2011-05-06 Bach andLotti

JEFFREY THOMAS music director

JULY 15 TO JULY 23 2011 • SFBACHFESTIVAL.ORG FRIDAY JULY 15 5:00 p.m. Opening Night Gala Dinner • at Restaurant Paul K (by advance ticket only) 8:00 p.m. Chamber Series: Music by J. S. Bach • Sonata in E Minor for Violin and Basso continuo • Suite VI in D Major for Unaccompanied ‘Cello • Sonata in G Minor for Oboe and Harpsichord • Brandenburg Concerto V in D Major SATURDAY JULY 16 2:30 p.m. Public Colloquia • “Early Music: Making it Happen!”

8:00 p.m. Chamber Series: Music by J. S. Bach • Concerto for Oboe in G Minor • Arias from Cantatas • Sonata III in E Major for Flute and Basso continuo • Sonata II in A Minor for Unaccompanied Violin • Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen SUNDAY JULY 17 2:00 p.m. Masterworks Series: Mass in B Minor MONDAY JULY 18 2:30 p.m. Master Class: Harpsichord 5:00 p.m. Lecture: Steven Lehning on Bach Cantatas 8:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action • Bach Cantatas and works by Baroque masters TUESDAY JULY 19 2:30 p.m. Master Class: Violin 5:00 p.m. Lecture: Judith Malafronte “Pulpit Pop Tunes” 8:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action • Bach Cantatas and works by Baroque masters WEDNESDAY JULY 20 2:30 p.m. Master Class: Voice 5:00 p.m. Lecture: Debra Nagy “Collegium Musicum” 8:00 p.m. Academy-in-Action • Bach Cantatas and works by Baroque masters THURSDAY JULY 21 2:30 p.m. Master Class: ‘Cello/Viola da gamba/Violone 5:00 p.m. Lecture: John Thiessen “Bach’s Trumpet” FRIDAY JULY 22 2:30 p.m. Master Class: Winds & Brass 5:00 p.m. Lecture: Max van Egmond “Bach circa 1960” 7:00 p.m. Masterworks Series: Ariodante SATURDAY JULY 23 5:00 p.m. Lecture: Jeffrey Thomas on Bach’s Mass in B Minor 8:00 p.m. Masterworks Series: Mass in B Minor 2

Photo ©Tim Griffith

All events take place at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street at Van Ness Masterworks Series

Annual performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and selected works from Baroque opera and oratorio. Jeffrey Thomas conducts the American Bach Soloists Festival Orchestra and the American Bach Choir. ($21 to $45)

Chamber Series

Virtuoso performances by the American Bach Soloists of favorite and lesser-known masterpieces by Bach and his contemporaries. ($17 to $40)

Academy Series

“Academy-in-Action” performances featuring the next generation of early music virtuosi as they perform Bach cantatas—conducted

by Academy co-director Corey Jamason—and chamber music by masters of the Baroque. ($8 to $10)

Lecture Series

Join the faculty and students of the American Bach Soloists Academy for a series of enlightening and informative public lectures. (Free)

Master Class Series

The ABS Academy opens its doors to the public to witness the artistic transformations that make Master Classes so tremendously exciting. You’ll take with you knowledge and insights usually known only to performers and their master teachers. (Free)

Public Colloquia

Engaging forums for performers, presenters, and their public supporters. (Free)

Subscriptions and Single Tickets on sale now: SFBACHFESTIVAL.org | AMERICANBACH.org (415) 621-7900

Announcing San Francisco’s Summer Bach Festival!

This summer, American Bach Soloists (ABS) will inaugurate an annual Bach Festival & Academy, the world!s newest, in San Francisco from July 15 through 23. Building on the 20year foundation of its acclaimed concert series and recording catalog, American Bach Soloists has expanded its summer programming to present a host of offerings, including chamber music performances, public lectures, and colloquia.

Members of the Academy—the young artists component of the Festival—are showcased in special cantata and chamber music concerts as well as public master classes with the Academy faculty. The festival culminates when the artists of American Bach Soloists join forces with Academy participants and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas for annual performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor and a major work from the operatic or oratorio literature.

The Bach Festival will be held in the splendid facilities of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at 50 Oak Street.

With its founding in the Civic Center’s Performing Arts hub, the Festival’s artistic mandate of historically informed performance practice is realized along with those of the traditional, neighboring institutions: the Symphony, Opera, and the Ballet of San Francisco. As the world’s newest Bach Festival, and the first of its kind in San Francisco, the American Bach Soloists Festival & Academy takes its place alongside the other great Bach Festivals held in Carmel CA, Eugene OR, and Bethlehem PA, and summer music festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, the Marlboro School and Festival, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

Last summer, the American Bach Soloists founded its Academy, North America’s newest annual professional training program in historically informed performance practice. Drawing on its distinguished roster of performers, the American Bach Soloists Academy offers conservatorylevel students and emerging professionals the opportunity to study and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment. In addition to in-depth coaching and technical studies with masters of their particular instruments, instrumentalists and singers work, rehearse, and perform with all faculty, thereby gaining the additional perspectives of seasoned professional artists from a variety of disciplines.

With its successful initiation last year, the Academy is now reconceived as a rich strand in the Festival’s larger fabric.

And, in an echo of the organization’s origins, which brought artists together to perform Bach cantatas, the Academy-inAction Series features the next generation of early music specialists performing cantatas and chamber music under the leadership of Academy co-director Corey Jamason.

Tel: (415) 621-7900 Fax: (415) 621-7920 facebook.com/americanbach

Highlights of this year’s

Bach’s Mass in B Minor Bach created his monumental Mass in B Minor as a testament to his supreme compositional art. With the Age of Enlightenment knocking loudly at the door, Bach knew that the music, rhetoric, and symbolism that he cherished so deeply were giving way to newer styles and might soon be forgotten. At the end of his life, he put the final touches on his compilation of music from a span of 35 years of compositions and, to this day, it remains the towering pinnacle of Baroque masterworks. Its tremendous Kyrie fugue, sensational and awe-inspiring trumpet fanfares, and stunningly complex choruses have garnered cult-like followers and entire music festivals built around performances of this most hallowed masterpiece.

Handel’s Ariodante No composer before or after George Frideric Handel has so realistically and naturally captured the human emotions and personal motivations behind his operatic characters.

Ariodante is a gripping story of passion, deception, and jealousy, and of the ultimate triumph of faith and love. A covetous and scheming duke tries to seek revenge against the beautiful Ginevra, Princess of Scotland, who has thwarted his advances. The Duke’s plot to prove her to be an adulteress crushes her fiancé, Ariodante, who throws himself into the sea and drowns…or so we think. Ginevra’s despair drives her to madness, until Ariodante heroically returns to defend her honor and take the throne of Scotland. The purity of Ginevra contrasted with the Duke’s inhumanity reveal Ariodante to be a compelling commentary on good and evil, expressed so exquisitely by Handel’s ravishing music.

Free Events & Public Colloquia: “Early Music: Making it Happen!”

Join audience members, concert producers, ensemble directors, and performers for lively discussions about bringing great music to the public, using social media and technology to promote performances, and how to bring early instruments to new audiences. The Festival Colloquia, Lectures, and Master Classes are free events.

For more information, please visit: SFBACHFESTIVAL.org or AMERICANBACH.org

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS 44 Page Street, Suite 504 San Francisco CA 94102-5973

americanbach.org info@americanbach.org twitter.com/americanbach

The American Bach Soloists are Artists-in-Residence at St. Stephen’s Church, Belvedere. © 2011 American Bach Soloists. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

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Contributors The American Bach Soloists gratefully acknowledge the generous support received from

Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation

This list represents contributions received between April 15, 2010 and April 15, 2011. We deeply regret any errors or omissions.

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS CIRCLE Corporate, Government, and Foundation Support $20,000 and above Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation Charles Hosmer Morse Foundation $10,000-$19,999 Nakamichi Foundation National Endowment for the Arts $5,000-$9,999 Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation The Bernard Osher Foundation Wallis Foundation $2,500-$4,999 The Michael J. Weller Trust Cantors ($500-$999) Anonymous Peter and Margaret Armstrong Gretchen Brosius Peter and Susan Browne Barbara Casey and Richard Siggins Donna Chazen Eunice Childs Garniss Curtis Mag Dimond Ayame Flint Cynthia Foster A. John and Paula Gambs Kathryn Hobart Hallie Holtzman Susan and Stafford Keegin Jessica Kinloch Richard and Patricia Taylor Lee Susan Mann Blair Martin Frank Pajerski Charles Quesenberry David and Mary Raub David and Dair Rausch Colby and Katherine Roberts Geerat and Edith Vermeij 4

