From its earliest days the Oregon Bach Festival has been rooted in the choral music of J. S. Bach. Of course, the Festival roots were planted by two choral musicians–H. Royce Salzman and Helmut Rilling–and so they followed their passion. This is not to slight the outstanding instrumental offerings, this year to include the period stylings of the Berwick Academy Orchestra; the “Bach With a Twist Cello Project”; a violin recital featuring the music of Bach, Grieg and Vaughn-Williams; some great Big Brass; and the stellar ensemble Sandbox Percussion. And you’ll find several offerings on harpsichord, piano and the organ recitals curated by the OBF Organ Institute in their 10^th anniversary season. But the passion for choral music at our OBF – words and music together – never fades.

Around the mid-point in their over five decades OBF further confirmed their dedication to the choral arts with the creation of the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. Since the beginning of SFYCA 26 years ago Anton Armstrong has nurtured the young musicians; Therees Hibbard joined the SFYCA leadership within a few years. Read more about the SFYCA here.

And in terms of numbers, just add up the musicians in the OBF chorus and choral forces from the University of Oregon, as well as prominent guest choirs over the many years. Whew! Thousands of choral and solo voices – youth, adult, professional, amateur – offering hundreds of choral/orchestral masterworks that tens of thousands of choral-lovers came to hear; so many of the major works held in the 2400-seat Silva Concert Hall at the Eugene’s Hult Center fill to capacity.

Oh, for heaven’s sake, enough with the Bach scores. The message is clear. Want some good choral music? You can get it at the Oregon Bach Festival. Let’s take a closer look at this year’s diverse OBF choral offerings.

The youngest among us

So we don’t overlook the youngest Festival musicians, let’s get to them first. The 52 high-school age singers of the 2024 Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy will show up on campus on June 28 to work with three choral music luminaries, Drs. Anton Armstrong and Terese Hibbard and composer Eric Whitacre. Armstrong’s and Hibbard’s star qualities shine brightly. Alumni returned to the 25^th Anniversary celebration last year to share joyful memories and they are sending their own children, a new generation, to learn and sing in the SFYCA. 

This year they welcome Eric Whitacre, who has connected with young singers the world around through his Virtual Choir which began in 2010; our current high school generation was weaned in large part on his extraordinarily compelling music. He has the demeanor, visual appeal and the mentoring skills. He writes their music.

Works by Whitacre, an OBF 2024 artist-in-residence, will be featured on the July 9th SFYCA Concert in Beall Hall. The students will also be immersed in Bach as they prepare and perform cantata Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir (Unto Thee, oh God, do we give thanks), BWV 29. They will also study Felix Mendelssohn’s well-known anthem Hör’ mein Bitten (Hear my prayer) for soprano solo, choir and orchestra. Together they will eat, laugh, dance, sing – and learn.

Sponsor

OBF Guest soloists Coraine Tate, soprano; Rhianna Cockrell, mezzo; Corey Shotwell, tenor; and Harrison Hintzsche, baritone join the young singers in this concert. But individual SFYCA student vocalists will perform, in their own special recital.

That recital is on Friday, July 5 at 1 pm. Come and cheer on select soloist from this year’s SFYCA performing art songs at Berwick Hall. Participants will be selected and their repertoire announced in the Festival’s first week. Stay tuned to the SFYCA Facebook page for more information.

The Festival’s two new artistic partners, Jos van Veldhoven and Craig Hella Johnson, step to the podium for two choral concerts this year. Van Veldhoven, who conducted such a beautiful Bach Magnificat last year (review here), will guide the OBF Period Orchestra and OBF Chorus in Mozart’s Mass in C minor interwoven with a beguiling set of other pieces – more Mozart, a bit of Bach, a handful of Handel. The promo says he will “lovingly and studiously” reimagine the Mass. It’s hard to know what Maestro van Veldhoven has in mind. But, by jiminy, this is part of the fun, isn’t it? Perhaps he will reveal the secrets of the enigmatic programming in the “Let’s Talk” at 6:30 in the Frohnmayer Music Building, one hour prior to the concert. Or will we just “get it” in real concert time on July 5, 7:30 in Beall Hall. (Beall Hall is in the Marabel B. Frohnmayer Music Building, aka FMB).

