text:
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players open their new four-concert season this Saturday night with an all-Mozart program
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will open their new season this coming Saturday night, Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the older and historic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
The program is all works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (below) and includes the following pieces:
The Sonata for Violin and Piano in C Major, K. 303, features violinist Laura Burns, of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Oakwood Chamber Players, and pianist Jess Salek, who is also the founder and artistic director of the chamber music ensemble.
The Sonata for Violin and Piano in B-Flat Major K. 454, will be performed by violinist Wes Luke, of the Ancora String Quartet and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and pianist Salek.
The energetic Piano Quartet in G minor, K. 478, features violinist Laura Burns, violist Wes Luke, pianist Salek and cellist Derek Handley (below), of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. (In the YouTube video at the bottom, you can see a graphic depiction of the first movement of the Piano Quartet.)
Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students. Only checks or cash will be accepted.
A reception will be held after the performance
Here are the concerts and programs – all take place at the First Unitarian Society — for the rest of four-concert season, including two-all Beethoven concerts to mark the Beethoven Year in which the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth will be celebrated.
Friday, Feb. 21, at noon (Free admission)
All-Beethoven (below) String Sonata Program:
Sonata in F Major for Piano and Cello, Op. 5, No. 1
Sonata in E-Flat Major for Piano and Violin, Op. 12, No. 3
Sonata in C minor for Piano and Violin, Op. 30, No. 2
Saturday March 21, at 7:30 p.m. (Tickets required)
All-Prokofiev (below) Program:
Sonata in F minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 80
Sonata in D Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 94a
Sonata in C Major for Cello and Piano, Op. 119
Saturday June 13, 2020 7:30 p.m. (Tickets required)
All-Beethoven Piano Trio Program:
Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 1, No. 1
Piano Trio in E-Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 2
Piano Trio in G Major, Op. 121a: "Kakadu" Variations
For more information about the group and biographies of the players, go to: http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
You can also follow the group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mosaicchamberplayers/
Tags: #All-Beethoven, #AncoraStringQuartet, #ArtisticDirector, #BeethovenYear, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #CriticallyAcclaimed, #DerekHandley, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FrankLloydWright, #JessSalek, #KakaduVariations, #LauraBurns, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MilwaukeeSymphonyOrchestra, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #MusicCritic, #OakwoodChamberPlayers, #PianoQuartet, #PianoTrio, #SeniorCitizen, #SergeiProkofiev, #ThemeAndVariations, #ViolinSonata, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #YouTubevideo, all-Mozart, all-Prokofiev, Ancora String Quartet, Artistic director, Arts, audience, auditorium, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birth, blog, celebrate, cellist, Cello, Cello Sonata, Chamber music, Classical music, classicalmusic, composer, Concert, critically acclaimed, depicted, depiction, Derek Handley, design, ensemble, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, forward, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Frideric Handel, graphic, graphically, historic, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Kakadu Variations, Laura Burns, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Mosaic Chamber Players, Mozart, MSO, Music, music critic, Oakwood Chamber Players, old, older, Op., open, opus, performer, Pianist, Piano, Piano Quartet, Piano Trio, piece, post, posting, program, Prokofiev, retired, Season, senior, senior citizen, Sergei Prokofiev, share, Sonata, tag, theme and variations, ticket, university, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Viola, Violin, Violin Sonata, violinist, violist, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet performs an all-Italian program four times this month starting this weekend and returns as an ensemble-in-residence at the First Unitarian Society of Madison
The Ear has received the following information to post:
The Ancora String Quartet (below) opens its 19th season with a program of works by three Italian composers more usually associated with opera, or solo violin music, than with string quartets.
Members of the Ancora String Quartet (ASQ, below from left in a photo by Barry Lewis) are violins Wes Luke and Robin Ryan; violist Marika Fischer Hoyt; and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb.
Violin virtuoso and composer Antonio Bazzini (below) led a rockstar's life, touring Europe and hobnobbing with Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn. He later settled in Milan, winning first prize in the Milan quartet competition in 1864 with this piece. The Scherzo shows Mendelssohn's influence, and the Andante sostenuto delivers breathtakingly beautiful passages of lyrical romance and tender passion.
Opera great Giaocomo Puccini wrote Chrysanthemums (Crisantemi) in one night, upon hearing the news of the death of his friend the Duke of Savoy in 1890. The six-minute piece expresses the composer's sorrow, in themes that bring to mind the poignant melodies of "Madama Butterfly." (You can hear "Chrysanthemums" in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The String Quartet in E Minor (1873) by Giuseppe Verdi (below) opens with restrained moodiness, but the drama quickly leaps off the page. Written to pass the time while waiting for the delayed opening of his opera "Aida," this quartet demonstrates Verdi's mastery of purely instrumental writing — although the cello solo in the Trio of the Scherzo could pass for a tenor aria. The work ends, surprisingly, with an elaborate fugue.
The quartet is gearing up for four performances in September, listed below.
In related news, the Ancora String Quartet, like the Madison Bach Musicians, will become a Resident Ensemble at the First Unitarian Society of Madison (FUS) starting this fall. We are pleased to reconnect with our FUS audiences, and hope our Regent Street fans will make the trip as well.
Here is the September schedule of the Italian program:
This Friday, Sept. 6, from noon to 1 p.m. in an interview on Wisconsin Public Radio's The Midday with host Norman Gilliland. WPR is Madison station WERN 88.7 FM. The ASQ will perform the entire Bazzini quartet.
This Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. at the FUS, Landmark Auditorium, Madison. Tickets at the door are $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and $6 for students.
Sunday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m. at FUS, Landmark Auditorium, Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, Madison. Tickets at the door are $15, $12 and $6.
Next Tuesday, Sept. 10, at 6 p.m. at the Germantown Community Library, N112W16957 Mequon Rd., in Germantown. The concert is FREE and open to the public.
Tags: #AncoraStringQuartet, #AntonioBazzini, #Artists-in-Residence, #BenjaminWhitcomb, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #ChamberMusic, #Chrysanthemums, #CommunityLibrary, #CommunitySupport, #Ensemble-in-residence, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #GermantownWisconsin, #GiacomoPuccini, #GiuseppeVerdi, #InstrumentalMusic, #italianComposer, #ItalianComposers, #JohannSebastianBach, #LandmarkAuditorium, #MadamaButterfly, #MadameButterfly, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #NormanGilliland, #OperaAria, #OperaMusic, #RobertSchumann, #RobinRyan, #SeniorCitizen, #StringQuartet, #TenorSinger, #TheMidday, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #ViolinMusic, #VocalMusic, #WERN88.7FM, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WisconsinPublicRadio, #YouTubevideo, adult, Aida, Ancora String Quartet, Antonio Bazzini, aria, artists, Arts, audience, Bach, Baroque, beautiful, Benjamin Whitcomb, blog, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, classicalmusic, community, Competition, composer, composers, Concert, counterpoint, death, door, drama, duke, end, ensemble, Europe, event, express, Facebook, Felix Mendelssohn, First Unitarian Society of Madison, FM, forward, friend, fugue, FUS, Germantown, Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, influence, instrumental, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Landmark Auditorium, library, like, link, lyrical, Madama Butterfly, Madame Butterfly, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, mastery, melody, member, members, Milan, moodiness, Music, night, Norman Gilliland, opening, opera, page, passage, Passion, performance, piece, poignant, post, posting, prize, public, Puccini, Radio, restrained, return, Robert Schumann, Robin Ryan, Romance, Savoy, schedule, Scherzo, senior, September, share, solo, sorrow, String quartet, Student, subscriber, tag, tender, tenor, The Midday, theme, tickets, time, tour, United States, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, UW-Whitewater, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, virtuoso, vocal music, WERN 88.7 FM, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, wisconsin public radio, word, work, young person, YouTube
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet closes out its season with polished, precise and emotionally intense performances of contrasting music by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Caroline Shaw
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison.
The Ancora String Quartet (below) is closing its season with a cluster of concerts around the area, including a central one Tuesday night at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Regent Street in Madison.
Of the three works in the program, the centerpiece was the Entr'acte by the American musician and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw (below, in a photo by Kait Moreno). It was written in 2011 when Shaw was 29, and has won some acclaim over the years.
It is cast roughly in the traditional form of a minuet and trio, but its point is less any musical substance than the invention of new and utterly eccentric ways of string playing for ear-catching sound effects. Many of those effects are, to be sure, intriguing.
Surrounding this was a pair of quartets seemingly very distinct from each other but related.
The first published quartet, in A major, Op. 13, by Felix Mendelssohn (below), was written in the wake of a romantic song he wrote and whose motives he then used in the quartet.
Emotional suggestions aside, however, it is notable as a darker and more intense work than his subsequent ones in this form. It was composed in 1827, when Mendelssohn was 18, but also the year in which Beethoven died. And it is the shadow of Beethoven, and of Beethoven's innovations in his later quartets, that hangs over the Mendelssohn work.
Clearly the young master was trying to see how he could absorb the older master's progressive style into his own still emerging one. I think he found in the process that the two could not be reconciled, and so his subsequent quartets were to be in a less stressful vein.
Against that 1827 work, we were then offered a composition from Beethoven's own earlier years when he was 29 or 30. This was the final quartet in the set of six published as his Op. 18.
This Op. 18, No. 6, by Beethoven (below) in B-flat major — the program had it mistakenly in G major — is a Janus-faced work, its first two movements still rooted in the late 18th-century background, but with a scherzo full of quirks and tricks that point to the future, and a finale that plays on emotional contrasts.
Its opening Malinconia – or melancholic – music is contested by music of rousing joy, somewhat prefiguring Beethoven's absorption with recovering his health in the Heiliger Dankgesang (Sacred Hymn of Thanksgiving) of his late string quartet, Op. 132. (You can hear the two contrasting moods and themes in the last movement, played by the Alban Berg Quartet, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
For all three of these scores, a quartet member gave some introductory comments. (Below, first violinist Wes Luke introduces the work by Caroline Shaw.)
