Richard Webster, Bach Week Festival‘s music director, shares the history of the Evanston-based festival and previews the five upcoming concerts which launch the organization’s golden anniversary celebration. Conductor, choirmaster, and organist Richard Webster has been music director of Bach Week Festival since 1975. As the Evanston-based organization prepares for its 50th Anniversary, Webster says the upcoming festival “remains true to our mission of celebrating the music of Johann Sebastian Bach along with works by composers who illuminate Bach’s artistry, influence, and musical universe.” Learn more about the 2023 Festival HERE.
Bach Week Festival’s 50th Anniversary
Bach Week Festival (Photo: Courtesy of North Park University)
Playlist
All selections performed by the Bach Week Festival Orchestra conducted by Richard Webster unless otherwise indicated.
Michael Joseph Gebauer: Fanfare
Channing Philbrick, Kevin Hartman, John Kness, & Patrick Hund, trumpets
Robert Everson, timpani
Johann Sebastian Bach: Oboe d’amore Concerto in A major, BWV1055
II. Larghetto
Judith Kulb, oboe d’amore
J.S. Bach: “Badinerie” from Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067
Jennifer Gunn, flute
J.S. Bach: Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, BWV 202
I. Aria, “Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten”
Patrice Michaels, soprano
Michael Henoch. oboe
J.S. Bach: Concerto for Harpsichord, Strings and Continuo in D Minor, BWV 1059
David Schrader, harpsichord
J.S. Bach: Prelude from Partita in E major, BWV 1006
Adam Levin, guitar
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for 2 Horns in F Major, RV 538
I. Allegro assai
Dan Gingrich & Ian Ward, French horns
Georg Philipp Telemann: Suite for Two Violins, “Gulliver’s Travels,” TWV 40:108
Blair Milton & Mathias Tacke, violins
Girolamo Frescobaldi – Canzon a 8 (1608)
Bach Week Festival Brass and Winds
Telemann: Ouverture-Suite in A Minor for Recorder, Strings and Continuo, TWV 55:a2
V. Réjouissance
Lisette Kielson, recorder
J. S. Bach: “Et misericordia” from Magnificat, BWV 243
Lindsay Metzger, mezzo-soprano
Tyler Lee, tenor
J.S.Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
Aria, Variation 1
Sergei Babayan, piano
Live recording from Cleveland Institute of Music
J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, BWV 1051
Matthew Lipman & Beatrice Chen, violas