Part of mystery of the OBF concert experience seems to be how to tell which guest vocal artists will be performing solo roles on which concerts. Explore the circuitous route to that information on your own at the OBF Conductor and Guest Artist page, on which all biographies are included, here. 

After a bit of digging you’ll find that the solo quartet for the Mass in C minor probably is Robin Johannsen, soprano; Clara Osowski, mezzo; Steven Soph, tenor; and Edmund Milly, bass. 

Craig Hella Johnson appears on the kickoff weekend this year. Were you at OBF last year when Johnson conducted a stunning performance of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles? On June 30th Johnson introduces another recent (2018) choral sensation, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered featuring the OBF Chorus and a 12-piece instrumental ensemble. This non-liturgical Mass follows the structure of sung sections of Ordinary of the Latin Mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Angus Dei. But it is Mother Earth to whom adoration, praise and prayer are given. And it upon humankind that the responsibility to preserve her is placed. Listen here to the “Alleluia” from Mass for the Endangered.

Johnson will guide the choir in razor sharp musical elements which float so beautifully on the text by Nathaniel Bellows. A small Portland-area audience was introduced to the work last summer in a collaboration between Resonance Ensemble and Fear No Music. It is wonderful that even more of us will hear this stunning 45-minute work in the 520-seat Beall Hall, June 30 at 2:30 pm. An accompanying film, in the hands of Camilla Tassi, Projection Designer, elevates the work and the audience experience. Listen here to Johnson talking about Snider’s Mass.

Sponsor

Other works on the program include William Byrd’s Ne irascaris Domine, Tree of Life by University of Oregon Professor Robert Kyr, Bach’s motet Singet dem Herrn and a new chant composed by Maestro Johnson.

Learn more about the Snider Mass and accompanying pieces from Maestro Johnson in the pre-concert “Let’s Talk”, 1:30, in the FMB.

Out of this world

The Igor Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms of 1930 will not, most likely, be accompanied by film (though the composer’s friend Jean Cocteau might have been an interesting partner in such an endeavor). This is Stravinsky in his neo-classical period, before venturing into serialism. Listen here to the opening movement of this dense, 3-movement work. 

What a treat to hear it live – more a treat to sing, lucky OBF Chorus. Stravinsky clarified the work and its title saying it was not “a symphony in which I have included psalms to be sung. It is the singing of psalms that I am symphonizing.” 

You will find the 20-ish minute Symphony of Psalms embedded in a fascinating July 7 program entitled “Holst: The Planets – An HD Odyssey,” an audio/visual collaboration with NASA and filmmaker Duncan Copp. Treble choristers lay in waiting for the final moments when we float away in eerie, wordless Neptunish-ness. Can’t wait to see how the video matches that ending. OBF Guest Conductor for this concert, Alevtina Ioffe, will tell you how it was all put together in a pre-concert “Let’s Talk”, 1:30, Hult Center; the concert begin at the Hult Center at 2:30.

Here’s the Bach

A big batch of Bach kicks off the Festival. If you are in Eugene for Festival opening day on June 28, you’ll hear a cantata and an oratorio conducted by renowned Bach scholar John Butt. Cantata BWV 21, Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (I had much grief), was completed around 1713, prior to Bach beginning his employment in Leipzig. It was, in Bach’s own words “e per ogni tempo”–”and for all times” or “for any occasions.” The performing forces include minimal strings, a couple of reeds, four trombones and, added only in the triumphant ending movement, three trumpets and a timpani. Solo vocal roles in the 44-ish minute work are soprano, tenor and bass.

But this concert is billed as Bach’s “Ascension Oratorio”, Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen (Praise God in His Kingdoms), BWV 11 in which the vocal soloists get the spotlight. Now Bach is in Leipzig, 25 years after BWV 21, composing a grand work for the Feast of the Ascension (Holy Thursday). It is 11 movements in two parts, just like BWV 21 but shorter, and adds a mezzo to make a full solo quartet. Why is it called an oratorio? Because it tells a story, with the aid of an evangelist. In this work, scored for a Baroque orchestra similar to those in Bach’s two previous festive oratorios, Christmas and Easter, the chorus gets plenty of down time, serving only as bookends plus one chorale which ends Part One. The soprano gets the lovely aria heard here.

