It’s a big weekend for Bach fans in Bay Area
Concerts by the American Bach Soloists often feature big Baroque masterworks — Bach’s “St. John Passion,” which music director Jeffrey Thomas conducts every year as part of the ensemble’s summer festival, or Handel’s “Messiah,” which the group presents during the holidays.
This weekend, Thomas will lead his players in a more intimate program, one that features all four of Bach’s orchestral suites for the first time on a single American Bach Soloists program.
Infused with high spirits and courtly dance rhythms — bourées, gigues, gavottes and minuets — these works (BWV 1066-1069) are scored for contrasting forces and distinguished by exuberant melodies and brilliant sonorities. And, of course, the Third Orchestral Suite features one of the most beloved episodes in all of Bach’s music, the “Air for the G String.”
Taken together, they offer an excellent showcase for Thomas and his topnotch early music players. Soloists for these performances include Debra Nagy (oboe), Dominic Teresi (bassoon), Sandra Miller (flute) and John Thiessen (trumpet).
American Bach Soloists will record the program for release in the fall. But hearing it live is sure to be something special.
DETAILS >> “Bach’s Orchestral Suites,” American Bach Soloists, 8 p.m. Friday, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Belvedere; 8 p.m. Saturday, First Congregational Church, Berkeley; 4 p.m. Sunday, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco; $25-$89, $10 students 25 and under with valid ID; 800-595-4849; www.americanbach.org.
BACH GOES BIG IN SANTA
CLARA >> The Santa Clara Chorale is presenting a large-scale special event this weekend in the beautiful Mission Santa Clara. Saturday’s performance of Bach’s “St. John Passion” brings an impressive roster of artists together for one of the composer’s most powerful and enduring works. Scot Hanna-Weir conducts the San Jose Chamber Orchestra and singers from the combined choruses of Santa Clara University — more than 150 voices in all — and the vocal soloists include soprano Jennifer Paulino, countertenor Dan Cromeenes and bass Patrick Walders. The role of the Evangelist will be sung by tenor Dann Coakwell.
DETAILS >> 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Mission Santa Clara; $22-$37, $5-$10 students with ID; 408-883-4722; www.scc.org.
MOTHER’S DAY MUSIC >> Janet Popesco Archibald is one of our musical heroes. As oboist and principal English horn player for the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, she is currently deep in rehearsals for the opera’s upcoming performances of Wagner’s complete “Ring” cycles at the War Memorial Opera House. But Archibald always seems to make time to make music for important causes — her Lowell Trio recently released its second CD to benefit the John Muir Land Trust — and each May, she and her fellow musicians perform a special Mother’s Day concert in Martinez. This Sunday, she brings the Lowell Ensemble, which includes Leslie Chin (flute) and Karen Hutchinson (piano), to Armando’s with a program that includes works by Bernstein, Poulenc and Piazzolla. Maybe Bach, too.
DETAILS >> 4 p.m. Sunday, Armando’s, Martinez; $15; 925-228-6985; www.armandosmartinez.com.
AND STILL MORE BACH >> Bach also figures prominently in Sunday’s concert by the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The Bay Area-based early music ensemble Voices of Music joins symphony chorus director Ragnar Bohlin in Bach’s “Magnificat.” The program also includes Bach’s motet “Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf” and the chorale “Jesu Bleibet Meine Freude.” Arvo Pärt’s “Te Deum” completes the lineup. Bohlin, by the way, recently conducted Pärt’s “Te Deum” at the California Symphony, and the results were stunningly beautiful, so this program should be one to remember.
DETAILS >> 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $25$69; 415-864-6000; www. sfsymphony.org.