BACH FEST II: MAGNIFICAT

Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 7:30 pmSunday, March 24, 2024 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ken-David Masur, conductorMahan Esfahani, harpsichord & leaderRachell Ellen Wong, violin & leaderJen Sanders, sopranoAshley Suresh, sopranoOlivia Pogodzinski, sopranoMary Rafel, altoScott Bass, countertenorNicholas Lin, tenorDarwin Sanders, bassMilwaukee Symphony ChorusCheryl Frazes Hill, director

Program

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHBrandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048I. [No tempo indication]II. AdagioIII. AllegroJinwoo Lee, violin & leader

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHConcerto No. 4 in A major for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, BWV 1055I. AllegroII. LarghettoIII. Allegro ma non tantoMahan Esfahani, harpsichord & leader

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHConcerto No. 1 in A minor for Violin and String Orchestra, BWV 1041I. [No tempo indication]II. AndanteIII. Allegro assaiRachell Ellen Wong, violin & leader

INTERMISSION

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACHMagnificat in D major, BWV 243I. Magnificat anima mea DominumII. Et exultavit spiritus meusIII. Quia respexit humilitatemIV. Omnes generationesV. Quia fecit mihi magnaVI. Et misericordiaVII. Fecit potentiamVIII. Deposuit potentesIX. Esurientes implevit bonisX. Suscepit IsraelXI. Sicut locutus estXII. Gloria PatriKen-David Masur, conductorJen Sanders, sopranoAshley Suresh, sopranoOlivia Pogodzinski, sopranoMary Rafel, altoScott Bass, countertenorNicholas Lin, tenorDarwin Sanders, bassMilwaukee Symphony Chorus

The 2023.24 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION. The Bach Festival is sponsored by the WE ENERGIES FOUNDATION and the SCHOENLEBER FOUNDATION.

The length of this concert is approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Guest Artist Biographies

MAHAN ESFAHANI

Mahan Esfahani has made it his life’s mission to rehabilitate the harpsichord in the mainstream of concert instruments, and to that end, his creative programming and work in commissioning new works have drawn the attention of critics and audiences across Europe, Asia, and North America. He was the first and only harpsichordist to be a BBC New Generation Artist (2008-2010), a Borletti-Buitoni prize winner (2009), and a nominee for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year (2014, 2015, and 2017). In 2022, he became the youngest recipient of the Wigmore Medal, in recognition of his significant contribution and longstanding relationship with Wigmore Hall.

His work for the harpsichord has resulted in recitals in most of the major series and concert halls, among them London’s Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, Oji Hall in Tokyo, the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Shanghai Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall in NYC, Sydney Opera House, Melbourne Recital Centre, Los Angeles’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Berlin Konzerthaus, Zürich Tonhalle, Wiener Konzerthaus, San Francisco Performances, the 92nd Street Y, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Cologne Philharmonie, Edinburgh International Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Madrid’s Fundación Juan March, Bergen Festival, Festival Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Al Bustan Festival in Beirut, Jerusalem Arts Festival, and the Leipzig Bach Festival, and concerto appearances with the Chicago Symphony, Ensemble Modern, BBC Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia, Czech Radio Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Malta Philharmonic, Orchestra La Scintilla, Aarhus Symphony, Montreal’s Les Violons du Roy, Hamburg Symphony, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with whom he was an artistic partner for 2016-2018. His richly-varied discography includes seven critically-acclaimed recordings for Hyperion and Deutsche Grammophon — garnering one Gramophone award, two BBC Music Magazine awards, a Diapason d’Or and “Choc de Classica” in France, and two ICMAs.

Esfahani studied musicology and history at Stanford University, where he first came into contact with the harpsichord in the class of Elaine Thornburgh. Following his decision to abandon the law for music, he studied harpsichord privately in Boston with Peter Watchorn before completing his education under the celebrated Czech harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková. Following a three-year stint as artist-in-residence at New College, Oxford, he continues his academic associations as an honorary member at Keble College, Oxford, and as professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He can be frequently heard as a commentator on BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 and as a host for such programs as Record Review, Building a Library, and Sunday Feature, as well as in live programs with the popular mathematician and presenter Marcus du Sautoy; for the BBC’s Sunday Feature, he is currently at work on his fourth radio documentary following two popular programs on such subjects as the early history of African-American composers in the classical sphere and the development of orchestral music in Azerbaijan. Born in Tehran in 1984 and raised in the United States, he lived in Milan and then London for several years before taking up residence in Prague.

