Event

Cantata Fest

Note: Online sales will end at 12:00 noon on Sat, June 1st. Tickets will be available for sale at the door at 6:30 pm on Saturday. We hope to see you there!

The concert begins at 8:00 p.m.
Pre-concert talk hosted by SCC conductor Freddie Coleman at 7:00 p.m.

Enjoy three choral cantatas from three different centuries.

Cantata No. 4 "Christ lag in Todesbanden" by Johann Sebastian Bach
Cantata "Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten" by Felix Mendelssohn
Cantata "Triptych" by Tarik ORegan

Cantata No. 4, "Christ lag in Todesbanden" (Christ lay in the bonds of death), is surely one of the most popular and best known of all of Bach's sacred cantatas. It is an example of a chorale cantata--all movements, including the opening sinfonia, make use of the chorale tune and/or text in some fashion. The chorale was written by Martin Luther, and is based on the Catholic chant "Victimae paschali laudes." Cantata No. 4 was written for Easter Sunday. Stylistically, the work appears to have been written around 1707-1708, and it may be Bach's earliest surviving sacred vocal composition.

Throughout Mendelssohn's career, the treatment of chorale melodies played a major role, and the occupation with the protestant chorale even runs through his symphonic and oratorical work. His study of Bach's work in connection with the re-enactment of the "St. Matthew Passion" led to a series of cantatas on well-known chorales for choir, instruments and sometimes solos. "Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten" (He who lets only the good Lord rule) is one of those cantatas.

Tarik O'Regan, "one of the leading British composers of his generation" (Gramophone) who is writing "music of startling beauty" (The Observer), was born in London in 1978. About O'Regan's "Triptych," the London Times wrote: O'Regan is [making] an impact with music that is striking and approachable without being obvious or second-hand... this was one contemporary piece that you didn't want to finish.