Fredonia 1891 Opera House presents 25th year of Bach & Beyond Festival

The Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival celebrates its 25th year when it returns to the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center June 10-12. Under Artistic Director Grant Cooper, this year's series of three concerts will feature a world premiËre, incredible soloists and a few faces that are new to the Festival.

While the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the foundation of the Festival, performances also often feature music by other familiar composers such as Vivaldi and Mozart. The "Beyond" in the Festival's name refers to the inclusion of works of other lesser-known (and some present-day) composers who are artistically linked to the more familiar superstars.

"This year's festival opens with the world premiËre of a work by contemporary composer Byron Adams," notes Opera House Executive Director Rick Davis. "That work, Monteverdiana, is in essence an homage to Monteverdi, and as Adams himself says a reinterpretation or 'a reimagining of the original sources'."

Friday's concert also features two works by Johann Christian Bach, the son of J.S. Bach, and an oboe concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams that features oboist Cheryl Bishkoff as soloist. Bishkoff, along with Cooper, are the two Festival constants, having participated in every one of the past 24 (soon to be 25) Bach & Beyond festivals.

Saturday's concert is an evening of concertos, opening with J.S. Bach's Harpsichord Concerto, BWV 1056 with keyboardist Alan Giambattista. The program also features two young artists at the beginning of their careers: Adrian Wittmer will perform Vivaldi's Bassoon Concerto in C major; and Collin Parker-Szekely will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 414. Wittmer, 19, is a Williamsville resident attending Eastland School of Music, and is a winner of the 2021 Eastern Music Festival Concerto Competition. As winner, he performed the Vivaldi concerto with the EMF orchestra.

Parker-Szekely, 15, is a resident of Abington, Pa., and is the grandson of Dr. James & Marcia Merrins, of Fredonia. Studying both piano and cello through the Settlement Music School, he is the 2021 overall winner of the Philadelphia International Music Festival Concerto Competition and 2022 winner of the Triumph Music Festival Concerto Competition. He plays in several chamber trios and small ensembles.

Sunday's concert features works by Arcangelo Corelli, and Vivaldi/Kolneder, and concludes with a work by 20th century composer Ernest Bloch.

In addition to accomplished area musicians, Cooper brings to the Festival top musicians from throughout North America and abroad who are specialists in and passionate about Baroque performance. Many are Festival veterans; but several are new to this year's festival, including Violinists Cara Garofalo, of Pittsburgh, and Yaniv Gutman, an Israel native currently living in West Virginia, as well as Cellists Jolyon Pegis, of Plano, Texas, and Elizabeth Simkin, of Ithaca. Also, participating in his second festival is Liviu Dobrota, a Romania native, now living in Syracuse.

The festival's concerts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Special 30-minute pre-concert discussions will begin an hour before each concert in the theatre. Admission to the pre-concert discussions is free to concert ticket holders.

Complete concert programs are listed on the Opera House web site at www.fredopera.org. Tickets are $20 reserved seating for each concert; student tickets are $10. A subscription to all three concerts is available for $51. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Opera House Box Office or by phone at 716-679-1891, Tuesday through Friday, noon to 4:30 p.m. They also may be purchased anytime online at www.fredopera.org.

The Bach & Beyond Festival is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Founding Festival Benefactors are (the late) Carol & Jim Boltz. Festival Sponsors are Minda Rae Amiran and Evans & Evans, LLP Law Offices. Concert Sponsors are Dr. James and Marcia Merrins, Anne Patterson and Martin Shaffer, and Cindy and Barbara Yochym. Support also comes from the United Arts Appeal of Chautauqua County.

The 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center is a member-supported not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to "present the performing arts for the benefit of our community and region ... providing access to artistic diversity ... and high quality programming at an affordable price." It is located in Village Hall in downtown Fredonia. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.fredopera.org.