The Song Company: Bach And Forward
The Song Company begins a new era in 2016 as Antony Pitts joins the ensemble from the UK as its new Artistic Director.
His first program in their new season together, Into Something…, explores the legacy of the vocal music of one of the greatest composers of all time – Johann Sebastian Bach and features guest Australian artists, Neal Peres Da Costa playing the organ and cellist Daniel Yeadon.
J.S. Bach’s motets are among the highest achievements of choral polyphony from the Baroque period. The Song Company’s program Bach & Forward, pays tribute to him, performing three of his extant motets. Bach’s influence on later composers is also honoured with choral settings by Mendelssohn, who led the Bach revival in Europe, and works by two other great German composers of the 19th century, Schumann and Brahms, as they sought to rediscover the genius of the Kantor of Leipzig.
Bach’s motets have transcended time and been performed all around the world since he first wrote them for specific occasions. Bach’s contemporary Scheibe describes how performances of these spiritual motets “creates an extraordinary, heartfelt joy; it enlivens us and yet makes us thoughtful; it uplifts our spirit for contemplation.”
Taking on the role of the basso continuo in the Song Company’s interpretation of the Bach motets will be cellist Daniel Yeadon and organist Neal Peres Da Costa. Yeadon, a part-time member of the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), enjoys a worldwide career as a cellist and viola da gamba player. He often appears as a soloist with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and regularly records for ABC Classics. Neal Peres Da Costa has forged a highly successful career as performing scholar, music educator, and researcher, specializing in historically-informed performance. He too has performed with the ACO and is a member of the Australian period-instrument ensemble Ironwood.
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