The summer after Paul Rowe joined the faculty at UW-Madison?s School of Music, something felt amiss. ?In July, the building was totally lit, the air conditioning was on, and nothing was going on,? he said. For a building meant for music-making, the whole place was eerily silent. Why not fill it, he thought, with musicians who shared his passion for early music? Rowe?s wife, singer Cheryl Bensman-Rowe, and music professor Chelcy Bowles, UW-Madison?s director of continuing education in music, agreed. By 2000, the three had founded the Madison Early Music Festival, filling early July with sound.
Office of Strategic Communication