Australian Bach Society—ABS

ABN 51 744 708 578

February 2015

Edition 9

B-A-C-H - STAGE NEWS & SOUNDS

Australian Bach Society Inc

Founded in 2011 as an initiative of the German Lutheran Trinity Church East Melbourne.

Our mission is to cultivate and disseminate a local appreciation of the music of J.S. Bach, his family and contemporaries, as well as sacred/classical music in general by arranging perform-ances, lectures and other activi-ties.

Information & Contact

Australian Bach Society Inc.

22 Parliament Place

East Melbourne VIC 3002

www.bach.org.au

info@bach.org.au

President: Hans Schroeder

Mob. 0425 802 046

Publicity: Thomas Bell

Mob. 0432 227 563

Thomaskantor Biller – Musical History written

Dear friends and Bach enthusiasts,

In an interview early 2012, the year of celebrating

800 years ‘Thomana’, Thomaskantor Prof. Georg

Christoph Biller to the question ‘What is your

motto?’ replied: ‘Take everyone serious but don’t

take everything serious.’ And about the Thomaner-

chor, Biller said ‘We are nothing special but we do

something special.’

These brief statements are typical for Christoph Biller (59) who sadly resigned

from his office as Thomaskantor on 1 February 2015 due to ill health. His ten-

ure of 22 years as the 16th Cantor at St. Thomas Leipzig after J.S. Bach has al-

ready produced a fantastic legacy. 1992 was a time of dramatic changes in Ger-

many after the peaceful revolution a few years earlier with Leipzig playing a

decisive role. With deep understanding of ‘musica sacra’ and clear vision Biller

transferred Bach’s legacy into the 21st century re-focussing the Thomaner-

chor’s role in the liturgical context of the Church. In his capable hands its rep-

ertoire expanded in both directions, from Gregorian chants to contemporary

works, many written by the Maestro (a title Biller is probably to humble for)

himself.

I would like to thank our friend Thomaskantor Christoph Biller for being such

an inspiration for The Australian Bach Society. I wish Christoph and his wife

Ute many years of relief, happiness, fulfilment, and God’s blessing.

Hans Schroeder Hans Schroeder Hans Schroeder Hans Schroeder

Not to be missed – Ensemble Nobiles Leipzig

Eine Deutsche Messe (A German Mass)

Sacred works by Franz Schubert, Josquin des Prez, Georg Christoph Biller and others

Sunday 8 March 2015 , 7:00 pm German Church East Melbourne 3002

Tickets: $ 35, $ 25 (concession) Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GSGR

Leipziger Liedertafel

Enjoy an evening of jolly part-singing inspired by the Romantic period in Leip-zig

Tuesday 10 March 2015, 7:00 The Chapter House 197 Flinders Lane Tickets: $ 35, $ 25 (concession)

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GSGT

Info: www.bach.org.au - mob 0425 802 046

The Goldberg Inventions

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Australian Bach Society—ABS

ABN 51 744 708 578

Lingua Musica 2014 Bachfest Tour

Joe Chindamo is closer to the model of the complete musician of Bach’s time – composer, performer, improviser – than classical music’s modern custodians. Chindamo's range of reference is encyclopedic and his art tender; his virtuosity never hectors, but disarms. It is music of seduction.’ says Anna Golds-worthy, Pianist, Author.

And truly Joe Chindamo is. His latest ‘invention’ as composer partners with the name ‘Goldberg’, well known as ‘Goldberg Variations’, one of the unassailable peak’s of J.S. Bach’s output. This monumen-tal work has inspired later transcribers and arrangers again and again. So, why dare Joe Chindamo as a composer embark on this journey? He says:

‘The Goldberg Inventions consists of a newly composed counterpart for the violin superimposed on J.S. Bach's original Goldberg variations. One of the reasons I dared to tamper with The Goldberg Variations is because I wanted to study Bach’s compositional process. Bach was a musical synthesist: that is, he incorporated all elements (instrumentation, style, structure, and more) in vogue during his time and synthesized them into a single entity – on e whose sum is greater than the parts.

