Bach Festivals & Cantata Series: Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival

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Bach Festivals & Cantata Series Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival
Name:	Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival
Location:	Berea, Ohio, USA
Venues:	Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building - 96 Front Street, Berea, Ohio 44017 Fynette Kulas Music Hall & Kadel Family Vocal Music Hall, Boesel Musical Arts Center - 49 Seminary Street, Berea, Ohio 44017 Marting Hall Tower - 50 Seminary Street, Berea, Ohio 44017 Berea United Methodist Church - 170 Seminary Street, Berea, Ohio 44017 Church of the Covenant - 11205 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Years:	Since 1932 (Annual Festival)
Months:	Mid May (until 1998) Mid April (since 1999)
Artistic Director:	Albert Riemenschneider (Festival Chorus - 1933-1947) Carl G. Schluer (Festival Orchestra - 1933-1943) George Poinar (1952-1974) Stuart Raleigh (Choir Director - 1974-2008) Helmuth Rilling (Interim Director - 1975) Dwight Oltman (1976-Present) Elinore Barber (Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute - 1969-1998) Dr. Melvin P. Unger (Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute - 1998-Present) At the helm is Dwight Oltman, Festival Music Director and Conductor, who will lead his 37^th Bach celebration this year (2012). Other noted Bach Festival participants are Baldwin-Wallace's Dirk Garner, Director of Choral Activities and Conductor of the Motet and College Choirs; and Melvin Unger, Festival General Manager, Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, and Festival Program Annotator and Editor.
Ensembles: (Current ensembles are marked with bold letters):	Baldwin-Wallace College Choir Baldwin-Wallace Motet Choir Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir Baldwin-Wallace Children's Choir Baldwin-Wallace Festival Chorus Baldwin-Wallace Choir Baldwin-Wallace Concert Choir Ohio Boychoir Festival Chamber Orchestra Baldwin-Wallace Symphony Orchestra Baldwin-Wallace Festival Orchestra Ohio Chamber Orchestra Baldwin-Wallace Festival Chamber Orchestra Members of the Opera Cleveland Orchestra Baldwin-Wallace Festival Brass Choir Baldwin-Wallace Singers
Website:	Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival Baldwin-Wallace College Bach Festival on Facebook
History & Mission:	The Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival is not only the oldest collegiate, but also the second-oldest Bach festival in the nation. The festival was founded in 1932 by Professor Albert Riemenschneider (longtime Director of the College Conservatory) and his wife, Selma. The Baldwin-Wallace Festival Choir and Orchestra presented the first Bach Festival in June 1933. Since that time, Bach Festivals have been annual events at Baldwin-Wallace. Baldwin-Wallace performing groups are joined by faculty members and local professional musicians in the three-day, multi-event program. Soloists are internationally known artists; the lecturers, distinguished Bach and Baroque scholars. The students consider the unusual opportunity of participating as colleagues with world-class professionals a high point in their performing experience. Beginning with the 43^rd Festival in 1975, the Baldwin-Wallace Festival performing groups have been reduced to sizes now known to be more nearly commensurate with those employed in Bach's time. Likewise, from 1975 on, all vocal works have been sung in the language of their origins. These changes have made possible the cultivation of a truly Baroque sound with inherent clarity, drive, and intensity. With a repertoire list that includes more than 300 compositions by J. S. Bach, as well as selected works from 52 other composers, the Festival rotates Bach's four major choral works on a four year cycle. In this way, Baldwin-Wallace students are exposed to all four of the major Bach choral works during their college years; the B-minor Mass (BWV 232), the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) and St. John Passions (BWV 245), and the Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248). Why Bach? Many would say it is the lucidity of Bach's music - the consummate integration of its structural elements - that makes it so great. Bach was unsurpassed in his ability to grasp (intuitively it seems) the latent possibilities of a melodic or harmonic idea, and to work these out in coherent, yet expressive ways. His music functions equally well on both horizontal and vertical planes - as a series of simultaneous melodic strands and as a progression of chords. It brings competing impulses into equilibrium: the logical and the mystical, the sonic and the symbolic. It constantly surprises the listener with its inventiveness. While using as its starting point the harmonic language, compositional techniques, and rhetorical figures of its day, it moves far beyond them. Bach's style is characterized by a richness of chromatic language, a logic of thematic unfolding, and an overlayer of hermeneutical (interpretive) allusions. It is no wonder that succeeding composers held him in such awe. Robert Schumann put it well: "Wir sind alle Stumper gegen ihn" (Next to him we are all plodders).
Recent Festivals:	24^th Festival: May 25-26, 1956 35^th Festival: May 26-27, 1967 36^th Festival: May 24-25, 1968 37^th Festival: May 23-24, 1969: 38^th Festival: May 22-23, 1970 39^th Festival: May 21-22, 1971 40^th Festival: May 19-20, 1972 41^st Festival: May 24-25, 1973 42^nd Festival: May 24-25, 1974 43^rd Festival: May 23-24, 1975 44^th Festival: May 21-22, 1976 45^th Festival: May 20-21, 1977 46^th Festival: May 19-20, 1978 47^th Festival: May 18-19, 1979 48^th Festival: May 23-24, 1980 49^th Festival: May 22-23, 1981 50^th Festival: May 19-22, 1982 51^st Festival: May 20-21, 1983 52^nd Festiva;: May 18-19, 1984 53^rd Festival: May 23-26, 1985 54^th Festival: May 23-24, 1986 55^th Festival: May 22-23, 1987 56^th Festival: May 20-21, 1988 57^th Festival: May 19-20, 1989	58^th Festival: May 18-19, 1990 59^th Festival: May 17-18, 1991 60^th Festival: May 15-16, 1992 61^st Festival: May 21-22, 1993 62^nd Festival: May 20-21, 1994 63^rd Festival: May 19-20, 1995 64^th Festival: May 17-18, 1996 65^th Festival: May 16-17, 1997 66^th Festival: May 15-16, 1998 67^th Festival: Apr 16-17, 1999 68^th Festival: Apr 14-15, 2000 69^th Festival: Apr 20-21, 2001 70^th Festival: Apr 19-20, 2002 71^st Festival: Apr 25-26, 2003 72^nd Festival: Apr 23-24, 2004 73^rd Festival: Apr 22-23, 2005 74^th Festival: Apr 21-22, 2006 75^th Festival: Apr 20-22, 2007 76^th Festival: Apr 13 & 18-20, 2008 77^th Festival: Apr 17-19, 2009 78^th Festival: Apr 16-17, 2010 79^th Festival: Apr 15-17, 2011 80^th Festibal: Apr 13-15, 2012 81^st Festibal: Apr 19-21, 2013
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