Keyboard | The Well-Tempered Ear

Meet Kevin Chen, who just won the 17th Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition

April 8, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition is one of the most prestigious keyboard competitions in the world.

It ranks right up there with the Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Leeds and Van Cliburn competitions.

It takes place every three years in Tel Aviv, Israel. And this year, it started on March 14 and wrapped up just a week ago, on April 1.

This was the 17th Rubinstein Competition.

And it was won by an 18-year-old Chinese-Canadian pianist from Calgary.

He is Kevin Chen (below). He also composes and seems well on his way to a major career, especially since last year he also won the Geneva piano competition and was the youngest winner ever of the Franz Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest.

Winning the Rubinstein has launched many major career from Emanuel Ax, the first winner in 1974, to Daniil Trifnov in 2011.

At the bottom is a YouTube video with a recital by Chen along with a recital by the Georgian pianist who placed second: Giorgi Gigashvili. Chen’s performance of Chopin’s 12 Etudes, Op. 10, for example, begins at 2 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

You can also find a YouTube video of Chen’s prize-winning performance of Mozart’s last piano concerto, No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595; and a wonderful recital from the Geneva competition. And more solo videos from the Rubinstein are sure to be posted soon.

Here is a fine story, with lots of personal details, from Chen’s hometown newspaper:

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/kevin-chen-piano-arthur-rubinstein-competition

Here is a story about all the winners:

Israel’s Rubinstein Piano Competition Announces 2023 Winners

And for much more background about the competition’s history, the jury members for this year’s contestants, the past winners, repertoire requirements, mandatory stages, rules and so forth, go to:

https://arims.org.il/competition-2023-homepage/jury-2023/

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ALL Bach Around the Clock 2023 concerts are now online. Here are the links and some stats

April 4, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following news from Bach Around the Clock 2023 (BATC). Please note that there is no time limit or expiration date on viewing and listening to the online postings (see the example video of a string quartet arrangement from “The Art of Fugue” at the bottom):

BATC 2023 Festival video recordings are now available at BachClock.com and on YouTube

Thank you to BATC 2023 performers! True to our mission, Bach Around The Clock welcomed the participation of over 115 performers (below in St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church), including amateurs and professionals of all ages and experience levels, sharing their love of Bach’s music with the community.

Thank you to our BATC Donors, acknowledged here. With the generous support of over 40 BATC fans and business sponsors, we achieved our fundraising goal of covering all 2023 festival expenses! New contributions will help us with planning for the future of Bach Around The Clock.

New contributions will help us with planning for the future of Bach Around The Clock.

You can donate here: https://bachclock.com/donate

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Bach Around the Clock 2023 is now streaming live and virtual performances

March 19, 2023
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By Jacob Stockinger

Perhaps you’ll recall the cold weather and heavy snow that greeted the seventh annual celebration of Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday with — Bach Around the Clock — in Madison a few weeks ago.

The bad winter weather even caused performances to be cancelled during the March 8-12 event.

But the free and public festival was planned to be both live and virtual, and now BATC has started to stream globally both public and private performances with more in the offing. It is a testament to the vision and unending hard work of the late director Marika Fischer Hoyt, who died just weeks before it began, that the festival remains on such a solid footing and seems certain to survive without her.

For complete details about programs and performers, go to the website’s home page: https://bachclock.com/

And here is a previous blog post with more background: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2023/03/08/remember-marika-with-bach-around-the-clock-2023-the-free-celebration-begins-today-and-runs-through-saturday-in-person-and-online/

The variety is astounding. You will find professionals, amateurs and young students. You will find choral music and instrumental music. You will find well-known pieces and less common repertoire. In short, you should find something to please you and perhaps even something that you or someone you know took part in.

Here is a link to the first batch of recorded and streamed performances:

Watch on YouTube the BATC 2023 virtual performances recorded in the homes and studios of Jim Burkholder; Tim Farley; Jeffery Rowley; Linda Clifford; Kieran Foltz; students of Shannon Farley; Marjasana Kay with Mark Bramptom Smith and Carol Carlson; Glenwood Moravian Trombone Choir; and The Neighborly Consort.

Also available now are: Just Bach’s Wednesday, March 8, concert of a motet; and Sean Kleve’s Thursday, March 9, marimba lecture/performance.

Recordings of performances from the all-day Saturday concert at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church will be posted soon.

Stay tuned! And spread the word!