Members of the Ancora String Quartet are violinists Wes Luke and Robin Rynan, violist Marika Fischer Hoyt and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb. As a group, the Ancora players displayed intensity and absorption as well as polished precision, in a program of contrasts.
Tags: #AlbanBerg, #AlbanBergQuartet, #AmericanPatriotism, #AmericanRecordGuide, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BenjaminWhitcomb, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CarolineShaw, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ClassicalStyle, #CriticalAcclaim, #EmeritusProfessor, #EpiscopalChurch, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #IsthmusNewspaper, #JohnW.Barker, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonEarlyMusicFestival, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MedievalHistory, #MeToomovement, #MusicalSubstance, #MusicCritic, #MusicReview, #MusicScore, #PulitzerPrize, #RadioHost, #RadioShow, #RobinRyan, #SacredHymnofThanksgiving, #SoundEffects, #St.Andrew'sEpiscopalChurch, #StringPlaying, #StringQuartet, #SundayMorning, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #WesLuke, #WORT-FM89.9, #YouTubevideo, absorption, acclaim, Alban Berg, Alban Berg Quartet, American, American Record Guide, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, audience, background, Beethoven, Benjamin Whitcomb, blog, Caroline Shaw, catching, cellist, Cello, centerpiece, Chamber music, Christian, Christianity, church, Classical music, classicalmusic, comments, composer, Concert, contrast, critic, dark, darker, death, ear, ear-catching, Early music, eccentric, emeritus professor, emotional, Episcopalian, Facebook, Felix Mendelssohn, final, form, forward, group, Health, History, hymn, innovation, intense, intriguing, introduce, introductory, invention, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Janus, John W. Barker, last, lecture, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, Master, Medieval, Medieval history, melancholy, member, minuet, motives, movement, Music, new, performer, precision, process, program, progressive, Pulitzer Prize, quirk, Radio, recovering, review, Robin Ryan, Romantic, sacred, Scherzo, score, Season, shadow, share, show, song, sound effects, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, stress, stressful, string playing, String quartet, style, substance, suggestions, Sunday morning, tag, Thanksgiving, tradition, traditional, trick, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, vein, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, wake, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, works, WORT-FM 89.9, written, year, YouTube
Classical music: The Ancora String Quartet closes its 18th season with three upcoming local concerts of music by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Caroline Shaw
The Ancora String Quartet closes its 18th season with a trio of concerts, and a program featuring two quartets from the early 19th century, juxtaposed with a shorter piece of much more recent date.
The program is the String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13, by Felix Mendelssohn; "Entr'acte" (Minuet and Trio) by Caroline Shaw; and String Quartet No. 6 in B-Flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6, by Ludwig van Beethoven.
The schedule of concert dates, times and venues is below.
Members of the Ancora String Quartet (below, from left, in a photo by Barry Lewis), who also perform with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Bach Musicians among other groups, are: Wes Luke and Robin Ryan, violins; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; and Benjamin Whitcomb, who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Whtewater.
Here are some program notes provided by violist Marika Fischer Hoyt:
"Mendelssohn's Op. 13 was written in 1827 when he was 18 years old. He'd written the Octet two years earlier, but this was his first mature string quartet. It expresses his youthful passion and includes one of his signature bubbly scherzos.
"Between our two more-established works, we insert a short piece entitled (appropriately enough) "Entr'acte" ("Intermission," heard in the YouTube video at the bottom), composed by the American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw (below, in a photo by Dashing Burton) in 2011. (It is one of The Ear's favorite contemporary works.)
The 12-minute piece, subtitled "a minuet and trio," takes haunting fragments and memes from Baroque and Classical styles and treats them with 21st-century audacity. With an ABA structure, the opening and closing sighing motif seems dolorous, but takes its own sadness in a philosophical spirit.
"While both the Mendelssohn and Shaw end quietly, we conclude the program with Beethoven's exuberant Quartet No. 6, the final quartet in the composer's set of six early quartets, his Opus 18. This delightful work, completed in 1800, is full of energy and drive; the melancholy mood of the brief fourth movement "La malinconia" (Melancholy) is banished by a cheerful Allegretto, ending with a flourish in the final Prestissimo."
Monday, May 13, at 3 p.m. in the Stoughton Opera House's Music Appreciation Series, 381 East Main Street, Stoughton. Free and open to the public
Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 p.m. at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, 1833 Regent Street, Madison. Ticketed event — $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $6 for young people. There will be a reception following the concert.
Saturday, June 15, at noon in Grace Episcopal Church for "Grace Presents," 116 West Washington Avenue, on the Capitol Square in downtown Madison. Free and open to the public.
Tags: #21stCentury, #AmericanComposer, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BaroqueEra, #BaroqueMusic, #BaroqueStyle, #BenjaminWhitcomb, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CapitolSquare, #CarolineShaw, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #Classicalera, #ContemporaryMusic, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #GraceEpiscopalChurch, #GracePresents, #LivingComposer, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonBachMusicians, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MarikaFischerHoyt, #MusicAppreciation, #NewMusic, #ProgramNotes, #PulitzerPrize, #RobinRyan, #St.Andrew'sEpiscopalChurch, #StoughtonOperaHouse, #StringQuartet, #TheEar, #UniversityofWisconsin-Whitewater, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, 21st century, adult, American, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, ASQ, audacity, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Benjamin Whitcomb, blog, Capitol Square, Caroline Shaw, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, Christian church, Classical, Classical music, classicalmusic, closing, composer, Concert, contemporary, dates, downtown, entr'acte, express, Facebook, favorite, Felix Mendelssohn, forward, fragment, free, Grace Episcopal Church, Grace Presents, group, haunting, House, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, like, link, Living composer, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Bach Musicians, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Marika Fischer Hoyt, mature, melancholy, meme, minuet, mood, motif, movement, Music, music appreciation, New Music, Octet, open, opening, opera, Passion, perform, philosophical, piece, program, program notes, public, Pulitzer Prize, reception, recpeiton, Robin Ryan, sadness, schedule, Scherzo, Season, senior, share, sigh, signature, spirit, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Stoughton Opera House, String quartet, structure, style, tag, The Ear, ticket, time, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, University of Wisconsin–Madison, venue, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, Wes Luke, winner, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, works, written, years, young people, youthful, YouTube
Classical music: A busy Sunday at the UW is highlighted by a FREE band concert and a public reception to mark the retirement of legendary band master Mike Leckrone
ALERT: The Madison-based Avanti Piano Trio will give two FREE public concerts this weekend. The first one is TONIGHT at 7 p.m. at Capitol Lakes Retirement Community, 333 West Main Street, off the Capitol Square; the second one is on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church, 302 Wisconsin Avenue. Members of the trio are violinist Wes Luke, cellist Hannah Wolkstein and pianist Joseph Ross. The program includes works by Leon Kirchner, Ernest Bloch, Claude Debussy and Johannes Brahms.
As the semester and academic year come to a close, concerts usually get packed into the schedule.
This coming Sunday, April 28, is no different – except that one event is clearly the headliner.
Mike Leckrone (below, in a photo by UW Communications) – the legendary and much honored director of bands and athletic bands at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – is retiring after 50 years.
Sunday marks a last appearance. He will conduct the UW Concert Band one last time and then be honored with a public reception.
The athletes and athletic fans love him. The students and band members love him. The alumni love him.
And, yes, the School of Music loves him. After all, not many band directors do what he did when he asked the late UW-Madison violin virtuoso Vartan Manoogian to perform the popular Violin Concerto by Felix Mendelssohn with a band instead of an orchestra. But Manoogian agreed — and said he loved the experience.
Also, not many band directors could start an annual spring concert in Mills Hall with an audience of some 300 and then saw it grow decades later into a three-night extravaganza that packs the Kohl Center with some 50,000 people and gets seen statewide on Wisconsin Public Television.
One time years ago, The Ear — who was then working as a journalist for The Capital Times — interviewed Leckrone. It was a busy year when he and the Marching Band were going with the football and basketball teams to the Rose Bowl and the March Madness tournament.
Mike Leckrone was charming and humorous, open and candid. The interview was so good, so full of information and human interest, that it was picked up by the Associated Press and distributed statewide and nationally.
That's how big Mike Leckrone's fan base is. Other schools and bands envied him.
All honor, then, to this man of action and distinction who was also creative and innovative.
Here is more information – but, alas, no program — about the FREE band concert on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Mills Hall:
https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/uw-concert-band-spring-concert-2/
For really detailed biographical background about Mike Leckrone and his achievements, go to:
https://news.wisc.edu/mike-leckrone-a-legendary-career/
And here is a statement by Leckrone himself about his approach to teaching and performing as well as his plans for retirement. (You can hear an interview Leckrone did with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
http://ls.wisc.edu/news/hitting-the-high-notes
Now you may think Leckrone can't be followed.
But just this past week, the UW-Madison announced that Corey Pompey (below) is Leckrone's successor. Here is a link to the official announcement, with lots of background about Pompey:
https://news.wisc.edu/new-marching-band-director-to-take-the-baton/
What else is there to say except: Thank you, Mike!
On, Wisconsin!
As for other events at the UW on Sunday:
At 4 p.m., in Mills Hall, University Bands will perform a FREE concert. Darin Olsen, O'Shae Best and Cole Hairston will conduct. No program is listed.
At 8 p.m. in Mills Hall, the Madrigal Singers (below top) will perform a FREE concert. Bruce Gladstone (below bottom, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) will conduct. No word on that program either.
