BACH’S COFFEEHOUSE | CAFÉ ZIMMERMANN [4pm & 7pm performances]

MOUNTAINSIDE BAROQUE RE-IMAGINES ‘BACH’S COFFEEHOUSE NOVEMBER 8 AT CAFÉ MARK IN CUMBERLAND MD

Note: there will be two seatings for this concert: one at 4pm and another at 7pm.

Mountainside Baroque presents “Bach’s Coffeehouse,” an intimate, informal concert at Café Mark in downtown Cumberland on Sunday, November 8. This concert re-imagines Cafe Zimmermann, the famous 18th century Leipzig establishment that hosted weekly concerts by such illustrious city residents as Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Phillip Telemann.

As the largest and best-known “Kaffeehaus” in the city of Leipzig in Germany, Cafe Zimmermann became a social center for the middle classes and gentlemen and women of the city, in part by offering free entertainment. Further, musicians paid nothing for use of the venue. Thus, it was a showcase for Bach and Telemann, who frequently directed chamber music there. Gottfried Zimmermann, owner of the café and patron of the arts, naturally offset his expenses with coffee sales.

There will be two seatings for Mountainside Baroque’s November 8 concert, one at 4pm and another at 7pm. Joseph Yungen and Marc Bellassai are featured performing pieces for two harpsichords. One piece, Bach’s “Concerto in c minor for two Harpsichords,” was likely originally performed by J.S. Bach and one of his sons. The other was composed in a slightly later style by J.C. Bach, one of Bach’s sons. 

The Zimmerman performances also included music by other celebrated composers of the time such as Antonio Vivaldiand Gottfried Stölzel, whose music will also be heard on this program, especially in the vocal music performed by soprano Brooke Evans. A string quartet composed of Maria Romero, Brian Ford, Caitlin Cribbs and Erin Ellis will feature violinist Romero from Vanderbilt University and violoncellist Ellis from West Virginia University. Lyle Nordstrom will accompany on Baroque guitar and lute.