By Rebecca Mariman
FUMA SACRA presents Bach’s St John Passion on June 12, 2011
Fuma Sacra, a professional vocal ensemble specializing in music of the Baroque era, will be joined by the Fuma Sacra Baroque Orchestra (playing on period instruments) for a free performance of Bach’s magnificent St John Passion on Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 8 p.m. at Princeton Presbyterian Church. The concert will be conducted by Andrew Megill.
Bach’s St John Passion, one of the most beloved choral works from the Baroque era, tells the story of the suffering and death of Christ. Bach set St John’s words as the skeleton of the work, and added new texts to explain the Biblical narrative and heighten its impact on the listener. The result is a dramatic, moving, and transcendent masterpiece which explores the richness of human experience as only Bach can.
This oratorio will be brought to life by an ensemble made up of many of the country’s leading Baroque specialists. The choir of 16, about the size of Bach’s own choir in Leipzig, includes artists have sung and recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Tempesta di Mare, Piffaro, Chanticleer, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Choir of Trinity (Wall Street), the choir of St Thomas Episcopal Church, and the Westminster Choir. The soloists, drawn from the choir, include Marcio de Oliveira, Avery Griffin, Laura Heimes, Rebecca Mariman, Clara Rottsolk, Jeffrey Freuler, Alyson Harvey, Timothy Hodges, David Kimock, Matthew Knickman and Devin Mariman.
The orchestra of 18 is made up of similarly skilled and experienced performers, including concertmaster Nancy Wilson, one of America’s finest Baroque violinsts, cellist Vivian Barton, keyboardist Edward Brewer and lutenist Daniel Swenberg.
Fuma Sacra has been lauded as one of America’s most exciting and important vocal ensembles specializing in early music. Founded in 1989, the ensemble has been consistently acclaimed by critics and audiences for the passionate and virtuosic performances which have consistently "left the audience gasping in amazement." (Classical NJ). Fuma Sacra has collaborated with many of the region’s leading Baroque orchestras and specialists, including Piffaro, Brandywine Baroque, Tempesta di Mare, the Practitioners of Musicke, soprano Julianne Baird and violinists John Holloway, Cynthia Roberts and Nancy Wilson. Other appearances include the European debut of the ensemble at the Festival dei Dui Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and regional and modern-day premieres of works by Caldara, Cavalli, Guerrero, Isaac, Guillaume de Machaut, and Pachelbel, as well as contemporary music by Augusta Read Thomas, Stephen Stuckey, and two works written for the ensemble by Jon Magnussen and Andrew Bleckner.
Although the ensemble is committed to historically informed performance, Fuma Sacra’s concerts are even more widely known for their innovative programming, passionate performance, and depth of artistry. This reflects Fuma Sacra’s belief that every great work of art, from any time, not only reveals the cultural world of the composer, but teaches us what it means to be fully human and fully alive
Fuma Sacra is led by artistic director Andrew Megill, who teaches at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and conducts the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra in Morristown, NJ. In addition, he is Chorusmaster for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival in California. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, having prepared choruses for the American Composers Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies (Beethoven and Glass); the American Symphony under Leon Botstein (works by Shostakovich and Prokofiev; the American premiere of Weill’s Eternal Road, parts III and IVThe Bells and the American premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s On The Last FrontierParsifalRequiem)RequiemRequiem)La Damnation de Faust), Alan Gilbert (Handel’s Messiah), and Kurt Masur (Bach St Matthew PassionL’Allegro) and Craig Smith (Virgil Thompson’s Four Saints in Three Acts). As a Baroque specialist, he has collaborated with Paul Goodwin, Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Bruno Weil.