Tags: #AcademicYear, #AssociatedPress, #AvantiPianoTrio, #BadgerBasketball, #BadgerFootball, #BadgerSports, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BruceGladstone, #BuckyBadger, #CapitolLakes, #CapitolSquare, #ChoralMusic, #ChristianChurch, #ChristianReligion, #ClaudeDebussy, #CollegeStudent, #ConcertBand, #CoreyPompey, #ErnestBloch, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FirstUnitedMethodistChurch, #HannahWolkstein, #HumanInterest, #JohannesBrahms, #JosephRoss, #KohlCenter, #LeonKirchner, #MadrigalSingers, #MarchingBand, #MarchMadness, #MikeLeckrone, #MilwaukeeJournal-Sentinel, #MilwaukeeWisconsin, #OnWisconsin, #OrchestralAccompaniment, #PianoTrio, #RoseBowl, #ThankYou, #TheCapitalTmes, #TheMusicMan, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWMarchingBand, #VartanManoogian, #ViolinConcerto, #ViolinVirtuoso, #WesLuke, #WisconsinPublicTelevision, academic year, action, alert, announcement, Associated Press, athlete, athletic fans, audience, Avanti Piano Trio, Badgers, band, base, basketball, big, biography, blog, Bruce Gladstone, Bucky Badger, Capitol Lakes, Capitol Square, cellist, Cello, choral music, Christianity, church, Claude Debussy, Concert Band, concerto, conduct, Corey Pompey, creative, director, distinction, envy, Ernest Bloch, event, Facebook, fan, fans, Felix Mendelssohn, First United Methodist Church, football, forward, free, Hannah Wolkstein, human interest, innovation, innovative, interview, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Ross, Kohl Center, Leon Kirchner, like, link, Madison, Madrigal Singers, March Madness, marching band, member, Methodist, Mike Leckrone, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Milwaukee Wisconsin, nation, nationally, NCAA, NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, official, On, On Wiscosnin, Orchestra, performer, performing, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, public, reception, Religion, retire, Retirement, retiring, Rose Bowl, semester, share, sing, singer, Sports, Spring, statement, statewide, Student, Sunday, tag, teaching, thank you, The Capital Times, The Music Man, time, Trombone, University of Wisconsin, UW Marching Band, Vartan Manoogian, Violin, Violin concerto, violinist, virtuoso, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Television, work, WPT
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players perform all 20th-century American music this Saturday night. Plus, a master class about Schubert is TODAY at 4:30
IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR SHARE OR TAG IT (not just "Like" it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event.
ALERT: Susan Youens, a world-famous scholar of the music of Franz Schubert, will give a FREE and PUBLIC master class TODAY at 4:30 p.m. in Morphy Recital Hall. Her class is in advance of her appearance and pre-concert lecture at the annual UW Schubertiade this Sunday afternoon, Jan. 27. More information about that event will appear in tomorrow's blog post.
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players will perform a concert of all-American music from the 20th century this Saturday night, Jan. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for senior citizens; and $5 for students. Only cash and personal checks will be accepted.
A reception will follow the concert.
Performers are violinists Laura Burns and Wes Luke, cellist Kyle Price, and founder-pianist Jess Salek. (Photos below of the performers are by John W. Barker at a previous concert.) They also play with other professional groups such as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Ancora String Quartet and the Rhapsodie String Quartet.
The program includes the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Aaron Copland; the Sonata in Three Movements for Violin and Piano by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (below); "Road Movies" for Violin and Piano by John Adams (you can hear the opening in the YouTube video at the bottom); and the Sonata for Cello and Piano, Op. 6, by Samuel Barber.
Tags: #AaronCopland, #All-American, #AmericanComposer, #AmericanMusic, #AncoraStringQuartet, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #CelloMusic, #CelloSonata, #ChamberMusic, #EllenTaaffeZwilich, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FrankLloydWright, #FranzSchubert, #JessSalek, #JohnAdams, #JohnW.Barker, #KylePrice, #LauraBurns, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #PianoAccompaniment, #PianoAccompanist, #RhapsodieQuartet, #RhapsodieStringQuartet, #RoadMovies, #SamuelBarber, #SeniorCitizen, #SusanYouens, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UWSchubertiade, #ViolinMusic, #ViolinSonata, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #World-famous, 20th-century, Aaron Copland, adult, alert, American, Ancora String Quartet, Arts, audience, blog, cash, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, check, Classical music, composer, Concert, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, founder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Franz Schubert, free, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, John Adams, John W. Barker, Kyle Price, Laura Burns, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master class, masterclass, Mead Witter School of Music, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Movies, performer, personal, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, professional, professor, public, Rhapsodie Quartet, Rhapsodie String Quartet, road, Road Movies, Samuel Barber, Schubertiade, senior, senior citizen, Sonata, String quartet, Student, Susan Youens, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, Violin, violinist, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players perform an all-Schubert concert on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Opera Props presents singers in a benefit concert to support the opera program at the UW-Madison
ALERT: On this Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m., in the Madison Christian Community Church at 7118 Old Sauk Road on Madison's far west side, Opera Props will present a benefit concert to raise money for the UW-Madison's opera program and University Opera.
Student singers and piano accompanist Daniel Fung will perform arias and songs. But the spotlight will shine on University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna soprano Julia Rottmayer, who is a new faculty member at the UW-Madison's Mead Witter School of Music. (Sorry, no specific program is given and no names of composers and works are mentioned.)
Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door with student tickets costing $10. Tickets include a reception with local Gail Ambrosius chocolate, fruit, cheese and wine. For more information, go to: https://www.uwoperaprops.org
Why is The Ear increasingly drawn to the music of Franz Schubert (below) over, say, the music of his contemporary and idol Ludwig van Beethoven? It seems to be more than its sheer beauty and lyricism. It also seems to possess a certain warmth or human quality that he finds irresistible, poignant and restorative, especially if it is true, as the Buddha said, life is suffering.
In any case, The Ear is not alone.
The Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players (below, in a photo by John W. Barker) will open their new and ambitious season this coming Saturday night with a concert of music by Franz Schubert.
The all-Schubert concert is at 7:30 p.m. in the chapel of the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1609 University Avenue, near Camp Randall Stadium — NOT at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, as was incorrectly stated earlier in this blog post.
The program includes two Sonatinas for Violin and Piano in D Major, D. 384, and A minor, D. 385; the famous "Arpeggione" Sonata, D. 821, performed on the cello with piano; and the lovely and songful Adagio or "Notturno" (Nocturne) for Piano Trio, D. 897, which you can hear with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Daniil Trifonov, in the YouTube video at the bottom.
Tickets cost $15 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash and checks only will be accepted; no credit cards.
Members of the Mosaic Chamber Players are: founder and pianist Jess Salek (below top); violinist Wes Luke (below second), who plays with the Ancora String Quartet and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra; violinist Laura Burns (below third), who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the MSO's Rhapsodie String Quartet; and cellist Kyle Price (below bottom), who founded the Caroga Lake Music Festival in New York State and is pursuing his doctoral degree at the UW-Madison's Mead Witter School of Music with distinction and who was a member of the graduate student Hunt Quartet while he studied for his master's.
For more information about the Mosaic Chamber Players and about their new season, which includes some very varied composers but no specific titles of works, go to: http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com
What do you find so appealing and so special about the music of Schubert?
What is your favorite Schubert work?
Leave your thoughts in the COMMENT section with a link, if possible, to a YouTube video performance.
Tags: #AncoraStringQuartet, #Anne-SophieMutter, #ArpeggioneSonata, #BenefitConcert, #CampRandallStadium, #CarogaLakeMusicFestival, #ChamberMusic, #ChristianChurch, #Classicalera, #ConcertSeason, #DanielFung, #DaniilTrifonov, #DoctoralDegree, #FirstCongregationalUnitedChurchofChrist, #FirstUnitarianSocietyofMadison, #FranzSchubert, #GailAmbrosius, #HumanQuality, #HuntQuartet, #JessSalek, #JesusChrist, #JuliaRottmayer, #LauraBurns, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonChristianCommunityChurch, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #Master'sDegree, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MosaicChamberPlayers, #MusicFestival, #NewSeason, #NewYork, #NewYorkState, #OperaArias, #OperaProps, #PianoAccompanist, #PianoTrio, #RhapsodieStringQuartet, #RomanticComposer, #SaturdayNight, #StringQuartet, #Sundayafternoon, #TheBuddha, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #UniversityOpera, #UWAlumni, #ViolinMusic, #WesLuke, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #YouTubevideo, admission, alumna, alumni, Ancora String Quartet, Anne-Sophie Mutter, aria, Arpeggione, Arpeggione sonata, Arts, beauty, Beethoven, Buddha, Camp Randall Stadium, Caroga Lake Music Festival, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, chapel, cheese, chocolate, Christian, Classical music, community, Compact Disc, composer, Daniel Fung, Daniil Trifonov, doctoral, favorite, First Congregational United Church of Christ, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Franz Schubert, fruit, Gail Ambrosius, graduate student, human, Hunt Quartet, irresistible, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Julia Rottmayer, Laura Burns, life, Ludwig van Beethoven, lyricism, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, master's, Mead Witter School of Music, Mosaic Chamber Players, Music, Music festival, name, new season, New York, New York State, nocturne, Notturno, opera, Opera Props, Orchestra, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, poignant, program, reception, restorative, Romantic composer, Saturday night, Schubert, Season, singer, Sonata, sonatina, song, soprano, spotlight, String quartet, Student, suffering, Sunday afternoon, symphony, thought, ticket, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University Opera, Violin, violinist, Wes Luke, west side, Wine, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, YouTube
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players complete their cycle of Beethoven sonatas for strings with impressive beauty and sensitivity
Here is a special posting, a review written by frequent guest critic and writer for this blog, John W. Barker. Barker (below) is an emeritus professor of Medieval history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also is a well-known classical music critic who writes for Isthmus and the American Record Guide, and who hosts an early music show once a month on Sunday morning on WORT-FM 89.9 FM. For years, he served on the Board of Advisors for the Madison Early Music Festival and frequently gives pre-concert lectures in Madison. Barker also took the performance photos.
In another distressingly overcrowded weekend, hard choices had to be made about which event to attend. I picked the performance by the Mosaic Chamber Players last Saturday night at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Landmark Auditorium of the First Unitarian Society of Madison.
For the past four years, this group has pursued a "complete" survey of Beethoven's sonatas for strings and piano. Since he composed 10 for violin and piano plus five for cello and piano, it was easy to organize them into five concerts, each with two violin sonatas and one for cello. In addition, it was possible in many programs to draw on all three periods of Beethoven's output.