Sponsor

Sylvia Leith, soprano, in her third appearance at OBF, remarked in recent email to OAW that “it’s exciting to be returning to a Festival that’s invigorated with fresh leadership.” After meeting conductor Butt for the first time in Monday’s rehearsal, she wrote “I can already see why folks adore him: he’s got fabulous insight and ideas for repertoire, and has the most delightful sense of humor.” She and her husband, bass/baritone Edmund Milly, are two of the seven soloists in this concert at 7:30 in Beall Hall. The others are are sopranos Linh Kauffman and MaryRuth Miller; mezzo Kim Leeds; tenor Gregório Taniguchi; and bass/baritone John Buffett. Ensemble forces are the OBF Chorus and OBF Period Orchestra. 

Hey there, Salem, Vancouver, Portland, West and East County Bach choral lovers. This concert will be repeated at the Mt. Angel Abbey on the June 29, at 3 pm. 

You might be wondering about the designation of “period” or “modern” orchestra for some concerts with no such specificity for choirs. OBF Public Relations Specialist Kristen Hudgins clarified in a recent email to OAW that “each program varies based on repertoire, venue and interpretation.” Period doesn’t mean small. It’s about achieving the proper texture, clarity and balance. You will see 12 singers on stage for the abovementioned opening Bach concert, 32 for the Mozart and 64 for the Festival-closing Beethoven 9^th.

Maestro Butt also appears a bit later in the Festival, this time in full scholarly mode, plus that delightful sense of humor, for a Discovery Series lecture/concert/demonstration on July 2, 7:30 in Beall Hall. These beloved multifaceted programs (my personal favorites in my early OBF Chorus years) set the locale, the climate of the times and the origins of the music. Attend this year to learn about “Music of the Dresden Court”, a close look at the music of the early 18^th century. You will hear two instrumental works – “Conclusion in E minor” of Part 1 of Tafelmusik by Georg Philipp Telemann and Johan Georg Pisendel’s Sonata for Orchestra. Choral/orchestral works examined are Bach Cantata BWV 191, Gloria in Excelsis Deo (his only cantata in Latin), and Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Miserere in C minor. Listen to the opening of the Miserere here. 

When was Bach in Dresden, whom did he see, what influence did it have on his own work? Join Butt and the performers for answers to those questions and more. The Berwick Academy Orchestra performs with the University of Oregon Chamber Choir. Alex Longnecker, tenor and Gitanjali Mathus, soprano, are soloists.

That same University of Oregon Chamber Choir, under the direction of Department Head of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities Sharon J. Paul, invites you to their “Bon Voyage” concert. And to where are these students journeying? The 2024 World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand, July 10-20. World Choir “games”? Yes. Choral camaraderie, friendly competition or non-competition performances, feedback, cultural exchange and program building. And New Zealand! Read more about that tour here.

On July 11 at 2:30 pm in Beall Hall, practically moments before they take off, the students will share their varied program. It’s always nice to the see OBF giving feature time to the choral students and to Paul, who has served in Festival leadership for many years. The program she created for this concert and for the Games has four thematic sections: Psalm Settings by Sweelinck, Brahms and Byrd; The Elements (songs about Earth, fire, butterflies and a swan); one movement, “Meet me Here”, from Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard; and Transformation in which the stirring La Muerte Sonriente by Diane Syrse concludes the concert. Listen to that piece here

Sponsor

Eric Whitacre, A Choral Community

Here’s a new twist for the OBF Hinkle Distinguished Lectures series on July 6, 2:30 in Beall Hall. Guest artist-in-residence, Eric Whitacre, “through the marriage of music and technology, explores the fundamental building blocks of leadership, community, and our shared humanity.” (OBF website). If you have heard and seen Whitacre engage a crowd you know this is going to be a uplifting experience. Then at 3:45, a community of singers – local residents, choral visitors, other conductors – will sing, under Whitacre’s leadership, several of the composer’s most engaging works. What are your favorites? A Boy and a Girl, Sing Gently or Sleep? Perhaps “Home,” a movement from Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil. About one week later Whitacre will conduct The Sacred Veil in performance.

