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
82^nd Festibal: Apr 25-27, 2014
83^rd Festival: Apr 17-19, 2015
84^th Festival: Apr 15-17, 2016

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