Up to $2,499 AT&T Foundation Matching Gifts Program AXA Foundation Matching Gifts Program The McNally Family Trust Mechanics Bank Individual Support Royal Patrons ($10,000 and above) Anonymous (2) Hugh Davies and Kaneez Munjee Dan and Lee Drake Jan Goldberg Fraser and Helen Muirhead Bach Family Circle ($5,000$9,999) Jose and Carol Alonso Richard and Sharon Boyer John and Lois Crowe Judith Flynn Angela Hilt and Blake Reinhardt Delia Voitoff-Bauman and Steve Bauman Charles and Elizabeth Wilts ($250-$499) Anonymous Eric Collier and Joseph Newell Uni Cordoba Joseph and Judy Craig Chauncey and Emily DiLaura Bob and Margaret Eldred Barbara Thomas Fexa David Franklin and Ruedi Thoeni Robert and Ann Goldberg David and Dorli Hanchette Steve and Randi Herman Philip and Ruth Hicks Ken Hoffman Norman and Rae Leaper Jennifer Lindsay William Lokke Lee and Hannelore McCrumb Marian Metson Andrew Morgan and Danny Richard Krista Muirhead and Barry Grossman Lissa Nicolaus

Marie Hogan and Douglas Lutgen Thomas and Phyllis Farver Patricia and George Locke Tom Flesher and Adam Verret Kim and Judith Maxwell Richard Forde Alfred and Irene M. Glassgold Capellmeisters ($2,500-$4,999) Connie Harden and Chuck O’Neill Wendy Buchen Benjamin and Lynette Hart David Cates and Cheryl Sumsion John F. Heil Milton and Carol Hollenberg Joan Intrator Paul and Sandra Ogden James and Joan Kelly Nancy Quinn and Tom Driscoll Valerie and Dan King Jim and Jennifer Steelquist Norman Larson Richard and Shipley Walters Olaf and Jeanette Leifson Kwei and Michele Ăœ Lamar Leland James Meehan ($1,000-$2,499) Paul Morin Anonymous Mark and Katherine Perl Peter Brodigan Virginia Patterson Peter and Claudia Brown Mark and Katherine Perl John and Jane Buffington Ann Preston Lisa Capaldini Robert Ripps and Steven Spector David and Judy Covin Martin and Elizabeth Secker Silvia Davidson Peter and Asiye Sonnen Annie-May De Bresson Roman Shi and Fred Stark Colin and Rebecca Drake Richard G. Fabian Jeffrey Thomas Steven Peterson and Peter Jaret Bill and Ray Riess Christopher Robertson Cynthia Sawtell Gary Schilling and Stefan Hastrup Hart and Wilma Smith Millicent Tomkins Rick Trautner Thomas and Ann Watrous Diana Wilks William and Gretchen Kimball Fund David Wilson Jerri Witt Foster and Betty Wright

David and Carol Brown Robert and Lynn Campbell Carde Blanche Lynne Carmichael Lynne Carr Michael Chappell Gary Chock Mendel Cohen and Julia Vestal Robert and Mary Commanday Robert Cook and Blanca Haendler Lynne Crowell Caroline Damsky Jacqueline Desoer Robert and Susan Flax Thomas and Mary Foote Lowell and Nancy Froker Choristers ($100-$249) Margaret Fuerst Anonymous Margaret Garms Cheryl Arnold and John Frykman Phil Garratt Phyllis and Tom Baer Jim and Laura Gregory Judith Barker and Linda Mitteness Darrow and Gwen Haagensen Jeff Bartak Lauri Harper Robert Berman Donna Heinle Edward Betts Daniel Hersh Borden and Betty Bloom Ralph and Leny Heymann Jesse Blumberg and Rita Donahue Robert and Kathleen Kaiser Daniel and Diana Bort David G. King, M.D. Roberta Brokaw Joseph and Jeanne Klems

Contributors William and Janette Knick Marcia Kolb Thomas Koster Jane Lang William and Emily Leider John and Kathleen Leones Malcolm and Natalie Mackenzie John Mark Pierre Martin Raymond Martinez Janice Masterton Robert McCaskill Sharon Menke Guy and Wende Williams Micco Abigail Millikan-States Jim and Julie C. Monson George Morgan Janet D. Morris Mary Belle O’Brien and Georgia Heid Virginia Patterson Kay Pepitone Dove Pierce Lawrence and Erica Posner Kathleen Rathke and Donald Rogers Penelope Rink and Frederick Toth Ed and Maureen Rinne David Robinson Gary Roof Lisa Schaefer John and Pamela Sebastian Charles and Janet Seim Sharie Shute Jeanne Smith Scott Sochar Aline Soules Mariana Steinberg Gerald and Sandra Swafford David Tayler and Hanneke Van Proosdij Robert Thompson Dean and Jeanice Tipps Barbara Van Slyke Kurt Von Meier Effie Westervelt Richard White Dennis Wolframski Friends ($25-$99) Anonymous (2) Hans and Salome Abplanalp Cindy Albers Shirley Armor Adrienne Austin-Shapiro Schuyler and Susie Bailey Charles Beadle Rachmael Ben-Avram Al Bernstein Ernst and Hannah Biberstein John Bingham Mary Brayton Irving and Karen Broido Leslie Brown Stephanie Cartwright Dr. and Mrs. Dikran L. Chamlian Ann Cheng Roger and Ana Chretien Richard and Evelyn Clair Julie Coffin Carol Copperud JP Crametz and T. Ravid

Jeffrey Martin Dickemann Steven Edwards Josh Eichorn and Sandra Whitney Marcella Fasso Tom and Cherielyn Ferguson Cassandra Forth Sandra Francis Susan Garbini and Ian MacGregor Victor and Linda Gavenda David Goi Basil Guy David Hammer Margaret Harding Cynthia Hearden Ingeborg Henderson Helen Henon Robert Herriot and Patricia Landman Ellen Hershey Peter Huson Bob Isaacson and Virginia Stearns Ann Jensen Elaine Johnson Laurel Johnson Shelley Johnson Don and Diane Johnston Charles and Paige Kelso George Knudson George Kovatch and J. Robert Wiskotzil Natalie Krawczyk Jennifer Lane William Langley Harold and Helene Lecar Robert Levin Joseph Lifschutz Deana Logan and Joseph C. Najpaver Laura Louis Larry Marietta Noreen Mazelis Ann McCown Stepheny McGraw Jesse and Catherine Miller Minako Miyazaki Barbara Molloy Michael and Jennifer Moran Diane and John Musgrave Paul Nettelman Michael and Elfrieda O’Neill Judith Ostapik Mary Osterloh Arie Perry Thomas Ramos Eugene and Libby Renkin Penelope Rink and Frederick Toth Thomas Robinson Hermina Rosskopf Vicki and Robert Schaevitz Julius Otto Schindler Norman Schlossberg Robert Sensel Cecelia Shaw David Sheehan Nina Shoehalter Steve Siegelman Harold Skilbred and Rochelle Matonich Sam W. Smith Mason and Sandra Stober Jean Swearingen Li-Hsia Wang

Heidi Waterman Suzanne Young Bach Kids Sharon and Richard Boyer, in honor of: Jake D. Sutter Keira N. Sutter Alexander J. Sutter Leah G. Sutter Jan Goldberg, in honor of: Cameron Gremmels Michael Goldberg Alexander Goldberg Dorli and David Hanchette, in honor of: Kevin Wottrich Meaghan Wottrich Sandy Ogden, In honor of: Sarah Sterling Ogden Katherine Lanier Ogden Matthew Currier Ogden Ashley Katrine Ogden Tributes Phyllis and Thomas Baer, In honor of Katherine McKee Roberts Sharon and Richard Boyer, In memory of Mamie F. Vercelli In memory of Edward T. Smithburn In memory of Rosemary Pollastrini Cynthia Foster, In honor of Andrew Morgan and Katherine McKee Joan Intrator In Memory of Pat Wolf Janice Masterton, In honor of Jim and Jennifer Steelquist In memory of Larry Masterton Sandy Ogden In memory of Michael Barcun In memory of Patricia Wolf In honor of Mr. & Mrs. Charles C. Ogden In honor of Dr. & Mrs. David L. Ogden Libby and Gene Renkin, In honor of Harriet and Bill Lovitt Robert Ripps and Steven Spector, In honor of Don Scott Carpenter Colby and Katherine Roberts, In memory of Patricia Wolf Norman Schlossberg In memory of Henry Goldberg In Memory of Perry Foster Peter and Susi Browne Mary Brayton Nancy and Penn Butler Michael Chappell Sarah C. Chase Bim Coyle and Pat Cannell Coyle Tom and Cherielyn Ferguson Jane Lang Stepheny McGraw The McNally Family Trust Sandy Ogden Jeffrey Thomas The Michael J. Weller Trust

In-Kind Support Businesses and Organizations American Conservatory Theater Amy Schwab Designs Anchor Brewing Company Asian Art Museum of San Francisco Benissimo Restaurant Berkeley Repertory Theatre Bistro Ginolina Carde Blanche Chabot Space & Science Center de Luna Jewelry Delicious! Catering Fentons Creamery Grgich Hills Estate Heart O’ The Mountain Winery Jason’s Restaurant Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant Lark Theater Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lo Coco’s Restaurant Marin Symphony Marin Theatre Meeker Vineyard Merola Opera Program Oakland A’s Penman Photographic Artists Rock Wall Wines Sam’s Anchor Cafe San Francisco Opera Smith-Rafael Film Center Tafelmusik Trumer Brauerei Twisted Silver UNT Collegium Ward St. Cafe Waters Edge Hotel Wildfox Restaurant Community Individuals Carol Alonso Johanna Baruch Sharon Boyer Barbara Casey Silvia Davidson Kaneez Munjee Cynthia Foster Ken Hoffman Kevin D. Harrington Ken Hoffman Shelley Johnson Elfrieda Langemann Jennifer Lane Raymond Martinez Paul Morin Lissa Nicolaus Katherine Roberts Perl Nancy Quinn and Tom Driscoll Ann Rosenfeld Millicent Tomkins Michele and Kwei Ü Heidi Waterman David Wilson Rick Yoshimoto 5

TWO SPECIAL WAYS TO HONOR YOUR LOVED ONES BACH KIDS

TRIBUTE GIFTS

The music of J.S. Bach has been handed down from generation to generation. Its beauty and humanity inspires and enhances our lives. This rich legacy is currently under our watch—but the future belongs to our children.

