The 17th annual Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø combined serious music with casual dress, Baroque masterworks with contemporary compositions and painful reflections with hard-won inspiration.

The 2009 festival orchestra, under the direction of conductor Kenneth J. Nafziger and concertmaster/principal violinist Joan Griffing, both professors of music at EMU, rehearsed throughout the week in preparation for the week-long schedule of special concerts. See a gallery of photos from the festival week

Based on the theme “Bach and Handel,” the June 14-21 festival included a rare performance of Samson and an unusual approach to Handel’s Messiah. The festival also featured Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, many of his shorter works and a performance of his Cantata BWV 146 (“We Must Go through Much Tribulation”) as part of the Leipzig Worship Service on Sunday morning.

The Leipzig service also included a homily by the Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt of New York, who reflected on her experiences as a chaplain after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Featured artists

As featured artists for the week, soloists Kenneth Gayle, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, Heidi Kurtz and David Newman sang in the opening Messiah concert, the three-hour Samson oratorio and the Sunday morning cantata.

The featured artists gathered before one of the festival’s many concerts: (pictured l to r) soprano Jennifer Ellis Kampani, organist and assistant choral director Marvin Mills (seated), artistic director and conductor Ken J. Nafziger, mezzo-soprano Heidi Kurtz, festival executive director and principal flutist Mary Kay Adams, tenor Kenneth Gayle, and bass David Newman. See a gallery of photos from the festival week

Gayle, a tenor who has been performing at the festival for the past decade, said that artistic director and conductor Kenneth Nafziger “always does a lot of interesting programming.” The Houston-based singer particularly appreciated the chance to perform Samson – “It’s so rarely done” – and to hear Messiah performed with some of the orchestrations that Mozart composed for it.

The Messiah concert, he said, was “a fun hop, skip, and a jump” through the piece. “What I enjoyed [most] was when we would [perform] the Handel orchestration and segue into the Mozart orchestration. You could hear the whole history.”

Gayle’s fellow soloists praised the quality of the festival. Newman, a bass from Luray, Va., described Nafziger as “fabulous” to work with. “We have complete artistic freedom,” said Kampani, a soprano from Washington, D.C.

Yet when asked about the defining characteristics of the festival, Newman didn’t talk about music. Instead, he commented on footwear. The event has “a high flip-flop quotient,” he said.

“Casual shoes,” Kampani explained, as Newman pointed to his feet.

The event is “very summery” and “very relaxing,” Kampani observed. “It’s a great group of people – very friendly.”

“It’s a nice way to work,” said Kurtz, a mezzo-soprano from Philadelphia who is a 1989 EMU graduate. “For me, it always feels like coming home.”

Mills an integral part of festival

Though not listed as a featured performer, Marvin Mills was probably the busiest musician during the week. The Baltimore keyboardist played harpsichord for the orchestral performances, served as assistant choral director, was an accompanist at several of the noon concerts and played organ and piano during the Leipzig service. He also composed preludes or versets for several of the Sunday hymns.

“Marvin probably comes as close to being the Bach of this congregation as anyone,” Nafziger observed at the beginning of the service. Along with three ticketed concerts, this year’s festival included six free noon concerts held at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg.

Most moving moments of the week

The Monday noon concert featured a performance of “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams, composed for the inauguration of President Barack Obama. The concert also included “Night Songs for Violin and Piano,” a 2009 composition by Janet Peachey. The piece was written for violinist Mark Hartman, a Harrisonburg native who is now an assistant professor at Shippensburg (Pa.) University.

In a week filled with music, perhaps the most moving moments came via the spoken word, in McNatt’s homily on hope in the midst of death. Amid the horror of Ground Zero, there was life, she said. People loaded food and supplies in their cars and drove into the city. Others cheered the recovery workers.

In today’s world “of terror and wonder,” McNatt said, “God is our constant companion.” God welcomes our questions, doubts and fears and “still upholds [us].”

New programs in 2009

Also at the festival, 16 people took part in a new five-day workshop on performing Baroque music. Lynne Mackey was director of the first-ever Virginia Baroque Performance Academy, which featured classes taught by acclaimed harpsichordist Arthur Haas and viola da gambist/cellist Martha McGaughey.

Thirty-six people participated in an Elderhostel held in conjunction with the festival. The participants, aged 55 and older, attended rehearsals and concerts, heard lectures and met festival musicians.

According to Mary Kay Adams, executive director of the Bach festival, attendance at the Elderhostel greatly exceeded expectations. “We’re very pleased,” she said.

Next year’s festival will be held June 13-20, 2010.

The festival orchestra, choir and soloists present Bach’s “Cantata 137, Lobe den Herren, Die Machtigen Konig Der Ehren” as part of the Sunday Leipzig service that concluded the Bach Festival. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

Guest guitar artist Michael Partington stated: “I’m able to play what I want to play, and I enjoy what I do. The best response I can get [in making music] is that persons hearing it would want to come back for more.”

And that’s what many people did during the June 8-15 musical smorgasbord at EMU that served up sumptuous works by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and others on the theme, “Bach and String Things.”

The week-long program, under the artistic direction of Kenneth J. Nafziger, professor of music at EMU, sought to showcase the incredible range of music possible to perform with stringed instruments, with particular focus on the harpsichord, violin, harp, cello and guitar.

The festival opened June 8 with Bach’s “Italian Concerto in F Major” with Bradley Lehman of Dayton, Va., on harpsichord; Vivaldi’s “Concerto in D Major for 2 Violins, 2 Cellos, Strings and Continuo, and Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-Flat Major” and featured soloist Michael Partington on Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Concerto No. 1 in D Major for Guitar and Orchestra, Op. 99,” composed in 1939.

