Thursday July 27 2023 7:30 p.m.
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco
The program will last approximately 1 hour & 30 minutes including one intermission.
The San Francisco Bach Festival Opening Night Concert is a stunning program of music that captures the fun and vitality of the Baroque! Putting the artists of American Bach front and center, concertos for flutes, violas, violins, and harpsichord will enthrall your senses.
Sarah Coit — a recent recipient of The Jeffrey Thomas Award — will sing Bach's ravishing Cantata 170 that Classical FM says is "so beautiful it's basically from another planet." Voice and oboe d'amore blend together to express the work's title, "Delightful rest, beloved pleasure of the soul!"
A unique aspect of this program will be the exclusive debut of a newly composed work, specifically crafted for period instruments. American Bach has sponsored a competition among composition students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the victorious piece will make its world premiere during this highly anticipated concert. This is an event that you won't want to miss!
The American Bach Soloists are leading performers in the field of Baroque music, dedicated to historically informed performances of Bach and his contemporaries. Critical acclaim has been extensive: The Washington Post named ABS “the best American specialists in early music … a flawless ensemble … a level of musical finesse one rarely encounters.” And the San Francisco Chronicle has extolled the ensemble’s “divinely inspired singing.”
Sarah Coit: "flowed with confident legato and beautiful ornamentation" (Opera News), "displayed a clear, natural tone and her phrasing was exquisite" (Utah Arts Review), "a longtime local treasure who outdid herself with a blazing and tender performance" (San Francisco Chronicle)