All of us have treasured people in our lives who have been significant and meaningful. The teachers who went that extra mile, the family members who’ve given unqualified support, the mentors and colleagues who have enriched our work lives: they all hold special places in our hearts and minds.

ABS’ BACH KIDS program is the perfect way to cherish a child by investing on their behalf in performances of Bach’s music for audiences today and in the future.

Recognize these special people by making a donation to ABS in their honor or memory.

For each tax-deductible donation of $100 or more, we’ll list the name of your child, grandchild, niece, nephew, or any other young person in your life in a special section of our program booklets for one year.

•

A unique gift for any child: they’ll see their name in print!

•

When they’re old enough, bring them to ABS concerts with our special discounted Bach Family Tickets ($5 when accompanied by an adult with a regular-priced ticket).

For each tax-deductible contribution of $100 or more, you can have someone acknowledged in ABS’ program booklets for one year in our special Tributes section.

In addition to listing their names in our programs, we can also send a letter informing them or their family of your gift. Simply provide their address on a separate piece of paper.

Name(s) of Tributes

Name(s) of Bach Kids (Choose one:)

 in honor of

 in memory of

(Choose one:)

 in honor of

 in memory of

Donor Name Address City

State

Phone

Email

Zip Code

Enclosed is my donation of $_______ for a total of ______ Bach Kids and/or Tributes gifts  My check is enclosed, made payable to American Bach Soloists.

Please charge my:  VISA  Mastercard  Amex Card #

Expiration

Name on Card Signature

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

MAIL: American Bach Soloists - 44 Page Street, Suite 504 - San Francisco, CA 94102-5973 PHONE: 415-621-7900 FAX: 415-621-7920

Donor Benefits We can’t do it without you! American Bach Soloists strive to retain reasonable ticket prices even though sales cover only about 40% of the cost of presenting these outstanding concerts.

ABS is proud to receive significant government and foundation support, but the bulk of our contributed income comes from generous donations from individuals like you. As an ABS donor, you play a crucial role in bringing these wonderful programs to the widest possible audience.

Your gift in any amount is greatly appreciated!

Donor Benefits*

Choristers

Cantors

Bach Family

Capellmeisters

Royal Patrons

Exclusive sponsorship of a guest artist Sponsorship of an ABS program Invitation for two to a special ABS private “House Concert” performance Four complimentary Section A “companion” tickets to any ABS performance other than Messiah (value $50 per ticket) Invitation for two to an ABS rehearsal Complimentary copy of ABS Season Highlights CD Invitation for two to a post-concert reception with ABS musicians Acknowledgment in ABS programs for one year

*Gifts to American Bach Soloists are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. Certain benefits have a fair market value (indicated above) that must be deducted from your gift to determine the tax-deductible portion of the contribution. You may elect to decline all the benefits in your giving category, and receive a tax-deduction of the full value of your gift.

GIFTS OF STOCK We also welcome gifts of appreciated securities. To arrange transfers, please call (415) 621-7900.

VEHICLE DONATION Donating your used vehicles to ABS has never been easier thanks to our partnership with the Vehicle Donation Processing Center! You receive a tax-deductible donation and ABS gets cash! Call the VDPC at 800-390-4790 or visit their website: donatecarusa.com.

Yes, I want to help ABS thrive! Enclosed is my tax-deductible contribution of:  $25  $50  $100  $250  $500  $1,000  $2,500

 Other: _________

Please list my (our) name(s) as: Name Address City

State

E-mail

Phone

Zip Code

 My check is enclosed, made payable to American Bach Soloists.  Please charge my:  Visa  Mastercard  American Express Card #

 Discover

Expiration

Name on Card

Thank You!

Signature • • •

MAIL: ABS • 44 Page Street, Suite 504 • San Francisco, CA 94102-5973 PHONE: 415-621-7900 • FAX: 415-621-7920 ONLINE: use our secure server: americanbach.org/support 7

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About Early Instruments

S

everal decades ago, a movement began in the classical music industry to perform music on the instruments that were used during the composer’s lifetime. Unquestionably advanced by the advent of CD recordings in the early 1980s, this marriage of scholarship and style became known as “historically informed performance practice.” But it encompasses more than just the proper choice of instruments for the performance of music from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras. Fine points of expression, articulation, and even the way instruments are tuned play a large role in what you are hearing tonight.

Probably for most of us it is the use of these beautiful and, in most cases, truly antique and priceless instruments that brings the most unique quality to these performances. Rather than cataloguing all the wellfounded and essential reasons to use period instruments for this music, it is even more compelling to consider why the use of modern instruments would cheat us of the experience a composer like Handel meant to give to us.

Instruments have evolved and grown over the centuries, mostly because composers would present new challenges to instrumentalists, and therefore to those who built their instruments. When a composer like Bach or Beethoven would write the most difficult passages that would tax the limits of an instrument’s responsiveness, within a decade or so instrument builders found a way to accommodate the challenges.

In the Baroque period, musical phrases were made up of strong and weak notes, falling on strong and weak beats within a bar. When a violinist would move the bow in a downward stroke across a string, the sound was stronger than when the bow would be moved in an upward direction. But eventually the lengths of musical phrases grew, and more notes were meant to be played in a connected way, leading much further down the line to a phrase’s focal point. Accordingly, the bows for stringed instruments were then made to create the same amount

explore

of sound whether the bow was moving up or down. And, of course, concert halls grew in size, so instruments were made to play louder. In the 20th century, some composers required sounds that acoustic instruments simply could not produce; hence the genre of electronic music.

One of the most exciting sounds we hear from these “early instruments,” however, is the inherent tension during the most climactic moments in a musical work.

If you haven’t already done so, find a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony played by an orchestra of period instruments—ABS’ own recently released recording comes to mind!—and listen to the most dissonant or loud moments. You’ll be glad to hear the instruments being pushed to their limits, and you just might find the ease and aplomb with which modern instruments and their players perform the same passages to be lackluster by comparison.

Finally, a short note about antiques and reproductions: While it is not uncommon to find violins and violoncellos (or ‘cellos as they are known today) that are more than 300 years old being played in orchestras like ours, very few surviving antique wind instruments are still playable. Consequently, period wind instruments are almost always copies of originals.

americanbach.org

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About American Bach Soloists

“Superbly musical ... wonderfully suave ... fresh, different” — Gramophone “ABS is a rare, perhaps unique, organization that does something highly specialized and quite esoteric that still involves (and delights) a general audience…the houses were full and the concerts were rich, rewarding, and well-received.” — Marin Independent Journal “Thomas’ Bach orchestra is superb!” — Goldberg Magazine

The AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS (“ABS”) were founded in 1989 with the mission of introducing contemporary audiences to the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach through historically informed performances. Under the leadership of Co-founder and Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the ensemble has achieved its vision of assembling the world’s finest vocalists and period-instrument performers to bring this brilliant music to life.

For twenty-two years, Jeffrey Thomas has brought thoughtful, meaningful, and informed perspectives to his performances as Artistic and Music Director of the American Bach Soloists.

Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, he continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression. Fanfare Magazine proclaimed that “Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.”

Critical acclaim has been extensive: The Wall Street Journal named ABS “the best American specialists in early music…a flawless ensemble…a level of musical finesse one rarely encounters;” San Francisco Classical Voice declared that “there is nothing routine or settled about their work. Jeffrey Thomas is still pushing the musical Baroque envelope;” and the San Francisco Chronicle recently extolled the ensemble’s “divinely inspired singing.”

The first public concerts were given in February 1990 at St. Stephen’s Church in Belvedere, where the ensemble serves as Artists-in-Residence. 1993 brought the debut of ABS’s first annual summer festival in Tiburon/Belvedere. By the fifth season, 10

regular performances had been inaugurated in San Francisco and Berkeley, and as a result of highly successful collaborations with the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, ABS’ full concert seasons expanded to the Davis/Sacramento region in 2005. As their audience increased, so the artistic direction of the ensemble expanded to include Bach’s purely instrumental and larger choral masterpieces, as well as music of his contemporaries and that of the early Classical era.

The American Bach Soloists present an annual Subscription Series with performances in Belvedere, Berkeley, Davis, and San Francisco. Their annual holiday performances of Handel’s Messiah, presented each December before capacity audiences since 1992, have become a Bay Area tradition. In addition to their regular subscription season, the American Bach Soloists have been presented at some of the world’s leading early music and chamber music festivals, and have appeared worldwide from Santa Fe to Hong Kong and Singapore. In 1998, in conjunction with the Fifth Biennial Berkeley Festival & Exhibition, ABS established the American Bach Soloists & Henry I. Goldberg International Young Artists Competition as a way to foster emerging musicians who wish to pursue a career in early music.

