September 2001 Newsletter

September, 2001 Volume 14 Number 1

Letter from the President

Queridos amigos de Bach,

Welcome to our 14th season. As promised in the June edition I can now report to you, with the greatest pleasure, that the Board asked Janet Youngdahl to be the choir's new director, and that she has accepted. Welcome on board, Janet!

As well as director, she will, and already has, taken on the position as co-artistic director together with Christine Azad.

Also a warm welcome to Xenia Stanford, who has taken over the job of newsletter editor from Anna Carnell. For 13 years Anna has delivered balanced, well-written copies and our gratitude to her is profound. Luckily she will stay on as a contributor.

Another unfortunate, fortunate dispatch to relate to you is that Robert Schmiel has resigned as co-artistic director. We thank you also, Bob, for the time and energy you put into the organization. Fortunately Bob will stay with the choir.In the past season we have been approached by a number of people who asked whether it would be possible to change the time of our concerts from Sunday night to Sunday afternoon. Having polled a goodly number of individuals we decided to change the time of our Advent and March concerts to Sunday afternoon 3 p.m. The fact that even Simon Preston, when asked said that, undoubtedly, that would be his preference, added strength to our decision.

Also changed is the time of the start of the Marathon: 12 noon, rather than 1 p.m. The wonderful 6 hours of Bach's music now ending at 6 p.m. means that we can all be home at an agreeable time for dinner.

Two more items for our day-to-day-operations-column:

We urgently need a person for the fundraising position as well as a stage manager. If you know of any one interested in either or, why not, both of these jobs please contact Christine Azad at 287-1350 or me, Marijke van Wijk at 283-0231.

This is all for the housekeeping side of things and, crucial as that is, the most important reason for the Bach society being among us is, of course, the music we make.

From the programmes printed in this edition you can see why we are excited about this upcoming season. And while we, the singers, love the concept of learning new music and then putting it together with the members of the orchestra, performing it for an audience is the icing on the cake.

That is where you come in: talk to all and sundry about the Bach society, come to our concerts, volunteer, and if you have any questions feel free to phone either of the numbers I gave out earlier. We are dependent on each other in this wonderful venture of exploring Bach and his contemporaries.

Thank you for having slogged through this. All that remains to be said is: "So long till we meet next on the 27th of October at 12 noon for the Marathon".

Marijke van Wijk, President, CBFS

Calendar of Events

Calgary Bach Festival SocietyConcert Season 2001-2002With Calgary Bach Festival Choir, under conductor Janet YoungdahlCalgary Bach ChoirResumes Monday, September 10, 2001 – 7p.m.Knox Presbyterian Church - 3704-37Street SWEarly Music Voices Concert Series presentsVoicescapes & Guests Bach/Buxtehude IISaturday, September 15, 2001 – 8 p.m.Christ Church - 3602-8th Street SWAnnual General MeetingFriday, September 28, 2001 – 8 p.m.Rec. Room of 3316 Rideau Place SWCome and discover our new exciting season with goodies served, elect your new Board and renew your membership - still only $25 per year The 14th Bach MarathonSaturday, October 27, 2001 - 12-6 p.m.St. Matthew’s United Church - 2039-26a Street SWPlease donate items for the silent auction.(e.g. paintings, new books, ceramics, gift baskets, gift certificates)A High Baroque ConcertFriday, November 9, 2001 - 7:30PMSt. Matthew’s United - 2039-26a Street SWElisa Sereno-Janz – violinTim Janz – fluteJoan Kent – celloChristine Azad - harpsichordThe Bach Advent ConcertSunday, December 2, 2001 - 3 p.m.St. Matthew’s United Church - 2039-26a Street SWThe Bach Children’s ConcertSaturday, February 2, 2002 - 2 p.m.Rozsa Theatre, University of CalgaryBach Birthday CelebrationSunday, March 24, 2002 - 3 p.m.St. Matthew’s United Church - 2039-26a Street SW

Profiles

Profile - Les Meares

by Anna Carnell

Les Meares, tenor, started singing with the Calgary Bach Festival Society last May. He has sung with the Anglican Cathedral in Calgary, the University Concert and Chamber choirs and the Philharmonic Chorus and Chamber Choir.

He’s especially pleased to be singing Bach with the CBFS. He has always had an appreciation for Bach, which culminated last year in a well-researched visit to all the cities in Germany where Bach lived and worked. An impromptu concert highlighted two of the places he visited. In the house where Bach’s parents died, a tour of the house led to a collection of old organs and virginals where a musician gave a talk and demonstration. Les contributed to the concert by pumping the organ! Also remarkable was the lecture and concert amongst the gleaming white and gold Baroque church interior in Ordruf, where Bach held his first position.

A chemical engineer with a degree from the University of Western Ontario, Les worked in the oil industry for several years before starting his own computer drafting company, North City Investments (1986 Ltd.). He has never worked so hard as when he started his own company and even had to forego singing in choirs for a few years.

