Bach’s Wedding Cantata

October Program

October 15-19
San Francisco (Herbst), Berkeley, Atherton

Lars Ulrik Mortensen,conductor and harpsichord
Maria Keohane, soprano

BACH
Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066
Concerto for Harpsichord in D minor, BWV 1052
Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten (The Wedding Cantata), BWV 202
Concerto for Harpsichord in D major, BWV 1054

We welcome as guest conductor Lars Ulrik Mortensen. The award-winning Danish harpsichordist leads a program of Johann Sebastian Bach that reaches back to the very beginnings of Philharmonia Baroque. The Orchestra’s inaugural concert in 1980 featured Bach’s Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten, best known as the Wedding Cantata. Warm-toned Swedish soprano Maria Keohane joins us as we perform the work for the very first time since that opening season!

Mortensen will conduct from the keyboard while performing two of Bach’s harpsichord concertos – both written for the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, a group that gave informal concerts in cafés and taverns. The D minor concerto is an early work, Bach’s first attempt to write in Vivaldi’s concerto style. The D major concerto is a later work, Bach’s transcription of his own Violin Concerto in E major (which Philharmonia Baroque performed to critical praise with guest artist Elizabeth Wallfisch in November, 2009).
The program also includes Bach’s first Orchestral Suite. This fascinating piece draws inspiration from dance and folk music, and is written in the French suite style featured in last season’s concerts with Jordi Savall (March, 2010). Yet the work is decidedly symphonic in construction, open-ended and balanced, with ample room for its themes to unfold.

Prepare to be awed by Bach – perhaps the ultimate baroque master – when you hear his work performed with virtuosity and verve by Philharmonia Baroque and our distinguished guests.

More Information

Lars Ulrik Mortensen
Maria Keohane
Johann Sebastian Bach