BACH FEST 2022
PRESS RELEASE – BACH B MINOR MASS
BACH IN THE MOUNTAINS AND THE GREAT NORTH WOODS
Mountain Top Music Center and Music in the Great North Woods are partnering on Labor Day Weekend to present a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s epic Mass in B Minor. The work, cherished by music lovers and widely held by scholars as “the greatest musical achievement of all times and all
peoples,” will be performed in its entirety in an Open Rehearsal at Gorham's Medallion Opera House on Saturday, September 3rd at 1:30 PM, as well as at the Majestic Theatre in Conway, NH, on Sunday, September 4th at 2:30 PM. The ensemble is comprised of 16 singers and 18 instrumentalists. Members of the orchestra will perform on instruments original to the period, bringing Bach’s music to life as it sounded when newly penned. These musicians will be directed from the harpsichord by Music in the Great North Woods co-founder and Director, Susan Ferré. The Open Rehearsal in Gorham will be presented by donation in memory of those lost in recent years. Tickets for this special Conway performance are $25, and can be purchased in advance at mountaintopmusic.org.
Music in the Great North Woods is also presenting a lecture on the Mass in B Minor by lecturer and scholar, Dr. Christopher Anderson, on Friday, Sept 2 at 7:30 PM at the Randolph Town Hall, 130 Durand Rd, Randolph, NH. Honored by his return, Dr. Anderson’s participation in the festival is sponsored by Southern Methodist University where he is Associate Professor of Sacred Music, Perkins School of Theology, Meadows School of the Arts. He will give brief remarks at the start of the Sept. 4th performance in Conway as well.
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) is one of the most recognized and revered personalities in the world of classical music; his influence on western music over the past two centuries cannot be overstated. German organist Helmut Walcha said, “Bach opens a vista into the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all.” Physician and poet Lewis Thomas, when asked what message he thought should be sent to an extraterrestrial civilization, replied, “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course.”
Bach wrote the material for the Mass in B Minor over a 25-year period beginning in 1724, working on the magnum opus intermittently between other commissions. In the last three years of his life Bach took care to complete and preserve the work in its entirety as a legacy project, feeling it represented his best writing. He would never hear the full work performed in his lifetime. The first documented public performance did not occur until 1859, more than 100 years after Bach’s death. In the years since, the Mass in B Minor has become Bach’s best-loved and respected work.
Due to the technical proficiency required to navigate the work’s complexity and nuance, performances of the Mass in B Minor are rare, special occasions. Susan Ferré is no stranger to the demands of Bach’s music. A noted recitalist and pedagogue, Ferré directed the Texas Baroque Ensemble for 25 years and produced the Early Music Festival-Institute in Round Top (TX) for 14 years. After semi-retiring to New Hampshire, she founded the nonprofit Music in the Great North Woods (MGNW), which produces concerts in the North Country and gives scholarships to young organists. For ten years (2009-2019) MGNW has produced the “Big Moose Bach Fest” on Labor Day Weekend, bringing world-class musicians to the North Country to perform music of Bach and his contemporaries. Ferré says that this year’s performance of the Mass in B Minor is “an exclamation point, punctuating 10 years of the Big Moose Bach Fest and honoring those we've lost in this journey.”
The musicians are no strangers to Bach’s music – or to Ferré. Trusted colleagues from throughout her extensive career are making the pilgrimage to New Hampshire for the occasion, some bringing former students who have distinguished themselves in the field of early music in the ensuing decades. Ferré
remarks that, “reuniting with old friends and working alongside a new generation of exceptional musicians adds an extra element of joy to the music making.” Vocal soloists for the Mass in B Minor include sopranos Terri Preskitt-Brown and Erin Roth-Thomas, alto Nicolas Garza, tenor Thomas Gregg,
and bass-baritone David Grogan; featured instrumentalists include Andrea LeBlanc (flute), Fiona Last (oboe), Alan Hamrick (bassoon), Elizabeth Axtell (horn), Robinson Pyle (trumpet), Nelli Jabotinsky and Emily Hale (violins.)
One musician who doesn’t have to travel far for the occasion is Mountain Top Music Center Executive Director George Wiese. Wiese, a professional musician who lives in western Maine, will play continuo organ in the festival orchestra. He has performed with Ferré on numerous occasions and sits on the board of Music in the Great North Woods; Ferré, in turn, serves on the advisory board of Mountain Top Music Center. “Partnership between our organizations seems such a natural thing,” says Wiese, who suggested using Mountain Top’s newly renovated Majestic Theatre in Conway for the performance of the B Minor Mass. “The acoustics of the Majestic are ideal for Bach’s music, and to host these extraordinary musicians performing such a seminal work is an honor.” Wiese believes this production to be the first performance of the Mass in B Minor in the North Country.
Mountain Top Music Center purchased the dilapidated 1931 Majestic Theatre in 2015 and undertook an extensive 5-year renovation of the long shuttered facility. Wiese, who oversaw the massive project, says, “To build a concert hall in Conway and then perform the B Minor Mass on its stage is truly surreal. I’m
thankful to Susan Ferré, the amazing musicians traveling to our community, and all who are making this special concert possible.”
Tickets for the September 4th concert in Conway cost $25 and are on sale at mountaintopmusic.org. A streaming option is available for those unable to attend in person. The Majestic Theatre is located at 36 Main Street, Conway, NH. Music in the Great North Woods is sponsor for the Friday evening lecture and the Open Rehearsal on Saturday afternoon at Gorham Town Hall, Medallion Opera House, by donation, recalling 10 years of the Big Moose Bach Fest centered there.
FMI: mountaintopmusic.org or call 603-447-4737.