The Sacred Veil in its entirety, conducted by the composer can be heard on Friday, July 12, 7: 30 at Beall Hall. Whitacre was the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s artist-in-residence when the work was premiered in 2019. The hour-ish long work is based on 12 texts by Whitacre’s friend and artistic collaborator, Charles Anthony Silvestri who, through this work, tells the story of the death of his wife, Julie, from cancer at age 36. The ‘veil’ is that whisper-thin border between life and death. Listen here to The Sacred Veil, Movement 3, “Home”:

Bach’s works are sometimes categorized as sacred and secular. This Whitacre and Silvestri oratorio takes us not into the sacred domain of religion but into the sacredness of life itself. 

Pianist Andrew Campbell and cellist Marilyn De Oliviera join Whitacre and the OBF Chorus.

Setting the tones

In the beginning, there was the poem “An die Freude” (Ode to Joy), the original written by German poet Friedrich Schiller in 1785, revised in 1808. The latter is the version used by Beethoven for his groundbreaking “Choral Symphony,” completed in 1824–although the composer had been toying with setting this text to music since at least 1793. When he finally dug in to writing the 9th, Beethoven added this line to the first entrance of the chorus.

“O friends, not these tones!” 

No, this is not a choral rehearsal admonition. It is a call to put more joy into the “tones” of life, a call for unity. These and Schiller’s words, combined with Beethoven’s invigorating and joyous music, have made Beethoven’s final completed work an anthem for the world. Officially, Beethoven’s melody is “musical symbol” of the European Union. 

Sponsor

What went through Beethoven’s creative mind in deciding to insert a chorus and a vocal quartet into a symphonic work? Did he bolt upright in bed one lovely day in Vienna and think, “yes, singing in a symphony, brilliant, it’s never been done but I shall do it”? This hits the core of why we come to Oregon Bach Festival. To congregate around the music, make the music and be educated about and through the music. 

So get educated on July 14, closing day of the 2024 OBF, by attending the 1:30 “Let’s Talk” session at the Hult Center and hearing Beethoven 9th Guest Conductor Ken-David Masur tell you all about the work, and two other works on the program. The performance, also at the Hult, begins at 2:30.

Two companion pieces open this concert. FIrst an instrumental work by Carlos Simon, who in 2021 was named composer-in-residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This will be followed by a choral/orchestral work by Gabriela Lena Frank, Pachamama Meets an Ode. Frank’s “ode” to Beethoven imagines a “fantastical encounter between Beethoven and a contemporaneous Cusco [Peru] School painter” (from a 2022 review of the Philadelphia premiere of the work; read the entire review here).

Resonance Ensemble has sung Frank’s music; they introduced Frank’s Hombre errante to its Portland audience in recent years. 

The ensemble and Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, noted for championing meaningful social change and creating community through music, are joining the OBF Chorus for this concert. OBF Soloists for the Beethoven are Janai Brugger, soprano; Maire Therese Carmack, mezzo; Issachah Savage, tenor; and Jongwon Han, bass.

The Festival ends, as it began, with instruments and joy and with singing. Over the sixteen Festival days, twelve choral/vocal events are there for us. The choral music will always be there for us at the Oregon Bach Festival.

The entire 2024 OBF calendar of events, with links to individual concert tickets, can be found here.

Sponsor

CONNECTIONS

There’s more music of Bach and friends to be heard in the month of July. The Mount Angel Abbey Bach Festival runs July 24 through July 27. Portland’s In Mulieribus choir, conducted by Anna Song, will be performing in the church on Thursday, July 25, at 6 pm. In Mulieribus champions works new and old, works hidden for centuries and works well-known and especially choral literature for and by women and the treble voice. Come to the beautiful Abbey setting for In Mulieribus at 6 and stay for clarinetist Ron Selka and the Fine Arts Quartet at 8. More information and concert tickets are available here.