Tuba Bach Festival 2022 BY ED MALLETT, PRESIDENT AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TUBA BACH
B
ack in the spring of 2006 I got it into my head that it would be a great idea to do a recording project of J. S. Bach’s Six Suites for unaccompanied cello – on tuba! Before committing to a final recording, however, I figured it might be beneficial to perform them before a live audience. As the full set of six can take nearly three hours to play, I thought it might be a more palatable proposition to present them in six concerts over six weeks, with each concert beginning with a cello suite, continuing with chamber music featuring several of my friends from around the country that I had been playing with. Not only would I get to polish up the Bach pieces, but I’d also have a chance to show my hometown of Big Rapids what I’d been up to in my career and share my love for a wide variety of musical genres! All of that (except for the recording project!) did indeed happen in September and October of 2006 – and who would have ever guessed that fast-forwarding to
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THE CANADIAN LAKER
the autumn of 2022 we’d be celebrating our 17th season of the Tuba Bach Music Festival! Since its inception, Tuba Bach has presented over 375 performances and outreach events, featuring more than 500 amazing musicians from 22 countries, 36 states, and throughout Michigan. Playing everything from baroque and classical music to ragtime, jazz, bluegrass, mariachi, rock & roll, Tejano, flamenco, funk, and much, much more, we’ve played for thousands of audience
members over the years. I’m proud to say that we have been able to present our festival concerts every single year without charging a penny for admission – truly priceless entertainment! For 2022 I’ve designated “A Season of Twos” with all our programming built around various pairings, duos, couples, etc. We start off on the weekend of September 10 & 11 with a two-piano concert featuring Alvin Waddles and Noah Mallett at a pair of grand pianos, assisted by drummer Trevor Else and