Just Bach concludes its season this Wednesday morning with highlights of the past season

May 18, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post about this season’s final Just Bach online concert this Wednesday:

Greetings from Just Bach!

We hope this finds you all well, enjoying the spring, and ready to experience more of the timeless beauty of Bach’s music.

Our May concert features musical highlights from this extraordinary past season.

The complete program listing is below. It is organized in two parts, corresponding to the two semesters.

Indoor singing was risky during the pandemic, so the bulk of our programming was instrumental, with strings and keyboard for the most part (below in a photo by Barry Lewis).

The Sinfonia from the Christmas Oratorio was recorded at St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Waukesha, because of the Dane County Emergency Order prohibiting indoor gatherings in November and December during the pandemic.

We were back at Luther Memorial Church for the January concert, and by April we were able to include woodwinds (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis)

You can view the May concert here, starting at 8 a.m. this Wednesday, May 19, and then staying available indefinitely: https://justbach.org/concerts/

Please join us for a half-hour live Zoom post-concert reception on Wednesday night, May 19, at 7 p.m. Chat with the performers by following the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85144014343?pwd=RmVURXBBU1hMcloyalJhbUdCQ1NmQT09

Viewing the concerts is FREE, but we ask those who are able, to help us pay our musicians by making a tax-deductible donation at: https://justbach.org/donate

Just Bach will take a break for the summer, and concerts will resume in September.

Here is the May program:

• Welcome

Part I – Fall Semester

• Cantata 146: Sinfonia

• Violin Sonata, BWV 1001: movement 4 Presto

• Double Violin Concerto: movement 3 Allegro (in the YouTube video, with an animated graphic, at the bottom)

• Christmas Oratorio, Part II: Sinfonia

• Christmas Oratorio: Chorale “Ich steh’ an deiner Krippen hier” (I stand here by your crib)

Part II – Spring Semester

• Cantata 35: Sinfonia

• Trio Sonata, BWV 526: movement 2 Largo

• Violin Sonata, BWV 1019: movement 5 Allegro

• Flute Sonata BWV 1034: movement 1 Adagio ma non tanto

• Cantata 42: Sinfonia

• Cantata 149: Chorale “Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein” (O Lord, let your dear little angel)

Performers are: Kangwon Kim, Christine Hauptly Annin, Leanne League, Xavier Pleindoux, Nathan Giglierano and Aaron Yarmel, violin; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; Charlie Rasmussen and Lindsey Crabb, cello; Linda Pereksta and Monica Steger, traverse flute; Marc Vallon, bassoon; Grammy-winner Sarah Brailey, soprano; John Chappell Stowe and Jason Moy, harpsichord; Mark Brampton Smith, organ; and Bruce Bengston, organ.

Dave Parminter is the videographer and Barry Lewis is the photographer.

For more information, go to:

https://justbach.org

facebook.org/JustBachSeries

youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ

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The Madison Bach Musicians host a virtual online Baroque Tour starting this Saturday, April 24, and lasting through May 8

April 19, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following notice from Trevor Stephenson, the founder and artistic director of the Madison Bach Musicians (MBM), who will debut their season-closing concert live and online this coming Saturday night, April 24: 

Stephenson (below) writes:

Since travel has been so very limited during the pandemic, Madison Bach Musicians is elated to conclude its 2020-21 season with a musical journey through both space and time, and invites you to join us from the intimacy and safety of your own home.

A Baroque Tour is a musical travelogue of instrumental masterworks from 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Luminaries like Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell and Buxtehude are in the mix on this program with their brilliant though lesser-known contemporaries such as Louis-Gabriel Guillemain (below top), Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Andrea Falconieri (below bottom) and Francisco Jose de Castro.

A Baroque Tour will explore the glorious sonic landscapes of Italy, Spain, France, England and Germany.

Our ensemble for this program consists of five strings plus harpsichord, and we are thrilled that baroque bassoon virtuoso Marc Vallon (below, in a photo by James Gill), who teaches at the UW-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will join us for Vivaldi’s exuberant Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major. (You can hear the opening movement in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

A Baroque Tour will be broadcast via live-streaming from the acoustically spectacular sanctuary of Grace Episcopal Church on this Saturday evening, April 24. (Rebroadcasts will be available on demand through May 8.)

