We had one of our summer “rehearsals” at the Biergarten in Olbrich Park on Thursday June 13th. We usually “rehearse” at the Essen Haus during the summer, but we do visit other places as well. We were very lucky with the weather on Thursday and had a great time at Olbrich Park.
We will be having our annual Spring Concert on Sunday May 19, 2024 at 3:00 pm. The concert will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church at 1905 W Beltline Hwy, near the Fish Hatchery Rd exit.
Songs will include traditional German songs, other assorted choral works and an original composition of Über die Felder (Herman Hesse) by one of the Männerchor’s own. We hope you consider joining us as we share our music with Madison.
Tickets are $10 at the door. Refreshments and bar will be available.
A visit from Sankt Nikolaus
Our annual Christmas Concert & Dinner will be held on Sunday December 10, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. This year the event will be at a new venue: Holy Wisdom Monastery located at 4200 County Road M in Middleton. After the concert, there will be a visit from Sankt Nikolaus followed by dinner at approximately 5:00 p.m.
Tickets for the concert and dinner are $32 per person. Tickets for the concert only are $15. There will be a cash bar. Tickets can be purchased at the door for the concert, but reservations must be made for the concert and dinner. For the full details, including how to make a reservation, please click on the link below:
Please make your reservations by November 24th. Questions? Email us at xmas@madisonmaennerchor.org.
Note: if the concert is canceled due to bad weather (as has happened in the past) we will post the news here on our web site and also on our Facebook page. We will also attempt to contact everyone on the reservation list if we have a phone number or email address.
We had our final summer “rehearsal” at the Essen Haus on Thursday August 31. It was a somewhat smaller crowd than usual, but it was a busy week with lots of things going on.
We will resume our regular rehearsals on Thursday September 7, at 7:00 pm at Turner Hall.
We had our final summer “rehearsal” at the Essen Haus on August 31
Team Maennerchor participated once again in the 5 K race at the Middleton Good Neighbor Festival on Saturday August 26. Thankfully it was cool but it was quite humid. There were not quite as many participants as there were in the days before Covid, but there was a good turnout of both runners and walkers. After the race, of course we adjourned to the beer tent to replenish fluids.
Here are some photos of the post-race festivities. As always, click on the thumbnail image to see the larger photo.
Videos from the NASB Saengerfest in Madison are available on the MMC YouTube channel.
These videos are from the Capitol Rotunda Sing on Sunday June 11, 2023:
Virtual Lecture
“Wo man singt”
German-American Singing Festivals, 1849–1914
with
Heike Bungert
Wednesday, April 5, at 12:00 pm Central Time
Free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Email Antje Petty to receive a Zoom link: apetty@wisc.edu
Links will be emailed the day before the event.
Between 1849 and 1914, German-American singing festivals with thousands of participants and visitors were a constant yet changing element in the cultural landscape of the United States. They brought German and European music to America, helped immigrants construct a German-American (musical) identity, and contributed to asserting their status in society. This presentation will focus on the beginnings and the expansion of German-American choirs, especially Männerchöre (choirs for male voices), singing federations and their festivals, and the musical repertoire that was performed from the mid-nineteenth century to the beginning of World War I.
Heike Bungert is Professor for North American History at the University of Münster in Germany and has published extensively on the festivals of German Americans.
Click here for further information about this presentation
or contact Antje Petty (apetty@wisc.edu)
——
**The Max Kade Institute Virtual Lectures Series is made possible with the support of the Friends of the Max Kade Institute. To learn more about the Friends of the Max Kade Institute, including how to become a member, click HERE.
A visit from Sankt Nikolaus
Our annual Christmas Concert & Dinner will be held on Sunday December 11, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. This year the event will be at a new venue: St Bernard Catholic Church, 2438 Atwood Ave in Madison. After the concert, there will be a visit from Sankt Nikolaus followed by dinner at approximately 5:00 p.m.
Tickets for the concert and dinner are $25 per person. Tickets for the concert only are $10. There will be a cash bar. Tickets can be purchased at the door but we would appreciate it if you made a reservation in advance. For the full details, including how to make a reservation, please click on the link below:
Please make your reservations by December 4th if possible. Questions? Email us at xmas@madisonmaennerchor.org.
Note: if the concert is canceled due to bad weather (as has happened in the past) we will post the news here on our web site and on our Facebook page. We will also attempt to contact everyone on the reservation list if we have a phone number or email address.
We typically don’t rehearse over the summer months – we stop sometime after Memorial Day and resume rehearsals after Labor Day. But we do try to get together over the summer, if only to have a beer (or perhaps two) and catch up on things. And sometimes we’re asked to sing the national anthem(s) at a sporting event. As always, click on the gallery thumbnails to see the larger photo.
On June 16th we sang both the German and US national anthems at a friendly match between Forward Madison FC and Paderborn. It was a beautiful evening at Breese Stevens field, and we sang both anthems and then enjoyed the match.
We were invited to sing the national anthem (US only) at the WTC track meet at Middleton High School. After the singing was over we decided to stop at the Capital Brewery Biergarten to replenish fluids.
At Capital Brewery after singing the national anthem at the WTC track meet
On June 30th we decided to meet for a beer or two at the Biergarten at Olbrich Park. It was a bit windy but we had a good time.
Unfortunately, Covid-19 has still not left the building. Several of our singers, and our director, tested positive for the virus, so in the interest of safety of our concert attendees and our singers, we have decided to cancel the June 5 concert.
Join us on Sunday, June 5 at 3:00 p.m. for our first concert in two years! The Concert will be held at Madison Turners, 3001 S. Stoughton Road in Madison. Tickets are $10 at the door; children are free.
We’ll be singing a mix of old German favorites and a few new English songs in our repertoire. We hope you can join us as we re-start this annual tradition after the pandemic.