Well, the experience of performing a live concert after so long, and after so much fear, was spectacular! To feel my voice blend with the sounds of my musical partners reverberating in that beautiful space was magical. And we all deserved that gift!
It was so fun that we have quickly put together a beautiful concert of Bach music! And this time it's for Christmas. There will be two performances: the first on Sunday afternoon, December 19, at 1:30 pm. The second will take place on Tuesday evening, December 21, at 7:30 pm.
Our performance of this soaring and joyful music features leading local musicians in a chamber setting which may be different from how you are used to hearing Bach (no large choir and big orchestra) but which is more similar to how Bach himself would have performed it.
Cantata 152 was written for the Sunday after Christmas using the unusual combination of soprano and bass vocal soloists. Lightly orchestrated, the bass sings with the viol de gamba, while the soprano is paired with the viola. This unique combination of timbres shows Bach at his most creative and delightful. And I will be performing this with the wonderful Peter van de Graff, a KWAX personality who also happens to be a fine and refined-sounding bass.
Cantata 191 is a Christmas Cantata Bach composed for a potential employer in Leipzig. He used the basic melodies from the Gloria in the B-minor Mass and added a more complete Latin text, from Luke 2:14, of the angels delivering the good news about the Messiah's birth. He then added two more movements of spectacularly festive music. Written for the holidays, it uses the basic string section augmented by flute and oboe, harpsichord, three piccolo trumpets, and tympani! The music is glorious and may lift you out of your seat! The three piccolo trumpets soar a full octave above the rest of the orchestra while the tympani accents are used to punctuate the musical passages.
Here are the details:
Here is a link to two of the selections from October's Pergolesi performance with Erika Rauer singing the alto part, despite the fact that she is a soprano! Very impressive!
I hope this post finds you doing well and looking forward to some meaningfully hopeful celebrating with family and friends in this dark time of the year. Spring will be coming, and for now we can huddle together and enjoy the smaller and cozier things that make life special. And if you come to the concert, we can sprinkle that with a lot of sixteenth notes and piccolo trumpets! And angels!
See you there!