Emmanuel Music Announces 'Bach Reimagined' 2015-16 Season

Since taking over the baton at Emmanuel Music in 2010, Artistic Director Ryan Turner has traversed new territory with the critically acclaimed Chorus and Orchestra from standing room only performances of "The Great Gatsby" and "A Little Night Music" to their first performance of Bach's "St. John Passion" in seven years.

For Emmanuel Music's 2015-2016 season, Turner continues to put his own stamp on the ensemble's direction while fulfilling his charge as a steward of Emmanuel Music's hallmark, Bach. Their season, titled Bach Reimagined, is an all-Bach-inspired program.

"It's a short trip, really, as we never left," remarked Turner about the "return" to Bach. "His works are our vernacular -- the weekly rehearsals and exploration of Bach cantatas are not only the core of Emmanuel Music but of understanding the heart and soul of Bach's music."

The season's concert series commences on October 3 with Bach Rearranged, which will show Mahler, Stravinsky and the Swingle Singers' take on Bach's works. On March 19, Bach Reconstructed will be a performance of "The Passion According to St. Mark," one of Bach's five settings of the Gospels' Passion texts. Modern scholars have carefully reconstructed the missing pieces, and Emmanuel Music will be working with Bach scholar Christoph Wolff to select the reconstructions for the performance.

The final concert on April 9, Bach Reinvented, features Bach's own take on the eternal "pop music versus 'learned' music" debate in his secular cantata, "The Contest Between Phoebus and Pan." Kurt Weill's acrid commentary on greed and alienation, "The Seven Deadly Sins," shows how the composer acknowledged his debt to Bach and then ran with it. Chorales in praise of money and a baroque parody aria rub up against foxtrots and cabaret numbers in this "sung ballet" score. Emmanuel Music is collaborating on this performance with Urbanity Dance, Betsi Graves, director.

Emmanuel Music's season will also feature the Bach Cantata Series, a 46-year-old tradition of presenting weekly Bach cantatas on Sundays from September to May in the liturgical setting for which they were originally intended; Year II of the Mendelssohn/Wolf Chamber Series, which includes collaborations with the Lydian String Quartet and the Arneis Quartet; the free Thursday noon Lindsey Chapel Series that will feature the Bach Cello Suites, and the Bach Institute in January that draws on the experience of Emmanuel Music faculty selected from the ensemble to coach and inspire college-age musicians.

Tickets for the 2015-16 season will go on sale July 15, 2015 at emmanuelmusic.org or by calling 617.536.3356.

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The Evening Concert Series:

Bach Rearranged - October 3, 2015 - 8 p.m.

Edward M. Pickman Hall - Longy School of Music of Bard College

Bach Orchestral Suite No. 2 in b, BWV 1067

Concerto for Three Violins in d, BWV 1043R

Swingle Bach vocal arrangements

Stravinsky Four Preludes and Fugues from "Das Wohltemperierte Klavier"

Bach Reconstructed - March 19, 2016 - 8 p.m.

Emmanuel Church

Bach St. Mark Passion

Bach Reinvented - April 9, 2016 7:30 p.m.

Emmanuel Church

Bach The Contest between Phoebus and Pan, BWV 201

Weill The Seven Deadly Sins -A collaboration with Urbanity Dance, Betsi Graves, Director

Mendelssohn/Wolf Chamber Series, Year II - Sundays at 4 p.m.

Emmanuel Church

October 25, 2015

Wolf Michaelangelo Lieder

Mendelssohn Lied ohne Worte in D, op 109 for cello and piano

Wolf Liederstrauß ~ Heine Lieder

Mendelssohn Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, op. 49

November 1, 2015 with the Lydian String Quartet

Mendelssohn 6 Gesänge, op. 34

Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 1 in Eb Major, op. 12

Wolf Aus dem Buch Suleika~ Goethe Lieder

Wolf Intermezzo in Eb Major

April 3, 2016

Wolf Italiensiches Liederbuch

Kendra Colton, soprano

William Hite, tenor

Kayo Iwama, piano

May 1, 2016 with the Arneis Quartet

Mendelssohn Four Pieces for String Quartet

Mendelssohn String Quintet No. 2 in Bb Major, op. 87

Mendelssohn Lieder with string quartet

Bach Cantata Series at Emmanuel Church

Sundays, September 2015 - May 2016 - 10 a.m.

Emmanuel Church

The Bach Cantata Series, presented in a liturgical setting, features cantatas and motets of Bach and others.

Bach Institute - January 8 - 27, 2016

Free Thursday Noon Lindsey Chapel Series

Bach Suites for Unaccompanied Cello BWV 1007-1012

Thursdays, February 11- March 17, 2016 - 12 Noon

Leslie Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church

The performances take place on successive Thursdays at noon during Lent in the beautiful and historic Leslie Lindsey Chapel at Emmanuel Church. These concerts are presented free of charge.

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For tickets and information check out www.emmanuelmusic.org.