Some Summertime Bach

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Albuquerque, American Bach Soloists, Annandale-on-Hudson, Antonín Dvořák, Aston Magna, Bartók, Beethoven, Berkshire Choral Festival, Brahms, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Buxtehude, Cape Ann, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carmel Bach Festival, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Caroline Shaw, cello, Chamber Music Northwest, Chamberfest Cleveland, Chanticleer, Charles Ives, Chelsea Music Festival, clarinet, Cleveland, Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, Concord Sonata, David del Tredici, David Lang, David Shifrin, Derek Bermel, Detroit, Dream of Gerontius, Elgar, Emerson Quartet, Frederic Chiu, Ghost Opera, Gloria, Goldberg Variations, Great Barrington, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Handel, Haydn, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Helmuth Rilling, Imani Winds, James Ehnes, James Tocco, Jeremy Denk, Kevin Puts, Kodály, Magnificat, Marc Neikrug, marimba, mass, Mass in B minor, Matthew Halls, Monica Huggett, Monteverdi, Mozart, New York, opera, Oregon Bach Festival, organ, Osvaldo Golijov, passion, Paul Jacobs, Paul Schoenfield, Paul Watkins, Pergolesi, Philip Glass, piano, Portland, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Prokofiev, Pulitzer Prize, Requiem, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, San Francisco, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Schubert, Schumann, Seattle Chamber Music Society, St. John Passion, St. Mark Passion, Strauss, Tan Dun, The New York Times, violin, Vivaldi, Vivian Schweitzer, Yefim Bronfman

CALIFORNIA

AMERICAN BACH SOLOISTS FESTIVAL San Francisco, 11-20 July 2014. Held at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the lineup this year features music by composers who influenced Bach, including Vivaldi, Pergolesi and Buxtehude; highlights of other programs are Handel’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso, ed il Moderato and Bach’s Mass in B minor (BWV 232).

CARMEL BACH FESTIVAL Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey, Pebble Beach and Salinas, 19 July through 2 August 2014. Bach naturally figures prominently here. On opening night his Magnificat (BWV 243) and Vivaldi’s Gloria (reflecting this year’s Italian theme) will be programed alongside a work commissioned from the young Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.

MASSACHUSETTS

ASTON MAGNA Great Barrington and Waltham, and Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, 19 June through 19 July 2014. This early-music festival offers period-instrument programs including a celebration of C. P. E Bach’s three-hundredth birthday and a concert featuring Italian trio sonatas and a new work by Nico Muhly.

BERKSHIRE CHORAL FESTIVAL Sheffield, 13 July through 3 August 2014. This festival is proof that amateur choral singing continues to thrive, as eager singers arrive from around the country for an intense period of study and performances. Their efforts will culminate in performances led by professional musicians of Brahms’s Requiem, Bach’s St. John Passion (BWV 245) and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.

ROCKPORT CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Cape Ann, 6 June through 13 July 2014. An estimable roster of musicians will play here, including the Emerson and Borromeo String Quartets. Jeremy Denk will perform Bach’s Goldberg Variations (BWV 988) and Ives’s Concord Sonata. The lineup also features a concert for clarinet and marimba and performances by Chanticleer and the Imani Winds.

MICHIGAN

GREAT LAKES CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Detroit, 14-29 June 2014. Bach is in the spotlight this year and the pianist James Tocco has programed an appealing array of repertory favorites and contemporary works. The pianist Frederic Chiu will juxtapose music by Bach and Philip Glass and the cellist Paul Watkins, the festival’s artistic director designate, will join Mr. Tocco for Brahms’s Sonata for Piano and Cello no. 1.

NEW MEXICO

SANTA FE CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL Santa Fe and Albuquerque, 20 July through 25 August 2014. The pianist Yefim Bronfman is artist in residence at this festival, nestled in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. He will play a solo recital of Prokofiev and Marc Neikrug; other highlights include a Bach series; new works by Lowell Liebermann and Brett Dean; and performances by Alessio Bax, Ran Dank and Sasha Cooke.

NEW YORK

BRIDGEHAMPTON CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL 30 July through 24 August 2014. Concerts in various spots in Long Island’s East End include piano quartets by Brahms, Dvořák and Schumann; a premiere by Howard Shore; recent works by Kevin Puts, Gabriel Kahane and Evan Ziporyn; and Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor (BWV 1043). Performers include Brooklyn Rider and the pianists Gilles Vonsattel, Shai Wosner and Joyce Yang.

CHELSEA MUSIC FESTIVAL New York City, 6-14 June 2014. The German-Brazilian theme this year is inspired by the anniversaries of Richard Strauss, Villa-Lobos and C. P. E. Bach. The multigenre concerts, held at various galleries and institutes and often intertwined with visual and culinary themes, feature ensembles including the Sirius Quartet and premieres by composers including Augusta Read Thomas.

OHIO

CHAMBERFEST CLEVELAND Cleveland, 19-29 June 2014. It’s never too early to celebrate an anniversary: This festival toasts its third birthday with a spotlight on music for trios, with works by Haydn, Kodály, Schumann, Beethoven, Kevin Puts and Paul Schoenfield, as well as an arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for string trio. Also on the lineup is a new take on Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera.

