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Harken Bach: Santa Fe Pro Musica celebrates the composer with holiday concert series
The Santa Fe Pro Musica Bach Ensemble ends 2023 with its 鈥淗oliday Bach Festival.鈥�
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Santa Fe Pro Musica will perform a feast of Bach for the holidays.
Organizers divided the series into three sections, running Dec. Wednesday, Dec. 20, to Saturday, Dec. 23, and Thursday, Dec. 28, to Friday, Dec. 29, at St. Francis Auditorium in the New Mexico Museum of Art.
The festival will open with solo cellist Tanya Tomkins performing the complete set of six Johann Sebastian Bach cello suites on two dates. Each concert lasts one hour without intermission.
The middle concerts will be comprised of a 13-member string ensemble with music by Bach, Arcangelo Corelli, George Frideric Handel and Italian composer and violinist Francesco Geminiani. Organist David Solem will play Bach鈥檚 iconic 鈥淭occata and Fugue in D minor.鈥� The concert will end with soprano Clara Rottsolk performing a set of rare Christmas carols.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all Baroque music,鈥� said Carol Redman, Pro Musica co-founder and senior advisor.
The concerts will span 75 minutes without intermission.
The final concerts will feature artistic director and violinist Colin Jacobsen leading the Pro Musica Bach Ensemble through Bach and his influence on generations of composers, including Philip Glass, Arvo P盲rt and Felix Mendelssohn.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an exploration of Bach鈥檚 legacy,鈥� Redman said.
The Bach Christmas concerts began at Santa Fe鈥檚 Chapel of Loretto in 1985.
鈥淭hese concerts have been so popular that we were repeating them 8 to 10 times,鈥� Redman said. 鈥淭hey almost always sold out.鈥�
The Chapel of Loretto seats 120; St. Francis Auditorium can hold 450.
People sometimes ask Redman, 鈥淲hy Bach?鈥�
鈥淣early 300 years after his death, Bach is still the gold standard for classical music,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 spiritual and earthy, glorious and sublime, intimate and magnificent.鈥�
鈥淥ur first Bach Festival was in 1999 and since that period of time we鈥檝e done 11,鈥� said Redman.