In conjunction with ABS’ 15th Anniversary Season in 2003-04, Maestro Thomas announced the “Bach Cycle,” an ambitious plan to present all of Bach’s major oratorios, including two Passions, the oratorios for Christmas and Easter, and the Mass in B Minor; the violin and harpsichord concertos, Brandenburg Concertos, and orchestral suites; the major cantatas from Bach’s years in Mühlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig; and the sonatas and suites for violin, flute, cello, and viola da gamba.

About American Bach Soloists ABS has been a leader throughout the Bay Area in their commitment to artistic collaborations. Some recent examples include a collaboration with two San Francisco dance organizations, Xeno and Ultra Gypsy, at The Crucible in Oakland in 2004 and collaborations with the well-known Mark Morris Dance Group in 2004 and 1999. To celebrate their 20th Anniversary Season, ABS joined forces with San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral and Lighting Systems Design Inc. (based in Orlando FL) in a spectacular laser show rendering of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. And in 2010, ABS began a collaboration with San Francisco choreographer Todd Eckert that will result in three new works using music by Bach, Telemann, and Purcell.

The Chorus of the American Bach Soloists has shone in repertoire from the Baroque and early Classical eras. With the inception of the Choral Series in 2004, these fine singers have been featured on programs exploring over five centuries of choral music. To acknowledge this splendid work, the American Bach Soloists announced in 2006 a new name for their choral ensemble: American Bach Choir. Critics have acclaimed their “sounds of remarkable transparency and body.”

In July 2010, the American Bach Soloists inaugurated North America’s newest annual professional training program in Historically Informed Performance Practice. Drawing on their distinguished roster of performers, the American Bach Soloists Academy offers advanced conservatory-level students and emerging professionals unique opportunities to study

and perform Baroque music in a multi-disciplinary learning environment. The Academy is held in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s exquisite new facilities in the heart of the city’s arts district, and is the educational component of the American Bach Soloists FESTIVAL. The American Bach Soloists have a discography of eighteen CDs on the Koch International Classics, Delos International, and American Bach Soloists labels, including six volumes of Bach cantatas, many performed one on a part. The ensemble’s critically acclaimed disc of Bach’s Mass in B Minor has been called a benchmark recording and a “joyous new performance” (The Washington Post). One of their most popular offerings is an historically significant version of Handel’s Messiah, recorded live during performances in 2004 at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis, and released in November 2005 on the Delos International label. In 2007, ABS’ entire catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings of Bach’s Mass in B Minor, cantatas, and transcriptions of Italian music, Haydn Masses, choral and vocal works by Schütz, and other works was re-released on iTunes, Magnatune.com, Amazon, CDBaby, and ABS’ own excellent and resourceful web site, which features free streaming audio of most titles. The same year brought two new and much-anticipated releases: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The most recent release, 1685 & The Art of Ian Howell, features the remarkable young countertenor (and recent winner of the ABS Young Artist Competition) in works by Bach, Handel, and Domenico Scarlatti.

Board of Directors, Founders, Staff, Advisory Council & Acknowledgments BOARD OF DIRECTORS

STAFF

Hugh Davies, President Lynette A. Hart, Vice President Jan Goldberg, Treasurer Marie Hogan, Secretary Jose Alonso Richard J. Boyer David Cates Cindy Cooper John H. Crowe Benjamin L. Hart Angela Hilt Helen Drake Muirhead Blake Reinhardt

Jeffrey Thomas Artistic Director

FOUNDERS Jeffrey Thomas Jonathan Dimmock Richard H. Graff The Rev. & Mrs. Alvin S. Haag Mr. & Mrs. Robert V. Kane Dr. & Mrs. Paul C. Ogden

Don Scott Carpenter General Manager Steven Lehning Music Administrator Katherine McKee Patron Services Manager James Stahlman Marketing and Public Relations Manager Lisa May Box Office and House Manager Keith Perry Academy Administrator Heli Roiha Bookkeeper Jimmy Featherstone Concert Coordinator

E.J. Chavez Stage Crew Joseph Sargent Sam Smith Writers Quinn Associates Development Consultants NEQA/Communications Publicists ADVISORY COUNCIL The Right Reverend Marc Andrus Irving Broido Karen Broido Corty Fengler Tom Flesher Phil Garratt John Karl Hirten Corey Jamason Sandra M. Ogden Don Roth Kwei Ü Elizabeth F. Wilts Charles E. Wilts

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church Vestry, Staff, and Parishioners The Reverend Robert Gieselmann, Interim Rector John Karl Hirten, Organist Jan Goldberg & Ken Hoffman Andy Luchansky & Elisabeth Reed Fraser & Helen Muirhead James & Maxine Risley Ken & Marjorie Sauer Judith Stone Kwei & Michele Ü Housing and Hospitality Jubillee Gee Elfrieda Langemann William Langley Heidi Waterman Office Volunteers

Media Partners 11

Education and Outreach MASTER CLASSES

FREE TICKETS FOR MUSIC EDUCATORS

ABS will present three Master Classes in collaboration with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, during our 2011-2012 Season. All Master Classes are free and open to the public. No tickets or advance reservations are required. 2012 dates will be announced shortly.

All K-12 music educators are invited to attend one of our concerts free of charge in exchange for their input regarding our educational programs. And each educator may purchase one additional companion ticket at 50% off. For more information, please call (415) 621-7900 or go to: americanbach.org/educators

ABS WEB SITE - americanbach.org Our excellent web site features over 200 artist biographies, links to program notes and concert repertory details, and options to listen to or purchase our celebrated series of critically acclaimed recordings.

Additionally, you will find information about how you can help ABS by volunteering, providing financial support, or purchasing ads in our concert program booklets. Educational resources are available, including information about early instruments, our education and outreach programs, and links to other organizations.

FREE PRE-CONCERT “INSIGHTS” Learn more about the program! One hour prior to each performance from February through May, enjoy a free and informative lecture given by ABS musicians.

FREE CHORAL WORKSHOP Each year, ABS presents a Choral Workshop designed specifically for experienced choral singers. Within a rehearsal environment under the leadership of ABS Artistic Director Jeffrey Thomas, historically informed performance practice and aesthetics regarding Baroque vocal technique, phrasing, tempos, choral balance, and rhetoric are examined and cultivated in a musically enlightening and enriching event. The annual workshops are provided completely free of charge, but space is limited so early registration is encouraged. For more information, please visit: americanbach.org/workshop For more information about our educational programs, please visit americanbach.org.

We Believe • • •

The experience of Art is a human right.

Music is essential to our quality of life.

Bach’s creativity and life epitomize ideals of artistic virtuosity, humanitarianism within changing worlds, and the primacy of education.

Every Arts Organization must: • educate present and future generations.

• uphold the highest aesthetic standards.

• enlighten its own and greater audiences.

• relate to the community and culture in which it thrives.

• inspire the intellects of its patrons.

• serve as a compelling model for other cultural organizations.

Arts Patrons want: • to have meaningful, memorable, and valuable experiences.

• to be empowered, knowledgeable, and informed consumers.

• to be involved as integral participants, not just observers.

The American Bach Soloists: • promote artistic excellence.

• sustain the musical heritage of historical cultures.

• value and respect the diversity of our patrons and sponsors.

• treasure the gifted instrumentalists and singers that we present.

• nurture young and emerging talent.

• support the efforts of all who endeavor to preserve history, celebrate culture, and ensure the accessibility of the Arts.

12

Jeffrey Thomas, Music Director

. . .voices blended in a warming glow that filled the space. . . .this group has been delighting audiences for [over] 70 years.”

—SF Classical Voice

J.S. BACH Mass in B Minor with Jennifer Paulino, soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah, mezzo-soprano Brian Thorsett, tenor Paul Murray, bass and the SFBC Baroque Orchestra

saturday, May 21, 8PM/sunday, May 22, 4PM Free Lecture, Sunday, 3PM Calvary Presbyterian Church, Fillmore & Jackson, SF Advance $28-$24 ($15 Student) Door $35-30 ($20 Student)

www.sfbach.org 415·441·4942 13

The Musicians and Their Instruments AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS Violins Elizabeth Blumenstock (leader) Andrea Guarneri, Cermona, 1660. * Tekla Cunningham (principal II) Johannes Eberle, Prague 1807 Daria d’Andrea Anonymous, 19th century; after Neapolitan School, circa 1760.

Katherine Kyme Johann Gottlob Pfretzichner, Mittenwald,1791.

Maxine Nemerovski Timothy Johnson, Bloomington, IN, 1999; after Stradivari, Cremona, 17th century.

Lisa Weiss Anonymous, 19th century; after Paolo Antonio Testore, Contrada, Larga di Milano, 1730s.

Violas David Daniel Bowes Richard Duke, London, circa 1780.

Katherine Kyme Anonymous, German, circa 1800.

