Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Written by: University Communication and Marketing

The University of Iowa School of Music presents the Bach Festival, which runs through Saturday, April 26, on the UI campus. The festival features numerous events that are free and open to the public, concluding with a "Bach-a-thon" on the 26th.

If you enjoy this story, see this video, Getting Bach to work.

A professor plays the violin in an Iowa City grocery store

Upcoming events are as follows:

“Gamba, Gamba, Gamba!,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, Riverside Recital Hall. UI School of Music faculty Christine Rutledge (viola) and Gregory Hand (organ) will perform Bach's 3 Sonatas for viola da gamba and cembalo.

These sonatas are performed often and on a variety of instruments.The sonatas are really three-voice trio sonatas, each voice being equally important as the other. The solo gamba part is the middle voice of the trio. Rutledge and Hand have often talked about trying the sonatas using the organ so that the voices can be more equally voiced than they can with harpsichord. The result will be very interesting and beautiful.

“Music 4 Strings,” 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23, Riverside Recital Hall. Bach's works for solo string instruments, featuring UI string faculty Anthony Arnone, Scott Conklin, Volkan Orhon, and Katie Wolfe.

Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin and cello are amongst the greatest writing for strings. This concert will showcase the extraordinary talents of the UI string faculty. Works performed will be Cello Suites No. 2 and No. 6, and the Violin Partitas No. 2 and 3.

“Sacred Voices of Bach” with Timothy Stalter and the Iowa Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, Riverside Recital Hall. This program will feature two of Bach's early cantatas, BWV 18 (Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt) and BWV 199 (Mein Herz schwimmet in Blut). BWV 18 has the unusual scoring of four solo viola parts. The Iowa Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus consists of UI faculty, students, and guest artists.

Bach-a-thon, noon-10 p.m. Saturday, April 26, Riverside Recital Hall. The name pretty much says it all: 10 hours of continuous music and lectures about all things Bach.

The School of Music is part of the Division of Performing Arts in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to attend this concert, contact the School of Music in advance at 319-335-1603.

For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the Arts Iowa website.