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Bach SocietyBach to English!

Bach Society Houston is engaged in a English language project with Bach St John Passion. This event will feature movements from St John Passion, focusing on issues surrounding singing Bach in english in effective translation.

Born on St. Cecilia's day, the Grammy-nominated British counter-tenor Ryland Angel has built an international reputation on both the opera and concert stage, in repertoire ranging from the Baroque to new operatic commissions at major opera houses, concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and the USA. He has performed in Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Gavin Bryars’s Doctor Ox’s Experiment (English National Opera), Fairy Queen (Barcelona), Gluck’s Orfeo (Koblenz), Amadigi (Karlsruhe), Venus and Adonis (Flanders Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Opera Comique), The Play of Daniel (Spoleto), and Ballet Comique de La Royne (Geneva). Angel has sung on over 80 recordings including music of Buxtehude, Charpentier, Scarlatti, Stradella, Spears, O'Regan, Handel, Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach and on the film soundtracks of Jack Reacher -- never go back, Zoolander 2, Freedom, Le Petit Prince, La Peau, Henry 4th, Machete, The Mystery of Dante and the PBS TV special Heavenly Voices. Recent engagements include Doux Mensonges (Opera National de Paris), Agrippina(NYCO), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Florentine and Kansas Opera), Julius Caesar (Utah and Colorado Opera, Boston Baroque), Sant Alessio (Paris, London, New York), Carmina Burana (Lincoln Center/Prague Proms with CNSO), St. John Passion (Saint Thomas/Worcester Chorus), Classics and Rock (Seoul Philharmonic), Tesla (Dartmouth), Striggio Mass (Edinburgh Festival), Acis and Galatea (Houston) and Messiah (Handel and Haydn Society/Masterworks Chorus/Musica Sacra). Recent recordings include The Flaming Fire (MSR), Heart and Soul (Centaur), La Sposa (Solo Luminus) and Now Fatal Change (NMC). Ryland is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Minnesota.

Rick Erickson is the Director of Bach Society Houston and Cantor at Christ the King Lutheran Church. He is also Instructor in music at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University. A native of Wisconsin, Rick holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, from which he also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009, the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance and Literature and the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he also served for four years on the faculty of Improvfest. Rick has appeared as a conductor, church music lecturer, and hymn festival leader throughout the United States, and in Germany, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. He has performed for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, among other music events. He has recorded for Naxos, JV Recordings, and Media 1517. This past summer Rick led the Bach Choir in performances in Germany, including at the Leipzig Bach Fest, becoming the first professional American choir to perform as part of this prestigious event. Prior to coming to Houston, Rick served for 22 years as Director of the celebrated Bach Vespers series in New York.

Ryland Angel, countertenor
Rick Erickson, harpsichord

 

1:15 - 2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

The Chapel at St. Bartholomew's Church
50th St. and Park Avenue

 

Midtown Concerts sponsors lunchtime performances of music of the 18th century and earlier. Ensembles are chosen by a panel of early music specialists from the metropolitan area.

Time: Thursdays, 1:15–2:00 pm
All concerts are free; no tickets or reservations are necessary.

Concerts are in person at St. Malachy's Church, 239 West 49th Street, Manhattan, AND live streamed.