Princeton Presbyterian Church is located at 545 Meadow Road in West Windsor, NJ. Admission to the concert is free, although donations will be joyfully accepted. For further information, call (609) 883-0261,
FUMA SACRA presents Bach’s St John Passion on June 12, 2011
Fuma Sacra, a professional vocal ensemble specializing in music of the Baroque era, will be joined by the Fuma Sacra Baroque Orchestra (playing on period instruments) for a free performance of Bach’s magnificent St John Passion on Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 8 p.m. at Princeton Presbyterian Church. The concert will be conducted by Andrew Megill.
Bach’s St John Passion, one of the most beloved choral works from the Baroque era, tells the story of the suffering and death of Christ. Bach set St John’s words as the skeleton of the work, and added new texts to explain the Biblical narrative and heighten its impact on the listener. The result is a dramatic, moving, and transcendent masterpiece which explores the richness of human experience as only Bach can.
This oratorio will be brought to life by an ensemble made up of many of the country’s leading Baroque specialists. The choir of 16, about the size of Bach’s own choir in Leipzig, includes artists have sung and recorded with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Tempesta di Mare, Piffaro, Chanticleer, the Carmel Bach Festival, the Choir of Trinity (Wall Street), the choir of St Thomas Episcopal Church, and the Westminster Choir. The soloists, drawn from the choir, include Marcio de Oliveira, Avery Griffin, Laura Heimes, Rebecca Mariman, Clara Rottsolk, Jeffrey Freuler, Alyson Harvey, Timothy Hodges, David Kimock, Matthew Knickman and Devin Mariman.
The orchestra of 18 is made up of similarly skilled and experienced performers, including concertmaster Nancy Wilson, one of America’s finest Baroque violinsts, cellist Vivian Barton, keyboardist Edward Brewer and lutenist Daniel Swenberg.
Fuma Sacra has been lauded as one of America’s most exciting and important vocal ensembles specializing in early music. Founded in 1989, the ensemble has been consistently acclaimed by critics and audiences for the passionate and virtuosic performances which have consistently "left the audience gasping in amazement." (Classical NJ). Fuma Sacra has collaborated with many of the region’s leading Baroque orchestras and specialists, including Piffaro, Brandywine Baroque, Tempesta di Mare, the Practitioners of Musicke, soprano Julianne Baird and violinists John Holloway, Cynthia Roberts and Nancy Wilson. Other appearances include the European debut of the ensemble at the Festival dei Dui Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, and regional and modern-day premieres of works by Caldara, Cavalli, Guerrero, Isaac, Guillaume de Machaut, and Pachelbel, as well as contemporary music by Augusta Read Thomas, Stephen Stuckey, and two works written for the ensemble by Jon Magnussen and Andrew Bleckner.
Although the ensemble is committed to historically informed performance, Fuma Sacra’s concerts are even more widely known for their innovative programming, passionate performance, and depth of artistry. This reflects Fuma Sacra’s belief that every great work of art, from any time, not only reveals the cultural world of the composer, but teaches us what it means to be fully human and fully alive
Fuma Sacra is led by artistic director Andrew Megill, who teaches at Westminster Choir College of Rider University and conducts the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra in Morristown, NJ. In addition, he is Chorusmaster for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival in California. He has collaborated with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors, having prepared choruses for the American Composers Orchestra under Dennis Russell Davies (Beethoven and Glass); the American Symphony under Leon Botstein (works by Shostakovich and Prokofiev; the American premiere of Weill’s Eternal Road, parts III and IVThe Bells and the American premiere of Einojuhani Rautavaara’s On The Last FrontierParsifalRequiem)RequiemRequiem)La Damnation de Faust), Alan Gilbert (Handel’s Messiah), and Kurt Masur (Bach St Matthew PassionL’Allegro) and Craig Smith (Virgil Thompson’s Four Saints in Three Acts). As a Baroque specialist, he has collaborated with Paul Goodwin, Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Bruno Weil.
Princeton Presbyterian Church is located at 545 Meadow Road in West Windsor, NJ. Admission to the concert is free, although donations will be joyfully accepted. For further information, call (609) 883-0261,
