Israel Philharmonic Orchestra

Thursday, March 21, 8:00 p.m. Orpheum.

One of the world's most iHustrious orchestras, the Israel Phifharmonic, will appeor under the baton of its celebrated Music Direc- tor, Maestro Zubin Mehta.

Because the date of the concert happens to be the precise date to the day of the birthday 300 years ago in Eisenach, Germany of Johann Sebastian Bach, it is only natural thot Maestro Mehta ond the IPO should devote the first port of their concert to works by the composer universally ack- nowledged to be one of his- tory’s greatest. creative and innovative geniuses.

The orchestra will begin

Sunday, March 31, 8:00.-p.m. Queen Elizabeth Playhouse.

The Vancouver Society for Early -Music will present a very specia! concert in cooperation with the Van- couver Bach Festival, with a performance of some of the favourite cantatas, concer- tos,:and_ other instrumental

with the Brandenburg Con- certo No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048. Following that, Maestro Mehta and the IPO -will be joined by two young Israeli violinists — Roy Shi- looh and Shira Ravin — for

Wednesday, March 27, 8:00 p.m. Reci- tal Hall, UBC Music Buiding.

In concert, organisi Lionel Rogg.

Some reviews: Paris — ...@ first class recital... .in- telligence and flexibility of his polyphonic playing, logic and colour of his registra- tions and the rhythmic solid- ity of his executions. — Le Figaro (Olivier Aloin).

Montreal — Extraordinary

music by Bach, played on instruments of the period. Several of Vancouver's finest. singers ond instrumen- talists in the field of early music will join forces for this festive concert. Soprano Erica Northcott, baritone Gary Dahl and tenor Ray Harris will be the featured solcists in the Coffee Cantata, a work which shows the lighter side of Bach's genius. Doreen

a performance of the bril- liont Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra in D Minor, BWV 1043.

In the second half of the concert Maestro Mehta will switch to the music of 19th century Russia for o perfor. munce of the sweeping Symphony No. 6 in B Minor (“Pethetique") by Peter tlyich Tchaikovsky.

Acsit for the New York Pos! on-s noted that the IPO “comes across as an ensem- ble of tremendous personal- ity”. And after an appear- ance in Toronto the orchestra earned this tribute from the Globe & Mail: “Under Zudin Mehta's direction, The Israel Philharmonic responded with ropture in their faces and power in their sound”.

Lionel Rogg Organist

Recital — Certainly there are few recitalists in the world today who could equal the performance he gave, and | know of none who could surpass it at its heights. —Stor.

New York City —...it was all Bach, and here Rogg came into his own. The Trio Sonata...bounced merrily: olong in a fight, delicate way; the Chora! Prelude... sang elegantly, and the Pas- sacaglia brought things to a noble close. — The New York Times. ‘ :

| ‘The Coffee Cantata

Oke and Jackie Retzlaff will perform one of his best known ‘concerti for two harpsichords and orchestra, and the programme will be rounded off by other vocal and instrumental works of the greot master of the Baroque. Flautist Elissa Poole will be heard on the baroque flute, and the baroque string ensembie will be led by John Sawyer, baroque vio- tn.

} Collegium Vocale Ghent

Wednesday, April 3, 8:00 p.m. St. An- drew's-Wesley Church, Burrard &. Nelson.

The Vancouver Society for * Early Music will present the world-renowned Belgian choir, Collegium Vocale Ghent, in concert, It will be the first Vancouver appear- ance of the. 25-vcice Colle- gium Vocale, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe. The choir has gained its reputa- | tion on this side of the ocean primarily through its partici- pation in one of the most impressive recording projects of the last fifteen years: the complete recording of Bach's cantatas with the Leonhordt Consort on Das Alte Werk. Collegium Vocole has also collaborated frequeitly with Sigiswald Kuijken ond La Petite Bonde, with Ton

Koopman and Musica Antique Amsterdam, and with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Amsterdam Concertge- bouw Orchestra.

For its first North Ameri- can tour, this superb ensem- ble will present music by Johann Sebastian Bach and

some of his ancestors — Johann Bach (1604-1673) ond Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703). Two of J.5. Bach's splendid motets, “Jesu meine Freude”’ and “‘Singet dem Herrn ein neves Lied will be the highlight of the evening.

ee ial

Saiurday, April 6, at 8:30 p.m., Mon- duy, April 8, at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, of 7:30 p.m. Orpheum.

35 - Sunday, March !0, 1985 - North Shore News

Van. Symphony Orchestra / Bach Choir

The Vancouver Bach Choir and celebrated soloists will be featured with the Van- couver Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Gerard Schwarz in the third concert of the Great Composers ser- ies.

The first part of the pro- gramme honours the tricen- fennial this yeor of the birth of two of the greats, Handel and Bach. Following Han- del’s glittering Royal Fire- works Music, Bach's cele- brated Cantata No. 80 (Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott) will display the artistry of the Vancouver Bach Choir and soloists Ingrid Suderman, soprano; Phyllis Mailing, alto; Stephen Wall, tenor;

and James Patterson, bass.

The second port of the programme is devoted to the music of Wagner, with the Preludes to Act land Il from Lohengrin, and the Preludes to Acts | and Hl from Parsifal. Good Friday Spell, alse from Parsifal, concludes the progromme.

Under the leadership of conductor Bruce Pullan, the Vancouver Bach Choir has attained an enviable reputa- tion for excellence. The choir's repertoire now spans the entire choral literature. While the ensemble traditionally performs large choral works with orchestra, the choir also sings many unaccompanied works.

Hugh McLean Organist

Friday, April 12, 8:00 p.m. Ryerson Church.

Hugh Melean is Cana- dian bora and received his early musical training in Winnipeg and Vancouver. Later he went to England on scholarship, where he stu- died piano and organ at the Royal College of Music in London.

As on organ recitalist, Mr. McLéan has played in ail the major Canadion centres as well as in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago. and Minneapolis, 0

McLean is well-known in Canada as a musicologist speciolizing in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stu- dies. He has published défin- itive editions of the organ works. of Purcell and Krebs

.-and wrote nineteen articles

for the new edition of Grave's:

- Dictionary. In 1977. his con-

tribution to musicology. in Canada .was recognized by election to a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canodo.

Purcell String Quartet /Pacific Winds |

Sunday, April 21, 8:00 p.m. The Gran- ville Istand Arts Club Theatre.

In the last few weeks of his life, J.S. Bach — sick, nearly blind, and in great pain (he hod allowed an operation

on his eyes) — decided to compose a statement, a mus- ical “last will and testa-

meni". The result is The Art of Fugue, a work consisting of eighteen sections, in which every device of instrumental counterpoint is exploited to the fullest. On casual con- sideration, this music might be expected to be dry or academic; in fact, the oppo- sile is the cuse — indeed, the final “Contrapunctus 18°, a monumental triple fugue in

which Bach introduces the “B-A-C-H’” theme, is one of the most thrilling and, at the some time, shattering expe-

Peter Hurford Organist

Tuesday, April 23, 8:00 p.m. Ryerson Church,

Peter Hurford, Concert organist.

An organ recital with music by Bach. Sponsored by the Royol Canadian College of Organists.

riences in music. Bach died during the ‘process of com- position; the fugue is un- finished.

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