‘I was adamant that I was going to play every note Bach wrote and perform the complete Goldbergs. Hence, I changed nothing in the original keyboard part. Everything new can be found in the violin part, which has is own life: a separate life which is constantly informed by Bach’s original. I wanted to create the illusion that the entire work was improvised by two virtuosi reacting to each other at every micro-moment. Thus the violin part needed to be highly virtuosic and not merely exist to provide an obligato to Bach’s original.-

And asked why the violin, Joe replied: ‘This work exists because of the special bond between the com-poser and the performer. Zoë Black is my muse. It was her who inspired me to add this work to violin and piano repertoire.’

For all those who don’t know world-renowned Melbourne musicians Joe Chindamo and Zoë Black : www.joeandzoeduo.com and www.joechindamo.com

The CD ‘The Goldberg Inventions’ by Bach/Chindamo will be available shortly. –

The Australian Bach Society is congratulating Joe Chindamo for this dar-ing composition and to both Joe and Zoë for a brilliant recording

For your diary: The Australian Bach Society will host a special concert of ‘The Goldberg Inventions’ with Zoe Black (violin) and Joe Chindamo (piano) on Saturday 18 July 2015.

As part of our 26th annual Music and Art Tour 2014, our group of 16 enthusiastic musiclovers spent five days in

LEIPZIG during the annual LEIPZIG BACHFEST. And what an inspiring and wonderful time that was ! We at-

tended three concerts of the festival...including superb Bach cantatas in Bach’s own St.Thomas Church, with the

famous Boys’ Choir and distinguished soloists together with the renowned Gewandhaus Orchestra. What a sublime

feast! Also on our agenda was a memorable Haydn “Creation” in the Gewandhaus itself as well as an equally memo-

rable Handel Requiem in Bach’s “other” church...the beautiful St. Nikolai, with its lovely rococo pillars, which was

to have been conducted by Christopher Hogwood, who unfortunately became ill the night before this performance.

St Nicolai Church Auerbach’s Keller Gewandhaus

Ctd. Page 4

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Australian Bach Society—ABS

ABN 51 744 708 578

The Five ‘Noble Lords’ present themselves in this interview (provided by Sascha Hille) What was the reason for founding Ensemble No-biles ?

Paul: As a special treat for one of our Thomaner teachers at a Christmas party, a few classmates got together to form a male-voice choir. How did you get the name ‘Ensemble Nobiles’? Paul : The name is a bit tongue-in-cheek. When looking for a name, we felt it should be something Latin. As-sisted by our Latin teacher we started looking for a name and came up with Nobiles, which translates as ‘noble lords’. That what one day we will be aspiring to be.

Who are your musical influences? Lukas : I would not say that we have direct influences, rather pioneer musicians and others who inspire us. The pioneers are groups like amarcord and the Calmus En-semble, The King's Singers and the Comedian Harmo-nists who have popularized a cappella singing in small groups. We get influences from the whole world of mu-

sic. Through our time in the St. Thomas Boys’ Choir, Bach's music is a strong, for-mative influence, and we learned a lot from Cantor Biller and singer and conductor Gottthold Schwarz. We have too many influences to mention them all.

Do you prefer singing church music or secular music? Christian: It depends more on factors such as stylistics or harmony rather than secular or spiritual. The mes- sage behind the piece also affects my aesthetic apprecia-tion of it. And of course it also depends very much on the

type of venue we are performing in.

How are you engaged musically?

Felix : We all take singing lessons in order to advance our own vocal development. Some of us are permanent members in Leipzig choirs or are regularly requested to assist on projects with other local choirs. Some of us also give solo concerts in and around Leipzig. Paul and Chris-tian also compose and have written many pieces for our ensemble. How often do you rehearse?

