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Bach at Noon | March 14

March 14, 2023 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

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We’re in Bethlehem for Bach at Noon this March in Central Moravian Church. Join us on March 14th, 2023 to hear members of The Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra, conducted by Artistic Director and Conductor, Christopher Jackson. Featuring guest soloists Rhianna Cockrell, alto; Nathan Hodgson, tenor; Harrison Hintzsche, bass.

Dr. Jackson comes to us from Muhlenberg College, where he served as the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities. He is also a member of Skylark Vocal Ensemble, a professional choral ensemble where he serves as Director of Education, and The Thirteen, a Washington D.C. based choral ensemble. He was also the Conductor and Co-Founder of the Lycoming Baroque Choir and Orchestra where he conducted works by Bach and others.

Join us at Central Moravian!

Please note: 

Doors open at 11:30 am | Concert  begins at 12:10 pm

Program:

Click HERE for a complete program.

Soloists:

Rhianna Cockrell, alto

Admired for her “luscious” and “pleading” mezzo, (Washington Classical Review) Rhianna Cockrell has captivated audiences with her interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque works, as well as her passion for contemporary works. Ms. Cockrell’s 2022–23 season sees her as the alto soloist in Bach’s Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, with Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York, Handel’s Messiah with South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Kentucky Bach Choir, Vivaldi’s Gloria and Bach’s Magnificat with The Thirteen, Bach’s Mass in B Minor with Cantata Collective, as well as Bach’s Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22, and Jesus bleibet meine Freude, BWV 147, with Oregon Bach Festival. She was recently chosen to perform airs de cour in a masterclass with Dame Emma Kirkby and Jakob Lindberg hosted by Gotham Early Music Scene. Previously, Ms. Cockrell won the Colorado Bach Ensemble’s 2020 Young Artist Competition and an encouragement award in the 2021 Audrey Rooney Bach Competition. In past seasons, she has appeared as a soloist with St. Peter’s Bach Collegium, The Thirteen, and Oregon Bach Festival. She has also performed with True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Oregon Bach Festival Choir, The New Consort, and Musica Sacra. Ms. Cockrell earned her master of musical arts in early music voice performance from the Yale School of Music, where she performed as the alto soloist in works by Telemann and Schütz with Masaaki Suzuki and the Yale Schola Cantorum. Most recently, she was hired back to join Yale Schola Cantorum in its Germany tour as the soloist in Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning. Ms. Cockrell holds degrees from George Mason University, University of Minnesota, and Yale University.

Nathan Hodgson, tenor

Nathan is a New York based tenor specializing in early music, chamber music, and choral singing. He is on the permanent roster in the Schola Cantorum at The Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer in New York City and performs with ensembles across the nation. Past performances include appearances with Ensemble VIII in Austin, TX; Skylark Vocal Ensemble in the Greater Boston area, and in Cleveland with Apollo’s Fire. A native of Dallas/Fort Worth, Nathan studied at the University of North Texas where he was immediately drawn to Renaissance and Baroque music and sang in the Collegium Musicum program.

Harrison Hintzsche, bass

“Sonorous” (Opera News) and “suave” (parterre box) baritone Harrison Hintzsche is a recitalist, concert singer, and ensemble musician. He has been praised for his warm lyric tone, musical subtlety, and dedication to text. His interpretation of Schubert at London’s Wigmore Hall with pianist Graham Johnson was noted by Opera Today for a “strong sense of narrative” and “gentle poignancy.”
Mr. Hintzsche won first prize at the 2021 Colorado Bach Ensemble Young Artist Competition and the 2018 Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota Voice Competition and was the 2020 recipient of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music’s Margot Fassler Prize in the Performance of Sacred Music. Recent performance highlights include Bach’s Saint John Passion with Nicholas McGegan and Cantata Collective (bass arias, Pilatus), Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion with the Colorado Bach Ensemble (bass arias), a semi-staged version of John Blow’s opera Venus & Adonis (“Adonis”) with Early Music Access Project, a tour of South Korea with the American Soloists Ensemble and conductor Euijoong Yoon, and Finzi’s In Terra Pax and Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the Choral Society of the Hamptons. Mr. Hintzsche sings regularly with the nation’s leading choral ensembles, including the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Yale Choral Artists, True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Servire, and Ensemble Altera, among others. He holds degrees in music from Yale University and St. Olaf College. He currently resides in New Haven, CT, and is a native of DeKalb, IL.

