Boulder Bach Festival Week to Feature Lectures, Art, Masterclasses, and More!

The Boulder Bach Festival week is back from May 12th through the 15th. It will feature masterclasses, lectures, an art exhibit, an artist meet-and-greet, and four distinct concert programs over four days/evening.

The Festival will explore the work of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries and later composers including women from the 17th century to the present that were influenced by his work

"We're bringing some of the finest interpreters of Bach's music, artists that connect directly with the audience in a personal way, including musicians from London, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and of course, Colorado," said co-director Zachary Carrettín. "While Festival Week might become a tradition for years to come, the music interpretations are fresh and alive, embracing the individuality of the artists, just as this music did three hundred years ago!"

The festival week takes place from May 12-15 at First Congregational Church in Historic Downtown Boulder, featuring four programs over four afternoons and evenings: Contemporaneous Concertos (May 12), Voices of the Chamber (May 13), Next Generations (May 14), and The Intimacy of J.S. Bach (May 15).

While the festival explores the work of J.S. Bach and his contemporaries, it also features subsequent generation composers influenced by Bach. Principal players and soloists include top prize winners from Boulder International Chamber Music Competition and acclaimed guest artists. During the festival there will be daily lectures covering the repertoire for each program, two masterclasses, and four distinct programs that explore virtually every genre in which J.S. Bach composed, contextualized by the remarkable work of his senior, Johann Christoph Bach.

Contemporaneous Concertos opens the festival week on May 12 with solo concerto and concerto grosso genres. Carrettin leads the ensemble in works by Handel and Corelli in addition to J.S. Bach's famous Concerto for Two Violins. Co-director Mina Gajić presents the virtuosic and complex Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, performing on the BBF's double manual Flemish harpsichord. Violinist YuEun Kim, violist Paul Miller, cellist Coleman Itzkoff, bassist Nicholas Recuber, and London-based continuo organist Christopher Holman collaborate with BBF core artists in this opening concert of Festival Week. Ysmael Reyes performs the Colorado premiere of a recently rediscovered concerto by Telemann-on the baroque flauto traverso.

Voices of the Chamber on May 13 offers an intimate view into 17th century Italy, with trio of sonatas by Isabella Leonarda, Giovanni Legrenzi, and Dario Castello. Violist Paul Miller and harpsichordist Christopher Holman present J.S. Bach's Sonata in G Minor for viola da gamba and keyboard obbligato, and mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan is joined by three violas, violin, and basso continuo in Johann Christoph Bach's Lamento: Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte. The concert will close with J.S. Bach's motet, Komm, Jesu, komm performed in the authentic manner of a one-per-part vocal octet led by BBF's 2022 Artist-in-Residence, soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg, alongside two World Bach Competition winners and CORE ensemble vocal artists.

Next Generations on May 14 explores work by later composers and features a rare 19th century Érard concert grand piano in pristine condition. The instrument traveled from Amsterdam to Boulder and offers a view into the colorful sound world that attracted many of the great turn-of-the-century pianists to the Érard piano. Pianist Mina Gajić and Dutch soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg collaborate on Clara Schumann's lieder Lorelei, Liebeszaube, and Liebst du um Schönheit. Gajić also presents one of Mozart's rich fantasias. Violinist YuEun Kim, violist Paul Miller, and cellist Coleman Itzkoff-Kim and Itzkoff former prize winners and finalists at Boulder International Chamber Music Competition-Art of Duo-join Gajić for Mozart's Piano Quart

The final concert of Festival Week on May 15, The Intimacy of J.S. Bach offers Bach in several genres, starting with the profound Cello Suite in C Minor, performed by Coleman Itzkoff. The program continues with the delightful early work Cantata BWV 196 (Der Herr denket an uns). The vocal quartet returns for a motet by J.C. Bach that reveals why the younger J.S. Bach called him "the profound Bach." Christopher Holman offers a chorale prelude performed on the organ and then Ysmael Reyes, baroque flutist joins Carrettin, Kim, Bak, Itzkoff, Recuber, Holman, and core BBF artists for J.S. Bach's set of dances, the Orchestra Suite in B Minor.

"BBF's holistic approach to programming continues to offer audiences an insight into the world shared by the musicians on stage, said co-director Mina Gajić. "There is undeniable profundity and deep meaning in the music we present. Beyond the aesthetic experience and the visceral engagement of BBF and COmpass REsonance performances, audiences have to come expect the deeply personal, enriching internal experience such music offers. And while our mission is to present Bach's music, exploring it in various contexts means presenting women composers of his time (and of today), Central and South American composers (of the Baroque Era all the way to today)."

CORE artists include some of the region's finest interpreters of baroque music, including dynamic chamber musicians and artist faculty at several universities. Tickets are $375 for general admission (includes all 4 concerts and all Festival Week events). A full schedule and other information (including restaurant discounts for ticket holders during festival week, master classes, lectures and more) will be provided to all ticket holders. The sanctuary will be open one hour prior to performance and patrons are invited to save their preferred seats by placing a coat. Ushers will monitor the hall. Wine will be available, and there will be an art exhibit in the building.

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