NEW TRINITY BAROQUE & GEORGIA TECH CHAMBER CHOIR PRESENT BACH'S B MINOR MASS
Engineers Perform Music by the `Master of Musical Engineering'
(Atlanta – Friday, February 25, 2011) – New Trinity Baroque, Atlanta's premier early music ensemble, and Georgia Tech Chamber Choir, will join forces to present Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental masterpiece MASS IN B MINOR, with professional soloists, young choral singers, Austro-German Latin and period instruments, as Bach himself would have done it.
NTB and GTCC have both established themselves as the leaders in Atlanta's arts community, and these performances promise to be the highlight of Atlanta's 2010/11 musical season. These concerts will be the Southeastern US premiere of the newly published Breitkopf edition of the B MINOR MASS, edited by preeminent Bach scholar Joshua Rifkin. Atlanta audiences will have the opportunity to enjoy two performances of the work. The first, on Friday, March 4 at St. John's United Methodist Church (550 Mt. Paran Rd NW, Atlanta, GA 30327) will be conducted by Georgia Tech's Director of Choral Activities, Jerry Ulrich, and the second, on Saturday, March 5 at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (1790 LaVista Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329) will be conducted by NTB's founder and director, Predrag Gosta. Both performances begin at 8 PM. A free pre-concert talk will be offered before the Saturday performance at 7 PM.
Bach's B MINOR MASS, completed during the last year of his life, is generally considered to be one of the greatest masterworks of Western art music. Last month, New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini began his `Top Ten Classical Composers' list with the following statement; "My top spot goes to Bach, for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering…" (NY Times, Jan 21, 2011). Georgia Tech Chamber Choir director Jerry Ulrich explains: "It all began as an idea at a local coffee shop. I wanted to collaborate with New Trinity Baroque, because they are the best period instrument ensemble in Atlanta."
By implementing period instruments and using younger choral voices, these concerts will present the sound closest to what Bach himself would likely have heard. "There is no record of B minor Mass being performed during Bach's lifetime," Jerry Ulrich explains. "However, we do know the instrumental and choral forces Bach would have had. We are hoping to present an historically-informed period instrument performance that reflects music of Johann Sebastian Bach as he would have done it."
Soloists will include soprano Wanda Yang Temko, countertenor Terry Barber, tenor Adam Kirkpatrick, and bass Paul Max Tipton. "All of these soloists have considerable reputation and experience in Baroque repertoire, and their involvement will guarantee `product-de-lux,'" Predrag Gosta said. "The instrumental ensemble will consist of 24 players. The bowed stringed instruments are playing on gut strings, using baroque bows. Additionally, we use wooden flutes and oboes, key-less Baroque trumpets, small skin-stretched baroque timpani, natural horns, and baroque bassoons. The continuo will be comprised of a mixture of colors - we will use visually appealing chitarrone, together with cello, bassoon, violone, harpsichord and organ. New Trinity Baroque performs as an orchestra, chamber choir or as a chamber ensemble. Depending on the repertoire, the number of musicians changes. The players come from all over the United States, as well as from Europe."
More information is available at NTB's website, www.newtrinitybaroque.org. Tickets are available online or by phone at 1-800-838-3006 (24/7), and are priced from $9 to $39, with discounts available for students and groups.