RACHELL ELLEN WONG

Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong made history in 2020 when she was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming the only Baroque artist in the program’s history to receive the honor. A star on both the modern and historical performance violin stages, she is also the Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. With performances across five continents, Wong has established herself as one of the leading historical performers of her generation, collaborating with esteemed ensembles such as the Academy of Ancient Music, Jupiter Ensemble led by lutenist Thomas Dunford, Bach Collegium Japan, Ruckus Early Music, and Les Arts Florissants, among others. Equally accomplished on the modern violin, Wong made her first public appearance with Philharmonia Northwest at age 11 and has since performed as a soloist with orchestras such as Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Panamá, Orquesta Sinfónica de Costa Rica, and the Seattle Symphony. In 2020, Wong made her conducting debut with the Seattle Symphony, leading a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons from the violin. Currently, she serves as concertmaster of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra.

Notable concerto performances from Wong’s 2023.24 season include appearances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, New World Symphony, Reno Chamber Orchestra, and the Northwest Sinfonietta. Highlights from last season included performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Auburn Symphony (WA), Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Richmond Symphony (IN), Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy with the American Classical Orchestra (NYC), as well as debuts for UC Berkeley’s Cal Performances, the Edinburgh Music Festival, the Washington Bach Consort in D.C., and a recital for the Starling-DeLay Symposium at The Juilliard School. Additionally, Wong is a faculty member at the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma, California, and an American Fellow of The English Concert.

Alongside acclaimed keyboardist David Belkovski, Wong is co-founder of Twelfth Night. Founded in 2021, Twelfth Night’s notable engagements include Music Before 1800, Reno’s Apex Concert Series, Arizona Early Music, and Chatham Baroque. The ensemble is set to make its Carnegie Hall debut during the 2023.24 season.

Wong holds a Master of Music in historical performance from The Juilliard School, where she was a Kovner Fellowship recipient. She also holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she divides her time between New York City and Seattle. Wong performs on a baroque violin from the school of Joachim Tielke circa 1700, as well as a violin made by Carlo de March in 1953. Her exceptional blend of technical virtuosity, expressive musicianship, and deep understanding of period performance practices has garnered critical acclaim and a dedicated following.

JENNY SANDERS

Jenny E. Sanders is a student at Maranatha Baptist Seminary, where she will graduate in May 2024 with a master’s degree in biblical counseling. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music with a vocal proficiency, and during her undergraduate years was immersed in all things music: as a first soprano in the university’s chamber choir and a second violin in the symphony orchestra, participating in choral recording projects and music camps. After teaching elementary music for three years, she pursued a counseling degree to help her interact with students from a more holistic standpoint. She writes, “as a musician, I see that music makes a direct connection to the soul. I have seen so many students helped through difficult situations because of the healing nature of music. I hope to use my counseling tools to help make that connection in the music classroom.” She has continued to be active in music while in graduate school, directing a small community children’s choir, teaching voice at the Maranatha Music Preparatory School, and as a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus.

ASHLEY SURESH

Ashley Suresh, soprano, has performed in numerous operas and musicals from a young age. She recently debuted with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah and performed with the Milwaukee Ballet’s production of Dracula with The Florentine Opera Company. As a soloist, she has performed works such as Strauss’s Four Last Songs with the Beloit Symphony Orchestra and Kenneth Frazelle’s The Motion of Stone. While obtaining her Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Northwestern University, she sang the role of Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Northwestern Opera Theater and performed in a master class with the renowned Renée Fleming. She has performed with the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute in productions of La rondine, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Maria Stuarda. She debuted with Piedmont Opera in 2012 as Bridget Booth in Robert Ward’s The Crucible and is a recipient of the William R. Kenan Jr. Excellence Scholarship Award from University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and son.

OLIVIA POGODZINSKI

Olivia Pogodzinski is an operatic soprano based in Milwaukee. She has a degree in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studied under Professor James Doing. Notable performances include singing the role of the Queen of the Night in University Opera’s production of The Magic Flute and appearing as the soprano soloist in the University’s performance of Brahms’s German Requiem

She sings with numerous ensembles in the Milwaukee area, including the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, The Florentine Opera Company, Brew City Opera, and Grace Presbyterian Church.

When she is not performing, Pogodzinski stays busy working as a dentist at her nearby office.

