The Stellenbosch University Early Music Unit and Camerata are delighted to announce the Bach Brandenburg Project under the direction of Extraordinary Professor Pauline Nobes, acclaimed in Europe as one of the leading period instrument violinists of her generation. Prof Nobes has teamed up with Peter Martens, Artistic Director of the US Camerata in planning what is possibly the first performance of all six Brandenburg Concertos by J.S. Bach on period instruments in South Africa.
The project will span three concerts the first of which will take place in the Endler Hall on Friday 2 September 2016 at 20:00, whilst the remaining two will take place next year. Whereas all programmes will be centred around Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, each will contain a number of works by other composers of the time, in this case Purcell and Telemann.
The featured works on 2 September will be the third and fifth Brandenburg Concertos. Bach is thought to have written these works for the musicians of the court of Köthen where he was employed in the 1720s, hence an unusual and most interesting combination of instruments. Brandenburg 3 is for three violins, three violas, 3 celli and basso continuo. Brandenburg 5 is for solo violin (Pauline Nobes), traverse flute (Bridget Rennie-Salonen), harpsichord (Erik Dippenaar) and strings. The solo harpsichord part of this work is particularly noteworthy as it not only demands extreme virtuosity from the player, but also arguably contains the first written concerto style cadenza.
Tickets for R140 (regular) and R100 (students and pensioners) are available now through Computicket and at the door.
