Candlelight Concert & Dinner
Saturday, October 2, 6 pm, Old Christ Church and City Tavern
|
|
|
Be part of it! Share the Opening
Night of the season with your loved ones and fellow connoisseurs of
Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. Artistic Director Jonathan Sternberg will
welcome you at Christ Church, where we start with a
concert in
candlelight only by
Ann Smoot, one of the internationally most acclaimed
organists from Philadelphia. Walk over afterwards to City Tavern to be
greeted by the Festival’s president with a drink. Enjoy an 18th century
style dinner served by waiters in period costumes.
|
|
|
|
Future Generation Series
The Future Generation Series is an
investment by the Bach Festival of Philadelphia in rising
stars from the Delaware Valley area. In this series, we
present a young solo recitalist or chamber ensemble with
music from the Baroque period. To serve the roots of the
Festival, this series usually takes place at Chestnut Hill
churches. |
Solomiya Ivakhiv Recital
|
|
|
Recent Curtis Institute graduate and concertmaster
Solomiya Ivakhiv will perform a concert with violin solo sonatas by
Johann Sebastian Bach at the Baptist Church in Chestnut Hill on November
21st at 6 pm. On the program are the Sonata I in G minor, BWV 1001:
Adagio, Fuga-Allegro, Siciliano, Presto, the Sonata II in A minor, BWV
1003: Grave, Fuga, Andante, Allegro, and the Partita III in E Major, BWV
1006: Preludio, Loure, Gavotte en Rondeau, Menuet I, Menuet II, Bourrée,
Gigue.
|
|
Chaconne in d
|
|
|
In a Special Future Generation
Series concert during the festival week on Tuesday, April 5th at 7 pm,
Bach’s Partita in d minor for solo violin and its famous
Chaconne will
be presented by Jason DePue of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Yuja Wang, who just gave her Kimmel Center debut with the China
Philharmonic, will be heard that night as well with the piano
transcription of the Chaconne by Ferruccio Busoni. Guest artists
Prof.
Charles Abramovic and Behdad Mogaddassi will interpret the arrangements
by Johannes Brahms piano for the left hand alone and the rarely heard
guitar arrangement by Andrés Segovia. The concert takes place at the
Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel Synagogue in Elkins Park with an
introductory lecture by
Prof. Michael Marissen at 6:15 pm. |
|
| |
|
|
After the Chaconne arrangements, we
will present more contemporary approaches to Bach’s music. These are
some of the submissions to the “Bach to the Future” competition (below),
notably the “Urban Suite” by Bideca, Bach’s
animated English Suite No. 2 created by Ryan Dorin
from Brooklyn, and works by Philadelphia composer
Chloe Won and James Perkins from London. |
|
The Art of Fugue, Literature, Architecture, and of Fine Arts
Saturday, May 14, 7:30 pm.
|
|
|
Imagine the large and daedal nave of
the Church of the Holy
Trinity on Rittenhouse Square with its colorful stained glass
windows by Tiffany and Merson. Then the theme of the
Art of
Fugue’s first contrapunctus rises from one corner of the room. One
after another, from different points of the room, the other members of
the Dalí String Quartet join in
and the architecture of Bach’s last masterpiece evolves in its
magnificent beauty. |
|
|
Intervowen with the music, excerpts
from Vikram Seth’s best-selling romantic novel “An
Equal Music” on the Art of Fugue will be read by James
Pope. Thus, you’ll get to experience music, literature, fine
arts, and architecture in combined beauty. |
Musical Offering
|
|
|
The season closes with a
concert of
Jean-Francois Proulx (piano),
Hsing-I Ho (flute) and
Luigi Mazzocchi (violin) on Sunday, June 5, 5:30 pm. They will
perform light summer program with J.S. Bach’s Musical Offering and other
chamber music works. Afterwards, please join us for a walk from St.
