By Rebecca Mariman
PRESS RELEASE: FUMA SACRA ANNOUNCES 2013 – 2014 FREE BACH CANTATA SERIES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Fuma Sacra announces the second concert in its “Bach on Thursday” series, a series of free lunchtime concerts presented at Trinity Church in Princeton featuring the cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Fuma Sacra, one of America’s finest early music vocal ensembles, will be accompanied by an orchestra of period instruments led by concertmaster Nancy Wilson. A simple lunch of soup, sandwiches and cookies will be served in Pierce Hall at Trinity Church from 11:00 – 12:15. A donation of $5.00 is suggested, but not required. The remaining dates for this year’s series of hour-long concerts are December 12, January 16, March 6, and May 15.
The next concert of the “Bach on Thursday” series, performed on December 12, 12:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church, 33 Mercer St., Princeton, features Cantata 61 “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” (Now come, Savior of the heathen). In this cantata, written for the first Sunday of Advent, Bach did something unusual, writing the opening chorus in the style of the French overture. In a French opera, the King would have entered during the overture; in this cantata, Bach draws the listeners’ attention to the coming of a different King.
Also on the program are a setting by Praetorius of the same text and two movements from Heinrich von Biber’s “Rosary Sonatas” for solo violin and continuo, performed by Leah Nelson and Dongsok Shin. The audience will also have the opportunity to sing the chorale upon which the cantata is based.
Founded in 1989 for a performance of Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame at Westminster Choir College, Fuma Sacra has been consistently acclaimed by critics and audiences for their passionate and virtuosic performances which have frequently "left the audience gasping in amazement." (Classical NJ).
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.
Andrew Megill and Fuma Sacra have a special love for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, frequently sharing his choral masterworks with Princeton audiences, including performances of the St John Passion, the St Matthew Passion, the Magnificat, and the B Minor Mass, as well as over fifty cantatas. Fuma Sacra’s interest in Bach has led the ensemble to discover and resurrect music of earlier Baroque composers, such as Monteverdi, Carissimi, Caldara, Schein, Schütz, Pachelbel, and Buxtehude, as well as Bach’s contemporaries, including Handel, Telemann and Zelenka.
Fuma Sacra’s repertoire extends well beyond the Baroque. The ensemble regularly offers regional and national premieres of works by composers such as Laurie Altman, Andrew Bleckner, Peter Maxwell Davies, David Lang, Jon Magnussen, Joanne Metcalf, Arvo Pärt, Augusta Read Thomas, and Stephen Stuckey.
Highlights of past seasons include collaborations with leading period instrument ensembles and soloists, including Piffaro, Tempesta di Mare, Brandywine Baroque, Nancy Wilson, John Holloway, and Julianne Baird. Fuma Sacra has also sung with Dalton Baldwin in an evening of Schubert and with Paul Salamunovich in a performance of Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G Minor, and made their European debut at the Festival dei Dui Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.
Andrew Megill is one of the leading American choral conductors of his generation. He currently leads three of North America’s finest professional vocal ensembles: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, and Fuma Sacra. He also serves as Music Director of the Masterwork Chorus, one of the New York metropolitan region’s finest volunteer choirs. He is on the faculty of Westminster Choir College in Princeton NJ.
Mr. Megill has prepared choirs for performances with many leading orchestras, including the American Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, National Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, and New York Philharmonic for conductors including Botstein, Boulez, Davies, Dutoit, Frühbeck du Burgos, Gilbert, Glover, Neemi Järvi, Macal, Masur, Nagano, Rudel, and Suzuki.
Mr. Megill served as Chorusmaster for the Spoleto Festival USA for sixteen years, and was Interim Choirmaster for Trinity (Wall Street) Church in Manhattan in 2008 – 2009. He has guest-conducted for the Juilliard Opera Center, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, and Emmanuel Music (Boston). He has collaborated with film director Ridley Scott, folk singer Judy Collins, and puppeteer Basil Twist.
For more information, call (609) 883-0261