Soloist: ‘music is something I’ve always done’

Bach Festival soloist Michael Partington

Partington, a native of Great Britain who grew up in Wales, started playing guitar at age 6 “by choice.” He noted that “music is something I’ve always done, but I didn’t envision a career in this area.”

He started giving guitar lessons while still in high school, then studied English literature at the University of Washington at Seattle but ended up with a music degree. He now heads the guitar program there in addition to performing as a soloist and with orchestral groups.

“It’s a thrill to play with a great orchestra in this setting and environment,” he said. “I’m encouraged by the wonderful audience turnout.”

“There’s a lot of music written for guitar that is not well known,” Partington said. “This week, I hope that people hear something new and unpredictable.”

That is part of the genius of the week, according to long-time participant Joan Griffing, concertmaster of the festival orchestra and a featured violin soloist. “Anyone who has attended a previous Bach Festival will return to hear many new and unexpected sounds,” Dr. Griffing said. “You never hear this music in this combination anywhere else.”

Musician’s Original Works Highlighted

Bach Festival guest artist Eugene Friesen

Another guest artist, Eugene Friesen of Boston, Mass., freely conveyed his passion for music as he played his original works or selections by other composers during the Bach Festival. The Berklee College of Music faculty member and a Grammy-award winning member of the Paul Winter Consort was featured soloist on his “Under the Sun,” which premiered in 2006, and “Good Providence” (2003), a tribute to his mother, Anne Warkentin Friesen, for her 85th birthday.

“I enjoy improvisation on cello and have found this creative impulse unlocks some rhythmic elements not usually associated with this instrument,” Friesen said.

“The cello most clearly resembles the human voice and has the capacity to unlock certain emotions in people,” he added. “I treasure my earliest experiences with music in the church, which has helped shape my belief that music is spiritual and can make a sacred connection with hearers.”

Area Youth Participate

Friesen, on a crusade to help young people to appreciate music early on, gave his “Cello Man” program to a packed sanctuary June 14 at Asbury United Methodist Church, downtown Harrisonburg.

Seven young musicians ranging in age from 17 to 22 were part of the festival orchestra. Sophie Baum, a rising senior from Charlottesville, Va., said she was “really nervous” at first, but “everyone is really nice. The cello section is amazing, and I love the variety of music we’re playing.”

Added violinist Polly Howell, 20, of South Boston, Va.: “I am thrilled to have a week of immersion in gorgeous music.”

Anastasia Jellison is featured soloist on the Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) “Harp Concerto, Op. 26” during a festival concert. The piece, completed in 1956, draws upon percussion instruments while the harp engages in conversation with orchestral ensembles. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

At age 8, Anastasia Jellison told her mother she wanted to learn to play the harp “so I was ready for heaven.” At the June 13 festival concert, she performed Alberto Ginastera’s “Harp Concerto, Op. 25,” composed in 1956 but not premiered until 1965.

“It’s my favorite harp concerto,” she said of the Latin-flavored work. “It uses the fullest capacity of the instrument. It requires a lot of energy; it is contagious.”

“It’s a great community of people,” Jellison said of her orchestral colleagues. “Everyone is friendly, professional and incredibly supportive.”

Noon Concerts Packed

Festival-goers filled the sanctuary of Asbury United Methodist Church for one-hour chamber music programs by Bach Festival participants at noon Monday through Friday. “The noon concerts and the Leipzig service are the festival’s gift to the community,” said Mary Kay Adams, festival coordinator and flutist in the festival orchestra.

“Attendance at all the concerts was higher than ever before,” she added. “We appreciate the support and excitement the festival has generated throughout the community.”

Amy Glick of Orrville, Ohio, has played violin in the festival orchestra for 15 of the 16 years of the Bach Festival’s existence. A free-lance violinist and member of the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Glick keeps coming back “because my family is here, I get to play with some of the same talented people year after year and have opportunity to make some great music, especially Bach.”

Leipzig Service

The morning of June 15, EMU’s Lehman Auditorium was transformed into St. Thomas Lutheran Church in 18th century Leipzig, Germany, where Bach was cantor and composed a cantata for each Sunday’s service.

Nafziger noted that the city of Leipzig’s town fathers “reluctantly accepted Bach as their third choice because no one of better qualifications was available” and for nearly 27 years “had at their service the greatest church musician and quite possibly the greatest musician the world has ever known.”

During the service, the festival choir and orchestra and soloists – with guest artists David Newman, baritone; Joel Burkholder Ross, tenor and countertenor; Kris Martin-Baker, soprano; and Marvin Mills, organist; presented Bach’s “Cantata 137.” Eugene Friesen was featured cellist on his “Sabbaths: Settings of Four Poems by Wendell Berry.”

David Newman, baritone, and Eugene Friesen, cellist, perform Friesen’s “Good Providence,” composed in 2003 to honor his mother, Anne Warkentin Friesen, born in Russia, on her 85th birthday. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

In a homily, EMU President Loren Swartzendruber said, “I don’t need a scientific study to support the idea that music nurtures the soul. Martin Luther said it well, ‘My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.’

“The 19th century German-Jewish poet, Berthold Auerbach, put it in a slightly more earthy way – ‘Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life,'” the president said.

Next year’s festival, the 17th, will spotlight “Bach and Handel,” June 14-21, 2009, observing the 250th anniversary of the death of George Frederick Handel.

See photo galleries of the 2008 Bach Festival