This preview has been provided by Carolina Performing Arts.
One of the leading authorities on Baroque music, conductor Ton Koopman and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, will perform at UNC’s Memorial Hall for two concerts on Tuesday, March 13 and Wednesday, March 14.
Koopman, the renowned elder statesman of the authentic performance movement, founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and imbues every performance with both boundless energy and rigorous standards of excellence and scholarship. They will be performing J.S. Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor (March 13) and his Cantata 104, Cantata 147 and Magnificat in D major (March 14).
The works of Bach are the orchestra and choir’s home ground after a 10-year quest to record all of Bachs cantatas — more than 200 choral works — on 22 CDs. Koopman and his distinguished forces are considered the supreme exponents at negotiating Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor that is both a celebration of the joy of music making and a hymn to the glory of God. With their impassioned abandon, Koopman and his ensemble impart the crisp subtleties and aching grandeur the work deserves.
In conjunction with the concerts, Caroling Performing Arts is partnering with the Friday Center for Continuing Education to present “The Genius of Bach” lecture series March 6 and 7 at the Friday Center. Dr. James Moeser, chancellor emeritus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will deliver the lectures, scheduled from 7 to 9 p.m. each night
During the March 6 lecture, Moeser will explore the musical architecture of Mass in B minor. Moeser will explore the hidden theological symbols in this great work and why Bach, a committed Lutheran, wrote a setting of the Roman Catholic Mass. The March 7 lecture will focus on March 14 program of the two cantatas and Magnificant. Moeser will discuss how the cantatas were integrated into the Sunday service of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, where Bach was the cantor, and how Bach developed a musical language that helped express the daily lessons of the lectionary and the liturgical year. In both lectures, Moeser will also discuss the legacy and impact of Koopman’s career in Baroque music.
Dr. Moeser is currently a Professor of Music and Senior Consultant for Special Initiatives at the UNC Institute for Arts and Humanities. Moeser’s early career was devoted to music, and he established an international reputation as a concert organist and teacher, specializing in the organ music of Bach. He was a noted student of the theological symbolism in Bach’s sacred music.
Registration is $50 per person and includes admission to both lectures and one ticket to see Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir. Tickets for this offer have a face value of $45 and will be located in Section A of Memorial Hall. Tickets will be held at the Memorial Hall Box Office Will Call for pick-up on the day of the performance. To register for the talks, go to the Friday Center’s website at www.fridaycenter.unc.edu or call (800) 845-8640 or (919) 962-2643.
Separate from the lecture series, concert tickets are $25 to $64 and $10 for UNC-Chapel Hill students. Tickets can be purchased at www.carolinaperformingarts.org or by calling the box office at (919) 843-3333.
Before both concerts, Moeser will host an informal half-hour discussion from 6:30 to 7 p.m. in Gerrard Hall on the works being presented both nights. The “Classical Conversations” are part of Program Notes LIVE, Carolina Performing Arts’ free public lecture series.
