International > Bach Festival Week > Philadelphia

March 14 - 23, 2008
Theme: Keyboard Works of JS Bach and New Music

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Friday, March 14 - Opening Night

JS Bach: Concerto for Four Pianos

8pm - Philadelphia Cathedral [Details] [tickets] [directions]

Have you ever heard and seen four grand pianos on stage? At the Bach Festival's Opening Night you will experience exactly that with the ensemble. The Orchestra del Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza (Italy) conducted by the Bach Festival's Artistic Director Jonathan Sternberg and Philadelphia's own PIANO4 ensemble will perform Bach's famous transcription of Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Pianos. Later that evening, Roberto Plano (Italy) will present Bach's well-known Piano Concerto in D Minor.

Saturday, March 15

Rebecca Maurer - Ostinato Works from JS Bach to Ligeti

8pm - St. Peter's Church [Details] [tickets] [directions]

OSTINATO signifies a motif or phrase which is persistently repeated at the same pitch. This is the title of German harpsichordist Rebecca Maurer's program taking you through five centuries and six countries. You will be amazed to hear how exciting repetition can sound, particularly when performed with the precision and grace of Rebecca Maurer. Bach, of course, added some works to the ostinato canon, which you will experience. But he was neither the first nor the last. The concert will take you way beyond Bach to contemporary harpsichord works by Ligeti and American composer Bryan Wolf.

The Choral Arts Society Chamber Choir of Philadelphia
THE COMPLETE MOTETS OF J.S. BACH

8pm - Saint Mark's Church - 1625 Locust St, Phila, PA [Details] [tickets - $25 $10 students]

The award-winning Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, a 60-voice chamber choir conducted by Matt Glandorf, has performed nearly 200 works by more than 100 composers including many world premieres. In this special event, they will perform the complete Motets of JS Bach, representing some of his finest and most mature vocal compositions.

Sunday, March 16

Worship with Works by Bach for Organ and Choir

11am - St. Peter's Church [directions]

This service features Drs. Peter Hopkins and Paula Romanaux on the organ. Paula Pugh Romanaux is Artist–in–Residence and Principal Organist at historic St. Peter’s Church in Philadelphia, where she plays for services and presents an annual series of concerts on the church’s majestic E.M. Skinner organ. An international-level conductor, Peter Hopkins is Choirmaster at St. Peter's. We are pleased to have them back again this year as part of our program.

The Choral Arts Society Chamber Choir of Philadelphia
THE COMPLETE MOTETS OF J.S. BACH

4pm - St. Martin's-in-the-Fields - Chestnut Hill [Details] [tickets - $25 $10 students] [directions]

Vox Ama Deus - Bach Birthday Gala

5pm - Gladwyne Presbyterian Church [Details] [tickets] [directions]

Celebration of Johann's 323^rd birthday with little-known facts about the "Cantor of Leipzig" and a sampling of his glorious masterpieces in the intimate setting of the "Chapel in the Woods". Valentin Radu, keyboard, Sarah Davol, oboe, Tatyana Galitskaya, soprano, Tatyana Rashkovsky, mezzo-soprano.

Monday, March 17

Andrew Rangell - Preludes & Fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavichord Book I

7:30pm - Ethical Society [Details] [tickets] [directions]

Few pianists are as seasoned specialists in performing Bach and talking about his works as Andrew Rangell from Boston. Having recorded the complete sets of the French Suites, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas and now the 1^st Book of the Well-Tempered Clavichord, he will present some very fine examples of Suites (sequences of Baroque dances) in his lecture concert as well as fugues in the mysterious key of c-sharp minor. While the Suites encompass Bach, of course, and your all-time favourite Arnold Schönberg, the Fugues take you on a bridge from Froberger to Bach and to Beethoven's famous late opus 131 (see program for details).

