Thursday December 27 7 pm at Luther Memorial Church, 1021 University Avenue Madison
The Third Day of Christmas Carol Sing and Organ Concert. An offering will be taken to support local food pantries – monetary contributions are encouraged.
Web: www,luthermem.org
Saturday December 29, 1 pm at Mills Concert Hall, 455 N. Park St., Madison
Madison Marimba Quartet in Concert: OUR GIFT TO YOU. Marimba Quartet to play annual Our Gift To You Concert
The Madison Marimba Quartet (MMQ) will perform the 17th annual Our Gift To You free concert on Saturday, December 29 at 1:00 in the afternoon at Mills Concert Hall on the UW campus. Quartet members, Laura Guse, Tim Gruber, Tom Shaver and Jim Latimer team together to rehearse and perform this “between the holidays” concert as their” way to give back to the community,” – something this quartet has been doing since 1996.
“The music is the message” according to Latimer, the Quartet’s founder, who went on to say that folks are usually looking for positive, creative and family things to do between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. For MMQ the past sixteen concerts billed as “Our Gift To You” have been exciting and successful.
Latimer (Oregon, Wis.) is Professor Emeritus from the UW-Madison School of Music, conductor of Madison’s own Capitol City Band and the VFW 1318 Volunteer Band and a recent fellow inductee into the Wisconsin Academy of Arts and Science.
Laura Guse (Middleton) is a Doctor of Physical Therapy at UW Hospital and Clinics. Tim Gruber (Madison) is a free-lance percussionist and music teacher in the Madison Schools and Tom Shaver (Portage) is band director at Portage High School.
“We’ve played together for a long time,” says Gruber, “weekly rehearsals pay-off; besides it’s fun and a stress-reliever from usual day-to-day activities. Sometimes we have to bring our kids but they have learned to listen, read and do quiet activities during the rehearsals.”
MMQ was founded in 1980 and has played throughout Wisconsin and on WI Public Radio; from Rockford IL and Tulsa OK to Bethesda MD and Washington DC. They delight audiences of all ages with their combined talents, virtuosity and personalities and perform regularly by invitation for a fee.
MMQ promises an exciting program of music from the classical Beethoven Finale-Allegro from Quartet No. 13, Opus 130 to the wild and wacky (at least in title) A Shot in the Dark or Inspector Clouseau by Mancini. The program is also likely to include one movement from Quartets by Alice Smith and Felix Mendelssohn, Can-Can by Offenbach, Theme and Variations on Simple Gifts by Copland as arranged for the quartet by Madison composer, Frank Ferriano.
A little jazz completes any MMQ concert– it could be Satin Doll, Freedom Jazz Dance, Take Five, So What or something else. As in the past, the quartet will play the traditional Sleigh Ride to celebrate the season. The concert will last about 75 minutes with a brief intermission.
The concert is free and open to the public. Mills Concert Hall is located at the UW School of Music, Mosse Humanities Building at the corner of University Avenue and N. Park Street in Madison. Nearby parking is available at the Lake Street and Southeast Area Parking Ramps (enter from Lake Street from University Ave. or W. Johnson); at Grainger Hall (enter on Brooks Street from W. Johnson or University Avenue) or Helen C. White Hall (enter from N Park Street across from the Memorial Union Theater).
Tell your friends, tell your neighbors about this annual free concert, Saturday, December 29, one o’clock in the afternoon at Mills Concert Hall. For information, visit www.mmqccb.org or email jhlatime@wisc.edu or call 608 835-9861.
Sunday December 230, 2 pm Olbrich Gardens-Evjue Commons 3330 Atwood Ave. , Madison
Capitol Chordsmen a capella group singing holiday songs