Martin’s down to the Valley Green restaurant at the Wissahickon River
for a “culinary offering”. |
|
|
|
|
|
International Workshops |
|
The Bach Festival of Philadelphia invites international
artists to work with local musicians. Workshops with these artists provide the
opportunity to reach out to local professionals, expanding their knowledge of
the “true sources” of Bach’s music. |
|
|
Fresh from the Bach-Fest Leipzig,
the internationally renowned organist and conductor
Martin Haselböck is coming to demonstrate his abilities in
Philadelphia at a concert Saturday, December 11, 6 pm and with an Organ
Masterclass on the weekend of December 11/12 at the
Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. From his vast repertoire,
which includes the entire range of organ and harpsichord compositions
from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period, he has assembled a
holiday season program for
the impressive new Mander organ in the Presbyterian Church. |
|
|
We urge all organists to seize the opportunity to study
with Haselböck in his four hour workshop the interpretation of Bach’s five
organ Toccatas (Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C major, BWV 564, Toccata and
Fugue in d minor, BWV 565, Toccata in C major, BWV 566, Toccata and Fugue in
d minor, BWV 538, Toccata and Fugue in F major, BWV 540) as an active or
passive participant. |
Scholars of London
|
|
|
On Sunday, February 6, the
Scholars of London will enchant you with their a cappella program “Bach
Chorales and the Church Year” at the Presbyterian Church in Chestnut
Hill at 5 pm. Scholars of London made their professional debut in 1970
under the name of The Scholars, and have given more than 2,500 concerts
in more than 50 countries - a record rivaled by very few ensembles in
the field of chamber music. They have performed in many of the world’s
most recognized concert halls, from New York’s Lincoln Center, London’s
Royal Festival Hall and the Sydney Opera House to smaller, more intimate
venues such as the Wigmore Hall in London, and the Brahms-Saal in
Vienna. Their sparkling performances, often enlivened by humorous
commentary, are acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. The original
members all won scholarships to sing in the famous choir of King’s
College Chapel, in the University of Cambridge. |
|
Concert Cruise
|
|
Enjoy the “Spirit of Philadelphia” with your loved ones
at a festive Concert Cruise. The entire first deck of the boat has been
reserved for a three hour trip along the waterfront. Breathe the crisp and
cloudy sky or enjoy the warmth inside. On board you will meet Maestro
Jonathan Sternberg, the Festival’s Artistic Director, and many more artists.
Enjoy a fabulous three course dinner with music by Johann Sebastian Bach and
Latin American composers. Until return to the harbor at 10 pm, there will be
classic live entertainment and ballroom dancing. (Not wheelchair
accessible.) |
Bach’s 320th Birthday Party
|
|
|
We will celebrate Bach’s 320th
birthday with a Surprise Birthday Party on March 13, 3 pm at
St.
Martin-in-the-Fields. Aimed at children and their families, the
afternoon will feature musical demonstrations, games, coloring books,
cakes and ice cream, and a visit from Mr. Bach himself! This annual Bach
Birthday Party has been a great success and a lot of fun in past years.
It once again promises to outdo itself. |
|
Jeremy Denk Recital
|
|
|
Some of Bach’s finest piano works
will be performed by pianist Jeremy Denk on Wednesday, April 6, 8 pm. On
the program are the Toccata in D Major BWV 911, Prelude & Fugue in B
Minor BWV 544, the English Suite in G Minor BWV 808, the Italian
Concerto in F Major BWV 971 and the Partita in E Minor BWV 830. The
concert is presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at the
American Philosophical Society. |
|
|
|
|
|
Vladimir Feltsman conducts the Bach Festival’s former ensemble in
residence, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia at the Perelman Theater
on March 13 & 14. Widely acclaimed for his interpretations of Bach’s
keyboard repertoire, Feltsman performs the Keyboard Concerto No. 3 in D
Major, BWV 1054, and No. 7 in G Minor, BWV 1058, from the piano and
leads the Orchestra from the podium in Alfred Schnittke’s Sonata No. 1
for violin, strings and harpsichord and Valentin Silvestrov’s Serenade
for Strings. |
|
|
|
The Masses |
|
As a unique musical and spiritual event, the Bach
Festival of Philadelphia in its Festival Week 2005 (April 2-10) presents the
complete five masses of Johann Sebastian Bach at major congregations
throughout Philadelphia in liturgical settings.
