Bach Birthday Concert

The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation will present a live concert to celebrate the birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach on Sunday, March 20^th, 2022 at 4:30p.m. in the historic Meetinghouse at the corner of Church and Middle Streets. The event will be simulcast on the Foundation’s YouTube channel and will be available afterwards for those unable to attend. The event is free and open to the public but a collection will be taken to benefit Ukrainian relief efforts through the International Rescue Committee.

The Meetinghouse Foundation’s president, Charles Nazarian, will describe how the harpsichord works on his Flemish Double harpsichord made by David Jacques Way. He will play a few pieces pieces to demonstrate the varied sounds of the instrument. Mary Jodice on the harpsichord and Emily Hale on the baroque violin will follow with the Bach Violin Sonata in C-minor, after which Ms. Hale will perform a Bach violin solo. Soprano Caroline Teague will sing Bach's “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and Counter-tenor Cameron Dobson will sing selections from the great Mass in B-Minor accompanied by Mary Jodice. She will complete the concert with one of the monumental Bach organ compositions, the Passacaglia and Fugue in C-minor, on the Meetinghouse’s 1893 Hutchings/Fisk pipe organ. The event will close with the ensemble leading the audience in singing the Ukrainian National Anthem followed by a reception with a Bach birthday cake.

PROGRAM

Harpsichord demonstration

Prelude & Fugue in Eb major
Prelude in C minor
Charles Nazarian

Harpsichord & Violin Sonata in C minor
Mary Jodice & Emily Hale

Sonata in C major; III Largo, IV Allegro Assai
Emily Hale, Baroque Violin solo

Collection, checks to: International Rescue Committee

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Bist du Mir
Caroline Teague, Soprano solo & Mary Jodice, Piano

Thanks

O Mensch Bewein
Mary Jodice, Organ

Mass in B minor; Qui sedes, Agnus Dei
Cameron Dobson, Countertenor solo

Passacaglia in C minor
Mary Jodice, Organ

Ukrainian National Anthem