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University Choir and Evansville Bach Singers to Pay Tribute to Bach Family

Posted: Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The University of Evansville’s University Choir and the Evansville Bach Singers are proud to perform a concert titled “The Three B’s: Bach, Bach, and Bach,” featuring works by three of the most famous members of the Bach family.

The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26 in Neu Chapel on the UE campus. It is free and open to the public.

The concert will open with Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden (Praise the Lord all Ye Nations, Psalm 117), a choral setting by the most famous member of the Bach family, Johann Sebastian Bach. Next on the program is the double choir work Das ist meine Freude (Thou Art My Joy, Psalm 78) by Johann Sebastian’s cousin Johann Ludwig Bach.

The featured work on the program will be the nine-movement Magnificat by Johann Sebastian’s second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a composer whose reputation actually eclipsed the fame of his father during the 18th century. This dramatic and powerful work, a setting of the Canticle of Mary from the book of Luke, is CPE Bach’s most famous large-scale choral work. The performance of the Magnificat will include a chamber orchestra of UE faculty, students, and area professionals. Faculty soloists Stacey Uthe (soprano), Gregory Rike (tenor), and Jon Truitt (baritone), as well as guest soprano soloist Andrea Drury, will join the choirs and orchestra for the Magnificat.

One of four choirs at the University of Evansville, the University Choir has built a reputation for performances of major choral-orchestral masterworks, a cappella music ranging from the Renaissance through the 21st century, part songs, and spirituals. In May 2011, the University Choir joined several other choirs from Indiana, Kentucky, New York, and California to perform Haydn's Paukenmesse at Carnegie Hall in New York with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. This milestone performance for the choir was conducted by University of Evansville's director of choral activities, Dennis Malfatti, who has led the choral program at UE since 2007. In January 2013, the University Choir had the honor of performing by invitation at the Indiana Music Educators Association State Convention in Fort Wayne. This was the choir’s second appearance in recent years at IMEA, having also been invited to perform at the convention in 2010 in Indianapolis. That same year, the choir had the privilege to perform in a master class with the world-renowned vocal sextet The King’s Singers.

The Evansville Bach Singers were founded by Dennis Malfatti in 2011 with the goal of exploring and performing Johann Sebastian Bach’s sacred cantatas. Some of the finest singers in the Tri-State area were chosen to be part of this select ensemble. Since the group’s founding a little over a year ago, the choir has performed J.S. Bach's Cantata 80, 4, and 30 as well as shorter works by Bach and his contemporary Georg Philipp Telemann. The choir regularly performs at Eastminster Presbyterian Church under the auspices of the church’s Christianity and the Arts Endowment. The Evansville Bach Singers’ performance on March 26 with the UE University Choir will be their first performance at UE.

For more information, please contact the University of Evansville’s Department of Music at 812-488-2754.

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