Event

Bach Cello Suites 1 and 3

A master of the cello introduces a unique stringed instrument commissioned specifically to perform these masterworks (and also plays the violoncello) in a meditative format with Tibetan singing bowls. A never-before experienced performance!

A lifelong musician with degrees in cello performance and also composition, Jeffrey McFarland-Johnson retired after teaching music for 22 years to immerse himself in an intensive study of Bach's cello suites, finding in them many layers of spiritual significance and inspiration. His efforts culminated in the commissioning of a novel instrument designed specifically to perform these works. This is the first formal concert performance of the results of his exploration.

Bach Cello Suite 1 will be performed on the GUITELLO, a fretted plectrum-generated instrument tuned as a ve-string cello in fths, commissioned by Jerey McFarland-Johnson and made by luthier David Heitzman in 2012. The GUITELLO is the hybrid of a steel string acousticguitar, the cello, and the lute. The story of its development and crafting is fascinating. He will also be performing Bach Cello Suite 3 on the violoncello.