Bach in California
Now well established, the Sacramento Area Bach Festival in California
opens its 1999 programme on Sunday 28 February with an orchestral concert,
presenting the first Suite in C and Brandenburg Concerto No 4 in G, surrounding
the Harpsichord Concerto No 5 in F minor played by Ellen Schinnerer Deffner.
On Sunday 7 March is presented chamber music: the Trio Sonatas in G and
C, Concerto for oboe d'amore in A, Sonata for viola da gamba in G, and the
second Partita in D minor for unaccompanied violin.
Sunday 14 March is devoted to organ (David Deffner) and brass:- organ
for the well- known D minor Toccata and Fugue, Prelude and Fugue in D, Sonata
No 1 in E flat, and Concerto in A minor after Vivaldi. The brass group plays
the Passacaglia in C minor amongst shorter favourites.
Peter Aston from England visits the Festival again to direct the St Matthew
Passion on Sunday 28 March, and a colleague from York, Peter Seymour, plays
organ continuo. The Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra are joined by Kurt
Hansen as the Evangelist, Ben Falconer as Christ, with soloists Yvonne Seymour,
Terri Hansen, Matt Oltman, and Bradley Ellinghoe.
Information on phone +1 530-478-9325, or fax +1 530-478-0403.
and previously published news ...
An unusual musical collaboration
An unusual musical collaboration paves the way for two composers and
two orchestras to create both harmony and understanding. The Scottish and
Swedish Chamber Orchestras have invited one composer each from their respective
countries to work with them and to write four works between now and 2003,
with performances by both orchestras. From Sweden has been chosen Karin
Rehnqvist, and from Scotland Sally Beamish.
Student Offenbach performances
Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld will receive three performances
by students at Birmingham Conservatoire on 4,6,7 March. Box Office +44 (0)121
236 5622.
Life, Love and Music
The great German literary figure, Goethe, will be the subject of a weekend
celebration at London's Royal Festival Hall on 6/7 March. Life, Love
and Music marks the 250th anniversary of his birth. An orchestral
concert will include Liszt's Faust Symphony and Brahms's Alto Rhapsody,
both of which have their origins under the spell of Goethe. Lieder settings
are numerous, some of which will be sung by Thomas Allen and Solveig Kringelborn
with Roger Vignoles in a programme he has devised.
Goldsmith and Previn 70th birthday concerts
One of the most prolific and celebrated screen composers is Jerry Goldsmith,
who has written scores for Star Trek, Basic Instinct and Planet
of the Apes amongst many others. The London Symphony Orchestra presents
a 70th birthday concert at the Barbican in London on 6th March. André
Previn's 70th birthday also comes within the same month. On 7 March he's
joined by Kiri Te Kanawa in a programme of music they have shared over the
years. And the London Symphony Orchestra has two concerts on 10 and 15 March
conducted by Previn. In the first is included Britten's Spring Symphony,
and in the second Kiri Te Kanawa sings the closing scene from Richard Strauss's
Capriccio.
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