BERKSHIRE BACH SOCIETY
PRESS
RELEASE
Sunday,
February 14 at 4pm
St.
Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 67 East Street, Pittsfield, MA
Contact: Paula M. Hatch, Executive Director
paula@berkshirebach.org; 413 528-9555
BRASS & ORGAN: A VALENTINE BOUQUET
On February
14, the Berkshire Bach Society will offer its audience a “Valentine Bouquet” of
music from three centuries for organ and brass instruments. The enthusiastically received combination of
organist Peter Sykes of Cambridge and brass ensemble headed by local trumpet
virtuoso Allan Dean returns from last year's February triumph to offer a
wide-ranging program blending familiar and unfamiliar repertory. Joining Mr. Dean in the brass ensemble will
be Neil Mueller, trumpet, Laura Klock, french horn,
Tom Hutchinson, trombone, and Morris Kaiuma, tuba. Berkshire Bark Chocolates will provide sweets
for the palate. The performance will take place on Sunday at 4 pm in the St. Stephen's
Episcopal Church, 67 East St, Pittsfield, MA. For advance tickets, call 800-838-3006 or go
to www.brownpapertickets.com, or
purchase at the door. Program details
are at www.berkshirebach.org.
At the core
of the program are works by Bach, including arrangements of chorales and
chorale-preludes for brasses and the great Fantasia and Fugue in g minor for
organ; but the additional material displays the many responses (the Valentine Bouquet)
his music has inspired over the centuries, including a rarely heard work by his
youngest son Johann Christian, a Prelude and Fugue in g minor by Brahms and an
organ sonata by Mendelssohn. Perhaps the
greatest novelty is offered by the music of Gottfried Reiche, an older
contemporary of Bach's who was the resident trumpet virtuoso in Leipzig who
performed most of the challenging trumpet parts that are found in the cantatas
and other choral works. The concert will
conclude with the very familiar "Trumpet
Voluntary" by Jeremiah Clarke, clothed for maximum brilliance with the
full combination of organ and brass.
Peter Sykes has appeared in
recital at conventions of the American Guild of Organists, the Southeastern
Historical Keyboard Society, the Organ Historical Society, American Institute
of Organbuilders, International Society of Organbuilders, at the Library of
Congress, Boston Early Music Festival, Aston Magna Festival, New England Bach
Festival, Portland Chamber Music Festival, New Hampshire Music Festival, and
with Ensemble Project Ars Nova, The King’s Noyse, Musica Antiqua Köln, and
throughout the United States. He is frequently heard on the nationally
syndicated radio program “Pipedreams.”
In March 2004 he was given the honor of performing the dedication
recital on the newly restored 1800 Tannenberg two-manual organ in Old Salem,
North Carolina, featured on the nationally broadcast televsion show “CBS Sunday
Morning.” He was a member of the continuo team for the Boston Early Music
Festival opera productions of Cavalli's Ercole Amante, Lully's Thésée, and
Conradi’s Ariadne, and appears regularly in concert and on recordings with
Boston Baroque. With Christa Rakich he created "Tuesdays With
Sebastian," an independent two-year benefit concert series in which he and
Ms. Rakich performed the entire keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the
organ and harpsichord in thirty-four recitals in five Boston area locations in
the 2003-04 and 2004-05 concert seasons.
His solo recordings include J.S. Bach’s complete
Leipzig Chorales recorded on the Noack organ of the Langholtskirkja in
Reykjavik, From The Heartland - Two Nordlie Organs in South Dakota, Harpsichord Music of Couperin and Rameau, A Nantucket
Organ Tour, MAXimum Reger: Favorite Organ Works, and Modern Organ Music, a disc
of music by Hindemith, Heiller, Pinkham, Woodman, and Icelandic composers on
the Noack organ in the Neskirkja in Reykjavik.
His most recent solo recording, now available on the Raven label, is the
dedication recital on the Tannenberg organ in Old Salem.
He is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the
Historical Performance Department at Boston University, Director of Music at
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, and a member of the faculties of the
Longy School of Music and the New England Conservatory.
Allan Dean is a notable
American trumpeter who has spent much of his career working as one of the top
chamber music players in the United States. Mr. Dean's career is particularly
well established in the New York musical scene - primarily because of his long
involvement with the New York Brass Quintet. While in New York City, he was a
prolific commercial trumpeter, recording jingles for everything from ABC Nightly
News to the Olympics. He is also a founding member of Summit Brass, currently
plays with the Saint Louis Brass Quintet, and is a regular with the Berkshire
Bach Ensemble. His arrangements are often featured on recordings with these
ensembles.
Dean was also at the forefront of the period
instrument revival in the 1960s and 70s in the United States. He was one of the
first American trumpeters to master the natural trumpet and the cornetto. He was a charter
member of Calliope
(Renaissance band), the groundbreaking period instrument group.
Mr. Dean has taught at the Eastman School of Music,
Indiana University, and the North Carolina School of the Arts. He currently
teaches at the Yale School
of Music in New Haven, CT and is on faculty at the Norfolk Chamber
Music Festival in Norfolk, CT.
This
year’s Brass and Organ concert is underwritten in part by The American Guild of
Organists, the Berkshire Chapter; St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church; Pittsfield
Local Cultural Council; and Berkshire Bark Chocolates.
Special rates are being offered by our partner, the Kemble Inn in Lenox. Please visit their website: www.kembleinn.com .