Jason Pyszkowski Jay Haide, El Cerrito, CA, 2008; after Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Brescia, circa 1580.

Aaron Westman Dmitry Badiarov, Brussels, 2003; after Antonio Bagatella, Padua, circa 1750.

Violoncellos Elisabeth Reed Anonymous, Italy, 1685.

David Morris John Morrison, London, circa 1780.

Violone grosso Steven Lehning Hammond Ashley Luthiers, Seattle, WA, 1977; after 17th century models.

Organ Corey Jamason John Brombaugh & Associates, OR, 1980.

14

AMERICAN BACH CHOIR Flutes

Janet See Martin Wenner, Singen, Germany, 2010; after Carlo Palanca, Turin, circa 1760.

Mindy Rosenfeld Martin Wenner, Singen, Germany, 2010; after Carlo Palanca, Turin, circa 1760.

Oboes Debra Nagy Randy Cook, Basel, 2004; after Jonathan Bradbury, London, circa 1720.

Stephen Bard Levin & Robinson, New York, 1996 After Saxon Models.

Oboes d’amore Debra Nagy Sand Dalton, Lopez Island, WA, 2001; after Johann Heinrich Eichentopf, Leipzig, circa 1720.

Stephen Bard Sand Dalton, Lopez Island WA, 2001; afer Johann Heinrich Eichentopf, Leipzig, circa 1720.

Bassoon Kate van Orden Peter de Konigh, The Netherlands, 1986; copy of Thierriot Prudent, Paris, circa 1770.

Trumpets John Thiessen Rainer Egger, Basel, 2005; after Johann Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremburg, 1748.

Kathryn James Adduci Rainer Egger, Basel, 2006, after Johann Leonhard Ehe III, Nuremburg, 1748.

William B. Harvey Keavy Vanryne, London, 2003; after Johann Wilhelm Haas, Nuremburg, circa 1720.

Timpani Kent Reed Anonymous, England, circa 1840.

Sopranos Jennifer Brody Julia Earl Ruth Escher Rita Lilly Allison Z. Lloyd Lisa May Helene Zindarsian Amelia Triest Altos Jesse Antin James Apgar Dan Cromeenes Katherine E. McKee Tenors Edward Betts Andrew Morgan Mark Mueller Sam Smith Basses Adam Cole Hugh Davies Jeffrey Fields Raymond Martinez

* The 1660 Andrea Guarneri violin played by Ms. Blumenstock is made available to her through the generosity of the Philharmonia Baroque Period Instrument Trust.

Tonight’s Program AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS AMERICAN BACH CHOIR Shari Wilson, soprano Danielle Reutter-Harrah, mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano Scott Mello, tenor Mischa Bouvier, baritone Jeffrey Thomas, conductor

Bach & Lotti Friday May 6 through Monday May 9, 2011 Belvedere • Berkeley • San Francisco • Davis These performances are generously sponsored by Hugh Davies & Kaneez Munjee and Jose & Carol Alonso.

The Belvedere performance is generously sponsored by Jim & Jennifer Steelquist.

•

Missa a tre cori (“Mass for Three Choirs”)

Antonio Lotti

KYRIE: Kyrie I - Christe - Kyrie II

1667-1740

GLORIA: Gloria in excelsis Deo - Et in terra pax - Laudamus te Gratias agimus tibi - Domine Deus - Domine Fili - Domine Deus, Agnus Dei Qui tollis - Qui sedes - Quoniam tu solus sanctus - Cum Sancto Spiritu - Intermission Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 Magnificat anima mea Dominum - Et exsultavit spiritus meus

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750

Quia respexit - Omnes generationes - Quia fecit mihi magna Et misericordia eius - Fecit potentiam - Deposuit potentes Esurientes implevit bonis - Suscepit Israel - Sicut locutus est - Gloria

Program notes begin on page 19

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American Bach Soloists Discography MASTERWORKS SERIES

Bach Brandenburg Concertos Bach Harpsichord Concertos Bach Italian Transcriptions Bach Mass in B Minor Bach Violin Concertos Beethoven Ninth Symphony Corelli Concerti Grossi Handel Messiah Haydn Masses Sch端tz Choral & Vocal Works Carols for Christmas The Art of Ian Howell

BACH CANTATA SERIES

Solo Cantatas Trauerode M端hlhausen Cantatas Cantatas for Easter Weimar Cantatas Favorite Cantatas

free

Listen to ABS streaming audio

americanbach.org/player

16

americanbach.org/media

Upcoming ABS Events ABS @ CHORUS AMERICA Thursday June 9 at 4:30 pm Kanbar Performing Arts Center, S.F. Choral-Orchestral Master Class with Jeffrey Thomas: Three specially selected Conducting Fellows will work with ABS instrumentalists and singers.

ABS @ AMERICAN GUILD OF ORGANISTS CONVENTION Thursday July 7 at 8:00 pm St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, S.F. Music director Jeffrey Thomas will conduct members of ABS and organist Kimberly Marshall in a performance of Dialogues for Organ

2011/12 Our 23rd Season

September 2011

ANNUAL GALA Saturday September 24 2011 5:00 pm - St. Stephen’s Church, BELVEDERE December 2011

HANDEL: MESSIAH Thursday December 15 2011 7:30 pm - Grace Cathedral, SAN FRANCISCO Friday December 16 2011 7:30 pm - Grace Cathedral, SAN FRANCISCO February 2012

BACH: ST. MATTHEW PASSION Friday February 24 2012 8:00 pm - St. Stephen’s Church, BELVEDERE Saturday February 25 2012 8:00 pm - First Congregational Church, BERKELEY Sunday February 26 2012 7:00 pm - St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, SAN FRANCISCO Monday February 27 2012 8:00 pm - Davis Community Church, DAVIS

and Strings by Margaret Vardell Sandresky.

ABS FESTIVAL & ACADEMY Friday July 15 - Saturday July 23 San Francisco Conservatory of Music Chamber Music Concerts, Free Public Lectures & Master Classes, Colloquia (“Early Music: Making it Happen!”), Handel’s Ariodante, & Bach’s Mass in B Minor

ABS @ CAL PERFORMANCES “FALL FREE FOR ALL” Sunday September 25 at 4:00 p.m.

Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley Bach’s secular cantata “Non sa che sia dolore” and Orchestral Suite II in B Minor with soprano Christine Brandes and flutist Janet See.

March/April 2012

BACH: DOUBLE CONCERTOS! Concerto for Two Harpsichords Concerto for Two Violins Concerto for Oboe and Violin Friday March 30 2012 8:00 pm - St. Stephen’s Church, BELVEDERE Saturday March 31 2012 8:00 pm - First Congregational Church, BERKELEY Sunday April 1 2012 7:00 pm - St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, SAN FRANCISCO Monday April 2 2012 8:00 pm - Davis Community Church, DAVIS May 2012

BACH: EASTER ORATORIO & FAVORITE CANTATAS Friday May 4 2012 8:00 pm - St. Stephen’s Church, BELVEDERE Saturday May 5 2012 8:00 pm - First Congregational Church, BERKELEY Sunday May 6 2012 7:00 pm - St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, SAN FRANCISCO Monday May 7 2012 8:00 pm - Davis Community Church, DAVIS

2011/12 Subscriptions Now Available americanbach.org/subscribe (415) 621-7900 17

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Program Notes Missa a tre cori (Mass for Three Choirs) Antonio Lotti (c.1667-1740) Although Antonio Lotti spent most of his career at St. Mark’s in Venice, he also maintained some lasting connections to Germany. He was born in Hanover, where his father was Kapellmeister, and he spent two years in Dresden from 1717 to 1719, having been invited for a residency by the Electoral Court of Saxony. Furthermore, as a bridge between late Baroque and early Classical style, Lotti is also known to have influenced such Germanic masters as Bach, Handel, and Johann Zelenka.

Lotti’s Missa a tre cori also has a strong German foundation, even though its name might suggest otherwise. Manuscript evidence suggests the mass was composed during Lotti’s Dresden tenure, as the earlier of two surviving sources for the mass was copied by Christoph Gottlieb Schröter, known to have worked closely with Lotti while in Dresden. In incorporating an oboe and trumpet along with strings that include two separate viola parts, Lotti accords with German conventions of orchestration.

The Missa a tre cori is technically a missa brevis, comprising only a Kyrie and Gloria. But make no mistake: this is music writ large, most likely composed for a momentous occasion.

The precise context for its premiere remains unknown, but scholarly research has uncovered two possible candidates.

First was the November 22, 1717 celebration of the Feast of St. Cecilia, patroness of music. An account by one chronicler suggests the performance of a large-scale work by musicians recently arrived from Venice: “The Italian artists that were sent to Dresden from Venice by our gracious Crown Prince have animated our church in an hitherto unusual way, when they performed a sung High Mass in honor of St. Cecilia that lasted almost three hours…with such admirable artistry regarding singers as well as instrumentalists as never before heard in Dresden.”

The second possibility relates to a month-long arts festival in September 1719, held to celebrate the wedding of Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Augustus with Maria Josepha, daughter of Emperor Joseph I. After Friedrich and Maria’s arrival in Dresden on September 2, a solemn service was celebrated the following day. No mention is made of Lotti’s mass (or any other for that matter) during this celebration, but this royal arrival doubtless would have occasioned a mass on the same order as Lotti’s Missa a tre cori, and nothing else of such scope survives by Lotti or any of his Dresden compatriots.