Tuesday, March 18

Andrew Rangell - Educational Event

11am - Radnor, PA [no tickets on sale]

The Bach Festival's artist-in-residence Andrew Rangell will work with children in addition to his solo recital and his participation in the International JS Bach Piano Competition as one of the judges. In two consecutive sessions, he will interact with the students of a K12-school in Radnor through music, narration and drawings.

Screening of the movie "Mein Name ist Bach"

5:30pm - German Society of Pennsylvania [Details] [directions] Admission is Free

This screening of the critically acclaimed "My Name Ist Bach" will precede the Jacques Thibaud Trio performance at 7:30. Awarded Best Picture at the Swiss Film Prize in 2004, it is based on the 1747 meeting in Potsdam, Prussia, between JS Bach and Prussian king Frederick II (Frederick the Great). Following his visit, Bach composed "A Musical Offering". The film offers an excellent contemporary interpretation of this historical event.

Jacques Thibaud String Trio

7:30pm - German Society of Pennsylvania [Details] [tickets] [directions]

One of the foremost string trios in the world, the Jacques Thibaud String Trio founded 1994 in Berlin (Germany), will delight you with keyboard works by Bach in very special arrangements. No less a composer than Mozart wrote a number of slow movements to precede transcriptions he made of fugues from Bach's Well-Tempered Clavichord. These rarely performed gems will be contrasted with Bach's joyful Italian Concerto recently arranged for the Thibaud Trio by Laszlo Varga and with Villa-Lobos' String Trio (see program for details).

Wednesday, March 19

Solomiya Ivakhiv & Angelina Gadeliya - Bach's Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard

7:30pm - Baptist Church of Chestnut Hill [Details] [tickets] [directions]

Like Bach's famous Six Cello Suites, his set of six Sonatas for violin and harpsichord (of which four will be performed by Solomiya Ivakhiv and Angelina Gadeliya) will take you on emotional journeys from the bottom of human despair to heavenly joy. Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach said that they "are the best works by my beloved father. They sound excellent and still give me much pleasure, even though over 50 years have passed." Many will agree, even though almost 300 years have passed, since Bach composed these works in central Germany.

Thursday, March 20

Events T.B.A.

Friday, March 21

Vox Ama Deus - High Mass in B minor

8pm - Kimmel Center – Perelman Theater [Details] [tickets] [directions]

Bach's High Mass in B minor with the Ama Deus Ensemble, Valentin Radu, Artistic Director and Conductor, performed with baroque instrument orchestra. Soloists: Bonnie Hoke, Soprano; Jody Kidwell, Mezzo-Soprano; Timothy Bentch, Tenor; Ed Bara, Bass.

Saturday, March 22

All of JS Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

8pm - Centennial Hall, Haverford School, Haverford, PA [Details] [tickets] [directions]

A rare event! All six of JS Bach's Brandenburg Concertos (1721) on one program! The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia will be conducted by Jonathan Sternberg with the solo parts performed by several familiar baroque specialists. Don't miss the occasion. You have probably never heard No.1 in F major: an unusual work!

Sunday, March 23

The Copeland String Quartet

1 & 3pm - Longwood Gardens, Route 1, Kennett Square, PA [directions]

Celebrate Easter at Longwood Gardens with concerts by the Copeland String Quartet. The Copeland String Quartet, formed in 2003 by four Delaware Symphony Orchestra musicians, perform two concerts featuring Bach's The Art of Fugue on a stage dressed with an extraordinary orchid "curtain." Come early and stroll Longwood's 4-acre Conservatory bursting with hundreds of Easter lilies, and more than 5,000 types of plants from around the world. In addition, enjoy thousands of colorful, exotic orchid blooms as part of Longwood's Orchid Extravaganza.

The concerts are included with Gardens Admission. For all the beautiful details, visit Longwood Gardens and click on Events.

Cancelled Events

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Bach Festival regrets to announce that two of our events have been cancelled: the Piano Competition on March 16 and Bach’s Four Orchestral Suites on March 23. If you have purchased tickets to either event you will be reimbursed by tix.com. Festival Pass holders will be contacted separately by email.