shows that transport them back to a more wholesome, optimistic period. In fact, young adult fans regularly show up dressed in ‘40s-era outfits and dance sophisticated swing routines.

After first gaining mainstream popularity with their breakthrough performance in Swingers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have gone on to become one of the most popular touring bands on the road today. BBVD now carries on the tradition of the legendary big bands and orchestras by touring non-stop, performing over 100 concerts each year around the world. Like the Glen Miller Orchestra, Benny Goodman, and the Count Basie Big Band, BBVD sell out shows to audiences of all ages in cities as far flung as Honolulu, HI, St. Petersburg, FL, even making an appearance at last summer’s Pori Festival in Finland. And as a twist, the band has recently begun collaborating with symphonies in select cities, including the Air Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC, the Hartford Symphony in Hartford, CT, Columbus Symphony in Ohio, and the Dayton Philharmonic in Dayton, OH.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s swinging holiday party will feature songs from their first full-length Holiday album. They rework yuletide classics like “Blue Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” and “We Three Kings” into rollicking Big Band extravanganzas, and throw in a few new songs of their own. “Zat You Santa Claus” and “Rock-A-Billy Christmas” are cool enough to keep a snowman from melting, while “Mr. Heatmiser” (from the ‘70s-era Claymation television special The Year Without Santa Claus) sizzles with heat.

Tickets for this event are $26 for General Admission $24 for Faculty and Senior Citizens $18 for Kids Under 18 and $10 for UWP Students (with current ID).

Tickets are available through the University Box Office in the Center for the Arts the University Box Office is open Monday through Friday 9am-5pm and can be reached by calling (608)-342-1298. The University Box Office is located in newly renovated Ullsvik Hall located at the intersection of Hickory and Main Streets in Platteville. Tickets are now available online 24/7 at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. More information on the Performing Arts Series and other performance events can be found at http://uwplatt.edu/arts/cfa.

Rountree perform rarely heard masterpiece

PLATTEVILLE - Rountree Ensemble, University of Wisconsin-Platteville's chamber music ensemble-in-residence, will perform the second concert of its 2008-09 season on Wednesday Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. The performance will take place at the Richard and Helen Brodbeck Concert Hall at UWP's Center for the Arts, located on West Main Street on the university campus.

Featured in this concert will be a rarely heard masterwork for piano and winds by the late Romantic composer Ludwig Thuille. John Marco, Rountree Ensemble's artistic director and clarinetist, offered the following comments on this work: "It is a true masterpiece, the kind of work that makes me wonder why it isn't played more often. There is a depth and beauty of sound to this piece that is very appealing." Eugene Alcalay, Rountree's pianist, said that "this is beautifully written for the piano. There are lovely hints of Brahms and Schubert."

Also to be performed is the "Wind Quintet" of Gustav Holst, one of his earlier works, filled with a skillful blending of the five sonorities. And the ensemble will offer the "Three Pieces" for wind quintet by the French composer Jacques Ibert. Margaret Cornils, Rountree's flutist, described this work as "nicely representative of French woodwind writing during its peak period in the early 20th century. It is jovial, light and brilliant, a joy to hear and perform."

The Rountree Ensemble will also perform at UWP's Brodbeck Concert Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 18 and Wednesday, March 29. The ensemble has been invited by Wisconsin Public Radio to return to its airwaves with another broadcast live from the Chazen Museum in Madison on Sunday, April 5.

Tickets are available through the University Box Office located on the ground floor of Ullsvik Hall. Tickets are available by phone at (608) 342-1298 or at http://tickets.uwplatt.edu. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission and $4 for senior citizens and UWP students with a current ID.

For more information on the Rountree Ensemble, contact Marco at (608) 342-1012 or marcoj@uwplatt.edu

Contact: John Marco, UWP Performing and Visual Arts, (608) 342-1012, marcoj@uwplatt.edu Formatted by: Ryan Werner, UWP Public Relations (608) 342-1194, wernerr@uwplatt.edu

Pickin' & grinnin

Skaggs honors fathers of bluegrass
By SANDYE VOIGHT TH staff writer
Copyright Telegraph Herald

Ricky Skagg's mission is to teach the iPod generation about Bill Monroe and bluegrass music.

"They're picking up on it," he said in a phone interview. Skaggs' recording, "Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947" on Skaggs Family Records, debuted at the top of Billboard's Bluegrass albums in July. It was the fourth debut at the top for the singer whose career started with bluegrass in childhood and has veered back to his roots after a long trek through country.

Skaggs and his band, Kentucky Thunder, will perform Saturday, Nov. 15, at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Center for the Arts.

A 13-time Grammy winner, he collected more awards, including Musician of the Year recently, at the 14th Annual Inspirational Country Music Awards.

"There's a real link to Celtic music from the 17th century," he said. "They were clearing out Scotland and Ireland because they could make more money raising sheep than people. And there was the potato famine (in Ireland). The early immigrants brought their music to the hills and hollows of Appalachia. That's where that high lonesome sound comes from."

