T
he Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, founded in 1935, sprang from a Vespers service presented that year on the Rollins College campus at Knowles Memorial Chapel. The event was organized by Christopher Honaas, dean of the college’s whimsically named Division of Expressive Arts. Today, what started as a single Sunday performance has grown into a full-fledged festival with a 160-member choir, a permanent orchestra and a packed schedule of concerts, many of which feature internationally renowned guest soloists. By the time John Sinclair became conductor and artistic director, the society and its annual Bach Festival had for decades been the personal domain of John Tiedtke, a shrewd businessman who had made his fortune growing sugar, citrus and corn in South Florida. Hugh McKean, then president of the college, had asked his boyhood friend to take charge in 1950, when founding society President Isabelle Sprague-Smith died and the organization’s future seemed in doubt. The no-nonsense Tiedtke proved a fortuitous choice. He loved music — he played piano a bit — but mostly enjoyed listening and was a consistent and generous donor to community-based arts organizations. At Rollins, he had been treasurer and chairman of the board of trustees. McKean, an iconic Winter Park figure, had been an art professor at Rollins before his elevation to the presidency. He had also married Jeannette Genius, granddaughter of Charles Hosmer Morse, a benevolent industrialist who had helped shape modern Winter Park. “Mr. Tiedtke and Dr. McKean understood that with great wealth comes responsibility,” says Sinclair, who was hired in 1985 as chair of the college’s music department and, he assumed, artistic director of the festival. “They would have lunch together every Saturday. They started inviting me to come along, and those lunches were hugely interesting.” The Missouri-born Sinclair, who says he sometimes felt “a little like a third wheel,” would listen in awe as the old friends discussed art, philosophy and the events of the day. They would even spar over who should pay the tab. After 40 years of lunches, McKean would joke, he remembered only a handful of times when Tiedtke picked up the bill. But when the subject of the society came up, it was clear that Tiedtke, the society’s primary funder as well as its hands-on boss, called the shots. There would be a new artistic director only when Tiedtke decided that there ought to be. After nearly five years passed with Murray
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Somerville still ensconced in the artistic director’s position, Sinclair felt that an impasse had been reached. He and his wife Gail had two children and loved Rollins and their comfortable home in Maitland. Still, several high-profile institutions, including Penn State, were making overtures — and Sinclair was tempted to explore them. At Tiedtke’s request, McKean persuaded Sinclair to stay put and counseled patience. Shortly thereafter, Somerville left for a position as organist and choirmaster at Harvard University’s Memorial Church and Sinclair finally took up the baton — which he has kept for 31 seasons and counting. “Mr. Tiedtke knew I had strong opinions,” recalls Sinclair. “But he could be persuaded in some instances. Basically, he said, ‘You pick what you want to do, and I get veto power.’” The music-loving philanthropist remained very much in charge of the society until the year before his death, at age 97, in 2004. Living up to the examples set by Tiedtke and McKean has been a continuing priority for Sinclair, who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance and has been dubbed “Central Florida’s resident conductor” by the Orlando Sentinel. Tiedtke believed that well-run, well-supported arts organizations were integral to any enlightened community, and McKean believed that any academician worth his salt was first and foremost a classroom teacher. Eric Ravndal, society chairman since 2004, is a retired Episcopal priest and a Tiedtke cousin. Under his leadership, the organization was revamped as a more traditionally structured nonprofit, with a diverse board and a paid staff. (Despite all outward appearances and a myriad of connections, the society is a separate organization from the college.) Although Ravndal’s collaborative management style is a departure for the organization, he, like his legendary predecessor, recognizes that the artistic director brings more to the position than an unerring ear for music. “John is a natural educator,” says Ravndal. “I attend nearly every rehearsal. And I can tell you that the musicians never leave a rehearsal without having learned more about the music they’re performing. It’s an incredible gift.” Sinclair is indeed an engaging teacher and a superb conductor. But he’s also innovative and unstoppable. After a season of presenting superb music despite uncertainty caused by COVID-19, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park is coming back
COURTESY OF THE BACH FESTIVAL SOCIETY OF WINTER PARK
BACH FESTIVAL HAS A BRAVURA BACKSTORY