Tickets are $15 and available online at: https://madison-bach-musicians.square.site/product/a-baroque-tour-april-24-2021-livestream-on-demand-until-may-8/57?cs=true&cst=custom

If you wish to purchase tickets through the mail, use this downloadable form: https://madisonbachmusicians.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/MBM-2020-21-Live-Stream-Ticket-Form-A-Baroque-Tour.pdf

Here is the schedule for the concert and related events:

From 7:30-8 p.m., in a pre-concert lecture, MBM artistic director Trevor Stephenson will discuss the composers, the repertoire and the historical instruments.

The performance will run from 8 p.m. until approximately 9:15 p.m.

The evening will then conclude with a live Question-and-Answer session with the musicians who will be socially distanced on the concert platform.

Listeners should submit their questions—in advance or during the broadcast—via email to Karen Rebholz at madisonbachmusicians.manager@gmail.com.

THE MUSICIANS are:

Marc Vallon – baroque bassoon soloist

Kangwon Kim (below) – baroque violin

Emily Dupere – baroque violin

Micah Behr – baroque viola and baroque guitar

Martha Vallon – baroque cello and viola da gamba

James Waldo – baroque cello (and tambourine)

Trevor Stephenson – harpsichord

THE PROGRAM is:

HANDEL – Sonata in A major for Violin and Continuo, HWV 361

CHARPENTIER – Concerto for Four Viols, H 545

PURCELL – Trio Sonata in C major, Z 795

VIVALDI – Bassoon Concerto in B-flat major, RV 503

GUILLEMAIN – Sonata in A minor for Two Violins, Op. 5, No.1

BUXTEHUDE – Trio Sonata in G major, BuxWV 271

DE CASTRO – Trio Sonata in C major, Op. 1, No. 6

FALCONIERI – La Folia (Folías de España)

Here is a link to some brief biographies and interesting facts about these remarkable composers: https://madisonbachmusicians.org/april-24-a-baroque-tour-a-livestream-event/

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Just Bach’s FREE concert for April welcomes back woodwinds and will be posted early this Wednesday morning

April 18, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following notice from Just Bach about the FREE concert they will post starting at 8 a.m. this Wednesday morning, April 21.

Our April concert program opens with a welcome and overview from our co-director, Grammy-winning soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey (below, in a photo by Miranda Loud).

And then comes the music: after a season of pieces for strings and keyboards, we’re delighted to welcome woodwinds back to our stage! (Below from left, in a photo by Barry Lewis, are Monica Steger, Linda Pereksta and UW-Madison Professor Marc Vallon.)

The exuberant Sinfonia from Cantata 42 was composed for the first Sunday after Easter, and its jubilant writing is the perfect way to celebrate spring and the expanded musical forces (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis) made possible by the vaccine.

Linda Pereksta follows this up with a performance of the Sonata in E Minor for Flute and Keyboard, BWV 1034. Her musical partner is harpsichordist Jason Moy (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis), making his Just Bach debut.

The program closes with our popular chorale sing-along, this time “Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt” (The Lord Is My Faithful Shepherd), BWV 104. (You can hear it in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

Sarah Brailey introduces the text, Andrew Schaeffer plays the music on the organ, and then Sarah and Andrew perform it together. The music and text are displayed on the computer screen, so please join in, if you’d like!

Our concerts are posted on the Just Bach and Luther Memorial YouTube Channels at 8 a.m. on the third Wednesday of every month: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ

Concert viewers are invited to a half-hour live Zoom Post-concert Reception is this Wednesday night, April 21, at 7 p.m. Chat with the performers and other audience members, via this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85490470546…

Viewing the concerts is free, but we ask those who are able, to help us pay our musicians with a tax-deductible donation: https://justbach.org/donate/

The final Just Bach concert of this season launches on Wednesday, May 19.

Performers are: Linda Pereksta, traverso 1; Monica Steger, traverso 2; Marc Vallon, bassoon; Leanne League, violin 1; Aaron Yarmel, violin 2; Marika Fischer Hoyt, viola; Lindsey Crabb, cello; Jason Moy, harpsichord; Sarah Brailey, soprano; Andrew Schaeffer, organ.

Dave Parminter is the videographer and Barry Lewis is the photographer.

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Today – Monday, March 22 — is Day 6 of the 2021 online Bach Around the Clock festival. The program features string, keyboard, percussion and vocal music with some interesting transcriptions

March 22, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Yesterday – Sunday, March 21 — was the actual birthday, the 336th, of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

But the 10-day virtual and online celebration being held by Bach Around the Clock (BATC) continues.

Here are the pieces and performers that will take place.

