Bach takes center stage for fest
Richard Webster, music director of the Bach Week Festival for more than three decades, is taking this year's festival back to its roots: all Bach, all the time.
Starting with today's opening concert at the Music Institute of Chicago, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston, all three concerts over the next two weekends will be devoted entirely to the music of the festival's namesake composer, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
"The festival will showcase the range of Bach's genius -- from intimate pieces for solo instruments to grand works for chorus, soloists, and orchestra," Webster said, noting that the last time the festival was completely devoted to Bach's music was in 1981.
The Bach Week Festival Orchestra consists of many members of the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera Orchestras. Also taking part will be the Bach Week Festival Chorus; along with renowned instrumental and vocal soloists.
The participating artists include CSO flutist Louise Dixon, who played at the first Bach Week Festival in 1974 -- the same year she joined the CSO -- and has missed only one festival.
This year's festival will include four concerts over three days, including a "candlelight concert" of solo harpsichord music on the closing night next weekend..
Today's opening concert at 7:30 p.m. will include the Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, featuring former Vermeer Quartet violinist Mathias Tacke, along with flutists Anita Rieder and Alyce Johnson.
Bass vocalist Douglas Anderson and oboist Judith Kulb are the soloists in the cantata "Ich habe genug" ("I have enough"), and Webster will perform the Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, one of Bach's most famous solo organ works.
The program will conclude with the Suite No. 4 in D Major for Orchestra.
The festival's second concert, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, will open with the Concerto in D Minor for two violins, featuring solo violinists Desirée Ruhstrat and Mathias Tacke. Soprano Patrice Michaels and flutist Louise Dixon will be soloists in the cantata "Non sa che sia dolore" ("He does not know what sorrow is"); along with the double-choir motet "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" ("Sing to the Lord a new song"). The concert will conclude with the most famous of Bach's six Brandenburg Concertos: No. 3 in G Major.
The main concert of Friday, May 9 (7:30 p.m.) will open with harpsichordists David Schrader, Stephen Alltop and Webster, joining forces for the Concerto in C Major for three harpsichords. The Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B Flat will feature violists Max Raimi and Melissa Trier Kirk. Soprano Patrice Michaels, tenor William Watson and bass Douglas Anderson sing the cantata "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" ("Wake up, the voice calls us"), with Stefan Hersh on violino piccolo, along with the festival orchestra and chorus.
The festival concludes that night with a 10:15 p.m. candlelight concert with harpsichordist David Schrader playing excerpts from one of Bach's most famous keyboard works, "The Well-Tempered Clavier."
Subscriptions to the entire four-concert series are $100 for adults, $85 for seniors 65 and older and $75 for students with ID. Prices are the same for both main-floor and balcony seats.
Single tickets for each of the concerts, except for the May 9 candlelight harpsichord concert, are $35 for adults, $25 for seniors 65 and older, $20 for students and $10 children 10 and younger. For the candlelight concert, tickets are $25 for adults, seniors, students and children.
All seating is reserved. For tickets and ticket information, phone (800) 595-4849; or order tickets online at www.bachweek.org.