Baldwin Wallace University’s Bach Festival — now in its 92nd year — concluded on Sunday April 14th with a pioneering version of Bach’s St. John Passion (more about that below).
As is traditional at BW, an on-campus celebration of all things J. S. Bach filled the weekend — it even included a brief yoga session. This year the weather turned surprisingly good (not always the case) and as a result, the traditional Bach Festival brass concerts from the Marting Hall Tower rang across South Campus before evening events.
The festival also featured performances over the weekend by Acronym, a baroque band; Cleveland’s Bach Choir; the BW Symphony Orchestra, and the Bach Festival Choir. In addition, “Cantata,” a touching new work by BW composer-in-residence Clint Needham premiered on Friday night. Needham notes in the program that it was inspired by his “favorite works by Bach, as well as humanity’s recurring inclination towards conflict, and how despite fleeting moments of harmony, we often find ourselves mired in division and animosity.”
Much of the text, clearly articulated and passionately presented by Bach Festival Choir members, and supported by an orchestral ensemble, quotes lines from familiar philosophers ranging from Mark Twain to Aeschylus. It concludes with the $1,000,000 question, “Will we get this right before it’s too late…/Before our time has run out?”
On Sunday, the audience may have pondered similar matters as the Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Dirk Garner, presented Bach’s St. John Passion, BWV 245. That the Evangelist’s role was taken by a woman, soprano Margaret Carpenter Haigh, seemed irrelevant. The authoritative presence of Haigh’s Evangelist made it clear that what was important was the story told, not the teller.
Bach’s masterwork, with its somber and respectful recognition of sacrifice and tragedy, moved seamlessly as the performers presented Saint John’s account of Christ’s passion to an appreciative audience. Other soloists in the two-plus-hour work included Tyler Duncan (as Jesus); sopranos Madeline Apple Healey and MaryRuth Miller; altos Andrew Leslie Cooper and Kate Maroney; tenors John Russell and Steven Soph; and basses Jonathan Cooper and Joseph Hubbard.
It was a fitting ending in celebration of the decades-old tradition that still brings J. S. Bach into relevant life.
[Written by Laura Kennelly]