The music of the eastern mountains, he said, is evident in the sounds of the Stanley Brothers, Roscoe Holcomb, Clarence Ashley and Jean Ritchie.

"Jean Ritchie was singing 200-year-old songs from Scotland and Ireland. She got popular on the Smithsonian circuit and (took the songs) to music schools in the U.S. and Europe -- back to where it came from. We tell those stories," he said.

In 1980, when he was working with country singer Emmylou Harris, they were invited to a Celtic music party while touring in Ireland.

"I thought I'd died and gone to eastern Kentucky," he said. "I couldn't believe how much a part it played in bluegrass music."

Skaggs, who grew up in Cordell, Ky., learned to play the mandolin at 5, performed with Monroe at age 6 and with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs at 7.

"I knew they were big; they'd been on TV," he recalled. "I was so shy. When the (taped Flatt and Scruggs) show came on, we all sat in the living room, and I watched it until I heard my name. Then I headed for my bedroom and hid my eyes."

It wasn't until he was in his 40s that someone handed him an old Flat and Scruggs videotape.

"There I was with my Vacation Bible School haircut."

He said he wanted to make "Honoring the Fathers" to pay tribute to Monroe and others "who paid such a price" to establish bluegrass as a musical identity.

When rock 'n' roll took the wind out of old-time music, musicians like the Stanley Brothers would perform for just enough money to eat a meal and put gas in the tank, he said.

But bluegrass festivals in the '60s started to bring new popularity. The college market took to it and the Smithsonian Institution then Europeans fell in love with it, he said.

"When I came back (to bluegrass) in '96, that was big news, that a successful country artist would leave for a small, insignificant music."

The music itself brought him back, he said.

"It's like they say about the economy, 'It's the music, stupid.' It's the best thing I could have done. Country music has gone through a hard time in the last 10 years. Every time country music loses its way, the bluegrass music chart goes up. People will always look for pure music."

Broadway star defies gravity

Idina Menzel dazzles Platteville crowd
By Megan Gloss TH staff writer
Copyright Telegraph Herald


PLATTEVILLE, Wis. -- It was a performance that truly defied gravity.

Area cult fans of the Broadway and Tony Award-winning star Idina Menzel packed the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Center for the Arts Monday night as the acclaimed singer and actress took the stage, performing songs from her latest solo effort, "I Stand," reworked selections from her two Broadway blockbusters, "Wicked" and "Rent," and a few pop, rock and jazz surprises that dazzled the crowd and showcased Menzel's powerhouse vocal chops.

Backed by a six-piece band, Menzel eased the crowd through the evening, sharing a sense of humor and personal and intimate stories, tinged with soaring melodies and rock-out moments.

But, as evidenced by the reaction of the crowd, the real show-stoppers were her selections from "Rent" and "Wicked."

True "Rent" heads, "Wicked" lovers and die-hard Menzel fans purchased tickets weeks in advance for a chance to see and hear their idol up close.

One fan and costuming enthusiast, Josh McDowell, 18, of Dubuque, dressed appropriately for the occasion, wearing a replica costume he designed and constructed himself of Menzel's prized role of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in "Wicked," complete with green makeup.

"I thought I would wear it just in case she saw me," McDowell said.

McDowell was noticed by Menzel, who was so taken and impressed with his apparel that he was brought up on stage with her twice, including at the very end to sing an encore -- Menzel's show tune staple from "Wicked" -- "Defying Gravity."

"It was honestly a dream come true," McDowell said. "I just sang 'Defying Gravity' with Idina Menzel. She also brought me back stage afterward and complimented my costume, signed an autograph for me and told me to keep in touch with her. She was so cool."

Another avid Menzel follower, Abby Schultz, 23, of Dubuque, was one of the first to snatch front-row seats to the event. Having studied music and theater for most of her life, Schultz said she found an idol in Menzel when she first heard "Rent."

"It's always inspiring to me when female actors and singers go out and do what they intend to do with their life," Schultz said. "That is one major reason why she became my idol. She inspires me to go forth and pursue my career in theater. Plus, her voice is outstanding, so I can't help but love her."

UW-P performing arts administrator John Hassig also spoke with excitement about the event.

"It's always exciting to have a show in town, but our anticipation level goes way up when it's a high-profile artist like Idina," Hassig said. "I feel very strongly that this will be one of those 'top five' concerts for me. I've seen a lot of shows, but very few stick out for me as truly memorable. Idina is the real deal when it comes to singers.

"She originated a role in what was probably the most important show of the 1990s in 'Rent.' It truly revolutionized musical theater in many ways. Its ripples are still being felt throughout the musical theater world. (Idina) also won the Tony Award for her role in 'Wicked,' which is shaping up to be the biggest show of this decade."

Menzel, whose claim to fame came through her original Broadway roles of Maureen Johnson, in "Rent," and Elphaba in "Wicked," as well as the popular Walt Disney film "Enchanted," came to Platteville on the heels of a performance stop in Madison on Sunday and previous tour dates overseas earlier this fall. This is her third touring stint in the U.S. for her CD "I Stand."