Bach Week Festival announces cast update for April 22 concert in Evanston

Tenor Klaus Georg to replace Hoss Brock
as soloist in J. S. Bach cantatas

Tenor Klaus Georg has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Music of the Baroque in major works by J.S. Bach.

The Bach Week Festival today announced a cast change for the 43rd annual festival’s opening concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22, at Nichols Concert Hall in Evanston. Tenor Klaus Georg, making his Bach Week debut, will join the roster of soloists for J. S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 66 and Cantata BWV 106, replacing Hoss Brock, who has withdrawn from the concert.

“We regret to announce that Hoss Brock, who has sung marvelously with us in the past, will be unable to participate in the concert because of scheduling conflicts related to his work with the Lyric Opera of Chicago,” said Richard Webster, Bach Week Festival music director. “At the same time, we're looking forward to welcoming Klaus Georg to the Bach Week family.

“He will be singing a short but wonderful aria in Cantata 106 and two duets with mezzo-soprano Nina Heebink in Cantata 66,” Webster said.

Also performing in the cantatas are David Govertson, bass; guest choir Bella Voce, making its Bach Week debut; and the Bach Week Festival Chorus and Orchestra.

Born in Bonn, Germany, Georg (pronounced GAY-org) is fluent in German and Italian.

Georg has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Music of the Baroque as Servus in J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion and as soloist with Music of the Baroque in Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Dixit Dominus and Monteverdi’s Mentre vaga angioletta. He recently performed Bach’s Cantata 147 with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

He has sung the Evangelist part in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion under Don H. Horisberger at The Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Ill., and in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Ars Voce ensemble under Mark Wells in Battle Creek, Mich.

Georg is a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Music of the Baroque, and Grant Park choruses.

He holds a doctor of musical arts degree in voice performance from Northwestern University and is chorus director at Beth Emet Synagogue in Evanston.

Bach Week Festival concert tickets are available at www.bachweek.org or by calling 800-838-3006.

Bach Week is one of the Midwest’s premiere Baroque music festivals. The event enlists musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, and other top-tier ensembles on the same stage, while featuring some of the Chicago area’s finest instrumental and vocal soloists and distinguished guest artists from out of town.