Savour the sounds of Bach and other Baroque-era music this summer with the Pacific Baroque Series’ 2018-19 season.
Musicians will play traditional instruments and modern ones to perform the various suites and more religion-based pieces such as church cantatas – a fitting program given the venue of Christ Church Cathedral.
Following last week’s performance of the Bach Goldberg Variations on organ by Benjamin Alard, ivory-tickling enchantress Angela Hewitt stops by Aug. 2, bringing Bach’s Preludes and Fugues onstage. Slowly climbing the piano’s scale, these pieces, part of the Well Tempered Clavier Book 2, ebb and flow through various styles.
Some, such as No. 2: Prelude and Fugue in C minor, are crisp, pronounced and hopping about, while others like No. 9: Prelude and Fugue in E major, flutter about the air.
Hewitt is no stranger to Bach. Starting in 2016 she began a planned four-year Bach Odyssey, performing all of Bach’s keyboard pieces throughout the world.
On Sept. 20-21, the complete set of Bach’s cello suites will radiate throughout the Cathedral, thanks to Beiliang Zhu. The Sept. 20 concert features one of the German composer’s most famous suites- No. 1 in G major, with its instantly recognizable prelude; the rich tones of the cello will glide into the ears of all willing to listen.
Closing out 2018 will be A Monteverdi Christmas Vespers with David Fallis, happening Dec. 20. Venetian composer Claudio Monteverdi’s Christmas evening prayer songs showcase medieval and renaissance instruments such as the sackbut (an early trombone) and cornetti. For more on the series, pacbaroque.com.
– Felicia Santarossa, contributing writer