MARY RAFEL

Mary Rafel has over 17 years of experience as a professional musician and choral singer. Having always been passionate about music, Rafel pursued it academically in her undergraduate studies at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, earning her Bachelor of Music degree in voice. She continued her studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she earned her Master of Music degree with an emphasis in musicology and voice. It was then her journey began as an alto in the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. Rafel has enjoyed being part of this incredible group for over 12 years. In that time, she has had the opportunity to sing a wide range of repertoire, from the Baroque to the 20th century. She currently studies under the tutelage of Dr. Tanya Kruse-Ruck.

SCOTT BASS

Scott Bass (he/they) is a countertenor, songwriter, and multiinstrumentalist based out of Chicago, Illinois. Receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2019, Bass has built up a vast portfolio of vocal, instrumental, composition, and production work. Praised for the versatility of a wide-spanning vocal range and performing with ensembles from the secular to the sacred, with multiple albums of original music recorded and released under their name and their solo project, base., Bass takes pride in the diversity of their musical language, taking influence from a vast pool of musical history from the sacred, popular, Baroque, and beyond. This is Bass’s first year singing with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, and they were previously featured in the semi-chorus of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah. Outside of the MSO, Bass is a featured soloist with Kol Zimrah Jewish Community Singers, performing works by Jewish composers including Bernstein, Janowski, and more. Bass is also the cantorial soloist for Beth Chaverim Humanistic Jewish Community, and has been featured singing with the Evanston Chamber Opera in Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel as the Sandman and leading the tenor section on the album Max Janowski - Great Works for the Max Janowski Society.

NICHOLAS LIN

Nicholas Lin is a tenor based out of Milwaukee and the greater Chicagoland area. Groups he has performed with include The Florentine Opera Company (chorus member in Rigoletto, L’enfant et les sortilèges, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and L’elisir d’amore), Music of the Baroque, Opera for the Young (Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia), and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. In 2023, he joined the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus as a paid core member. As a soloist, Lin has sung the Mozart Requiem’s tenor solo for the Northwestern Summer Chorus and the role of Colas in South Loop Symphony’s semi-staged production of Bastien und Bastienne. He is a graduate of Northwestern University’s voice and opera program, where he studied under Karen Brunssen. At Northwestern, Lin performed the roles of Orfeo (L’Orfeo), Frank (Die Fledermaus), The Keeper of the Madhouse (The Rake’s Progress), The Lord Chancellor (Iolanthe), the Learned Judge (Trial and Error), and chorus work in Don Giovanni, Theodora, and Béatrice et Bénédict. In the fall of 2019, he directed OPUS’s production of Arthur Honegger’s operetta, Les aventures du roi Pausole at Northwestern. Music Festivals he has performed in include Atlantic Music Festival in Waterville, Maine; Classical Lyrical Arts in Novafeltria, Italy; and International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy. This is his second appearance as a soloist for the MSO, and he is extremely excited to be singing with such a fantastic orchestra and chorus.

DARWIN SANDERS

Darwin Sanders has been actively involved in Milwaukee’s classical music scene for over 25 years. He is both a member of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and its diction coach. He began working as the diction coach for the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus under the baton of chorus foundress Margaret Hawkins. He has continued in that capacity, coaching the chorus in numerous works in the choral repertoire.

Through private vocal study, he refined his musical and vocal skills and was trained in the bel canto singing technique. Continuing his private vocal study led him to develop operatic singing techniques while completing French, German, Italian, and Russian language studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Sanders formerly served as a chorister, comprimario role singer, and diction coach for The Florentine Opera Company, where he coached nearly 70 staged operas and three recorded contemporary operas. These include the 2012 two-time Grammy Award-winning recording of Elmer Gantry, the 2013 recording of Rio de Sangre, and the 2021 Grammy Award-nominated recording Prince of Players.

Program notes by Elaine Schmidt

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Born 31 March 1685; Eisenach, GermanyDied 28 July 1750; Leipzig, Germany

BRANDENBURG

In 1985, Johann Sebastian Bach’s fame was such that church bells around the world rang at noon on his 300th birthday. But in the years following his death in 1750, most of Bach’s music and even his name were largely forgotten. The vast majority of his music had been written to be played just once, and only a tiny bit of it had been published during his lifetime. In 1823 or 1824, young Felix Mendelssohn’s grandmother gave him a copyist’s version of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as a birthday gift. Transfixed by the work, he later used it to reintroduce the name and music of Bach to the world.Thank you, Felix.

