Wednesday, February 23, 2011

'Vintage' Fundraiser Harvests $5,300

Seventy-seven guests attended the "Bachtoberfest" fall fundraiser for Evanston’s 2011 Bach Week Festival, which featured wine tastings, appetizers, and, of course, the music of baroque composer J. S. Bach.

The after-hours event October 10 at Schaefer’s Wines, Foods & Spirits in Skokie raised net proceeds of $5,300 for the festival to be held April 29 and May 1, 2011, at Nichols Concert Hall of the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston.  Funds came from ticket sales, donations, and sponsorship of festival music director Richard Webster’s run in the Chicago Marathon earlier that day.

Two acclaimed young classical singers from the East Coast — in town to run the Chicago Marathon — performed at "Bachtoberfest" with veteran Bach Week Festival musicians.

Emily Hindrichs, a Boston-based soprano, and Robin Flynn, a New York-based mezzo-soprano, sang the duet “Wir eilen ” (“We hasten”) from Bach’s Cantata No. 78 and composer Gioachino Rossini’s “Cat Duet,” a comical encore piece whose lyrics consist of the Italian word for “meow.”

Other works performed at "Bachtoberfest" were Bach’s Goldberg Variations, arranged for string trio, with violinist Mathias Tacke, violist Melissa Kirk, and cellist Kenneth Olsen; Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, BWV 903, with harpsichordist Jason Moy; and Bach’s Cello Suite in E-flat, BWV 1010, with cellist Samuel Nordlund.

For the finale, Bach Week Festival Chorus members sang Baroque and Renaissance drinking songs.

Enjoy this slide show of photos from the event:



Did you attend "Bachtoberfest"? What did you think? Please leave a comment below.