Lou Harrison/R. Dees + Johann Sebastian Bach – Easter Oratorio Sat April 16 2022 First Pres Church

Jacaranda Music Presents:
PASSION
Lou Harrison/R. Dees – Suite for Violin & Strings
Johann Sebastian Bach – Easter Oratorio, BWV 249 (LA Premiere)
Saturday, April 16, 2022 8:00
First Presbyterian Church, Santa Monica

Alyssa Park, & Shalini Vijayan, violins; Elissa Johnston, soprano; Kristen Toedtman, alto; Todd Strange, tenor; Tonality chorus; James Walker, organ; Jacaranda Chamber Orchestra; conductors Mark Alan Hilt & Scott Dunn

JS Bach’s stubbornly challenging but supremely rewarding Easter Oratorio (1725-46) has never been performed in Los Angeles! One might expect such a situation with some obscure piece that came to light because of recent Bach scholarship, but this lively 40-minute companion to the 4-hour St. Matthew Passion will receive it’s LA premiere April 16, 2022. Bach was so fond of the oratorio, he revised it three times over twenty years. Perhaps the virtuoso requirements of its vocal soloists, chorus, and orchestra (three trumpets, three oboes!), were too daunting for such a compact work to be undertaken in Los Angeles. Or more likely, incomplete editions of the score in 1874, revised in 1962, and again in 1977, weren’t authoritatively reconciled with Bach’s manuscripts until a full performing edition appeared in 2003. 

Jacaranda’s mission is to introduce new and neglected music to concert life in Southern California. The Jacaranda team endeavors to offer you Bach’s fiery brilliance, sublime and spirited singing, and rousing instrumentation including organ continuo on the Schantz refurbished in 2019. Ten years ago, we provided a similarly exciting LA premiere of Lou Harrison’s ravishing Suite for Violin & Strings (1974-93) with a very pregnant and barefooted soloist Alyssa Park. The Suite began as a work with violin and American gamelan but was destined to reach a larger audience in an arrangement for strings, piano, and celesta sanctioned by the composer. Joined by conductor Scott Dunn, Ms. Park makes a triumphant solo return to give this emotionally rich and worthy suite an emphatic vote of confidence for entry into the chamber orchestra repertoire!  

​​​​​​​https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/JacarandaColorScheme/1057/event/1231902