Week of concerts, special events, workshops celebrate composer
The week-long Bach Festival begins at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, with a Bach Chamber Orchestra Concert at St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, N2845 Shadow Road, Waupaca.
Tickets to the concert are $25.
Hosted by the Waupaca Community Arts Board, the biennial Bach Festival runs Sept. 25 to Oct. 2.
The festival opens with the Chamber Orchestra Concert and closes with a Bach Celebration Concert.
The Bach Celebration Concert features Lawrence University Community Music School teacher Nell Buchman performing selections from Bach’s most expansive and difficult keyboard work, The Goldberg Variations.
During the week, the festival will offer several ticketed workshops, special events and a free Bach in the Brewery classical guitar performance at Central Waters Brewing Company, Friday, Sept. 30.
All event details and ticket ordering are on WCAB’s website: Bach Festival 2022 — Waupaca Community Arts Board (waupacaarts.org).
The opening Bach Chamber Orchestra Concert will be conducted by Dr. Andres Moran, director of the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point Symphony Orchestra.
Moran has served as resident conductor of the El Paso Symphony and Youth Symphony orchestras, as well as on conducting staffs of the Albuquerque Youth Symphony, the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado, and the prestigious Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.
He also is principal horn of the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and has performed widely. He lives in Plover.
“Performing and conducting Bach is a true honor and comes with a great deal of responsibility,” Moran said. “On top of that, it is a true joy, especially when you get to perform alongside your friends. I’m so happy that we get to come together once again to share Bach’s music with the community.”
Solo performers
The concert will include Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, Cantata No. 84, and Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor, and feature award-winning soprano soloist, Susan Bender, and violin soloists, Anna Cromwell and Graham Emberton.
A wine and dessert reception, catered by Gypsy Moon Bakehaus, will follow the performance.
“We are delighted, after a 2021 covid-delay, to be bringing the biennial Bach Festival back to Waupaca,” said WCAB President Marci Reynolds. “We are frequently asked why we do a Bach Festival. Our answer is that classically trained musicians rarely have the opportunity to play Baroque music, and Johann Sebastian Bach is universally considered as the greatest composer of all time for his exceptional achievements in baroque music.”
As a soprano soloist, Bender’s recital, oratori and contemporary solo performances consistently receive high marks from critics. She has been nominated twice for her work in musical theatre by the Washington Theatre Guild.
The Milwaukee Journal described her concert of Georges Aperghis and John Cage as being a “tour-de-force” and that she was able to, “apply commanding technique, canny phrasing and sly wit,” in her presentation of “avant-garde manifestoes.”
Violin soloist Cromwell studied under Kathleen Winkler at Rice University and Christian Teal at Vanderbilt University and studied violin pedagogy with Sally O’Reilly. She is an assistant professor of violin and viola at the University of Wisconsin-Steven Point.
Violin soloist Emberton serves as the assistant concert master for the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and is a member of the Fox Valley Symphony.
A registered Suzuki teacher with the Aber Suzuki Center, Emberton has performed with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Britten-Pears Orchestra.
Tickets
Tickets for the Bach Chamber Orchestra concert and the Bach Celebration Concert are each $25 per person, and can be purchased online at WCAB’s website – Bach Festival 2022 — Waupaca Community Arts Board (waupacaarts.org)
Tickets for both concerts also can be purchased at the Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce, 315 S. Main St., and The Bookcellar, 110 S. Main St.
Bach Passports, which qualify Bach event attendees for a special drawing on Oct. 2, also are available at the Chamber and The Bookcellar.