{"id":1147,"date":"2009-12-04T06:53:42","date_gmt":"2009-12-04T05:53:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2009-12-04T07:37:34","modified_gmt":"2009-12-04T06:37:34","slug":"the-well-tempered-ear-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/12\/04\/the-well-tempered-ear-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The Well Tempered Ear- interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a nice chat with long-time Madison music and arts critic and reporter Jakob Stockinger today, which has been posted on his excellent blog, The Well Tempered Ear. Jake\u2019s blog is a fantastic musical resource for the city, and Madison is very lucky to have someone with such vast professional experience writing it at a time when papers are offering less and less coverage of the arts. Here\u2019s a snippet of our conversation. Read the whole thing here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very, very good professional preparation I got at the UW,\u201d Woods adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad is a chemistry professor at the UW, so\u00a0it\u2019s especially nice for me to be conducting the same UW orchestra that I think was the first orchestra I ever heard.<\/p>\n

The level of investment by the faculty in students here is fantastic,\u201d he recalls of his doing his master\u2019s degree at the UW. (He did his undergraduate work at Indiana University and doctoral work at the University of Cincinnati.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be in town, in my home town, doing this,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s something I always wanted to do, so I was thrilled when I was invited to return. \u00a0I\u2019ve had a tremendous time. It\u2019s wonderful to work on the Elgar with young musicians who are open-minded and so skilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also great for the city. Making these concerts free is a tremendous thing. Where else can you hear a concert this good and this adventurous for free?<\/p>\n

Plus, he adds, \u201cThe level of playing is really going up, particularly in the strings, since I was here. We always had some very strong players, but now we have only strong players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have a look around his blog<\/a>. If nothing else, you may be astounded at the range and vitality of the classical scene in my home town these days. It\u2019s a proud time to be a cheesehead (if you don\u2019t count football).<\/p>\n