35th Annual Bach Week Festival Offers Back-to-Back Bach May 4, 2008

For its 35th anniversary season, the Bach Week Festival in Evanston is returning to its roots going Bach to the future with every concert devoted exclusively to the music of its namesake, Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Festival concerts will be presented at the Music Institute of Chicago, 1490 Chicago Ave., in downtown Evanston.

The festival will showcase the range of Bachs genius from intimate pieces for solo instruments to grand works for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, said Richard Webster, the festivals music director. Webster played harpsichord at the inaugural festival in 1974 and has been music director since 1975.

Performers are the Bach Week Festival Orchestra, many of whom are members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago orchestras; the Bach Week Festival Chorus; and distinguished instrumental and vocal soloists.

The Bach Week Festival offers a unique opportunity to hear the music of this amazing composer, performed by some of the Midwests premiere musicians in a friendly, intimate, and casual atmosphere, Webster says.

The concert Sunday, May 4, 7:30 p.m., begins with the richly energetic Concerto in D Minor for two violins, BWV 1043, with solo violinists Desire Ruhstrat and Mathias Tacke. The concertos slow movement is noteworthy for the expressive, intertwining melodic lines of the solo violins. Soprano Patrice Michaels and flutist Louise Dixon are soloists in one of Bachs few Italian cantatas, the cantata "Non sa che sia dolore" (He does not know what sorrow is), BWV 209. The double-choir motet "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" (Sing to the Lord a new song), BWV 225, challenges singers with its nonstop rapid notes. The concert concludes with the most famous of Bachs six Brandenburg Concertos, the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G, BWV 1048.

Tickets and Info

Cost-saving subscriptions to the entire four-concert series are $100 for regular adult admission, $85 for seniors 65 and older, and $75 for students with identification. Prices are the same for both main-floor and balcony seats.

Single tickets for each of the concerts, except for the May 9 candlelight harpsichord concert, are $35 regular adult admission, $25 seniors 65 and older, $20 students with identification, and $10 children 10 and younger.

All seating is reserved. For tickets and ticket information, phone (800) 595-4849; order online at www.bachweek.org.

Event submitted by Eventful.com on behalf of natsilv.