The combination of performing the great repertoire of Bach alongside such fine colleagues and the wonderful welcome we receive each year in Portland has been very special and memorable to me. I am looking forward to returning to Portland in June.
After last summer, I performed in festivals in Massachusetts (Music from Land’s End Wareham) and in Montepulciano, Italy, where I am the Artistic Director of the European Academy for Music and Art (“Palazzo Ricci”). I performed more wonderful music by composers like Ferrandini, Schmelzer, Biber and Purcell – all Baroque masters.
More recently, I have been recording the works for violin and orchestra by Franz Schubert, on period instruments. I just performed concerti by Andreas Romberg, Giuseppe Tartini and J.S. Bach with the Cologne Academy Orchestra and the New Rhine Chamber Orchestra.
I am looking forward to continuing the Schubert recording in the New Year, with all the works for violin and piano. Furthermore, a new recording I led of Bach’s Musical Offering, arranged for performance by Sebastian Gottschick, will be released this year.
J.S. Bach is simply one of the greatest composers who ever lived. His mastery is demonstrated in almost every note of every piece he wrote. It is humbling and awe-inspiring. Of course we spend many years honing our skills and closely studying the scores in the hopes of doing justice to his legacy. We are so lucky as performers to have this responsibility of keeping his music alive for our audiences. It’s a privilege and a joy!