Emmanuel Music's 2015-16 Season to Include All-Bach Program, Christoph Wolff & More

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. The 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 settings of the Gospels' Passion texts. Modern scholars have reconstructed missing sections, and Emmanuel Music will be working with Bach scholar Christoph Wolff to select the reconstructions for the performance. Professor Wolff will also present the pre-concert talk at 7 PM on that evening

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 are now on sale at emmanuelmusic.org or by calling 617.536.3356

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