This year's concert was thus the fifth and the last in the series, climaxing a really impressive achievement for artistic director and guiding spirit Jess Salek and his colleagues.
As pianist in all three of the works presented, Salek (below) provided more than accompaniment, since the role of the piano was generally put on terms of equal partnership, sometimes even of relative superiority. He played bravely, justly showing palpable pride in the total achievement.
Laura Burns (below), who also plays with the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the MSO's Rhapsodie String Quartet, was the violinist in the early Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 12, No. 2.
This happens to be the first of these Beethoven sonatas that I came to know and love in my youth, via an old Jascha Heifetz recording, so it had particular reverberations for me. To its wit and sprightliness Burns brought an added warmth of sound and spirit.
The Cello Sonata No. 5 in D, Op. 102, No. 2, was the last one Beethoven composed for this medium, and one of two that dates from the composer's late period. A great deal of very serious thinking went into it, with a slow movement particularly notable for its spiritual depth. Cellist Kyle Price (below) delivered it with genuine feeling and with great strength of tone.
Also Beethoven's last work for its medium, the Violin Sonata No. 10 in G, Op. 96, comes from late in the composer's so-called middle period. It is a work of almost kaleidoscopic variety, with frequent changes of mood and character.
Its core is another slow movement of amazingly personal eloquence and breath-taking beauty. And the theme-and-variations movement finale seems to have everything (almost) in it but the kitchen sink. (You can hear Wes Luke and Jess Salek performing another theme-and-variations movement from a different Beethoven violin sonata in the cycle, Op. 30, No. 1, in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
It was clear that violinist Wes Luke (below), who is also the first violinist of the Ancora String Quartet, was having a whale of a good time playing it, relishing almost every note.
Luke's printed program notes were particularly excellent, and included notice that the group's spring concert will juxtapose piano trios of Beethoven and Brahms.
The Mosaic Chamber Players do not receive a great deal of publicity, but their concerts offer some of the most lovely and thought-provoking chamber music repertoire to be found, even in a town so full of wonderful music-making as ours.
Tags: accompaniment, achievement, American Record Guide, Arts, beauty, Beethoven, blog, brave, Cello, Chamber music, character, Classical music, composer, Concert, critic, cycle, Early music, eloquence, emeritus, equal, equality, feeling, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright, genuine, guide, History, impressive, Isthmus, Jacob Stockinger, Jascha Heifetz, Jess Salek, Johannes Brahms, John W. Barker, kaleidoscope, Kyle Price, late, Laura Burns, lecture, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Early Music Festival, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Medieval, medium, mood, Mosaic Chamber Players, movement, Music, note, notes, old, Orchestra, output, overcrowded, partner, partnership, performance, period, Piano, Piano Trio, posting, pride, professor, program, Radio, recording, review, Rhapsodie Quartet, role, series, Sonata, Sound, spirit, spiritual, sprightly, Spring, strength, String quartet, strings, strong, Superior, survey, theme and variations, tone, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, variety, Violin, warm, warmth, weekend, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, wit, WORT-FM 89.9, Writer, YouTube
Classical music: Here are the Final Forte winners. Mosaic Chamber Players concludes its season this Saturday night with piano trios by Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff and Charles Ives. Plus, a FREE concert of Latin American bassoon music is Friday at noon
NEWS: In case you missed it last night on Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio, here are the winners of the Madison Symphony Orchestra's high school concerto competition, which featured a lot of fine music and excellent performances.
First prize went to violinist Julian Rhee of Brookfield, who performed Tchaikovsky; second prize went to pianist Michael Wu of Sun Prairie, who performed Saint-Saens; and the two runners-up were violinist Yaoyao Chen of Menasha, who played Sibelius, and harpist Naomi Sutherland, who performed Ravel.
For more information about the annual event, including links to video biographies of the contestants, go to:
https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2017/03/25/classical-music-education-watch-it-on-public-television-or-radio-stream-it-live-or-hear-it-in-person-the-final-forte-free-finalists-concert-with-the-madison-symp/
ALERT: This week's FREE Friday Noon Musicale, at the First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive, will feature bassoonist Juliana Mesa-Jaramillo in works for solo bassoon by 20th-century Latin American composers. The concert runs from 12:15 to 1 p.m.
The critically acclaimed Mosaic Chamber Players will conclude its 2016-2017 season with a program of piano trios.
Members of the Madison-based Mosaic Chamber Players are Wes Luke, violin; Kyle Price, cello; and Jess Salek, piano.
The program features the "Elegy" Trio in D Minor, Op. 9, by Sergei Rachmaninoff; the Trio, Op. 86, by Charles Ives; and the Trio in D Minor, Op 49, by Felix Mendelssohn. (You can hear the opening of the lovely and darkly dramatic Rachmaninoff Trio in the YouTube video at the bottom.)
The concert will be this Saturday, April 1, at 7 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium of First Unitarian Society of Madison.
Tickets are $15 for general admission; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Cash or checks only will be accepted.
Pianist Jess Salek (below), who graduated from the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton Wis., and who runs his own piano studio in Madison and also works with the Madison Youth Choirs.
Violinist Wes Luke (below) plays with many regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Madison-based Ancora String Quartet.
Here is an informative and engaging story about cellist Kyle Price (below), a UW-Madison student, and how he started a music festival and ended up studying with Professor Uri Vardi at the UW-Madison.
http://www.music.wisc.edu/2015/12/02/kyleprice_cello/
Tags: Ancora, Ancora String Quartet, Appleton, Arts, Bassoon, biography, Cello, Chamber music, Classical music, concerto, dark, dramatic, Elegy, First Unitarian Society of Madison, high school, Ives, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, Kyle Price, Latin America, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, lovely, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Mendelssohn, Mosaic Chamber Players, performance, Piano Trio, prize, Rachmaninov, Ravel, runner up, Saint-Saens, seniors, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Sibelius, solo, students, studio, Tchaikovsky, trio, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Uri Vardi, video, Violin, Wes Luke, winds, winner, Wisconsin, wisconsin public radio, Wisconsin Public Television, WPR, WPT, YouTube
Classical music: The Mosaic Chamber Players opens their new season with violin sonatas by Mozart, Grieg and Szymanowski this Friday night.
Violinist Wes Luke and pianist Jess Salek will perform a "passionate program"of violin and piano music called "Sonatas and Myths" tomorrow night, Friday, Oct. 30, at 7:30 p.m. in the Landmark Auditorium at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed First Unitarian Society of Madison, 900 University Bay Drive.
The program includes: the elegant and intense Sonata in G Major K. 379, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (you can hear the sonata in a YouTube video at the bottom); the fiery Sonata in C minor, Op. 45, by the 19th-century Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg; and the extraordinary and unique "Myths," Op. 30, by the 20th-century Polish composer Karol Szymanowski.
There will be a reception following the program.
Tickets are $15 for the public; $10 for seniors; and $5 for students. Check or cash only will be accepted.
Information about upcoming concerts can be found on Mosaic's website http://www.mosaicchamberplayers.com/ or you can "like" or follow Mosaic Chamber Players on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Here is some background information about the performers::
Wes Luke (below) is a violinist and educator who performs and teaches across the upper Midwest. He currently serves as the Concertmaster of the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Symphony Orchestra, the Principal Second Violinist of the Dubuque (Iowa) Symphony Orchestra, and a section violinist in the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He also regularly plays in the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Wisconsin Philharmonic, where he has also served as Concertmaster.
Jess Salek holds degrees from Lawrence University (Bachelor of Music in piano performance) in Appleton, Wisconsin, and State University of New York at Stony Brook (Master of Music in piano performance). He has worked as Music Theory Instructor at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and as a piano instructor at Prairie Music Academy in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. He also has served as a judge for piano competitions and music festivals throughout Wisconsin.
From 2009-2013, Salek (below) served as Music Director of Fresco Opera Theatre, which in 2013 received Bronze in the Performing Arts Group category in Madison Magazine's "Best Of Madison" competition -– an award voted by fans.
He is the founder and owner of Salek Piano Studio, Inc., where he teaches a diverse group of over 45 students of all ages and levels on the west side of Madison.
Salek performs as substitute keyboardist with Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra for Concerts on the Square and Madison Symphony Orchestra. He is also a member of Sound Ensemble Wisconsin (SEW), a non-profit chamber music organization in Madison, and serves as accompanist for Madison Youth Choirs, a non-profit performing group based in Madison.
Most recently, Salek founded the Mosaic Chamber Players, a professional group dedicated to performing varied chamber music programs throughout Wisconsin. The Mosaics were recently described as "among the finest purveyors of chamber music in Madison" in a review by John W. Barker for The Well-Tempered Ear blog.
Here is a poster about the upcoming season of the Mosaic Chamber Players (using the magnifying tool will help you read it):
Tags: Appleton, Arts, Best of Madison, blog, Chamber music, Classical music, Concerts on the Square, Facebook, First Unitarian Society of Madison, Fresco Opera Theatre, Grieg, harpsichord, Instagram, Interlochen Arts Academy, Iowa, Jacob Stockinger, Jess Salek, John W. Barker, Lawrence University, Madison, Madison Magazine, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Michigan, Mosaic Chamber Players, Mozart, Music, myths, Norway, Orchestra, Piano, Poland, Sonata, Sound Ensemble Wisconsin, Szymanowski, The Well-Tempered Ear, Twitter, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Violin, violin sonatas, Wes Luke, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, YouTube


text:
Drupadia estella е вид пеперуда от семейство Синевки (Lycaenidae). Видът не е застрашен от изчезване.

Разпространение и местообитание
Разпространен е в Бруней, Индонезия (Калимантан и Суматра), Малайзия (Западна Малайзия, Сабах и Саравак) и Тайланд.

Обитава гористи местности, планини, възвишения и хълмове.

