Celebration for a music legend set
The Colorado Chamber Players are prepped and ready for their upcoming concert celebrating the 339th birthday of one of history’s greatest composers.
Many composers from the Baroque period of the 17th and 18th centuries are familiar names, but even hundreds of years after his death, Johann Sebastian Bach remains one of the most iconic. Best known for his liturgical music written for church services, Bach’s compositions are still enjoyed today.
At Thursday’s Bach birthday Celebration, the Colorado Chamber Players will present a selection of Bach’s work to celebrate his 339th birthday. The show will be performed by a small group of five musicians all well-versed in Bach, with some specializing in his music and the uncommon instruments he wrote for.
Miriam Kapner is one of two guest performers for the show, and she explained that her experience playing Bach and a little bit of luck have led her to specialize in an instrument unknown to many.
“If an oboe and English horn had a baby, it would look like an oboe d’amore. It’s sort of in between — both size-wise and in musical register, so it can go a little bit lower than an oboe, but not as low as an English horn,” Kapner said. “Bach uses (oboe d’amore) a lot, I think partly because it really blends well with voices — it’s not as loud as oboe and blends nicely.”
Kapner said the oboe d’amore is “underutilized” in modern music, and that even professional oboe players rarely own one. But ever since the opportunity to buy one for a good price presented itself over a decade ago, she’s been making good use of it.
“I always joke with friends that it took about 10 years to play enough professional work to pay for the d’amore itself. But I’ve owned it for much longer than 10 years now, so anytime I get
called to play the d’amore it’s just gravy,” she said. “I love playing the oboe, but the d’amore has really captured my heart, it just feels like it was meant to be.”
In addition to some unique instrumentation, Bach’s music has captured audiences for centuries with his iconic melodies. Kapner and musicians like her have also been captivated by the unique skills it takes to perform his music to the highest standard.
“Bach is kind of a puzzle, when you first dump it all out on the table, it doesn’t necessarily make sense. But the more you knit the pieces together, the more it comes into focus,” Becky Robinson, another guest
musician for the performance, said.
Robinson is an alto and mezzo-soprano singer, and she explained that much of her history and education focuses on opera. However, singing Bach’s music, although challenging at first, has become liberating.
She credits one of her college professors for instilling an understanding and love of Bach’s music in her.
“Because my background was so rooted in opera I was really trying to emote (while singing Bach,) and he said to me, ‘Becky, you’re not trying to convert anyone, Bach was not trying to convert anyone.
It never even occurred to him that somebody would be in the room who wasn’t a believer, stop proselytizing and sing the music — everything you need is in
the music,’” she said.
Since learning how to piece together Bach’s puzzles with her professor’s advice, Robinson said it’s been liberating to be a “vessel for the music” instead of imbuing it with her own message.
“I think the show will be a really special arrangement of pieces. I love that we have the freedom to pick (music) that’s meaningful to us, so I’m really looking forward to the program,” she said.
The show starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Broomfield Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road, with tickets available for purchase online at bit.ly/3ihkp42.
“(The show) is a nice way to introduce people to this music or to … remind them why it’s worth keeping it alive, keeping it played,” Kapner said.