FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Great Barrington, Mass.—The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and Aston Magna Music Festival will present “Musical Offerings: Chamber Music of J.S. Bach,” a free virtual concert on Sunday, January 31 at 7pm.
Recorded on the Mahaiwe stage, the performance will premiere on mahaiwe.org and the theater’s YouTube channel.
The program will be performed by four musicians, Daniel Stepner, baroque violin; Laura Jeppesen, viola de gamba; Andrea LeBlanc, baroque flute; and Peter Sykes, harpsichord. The program features a sonata for violin and continuo, a duo sonata for flute and harpsichord, and excerpts from one of Bach’s late contrapuntal masterpieces.
“Much of Bach’s chamber music has been lost. But what we have are real gems,” says Stepner, who is Aston Magna’s Artistic Director. “His music for violin and for flute, both accompanied and unaccompanied, are central to those instruments’ repertoire. His music for viola da gamba and harpsichord is also unique and of the highest quality.”
“Mahaiwe audiences have always enjoyed Aston Magna’s summer concerts. We are delighted to partner with them in bringing this special winter treat — something for the soul, something enduring, when it is cold and dark outside” says Mahaiwe Executive Director Janis Martinson.
About Aston Magna
Now in its 49th year, the Aston Magna Music Festival is the longest-running annual summer festival in America devoted to music performed on period instruments. Aston Magna aims to interpret the music of the past as the composer imagined it. Founded in 1972 by Lee Elman and the late Albert Fuller, it has forged a unique place in American cultural life.
About Aston Magna Artistic Director Daniel Stepner
Daniel Stepner is Professor Emeritus of Brandeis University, where for twenty-nine years he was first violinist of the Lydian String Quartet and taught violin and chamber music. He also held the post of concertmaster of the Handel and Haydn Society, and was a founding member of the Boston Museum Trio, in residence at the Museum of Fine Arts. Under his directorship, Aston Magna has expanded the summer series, instituted a series of house concerts, and produced recordings of Bach, Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, Rameau, Telemann, Marais and Clerambault. Stepner has held teaching posts at Harvard, the Eastman School, The New England Conservatory, Smith College, Boston University and the Longy School.
About the Mahaiwe
Located in downtown Great Barrington, Mass., the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center is the year-round presenter of world-class music, dance, theater, classic films, Live in HD broadcasts, and arts education programs for the southern Berkshires and neighboring regions. The intimate jewel box of a theater opened in 1905. Since 2005, the performing arts center has hosted over 1,500 events and welcomed over half a million people through its doors. More than 22,000 students from 73 different schools have benefited from the Mahaiwe’s school-time performances and residencies. For more information, see mahaiwe.org.
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