UPDATE: MOUNTAINSIDE BAROQUE BEGINS STREAMING A VIDEO PERFORMANCE ON APRIL 7 (TITLED “BACH’S GAMBIT–GOING FOR GALANT”)

Mountainside Baroque is Coming Bach with a streaming video chamber performance titled “Bach’s Gambit: Going for Galant.” The launch was unavoidably delayed, but the video is now available as of Wednesday, April 7th. The concert, performed and recorded in the Allegany Museum’s Arthur & Bernice Friedland Grand Courtroom, will be available on Vimeo for two weeks at the viewer’s convenience via the organization’s website (www.mountainsidebarque.org).

The April event ventures into new territory for the organization: the early Classic era.  Two of our favorite performers, Marc Bellassai and Arnie Tanimoto, will be reviving many features of a famous concert series established in 1775 by J.S. Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian Bach, and Carl Frederik Abel. Following Handel to England, the two had immigrated to London to advance their careers, and around 1764, even lodging in the same establishment.

Bach and Abel promoted several series of chamber concerts, but the most famous and prestigious took place in the newly built Hanover Square Rooms, which became one of the primary and most fashionable music venues in London.  Johann Peter Salomon even used this venue in the 1790’s when he brought Joseph Haydn to England, where his famous “London Symphonies” were first performed. While a wide variety of music by many composers was a part of the series, Bach and Abel often performed their own compositions.

With this history in mind, Bellassai and Tanimoto have designed a program that reflects this rich heritage. The program will feature music not only by J.C. Bach and C.F. Abel, but also music written by J.C’s older and famous half-brother, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and as well as Joseph Haydn, including some of Haydn’s popular settings of Scottish Songs.

Reflecting the trends of the time, Bellassai will perform on the then new-fangled fortepiano (the early version of the modern piano). J.C. Bach was an early champion of this instrument, giving the first fortepiano recital in London in 1768. Mozart also visited London in the 1760’s and, while there, studied with J.C. Bach. (Apparently, the two played duets on both the fortepiano and harpsichord.)

Arnie Tanimoto will perform works by C.F. Abel, thought to be the last viola da gamba virtuoso. Arnie is a graduate of both the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School and was the Gold Medalist in the 7th International Bach-Abel Competition in 2018.  He has frequently entertained our audiences with his performances on both the viola da gamba and the Baroque cello.

Marc Bellassai is a graduate of the Oberlin conservatory and Indiana University. He was also a Fulbright IIE scholar from 1994-6, at the Civica Scuola di Musica and Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Italy. Marc has charmed Mountainside Baroque audiences with his tantalizing and witty comments and solo performances on harpsichord.

After the cancellation of the Spring 2020 live concerts and the June 2020 “Music in the Mountains” Festival due to the pandemic, the organization is delighted to be launching new plans to again make live classical music a part of the Tri-state regional offerings.

As an additional lead-in, in May the group will post a 10-year retrospective video featuring both selections from the many concerts presented in Cumberland since 2011 and commentary from some of those involved, including performers who have traveled from across the world to bring us this rarely heard music. This will also set the scene for the 2021-2022 Festival Season.