C & N Photographers
Bach Dancing & Dynamite founders Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes.
In the last quarter century the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society has produced some of the region’s finest chamber music. In commemoration of its silver jubilee, the group has planned an ambitious summer festival, including a commission from a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer.
In 1992, founders and artistic directors Jeffrey Sykes, pianist and vocal coach at UC Berkeley Department of Music, and Stephanie Jutt, principal flute for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and flute professor at UW-Madison, pulled the first concert together at the old Civic Center by bribing their fabulous musician friends with strong margaritas. They didn’t have money to print tickets, but the house was packed anyway.
John DeMain, conductor and music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, says that Jutt and Sykes are pioneers of making chamber music accessible and fun. “When you attend their concerts you will have a good time and hear profound music played by first-class musicians. That’s a winning combination for success.”
On June 10-26, 25 world-class musicians will gather in venues in Madison, Spring Green and Stoughton to present six silver-themed programs. Jutt and Sykes have planned concerts that include composers from Baroque to contemporary.
BDDS concerts have always challenged our notions of propriety on the classical music stage; the group is known for high-quality performances and also for including comedy skits and handing out outlandish door prizes, such as a 50-gallon drum of horse manure a lucky gardener won during a festival titled “Same Carriage, Fresh Horses.”
The following is a guide to festival highlights.
Hi-Yo Silver! opens the festival and includes pieces about musical “Lone Rangers” such as Ravel’s lovelorn Don Quichotte À Dulcinée. Also included are two Airs featuring flute and violin by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. Bass-baritone Timothy Jones sings the Ravel and also Schubert’s Schwanengesang (“Swan Song”).
Silver Threads Among the Gold introduces the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ In at the Eye, settings of six poems by W.B. Yeats starring singer Timothy Jones. The title is part of a line from Yeats’ poem “A Drinking Song”: Wine comes in at the mouth/And love comes in at the eye. The song cycle, co-commissioned by BDDS and four other music festivals, was composed for Jones. “Kevin’s music is emotional, complex, and full of color and nuance,” says Jutt.
In a phone conversation from New York, Puts told Isthmus that he was attracted to Yeats’ poetry because of its simple treatment of love. “It’s not complex, and it’s not profound, but it gets to the point,” he says. “It also gave me new territory to explore in the way of atmosphere, and a composer needs to be pushed in new directions.” Puts also has high praise for BDDS. “They’re a great group of amazing musicians who are totally committed to their work.”
Silver Linings highlights music by Miguel del Aguila.“His music has Haydn-esque wit and Beethoven-like motivic structure,” says Sykes. These Viennese compositional traditions underlie sassy Latin rhythms.
Stars of the Silver Screen features cinematic music. Composers Ravel, Schoenberg, Astor Piazzolla and Guillaume Connesson take center stage. Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony in E Major from 1906 is a “passionate late Romantic work that is a total emotional rollercoaster,” says Jutt. Pianist Pablo Zinger also plays arrangements of music by Nino Rota and Henry Mancini. The concert also features clarinetist Joseph Morris.
Quicksilver presents mercurial works, such as Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major.
Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina weaves Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons into a tantalizing mix of tango and baroque violin. Violinists Axel Strauss and Madison’s Suzanne Beia star. The show opens with Derek Bermel’s gospel-tinged viola work, Soul Garden, featuring Ara Gregorian.
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society will also present “How Did You Write That?” a free family concert on Saturday, June 11, at 11 a.m. in the Overture Center’s Playhouse. Composer Kevin Puts will be on hand for an interactive journey through the process of turning ideas into sounds.
For ticket information and a full schedule, visit bachdancinganddynamite.org or call 608-255-9866.
