‘A half-century labor of love’ to end on jubilant note,
says Richard Webster, longtime festival music director
The Evanston-based Bach Week Festival, "one of the most beloved rites of spring in Chicago music" (Chicago Tribune) since 1974, has announced that its 50th anniversary season, April 26 to May 5, 2024, will be its last.
“It's truly been a half-century labor of love,” Richard Webster, the festival’s longtime music director, says. “And we’ll conclude this amazing journey with J. S. Bach’s final sacred masterpiece, the incomparable Mass in B Minor, amid joy and gratitude for all who have been part of Bach Week.
“For many years now,” he says, “festival responsibilities have been shouldered by a very small, highly dedicated group of generous and hardworking board members and other volunteers. They’ve been the backbone of the organization, some since the festival's debut in 1974.
“We all feel that it's the right time for Bach Week to bid adieu, and on a high note.”
He says, “The festival is in fine form for this, our 51st annual edition. Over the past couple years, we've seen attendance and donations recover to prior levels, and we’ve attracted a stellar lineup of Chicago-area artists again this year, many of whom are like family.”
Webster, a nationally prominent church musician, has been the festival’s music director and conductor since 1975.
He performed in and helped organize Evanston’s first Bach Week, May 5-12, 1974, during his senior year at Northwestern University’s School of Music, under his mentor, festival founder Karel Paukert. The latter was associate professor of organ and church music at NU and organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, the festival’s first home.
Shortly after launching Bach Week, Paukert moved to the Cleveland, Ohio, area, where he has enjoyed a long and distinguished music career that continues to this day. He is expected to attend Bach Week’s final concert May 5 at St. Luke’s featuring Bach’s B-Minor Mass.
For a detailed, up-to-date schedule of the Bach Week Festival's farewell season and ticket information, please visit https://bachweek.org/2024-festival.
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