Special Performance to Benefit Yale’s Relief Efforts for the Japan Earthquake
Johann Sebastian Bach’s Mass in B Minor
Masaaki Suzuki, artistic director and conductor of Bach Collegium Japan
Featuring: Hana Blazikova, soprano; Rachel Nicholls, soprano; Clint van der Linde, countertenor; Gerd Türk, tenor; and Peter Kooij, bass
presented with support from Yale Glee Club
Woolsey Hall, 500 College Street, New Haven
Preconcert talk by Markus Rathey, 7pm
Bach Collegium Japan was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki, its inspiring Music Director, with the aim of introducing Japanese audiences to period instrument performances of great works from the baroque period. Bach Collegium Japan is consists of both baroque orchestra and chorus, and their major activities include an annual concert series of Bach’s cantatas and a number of instrumental programs.
Since 1995 they have acquired a formidable international reputation as one of the world’s most exceptional ensembles of its kind through their acclaimed recordings of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Church Cantatas for the BIS label. By November 2008 they had already released 41 CDs of J. S. Bach’s Church Cantatas.
Bach Collegium Japan has shared their noted interpretations on the international music scene with appearances at major festivals in Edinburgh, Santiago de Compostela, Tel Aviv, Leipzig and Melbourne. In recent seasons they have been heard in Europe’s major music centers including successful concerts in Italy and Spain.
Bach Collegium Japan made a highly successful North American debut in April 2003 with seven concerts in six cities all across the United States: at Carnegie Hall in New York, in Los Angeles, Berkeley, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Boston, performing the St. Matthew and the St. John Passions of J. S. Bach. In May 2005, Bach Collegium Japan performed in Seoul, and in August, appeared in Germany at Ansbach Bachwhoche and Schleswig Holstein Music Festival.
In 2006, Bach Collegium Japan toured the US with an instrumental ensemble in Berkeley, Los Angeles, Bethlehem (PA), Washington D.C., New York (Zankel Hall/Carnegie). In May 2006, Bach Collegium Japan performed 10 concerts in five countries in Europe including the debut in Madrid, Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw, London at the Barbican performing the Mass in B-Minor and the Magnificat of J.S. Bach. In August 2007, Bach Collegium Japan performed the St. Matthew Passion at two festivals in Schwäbisch Gmünd and Ansbach in Germany, and made their BBC Proms debut with a Cantata program.
Their November 2008 return to Europe included debuts in Paris, Berlin, and Brussels, and in January 2009, Bach Collegium Japan appeared at the Canary Islands’ Music Festival.
Maestro Suzuki is Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting and Conductor of the Yale Schola Cantorum at Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music. He and the Bach Collegium Japan are touring North America in March 2011 performing Bach’s Mass in B-Minor. In April, Maestro Suzuki will return to conduct the Yale Schola Cantorum and Juilliard415 in performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in New Haven, New York, and on tour in Italy.