Източници

Външни препратки

Drupadia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Congress Could Roll Back Chemical Safety Rules Drafted After the West Explosion
By Mose Buchele • Feb 9, 2017
One of the apartment buildings destroyed in the West, Texas, explosion on April 18, 2013.
Filipa Rodrigues for KUT News
Originally published on February 10, 2017 11:19 am
Intent on rolling back Obama-era regulations, Republican lawmakers in Washington have placed an EPA rule enacted in the wake of the fertilizer explosion plant in West, Texas, on the chopping block.
The Obama-backed rule beefs up requirements and regulations on how businesses store and handle some dangerous chemicals. But action from the Republican-led Congress could both undo the rule and prevent the EPA from reinstating it.
In response to the 2013 explosion in West, the EPA beefed up requirements on how businesses handle dangerous chemicals like ammonium nitrate, the chemical attributed as the cause of the explosion. While Obama called on agencies to respond soon after the tragedy, the EPA didn't release its updated Risk Management rules until the waning days of his administration.
"The idea was to prevent releases of really highly toxic materials from facilities that contain them and explosions from within those facilities from highly reactive materials," says Tom McGarity, a professor of environmental law at UT Austin.
The new requirements aim to strengthen those risk-management plans that facilities are supposed to maintain, require third-party auditors to review safety conditions if something goes wrong, and enhance protections for first-responders.
Twelve of the 15 people killed in the West explosion were first-responders. That's one of the reasons McGarity is worried about a House resolution introduced this month to roll back the safety rules.
The resolution was filed under the Congressional Review Act, which allows lawmakers to quickly block regulations within 60 legislative days of their taking effect or their appearance in the Federal Register. Because of the short time limit for review, McGarity says the tactic is rarely used except in times when one party takes control of the government from another one.
In the town of West, attempts to end rules around chemical storage and handling are raising some eyebrows.
"I don't know what is in that regulation" West Mayor Tommy Muska says when asked about the potential rollback. "But sometimes regulations are needed when companies that make dangerous stuff fail to regulate themselves. People's lives are then in danger."
While the EPA cites "the tragedy at the West Fertilizer facility in West, Texas," as one of the reasons for issuing its updated rules, it didn't include ammonium nitrate, the chemical that caused that explosion, on its list of chemicals to come under the stricter regulation.
KUT's Mose Buchele reports
That also bothers Muska.
"I do know that ammonium nitrate is what blew up this town, and someone's got to be looking into that," he says.
In its posting on the Federal Register, the EPA leaves the door open to regulating ammonium nitrate at a later date.
But, federal agencies are barred from creating new rules on a similar topic without congressional approval under the Congressional Review Act, which could mean, McGarity says, that rules regulating ammonium nitrate could be off the table for the foreseeable future.
"So, not only are these regulations killed, they are killed and buried and can't ever be resurrected."
Copyright 2017 KUT-FM. To see more, visit KUT-FM.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Prevails In Prison Hunger Strike
Home » Marijuana News » World
Bill Weinberg
Media reports in Meico indicate that the notorious Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin Guzmán Loera AKA "El Chapo" — who evaded authorities for over a decade before being captured earlier this year — has claimed victory in a hunger strike at the top-security Altiplano prison at Almoloya de Juárez, México state. Chapo reportedly started the strike July 16 with fellow imprisoned kingpin Édgar Valdez Villarreal "La Barbie" — who had once been his comrade-in-arms but later became his bitter enemy when Barbie defected to the rival Beltran-Leyva cartel.
The hunger strike rapidly spread throughout the prison, with at least 1,000 other inmates joining. Authorities quickly capitulated on some of the key demands. Prisoners will be given new shoes and clothing, and they will be served more food (although it will be the same mediocre quality). Inmates will also be allowed to purchase more items such as toilet paper from the prison store. They will be allowed three attempts to make phone calls to their families; previously, if the call was not connected or the line was busy they had to wait nine days to try again.
Although other demands were not met, Chapo and Barbie called off the strike. It should be noted that Altiplano is the most elite prison in Mexico, with state-of-the-art security measures modeled after the "supermax" facilities in the United States. But conditions are far worse at the country's many overcrowded and corrupt state facilities — which have witnessed a series of bloody uprisings in recent years.
Related Topics:El ChapoPrison
El célebre capo de la droga "El Chapo", condenado a cadena perpetua
California Court Rules Possession of Small Amounts of Marijuana Legal in Prison
Parolee Sues Minnesota Department of Corrections Over Medical Marijuana Denial
Jury in Federal Court Finds Drug Kingpin El Chapo Guilty on all Charges
Inmate Suing for Right to Smoke Cannabis as Part of His Religious Practice


Apparently there are some big names among those performing this week. There's even been a boy band – Five.
I wonder what they've got lined up for Final Fling!
oh dear. Made up fun. You off to Canada soon? Looking forward to NZ end May. On TV the other day Will Greenwood had no Welsh players in his preferred Lions team. No longer on my Xmas card list!


text:
Q: magento url rewrite Can someone tell me how the rewrite cathomepagina?catid=3
to
horloges-3.html in magento...
cos i keep getting page not find after the 301 redirect

A: If you go into the web admin interface, navigate to Catalog > URL Rewrite Management.  You can add a custom rewrite using that interface.

A: Dont forget to make sure your Magento cache files are cleared!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Offers list of classes, instructor profiles and curriculum details. Illinois.
Features mission statement, faculty profiles and contact details. Located in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania.
Sociorealm has moved!!! You will be redirected to its new location in a fewsecounds. or click the link below http//www.digeratiweb.com/sociorealm.
WELCOME TO INTERNET SOCIOLOGIST. A free, teach yourself tutorial thatlets you practise your Internet Information Skills, using this tutorial.


text:
Capital Goods / Auto Manufacturing
Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord
Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014, the multinational corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and, as of October 2016, was the ninth-largest company in the world by revenue. As of 2016, Toyota is the world's second-largest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group. Toyota was the world's first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization and by revenue.
Toyota is the world's market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestone in January 2017. Its Prius family is the world's top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017.
Quick facts about Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord
545 List Japan: Hino (57.21%) Daihatsu (100%) Toyota Financial Services (100%) Toyota Motor East Japan (100%) International: Toyota Pakistan Toyota Motor North America (100%) Toyota Kirloskar India (89%) Toyota Canada (51%) Toyota Motor Sales USA (100%) Toyota Motor Europe (100%) Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (100%) Toyota (GB) PLC (100%) Toyota Motor Manufacturing France (100%) Toyota Motor Thailand (86.43%) Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile Czech (50%) Toyota Motor Russia (100%) Toyota Motor Corporation Australia (100%) Toyota South Africa Motors (100%)
Takeshi Uchiyamada (Chairman) Shigeru Hayakawa (Vice Chairman) Akio Toyoda (President)
Toyota Industries (6.73%) Nippon Life (3.59%) Denso (2.59%)
Automobiles, luxury vehicles, commercial vehicles, engines
TYO: 7203 LSE: TYT NYSE: TM TOPIX Core 30 Component
Net Promoter Score for Top Brands compared with Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord
Is Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord's estimated NPS of 10 considered to be good?
The industry average for Capital Goods / Auto Manufacturing is 0.
Consider an example: If Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord sends out NPS surveys immediately after purchase, they are tracking their customers' initial excitement and the checkout experience.
Therefore, comparing the NPS score of Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord with your own without any further context is not that useful.
Other companies with Net Promoter Score similar to Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord
TD Bank Financial Services / Banking 10
Yahoo! Consumer Brands / Internet 9
Lyft Travel and Hospitality / Car Rental 9
Showtime Consumer Brands / Entertainment 11
Allianz Financial Services / Banking 8
Visa Financial Services / Credit cards 8
J.P. Morgan Financial Services / Banking 8
We have estimated the Net Promoter Score of Toyota Motor Corp Ltd Ord based on the publicly available information


text:
Reviewing the 2019 Local Elections
|In 2019 Local Elections
"All the right votes, but not necessarily in the right order"
So there was a local election last Thursday. In advance of this I wrote a preview piece for Britain Elects which turned out to be a bit of a longread but did seem to go down well. Let's see how what I wrote eventually stacked up in the cold light of the day after what has to rank as one of the most bizarre sets of local elections in recent years…
The North East was the scene of the biggest post being elected this year: the Mayor of the North of Tyne. This column had suspected an upset might be on the cards for this position given some appalling Labour performances in the North East in recent years and the fact that Labour's candidate Jamie Driscoll is as Corbynista as they come. Driscoll did carry the first preferences, but the performance was nothing to write home about: he had 34%, to 25% for the Tories' Charlie Hoult, 17% for independent candidate John McCabe and 13% for the Lib Dems' John Appleby. Transfers from McCabe, the Lib Dems and UKIP split evenly between Labour and the Conservatives, giving Driscoll a fairly easy win by 56-44 in the runoff. We wait to see whether he turns the region into Venezuela-on-Tyne as promised by his opponents. (If he can bring Venezuela's weather to Whitley Bay that should ensure re-election.)
Elsewhere in the North East the appalling Labour performances of recent years continued. I started with Hartlepool, where the major forces that did well this year – independents and minor parties – are at their strongest and where the Labour administration had descended into infighting. That infighting produced five Labour losses, including the first ever council seats for the Veterans and Peoples Party in Foggy Furze and for the For Britain Movement in De Bruce ward. The Veterans and Peoples Party – which believes that ex-servicemen and -women are the perfect people to run the country – may have lifted its mission statement word for word from the Liberal Democrat constitution but its policies lie somewhere on the dividing line between populist and far-right; there can be little doubt that the For Britain Movement, the party of Anne-Marie Waters, is on the far side of that line. Both of them have been given the navy blue far-right shade on the map above. The pink shade in the map is for the Independent Union; they, the independent councillors, the other microparties mentioned above and Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour Party now hold sixteen seats on Hartlepool council, to thirteen Labour, three Tories and one UKIP.
