Tuba Bach Festival 2022

BY ED MALLETT, PRESIDENT AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, TUBA BACH

Back 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 fi nal recording, however, I fi gured it might be benefi cial 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 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, fl amenco, 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

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yours truly on tuba. We will be playing music by Claude Bolling and David Brubeck. Followed a week later Sept. 17 & 18 by 8 (2x2x2) tubas and euphoniums showcasing college students from around the state, with the assistance of Michigan State University professors Philip Sinder (tuba) and Derek Kealli Polischuk (piano), as well as Ferris professor and conductor Dr. Richard Scott Cohen.

Th e fi nal weekend of September 24 & 25 brings two singer-instrumentalists from Boston: David Th orne Scott and Mark Shilansky, collectively known as Dyad, who both serve on the faculty at the famed Berklee College of Music. Th e pair will join me in a concert program ranging from folk to classical, to the Beatles to ‘80’s pop, with a jazz twist. Th e fourth weekend of the festival, October 1 & 2, features a pair of Malletts – myself and my son Noah, a performance and composition major at MSU. Noah and I will play pieces by J.S. Bach, Nikolai Medtner, Camille Saint-Saëns, and Astor Piazzolla, all transcribed for euphonium and marimba by Noah.

Th e fi fth weekend, Oct. 8 & 9, husband-and-wife singers Rodrick Dixon and Alfreda Burke, both with careers involving Broadway, international opera houses and frequent television performances, will join me. Th is program will refl ect on our respective early experiences in church music and how that has shaped each of us into the musicians we are today. Finally, the 2022 Tuba Bach Festival concludes the weekend of Oct. 15 & 16 with what I know will be an amazing collaboration between Canadian harmonica genius Mike Stevens and master percussionist Kevin Bujo Jones, two virtuoso musicians, and humanitarians, too!

And the six-week festival is just the beginning! We’ll continue to present a variety of free programs throughout the year, including our annual Tuba Bach Christmas and Spring concert events, and several concerts in our “Tuba Bach Presents . . .” series featuring students and faculty members coming from East Lansing as part of our collaboration with the Michigan State University College of Music. All of Tuba Bach’s concerts take place at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 726 Fuller Avenue in Big Rapids.

If you’ve been to any of our performances before, you know fi rsthand at least a little bit of what we do and who we are. Maybe you’ve heard of Tuba Bach, but not yet had the opportunity to attend a concert, or perhaps this is your fi rst-time hearing about us. Whatever the case may be, I invite you to come on up to Big Rapids and be a part of our 17th annual Tuba Bach Festival! For more information about Tuba Bach, our 2022 Festival, and all our concert events, visit our website at www.tubabach.org.

The Little Girl in My Garden

A little girl played in my garden So many years ago; Digging deep, deep holes to plant the bulbs For flowers yet to grow.

A little girl watered my garden When she and I would play, Spraying cold, cold water on the plants As soil washed away.

A little girl weeded my garden Trying with all her might; Pulling big, big weeds with tiny fists While guided in plain sight.

A little girl leapt from my garden When the harvest was ripe, Taking long, long steps one at a time As I watched and I typed.

A little girl then left my garden To start one of her own; Moving far, far away she’s planting, To one day reap what she’s sown.

A little girl sits in my garden A statue ‘neath my tree; Kindling dear, dear thoughts of days gone by, Etched in stone, just for me.

JOYCE B. WILCOX//WRITER’S QUEST