Bach’s six Brandenburg concertos were something of a musical resume, or job application of sorts. He sent them to the Margrave of Brandenburg (a title used mostly by princes), in part at the request of the Margrave and in part, or so it seems, in hopes of landing a job. Bach had met the Margrave in 1719 while he was in Berlin to purchase a harpsichord on behalf of his employer at the time, the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. He apparently played for the Margrave on this trip. The Margrave, impressed by Bach, asked him to send some music. About two years later, Bach got around to honoring that request. Bach was looking for a new position, so sending music to a member of the nobility who had been impressed when he heard his playing must have seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, it would seem that Bach did not think the situation all the way through. He sent the Margrave a newly reworked version of what we now call the Brandenburg Concertos. Each piece was actually a concerto grosso, meaning a concerto that featured a group of soloists instead of a single player. The flaw in this plan lay in the fact that over the course of the six pieces, Bach included a violino piccolo, which was a bit of an oddity, even in 1719, wrote some virtuoso horn parts at a time when horns were rather new in orchestras, wrote a terrifically difficult trumpet solo, and made other instrumental requirements the Margrave would be hard-pressed to meet in order to have the pieces performed. Bach included a note asking for employment.

The Margrave never acknowledged receiving pieces or the note and never heard the concertos performed. The pieces may not have landed Bach a new gig, but they did advance the development of the concerto significantly, in part through the creative instrumentation and variety of different sounds Bach created in them, and in part through the inventive structures of the six pieces — no two are alike. Although the pieces failed to land Bach a new job, they are widely regarded today at some of the finest concertos of the Baroque era. The autograph copy of the six Brandenburg concertos was very nearly lost to the world during World War II. The concertos were on a train, having been removed from the Berlin library where they were housed to keep them safe from Allied bombing raids. When the train itself came under aerial attack, a librarian fled into the nearby woods, clutching the manuscript under his coat.

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048 (Saturday evening/Sunday afternoon)

Composed: Unknown; autograph score dates from 1718First performance: Unknown; collection dedicated on 24 March 1721Last MSO performance: 10 February 2007; William Eddins, conductorInstrumentation: harpsichord; stringsApproximate duration: 10 minutes

Bach’s third Brandenburg concerto owes some credit to the four concertos for four violins found in Antonio Vivaldi’s first published collection of concertos. The collection of 12 concertos, entitled L’estro armonico (“The Harmonic Inspiration”), was published in 1711. Bach borrows a page from Vivaldi’s playbook, writing the third of his Brandenburg concertos for sections of three violins, three violas, and three cellos, plus bass and harpsichord continuo.

Throughout the two fully notated movements of the concerto, Bach alternately treats the soloists as members of the orchestra, or treats the members of the orchestra as soloists, a sort of glass-half-full or glass-half-empty scenario. Over the course of the piece, the players function as sections, with each section made up of three players. The sections seem to converse at times. But the players also function as individual soloists, breaking out of their sections occasionally. Eventually, all of the players come together as a unified orchestra as well.

In place of a fully notated middle movement, Bach merely included two chords. Some modern performances play the two chords as connections between the two outer movements, while others turn the two chords into an improvised center movement.

Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 (Saturday evening/Sunday afternoon)

Composed: 1723; revised 1733First performance: 25 December 1723; Leipzig, GermanyLast MSO performance: 5 November 2017; Yaniv Dinur, conductor; Sherezade Panthaki, soprano; Yulia Van Doren, soprano; Daniel Taylor, countertenor; Dominic Armstrong, tenor; Alexander Dobson, baritoneInstrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes (both doubling on oboe d’amore); bassoon; 3 trumpets; timpani; organ; stringsApproximate duration: 16 minutes

Bach was a Lutheran, who signed his church music and some other pieces with the initials S.D.G. accompanying his name. The initials stand for the words Soli Deo gloria (“Glory to God alone”). Several other composers of his era, including George Frideric Handel, used the same words with their signatures on at least some of their music. But it was Bach who wrote more than 300 cantatas — 150 of them in his first four years in Leipzig.

Bach and his family arrived in Leipzig in July of 1723. He, his second wife, Anna Magdalena, and their children moved into an apartment in the Saint Thomas School, where he would be teaching. The school was beside the Saint Thomas Church, where he would play the organ, write music for services, and prepare and conduct the choir and orchestra. A Leipzig newspaper reported on the Bach family’s arrival, saying that four wagonloads of household goods arrived, followed by two wagonloads of Bachs. It was very shortly after his arrival that Bach began writing his Magnificat.