Hartlepool was one of four councils lost by Labour in the Tees Valley mayoral area, all five of whose districts are now hung. Independents are now the largest group on Redcar and Cleveland council, the Conservatives have taken over largest-party status in Darlington, and Labour now find themselves short of a majority in Stockton-on-Tees. Middlesbrough has an independent mayor again after a four-year Labour interlude; Andy Preston, who had lost the 2015 mayoral election by a very narrow margin, got his revenge by beating the new Labour candidate 59-23 in the first round of voting.
I wrote that Sunderland would see wild swings. Just how wild can be gauged from the map:
Bit of a mess, isn't it? That's twelve losses for Labour, including Washington South which elected the first Green member of Sunderland council. Similar to a case in Trafford last year, the outgoing Labour councillor for Washington South had been sent down for child sex offences shortly before the election, leaving an open seat which the Greens picked up. That was just one of many cases in this election where the Green Party won their first seat in a district. Despite everything, Labour still have a secure majority: they hold 51 out of 75 seats on Sunderland council.
The two by-elections to Durham council also turned in interesting results. Shildon and Dene Valley was gained by the Liberal Democrats from Labour; while Spennymoor broke a possibly unwanted record. Ian Geldard, one of four independent candidates contesting the division, polled 489 votes out of 2,661 counted; that's only 18.7%, but it was enough to win on a perfect eight-way vote split. In seventeen years of looking at elections, this is the lowest winning score your columnist has ever seen and only the second election I can remember with a first-place score under 20%. The fact that somebody can be and is elected as a sole representative while being rejected by over 81% of the voters shows England's first-past-the-post system up for the lottery that it can be, and should give even the most ardent defenders of the status quo some pause for thought.
Labour also went backwards in northern Cumbria. The Conservatives are now the largest party on Carlisle city council, and Labour haemorrhaged seats in Workington to independent candidates to fall into third place on Allerdale council. Independent Mayor of Copeland Mike Starkie was re-elected for a second term in the first round, beating Labour 57-26. The Conservatives lost their overall majority in the deeply rural and far-flung Eden district, although they are still the largest party.
In Lancaster district the Morecambe Bay Independents rose again after nearly being wiped out at the 2015 election; that cost the Labour party their majority, while the Conservatives – who had suffered from infighting here – also performed poorly. That wasn't the only Lancashire district lost by Labour, who shed four seats and lost control of Burrnley council. Next-door Pendle, which previously had a Conservative majority, has also become hung; and the Tories have also lost control of South Ribble district where Labour are now the largest party. I must apologise for the Pendle preview, which had some errors in the text.
The main story in Merseyside was the Labour loss of Wirral council, where the party lost two seats to the Greens, Oxton to the Lib Dems and Pensby and Thingwall to the Conservatives. How's that left-wing takeover going again? In Cheshire proper the Labour majority in Cheshire West and Chester appears to have been scuppered by boundary changes, but the party still holds 35 out of 70 seats and their administration should continue. The Conservatives surprisingly lost control of Cheshire East, with Labour making big gains in the towns of Macclesfield and Sandbach, but the blue team remain as the largest party there.
Crossing the boundary into Greater Manchester, Stockport council is on a knife-edge: the Liberal Democrats gained five wards from the Conservatives but lost Manor to Labour, leaving the Labour and Lib Dem groups tied on 26 seats each. The Conservatives and the Heald Green Ratepayers now hold the balance of power.
In Trafford the same trends which saw the Conservatives lose their majority in 2018 were, if anything, intensified as Labour convincingly gained overall control of the borough. The Tories lost nine of the thirteen seats they won in 2015, holding only St Mary's ward in Sale and the Real Housewives of Cheshire territory of Hale and Bowdon; Labour gained Ashton upon Mersey ward in Sale for the first time ever. No wonder Jeremy Corbyn turned up in Sale on Friday morning. The new council has 36 Labour councillors and an opposition of 27.
Another place where the same trends as 2018 were evident, only more so, was the Greatest Town in the Known Universe. A repeat of the 2018 results would have seen Labour lose five seats nett in Bolton; in fact they lost seven and gained nothing. The Tories picked up Breightmet and Hulton, Westhoughton South went Lib Dem, and localist parties Farnworth and Kearsley First, and the Horwich and Blackrod Independents, cleaned up in their respective areas. It wasn't all good news for the Bolton Tories though, as they lost Westhoughton North and Chew Moor to the Liberal Democrats; additionally the Labour councillor who had gone independent has now rejoined the Labour Party in a move which might make all the difference to the administration on this truly hung council. Labour remain the largest party on 24 seats, the Conservatives have 20, and the remaining 16 are split between the Lib Dems (6), Farnworth and Kearsley First (5), UKIP (3) and the Horwich and Blackrod Independents (2). We may not know who will be running the Bolton administration for the next year until the next full council meeting.
Over on the wrong side of the Pennines Labour got the gains they needed in Calderdale to complete a clean sweep of the Yorkshire metropolitan boroughs. The Conservatives lost six seats in Calderdale, four of which (Luddendenfoot, Sowerby Bridge, Skircoat and Elland) went to Labour; that puts Labour on 29 seats, against 23 for the opposition.
In North Yorkshire we start to see the big Conservative losses which characterised this election. The party lost a number of seats to independents, which cost them control of the tiny Craven and Richmondshire districts in the Yorkshire Dales; the Tories also fell back in Ryedale and Scarborough districts on the North York Moors. Hambleton council saw a tied result in Northallerton South ward, with Labour and the Conservatives finishing on 527 votes each; the returning officer drew lots to settle the tie and Labour's Gerald Ramsden was declared elected. He's the first Labour councillor in Hambleton for some years. The Liberal Democrats overtook Labour to become the largest party on York city council.
Fans of regional devolution will be pleased to note that the Yorkshire Party has won its first elected council seats, two on East Riding council and one in Selby district. We also say hello to the Democrats and Veterans Party. Not to be confused with the Veterans and Peoples Party described under Hartlepool above, the Democrats and Veterans Party is a UKIP splinter led by the man who claimed that a gay donkey raped his horse; their two wins came in a truly fragmented Barnsley council election in which independents and minor parties claimed 36% of the vote, to just 33% for Labour. On the Remain side of the Remain/Leave divide, Steve Wilson – husband of the Change UK MP Angela Smith – did very badly in his attempt to be re-elected to Sheffield city council as an independent; Wilson polled just 102 votes and finished eighth out of nine candidates in his East Ecclesfield ward.
The bright spot for the Conservatives in the region was North East Lincolnshire, where they gained five seats (Croft Baker, Freshney, Immingham and Yarborough from Labour, and Park from the Lib Dems) and control of the council. And what was the very first thing the Tories did with their new-found power? Cancel the roundabout replacement plan in Grimsby which I mentioned in the preview. Don't let anybody tell you that local elections never changed anything.
In Lincolnshire proper, the Conservatives have confirmed their control of Boston council. However, they surprisingly lost their majority in the North Kesteven district, which is based on the Sleaford and North Hykeham parliamentary seat – the seat which returned the highest Tory share of the vote in the 2017 general election. North Kesteven now has 22 independent councillors against 20 Conservatives and one vacancy: the first by-election to the Class of 2019 will be here after the two-seat ward of Billinghay, Martin and North Kyme attracted only one candidate. To the north of Lincoln, a Lib Dem revival in West Lindsey district almost knocked out the Tory majority there.
The story of the night in Leicestershire belongs to the Lib Dems, who gained nine seats and overall control of Hinckley and Bosworth district which I had identified as a long-shot. In the big race Sir Peter Soulsby was re-elected as Mayor of Leicester, crushing the Conservatives' Baroness Verma 61-17 in the first round.
Moving into Nottinghamshire, Anna Soubry's Broxtowe district has fallen into no overall control; the Conservatives have lost five seats and currently stand on 20, to 14 for Labour, five Lib Dems, two independents and two vacancies. The Broxtowe 2019 election is not yet finished, as one of the outgoing Tory councillors for Stapleford South East ward died during the campaign and the poll there has had to be postponed; if the Conservatives can hold both seats in that ward they will finish up with half of the council.
One of the Broxtowe seats in Brinsley ward was won by the Ashfield Independents – the Zadroznyites. I warned you this was coming, didn't I? Jason Zadrozny and his supporters now control 30 out of 35 seats on Ashfield council, most of which were won with ridiculously high shares of the vote; over 80% was typical. If Zadrozny fancies another shot at the Ashfield parliamentary seat in due course (he was rhe Lib Dem candidate for Ashfield in 2010 and very nearly won), on this evidence Labour's Gloria de Piero doesn't stand a chance.
Things were brighter for Labour in Mansfield, where the mayoral and council elections finished with opposite results as they often do. The Mansfield Independent Forum now have a majority on Mansfield council; but the Mansfield mayoral election was a different matter. Labour's Andy Abrahams led in the first round with 29% of the vote, to 25% for incumbent Independent Forum mayor Kate Allsop, 20% for independent Steve Garner and 15% for the Tories' George Jabbour; in the runoff Allsop picked up most of the transfers, but not quite enough of them as Abrahams won the mayoralty by 7,930 votes to 7,928, a majority of two votes. As the first Labour mayor of Mansfield Abrahams will be supported on the council by the 15 Labour councillors, which will be enough for Labour to govern the borough; the 19 Independent Forum and two Conservative councillors are not enough to constitute the two-thirds majority needed to block the mayoral budget.
Two Derbyshire councils which I hadn't mentioned in the preview were Bolsover and North East Derbyshire, both of which saw a change in control. Labour lost their majority in Bolsover district, as independents gained eleven seats and the Tories and Lib Dems won representation. Local MP Dennis Skinner will no doubt have something pungent to say about that. With Labour on eighteen seats, independents on sixteen and nineteen needed for a majority, the Tories and Lib Dems now hold the balance of power.
North East Derbyshire was the only council which the Conservatives gained directly from Labour this year. This district is undergoing rapid demographic change, as coalmining towns like Dronfield, Killamarsh and Clay Cross are replaced with Sheffield and Chesterfield commuter areas like Dronfield, Killamarsh and Clay Cross. The Tories had gained the North East Derbyshire parliamentary seat in 2017, and followed up on that in these local elections to win 30 seats out of a possible 53.
