World-renowned pianist Richard Goode will join the Bach Virtuosi Festival in recital on Friday, June 23, 2023, in what promises to be one of the major musical events of the season. His program will include Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, one of Beethoven’s greatest works and will take place at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland with its marvelous acoustics. […]
News
Concert review: Tradition comes out on top in dueling Bach festivals
Returning musicians from the original event give Bach Virtuosi Festival the edge over Portland Bach Experience The battle of the Bach festivals in Portland entered its second round Sunday evening, when Lewis Kaplan raised the curtain on his Bach Virtuosi Festival, just hours after Emily Isaacson’s Portland Bach Experience concluded its run. Kaplan had started […]
Video Highlights from the past two years
2023 will be our greatest festival since beginning seven years ago! In addition to our Bach concerts and our array of great performers, world-renowned pianist Richard Goode will perform one of Beethoven’s greatest works, the Diabelli Variations. BVF will present two first-time performances at the festival, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. In association with the Portland Museum of Art, we will […]
Interview on Spectrum TV
Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s involvement in Brotherhood/Sisterhood, the opening night production of the 2020 Bach Virtuosi Festival, was featured on NY-1 Spectrum TV. More than 825,000 people watch NY-1 each week and their stories are repeated multiple times per day. Below is the video. We story of Brotherhood/Sisterhood is about the larger role that classical music […]
Concert Review: Bach Virtuosi Festival begins with inspiring program
The concert Sunday at St. Luke’s was the first event of several in Portland this week. The seventh annual Bach Virtuosi Festival started on a high note – many of them, in fact, during its first event, a 90-minute concert Sunday at St. Luke’s Cathedral. The festival, which this year offers events, musical and otherwise, at various […]
Bach Virtuosi Festival adds a free concert to its weeklong series
The festival, founded by Lewis Kaplan in 2016, is bringing acclaimed classical musicians to Portland for six concerts. Lewis Kaplan stepped down from the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 2014 after serving for 50 years as artistic director of the event he founded. He was 80 at the time and could easily have let that […]
Q&A with Countertenor Jay Carter
It has been a busy autumn for countertenor Jay Carter. He has continued teaching and mentoring his undergraduate students at William Jewell College, as well as touring and performing a considerable amount. We caught up with Jay to ask him a few questions. Bach Virtuosi Festival: Tell us about a few of your performances and […]
Full Concert Recording Sunday August 1, 2021
Q&A with violinist Renee Jolles
I am thrilled to perform in Portland for the third summer at the Bach festival. Johann Sebastian Bach is one of my favorite composers, and I am delighted to play his music with so many talented musicians each summer. The audiences that we play for every year are kind, respectful and cultured; it’s clear that […]
Boston Globe calls Bach Virtuosi Festival ‘can’t miss classical event’ of the summer
The Bach Virtuosi Festival is included in the Boston Globe’s Summer Arts Preview: Classical Critic’s Picks, “From Bach to ‘The Barber of Seville,’ 10 Can’t Miss Classical Events“ “For the third year in a row, Portland becomes a destination for all things Bach and Baroque in June. Cantatas, concertos, and cello suites featuring some of […]
A video interview with countertenor Jay Carter and soprano Sherezade Panthaki
We continue our Videos with the Virtuosi series with soprano Sherezade Panthaki and countertenor Jay Carter, two singers who are beloved by our Portland audience because of their exquisite performances last summer. In part one of our candid interview, Sherry and Jay share their feelings about Bach, Handel, and the acoustics at St. Luke’s Cathedral. […]
The passion of playing Bach, a video interview with flutist Emi Ferguson
We spent a few minutes speaking with flutist Emi Ferguson about playing Bach and what she is most looking forward to at this summer’s Bach Virtuosi Festival. Emi shared with us her passion for playing Johann Sebastian Bach and added historical facts about when Bach first composed music for the flute. Her energy clearly comes […]
A video interview with trumpet player John Thiessen
Virtuoso Conversation: John Ferrillo, First Oboe of the Boston Symphony
John Ferrillo is a consummate musician, he has a sensitive ear and a warm style. His musical ideas are clear and persuasive and in chamber music these are great attributes. He has a major role in the concert on June 2, playing and leading the Sinfonia from Bach’s Easter Oratorio. He joins an all star cast […]
The Evolving of Bach
The second monthly video from Lewis Kaplan, the Festival Director of the Bach Virtuosi Festival.