Influencers - Tafelmusik : Tafelmusik

Jeanne Lamon Hall, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre

Move over Instagram!

For the original influencers, look no further than the Bach family.
Sons of the great J.S. Bach, Johann Christian and Carl Philipp Emanuel wrote music in a style that bridged the baroque and classical periods. Using musical idioms that favoured melody, drama and elegance, they paved the way for classical icons like Mozart and Haydn.

Directed from the violin by Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger, our program traces the synergies among these composers, whose mutual admiration was well known. In fact, J.C. Bach was like a father figure to Mozart, who played keyboard duets with him as a child.

CPE Bach’s mercurial Cello Concerto in A Major features Tafelmusik’s own “ravishing” (Concerto.net) Keiran Campbell as soloist in a showcase that alternates lyricism with virtuosity. Meanwhile, Podger continues her exploration of Mozart’s violin concertos with Tafelmusik, this time turning her attention to the Concerto no. 3 and displaying her “astoundingly mature” affinity (Musicweb International) for the composer’s music.

Opening with J.C. Bach’s dramatic Sinfonia in G Minor, our matrix of classical influencers concludes with the “razor sharp” and “sensational” combination (Early Music America) of Podger leading Tafelmusik in Haydn’s intense Symphony no. 52.

Guest Artists

Credits & Program

Box Office

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Running Time

120 minutes

Style of Music

Classical orchestral

Guest artists

Rachel Podger

Principal guest director & violin soloist

“Rachel Podger, the unsurpassed British glory of the baroque violin,” (The Times) has established herself as a leading interpreter of baroque and classical music. Fresh from being announced as the winner of two 2023 BBC Music Magazine Awards for Instrumental Recording and Recording of the Year, as 23/24 Artist in Focus for Kings Place, and with two new albums released this month, Principal Guest Director Rachel Podger was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Royal Academy of Music/Kohn Foundation Bach Prize in October 2015, Gramophone Artist of the Year 2018, and the Ambassador for REMA’s Early Music Day 2020. A creative programmer, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Brecon Baroque Festival and her ensemble Brecon Baroque.

Following an exciting and innovative collaboration, A Guardian Angel, with the vocal ensemble VOCES8, Rachel was thrilled to be one of the Artists in Residence at the renowned Wigmore Hall in 2019/2020. Alongside this, Rachel and Christopher Glynn released the world premiere of three previously unfinished Mozart sonatas as completed by Timothy Jones (2021). Their second disc together of three Beethoven Sonatas was released in March 2022. Recent recordings include a disc of solo repertoire along with a recording of C.P.E. Bach sonatas with fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout.

Performers

Keiran Campbell cello soloist
Tafelmusik Orchestra, on period instruments
Directed by Rachel Podger, violin soloist

Program

J.C. Bach Sinfonia in g minor
Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 (Rachel Podger, violin soloist)
C.P.E. Bach Concerto for Cello in A Major (Keiran Campbell, cello soloist)
Haydn Symphony No. 52 in c minor

Influencers: the Bachs, Mozart, & Haydn