Singer

Can't make it to Leipzig June 2024? Join us for our San Diego Bachfest debut preview. In his second year as Thomaskantor, J.S. Bach composed a new cantata for every Sunday; a total of 52 works! Join us for three of them written for Advent and Christmas 1724.

EPSG:4326

Bound for Bachfest

St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church

All Souls' Episcopal Church

The tantalizing Concerto Doppio for Harpsichord and Fortepiano (1788) may have been Emmanuel Bach's final composition, having died in the same year at the age of 74. Telemann's vocal masterpiece Ino (1765) was composed two years before his death at the age of 84, and its premiere was likely led by C.P.E Bach (the elder composer’s godson!)

Last Blasts!

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church

The Sebastians perform Bach’s “little” Mass in G major, BWV 236, in a performance with forces matching Bach’s own proportions—oboes, bassoon, strings, and continuo, plus a stunning vocal quartet who perform as soloists and chorus: Clara Rottsolk, Wee Kiat Chia, James Reese, and Tyler Duncan. Between the movements of the mass, we will include works by Bach’s contemporaries, also simulating the way the movements of the mass would have been separated by parts of the church service.

Bach: Mass in G

Madison Avenue Presbyterian

J.S. Bach’s vivid musical account of Christ's passion combines a striking drama and devotion forming a pinnacle of the vocal works composed for the Leipzig churches.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion was written for the Good Friday Vespers service of 1727 at the St Thomas' Church Leipzig and brings together relevant themes of betrayal, judgement, death, and love as expressed through St. Matthew's Gospel and Bach's librettist Picander.

St. Matthew Passion

Bach’s Easter Oratorio opens with a festive movement featuring trumpets and drums joyfully heralding an Easter celebration.

This triumphant liturgical work portrays a dramatized biblical story through four characters: Maria Jacobi (soprano), Mary Magdalene (mezzo-soprano), and the apostles Peter (tenor) and John (bass). Surprisingly, this masterwork, first written as a cantata for Easter Sunday’s mass, is a reimagined expansion on a birthday cantata he wrote for Duke Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels just two weeks before the Oratorio’s premiere. He continued to refine and embellish the Easter Oratorio up to the final few years of his life, adding arias and a four-part opening chorus, as well as altering instrument choices for select solos. The result is a superior example of Bach’s artistry and skill.

Bach’s Easter Oratorio invites the listener to indulge in intimate serenades. Solos and duets throughout the piece each offer their own charm, utilizing the unique character of an instrument to illustrate another component of the story. One duet between baroque flute and soprano paints Maria Jacobi (soprano) in dialogue with her own feelings or thoughts portrayed by the flute’s weaving melodic lines.

This performance will feature vocal soloists Clara Rottsolk (soprano), Meg Bragle (mezzo-soprano), Thomas Cooley (tenor), and Dashon Burton (bass-baritone).

Rameau’s Suite from Dardanus includes fourteen delightful musical vignettes. It opens in the spirit of a festive Renaissance dance highlighted by tambourin jingles and rhythmic drumming. The second and fourth movements star the baroque flutes’ floating melodies and luscious oboe lines. Movement five, Rigaudon, boasts captivating rhythmic undercurrents performed by the low strings. The final movement, Chaconne, features the warmth of the woodwind section, bright fanfares in the brass, and virtuosic passages in the strings leading to a satisfying, peaceful close.

Easter Oratorio

Sunset Center Theater

Bach’s Passions are deeply embedded in the Carmel Bach Festival tradition, and the Festival is proud to continue the tradition by presenting St. John Passion in 2022.  The St. John Passion is more dramatic and expressive than the St. Matthew Passion. Because it is shorter, the narrative of the St. John Passion is relentless, visceral, and intense. In fact, this work might be the closest thing to an opera Bach composed.  The oratorio Passion—comprised of Biblical texts enhanced by lyrical arias and chorales—was a relatively new form when Bach created the St. John Passion in 1724. The Passion begins with one of Bach’s finest choruses, “Herr unser Herrscher.” The New Yorker’s Alex Ross has said regarding this chorus: “Whatever images come to mind, the craft that went into the making of the scene—the melodic inspiration, the contrapuntal rigor, the immaculate demonstration of the rules, the insolent breaking of them—is as astounding now as it must have been on that day in 1724 (when St. John Passion premiered). One notable fact about the St. John Passion…is that we have no eyewitness account of the première. If the good people of Leipzig understood that they were in the presence of the most stupendous talent in musical history, they gave no sign.”  These performances will utilize period instruments at Baroque pitch, offering Carmel audiences a similar experience as the congregants in 1724 at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, and will be directed by Associate Conductor Andrew Megill.  “The themes the St. John Passion explores go beyond the walls of any specific church or denomination,” said Andrew Megill. Light versus darkness, truth versus falsehood, how we are constrained by and transcend the bonds of time, and the good and evil that lie within the human heart.”

St. John Passion


Brahms’ Requiem is the composer’s largest and most extravagantly scored work.

The Requiem also features some of the most beautiful choral/orchestral music in the repertoire. The opening chorus, “Blessed are they” exquisitely sets the tone for an evening of comfort, solace, and peace.

Brahms might have called the work a “Human Requiem,” as the composer’s empathetic sensibility and generous heart permeate all seven movements. Four movements are scored for chorus and orchestra while the third features a baritone soloist. The fourth movement is a peaceful pastorale, contemplative and serene. This music is exceptionally beautiful.

The fifth movement is a transcendent soprano solo accompanied by woodwinds, horns, muted strings, and the choir. The baritone soloist in the third movement sings of grief and doubt; the soprano’s text is of maternal consolation.

The moving final section is a delicate recapitulation of music from the beginning, and the Requiem reaches its peaceful conclusion with the same word with which it began: “Blessed.”

Brahms’ Requiem—unlike the requiems of Verdi, Berlioz, or Mozart—avoids fire and fury, instead offering comfort to the living. The seven movements use text from the Old and New Testaments to highlight timeless qualities of hope, rather than fear.

From its debut on Good Friday 1868, the German Requiem was instantly acknowledged as a masterpiece, and established Brahms’ reputation as a composer of international stature.

Clara Rottsolk

Soprano

Events

3 - 4 May, 2024

Bound for Bachfest · Bach Collegium San Diego

20 - 21 Oct, 2023

Last Blasts! · Bach Collegium San Diego

Apr 15, 2023

Bach: Mass in G · The Sebastians

24 - 25 Mar, 2023

St. Matthew Passion · Bach Collegium San Diego

Jul 30, 2022

Easter Oratorio · Carmel Bach Festival

Future and recently performed repertoire

Soprano in Saint John Passion by Bach

Carmel Bach Festival

About

Clara Rottsolk hasn't added a bio