Boulder Bach Festival is back on stage with 'Across Time Across Cultures'

Oct. 13—Since 1981, the Boulder Bach Festival has delivered memorable performances featuring world-renowned virtuosos, hosted stimulating symposiums and provided a variety of educational offerings.

Last year, the event gracefully pivoted to a virtual platform by producing well-crafted "Colorado Concert Films" that featured riveting performances by musicians playing at outdoor locations throughout every season.

The long-running celebration of classic work by Johann Sebastian Bach and modern-day composers of symphonic music makes its in-person return starting with the season opening concert, "Across Time Across Cultures," at Longmont Museum's Stewart Auditorium on Oct. 23.

"The past year brought so many unknowns to the arts and artists and we feel lucky that we were able to stay connected to the audiences through online content, locally, across the U.S. and internationally," said pianist Mina Gajić, artistic and executive director of Boulder Bach Festival.

As part of the 41st season's premiere, two reduced-capacity concerts will take place on Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $60.

"The return to live concerts after nearly two years feels almost surreal, especially since we are still not back to full capacity at venues and there are practices in place to ensure our community's safety, such as vaccination, mask-wearing and social distancing," Gajić said.

Despite reaching a larger audience with "Colorado Concert Films" that featured a slew of talented musicians performing against some of Colorado's most beautiful backdrops, the thrill of performing in a venue in front of a crowd is something Gajić and fellow musicians are eager to once again embrace.

"The live concert ritual offers a singular experience of resonance, hearing centuries-old instruments played in a space designed for the sound," said violinist Zachary Carrettín, music director of the Boulder Bach Festival. "An audience, a community comes together to share in the real-time sound painting, hearing the colors, the textures, the personal nuances and the large form. The performance is the living artwork and there's no substitute for being there."

As with many previous Boulder Bach Festival productions, attendees of "Across Time Across Cultures" can expect a variety of heartfelt material — old and new — from accomplished visionaries.

The program opens with Carrettín and Gajić performing Joseph Achron's meditative "Hebrew Melody." A delightful blend of ancient music and fresh offerings creates a celebratory mood — the ideal vibe for the festival's live comeback.

Living composer Raymond Granlund has composed newer tango-inspired quartet works — captivating pieces that will be performed for the first time live in Colorado.

"The initial pieces on the program that were the original building blocks of the repertoire are the 'Balkan Dances' and 'Tango' nuevo pieces," Gajić said. "Zachary and I recorded these during the pandemic lockdown and they will be released in 2022."

For Gajić, getting to share a stage with her peers and play live is exceptionally exciting after such a lengthy hiatus, but it's the program's material that also makes this upcoming performance incredibly special.

"'Balkan Dances' for piano by Yugoslav composer Marko Tajčević are very close to me, as they draw inspiration from my homeland of Serbia, and while they don't quote any particular material — such as an existing dance or a song— they are perfect miniatures and capture the essence of each emotion that they depict," Gajić said.

Also in the program, concert violinist Lina Bahn will join Gajić for a rarely heard work by French composer Lili Boulanger. Colorado Symphony Orchestra double bassist Nicholas Recuber will appear in his own arrangements of music by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Carrettín will also offer the audience a slice of Bach unaccompanied, providing poetic intimacy with every note.

At the root of Boulder Bach Festival's opening program is a desire to celebrate differences and savor the delicious artistic flavors offered by artists across the globe.

"We have a set of songs by Manuel de Falla, 'Siete canciones populares Españolas,' featuring mezzo-soprano Claire McCahan — winner of World Bach Competition 2020," Gajić said. "The songs are in Spanish and, although they rely on the genre of song, several of them are actual dances, which ties in beautifully with seven 'Balkan Dances' and 'Tango' nuevo pieces."

While last year, with venues shuttered, Gajić and Carrettín reimaged the concert experience for fans, they also created an opportunity to encourage fellow musicians to connect and showcase their talent with an online contest. The duo got 275 musicians from 39 countries to submit their own renditions of Back for the World Bach Competition.

Gajić said the competition emphasized the power of sharing art with the world during a time when many musicians sat alone in practice rooms during the pandemic.

"So many diverse musicians, instruments and interpretations created a sense of a larger community during troubling times," Gajić said.

Carrettín and Gajić worked hard to design and deliver next-level virtual concert experiences and foster online camaraderie, but the absence of organizing actual live events also left them with time to explore other pursuits.

"While my role has been to provide others with comfort and a valuable respite from the chaos of this year, I personally continued to embrace several disciplines that have offered meaning in my life during 2020 and prior, including painting, writing, composing, practicing violin, reading and studying," Carrettín said. "Scenic drives and long hikes were inspirational and visiting parts of Colorado new to me with my partner and our Chihuahua were beautifully memorable."

One incredibly long scenic drive — 30 hours from Boulder to Virginia — was taken in the name of art. Carrettín packed up the car, with Gajić and their dog in tow, to travel to a studio for the recording of the album "Metamorphosis."

"I spent each day alone in the historic chapel now owned by Sono Luminus studios, recording one Bach cello suite per day for three days," Carrettín said. "The engineer was in his booth and the producer was patched in virtually from her studio in Cleveland. It was the first project Sono Luminus did in this manner, and many more would follow."

"Metamorphosis" is the first of a four-CD project in which Carrettín will record the complete unaccompanied string works by J.S. Bach, including the six cello suites and the six sonatas/partitas for violin using different instruments including viola, violin, electric violin and baroque violin.

When the autumn offering of "Across Time Across Cultures" wraps, audiences can look forward to winter's festive musical programming at Broomfield Auditorium.

"We continue with 'A Baroque Christmas,' featuring a thrilling virtuosic performance of Handel's 'Messiah' — Christmas portion — performed by chamber soloists and vocal quartet," Gajić said.

While initially the Boulder Bach Festival had a purist focus on the works of the event's namesake, with the arrival of Carrettín and Gajić it shifted to include a wider scope and collaborations with fellow arts organizations.

In May, Festival Week will usher in even more opportunities to revel in artistic expression outside of a standard curtain-drawn concert.

"Festival Week will feature ancient music, contemporary music, women composers from the 1700s to today, Latinx composers and a diversity of performers who will dazzle the audience with their unique voices — coming to Boulder from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and London," Gajić said. "We also plan to have an art exhibit as part of Festival Week, an artist meet-and-greet, master classes, lectures, restaurant discounts and more."

Festival Week will run May 12-15.