BACH IN THE MOUNTAINS AND THE GREAT NORTH WOODS
Mountain Top Music Center and Music in the Great North Woods are partnering on Labor Day Weekend to present a performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s epic Mass in B Minor. The work, cherished by music lovers and widely held by scholars as “the greatest musical achievement of all times and all
peoples,” will be performed in its entirety in an Open Rehearsal at Gorham's Medallion Opera House on Saturday, September 3rd at 1:30 PM, as well as at the Majestic Theatre in Conway, NH, on Sunday, September 4th at 2:30 PM. The ensemble is comprised of 16 singers and 18 instrumentalists. Members of the orchestra will perform on instruments original to the period, bringing Bach’s music to life as it sounded when newly penned. These musicians will be directed from the harpsichord by Music in the Great North Woods co-founder and Director, Susan Ferré. The Open Rehearsal in Gorham will be presented by donation in memory of those lost in recent years. Tickets for this special Conway performance are $25, and can be purchased in advance at mountaintopmusic.org.
Music in the Great North Woods is also presenting a lecture on the Mass in B Minor by lecturer and scholar, Dr. Christopher Anderson, on Friday, Sept 2 at 7:30 PM at the Randolph Town Hall, 130 Durand Rd, Randolph, NH. Honored by his return, Dr. Anderson’s participation in the festival is sponsored by Southern Methodist University where he is Associate Professor of Sacred Music, Perkins School of Theology, Meadows School of the Arts. He will give brief remarks at the start of the Sept. 4th performance in Conway as well.
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) is one of the most recognized and revered personalities in the world of classical music; his influence on western music over the past two centuries cannot be overstated. German organist Helmut Walcha said, “Bach opens a vista into the universe. After experiencing him, people feel there is meaning to life after all.” Physician and poet Lewis Thomas, when asked what message he thought should be sent to an extraterrestrial civilization, replied, “I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again. We would be bragging of course.”
Bach wrote the material for the Mass in B Minor over a 25-year period beginning in 1724, working on the magnum opus intermittently between other commissions. In the last three years of his life Bach took care to complete and preserve the work in its entirety as a legacy project, feeling it represented his best writing. He would never hear the full work performed in his lifetime. The first documented public performance did not occur until 1859, more than 100 years after Bach’s death. In the years since, the Mass in B Minor has become Bach’s best-loved and respected work.
Due to the technical proficiency required to navigate the work’s complexity and nuance, performances of the Mass in B Minor are rare, special occasions. Susan Ferré is no stranger to the demands of Bach’s music. A noted recitalist and pedagogue, Ferré directed the Texas Baroque Ensemble for 25 years and produced the Early Music Festival-Institute in Round Top (TX) for 14 years. After semi-retiring to New Hampshire, she founded the nonprofit Music in the Great North Woods (MGNW), which produces concerts in the North Country and gives scholarships to young organists. For ten years (2009-2019) MGNW has produced the “Big Moose Bach Fest” on Labor Day Weekend, bringing world-class musicians to the North Country to perform music of Bach and his contemporaries. Ferré says that this year’s performance of the Mass in B Minor is “an exclamation point, punctuating 10 years of the Big Moose Bach Fest and honoring those we've lost in this journey.”
The musicians are no strangers to Bach’s music – or to Ferré. Trusted colleagues from throughout her extensive career are making the pilgrimage to New Hampshire for the occasion, some bringing former students who have distinguished themselves in the field of early music in the ensuing decades. Ferré
remarks that, “reuniting with old friends and working alongside a new generation of exceptional musicians adds an extra element of joy to the music making.” Vocal soloists for the Mass in B Minor include sopranos Terri Preskitt-Brown and Erin Roth-Thomas, alto Nicolas Garza, tenor Thomas Gregg,
and bass-baritone David Grogan; featured instrumentalists include Andrea LeBlanc (flute), Fiona Last (oboe), Alan Hamrick (bassoon), Elizabeth Axtell (horn), Robinson Pyle (trumpet), Nelli Jabotinsky and Emily Hale (violins.)
One musician who doesn’t have to travel far for the occasion is Mountain Top Music Center Executive Director George Wiese. Wiese, a professional musician who lives in western Maine, will play continuo organ in the festival orchestra. He has performed with Ferré on numerous occasions and sits on the board of Music in the Great North Woods; Ferré, in turn, serves on the advisory board of Mountain Top Music Center. “Partnership between our organizations seems such a natural thing,” says Wiese, who suggested using Mountain Top’s newly renovated Majestic Theatre in Conway for the performance of the B Minor Mass. “The acoustics of the Majestic are ideal for Bach’s music, and to host these extraordinary musicians performing such a seminal work is an honor.” Wiese believes this production to be the first performance of the Mass in B Minor in the North Country.
Mountain Top Music Center purchased the dilapidated 1931 Majestic Theatre in 2015 and undertook an extensive 5-year renovation of the long shuttered facility. Wiese, who oversaw the massive project, says, “To build a concert hall in Conway and then perform the B Minor Mass on its stage is truly surreal. I’m
thankful to Susan Ferré, the amazing musicians traveling to our community, and all who are making this special concert possible.”
Tickets for the September 4th concert in Conway cost $25 and are on sale at mountaintopmusic.org. A streaming option is available for those unable to attend in person. The Majestic Theatre is located at 36 Main Street, Conway, NH. Music in the Great North Woods is sponsor for the Friday evening lecture and the Open Rehearsal on Saturday afternoon at Gorham Town Hall, Medallion Opera House, by donation, recalling 10 years of the Big Moose Bach Fest centered there.
FMI: mountaintopmusic.org or call 603-447-4737.
