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Rachel Barnes

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Holtschneider Performance Center

Bach in the City’s season opens with “Fantasticus: Bach and Before,” a chamber concert devoted to works composed in the free-wheeling, improvisational “Stylus Fantasticus” Baroque style that predated J. S. Bach. The program includes music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmüller, Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Pachelbel, and J. S. Bach himself, the “youngest” composer in the group.
Bach in the City’s co-music director Jason Moy has mapped out a “Fantasticus” voyage.
In a program note, Moy cites 17th-century music theorist Athanasius Kircher’s description of Stylus Fantasticus as “the most free and unrestrained method of composing … instituted to display genius and to teach the hidden design of harmony and the ingenious composition of harmonic phrases and fugues.”
Moy invites listeners to savor this middle-Baroque period style “through the imaginative and virtuosic works” of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Rosenmüller, Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Pachelbel, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
A highlight will be a rare performance of Pachelbel’s ubiquitous, widely beloved Canon in D Major in its original version for just three violins and continuo (Baroque rhythm section), along with Pachelbel’s oft-neglected Gigue in D Major, a playful, energetic dance piece with which the Canon was originally paired by the composer.
“Some have referred to the Gigue as the ‘B-side’ of the pairing,” Moy says. “But the B-side of a recording sometimes turns out to be the hit song.”
Biber wrote some of the most notoriously difficult, complex violin music of the Baroque era. The concert includes Biber’s Sonata violino solo representativa and Sonata à 6 in C Major, in which the trumpet also gets opportunities to shine.
Violin and viola da gamba are prominent in Buxtehude’s austere, elegant Sonata in A Minor, BuxWV 272, which illustrates the composer’s masterful use of “basso ostinato,” a repeating bass line.
Rosenmüller’s Sonata Decima à 5 in F Major blends strict German Baroque counterpoint with the lyrical, theatrical virtuosity of the Italian Renaissance operas the composer heard during his sojourn in Venice.
Johann Christoph Bach’s masterwork, his deeply moving Lament “Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte” (Oh, if only I had enough tears) for alto soloist, is a profound expression of repentance. He was the older cousin of J. S. Bach, who referred to him as “the profound composer.”
The program, directed by Moy, closes with J. S. Bach’s
uplifting sacred cantata “Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen” (Exult in God in all lands), BWV 51, featuring soprano and trumpet solos.
Soloists are soprano Hannah De Priest, countertenor Ryan Belongie, violinist Amelia Sie, and trumpeter Ryan Berndt.This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
Tickets and information
Single tickets are $45 for VIP admission, which includes reserved seating; $30 adult general admission; $25 seniors 65 and older; $10 students.
Tickets and information are available at <a href="https://www.bachinthecity.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">bachinthecity.org</a> and by phone, 312-273-9834.

Local Event: Bach in the City's 'Fantasticus: Bach and Before'

Bach in the City's 'Fantasticus: Bach and Before'

Bach in the City’s season opens with “Fantasticus: Bach and Before,” a chamber concert devoted to works composed in the...

Fourth Presbyterian Church

Camerata Chicago, led by the chamber orchestra's founder and music director Drostan Hall, opens its 23rd concert season with a program featuring Felix Mendelssohn’s music for William Shakespeare’s <a href="https://www.cameratachicago.org/category/concert-series/2026-10-midsummer/?utm_source=patch&amp;utm_medium=event_calendar&amp;utm_campaign=2627_midsummer&amp;utm_content=season_listing" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">“A Midsummer Night’s Dream,”</a> Op. 61; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat Major, K. 297b; and the world premiere of Chicago-area composer Tony Payne’s “Fantasy on English Melodies,” commissioned by Camerata Chicago. All three are new to Camerata Chicago’s repertoire.
Mendelssohn’s music for Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Opus 61, comprises the overture Mendelssohn wrote as teenager and the incidental music he composed nearly two decades later.
The work includes the resplendent “Wedding March,” one of the most famous pieces of classical music, traditionally heard at the conclusion of the ceremony as the newlywed couple walks out in joyous celebration.
Hall, who was born in Norwich, England, and retains his “plummy” British accent, will narrate excerpts from the play, set in an enchanted forest, as well as conduct Mendelssohn’s witty and colorful, atmospheric score conjuring bird songs, buzzing insects, rustling leaves, and rippling creeks.
Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Four Winds in E-flat major, K. 297b, is a charming and melodious three-movement orchestral work. The soloists are four of Camerata Chicago’s principal players: Grace Hong, oboe; Elizandro Garcia Montoya, clarinet; Vincent Karamanov, bassoon; and Lee Shirer, horn.
“We are thrilled to feature our superb principal wind players for the first time with the programming of this marvelous concerto,” Hall says.
“Audiences who are used to hearing the Mendelssohn and Mozart played by a symphony orchestra can savor these more intimately scaled performances for the musical detail they reveal,” Hall says.
“Both are examples of works that were originally written for orchestras the size of Camerata Chicago,” he says, “as were many other important works in the classical repertoire we feature.”
Camerata Chicago, Hall says, “is about chamber-music intimacy on a larger stage.”
Hall describes Payne’s ““Fantasy on English Melodies” as “beautifully cast in the mold of Ralph Vaughan Williams, who turned English folk tunes into wonderful, spiritually uplifting compositions.” 
The “Fantasy,” which Payne dedicated to Hall, includes the folk ballad “Lovely Joan,” a tribute to Hall’s late mother, Joan.
Tickets and information
Single tickets are $50 adults, $40 seniors 65 and over, $10 students, $2 children 14 and under. VIP tickets are $75.
Using online code CCPR provides a 15% discount.
Tickets and information are available at CamerataChicago.org and by phone 312-799-0916. Email: andiamo@cameratachicago.org.

Local Event: Camerata Chicago — Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

Camerata Chicago — Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer...

Camerata Chicago, led by the chamber orchestra's founder and music director Drostan Hall, opens its 23rd concert season with a...

Camerata Chicago — Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

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Local Event: The Wellness Retreat: A Festival Where Mind, Body, and Music Meet

The Wellness Retreat: A Festival Where Mind,...

FEATURING ELDERBROOK LIVE AT SUNSET
The Wellness Retreat is taking over Chicago’s Northerly Island for one unforgettable day of...

The Wellness Retreat: A Festival Where Mind, Body, and Music Meet

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Bach in the City's 'Fantasticus: Bach and Before'

Camerata Chicago — Mendelssohn's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

The Wellness Retreat: A Festival Where Mind, Body, and Music Meet