The High Peak district of Derbyshire also swung to the party that gained the parliamentary seat two years ago, except this time Labour were the beneficiaries. This area is very different from the rest of Derbyshire and arguably shouldn't be in the East Midlands region at all, as the main centres of population are Glossop and New Mills which are in the economic and cultural orbit of Manchester. The Conservatives will be defending all but one of the High Peak seats in the 2021 Derbyshire county council elections, and must now be rather worried at their prospects for that poll.
Another bright spot for Derbyshire Labour was the Amber Valley district which now has a convincing Labour majority. The party gained all four seats in Belper plus the Heage and Ambergate ward, and were within 50 votes of gaining both Ripley wards. The Tories also lost the rock-solid Duffield ward to the Green Party, who won their first ever seat to break the duopoly on Amber Valley council. There was better news for the Conservatives in Derby: the city council remains hung, but another bloodbath for Labour – who lost six seats to add to their rout in 2018 – means that the Conservatives are now the largest party and their administration is a bit more secure than it was previously.
I had nominated the two-party state of Dudley as the stand-out council to watch in the West Midlands thanks its knife-edge political situation. These elections haven't resolved that deadlock. The Tories recovered the Norton ward where their sitting councillor had gone independent, but all other changes cancelled each other out leaving the Conservatives and Labour tied on 36 seats each. The current Mayor of Dudley is a Conservative, so it seems likely that the Tories will take control of the borough for the next year on the mayoral casting vote.
That aside there were generally good Tory performances in Staffordshire past and present, the standout one being Walsall where the Conservatives gained two seats and a majority on the council. The two gains from Labour were in Birchills-Leamore and Bloxwich East wards, both of which are very working-class areas; the Walsall North constituency is by a very long way the most deprived seat to vote Tory in the 2017 general election. It seems rather bizarre that Walsall has become only the second metropolitan borough with a Conservative majority (the other is Solihull).
The Labour performance in Cannock Chase was nothing to write home about either, as they lost control of the council. There were some mistakes in my preview of this district as I had overlooked the effect of two by-elections in Hednesford in 2017; overall Labour lost Brereton and Ravenhill to the Lib Dems, Hagley to the Conservatives and Hednesford North to the Green Party. The Conservatives also recovered a by-election loss from Labour in Hednesford Green Heath; but they came out with a net loss of seats as well because Norton Canes went to Labour and Hednesford South and Rawnsley were Green gains (the former confirming a by-election gain). Labour remain the largest party with 18 seats, three short of a majority; the Tories have 15 and the five Green Party councillors now hold the balance of power.
The Conservatives also performed well in Stoke-on-Trent, where they are now the second largest party; their coalition with the City Independents may well continue. However, the Tories lost control of the neighbouring and deeply rural district of Staffordshire Moorlands, where independents and Labour made big gains.
That wasn't the only district in the West Midlands the Tories lost. The controversial Tory administration in Herefordshire crashed and burned, and independent councillors of various stripes now hold half of the seats. The Conservatives also lost council majorities in Malvern Hills, Wyre Forest (where the Kidderminster Health Concern group had a resurgence), the city of Worcester and the Warwick district. Worcester had an all-party administration so the loss of a Tory majority is unlikely to make any practical difference there. One relatively bright spot for the Conservatives was South Staffordshire, where the sacking of the local MP Gavin Williamson from the Cabinet on the day before the poll doesn't seem to have had much of an effect on the Conservative majority.
Thus far the main focus of this piece has been on Labour not performing very well in its strong or formerly strong areas. That will now change as we cross the Severn-Wash line and come to East Anglia and the South, the Tory heartlands. These are the regions where the 1,300 Conservative losses on Thursday were concentrated. If you are Tory-inclined and of a nervous disposition, you might not want to read any further.
Having issued that trigger warning, we enter East Anglia via the city of Peterborough where the Conservatives have lost their majority: they made four nett losses in these elections, two to Labour, one to the Greens and one to the Lib Dems. The Lib Dem gain was in Hampton Vale, one of two wards which were drawn up in 2016 with very low electorates because lots of now houses are slated for this area, so keep an eye on Hampton Vale and the neighbouring Hargate and Hempsted ward for political volatility as the houses get built and the population increases. Areas like this south of the Nene are not part of the Peterborough parliamentary seat, to which this column will be returning with a Parliamentary Special at the start of June after the recall petition against Fiona Onasanya succeeded.
Before being an MP Onasanya was a Cambridgeshire county councillor representing a division in the city of Cambridge. Another Cambridgeshire county councillor representing a division in the city of Cambridge who tried to hang onto their seat long after they should have resigned was Donald Adey of the Liberal Democrats, who continued to represent the Trumpington area on Cambridgeshire county council and Cambridge city council for some months after he'd moved to Scotland last year. Unlike Onasanya, Adey did eventually resign and the resulting county council by-election – which I had accidentally omitted from the preview piece – was an easy hold for the Liberal Democrats. Not much changed in Cambridge city this year, but East Cambridgeshire district was a different matter: the Lib Dems gave this council a good go, but in the event fell short with 13 seats against 15 for the Conservatives.
One East Anglian council which did however fall to the Lib Dems was North Norfolk, as the voters delivered their verdict on the Tory antics in the 2015-19 term. The new North Norfolk council has 30 Lib Dems opposed by just six Conservatives and four independents. Great Yarmouth council has now moved off the thirds electoral cycle and its next elections will be in 2023.
Suffolk turned out to be more interesting than expected. The new councils of East and West Suffolk returned large Conservative majorities as expected, but the Tories lost overall control of Mid Suffolk and the Babergh district (which lies immediately south-west of Ipswich and whose largest town is Sudbury. Mid Suffolk is finely balanced, with 16 Conservatives, 12 Greens, and the balance of power held by five Lib Dems and an independent; the Conservatives are two seats short of a majority in Babergh and may seek to form a minority administration.
This column had speculated that the Tories may have been on course for a majority in Tendring: but it didn't work out like that. The Tories remain the largest group on the council but fall to 16 seats, against nine independents, six Labour councillors, five UKIPpers, four Tendring First councillors, three members of a localist party in Holland-on-Sea, two Lib Dems and one councillor elected for the Foundation Party (of which I know nothing). We may have to wait for the postponed poll in St Osyth ward, which will return the final two councillors on 23rd May, to see who will form the administration here. Tendring wasn't the only bad Conservative performance in rural Essex: the Residents for Uttlesford group convincingly took overall control of the Uttlesford district, which covers the north-west corner of the county and includes Saffron Walden and Stansted Airport. The Conservatives also went backwards in Colchester, losing a seat to the Green Party who may seek to join the rainbow coalition running Colchester council.
The big headlines in Essex were however reserved for Chelmsford, and rightly so. In the 2015 local elections the Conservatives had carried every ward in Chelmsford district, and won 52 seats to 5 for the Liberal Democrats. There had been little indication from the 2017 Essex county or general elections that this was going to significantly change; but significantly change it did. As can be seen from the map the Lib Dems stormed the wards in Chelmsford city proper (the map was drawn before the district got city status…) and they now have 31 seats on the council against 21 Conservatives, three independents and two councillors from a South Woodham Ferrers localist party.
And this is only the start of what we shall see has been a bonfire of the Conservatives in the London commuter belt. The party lost eight seats in Southend-on-Sea and control of the council. They lost three seats in the volatile New Town of Basildon and control of the council. They lost five seats in Brentwood, although there is still a Tory majority there. In Thurrock the ex-UKIP Thurrock Independents held their own to a much greater extent than would have been suggested by March's by-election result from Aveley and Uplands ward; Thurrock council remains hung with the Conservatives as the largest party.
A similar situation pertains in Hertfordshire where Welwyn Hatfield, North Hertfordshire and St Albans districts all had Conservative majorities going into this election, and all are now hung councils. In the case of St Albans the Liberal Democrats are now the largest party, with 25 seats against 23 Conservatives, six Labour, three independents and a Green. Further out from London the Lib Dems' Dave Hodgson successfully defended the Bedford mayoralty: he led on the first count with 36% against 32% for the Conservatives and 20% for Labour, and extended his lead over the the Conservatives in the runoff to 54-46.
The only Buckinghamshire district up this year was the New City of Milton Keynes, which remains hung but with Labour now as the largest party. They gained two seats from the Conservatives to finish on 23; the Tories now have 19 and the Lib Dems have 15. Overall the Conservatives lost five seats in MK, but once you take into account the scale of their rout across the south and the fact they were defending ten marginal wards, it could have been a lot worse. This may not be the last we hear of the 2019 Milton Keynes election: there was no Conservative candidate for Central Milton Keynes ward, and according to press reports the Tories were considering legal action with claims that the returning officer had lost their nomination papers.
I had warned of the possibility of a large anti-Tory swing in the Vale of White Horse district, and so it came to pass: the Vale now has a large Lib Dem majority, with 31 seats against just six Conservatives and a Green. The Lib Dems are now also the largest party in the neighbouring South Oxfordshire district, where the Tories had won 33 out of 36 seats in 2015; an electoral pact between the Lib Dems and the Green Party proved very effective here, and those two parties now have a bare majority between them.
None of the Berkshire councils changed control, but the Tories must now be seriously worried about the Wokingham district where they have been underperforming for some time. In 2015 the Conservatives won all eighteen of the seats up for election; this year they lost ten of those seats, with eight nett gains for the Lib Dems who are now clearly the second largest party on the council. The new Wokingham council has 31 Conservatives to 16 Lib Dems, four Labour councillors and three independents. The Prime Minister's district of Windsor and Maidenhead saw heavy Conservative losses, but the Tories still have a majority on that council with 23 out of 41 seats.