OREGON

CHAMBER MUSIC NORTHWEST Portland, 23 June through 27 July 2014. David Shifrin, the clarinetist and artistic director, has programmed a wide range of repertory, including Mozart’s Quintet in A Major, for which he will join the Emerson Quartet. The lineup also includes the premiere of Stephen Hartke’s piano sonata for four hands by Anna Polonsky and Orion Weiss; Sasha Cooke singing Mozart, Bach and Schubert; and music by David del Tredici and Osvaldo Golijov.

OREGON BACH FESTIVAL Portland, Bend, Ashland, Corvallis, Florence and Eugene, 26 June through 13 July 2014. Matthew Halls, who succeeds Helmuth Rilling as artistic director, commemorates his debut season with the Monteverdi Vespers; Bach’s St. Mark Passion (BWV 247); a solo recital by the pianist Gabriela Montero; a performance by the organist Paul Jacobs; and Monica Huggett leading the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Mr. Rilling returns to conduct Mozart’s Requiem and Symphony no. 40.

WASHINGTON

SEATTLE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY 7 July through 2 August 2014. The violinist James Ehnes is the music director here. Programming features a strong roster of musicians – including Augustin Hadelich, Richard O’Neill, Edward Arron, Inon Barnatan and Anthony McGill – performing music by Bach, Beethoven, Bartók, Derek Bermel and David Lang.

Vivian Schweitzer – The New York Times

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María Guinand, Venezuelan Choral Conductor

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Alberto Grau, Caracas, cassette tape, chorus, Claudio Abbado, Construir Cantando, Deutsche Grammophon, El Universal, Félix Rojas Alva, Guido D'Arezzo International Choir Competition, Hänssler Verlag, International Bach Academy, Krzyzstof Penderecki, long-playing record, María Guinand, Movimiento Coral Cantemos, Osvaldo Golijov, Schola Cantorum Foundation of Caracas, Schola Cantorum of Caracas, Simon Rattle, St. Mark Passion, Stuttgart, University of Bristol, Voces Andinas a Coro, Yubrí Arraiz Pinto

The verdict read: “She has consolidated her name within the international choral community, representing a young continent, and opened new horizons in choral music by building a great network of immense artistic relevance.” Those resounding arguments outline the verdict handed down by a jury comprising global music masters who granted María Guinand the Helmuth-Rilling Prize issued by the International Bach Academy, in its first edition (2009), for her contribution to the development of music arts. Guinand views this recognition by the music world as a major triumph of the Schola Cantorum of Caracas, a choral music organization that has become a solid family for the artist for over forty-five years.

What is most impressive when speaking with this slim-figured, soft-spoken Caracas native with a tenacious character is her vast résumé. A tireless worker, as part of her driven efforts to promote symphonic choral repertoires, she has founded numerous groups, directed orchestras in Venezuela and abroad and prepared choruses for directors such as Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado and Krzyzstof Penderecki. In addition, she takes active part in guest appearances in choral events, as a director, jury, lecturer, and instructor throughout the world.

This artist and cultural advocate struggles to talk about herself in singular. She ends up using the second person at all times, most prominently when referring to her achievements as the product of collective efforts, which in 1973 led to the creation of Movimiento Coral Cantemos (Let’s sing choral movement). Then, a year later, she would be launched to success with the victory of the Schola in the Guido D’Arezzo International Choir Competition in Italy. “For the first time, a Latin American choir won the First Prize in that event, the most prestigious of that era. This victory led maestro Alberto Grau to create the Schola Cantorum Foundation of Caracas,” remembers Guinand, who was a student at the University of Bristol, England at the time. In 1976, she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music, returned to Venezuela and joined the Schola. It was the beginning of a story filled with prizes, intense teaching activities and huge international presence . . . from within Venezuelan territory.

Guinand has always been inspired by Venezuela. “I have always wanted to plant the seed in my own country. My passion is being Venezuelan, leaving my mark here and, from here, opening up to the rest of the world. This has enabled me to build, brick by brick, a choral movement, a prestigious platform, entirely from here,” she adds. Having embarked on this path, she views information management as a key element. “Nowadays, there are no excuses for not knowing or delving deeper. Nevertheless, at a time when all we had were cassettes, vinyl records and faxes, my husband Alberto Grau and I were curious enough to attend several events just to watch and learn. This was essential for the growth of the choral movement and development of our own methodology, which now serves as reference for the whole world.”

In addition to being involved with over thirty recordings and countless international recognitions, Guinand views composer Osvaldo Golijov‘s St. Mark Passion as a landmark in consolidating the prestige currently surrounding the Schola in the international choral circuit. “From its debut in 2000, we have been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. The first recording in Stuttgart, Germany, released by Hänssler, was nominated for two Grammys in 2002, and the second one, produced by Deutsche Grammophon, was awarded the Echo Klassik Prize in 2010,” she points out.

Guinand believes that the secret to her success has been to harvest civic values and love for choral music. “The true sense of our work lies in forging better human beings by teaching them solidarity, teamwork, tolerance, discipline, self-esteem and, when this is all blended with artistic excellence, a marvelous miracle takes place.”

Construir Cantando (Building while singing), a program aimed at children and youths from low-income areas, is one of the pillars of her work. In addition, since 2003, she directs the project Voces Andinas a Coro (Andean voices in chorus), aimed at consolidating the choral movement in the Andean region.

As she approaches the age of sixty, she is entirely convinced of the philosophy guiding her career. “I am truly lucky because I have done what I have wanted. I feel that my artistic life, without the Schola, without this space within my own country, would have been senseless.”

Yubrí Arraiz Pinto (Translated by Félix Rojas Alva) – El Universal