BACH Presents “All About That Brass”
On Sunday, March 2, the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana (BACH) will present a program entitled “All About That Brass” at First United Methodist Church, Champaign. The BACH choir will join forces with the Sycamore Brass Quintet in works by composers spanning the 16th to 21st centuries. In addition to pieces for choir and brass, the concert will also include vocal works that feature brass instruments as their subject matter. While we most often associate brass instruments with music of celebration, the goal of this concert is to showcase their versatility and ability to express different emotions and themes.
We spoke with BACH’s music director, Dr. Sarah Riskind, to learn more about the program. Now in her fourth year leading the baroque-specialist ensemble, Riskind is also Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Eureka College.
KB: How did the idea to do a concert of brass-centric music come about?
SR: Most of the concerts I have programmed for BACH have been centered around specific historical or textual themes, often with Baroque masterworks as a starting point. Since I began as Music Director, we haven’t performed any pieces with brass instruments, and I thought a brass theme would allow us to explore engaging repertoire from a variety of historical periods!
KB: Do you play any brass instruments yourself?
SR: I don’t play any brass instruments, but we have a number of singers in BACH who do! One of my favorite things about directing the choir is that our singers come from a variety of musical backgrounds.
KB: How does the contemporary repertoire on this program connect with the baroque selections, and what do you hope their pairing will achieve?
SR: Most of the older works on the program celebrate the traditional roles of brass instruments. The Gloria by Giovanni Gabrieli will be a celebratory conclusion to the program, and we are including two works about brass instruments that don’t actually include them: William Byrd’s anthem Sing Joyfully, which includes the phrase “blow the trumpet in the new moon,” and Henry Purcell’s “Sound the Trumpet” duet from Come, Ye Sons of Art. Some of our later works align with this fanfare-like approach—Minnesotan composer Abbie Betinis’ And the Song Am I and Illinoisan composer Lee Kesselman’s Kadosh/Benedictus, in particular.
Anton Bruckner’s 19th-century Ecce Sacerdos Magnus takes the ceremonial context of brass instruments to a more thrilling level, with dramatic dynamic and harmonic changes announcing a great priest. However, two of our contemporary pieces use brass instruments to express mourning: Lux Aeterna by Latvian-Canadian composer Imant Raminsh, which was written in the wake of 9/11, and Black American composer Adolphus Hailstork’s stunning setting of Walt Whitman’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed (expressing the poet’s grief after Abraham Lincoln's assassination). I hope the audience will be moved by the wide emotional range of these works.
KB: How do the selections on this program showcase the brass instruments’ versatility?
SR: The musical versatility of brass instruments is evident in the contrasts of styles. For example, Gabrieli’s Venetian polychoral writing showcases the similarity between brass instruments and voices; you will hear choirs of singers and instruments echoing each other from different places and then resounding together at the end of each passage. Kesselman’s Kadosh/Benedictus and Betinis’s And the Song Am I are full of celebratory dotted rhythms and fifths (think of the opening of the main Star Wars theme) that we associate with fanfares. Hailstork’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed brings out the rich and lyrical timbres that might express deeply held emotions.
KB: The late winter/early spring BACH concert historically was a showcase for the winners of the Young Baroque Artists’ competition. Does that competition still exist, or are there plans to bring it back?
SR: The Young Baroque Artists’ Competition was a highlight of our year, and we loved showcasing the incredible skills of local teen musicians! In the last couple years, BACH has decided to pause the program in order to do some deeper strategic planning about what would benefit our community in the current time. We are sending small groups to sing at retirement and assisted living communities in May as well as planning other community outreach and educational programs for the future.
The Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana present “All About That Brass” on Sunday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, Champaign. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased at the event or online at baroqueartists.org.