The Ear is especaially pleased by some of the transcriptions, which offer more proof of just how indestructible and versatile Bach’s music remains.

Particularly interesting is the string quartet version of the famous cantata “Wachet auf” (Sleepers, Wake) and the Three-Part Inventions or Sinfonias transcribed for marimba, and played by Sean Kleve (below), a UW-Madison graduate who performs with the critically acclaimed experimental Madison-based percussion ensemble Clocks in Motion.

Monday’s program is available starting at 8 a.m.

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

Performers

• Minuet 2 in G Major, Anh 116; Suite in G Minor, BWV 822; Gavotte  from Double Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1043, I. Vivace. Suzuki Strings Sonora Ensemble

• Cantata 140: “Wachet Auf” (Sleeper, Wake), arranged for string quartet. St. Croix Valley String Quartet: Janette Cysewski and Debbie Lanzen, violins; Dianne Wiik, viola; and Joel Anderson, cello.

• French Suite No. 3 in B Minor for keyboard, BWV 814: Sarabande, Anglaise, Menuett and Trio. Kris Sankaran

• Sinfonia 1 in C Major, BWV 787; Sinfonia 7 in E Minor, BWV 793; Sinfonia 10 in G Major, BWV 796; Sinfonia 11 in G Minor, BWV 797; Sinfonia 15 in B Minor, BWV 801. Sean Kleve, marimba. (You can hear Glenn Gould playing the original version of the first Sinfonia in the YouTube video at the bottom.)

• Chorale: We thank Thee, Lord, for sending. Katie Hultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ

Live and Recorded Evening Program at 7 p.m.

Click here and scroll down to Day 6 to view.

BATC audiences will remember pianist Lawrence Quinnett (below) from his exquisite renderings of selections from The Well-Tempered Clavier, at the 2018 Festival.

Quinnett, on the piano faculty of Livingstone College, returns in 2021 to give a brief talk on his approach to ornamentation in the six French Suites, as a prelude to his live performance of Suite No. 5. The floor will open for questions, followed by Quinnett’s recorded performance of the remaining five Suites.

Posted in Classical music
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Today is Day 2 of the online Bach Around the Clock festival. It starts at 8 a.m. and features keyboard, wind, string and vocal music. WPR’s Jonathan Overby will discuss Bridges to Bach tonight at 7

March 18, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

Here is the schedule for Day 2 of the 2021 virtual, online Bach Around the Clock festival, which is today — Thursday, March 18:

Today’s program will be available starting at 8 a.m. and then throughout the festival.

Click here to view more.

For an overview and background, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/todays-just-bach-concert-starts-the-10-day-bach-around-the-clock-festival-that-runs-through-march-26-all-events-are-free-and-online-here-are-the-lineups/

PERFORMERS and PROGRAMS

• Musette (from Suzuki Book 2); Ossian Rogers, violin; Faolan Rogers, harp; Kara Rogers, piano

• Sheep May Safely Graze, from Cantata 208; Gift Akere, piano

• Sonata No. 3, BWV 1005: Largo; Rebekah May, viola

• Cello Suite V in C minor, BWV 1011: Prelude, Gavottes I and II, Gigue; Cindy Cameron-Fix, bassoon

• Anna Magdalena Bach Notebook: Menuet, BWV anh 114; Tim Farley, clavichord

• Chorale: Now God be with us; Katie Bultman, soprano, and Kenneth Stancer, organ

Live Evening Keynote Discussion at 7 p.m. Jonathan Øverby, (below) distinguished Wisconsin Public Radio host of “The Road to Higher Ground,” will discuss building The Bridge To and Through Bach with BATC Artistic Director Marika Fischer Hoyt.

Click here to join the Zoom call, starting at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, March 18. Viewers are encouraged to submit questions in the chat for Overby to address.

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Just Bach will release its FREE online concert for this month on this Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 8 a.m. The program features a virtuosic violin and harpsichord sonata and a sing-along cantata chorale

February 16, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post from violist Marika Fischer Hoyt of the group Just Bach:

February greetings from Just Bach!

We hope this finds you all well, keeping warm and ready to experience more of the timeless beauty of Bach’s music.

As regular performers on Luther Memorial Church’s weekly “Music at Midday” concert series (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis), Just Bach presents half-hour programs on the third Wednesday of each month. This semester’s dates: Jan. 20, Feb. 17, March 17, April 21 and May 19.

