Con Brio! – Church & Stadt: No Separation
Free (donations appreciated)
- Shaughn Dowd, flute
- Jihoon Chang, clarinets
- Larry Molinaro, organ
Johann Sebastian Bach — Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067
In the spring of 1723, several carts carried the possessions of Johann Sebastian Bach and his family from his prior residence in Cothen to his new apartment in Leipzig. Earlier that year, Bach had been appointed Director of Music for the principal churches in the city of Leipzig, and it was the beginning of one of the most productive periods of his musical life. Over the next few years he composed two (now) famous cycles of chorale cantatas followed by a set of cantatas that featured organ obbligato, which showed off the composer's virtuosity at the keyboard. At the same time, he was producing orchestral music for various entities within the city of Leipzig, culminating in his directorship of the Collegium Musicum that had been founded by his friend, Georg Telemann.
In this concert, Con Brio! will look at how Bach used the same ideas in both the music he wrote for the church and the music he wrote for the city. In particular, we will focus on the Sinfonias that he wrote for that third cycle of cantatas, which evolved into the harpsichord concertos of the mid 1730s. We will pair this with the famous second Orchestral Suite, written about from about the same time as the harpsichord concertos to show how Bach used the same musical ideas for both church and "Stadt" (city).
About Con Brio!
Con Brio!, formed in 1989, regularly performs throughout the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. The group's size and repertoire have expanded over the last several years with music ranging from Bach to Bernstein. Praised for their "soothing sounds with a sense of humor as well as style," by Bob Madigan – WTOP's "Man about Town" (retired), performances by Con Brio! are thoroughly modern in style yet completely authentic in spirit, marked by colorful instrumentation and unusual arrangements.
In addition to its private engagements (see “Ensembles“), Con Brio! sponsors and participates in numerous musical events each season including appearances on established recital series such as the Live Arts Maryland "Bach+" Series and the Concerts at St. Anne's "Thursday Series," The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, Georgetown’s Grace Church Bach Festival, Church of the Epiphany's "Concert at Noon," and others. Con Brio! was a featured artist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Soundtracks: Music and Film festival. The Con Brio! Salon Ensemble, which specializes in Viennese and other formal ballroom music, was invited to be the guest performance at the Austrian Embassy in a special Viennese concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the American-Austrian Society.
https://musicconbrio.com/About Jihoon Chang, clarinets
https://www.dickinson.edu/site/custom_scripts/dc_faculty_profile_index.php?fac=changj
About Larry Molinaro, organ
Larry Molinaro is associate director of music and parish organist for historic St. Anne's Episcopal Church (1692) in Annapolis, MD, and co-directs the annual Bach+ series for Live Arts Maryland