Gilbert
& Sullivan Weekend
March 30-31, 2007
Gilbert
& Sullivan Packages include lodging, entertainment,
full gourmet breakfast each morning, and our famous five-course
dinner .
Friday
evening: A welcoming get together followed by an
impromptu read-through of HMS Pinafore, in which all guests
are invited to participate as singers, readers or spectators
(Scores will be available, but bring your own chickens,
conies and pretty polonies). Bill Lutes and Martha Fischer
will help us set sail around the piano at Le Chateau Boutin.
Saturday morning: Breakfast and plenty of leisure
time for exploring an extensive library of G&S books,
recordings and videos, or exploring Bayfield.
Saturday afternoon: "Innocent Merriment":
An Afternoon Romp through the Comic Operas of W.S. Gilbert
and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Bill and Martha return to Le Chateau
Boutin for this theatrical revue of favorite G&S songs
and scenes. The talented duo will be joined by their children
and budding Savoyards Katie and Nathaniel Lutes, and Bruce
Gladstone, of the UW Madison Choral Department.
Saturday evening: Grand Banquet and G&S
Sing-a-Thon. Bring your favorite G&S song, duet or trio
(and a costume if you wish) for talent night at the Rittenhouse.
You are invited to perform between courses of a fabulous
Victorian dinner...with plenty of choruses to keep it everyone
in tune. Bill, Martha and Bruce will be available at the
piano, and will fill-in vocally as needed.
Sunday morning: Following breakfast, join
us in the RIttenhouse dining room for a free-flowing G&S
roundtable and story-swapping session, moderated by Bill
Lutes, Martha Fischer and Innkeepers extraordinaire Jerry
and Mary Phillips.
Martha Fischer is Assistant Professor of
piano, and head of the accompanying program at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music. A sought-after accompanist,
she has collaborated with outstanding instrumentalists and
singers, has toured throughout the United States and Europe.
Recently her performance with baritone Paul Rowe of Franz
Schubert’s Winterreise was released by the University
of Wisconsin Press .
In addition, for six years Ms Fischer was Artistic and Music
Director of Opera for the Young, an organization which tours
schools throughout the Midwest with specially adapted productions
of opera for children. Ms. Fischer has presented workshops
and papers on “Collaborative Experiences for the Developing
Pianist” at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference and
for the Wisconsin Music Teachers Association.
Ms. Fischer and her husband, Bill Lutes, tour the United
States as both pianists and singers, performing much of
the four-hand and two-piano repertoire as well as songs
and scenes of Gilbert and Sullivan in an entertainment they
have devised called Innocent Merriment. Ms. Fischer has
been seen on stage in the roles of the Fairy Queen and Iolanthe
in Iolanthe, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, and Lady Psyche in
Princess Ida. She holds degrees in piano from Oberlin College
and the New England Conservatory of Music.
Bill
Lutes wears many artistic hats. He is currently
Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin/Madison
School of Music where he serves as vocal coach and accompanist
for the University Opera. As pianist he performs as soloist
and collaborative musician with instrumentalists and singers,
and has appeared as soloist with the Madison Symphony Orchestra,
the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the UW Madison Symphony
and the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra. Bill received
degrees in piano performance from the University of Kentucky
and the UW/Madison where he studied with Howard Karp. He
was also awarded the Artist Diploma from the New England
Conservatory of Music.
Bill also appears as a singing actor, particularly in the
comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan, in which he specializes
in the “patter” roles. Bill frequently collaborates
with his pianist/singer wife, Martha Fischer, in concerts
of the piano duet and two-piano literature. Together they
present ‘Innocent Merriment” a review of songs
and scenes from Gilbert and Sullivan. They have also worked
with Opera for the Young of Wisconsin as performers, and
in the creation and adaptations of operas, specially designed
to introduce young audiences to the joys of opera.
Bill served as Director of the NPR News and Classical Music
Network of Wisconsin Public Radio, from 1994 to January
1999. From 1987 until that time, he hosted and produced
classical music programs for statewide broadcast, including
the weekly Saturday Request Show and Sunday Afternoon Live
from the Elvehjem; and helped establish several award-winning
outreach projects and educational programs. He is a regular
panelist on the Metropolitan Opera broadcast's Opera Quiz.
Bill maintains an independent piano and vocal coaching studio
in Madison.
Katie
Lutes is currently a junior at St Olaf College
in Northfield, Minnesota where she is pursuing a Bachelor
of Music degree in music education with a vocal emphasis.
As a youngster Katie joined her parents onstage in Madison
Savoyards productions. While attending Madison's Memorial
High School, she performed leading roles in West Side Story,
42nd Street, and Kiss Me Kate, as well as non-singing leads
in Up the Down Staircase and Steel Magnolias. Katie's great
love of music, children and musical theater have inspired
her to choose a career in teaching. This winter she spends
four weeks in Hawaii teaching music in two elementary schools.
Nathaniel Lutes is a senior at Madison's
Memorial High where he is active in music, drama and forensics.
This winter he plays King Arthur in Memorial's production
of Camelot. In previous years he has had leads in Guys and
Dolls and How to Succeed in Business. He also is a member
of an up-and-coming rock band Roulette Notations. Like his
sister, Nathaniel began appearing in G&S productions
with his parents at an early age, and also sang in Ruddigore
at Interlochen Arts Camp.