Brought up in South Africa, Les’ family moved to Ontario when he was sixteen. Les still remembers with pleasure the eclectic mix of music around him as a child, from ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ heard every Sunday on the electronic organ, to the informal African choirs gathered in parks, in circles, to sing in their unique, richly harmonic style.

When Les is not working or singing, he is probably gardening, with the assistance of self-watering flowerpots he designed.He might also be playing his 1926 upright Heinzmann, reading or travelling. Eventually, we hope he’ll post pictures of his Bach travels on the CBFS website.

Les has also agreed to serve as our librarian. His interest in orderliness and databases and a passion for detail makes him the perfect candidate for the job. He distributes and gathers the scores, and has created a number system for the singers and scores which ensures that each singer will get the same score each time the piece is performed, with their personal notes and comments intact, for greater ease in learning and re-learning the difficult music.

Profile - Xenia Stanford

by Anna Carnell

Xenia Stanford, writer and founder of Stanford Solutions, is the new editor of the Calgary Bach Festival society newsletter. She is also the editor-in-chief and designer of KnowMap, a unique magazine focusing on the concept of knowledge management. People come and go, but Xenia believes that sharing, growing and mapping the knowledge within a company makes it and its employees more efficient and effective.

With a Bachelor of Education from University of Calgary, Bachelor of Arts and masters course work in Honours English from McQuarrie University in Sydney, Australia, Xenia has taught English in Canada and Australia. A position as school librarian in Quesnel, British Columbia led to work as a librarian for government and private industry. As ‘change leader’ and ‘knowledge expert’ for NOVA, she was credited for her efficiency and ability to bring out the best in people.

A freelance writer for years, Xenia’s work has been accepted for Reader’s Digest and numerous journals in the fields of business, librarianship and genealogy. Her first book Finding Your Ancestors in France will be published this fall, and work continues on her life’s work: More in the House. This story is based on the life of her role model, her paternal grandmother. This five foot, 98 pound dynamo ran the family farm, brought up 11 children of her own as well as two of her sister’s, and never set the table for a family dinner without a plate for the ‘uninvited guest’.

Xenia grew up on her grandmother’s farm in the midst of music. The family formed a country and western band called The Midnight Ramblers. Xenia, who does not sing or play, served in the pivotal role of gathering repertoire from the radio and teaching the lyrics to the band.

Xenia discovered Bach’s music during a University drama class. Director of a play for drama course work, Xenia stumbled on one of Bach’s ‘Preludes and Fugues’ as the musical backdrop for her production. It was an immediate and lifelong passion.

With the Bach society, Xenia is an audience member at concerts, and volunteers on a regular basis at concerts and casinos. She looks forward to bringing Bach to our readers via print and electronic media.

Editor’s website picks

From the J.S. Bach Tourist site at http://odur.let.rug.nl/Linguistics/diversen/bach/tourist2.html see photographs of the countryside where Bach once lived, view maps and read biographical information.

Another interesting site called the J. S. Bach Home Page at http://www.jsbach.org/ links to the Tourist and other sites. There you can find bibliographies, a timeline and lists of recordings. There are also 6 different portraits of Bach and connections to MIDI files.

Free MP3s of Bach’s music can be found at http://pmclassical.iicinternet.com/bach.shtml

Then, of course, there is our own http://www.bachcalgary.org with newsletters back to September 2000, pictures of the choir and orchestra and profiles of our conductors.

Brief History of Calgary Bach Festival Society (CBFS)

The Calgary Bach Festival Society (CBFS) was founded in 1988 and incorporated in August of that year. It is a registered charitable society #88797-7049RC, so donations are appreciated and tax deductible.

The society is dedicated to bringing Calgarians the music of J.S. Bach and baroque composers. We showcase local talent as well as Canadian and international figures while striving for the highest possible authentic performance standards.

The CBFS presents four concerts a year: The Bach Marathon, The Bach Advent Cantata Concert, The Bach Children’s Concert and The Bach Birthday Celebration. From June 15 to 18, 2000 the first Bach International Festival, a co-production with the Calgary International Organ Foundation, was held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death. (J.S. Bach was born March 21, 1685 and died July 28, 1750.)

The CBFS publishes a newsletter, The Bach Quarterly, which is distributed to all members. Membership costs $25 per year. (This fee is not tax deductible).

For more information, please contact the CBFS voice mail number at 232-8525, or visit our website – http://www.bachcalgary.org

Membership Information

The Calgary Bach Festival Society has a large library of cantatas which can be rented. If interested, please contact us at 282-8525 or e-mail Bill Zdep tcprint@cadvision.com.

Volunteers are welcome and needed for several positions and projects. If interested, please contact us at 282-8525 or e-mail Bill Zdep tcprint@cadvision.com.

Plans are underway to hold another silent auction in conjunction with the annual Bach Marathon October 27^th. Call our office to donate any items to this event - 282-8525.