Arts Spotlight: Performing Arts Series

I am exhausted. We are all exhausted. The unrelenting surge of assignments and job applications saps our reserves like a tap into a maple tree. Though some may contend the role of God, I think we can all agree our souls are in need of refreshment. What we need this weekend is a nice B&B. Not a bed and breakfast, but Bach and brass.

There are few methods in the world better recognized for rejuvenating the spirit of stressed students than the aural onslaught of a brass quintet and three days of non-stop appreciation for the world’s most prolific composer. Conducting the weekend is a man only slightly less recognized than Johann himself, Jeffrey Thomas, Artistic and Music Director of the American Bach Soloists.

Together, Thomas and Bach will meld students, affiliate artists, faculty and professional musicians from Vermont and greater New England into a delightful festival celebrating a certain man from Leipzig 275 years ago. The fifth annual Middlebury Bach Festival will take place April 24–26 throughout campus, with the Axiom Brass Quintet kicking off the weekend at 8 p.m. in Mead Chapel.

Thomas was educated at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School of Music, with further studies in English literature at Cambridge University. His illustrious musical career has led him to work with many of the world’s most prestigious performance organizations and venues.

Thomas is currently Professor of Music and Director of Choral Ensembles in the Department of Music at UC Davis, and he hosts two classical music radio shows. Through worldwide streaming audio, he brings his experience and love for Baroque and choral music to a global audience.

The festival opens Friday, April 24, with a concert by the Axiom Brass Quintet at 8 p.m. in Mead Chapel. The bossy horns, trombones and tuba of the quintet promise a performance decidedly more boisterous than those traditionally emblematic of the chamber music universe. In a program titled “Sacred Brass,” the quintet will journey through time with music written for or inspired by the church, including works by J. S. Bach, Palestrina, Byrd, Tchaikovsky, Gabrieli and Piazzolla.

Comprised of not only great music, the festival also offers opportunities to learn about Bach. There are two such sessions on Saturday, April 25 at the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts. The first, “Chant in the Organ Works of J.S. Bach,” will be given at 10:00 a.m. by Dr. William Tortolano, Professor Emeritus of Music and Fine Arts at Saint Michael’s College, Vermont. The next session, “Rhetoric in the Early Cantatas of J.S. Bach,” will be offered by Guest Conductor Jeffrey Thomas at 11:00 a.m.

Participants can return for a carillon recital by the College’s carillonneur George Matthew Jr. at 3:00 p.m. on the lawn surrounding Mead Chapel. A carillon is created from two octaves of chromatically-arranged bells and played from a keyboard. Whether melodic or cantankerous, we look forward to this novel addition to the quad.

Saturday evening features the grand Festival Concert led by Jeffrey Thomas at 8:00 p.m. in the Kevin P. ’84 Mahaney Center for the Arts Concert Hall. The concert opens with Brandenburg Concerto, No. 5, BWV 1050 by J.S. Bach, followed by a trio of his Cantatas; Funeral Cantata BWV 106 “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” (God’s time is the best of all times), Cantata for Jubilate BWV 12, “Weinen, klagen, sorgen, sagen” (Weeping, lamentation, worry, despair), and Cantata for Palm Sunday BWV 182, “Himmelskönig, sei willkommen” (King of Heaven, welcome). This concert features varied instrumental and vocal colors that are new to the College’s Bach Festival, including the use of a recorder, solo vocal quartet and full chorus.

On Sunday, April 26, a 3:00 p.m. in the MCA Concert Hall, chamber music concert will feature Bach’s beloved motet BWV 227, “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesus, my joy), and other Bach piano works performed by students of Middlebury College affiliate artist Diana Fanning.

The reach of Bach goes beyond the school. In addition to on-campus scheduling, area congregations will respond to the spirit of the festival by including works by Bach in their morning services.

The majority of events in the festival are free; the two exceptions are the 8:00 p.m. concerts on Friday and Saturday. Visit go/boxoffice or stop by an office.