The Pacific Baroque Festival, Christ Church Cathedral Victoria, and EMV announce the First Annual Pa
2018-2019 PACIFIC BAROQUE SERIES (PBS) ANNOUNCEMENT
Inaugural Season includes J.S. Bach’s The Well Tempered Clavier with Angela Hewitt, the Goldberg Variations on the Cathedral Organ, the Complete Bach Cello Suites, A Monteverdi Christmas Vespers with David Fallis, and the 15th Anniversary Edition of the Pacific Baroque Festival led by Artistic Director Marc Destrubé
Victoria, BC – The Pacific Baroque Festival, Christ Church Cathedral and EMV (Early Music Vancouver) are thrilled to announce the inauguration of a new concert series in Victoria. Running year-round, it will feature performances of Baroque repertoire performed by some of our region’s most talented musicians, alongside established international stars,
“Music is a key part of the Cathedral’s ministry, and we are delighted to add this new series to our rich program mix,” said Cathedral Dean Ansley Tucker.
The season begins with two summer concerts featuring iconic solo works for keyboard composed by the great Johann Sebastian Bach. On Friday July 27 at 7:30 pm, French organist, Benjamin Alard plays The Goldberg Variations on the majestic Wolff organ at Christ Church Cathedral. The Goldberg Variations are one of the most beloved works in the classical repertoire. M. Alard is considered one of the world’s greatest interpreters of Bach on the organ and recently signed a contract with Harmonia Mundi to record the entire keyboard works of Bach. The Globe and Mail has called him “one of the greatest keyboardists of his generation”.
A few days later, the new series is proud to present one of Canada’s national treasures. On Thursday August 2 at 7:30 pm, Angela Hewitt, will play Book 2 of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier on a nine-foot Fazioli grand piano. “I am delighted to be returning to the Cathedral in Victoria,” says Ms. Hewitt. “I have fond memories of my previous visit a few years ago.”
Angela Hewitt is recognized as one of the world’s reigning interpreters of Bach’s repertoire for solo
keyboard, and the inheritor of the mantle of Glenn Gould. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and was recently announced as one of this year’s laureates of the Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards. She is currently on a “Bach Odyssey” around the world. Her latest stop on the Pacific Rim includes Book 1 of The Well Tempered Clavier in Vancouver on July 31, and Book 2 two nights later in Victoria.
Continuing an exploration of major solo works by J.S. Bach, on Thursday September 20 and Friday
September 21, 2018, Victoria audiences will have the rare opportunity to hear the Complete Bach Cello Suites played by Bach Leipzig Competition winner Beiliang Zhu at Christ Church Cathedral. Beiliang is the new principal cellist of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and a graduate of the Juilliard Historical Performance Programme. The New Yorker magazine has described her playing as “elegant and sensual, stylishly wild.”
To celebrate the return of the Festive Season, on Thursday December 20 PBS will present “A Monteverdi Christmas Vespers” led by the music director of the Toronto Consort, David Fallis. For this sumptuous musical feast, Christ Church Cathedral will resound with the glorious sounds of eight vocal soloists, baroque violins, cornetti, sackbuts, multiple theorbos, keyboards and the combined voices of the Cathedral choir. This large-scale production on period instruments will involve more than 50 performers and will recreate the lavish celebration of Christmas Vespers from the Church of San Marco in 17th-century Venice, with music by the incomparable Claudio Monteverdi.
The 2018-19 Pacific Baroque Series culminates in the Pacific Baroque Festival’s 15th anniversary
celebration running from Thursday February 7th to Sunday February 10, 2019. Led by long-time
Artistic Director, Marc Destrubé, the festival features five lively concerts held at Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Alix Goolden Performance Hall and at Christ Church Cathedral. This anniversary program will reflect 15 years of entertaining audiences with an annual tapestry of musical performances featuring rarely performed music by brilliant but under-represented composers.
“After 14 successful years, I am thrilled the Pacific Baroque Festival will be deepening its collaborations with Christ Church Cathedral and EMV. Victoria is now recognized as a vibrant center for Baroque music. This new series provides a timely opportunity for expanding on the Festival’s many years of original programming, supporting regional artists and providing a platform for these artists to perform with world- renowned musicians” explains Brian Groos of the Pacific Baroque Festival.
Reflecting the Festival’s first all-Bach program in 2005, Festival Artistic Director Marc Destrubé will again program a concert dedicated to the instrumental music of J. S. Bach. There will be a return to Venice with a program featuring the Victoria Children’s Choir in a performance of Vivaldi’s joyous Gloria arranged for treble voices. Also on the Festival program will be the return of talented young American organist John Walthausen in a program including Buxtehude’s Te Deum. The beloved ensemble La Modestine will open the Festival with a concert of chamber music in which they will play a selection of rarely heard gems, including sonatas by Buxtehude, Becker and Reincken, and will conclude with its traditional Choral Evensong at Christ Church Cathedral with service music by the great Henry Purcell.