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Details

Date:
March 14, 2023
Time:
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Event Category:

Venue

Central Moravian Church
73 West Church St.
Bethlehem, PA 18018 United States
+ Google Map
Phone:
(610) 866-5661
Website:
http://www.centralmoravianchurch.org/

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"From anguish to elation, and just about everything in between, pretty much describes the vast emotional landscape covered in Friday evening’s concert at Packer Memorial Church presented by the Bach Choir of Bethlehem. Splendid musicianship, rousing choruses, and the sublime voices of the soloists turned grief into joy and sorrow into triumph."

—The Morning Call, May 2018

"The oft-quoted phrase 'a drumroll, please' aptly applies to the opening of Rutter’s exultant Gloria, which provided a dramatic finale to the program. What a thrill to hear those punchy, syncopated brass lines accompanying some really polished and vibrant singing. The “Domine Deus” section sported some lovely soprano voices in addition to many demanding, multi-part choruses –— some with up to eight parts. There was a miraculous blend of tone and balance throughout."

—The Morning Call, March 2018

"The performance was one of integrity, movement, passion and weight. The effortless virtuosity and stylistic homogeneity of the combined forces in the chapel's stone sanctity, allowed Bach's music to sing out with infectious, exhilarating enthusiasm."

—The Huffington Post, 2017

"The audience was thrilled by this outstanding performance of a Bach Cantata by seasoned experts immersed in the composer and informed by Greg Funfgeld's wisdom and enthusiasm...The Bachs [J.S.B and C.P.E] could not have been better served, not to mention two English Renaissances, as well as our own time. It went beyond mere intelligent programming and committed performance, enriched by a deep sense of the mutual nourishment of music and faith."

—New York Arts, 2015

"Nestled in the Pennsylvania countryside, on and around the bucolic campus of Lehigh University, the Bethlehem Bach Festival, under the artistic direction of conductor Greg Funfgeld, is in its 108th season and going strong. If it has flaws, they are like those that distinguish a fine emerald from the perfect clarity of a fake...their choral sonority is so rich you can feel it in your bones."

—The Wall Street Journal, May 2015

"Two days later I am Newark bound again, with a head full of the history of a town I previously had no awareness of, and with a heart full of the music of Bach, presented in a context that felt less like a festival than a glorious friendship between a great composer and the orchestra, conductor and choir at the heart of an extraordinary town."

—The Whole-Note - Toronto, June 2015

"The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, founded in the 19th century, has gained international recognition through its annual Bach Festival, tours and recordings. The more than 100 vocalists displayed clean tone, excellent pitch and blend, and kept good tempo even in the most stressful numbers…outstanding, energetic and crisp. The orchestra was a collection of top freelancers from around the Eastern Seaboard including several from Washington… baritone Dashon Burton, was the standout. He has a clarion instrument that projects well throughout his range…a splendid dramatic performance. Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux was also excellent, expertly modulating her silvery tone for the various roles she took…This was the choir’s big night, though, and it gave great pleasure…”

—The Washington Post, March 2013

“A handsome account of Bach’s St. John Passion on this new release confirms that the Bach Choir of Bethlehem doesn’t rest on anything resembling laurels. Greg Funfgeld has trained his singers to articulate words crisply, dance lightly when the music must move and blend elegantly. Funfgeld brings a sure sense of phrasing, texture and pacing to the narrative, and the Bach Festival Orchestra—mostly modern instruments, with viola da gamba, violas d’amore and portative organ supplying period flavors—are cohesive and nimble. Charles Daniels stands out as a poetic and powerful Evangelist, William Sharp as a warmly inflected Jesus and Julia Doyle as a shining champion of the soprano arias.”

—Gramophone, November 2012

“The Bach Choir of Bethlehem sang a Brahms motet (“Lass Dich Nur Nichts”) with all the polish and fervor it brought to cantatas by its namesake.”

