Early Music Vancouver's 2024 Summer Festival Blends Bach Masterpieces with World Music Traditions With BACH UNTAMED

Early Music Vancouver will invite audiences to revisit some of the most acclaimed works of beloved baroque composer J.S. Bach, presented with bold, new interpretations and incorporating world music traditions, in its 2024 summer festival, BACH UNTAMED, from July 30-August 8, 2024, at various Vancouver venues.

“We are thrilled to offer audiences an adventurous program of some of Bach’s seminal works, but with a twist,” says EMV’s Artistic & Executive Director Suzie LeBlanc. “From traditional compositions reworked for unique instruments, such as mandolin and oud, to the introduction of vocal improvisation, inspired by Bach’s own customary practice of instrumental extemporization, BACH UNTAMED welcomes listeners to seek out new perspectives of Bach’s well-known and beloved classics.”

This year’s festival features a rich ensemble of nearly 50 participating emerging and established international and Canadian early music artists, some of whom will make their EMV debuts. These artists include up-and-coming Canadian cellist Cameron Crozman and Canadian pianist Meagan Milatz, Vancouver-based Hindustani and Jazz vocalist Shruti Ramani, and Montreal-based Lebanese-Palestinian Canadian tenor Haitham Haidar, who lend their artistry to several festival concerts. The highlight of the summer will be the rarely-performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, which will include Cree-Métis Two-Spirit baritone Jonathon Adams, renowned tenor Charles Daniels, Czech soprano Hana Blažikova, and cornetto virtuoso Bruce Dickey among others, led by the Pacific Baroque Orchestra’s director Alexander Weimann.

International multi-instrumentalist Alon Sariel will make both his EMV and Canadian debut as EMV’s 2024 Summer Festival Artist in Residence. In addition to headlining two concerts – Alon Sariel: Plucked Bach, in which he will premiere his own Bach-inspired Mandolin Partita, and EMV’s festival finale Bach & the Mandolin with Alon Sariel, which features the Canadian premiere of Amit Weiner’s 2019 reconstruction of Bach’s Italian Concerto – Sariel will perform in several other festival concerts, as well as teach a workshop on Bach for plucked instruments.

The festival will present its third iteration of EMV: The Next Generation, whose emerging artists have been hand-selected by LeBlanc. Featuring music by Bach, Schubert, and Abel, the afternoon concert will include the EMV debut of 21-year-old baritone and UBC graduate student from Santa Cruz, California, Hans Grunwald, in collaboration with the return of New York-based baroque cellist and gambist, Adrienne Hyde.

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