music 30 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY July 13-19, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com The Sunset Center in Carmel is many things to many people—a stage for large concerts and author interviews, an art gallery, and a garden party venue. It is also the cradle of the Carmel Bach Festival, which has been utilizing the theater as the festival’s hub and main stage annually for close to 90 years. A few days before the festival opening, the facility is already buzzing with people crossing the front yard—some of them carrying yoga mats (there’s a yoga studio on premises), others carrying violas in pastel-colored cases. “The people, the festival, the area, the musicianship,” Bach Festival Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Grete Pedersen says, listing all the things she loves about the festival, the 86th edition of which opens Saturday, July 15. “And the ownership, in a good way, from everyone involved, is fantastic.” This year, the festival theme is beginnings—with the small “b,” Pedersen explains, to emphasize that the process is ongoing. It’s also a beginning for Pedersen— this year is her first as the festival’s new artistic director. In addition to two weeks of the festival proper— which includes about 50 music events ranging from concerts to recitals, master classes and showcases—countless rehearsals took place or are taking place as you read, including pre-festival treats such as a series at Monterey’s Wave Street Studios, which has already presented some material. “I’ve been to so many festivals,” Pedersen says, taking a seat outside the Sunset Center with an after-rehearsal plate of fruit. “What is special here is that people are staying for one month, rehearsing together, eating together, going for walks on the beach. That’s unusual. Usually, a small group of musicians arrives somewhere for two to three days.” That means that Carmel, Pacific Grove and Monterey are now packed with musicians and their horns, flutes, cellos and an occasional harpsichord. They arrived from all over the world, sometimes meeting on the plane, as happened on Pedersen’s flight from London. A former soccer player who still lives in Norway, Pedersen continues the Carmel Bach Festival’s tradition of entrusting foreigners with its musical leadership (think Italian-born Gastone Usigli in the early years, or English conductor Paul Goodwin more recently). She joined last year as a guest conductor, curated one week of the festival, and was immediately “smitten.” “So many people contacted me about the festival to share what it means to them,” she says. As for the festival’s beginnings, the program—developed by Pedersen with the Artistic Leadership Committee— opens, fittingly, with Haydn’s The Creation (7:30pm Saturdays, July 15 and 22). Pedersen has been impressed by the local community choir, who are “wonderful” performing Haydn, she says. “If you want nutrition and supplements, his music is full of joy and the understanding of life,” Pedersen adds, of Haydn’s compositions. “Then we have In the Beginning [American Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs, 8:30pm Wednesdays, July 19 and 26], followed by songs of beginnings [Into the Light, 3pm Fridays, July 14 and 21].” The latter includes works by Erlebach, Leonarda, Price, and more—no Bach. But her favorite this year—if you are into symphonic music—is Gustav Mahler, an Austro-Bohemian composer of the Romantic era, with two pieces in the program [Mozart, Rehnqvist, Mahler: Breaking the Ice, 7:30pm Fridays, July 14 and 21]. “Blumine’’ is a small piece of his that was miraculously discovered in the 1950s in the trunk of a car in New Haven, Connecticut. “It shows you the less mature Mahler,” Pedersen says. “And then you get to listen to his Symphony No. 4 [in G Major], which is about another beginning—the end of earthly life and going to heaven.” The program came into being as a result of dialogue between the musicians and the committee. “We wanted a diversity of composers, and we wanted some living composers,” Pedersen says. “We share the larger vision with the musicians.” What about Bach himself? Pederson considers him a cornerstone, someone familiar in her musical education. “With some composers, if you don’t play the piece their way, it causes a lot of trouble,” she says. “Bach is the kind of composer that you can perform in a lot of different ways and it can still give a lot of meaning.” Sounds great. So which one of the dozens of concerts to choose? “If you love Bach, come to Bach Dialogues [7:30 pm Tuesdays, July 18 and 25] or Father and Son [4pm Sundays, July 16 and 23],” Pedersen says. “Or come to the opening. And then come to the first concert. And then from there…” Bach with a Bang The Carmel Bach Festival is a month-long experience for the musicians—and a two-week, joyful dilemma over what to choose for the rest of us. By Agata Pop˛eda At the 2022 Carmel Bach Festival, Grete Pedersen was a guest conductor auditioning for the job of music director. She wowed the audience, musicians, staff and board of directors and was hired on. This is her first season leading the festival. Daniel Dreifuss 86th Carmel Bach Fest program highlights Brahms Horn Trio 7:30pm Friday, July 14 and 3pm Monday, July 24 WHAT: Work by Brahms, Beach, Auerbach and Schumann WHERE: Wave Street Studios, Monterey The Creation 7:30pm Saturdays, July 15 and 22 WHAT: Haydn’s The Creation, H. XXI:2 WHERE: Sunset Center, Carmel All Bach Organ Recital 11am Mondays, July 17 and 24 WHAT: Works by Bach WHERE: Carmel Mission Basilica, Carmel First to Print: The Beginning of Music Publishing in 16th-Century Italy, Spain and England 1:30pm Tuesdays, July 18 and 25 WHAT: Frottole and Italian lute music composed circa 1500 WHERE: Sunset Center foyer, Carmel Bach Dialogues 7:30pm Tuesdays, July 18 and 25 WHAT: Compositions by Mahler, Lachenmann, Bach, Schubert and Zelenka WHERE: Sunset Center, Carmel Bach Cantatas 3pm Wednesdays, July 19 and July 26 WHAT: Bach’s Cantatas No. 10 and 36 WHERE: All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Carmel In the Beginning: American Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs 8:30pm Wednesdays, July 19 and July 26 WHAT: Songs by Shaw, Copland, Thompson and more WHERE: Carmel Mission Basilica, Carmel The Human Voice 7:30pm Thursdays, July 20 and 27 WHAT: Compositions by des Prez, de Narvaez, Esmail, Telemann, Faure, Bach, Banks and more WHERE: Sunset Center, Carmel Mozart, Rehnqvist, Mahler: Breaking the Ice 7:30pm Fridays, July 21 and 28 WHAT: Two pieces by Mahler, accompanied by one each from Mozart and Rehnqvist WHERE: Sunset Center, Carmel Carmel Bach Festival July 15-29. Various venues. Free-$97. 624-1521, bachfestival.org.
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