Oregon Bach Festival
| Oregon Bach Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Classical |
| Dates | June through July, annually |
| Location(s) | Eugene, Oregon, USA |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Founded by | |
| Website | |
| www.oregonbachfestival.com | |
The Oregon Bach Festival (OBF) is an annual celebration of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his musical legacy, held in Eugene, Oregon, United States, in late June and early July. The artistic director is British harpsichordist, organist, and conductor Matthew Halls and the Executive Director is Janelle McCoy. The role of artistic director was previously held by German organist and conductor Helmuth Rilling.
The festival's programming is three-fold. It presents a diverse slate of concerts and guest artists, which in recent years has included non-Bach-related programs by Garrison Keillor, Bobby McFerrin, Frederica von Stade and Yo-Yo Ma ; it maintains a focus on choral-orchestral repertoire, including commissions and premieres; and it undertakes extensive educational activities, most famously a conducting master class that draws participants from around the world as well as a Youth Choral Academy directed by conductor Anton Armstrong of St. Olaf College and a Composers Symposium directed by composer Robert Kyr. The Wall Street Journal has called the OBF "one of the world’s leading music festivals".
The Oregon Bach Festival is a donor-supported program of the University of Oregon. The activities of the festival are concentrated at Eugene's Hult Center for the Performing Arts and at the University of Oregon's School of Music & Dance, primarily at Beall Hall.
The festival was founded in 1970 by German conductor Helmuth Rilling and the former president of the American Choral Directors Association, Royce Saltzman, as an informal series of classes and concerts at the University of Oregon. By the late 1970s, the roster had expanded to include full-scale choral-orchestral performances. Although originally inspired by the music of Bach, the festival quickly moved beyond a strict boundary of repertoire. Bach, however, remains a centerpiece of the festival via Helmuth Rilling's conducting master class, which leads students through Cantatas, Masses, Passions, and other such choral works. Additionally, the festival frequently performs the largest Bach works with full forces; for example, in the 300th-anniversary year of Bach's birth in 1985, the festival performed the St. John Passion, St. Matthew Passion, B-minor Mass, and all six Brandenburg Concertos, culminating in an appearance at the Hollywood Bowl. The success of the Bach Festival model and structure led Helmuth Rilling to create the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and several other Bach Academies around the world.
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