FREDONIA – The Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival returns to the Fredonia Opera House June 11-13, for the fifteenth year. Under Artistic Director Grant Cooper, the series of three concerts explores both the masterworks and lesser-known orchestral and vocal music of 17th and 18th century Baroque composers.
Performances focus on music by familiar composers such as Bach, Vivaldi and Handel, but the “beyond” in the Festival’s name refers to including outstanding works of others who are artistically linked to those superstars. This year’s program includes works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Giovanni Sammartini, Francesco Geminiani, Antonio Brioschi and, of course, J.S. Bach.
Highlights of this year’s Festival will include a performance of Bach’s Double Concerto for Violins performed on two 18th-century Seraphin violins on loan from an anonymous supporter in the Buffalo area. Sanctus Seraphin (1699-1758) was a financially successful luthier who learned his craft from the legendary Amati family of luthiers in Cremona, Italy, alongside another noted luthier – Antonio Stradivari. Legend says that the two students were fierce rivals who went their separate ways upon completion of their studies. Seraphin's instruments are known to be responsive, very resonant and carry well. With the Festival’s overall theme of “The Emerging Symphony,” the concerts also will feature Haydn’s Symphonies No. 6, 7 & 8 – Le Matin, Le Midi and Le Soir.
Cooper, artistic director of the West Virginia Symphony, draws to the Festival top-flight musicians from throughout North America who are specialists in and passionate about Baroque performance, many of whom are Festival veterans. “The players have a strong sense of loyalty to the Festival from year to year,” he says.
People who are new to the Festival will appreciate “performances that attempt to capture the essence of this period,” says Cooper. “Through the use of Baroque bows, for instance, we make a sound less massive and more intimate than one hears from modern instruments and playing techniques.”
Special Festival preview performances are offered in three “Bach’s Lunches” – mini lunchtime recitals at area dining establishments. Intermezzo Coffeehouse will host the first on Tues., June 8. Reservations can be made by calling 716-672-6070. The second will be held at The White Inn on Wed., June 9. For reservations, call 716-672-2103. The third will be held at the Shorewood Country Club on Thur., June 10. For reservations, call 716-366-1880. All three recitals begin at 12:30 p.m. The only cost is the price of lunch.
The Festival concerts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, June 11 and 12, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 13, at 4 p.m. at the 1891 Fredonia Opera House. Concert programs are listed on the Opera House web site at www.fredopera.org. Tickets are $20 reserved seating for each concert. A subscription to all three concerts is available for $45. Tickets may be purchased anytime only at www.fredopera.org or in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 716-679-1891, Tuesday through Friday, 1-5 p.m. and Saturday, 2-5 p.m.
Subscribers to all three concerts receive an invitation to a special subscriber’s reception with the musicians immediately following the Sunday afternoon performance.
The Bach & Beyond Festival is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and with the support of the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County. Concert sponsors include Carol and Jim Boltz, June and Barry Dietrich and Evans & Evans Law Offices.
Chautauqua County’s only year-round performing arts center, the 1891 Fredonia Opera House is a member-supported not-for-profit organization located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia.
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