One tasteful way to find out is to attend a series of talks designed to prepare the community for the Bach Festival, coming up June 8-15 at EMU.

Mary Kay Adams, Bach Festival executive director

“Each presentation will preview some of the music to be performed during the festival and give information about the festival program,” said Mary Kay Adams, the festival’s executive director.

“For those who haven’t attended the festival, it’s an excellent opportunity to learn firsthand about it. Previous concert goers will enjoy hearing what new things are in store this season,” she added.

Schedule for Talks

Mary Kay Adams will speak at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 15, in the Houff Community Center’s Alexander Mack Room at Bridgewater Retirement Community.

Festival board members Adair McConnell and Don R. Smith, along with Adams, will talk at 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, in the Bethesda Theater at Sunnyside Retirement Community and again at 2 p.m. Thursday, May 22, in Strite Auditorium at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. The presentations are free and open to the public.

“This year’s festival theme, ‘Bach and String Things,’ will feature music that displays the incredible range of sounds possible with string instruments,” Adams noted.

Featured Artists

Eugene Friesen

Among the guest artists is Eugene Friesen, an internationally-active cellist, composer, conductor and teacher. The two-time Grammy Award winner and member of the Paul Winter Consort teaches at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Friesen’s love for children prompted him to create his popular “Cello Man Show,” used to foster an appreciation of music in younger audiences. This show will be performed at noon June 14 at Asbury United Methodist Church, downtown Harrisonburg. Several of his works will be featured during concerts at EMU on June 13 and 14 at 7:30 and on June 15 at 10 a.m.

Michael Partington

Another guest artist, Michael Partington, is internationally known as a guitarist, teacher and adjudicator. The Seattle resident is director of the guitar program at the University of Washington.

This is his second appearance with our festival and he will be performing the “Castelnuovo-Tedesco Concerto” on June 8 and the “Rodrigo Concerto” on June 14.

Other soloists will include Anastasia Jellison, harp; Bradley Lehman, harpsichord; David Newman, baritone; and Joan Griffing, violin.

Noon Concerts

Again this year, chamber music concerts with Bach Festival artists will be presented noon-1 p.m. in the sanctuary at Asbury United Methodist Church, downtown Harrisonburg. Admission to these programs is free; donations are welcomed. See the schedule of noon concerts…

For more information about the festival or to purchase tickets, see www.emu.edu/bach or call the EMU box office at (540) 432-4582.

Adair McConnell, minister of music at St. Stephens United Church of Christ in Harrisonburg, will give a talk highlighting several works to be performed at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, June 10-17. The lecture is set for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, in Detwiler Auditorium of Heritage Haven at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC).

McConnell’s presentation will include background information on J.S. Bach and preview his “Orchestral Suite No. 1,” “Cantata No. 100” and “Concerto for Two Violins,” to be performed at the festival by violinists Joan Griffing and Susan Black.

This year’s festival, on the theme, “Bach and Some Admirers,” will feature music written by composers who admired and were influenced by Bach.

Internationally-acclaimed Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska will perform both Chopin piano concertos during the festival, and the Festival Chorus and Orchestra will perform the celebrated Brahms “Requiem,” along with soloists Sharla Nafziger, soprano, and Thomas Jones, bass. Artistic director, Kenneth Nafziger, will conduct all three of the festival’s main concerts and the Sunday Leipzig service.

An admirer of Bach’s music himself, McConnell specializes in early music, having previously been a lecturer-demonstrator of ancient keyboard instruments at the Smithsonian Institute. A singer, organist, pianist, and recorder player, McConnell stays active in retirement as a church musician, as a member of the Round Hill Recorder Consort, as a board member of both the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and Harrisonburg’s First Night, and by involvement with many activities in the local community, where he grew up.

McConnell earned a degree in English and spent 30 years teaching Russian and French in a high school in Fairfax County, while also serving as a computer instructor and online publications coordinator at the national headquarters of AARP, writing computer training manuals for the Department of Defense, building a harpsichord, forming and conducting the Reston Chamber Orchestra and serving as an organist and minister of music at several churches.

The lecture is open to the public free of charge.

“The community is invited to support this exceptional artistic endeavor by attending this 15th annual event at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø and enjoying the beautiful music of the Brahms Requiem, the Chopin piano concertos, South American music and much more,” said Mary Kay Adams, Bach Festival coordinator.

For more information about the festival, see or contact Mary Kay Adams at mary.adams@emu.edu or 540-432-4652.

Adair McConnell

The first lecture will be held 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 in the Detwiler Auditorium of Heritage Haven at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). The second will take place 2:30 p.m. May 29 at the same location.

The first presentation will focus on music of composers other than Bach, specifically on three Romantic era works: both Chopin piano concertos and the Brahms “Requiem.”

Internationally-acclaimed Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska will perform both concertos during the festival, and the Festival Chorus and Orchestra will perform the celebrated Requiem, with soloists Sharla Nafziger, soprano, and Thomas Jones, bass.

Artistic director, Kenneth Nafziger, will conduct all three of the festival