About 200 years before the Bach family arrived in Leipzig, the Protestant Reformation resulted in a ban on the use of Latin in Protestant liturgy, but the text of the Magnificat was exempt from that ban. The Magnificat relates what Mary said to her cousin Elizabeth when telling her that her unborn child was the son of God. Meanwhile, Elizabeth had her own miraculous-pregnancy story to relate, as she was long past child-bearing age but was pregnant herself. Elizabeth was carrying John the Baptist. The Magnificat is based on the Gospel of Luke, 1:46–55, with the title of the piece coming from Mary’s statement, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”

Lutheran churches in Germany sang the Magnificat in German fairly often during the church year in Bach’s time, but reserved the Latin text for high holidays. We know that Bach used his 12-movement, Latin-language Magnificat at Christmas in 1723, with the insertion of four German Christmas hymns. A decade later, he reworked it, possibly for the Feast of the Visitation, which commemorates Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and is celebrated in July in Germany. He removed the Christmas hymns and changed the key signature from E-flat major to D major to suit the trumpets that he also added at this point.

Concerto No. 1 in A minor for Violin and String Orchestra, BWV 1041 (Saturday evening/Sunday afternoon)

Composed: Unknown; possibly between 1717-23 in KöthenFirst performance: UnknownLast MSO performance: 27 January 1996; Neal Gittleman, conductor; Pinchas Zukerman, violinInstrumentation: harpsichord; stringsApproximate duration: 16 minutes

We know very little about the history of Bach’s Violin Concertos No. 1 and No. 2. We know Bach wrote out the parts for the first concerto after moving to Leipzig, but we do not know where, when, or why he wrote the two concertos. Bach was a fine violinist and often conducted while playing violin. He owned a Stainer violin — a brand more popular than Stradivarius violins at the time. We don’t even know which concerto he wrote first. The numbers are perfectly arbitrary.

We do know that while Bach was in Leipzig, he made new versions of both of the violin concertos, changing the solo instrument to harpsichord. He did this in 1730 for the Collegium Musicum he led at the St. Thomas School. But this tells us nothing other than that the violin concertos were written before 1730. Some historians think that the second of the concertos, or at least the one that is called No. 2, bears a resemblance in tone and energy to the Brandenburg Concertos that Bach wrote in Köthen. Unfortunately, there is nothing conclusive there either. Happily, we do know that Bach wrote both concertos. So there’s really only one thing to do now: sit back, enjoy the music, and relish the fact that both concertos have survived the 300-odd years since Bach wrote them.

Concerto No. 4 in A major for Harpsichord and String Orchestra, BWV 1055(Saturday evening/Sunday afternoon)

Composed: 1838 – 1844First performance: UnknownLast MSO performance: MSO PremiereInstrumentation: stringsApproximate duration: 14 minutes

Bach was not only a composer of keyboard concertos — he is actually credited with inventing the genre of the keyboard concerto. When Bach began his career, the harpsichord in an instrumental ensemble was largely relegated to the role of continuo playing, basically accompanying, joined by a low string instrument. Bach changed the role of the harpsichord with his Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, which can be heard on the other Bach Festival concert this weekend, in which he gave the harpsichord a wonderfully virtuosic solo role. The harpsichord was not the single solo instrument in that piece, but was one of three solo instruments. It was not long after he wrote the Brandenburgs that Bach began reworking concertos he had written for other instruments to create keyboard concertos.

Many music historians believe that Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 4 in A major began its life as a concerto for oboe, or oboe d’amore (a member of the oboe family, slightly larger than the oboe, and somewhat mellower in sound). The problem with that theory is that we do not have an oboe concerto that corresponds to the A major keyboard concerto. Historians believe the oboe or oboe d’amore concerto upon which the keyboard concerto was based has been lost over the course of history. One the reasons that theory works is that Bach essentially taught himself to write keyboard concertos by making organ transcriptions of concertos from Vivaldi’s L’estro armonico collection of string concertos.

Bach eventually turned to his own concertos for other instruments and began transcribing them for keyboard and orchestra. Like many composers of his era, Bach recycled his music quite often — sometimes a phrase or two, sometimes entire movements or works. In 1729, six years after he took the post at the Saint Thomas Church and School in Leipzig, Bach also became the conductor of Leipzig’s Collegium Musicum, a group of amateur and professional musicians that Georg Philipp Telemann had founded 25 years earlier. Many of the concertos Bach transcribed and composed after he took over the Collegium Musicum were written for that group, and by extension for his sons, who were still students and played in the group. So, although the Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 was not technically a keyboard concerto, it was the jumping-off point from which Bach began his invention of the genre.