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Local Event
Cost: $60
Evanston-based Bach Week Festival's third annual “Bachanalia,” its fall fundraiser featuring pairings of live classical music with specially selected wines, will take place at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 13, 2019, at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Ave., Evanston.
Proceeds from the Bachanalia, hosted by the festival board, will support the spring 2020 Bach Week Festival, the 47th annual edition, with concerts in Evanston and Chicago.
The event’s title combines the last name of German Baroque composer J. S. Bach and “bacchanalia,” the ancient Roman festival of entertainment and revelry named for Bacchus, Roman god of wine.
Performers at this year’s Bachanalia will be the Chicago Harp Quartet’s CHQ.2 duo, comprising harpists Marguerite Lynn Williams and Julie Spring.
Williams has been principal harp of Chicago’s Lyric Opera Orchestra since 2011 and has served as principal harp of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and New World Symphony.
Spring has been principal harp of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Toronto and Hartford Symphony Orchestras.
Richard Webster, Bach Week’s longtime music director and emcee for the Bachanalia, says, “With two outstanding harpists and an array of fine wines, this will be a heavenly experience.”
The harp duo will perform music from Spain, France, Italy, Russia, the U.S., and South America, including Enrique Granados’s “Danza Espagnole” No. 5; Marcel Tournier’s “Quatre Preludes”; a movement from Antonio Vivaldi’s Concerto in D Major; Sergei Prokofiev’s Prelude in C Major, Op. 12, No. 7 (“Harp”); Deborah Henson-Conant’s “Off She Goes & She’s Gone”; Carlo Salzedo’s “Chanson dans la nuit”; and “South American Suite,” comprising folk tunes from Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia, arranged by harpist Williams.
The companion wines will be announced at the event.
Mike Baker, an Advanced Sommelier in the Court of Master Sommeliers and lead buyer for Vin Chicago, consults with the musicians and selects wines that echo the personalities of the musical works to be performed. Baker also listens to recordings and researches the music before making his wine choices.
Baker will discuss each wine as it's poured for guests, followed by a performance of the musical work the wine was selected to complement.
Hearty hors d'oeuvres will be available throughout the event.
A silent auction will feature items donated by local businesses and performing arts organizations, including books, graphic art, concert tickets, and more.
Hosted by
Nathan J. Silverman Co. PR
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