Surrey, on the other hand, was a bloodbath for the Conservative party. Of the 1300 or so seats they lost across England in these local elections, 120 were in Surrey. In Michael Gove's constituency of Surrey Heath the party collapsed from 36 seats out of 40 to 18 seats out of 35, a majority of one. In the hung Elmbridge district the party lost three seats and a coalition of the Residents and Lib Dems looks likely to take over. In Mole Valley district the Conservatives lost ten of the twelve seats they were defending (one of them by failing to get their nomination papers in) and the Lib Dems now have a majority. There is just one Conservative councillor remaining in Chris Grayling's constituency of Epsom and Ewell. Tandridge district has fallen into no overall control.
And in two particularly epic failures, which this column didn't see coming, Waverley council (the south-west corner, around Farnham and Godalming) became hung, and independents are now the largest group on Guildford council where the Tories were reduced to just nine councillors. In those two districts alone, 55 Conservatives lost their seats. 16 million people may be happy to note that that one of the Guildford Tories now seeking new employment is Christian Holliday, the Tory councillor who wanted to make support for remaining in the EU a treason felony. Only Donald Trump can insult that many people and get away with it, and Holliday is no Trump. This column was under the distinct impression that the Conservatives were going to kick Holliday out for that piece of moronic idiocy, but instead he was quietly readmitted to the party once the fuss had blown over in a decision which reflects badly on everyone involved. Waverley district also had a by-election to Surrey county council in the Haslemere division, which the Conservatives lost to an independent candidate.
From a Tory point of view, Kent wasn't much better. Take a look at this map of Tunbridge Wells district, which again wasn't on your columnist's radar, and bear in mind that the Conservatives were defending all seventeen wards up for election:
Bit of a mess, isn't it? That's thirteen losses for the Conservatives, with the pink wards going to the localist Tunbridge Wells Alliance. Now there are reasons for the electors of Tunbridge Wells to be even more disgusted than usual at their local council, which is merrily blowing all the goodwill it has with a plan to build a new civic centre and theatre in a historic local park; but this is still an epically bad Tory result. Like several other councils already mentioned in this piece and some others yet to come, Tunbridge Wells is a district where the weakness of the Conservative and Labour parties this year meant that unpopular administrations got their comeuppance. The new Tunbridge Wells council has 28 Conservatives to 9 Lib Dems, 6 seats for the Tunbridge Wells Alliance, 4 Labour councillors and an independent; another year like this and it'll be No Overall Control time.
We've already gone past that point in Gravesham, which now has a Labour majority again. The split in the local Conservative party clearly had a bad effect on the electorate as the Tories lost five seats. The Kent county council by-election in Northfleet and Gravesend West division was safely held by Labour; the same cannot be said of the week's other Kent county council by-election in Sittingbourne North which the Conservatives lost to the Swale Independents. That was emblematic of the result in Swale council as a whole; this district based on Sittingbourne, Faversham and the Isle of Sheppey had returned large Tory and UKIP caucuses in 2015, but this year the Conservatives lost half their seats and control of the council with UKIP holding just one seat. The Tories retain 16 seats, to 11 Labour, 10 Swale Independents, 5 Lib Dems, 2 Greens, 2 independents and that 1 Kipper.
Another council with a similar trend to that in Swale is Folkestone and Hythe, the district on the south coast of Kent formerly known as Shepway. This one is finely balanced: with 16 seats necessary for a majority, the Conservatives have 13, the Greens and Labour six each, the Lib Dems and UKIP two each and there is one independent councillor.
In Thanet it would appear that we are back to the status quo ante Farage, with UKIP completely wiped out. Labour had been the biggest losers from the 2015 UKIP surge in Thanet, and this time round they were the biggest winners from its unwind; the new council has 25 Conservatives, 20 Labour, 8 independents of various types and three Greens. Another four years of entertainment from the Byzantine mess which is Thanet politics looks distinctly on the cards.
Moving into Sussex, the Conservatives lost control of the Rother district, which covers the rural eastern end of the county and surrounds Hastings on the landward side; the party lost more than half of its seats and is now just one seat ahead of the independents. This was the only East Sussex district to see a change in control. The Lib Dems may have been looking for a gain of Lewes district but in the event they lost seats there; the Greens are now second on Lewes council behind the Conservatives, who are one seat short of an overall majority.
The Greens also did well in Brighton and Hove, bouncing back somewhat as memories of the 2011-15 administration faded. Labour fell back to 20 seats, one ahead of the Greens; the Tories recovered a bit from their awful 2017 general election result to hold 14 seats, and the remaining seat went to an independent.
There was more bad news for the Tories in West Sussex; they lost control of the Arun district (the coastal strip around Bognor and Littlehampton) and the far-flung Chichester district. In Arun the Liberal Democrats are now the largest party, with independents holding the balance of power. The Conservatives failed to improve their situation in Crawley, where Labour retained the council majority and also held the West Sussex county by-election in Northgate and West Green. Worthing will be a serious cause of concern for the West Sussex Conservatives in the 2020 election, as the party lost six of the eleven seats they were defending; five of them went to Labour who have now won ten seats on Worthing council since May 2017. For purposes of comparison, Labour had never won a council seat in Worthing before May 2017.
Moving into Hampshire, Portsmouth council remains hung but the Liberal Democrats are now the largest party, having gained two seats nett at these elections. Winchester district now has a Liberal Democrat majority, with six seats flipping from the Conservatives to give the Lib Dems area a 27-18 lead in this two-party state. In Hart district the Community Campaign/Lib Dem coalition increased its majority, and the Community Campaign has naw drawn level with the Conservatives following five Tory losses. One bright spot for the Hampshire Conservatives was however Havant district, where the party was defending every seat up for election and did so successfully.
Our final region is the South West, and we start in Dorset which was reorganised this year with two new unitary councils. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council ended up as a hung council, with 36 Conservatives (three seats short of a majority), 15 Lib Dems, 11 independents, 7 members of the localist Poole People party, 3 Labour, 2 Greens and one councillor from the new Alliance for Local Living. Dorset council will have a small Tory majority and a sizeable Lib Dem opposition for its first term, which will last until 2024 as part of a transitional arrangement.
A rare positive result for the Conservatives in the south of England was Swindon where the party increased its majority over Labour to 31-24, with two Lib Dems also on the council. With Swindon forming two marginal parliamentary seats and the well-publicised problems regarding the future of the Honda plant, this may be a straw in the wind suggesting that Labour are not ready to break through here.
Over the border in Gloucestershire the Tory administration in Cotswold district has been defeated, with the Lib Dems winning an overall majority. They have 18 seats to 14 Conservatives, a Green and an independent. The Cotswold Tories have never been short of controversy with the Cotswold Water Park affair having given Private Eye's Rotten Boroughs column material for years, and even this election has caused a row which looks set to run and run. One of the 14 Conservative seats was the Tetbury Town ward: this was won with a majority of one after the returning officer reportedly accepted as a valid Conservative vote a ballot paper on which the voter had written the word "Brexit" and an arrow pointing to the Tory candidate's name. The losing independent candidate is threatening legal action, and this will be a fun one for the Election Court to adjudicate on if it gets that far. Elsewhere in Gloucestershire, the mess in the Forest of Dean district has not resolved itself: the council remains hung but independent candidates are now the largest group, with 14 councillors against 10 Conservatives, 6 Greens and 5 Labour. UKIP were wiped out.
Cotswold notwithstanding, the most impressive performance for the Liberal Democrats in this region came in Bath and North East Somerset; the Lib Dems swept the city of Bath and did well enough in Jacob Rees-Mogg's North East Somerset constituency to win an overall majority. The young fogey himself now has a Lib Dem councillor in his home Mendip ward. In what was generally a very impressive set of elections for the Green Party, this was one of only two districts where they were wiped out (the other was Cambridge). The Lib Dems are also now the largest party on Mendip council, and independents form the largest group in North Somerset district; both of those had Conservative majorities in 2015. Finally, the Liberal Democrats won an impressive overall majority in the new district of Somerset West and Taunton; they have 30 councillors, against 14 independents, 10 Conservatives, 3 Labour and 2 Greens.
That leaves just one county to consider, Devon. Here was another set of bad Conservative performances, as they lost majorities in Torridge, Mid Devon and East Devon districts and now have a majority of just one in South Hams district. The East Devon district, which at parliamentary level has seen two strong independent challenges from county councillor Claire Wright in the last two elections, now has an independent majority, and independents form the largest group in Torridge district. Two Devon districts now have Lib Dem majorities: North Devon on the north coast and Teignbridge on the south coast.
There is one more item of business to note from Thursday. The only poll which took place in Scotland was a by-election to Dundee city council, held in the North East ward; this resulted in a Scottish National Party gain from Labour, and as a result the SNP now have an overall majority in the city of Dundee. Before yesterday's by-election, all 29 councils in mainland Scotland had been hung; that's because Scotland moved twelve years ago to using proportional representation for its local elections, a system which means that councils reflect the votes cast far better than some examples which have been presented in this piece. The Welsh Government is considering giving councils the right to choose their electoral system in the future, and one of these days – perhaps after the government changes next – England is going to follow suit. This piece has mentioned a number of local administrations which over the last four years or more have been complacent, poorly-performing, disrespected, decaying, or worse; and in many of those cases its England's first-past-the-post electoral system which keeps them there, with council majorities which their vote shares simply don't warrant. This year we've seen some violent voter reactions to some administrations like that; it may have been first-past-the-post that got rid of some of those bad apples, but it was also first-past-the-post that put them there with lopsided, unwarranted majorities in the first place. As in so many things, prevention may be better than cure.
Rather a lot to chew over there, isn't there? Well, this is the largest year in the local electoral cycle and there will necessarily be a lot to go through. This piece may represent the first draft of my attempts to make sense of what happened on 2nd May but it has only scratched the surface. We're in volatile political times, and these crazy local election results are a fair reflection of that volatility. There will be much more to say in the future as we start to work through the by-elections which will be generated in due course by the Class of 2019, and Andrew's Previews and Britain Elects will of course keep you as informed as ever as they happen. Stay tuned.