Bach Week Festival to Make
Its Chicago Debut May 5
at North Park University
Festival's
40th Anniversary Plans Also Include
Performances
with Pianist Sergei Babayan
at Nichols
Concert Hall in Evanston
EVANSTON, Ill., June
2, 2012 -- The Evanston-based Bach Week Festival will venture beyond its home
territory for its 40th anniversary season in 2013 to present its first concert
in the city of Chicago.
Bach Week, the
region's annual celebration of the diverse music of J.S. Bach, will collaborate
with the North Park University School of Music on Chicago's northwest side to
present a festival finale concert at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 5, at the
university's Anderson Chapel, located at Foster and Spaulding
Avenues.
The concert will
include Bach's "Magnificat," with the North Park Chamber Singers, the
university's elite vocal chamber ensemble, performing with the Bach Week
Festival Chorus. Also on the program are Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, plus
works to be announced.
The collaboration was
spearheaded by Bach Week's longtime music director Richard Webster, who has been
involved with the festival since its debut in 1974, and Dr. Craig Johnson, dean
of North Park's music school since 2011. Webster and Johnson have been close
friends since their undergraduate years as music students at Northwestern
University, where they were roommates.
"This is an exciting
opportunity to attract new audiences to the festival," Webster says. "North Park
is a logical location for a Bach Week presentation because of its fine music
school and devoted community of students, faculty, and alumni. And there's no
other professional Baroque music series in the vicinity."
North Park's Johnson
sees the concert collaboration as "a new and valuable opportunity for our
students to observe and be part of music-making at the highest professional
level.
"Hosting an
organization of the Bach Week Festival's stature and visibility will create
excitement throughout the North Park community," he says. "I can envision this
pilot partnership expanding to include festival-related master classes and other
educational events."
"We hope our loyal
Evanston and North Shore audience members will join us for the North Park
concert," Bach Week's Webster says. "North Park's campus, Anderson Chapel, and
especially its Chamber Singers will be delightful discoveries for many
concertgoers. Free on-campus parking and easy access to the Edens Expressway are
additional benefits."
Rounding out the 2013
Bach Week Festival are two concerts at Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston. Pianist
Sergei Babayan, an international concert and recording artist, will perform two
of Bach's keyboard concertos with the Bach Week Festival Orchestra at 7:30 p.m.
on Friday, April 19, in a program that will include other Bach works. Babayan
will give a solo recital featuring Bach's "Goldberg" Variations at 3 p.m.
Sunday, April 21, in a concert co-presented with the Music Institute of Chicago
celebrating the 40th anniversary of Bach Week, the 10th anniversary the Music
Institute's Nichols Hall, and the 150th anniversary of the city of
Evanston.
Complete festival
details and ticket information for the 2013 Bach Week Festival will be announced
at a later date. The festival's website is www.bachweek.org.
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