{"id":7734,"date":"2012-07-08T11:11:01","date_gmt":"2012-07-08T18:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7734"},"modified":"2013-02-07T21:09:05","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T05:09:05","slug":"another-july-another-bach-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/07\/08\/another-july-another-bach-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"another july, another bach festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night marked the end of this year’s Oregon Bach Festival<\/a> for me, with a remarkable performance of Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time<\/em>, under the direction of the OBF’s artistic director designate Matthew Halls<\/a>. The Tippett was completely unknown to me before these rehearsals and performances, and I’m not sure why it doesn’t get performed more often. It is a very difficult sing for the choir – I heard many members talking during rehearsal breaks about the difficulties of the counting and awkward intervals that the choruses present. It was presented as a counterpoint to the other major work being done at OBF this year, the St. Matthew Passion<\/em> of J.S. Bach. Indeed, Tippett’s work is based upon the form of Bach’s great work. Also interesting is Tippett’s use of traditional spirituals which are interspersed throughout the work.<\/p>\n

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Conductor Matthew Halls. Photo: Oregon Bach Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This was my first opportunity to work under Matthew Halls. I admit that I am very much a fan. He is a very impressive musician who is able to work effectively with both the orchestra and chorus, and is a worthy successor to OBF founder Helmuth Rilling<\/a>, who steps down to become emeritus artistic director after the 2013 edition of the festival. Halls also earned my respect by conducting this very complex and thorny score without the use of his score, which led to a fully immersed performance that was most inspiring. The Oregon Bach Festival will be in good hands for years to come with the able leadership of Maestro Halls. Undoubtedly, there will be many changes once the regime change is accomplished, and it will be interesting to see in which direction(s) the festival goes once Halls is officially ensconced. I would bet on an even larger role for the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and more British musicians appearing in principal roles in the core orchestra. We’ll see. UPDATE: My suspicions were somewhat confirmed by reading between the lines in this Oregon Arts Watch piece<\/a> by Brett Campbell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night marked the end of this year’s Oregon Bach Festival for me, with a remarkable performance of Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time, under the direction of the OBF’s artistic director designate Matthew Halls. The Tippett was completely unknown to me before these rehearsals and performances, and I’m not sure why it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[138,2],"tags":[3093,2776,3092,2337],"class_list":["post-7734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-summer-festivals","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-a-child-of-our-time","tag-matthew-halls","tag-michael-tippett","tag-oregon-bach-festival"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-20K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6804,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/08\/24\/oregon-bach-festival-hires-new-conductor\/","url_meta":{"origin":7734,"position":0},"title":"oregon bach festival hires new conductor","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From the OBF's blog: Eugene, Oregon\u2014The Oregon Bach Festival announced today the appointment of 35-year-old British conductor and keyboardist Matthew Halls as its next artistic director. Halls will assume artistic leadership after the 2013 season, succeeding Helmuth Rilling, the founding artistic director from Stuttgart who will remain with the University\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/tweet-4-240x360.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12732,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/26\/oregon-bach-festival-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":7734,"position":1},"title":"oregon bach festival preview","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We're just had our first rehearsal of the first week of the 2013 Oregon Bach Festival. It's a big year for the organization, with the founding conductor and artistic director Helmuth Rilling stepping into the role of artistic director emeritus with the ascendance of Matthew Halls as the new artistic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "summer festivals"","block_context":{"text":"summer festivals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/summer-festivals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Helmut Rilling","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/8894099714_657e769e60.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7719,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/07\/01\/a-tale-of-two-halls\/","url_meta":{"origin":7734,"position":2},"title":"a tale of two halls","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I just ended my first of two weeks with the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra last night. 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This concert marked the symbolic 'passing of the baton' from founding Artistic Director Helmut Rilling to the Artistic Director Designate Matthew Halls. Rilling conducted a family affair first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1044258_10151705975801162_893702049_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1044258_10151705975801162_893702049_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1044258_10151705975801162_893702049_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/1044258_10151705975801162_893702049_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15797,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2019\/06\/25\/oregon-bach-festival-saga-continues\/","url_meta":{"origin":7734,"position":4},"title":"oregon bach festival saga continues","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 25, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The saga of the seeming disintegration of the Oregon Bach Festival reached what might be called the early end-game this past week with the news that executive director Janelle McCoy was being laid off and that her position was being eliminated due to budget cuts by the University of Oregon.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "administration"","block_context":{"text":"administration","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/administration-the-orchestra-world-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12742,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/06\/30\/obf-missa-solemnis\/","url_meta":{"origin":7734,"position":5},"title":"obf – missa solemnis","author":"Charles Noble","date":"June 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been crossing works off of my musical bucket list this year at this summer's festivals - an act from a Die Walk\u00fcre and big chunks for Verdi's Otello in Astoria, and now Beethoven's massive and enigmatic Missa Solemnis in Eugene at the Oregon Bach Festival. 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