For all its grandeur, the work today remains highly obscure.

Its first American performance occurred at Harvard University, after a gift of scores and manuscripts from Broadcast Music,

Inc. (BMI) to Harvard University’s Houghton Library brought the mass to light. The Harvard University Choir and Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra premiered its transcription of the piece on May 3, 1996 and subsequently issued a recording in 1998 (Centaur 8804590). Besides the Harvard manuscript only one other manuscript survives, a later copy from the 1730s in the Sächsiche Landesbibliothek in Dresden.

(Subtle differences with the earlier Harvard source, such as removing the piece’s instrumental introduction and using two violoncellos rather than violas, also suggest this latter copy to be an adaptation.)

If Lotti’s mass employs German instrumentation and fugal writing, Italianate features also permeate the work. The opening Kyrie, for instance, employs some of the spatial effects so prized in Lotti’s Venetian environs, as revealed by the notation “balchetto” (little balcony). These sonic effects occur at several other moments as well, notably in the Gloria’s opening and “Laudamus te,” “Qui tollis,” and “Quoniam” sections. This blend of features reveals Lotti as a consummate synthesizer of styles; as Barbara Wolff has observed, “Lotti, finding himself in the middle of an international group of first-class musicians and composers, quickly absorbed and adapted the local styles and fused them with his own contrapuntal, yet fluid and elegant style.”

The result is a work of extraordinarily varied styles and textures, its composite sections employing vastly divergent moods, instrumental combinations, and choruses ranging from four to thirteen parts. By way of example, the majestic expressiveness permeating the first Kyrie leads to a far more delicate Christe, with Lotti placing repeated emphasis on the word “Christe.” None of this prepares the listener for the second Kyrie’s sudden melancholy, where striking chromatic harmonies accompany a series of contrasting descending and ascending lines, all wrapped in a four-voice fugue.

The Gloria begins with an unmistakable “dancing” quality, an exultant mood created by buoyant rhythms and the introduction of the trumpet. This leads to a mesmerizing “Et in terra pax,” where Lotti combines more chromatic dissonances in the violas with somber, slow-moving choral homophony, frequently alternating between upper and lower voices (with sopranos notably absent). The sopranos make up for this absence in the “Laudamus te,” prominently featured in this more sprightly movement where ornamental figurations coexist alongside more relaxed passages.

Harmonic tension makes a forceful return in “Gratias agimus,” with clashing dissonances pushed to the fore in an intense movement. The graceful aria “Domine Deus” features a solo soprano gliding delicately alongside a gently rollicking solo violin, while the ensuing “Domine Fili” positions an eightvoice divided choir atop a pulsing accompaniment in quietly repeating patterns. An air of gentility persists in the trio continued on page 21 19

In July 2010, the American Bach Soloists inaugurated North America’s newest annual professional training program in Historically Informed Performance Practice.

Drawing on their distinguished roster of performers— named “the best American specialists in early music”

by The Washington Post—the American Bach Soloists ACADEMY offers advanced conservatory-level students and emerging professionals unique opportunities to study and perform Baroque music in a multidisciplinary learning environment. In addition to in-depth coachings and technical studies with masters of their particular instruments, string players, wind and brass players, continuo and keyboard players, and singers work together with all faculty members, gaining the perspectives of eminent and highly acclaimed professional artists from a variety of disciplines.

The ACADEMY is held in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s exquisite facilities, recently opened in the heart of the city’s arts district. Located two blocks from Davies Symphony Hall (home of the San Francisco Symphony) and the War Memorial Opera House (home of the San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet companies), the Conservatory offers state-of-the-art performance halls, classrooms, practice rooms, and teaching studios.

Each year, American Bach Soloists ACADEMY participants—the next generation of early music virtuosi—rehearse and perform side-by-side with the celebrated artists of the American Bach Soloists, leading to public concerts of chamber music, Baroque opera and oratorio, and annual performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor as part of the ABS FESTIVAL. Additionally, selected ACADEMY lectures and master classes are open to the public.

Join us this summer ... July 15–23, 2011

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ACADEMY SPONSORS The American Bach Soloists ACADEMY Sponsors represent the San Francisco Bay Area arts community’s most culturally responsible patrons who are excited to provide uniquely challenging and artistically productive educational experiences to the world’s next generation of professional musicians specializing in the timeless repertoire of the Baroque era and, in particular, the music of Bach and his contemporaries.

Whether your passion is for the Arts, Education, or Music, your investment in the careers of the cream of the crop from conservatories around the globe will help ensure the future of great music that has inspired generations from all walks of life.

As a member of this essential and prestigious society, you will be invited to a special opening reception on the first day of the Academy to meet our students and faculty. You will also be invited to a special private reception at the conclusion of the Academy. And you will have first access to Priority Ticketing for all events.

Program Notes degree and removing its interpolated Christmas texts, thereby producing another exceptionally presentable and appealing work, quite possibly for presentation along with the Missa to the Elector. While this notion is not proven, it makes perfect sense. The Magnificat in D Major, the key of the revision, is an utterly charming work. The brevity of each of its movements, perhaps necessitated by liturgical function, lends itself perfectly to colorfully varied treatments, each one a morsel of ingenuity and perfection. The work has enchanted audiences for generations.

Dresden’s electoral Catholic chapel at which Lotti’s Mass for Three Choirs may have been performed during the festivities organized around the marriage of the Crown Prince Friedrich Augustus to Maria Josepha, daughter of the Emperor Joseph I of Austria.

“Domine Deus” before coming to a jolting halt in “Qui tollis,” where harmonic instability and a series of plodding chordal declamations cast a sinister mood. The melancholy aria “Qui sedes” for alto and oboe offers some of the mass’s most hauntingly beautiful music.

For “Quoniam” Lotti brings back the trumpet to herald a celebratory mood, the movement’s vigorous rhythms and festive veneer however regularly interrupted by slower proclamations of the text “Jesu Christe.” A closing fugue on “Cum Sancto Spiritu” provides a suitably exciting end to this remarkable mass.

Joseph Sargent Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) In 1730, Jakob Born, Leipzig’s head Burgermeister, tried to disqualify J.S. Bach from his job by restoring the original requisites for the position of Kantor at the Thomaskirche.

Although the efforts of Born failed, Bach was left with distaste for the political aspects of his position, and was ever more conscious of his frustrations caused by what he considered to be the sub-standard musical resources available to him.

A prestigious position in the Hofcapelle of Dresden’s new Elector Friedrich August II became available in 1733, and Bach presented a carefully penned manuscript of his Missa (comprised of the Kyrie and Gloria of what is now known as the Mass in B Minor) along with a thoroughly ingratiating and highly flattering appeal for the job to the Elector. Dresden’s musical scene was many times more refined than that of Leipzig. It was an attractive opportunity. In the same year, Bach revised an earlier work—a Magnificat in E-flat Major, originally composed for Bach’s first Christmas services in Leipzig (1723)—by enhancing its orchestration to some

Composed for five-part voices, flutes, oboes (including oboes d’amore), trumpets, timpani, strings and basso continuo, each movement demonstrates unique orchestrations and highly stylized rhetoric. The dance-like aria for the second soprano “Et exsultavit” is characterized by its rising, “exalted” motif, while the melody of the first soprano’s plaintive aria about the humility of the Lord’s handmaiden is always languid and unassuming in its figures which seem to “bow down” to the basso continuo line. The tenor’s spirited aria dramatically depicts through sweeping descending and ascending figures the casting down of the mighty and the raising up of the humble and meek. A rather spectacular moment of imagery occurs in the “Fecit potentiam” chorus, when the proud are scattered about: Bach illustrates this by tossing away the notes of each part in a little explosion of sonority, followed by a tremendously robust and self-centered episode of puffy, thick chords to represent the swollen conceit of the proud. But the most delicious moment is one that very well might disprove the notion that the work was presented to the Dresden court. The alto aria “Esurientes” is scored for flutes and pizzicato bass. It is as sweet and sugary as can be and seems to epitomize the galant style of courtly music.

But this is a musical joke; its punch line, literally the very last note, is a single, unaccompanied guffaw, embarrassingly suggesting the bloated plutocrats being sent empty away and the door being slammed behind them. In two of the final movements—the “Suscepit Israel” and “Sicut locutus est”— Bach does not forget to pay homage to his predecessors.

Each is a nod to earlier styles of counterpoint (stile antico and permutation fugue). And for the final flourish, Bach utilized a time-honored convention of returning to the exact music of the opening at the words “Sicut in principio” (As it was in the beginning).

This splendid Magnificat will certainly continue to be one of the world’s most cherished works. To some, it is simply too short and too distilled. In comparison to Bach’s Passions and the Mass in B Minor, it seems uncharacteristically compendious. But such masterful brevity and succinctness is a skill known only to the most eloquent, and Bach’s Magnificat in D Major remains one of Bach’s most witty and colorful liturgical works.

