Camerata Pacifica Explores Bach's Two-Part Inventions With Flutist Emi Ferguson And Keyboardist Dan Tepfer

Camerata Pacifica, the international chamber music collective renowned for its musical versatility and bold programming, launches the New Year with the first of two programs on the Camerata Pacifica Baroque series curated by acclaimed flutist Emi Ferguson.

Anchored by Bach's iconic Two-Part Inventions, the intimate and illuminating program, featuring Ferguson on traverso and celebrated classical and jazz keyboardist Dan Tepfer on amplified clavichord, promises both familiarity and surprise, creating a fascinating dialogue between Baroque traditions and contemporary improvisation. While many will instantly recognize the first notes of Bach's opening invention, the evening delves deeper into the inspiration behind these works. Tepfer will share his groundbreaking take on Bach's Inventions, pairing Bach's original music with his own improvised inventions in the nine missing keys. Additionally, Ferguson and Tepfer together will showcase music by Francesco Antonio Bonporti, a composer whose “inventions" influenced Bach himself.

The performances, spotlighting two of the quietest Baroque instruments – traverso and clavichord – are presented at four Southern California venues: Sunday, January 12, 3:00 pm, at Thousand Oaks' Janet and Ray Scherr Forum; Tuesday, January 14, 7:30 pm, The Huntington in San Marino; Thursday, January 16, 8:00 pm, Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles; and Friday, January 17, 2025, 7:00 pm, at Santa Barbara's Music Academy of the West.

Dan Tepfer is celebrated for his innovative performances with artists including Renée Fleming and Lee Konitz and for his award-winning recordings and appearances on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. For this performance, Tepfer is drawing from his acclaimed 2023 solo album J.S. Bach / Dan Tepfer, Inventions / Reinventions on StorySound Records.

He explains the album's concept, “Each of Bach's Inventions, is a brilliant miniature demonstration of classical narrative form in music, carried out in under two minutes. I perform the Inventions as Bach wrote them, and, for the nine missing keys, improvise my own inventions. Not in Bach's style but rather in my own voice. They don't react directly to Bach's miniatures; instead, they react to the abstract and general structural concept that supports them.” He notes “that Bach was well known in his lifetime as an improviser… it was at the core of his being.” The unique project demanding consideration skills as both a jazz and classical pianist bolsters Tepfer's reputation as “one of the moment's most adventurous and relevant musicians” (New York Magazine).