St. Andrew’s Bach Society is opening its 31st season next month with a program the series director has wanted to do for a long time.
The summer recital series kicks off June 2 with “The Mendelssohn Project,” a concert featuring twin quartets performing Mendelssohn quartets before coming together to perform the composer’s youthful and much loved Octet.
“It’s something that I wanted to do for awhile and it’s really exciting for the audience,” said Bach Society Artistic Director Ben Nisbet, who curated the four-concert summer series. “The Mendelssohn Octet is a piece that string players have a strong affection for. It’s really uplifting and fun to play.”
The twin quartets will be made up of Bach Society veterans including Tucson Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Lauren Roth and Seattle-based violinist Amber Archibald-Sešek.
Season passes are $50 for all four concerts, and tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students through standrewsbach.org or at the door. Concerts are held at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St.
After Mendelssohn, the Bach Society, featuring musicians from the TSO and the University of Arizona, will explore:
- Bach Without Borders, June 30, featuring the husband and wife duo of Bin Hu and Jing Xia. This is where Western classical music meets Chinese traditions. Bin plays classical guitar and his wife plays the ancient Chinese guzheng, an instrument we don’t see nearly enough of in Tucson. Bin is a rising star in the world of classical guitar who is highly regarded for his interpretations of Bach, while his wife enjoys a diverse and celebrated career as an in-demand soloist.
- Sunday with Sasha, featuring TSO principal flutist Alexander “Sasha” Lipay, on July 28. Lipay’s program includes virtuosic concertos by Mozart, Mercadente and more.
- Amernet encore, Aug. 25. The prestigious Amernet String Quartet must really love Tucson. The ensemble was featured in the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music’s “Music + Festival 2018: Debussy and Asia” last October — the second time the ensemble from Florida had appeared in the UA’s annual composer festival. Nisbet said the quartet, which champions new works, approached him about its immersive account of J.S. Bach’s “The Art of the Fugue.”
- “To hear a group that has clearly mastered so much of the new music to reach way back to Bach’s Art of the Fugue will be an enlightening and interesting experience,” Nisbet said.