Jeffrey Thomas 21

SAVE THE DATE The American Bach Soloists Annual

Gala

Saturday, September 24 2011 at 5:00 pm St. Stephen’s Church • 3 Bayview Avenue • Belvedere, CA Musical performance featuring soprano Christine Brandes

11-MS-AmerBachSoloist_

“Times . . . they are a changing.”

—Bob Dylan

And so will our 2011-2012 Season.

Sunday concerts will start at 3pm.

Tuesday concerts will remain at 7:30pm.

Reserve now for best seats www.marinsymphony.org 415.479.8100

MS

Marin

Symphony

Alasdair Neale, Music Director

Fresh. Local. Music.

Marin Symphony’s Fifty-Ninth Concert Season

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Texts and Translations Antonio Lotti Mass for Three Choirs KYRIE 3 Choirs (ATB, SSATB, SSATB) Kyrie eleison. oboe, strings, basso continuo Lord, have mercy.

4 Choirs (SSA, ATB, SSA, SATB) Christe eleison. oboe, strings, basso continuo Christ, have mercy.

Chorus (SATB) Kyrie eleison. oboe, strings, basso continuo Lord, have mercy.

GLORIA Chorus (SSATB) Gloria in excelsis Deo. trumpet, oboe, strings, basso continuo Glory be to God in the highest. .

Chorus (AATTB) Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. violas I & II, basso continuo And in earth peace to men of good will Chorus (SSATB) Laudamus te; benedicimus te; adoramus te; glorificamus te. trumpet, oboe, strings, basso continuo We praise thee; we bless thee, we worship thee; we glorify thee.

Chorus (SSATB) Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam. trumpet, oboe, strings, basso continuo We give thanks to thee for thy great glory.

Soprano aria Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. violin solo, basso continuo Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father almighty.

2 Choirs (SATB, SATB) Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe altissime: oboe, strings, basso continuo O Lord, the only-begotten Son Jesus Christ most high: Soprano, Alto, & Bass trio Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris: violas, basso continuo Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: Chorus (SSATB) Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis: Qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe oboe, strings, basso continuo deprecationem nostram:

Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us: Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer:

Alto aria Qui sedes ad dextram Patris, miserere nobis: oboe, violas I & II, basso continuo Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy upon us: Chorus (SSATB) Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus altissimus, Jesu Christe: trumpet, oboe, strings, basso continuo For thou only art holy, thou only art the Lord, thou only art the most high, Jesus

Christ:

Chorus (SATB) Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen. trumpet, oboe, strings, basso continuo With the Holy Ghost in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Please join us for our intermission reception. continued on page 25 23

A Special

Thank You to our 2010/11 Season Ushers

Anne Averill Keith Ballie Elaine & Milt Becker Rhoda & Larry Becker Al Bernstein Sheila Brooke Gretchen Brosius Thalia Broudy Loren Chuse Mike Coleman Anne Conway David Deffner David Dehner Marian Derby Kaoru Falk Susan Ford Sara Frucht Jubillee Gee Paul & Karen Gierlach Sande Green Jayne Haldane Dorli, David & Dom Hanchette Tina Haner Carole Kalous Alice Ko

William Langley Madlena Maximova Wendy Mosely Pam Pierce Lee Riggs Carrie Rock Andre Safar Linda Scott LeAnna Sharp Colby Smith Julie Sperber Mary Sprifke Karen Stella Cathy Stevens Rita Sullivan Ernie & Blythe Tai Zoe Tilton Jim Turner Ruth Ungar Maria West Bu Wirth Ron & Marlene Wizelman Robyn & Paul Wren Dan Yelen

We look forward to seeing them again for our summer Festival and our 11/12 Season.

Volunteering is an important way to get involved with the American Bach Soloists.

You can help in many ways: Ushering ABS is grateful to the many wonderful people who regularly help out at our Northern California / Bay Area concerts. Ushers provide a vital role, not only in the typical duties of tearing tickets, showing patrons to their seats, giving directions, etc., but they also provide a welcoming presence and ultimately become a part of the appreciative audience. For more information on volunteering to usher, please contact Katherine McKee at 415-621-7900 (extension 202).

24

Housing Musicians Another valuable service that you can offer as a volunteer is to provide housing for an out-of-town musician. Opportunities for this occur throughout the season. Please contact Steven Lehning at 415-621-7900 (extension 201).

Office Support ABS often relies on volunteers to assist with mailings, light office work, and special events. If you would like to volunteer in any of these capacities, please contact Katherine McKee at 415-621-7900 (extension 202).

Texts and Translations Johann Sebastian Bach Magnificat, BWV 243 Chorus Magnificat anima mea Dominum. flutes, oboes, trumpets, timpani, strings, My soul exalts the Lord. basso continuo Soprano II aria Et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo. strings, basso continuo And my spirit rejoices in God my saviour.

Soprano I aria Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent oboe d’amore, basso continuo For he has been mindful of the humble state of his handmaiden: from now on, [all

generations] shall call me blessed.

Chorus omnes generationes. flutes, oboes d’amore, strings, basso all generations. continuo Bass aria Quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius. basso continuo For the mighty one has done great things for me, and his name is Holy.

Alto & Tenor duet Et misericordia a progenie in progenies timentibus eum. flutes, strings, basso continuo He is merciful to those who fear him through all generations.

Chorus Fecit potentiam in brachio suo; dispersit superbos mente cordis sui. flutes, oboes, trumpets, timpani, strings, He has shown his might with his arm; he has scattered those who harboured pride in basso continuo their hearts.

Tenor aria Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles. violins, basso continuo He has brought rulers down from their thrones, and he has raised up the humble.

Alto aria Esurientes implevit bonis et divites dimisit inanes. flute, basso continuo The hungry he has filled with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

Sopranos (I & II) & Alto trio Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae. oboes, basso continuo He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful.

Chorus Sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini eius in saecula. basso continuo Even as he said to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants for ever.

(Luke 1: 46-55) Chorus Gloria Patri, gloria Filio, gloria et Spiritui Sancto! Sicut erat in principio, et nunc et semper flutes, oboes, trumpets, timpani, strings, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. basso continuo Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the

beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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San Fr ancisco Ren aissan ce V oices

Cupid

&

Death

Our OPERA E ARL Y & A NCIE NT series returns with this West Coast premiere!

Aug ust 13, 14, 20 & 21, 2011 Performances in San Francisco, Berk eley & Palo A lto

spring

glee

club

Join us for our spring fundraiser under the baton of our Assistant Music Director Katherine McKee with this sing-a-long workshop & learn the entertaining musical forms from the past of Catch & Glee – join us for a half or whole day session on May 14!

Visit our website for schedule & registration

www.SFRV.org SF Weekly’s 20 10 pick for “Bes t Clas sical Mu sic”

30th Anniversary

Sea

son San Francisco • B erkeley Atherton • Walnu t Creek

philharmonia.or g (415) 252-1288

Sunday, May 22 at 2 PM San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak Street

Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players

Rarely Performed Quartets by Quantz and Telemann Stephen Schultz, flute • Lisa Weiss, violin Katherine Kyme, viola • William Skeen, cello Charles Sherman, harpsichord Tickets $25 26

Music Director Jeffrey Thomas JEFFREY THOMAS has brought thoughtful, meaningful, and informed perspectives to his performances as Artistic and Music Director of the American Bach Soloists for more than two decades. Recognized worldwide as one of the foremost interpreters of the music of Bach and the Baroque, he continues to inspire audiences and performers alike through his keen insights into the passions behind musical expression. He has directed and conducted recordings of more than 25 cantatas, the Mass in B Minor, Musical Offering, motets, chamber music, and works by Schütz, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Haydn, and Beethoven. Fanfare magazine has praised his series of Bach recordings, stating that “Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.” He has appeared with the Baltimore, Berkeley, Boston, Detroit, Houston, National, Rochester, Minnesota, and San Francisco symphony orchestras; with the Vienna Symphony and the New Japan Philharmonic; with virtually every American baroque orchestra; and in Austria, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Mexico. He has performed at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Spoleto USA Festival, Ravinia Festival, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, Boston Early Music Festival, Bethlehem Bach Festival, Göttingen Festival, Tage Alte Musik Festival in Regensburg, E. Nakamichi Baroque Festival in Los Angeles, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s “Next Wave Festival,” and he has collaborated on several occasions as conductor with the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Before devoting all of his time to conducting, he was one of the first recipients of the San Francisco Opera Company’s prestigious Adler Fellowships. Cited by the Wall Street Journal as “a superstar among oratorio tenors,” Mr. Thomas’ extensive discography of vocal music includes dozens of recordings of major works for Decca, EMI, Erato, Koch International Classics, Denon, Harmonia Mundi, Smithsonian, Newport Classics, and Arabesque. Mr. Thomas is an avid exponent of contemporary music, and has conducted the premiers of new operas, including David Conte’s Gift of the Magi and Firebird Motel, and premiered song cycles of several composers, including

two cycles written especially for him. He has performed lieder recitals at the Smithsonian, song recitals at various universities, and appeared with his own vocal chamber music ensemble, L’Aria Viva.

Educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and the Juilliard School of Music, with further studies in English literature at Cambridge University, he has taught at the Amherst Early Music Workshop, Oberlin College Conservatory Baroque Performance Institute, San Francisco Early Music Society, and Southern Utah Early Music Workshops, presented master classes at the New England Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, SUNY at Buffalo, Swarthmore College, and Washington University, been on the faculty of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, and was artist-in-residence at the University of California, where he is now professor of music (Barbara K. Jackson Chair in Choral Conducting) and director of choral ensembles in the Department of Music at UC Davis. He was a UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellow from 2001 to 2006; and the Rockefeller Foundation awarded him a prestigious Residency at the Bellagio Study and Conference Center at Villa Serbelloni for April 2007, to work on his manuscript, “Handel’s Messiah: A Life of Its Own.”

In the Press...

“Thomas united enlightened historical performance practice with native musical intelligence.”

San Francisco Examiner

“Under the dexterous leadership of Music Director Jeffrey Thomas, the choir produced sounds of remarkable transparency and body.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“Thomas cast the music in winningly immediate terms…a performance marked by crisp rhythmic focus and tender lyricism.”

San Francisco Chronicle

“Thomas’ direction seems just right, capturing the humanity of the music…there is no higher praise for Bach performance.”

Fanfare Magazine 27

Artist Profiles

Shari Wilson SHARI WILSON (soprano) is among the new generation of singers specializing in early and modern music, demonstrating great versatility and stylistic sensitivity. The range of ensembles with which she has appeared as soloist is a testament to such virtuosity: Blue Heron, Exsultemus, La Donna Musicale, Lorelei Ensemble, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, Piffaro, Church of the Advent, Schola Cantorum, Boston Secession, and the Festival of Two Worlds (Spoleto, Italy). Ms. Wilson made her New York City solo debut in 2006 at Merkin Hall in a world premiere performance in Benjamin C.S. Boyle’s Cantata: To One in Paradise. Recent performances have also included a residency with the American Bach Soloists Academy under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas, Telemann cantatas from Harmonischer Gottesdienst with Exsultemus and Newton Baroque, Gabriel in Haydn’s Creation with Marsh Chapel Collegium, and a program of Scottish music with Seven Times Salt for the SoHIP concert series. She currently sings with the acclaimed ensemble The Crossing, based in Philadelphia under the direction of Donald Nally, with whom she sang the regional premiere of David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion. Her work at the Festival of Two Worlds brought collaborations with some of the world’s great artists, including Gian Carlo Menotti, Richard Hickox, Carlos Saura, and Gunther Kramer. She can be heard on the recent recording of Kile Smith’s Vespers with Piffaro and The Crossing, with whom she will be recording music of David Lang and Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen. Of a recent Bach performance a Philadelphia critic wrote that she “sang with... tonal beauty, timbral clarity, lyrical phrasing and rhythmic vitality.” Ms. Wilson received her MM in choral conducting from Temple University and her BS in piano and voice from West Chester University.

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Danielle Reutter-Harrah DANIELLE REUTTER-HARRAH (mezzo-soprano) hails from Portland, OR, and is an avid performer of baroque and early music. She sang as a featured soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat, and Duruflé’s Requiem with the Lamont Chorale during her undergraduate studies. In 2007 she joined St. Martin’s Chamber Choir and performed as an alto and soloist in Saint-Saëns’ Christmas Oratorio, Bruckner’s Requiem, and other works. In 2009 she performed the lead role in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Baroque Orchestra of Colorado, and John Corigliano’s Fern Hill with Musica Sacra. During the summer of 2010 she participated in the American Bach Soloists Academy and performed Bach’s Mass in B Minor under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas. She has performed in master classes for David Okerlund and Jennifer Lane and has received coachings from Judith Malafronte, Max van Egmond, and Martin Katz. Over the past few years she has sung under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, Marin Alsop, Timothy Krueger, Catherine Sailer, and Tan Dun among others. She received her B.M. from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in vocal performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Artist Profiles

Abigail Fischer ABIGAIL FISCHER (mezzo-soprano) has performed with New York Collegium, Early Music New York, the Rebel Ensemble, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Boston Pops, and has given world premieres of music by John Zorn, Elliott Carter, Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli, Bernard Rands, and the Bang on a Can artists. Recent highlights include the VOX contemporary opera showcase and the Chandler Carter opera Strange Fruit with New York City Opera, and an outreach production of Hansel and Gretel with New Jersey State Opera. Other recent productions include the Lee Hoiby premiere of This is the Rill Speaking with American Opera Projects, and the Peter Westergaard premiere of Alice in Wonderland with Center for Contemporary Opera. Ms. Fischer’s relationship with new music ensembles such as Continuum and Sequitur has led to performances from Lincoln Center to Jakarta, Indonesia.

In concert, Ms. Fischer has performed as a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Handel’s Messiah, William Albright’s Song to David, Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in B Minor, Mozart’s Mass in C. Ms. Fischer is an active chamber musician and sings the opera roles of Dido (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas), Cherubino (Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro), Mother Marie (Poulenc’s Dialogue of the Carmelites), Sesto (Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito), and Mrs. Lovett (Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd).

She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music (MM) and Vassar College (BA), and has been a resident artist at the Banff Music Centre, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Aspen Music Festival and School, Opera North, and the Lucerne Festival Academy.

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Scott Mello SCOTT MELLO (tenor) has been praised for his “winningly lucid voice” (WCLV) and being “sonorous and alive to text” (Cleveland Plain Dealer). His 2010/11 season opened with a return to Apollo’s Fire for performances of Monteverdi’s Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 in Cleveland and on a U.S. Tour from New York to New Mexico. He sang Bach’s Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern and Telemann’s Uns ist ein Kind geboren with Dallas Bach Society and Handel’s Messiah with Orchestra Nova San Diego and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra.

This spring, Mr. Mello will debut with Bach Collegium San Diego as Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas. During the 2009/10 season, he appeared with Early Music New York at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Apollo’s Fire in performances of Praetorius’ “Christmas Vespers” and Come to the River: An Early American Gathering, the Philadelphia Bach Institute in a presentation of Sven-David Sandström’s Messiah under the baton of Maestro Helmuth Rilling, the University of Virginia Choirs, and American Bach Soloists Academy in performances of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Mr. Mello also made his debut with American Opera Theater performing the title role in Handel’s Jephtha. Additional opera and musical theater credits include Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Acis in Acis and Galatea, Hippolyte in Hippolyte et Aricie, Guillot de Morfontaine in Manon, Bill in Hand of Bridge, the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas, Harry in Company, and El Gallo in The Fantasticks. In 2006, Mr. Mello was selected as a Virginia Best Adams Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival and has twice been awarded fellowships to the Aspen Music Festival. He has recorded with Apollo’s Fire for Avie Records, Koch International Classics and National Public Radio (NPR), Early Music New York on Ex Cathedra Records, and Bach Sinfonia on Dorian Sono Luminus. A dedicated educator, Mr. Mello served on the voice faculty at Seton Hall University for six years and currently teaches on the voice faculties of Washington & Lee University and the University of Richmond.

He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and New York University.

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Artist Profiles

Mischa Bouvier MISCHA BOUVIER (baritone) is a winner of the 2010 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Noted by the New York Times for his “rich timbre” and “fine sense of line,” Mr. Bouvier continues to impact audiences with his keen musicality and remarkable communicative ability. This season’s highlights include the role of Lucifero in Handel’s La Resurrezione for American Bach Soloists SummerFest; performances as bass soloist and Pilate in Bach’s St John Passion with the Bach Collegium San Diego and Chatham Baroque; recitals of works by French, German and Russian Romantic-era composers with pianist Yegor Shevtsov in Alabama, Ohio and New York; and several concerts in New York City and Philadelphia singing Mohammed Fairouz’s new work for baritone, string quartet and wind quintet, Furia.

A singer of tremendous versatility, Mr. Bouvier made his professional musical theater debut under the baton of Keith Lockhart singing Jigger Craigin in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel with the Boston Pops in 2007. He has performed with a wide array of groups and individuals including Anonymous 4, the Mark Morris Dance Group, American Handel Society, the Bach and the Baroque Ensemble of Pittsburgh, pianist Nareh Arghamanyan, New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Five Boroughs Music Festival, the Long Island Philharmonic, the Metropolis Ensemble, the Catacoustic Consort, pianist Jacob Rhodebeck, and gambist Annalisa Pappano. Mr. Bouvier received his B.M. from Boston University and his M.M. from the University and Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

He participated in several training programs including Lyric Opera Cleveland, Internationale Meisterkurse für Musik, the Carmel Bach Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival. Mr. Bouvier is a winner of the 2010 American Bach Soloists Henry I. Goldberg Young Artist Award, the 3rd place winner and recipient of the Richard Westenberg Award from the Oratorio Society of New York’s 2010 Solo Competition, and the winner of the 2009 Louisville Bach Society Gerhard Herz Young Artist Competition.

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Thank You Patrons, Contributors, Donors, Sponsors, Foundations, Underwriters, Advertisers, Volunteers, Advisors, and Friends for another wonderful season!

• We look forward together to our 23rd annual Subscription Season from December 2011 through May 2012 and to the debut of San Francisco’s very own annual summer Bach Festival

July 15 through 23, 2011 See you there!

• The Musicians, Board, and Staff of the American Bach Soloists

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