—New York Times, September 2011

“..inspired program of hope, optimism and comfort …disarmingly powerful…overflows with jubilation”

—The Morning Call, October 2011

“America’s venerable Bach Choir of Bethlehem makes its Analekta debut on a disc brimming-over with festive D major trumpets-and-drums brilliance…Julia Doyle and Daniel Taylor heading up a distinguished solo line-up.”

—BBC Music Magazine, May 2010

“Conductor Greg Funfgeld coaxed a lovely rich chamber orchestra sound from the Bach Festival Orchestra strings...The hauntingly beautiful voices of Taylor and Zsigovics—she in her festival debut—melted together like two precious metals, hers of bell-like clarity, his a more complex alchemy, with a sheen like liquid mercury.”

—The Morning Call, May 2010

“As I listen to The Bach Choir of Bethlehem with Greg Funfgeld conducting…I find it hard to believe this is an all-volunteer choir but it’s true…a well polished vocal ensemble, and a true level of musicianship and understanding of the choral music of Bach.”

—Minnesota Public Radio Review, December 2009

“…an American musical treasure… they sing with a fervor and a level of musicianship that carries one away—from bass to soprano, the supple strength and solidly integrated tone of this amateur choir reflects the most admirable qualities of the European-American tradition of choral song.”

—Wall Street Journal May, 2007

“By all accounts the chorus remains as vital an institution as ever…The B-Minor Mass performance was rousing, committed and touching…Bach’s ‘St. Matthew Passion’ too was ardently and lovingly performed…”

—New York Times, May 2007

“This is Bach at its finest. The conductor, orchestra, soloists, and chorus are eminently capable of the nuances of the rich harmonic texts …spirited and vivacious…It is not likely to get any better than this on this side of the Atlantic.”

—The American Organist, January, 2004

“America’s venerable Bach Choir of Bethlehem sang Bach and Mendelssohn with good-natured and ruddy-cheeked elation. And their centerpiece was a BBC/Bach Choir co-commission, the world premiere of Libby Larsen’s I It Am, a jubilant cantata based on the writings of Julian of Norwich…this highly coloured and disarmingly unsophisticated work came from, and went straight to, the heart.”

—The Times, London, July 2003

“The Bach Choir of Bethlehem…had their audience enthralled…The choir knows and loves this work – and it shows…transatlantic magic.”

—The Scotsman, Edinburgh, July 2003

“Nearly one hundred strong, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem tempers its power and energy with the intimacy of a much smaller group. It also blends seamlessly with the excellent modern-instrument Festival orchestra which Greg Funfgeld conducts with an obvious knowledge of, and sensitivity to, modern performance practice.”

—Early Music News, California, October/November 2002

“…the Choir and Festival Orchestra, under their director, Greg Funfgeld, perform these three cantatas beautifully and convincingly. The work of the soloists is excellent, too…Excitement, dedication, power—all things that we hear more and more seldom in Bach cantatas—lend distinction to this beautiful and well-produced recording.”

—American Record Guide, November/December 2002

“Sheer jubilance…exceptional elegance and grace…radiant performance…Having heard the Bethlehem Bach Choir pour its heart into the master’s vocal music, one will never listen to it in quite the same way again.”

—Musical America, May 2001

“The Bethlehem Bach Festival is one of the most venerable musical institutions in the USA, with an unmatched tradition of introducing Bach’s music to our shores. Greg Funfgeld…has revitalized this Pennsylvania institution, and Dorian is doing well to document its vibrancy in a recording series… genuine honesty and intelligence informs this performance…Funfgeld has forged a fine body of singers and players…tightly disciplined ensemble …rousing spirit and sacred joy aplenty. This recording will not disappoint.”

—American Record Guide, November/December 2000

“…intoxicating but precise choral sound that reminds you why choruses grew this large in the first place. The elemental power is startling…the Bethlehem approach under Greg Funfgeld isn’t anachronistic, but meets the historically enlightened approach halfway…We know from Bach’s often irritable correspondence that he campaigned for more singers. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem gives him all he could have wanted. Maybe this is “in-his-dreams” Bach.”

—Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2000

“…a performance that confirmed my belief that this is one of the finest large amateur choruses in the United States.”

—The Washington Post, May 1999

The Bach Choir gratefully acknowledges and thanks our sponsors and media partners for supporting our organization and the arts.
The Choir is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

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