Our concerts are FREE and online indefinitely once they are released at 8 a.m. They are posted on the Just Bach and Luther Memorial YouTube Channels.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ

Concert viewers are invited to a 30-minute live Zoom Post-concert reception on this Wednesday, Feb. 17,at 7:30 p.m. Those who would like to join us and chat with the performers can follow this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84516271617?pwd=THR5bTFwRkh0VTBIWDlzR2VxSGIrUT09

Viewing the concerts is free, but we ask those who are able, to help us pay our musicians with a tax-deductible donation. https://justbach.org/donate/

Our February concert opens with Just Bach co-founder, Grammy-nominated soprano and UW-Madison graduate student Sarah Brailey (below), providing welcoming remarks.

The program offers the sonata for that belongs to a set of six that Bach wrote for violin and harpsichord.

Violinist Kangwon Kim (below left, in a photo by Dave Parminter) and harpsichordist Professor John Chappell Stowe (below right), of the UW-Madison, join forces for a performance of the Sonata No. 6 in G Major, BWV 1019.

This five-movement work includes an extraordinary middle movement for solo keyboard — a jaunty Allegro in E minor that has more attitude than any Allegro has a right to!

Sarah closes the program with the final chorale from Cantata 159, “Jesu, deine Passion ist mir lauter Freude” (Jesus, Your passion is pure joy to me), which you can hear in the YouTube video at the bottom.

We encourage viewers to sing along by following the chorale sheet music, which will be displayed on the computer screen as Sarah sings and Professor Stowe accompanies on the organ.

The videographer is Dave Parminter.

For more information, contact Marika Fischer Hoyt, a co-founder and performer, at the Just Bach Concert Series: justbach.marika@gmail.com

Here are more links, including a preview with the Allegro movement in the last one:

https://justbach.org

facebook.org/JustBachSeries

youtube.com/channel/UCcyVFEVsJwklHAx9riqSkXQ?

Posted in Classical music
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Bach Around the Clock 2021 will be virtual again. It runs March 17-26, and will feature daily performances plus new activities

January 16, 2021
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By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear has received the following announcement to post from violist Marika Fischer Hoyt – the founder, participant and artistic director of the annual Bach Around the Clock (BATC). It is one of the most enjoyable events in the area and celebrates the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750, below).

It features performances by student, amateur and professional individuals and groups — local, regional and national. (Performance photos come from last year’s videos, thanks to Rich Samuels, who recorded and edited the WORT-FM radio show devoted to BATC 2020, which you can hear in the impressive 3-hour YouTube video at the bottom. Listen to it in its entirety or skip around.)

The Bach Around the Clock (BATC) Board of Directors is delighted to present the BATC 2021 Festival, a series of online and virtual events designed to make the joy of Bach’s music as widely available as possible.

Our theme this year is Building Bridges with Bach, and we look forward to expanding our activities to reach new performers and new audiences. (Below is pianist Vibhu Akella playing an electric keyboard.)

The 2021 Virtual Festival launches on Wednesday, March 17, with a concert by our Ensemble-In-Residence, Sonata à Quattro (below, in a photo by Barry Lewis). SAQ will present a program recorded in Luther Memorial Church, as part of the monthly Just Bach concert series.

BATC will add a new festival program every day for 10 days, through March 26, with all programs posted FREE on our home website at https://bachclock.com. (Below is the Webb Trio.)

Interested performers should visit the “Contact/Sign Up” page to submit their proposals and ideas.

BATC participants, who are located far and wide, have two options this year: they can pre-record their performances at home or elsewhere and submit them electronically; or they can request to perform in a BATC concert venue with a professional recording crew. (Below is cellist Derick Handley.)

We will provide keyboard players with the use of a concert-level piano, organ and harpsichord in a space roomy enough to safely accommodate small ensembles. (Below is harpsichordist Dan Sullivan.)

The resulting videos will be incorporated into one of the festival day’s free public programs, and will be available to the performers to keep. This option might be particularly attractive for high school seniors, looking to augment their college applications. (Below is clarinetist Brian Gnojek.)

Other new festival initiatives include Bach Chorale sing-alongs; evening Zoom receptions; mini-courses to help participants of all ages take part; and possibly a Guest Artist. More details will be announced closer to the festival.

The BATC Board hopes the 2021 Festival provides an outlet for musicians to share their talent and passion with the warmly appreciative local community.

Live music nourishes the soul of performer and audience member alike, and the transcendent, life-giving joy woven into the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is something we need now more than ever.

Posted in Classical music
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