Free concerts, more things to know about MSO’s Bach Fest
Milwaukee was destined to have a Bach Fest.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra music director Ken-David Masur is a proud ambassador for composers from Leipzig, his German hometown — where Johann Sebastian Bach worked from 1723 until his death in 1750.
Among his nearly countless other works, Bach also composed hundreds of church cantatas for the liturgical year. He’s a Lutheran cultural hero; Milwaukee’s a city with a strong Lutheran influence.
The March 17-24 Bach Fest builds up to a weekend of MSO concerts. But it also includes free musical offerings around the city of Milwaukee featuring many local organizations and musicians, including some lunch time events.
Here’s what you need to know about Bach Fest highlights:
A free opening ceremony and concert March 18
At 6:30 p.m. March 18 at the Bradley Symphony Center, 212 W. Wisconsin Ave., the MSO will host a free opening event of Bach and Bach-ish performances featuring members of the MSO Brass and many of the festival’s musical partners — including a Bach drumline from Carmen High School’s North West Thundering Eagles. Masur and Marquita Edwards will serve as hosts. While admission is free, reservations are required. Visit mso.org.
Big concerts March 22-24 feature Brandenburgs, ‘Magnificat’
In the festival’s culminating events, the MSO will perform two separate programs March 22-24 at the Bradley Symphony Center. Savvy ticket buyers can enjoy a doubleheader on March 23, hearing both programs that day.
Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and Baroque violinist Rachell Ellen Wong will join the orchestra to play three of Bach’s Brandenburg concerti
over the two programs. One program pairs two of the Brandenburgs with Bach’s Suite No. 3, source of the famed “Air on the G String” (which Procol Harum borrowed for its hit “A Whiter Shader of Pale”).
In period style, Masur won’t be on the podium for the Brandenburgs; Esafahani and Wong will lead those works, the way musicians did in 1721. But on the second program, the choralmusic-loving Masur will conduct the orchestra and Milwaukee Symphony Chorus in Bach’s “Magnificat” in D Major.
In between the March 23 concerts at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Masur, Esafahani, Wong, musicologist Christoph Wolff and MS Chorus director Cheryl Frazes Hill will talk about the enduring legacy of Bach. This panel discussion is free to anyone with a ticket to either March 23 concert.
For program details and tickets, visit mso.org.
Pounding coffee with Bach
The composer of the famed “Coffee Cantata” (”Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht”) will surely sound at home in a coffee shop.
MSO bassoonist Beth Giacobassi will play Bach’s music at 11 a.m. March 19 at Colectivo Coffee, 6745 W. Wells St., Wauwatosa. MSO violinist Kyung Ah Oh will do the same at 11 a.m. March 21 Colectivo’s 2999 N. Humboldt Blvd. location. Both performances are free.
Celebrating the great organist
Organists John Paradowski and Curt Sather will team up for a combination concert and lecture at noon March 20 at St. Matthew’s Ev. Luther Church, 1615 N. Wauwatosa Ave., Wauwatosa. Admission is free; a goodwill offering is suggested.
For a complete Bach Fest schedule, visit mso.org/bach.