The
Mass in B Minor is one of Bach’s towering
masterpieces. It will be presented on the final weekend of the festival week
under the direction of Maestro Jonathan Sternberg with
Julianne Baird and
other soloists as well as members of
Voces Novae et Antiquae in an adjusted
Josh-Rifkin-Version. On Saturday, April 9th, 2005, at 7:30 pm, it will be
performed in a concert at
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Chestnut Hill.
Professor Christoph Wolff from Harvard University, Artistic
Director of the
Bach Festival Leipzig, has been invited to lecture on the
history of Bach’s Masses and their performance in church services before the
concert at 6:30 pm.
On Sunday, April 10th, 2005, at 6 pm, the performance
will be repeated, integrated in an anglo-catholic service at the
Philadelphia Cathedral commemorating the 60th anniversary of the great
German theologian and Bach connoisseur, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. |
|
 |
|
For his four
shorter
Masses (BWV 233-236) Bach assembled a selection of his favorite church
cantata movements.
We start out with the mass in A major BWV 234 celebrated
by Reverend William H. Gray at
Bright Hope Baptist Church, with their
Celestial Choir and
soloists, under the direction of
J. Donald Dumpson, on Saturday,
April 2, 5 pm.
The next day (Sunday, April 3, 11 am) we assemble in the
morning for service at Old
Christ Church with Reverend Timothy Safford for the mass in G major BWV
236 under the direction of John Binsfeld, and at 4 pm at
Church of the Holy Trinity
to enjoy the mass in F major BWV 233 under the direction of
John French.
The mass in G minor BWV 235 is going to be performed
under the direction of David Almond at
Saint Mark’s
Episcopal Church to honor the 60th anniversary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on
Saturday, April 9, 4 pm. |
|
|
“Bach To The Future” Competition |
 |
|
The Bach Festival of Philadelphia invites young people
up to age 35 to participate in the international “Bach to the Future”
competition.
The competition continues a long Philadelphian
tradition, ranging from Leopold Stokowski’s transcriptions for the
Philadelphia Orchestra over Swarthmore graduate Peter Schickele’s “PDQ
Bach” to Bobby
McFerrin’s vocal Bach arrangements. The task is simply to present J.S.
Bach’s music in a new way. Thus, his music will stay meaningful in today’s
world and the participants bring Bach to the future.
In the class till age 12, children are invited to use,
for example, a different instrument for their interpretation of Bach’s
music. “I don’t care what instrument they choose—kazoo, ocarina, or
harmonica— as long as they play Bach well. It will give kids a chance to
become familiar with the composer,” says Maestro Jonathan Sternberg, the
Artistic Director of the Bach Festival. The winner receives a first prize of
$1,000.
For young artists 13 to 35, previous “creative assaults”
on Bach’s music such as jazz improvisations in a Baroque mode or
re-compositions of an existing Bach work à la
Jacques Loussier,
Swingle Singers,
and the Modern Jazz Quartet aren’t the limit in a complex multimedia
world... They will have to come up with more than just a “switched-on Bach”.
The winner receives a first prize of $3,000.
The jury consists of artists who have experimented with
Bach themselves, among them Jonathan Sternberg who conducted the first
performance of Stokowski’s Bach transcriptions in Europe in 1947;
Joel Spiegelman (Moscow/Princeton) who wrote the “Goldberg
variations - a digital transcription” in 1985; and
Joel Lazar
(Washington, D.C.), musicologist and former conductor of Harvard’s Bach
Society Orchestra. |
© The Bach Festival of Philadelphia, Inc.
8806 Germantown Ave Philadelphia, PA 19118 phone 215.247.BACH
