SEASON 2022

Bach Akademie Australia presents

Bach and the art of dialogue

Welcome to our 2022 season, ‘BACH AND THE ART OF DIALOGUE’

Looking forward into 2022, it is impossible to know what to expect or what is in store for us. The last two years have taught me to relinquish any expectations as to how the year might unfold.

However they have also taught me to remain hopeful, against very tough odds, that the flame of art has and will sustain us, gain in strength, and warm our hearts and souls with its power to heal. I have titled this year’s program ‘Bach and the Art of Dialogue’. It is a subject that has fascinated me for many years. The art of dialogue is a world unto itself. It is the art of debate, of listening, of meaningful communication and interaction. A dialogue implies an exchange of ideas and opinions, creating a verbal dance. Words sparkle and dance, souls will stir when vibrant dialogue is present. So can music.

J.S. Bach is considered the master of dialogue and rhetoric in music. When weaving his equally important lines of melody in and out of each other, he created music of such staggering beauty and meaning that for him it represented the divine itself. For Bach, every note he wrote was in the service of a higher purpose, his counterpoint providing him an ideal opportunity to reflect the glory of God and his creation in every note. Even though this year we focus on dialogue in Bach’s music, we must also focus on these pivotal and important events of the year – Easter and Christmas. It is impossible not to when considering the music of J.S. Bach. In our first program of the year, the full Bach Akademie Australia orchestra and choir presents both aspects of the Easter story; quiet reflection and loss, then the jubilation of resurrection with his Leipzig Cantatas BWV 6 ‘Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden’ and BWV 42 ‘Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats’. Happily, we are finally able to present his Easter Oratorio after two years of postponement.

Our second program of the year is titled ’The Weapons of Rhetoric’ and shines a spotlight directly on Bach’s astounding skill in applying rhetorical musical devices throughout his music, whether it be for a solo violin or an entire ensemble. Neal Peres Da Costa and Daniel Yeadon feature in one of Bach’s beautiful Gamba sonatas, alongside Artistic Director Madeleine Easton and Julia Fredersdorff in his much loved double violin concerto.

Our third program draws our focus in and around those incredibly important and influential musicians whom Bach was surrounded by throughout his life. Featuring the music of his uncle Johann Christoph Bach, close family friend Johann Pachelbel and his great heroes Vivaldi and Buxtehude, we circle back to Johann Sebastian through his dialogues with these great composers who all helped him mature into the genius he became.

To end the year, I feel it important to focus on one sentiment above all others – thanksgiving. All of us have been through indescribable hardships over the last two years, for each of us different but no less profound. Upon reflection, it is clear that being grateful for what we have here and now, has helped sustain us through the pandemic. It is in the spirit of gratefulness that we present Claudio Monteverdi’s Mass of Thanksgiving, written to give thanks after the great plague of 1631. We link back to Bach through Monteverdi’s student Heinrich Schütz whose life was also deeply affected by plague and war, who became one of J.S. Bach’s greatest inspirations and mentors. We end the year with Bach’s greatest and most joyful Christmas Cantata BWV 63 ‘Christen, ätzet diesen Tag’, remembering that after all is said and done, it is joy that music brings us. And there’s none better than J.S. Bach to take us out of the darkness and into the light.

Madeleine Easton

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

SEASON 2022

Bach’s Easter Oratorio

Bach Akademie Australia begins the year with an all-Bach program featuring two of his best and most beautiful cantatas. Of his 5 cycles of Cantatas written whilst serving as Kantor for the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, BWV 42 and BWV 6, although completely contrasting in tone and mood, are some of his most heartfelt and joyful with their messages of hope and comfort for all. We then present one of Bach’s best-loved and most jubilant works, the Easter Oratorio. In this work, Bach utilises a full choir and orchestra to amplify his message of pure joy and celebration. This very special work continues to uplift, inspire and comfort us all these many hundreds of years later.

The Weapons of Rhetoric

As the famed writer and performer Judy Tarling says in her book The Weapons of Rhetoric, “For centuries, musicians and orators have recognised and encouraged the use of accent and rhythm as essential for perfect communication. To ‘make music speak’ is the ultimate aim of both composers and performers alike, and in the words of Quantz were ‘essential to becoming masters of the hearts of their listeners.’’’ The ideas and concepts of rhetoric have produced music of unrivalled beauty, depth, and intelligence by many, however the sheer inventiveness of Bach’s music separates him from all others. From his miraculous G minor Fuga for solo violin, showing how polyphonic music could be written on a monophonic instrument, to the 6 part Ricercar from his Musical Offering, ending with his much loved Double Violin Concerto, no other composer in history wielded the weapons of rhetoric with as much skill, grace and heart as J.S. Bach.

IN BACH’S ORBIT

The question of why and how a true genius becomes a true genius is one many artists and scholars have contemplated, and cannot be answered without debating the argument of nature versus nurture. ‘In Bach’s Orbit’ explores the key figures in Bach’s life who inevitably influenced and guided him throughout his life, both personally and musically, featuring renowned Australian countertenor Russell Harcourt. We explore music by J.S. Bach’s much-cherished father in law Johann Christoph Bach, his great hero Dieterich Buxtehude, whom he famously walked 280 miles to hear, and Vivaldi who was greatly admired by Bach, as was Telemann. And then there was Pachelbel, his treasured family friend. Each of these titans of music held a very special place in J.S. Bach’s life. Their music, and that of Bach’s are inevitably woven together, orbiting, influencing and ultimately producing the great art we celebrate today.