Christian: We aim for two to three rehearsals a week. Unfortunately, this almost never works out because our schedules rarely match. So, there are times when we re-hearse every evening in a week, but also those in which we might manage only one rehearsal before a concert.

Any great moments?

Winning the German Vocal Music Competition in 2014! In our wildest dreams we did not expect winning an award at this great competition. This gave us a lot of confidence which propelled us forward. And we are look-ing forward to visiting Australia again, after the Tho-manerchor’s visit in 2009 which is deeply etched in our memory.

Please Welcome from Leipzig:

Recipient of 2014 German Vocal

Music Award On Tour in Germany

Recording Session at St. Thomas Liedertafel Meeting

Ensemble Nobiles was founded in January 2006. The five young singers met during their nine-year education as mem-bers of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig. Their repertoire ranges from late medieval mass songs to modern age works. They are:

Paul Heller (*1991) - Tenor voice + Christian Pohlers (*1989) - Tenor voice + Felix Hübner (*1991) - Baritone voice

+ Lukas Lomtscher (*1989) - Bass voice + Lucas Heller (*1991) - Bass voice

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Australian Bach Society—ABS

ABN 51 744 708 578

UPCOMING BACH EVENTS IN MELBOURNE

Vocal Ensemble Nobiles Leipzig:

• A capella Choral Music for Lutheran Worship

Sunday 8 March 2015 9:00 am St Johns Southgate

Info: www.stjohnssouthgate.com.au

• Eine Deutsche Messe ( A German Mass)

Sunday 8 March 2015 7:00 pm German Church East Melbourne

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GSGR

• Leipziger Liedertafel

Tuesday 10 March 2015, 7:00 pm The Chapter House 197 Flinders Lane

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GSGT

• Sound Exhibition – from Bach to Mussorgsky

Organ Works by J.S. Bach, Franz Liszt and M. Mussorgsky played by Roland Voit (Germany) and illustrated by visual projection of great paintings.

Wednesday 8 April 2015 7:00 pm Toorak Uniting Church

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GTLB

• Bach and Weiss on the Lute

Renowned lutenist Andrew Byrnes (Sydney) will perform works by J.S.Bach and his friend Leopold Weiss on a historic German Baroque lute.

Sunday 3 May 2015 3:00 pm Toorak Uniting Church

Bookings: www.trybooking.com/GTLB

The group enjoyed so much of what Leipzig had to offer in terms of history, great restaurants and small inns (not

forgetting the famous Auerbach’s Keller of Goethe connections ). Excursions included a day spent in Bach’s

birthplace of Eisenach where they heard much more about the very large and interesting Bach family history and

also Luther and his hideout in the great Wartburg, towering over the little town.

After Leipzig, we travelled on to beautiful WEIMAR where our Bach story continued ( or rather, his pre-Leipzig

story did ) for a few days. Next came beautiful BAYREUTH and DRESDEN, a river trip along the Elbe to arrive in

PRAGUE and finally Salzburg and the spectacular SALZKAMMERGUT. Glorious performances all the way! As

though all this were not enough, we then flew down to Italy to join ANGELA HEWITT in the tenth anniversary of

her brilliant annual TRASIMENO MUSIC FESTIVAL in and around the ancient city of PERUGIA...marvellous

concerts, including one in the great Basilica of St Francis in Assisi and in various historic village locations. Here,

our TWO FESTIVALS TOUR ended.

LINGUA MUSICA’s 27th annual festival, an all French one, will commence in Paris towards the end of August

2015. ( www.linguamusicatours.com ) -

Thank you, Roma Randles, for providing this report. And don’t forget: Next Bachfest Leipzig is 12—21 June

2015, coinciding with 1000 years City of Leipzig. All welcome! More information: http://

www.bachfestleipzig.de/en/bachfest/2015/veranstaltungskalender

(Ctd from page 2 Lingua Musica 2014 Bachfest Tour)