Friday, August 18 | 10AM | Tent at Camden Public Library Amphitheatre

Age 35 +: $38 | Age 22-34: $20 | Age 21 & Under: Pay What You Wish

JOHN MCKEAN, host & harpsichord

BLAKE POULIOT, violin

JAMES AUSTIN SMITH, oboe

VIANO STRING QUARTET

The third part of a series of morning lecture recitals featuring multiple artists performing at our 2023 Screen Door Festival. This year, we consider works by J.S. Bach within the historical, stylistic and familial context in which he lived and worked, and explore how Bach’s compositional techniques convey his sense of profound optimism and faith.

This session is presented by acclaimed musicologist, chair of the Historical Performance Department at Longy School of Music of Bard College, and Maine-native, John McKean. It features excerpts from The Art of Fugue, a collection of fugues and canons, all based on a single theme, and widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in the history of Western classical music. Also performed in this session, Bach’s double concerto featuring a rich interplay between oboe and violin that is both expressive and virtuosic.

Viano String Quartet has a “huge range of dynamics, massive sound, and spontaneity…all the warmth, balanced sound, rhythmic solidity, and elegance one could wish for” (The American Record Guide). James Austin Smith’s festival appearances include Marlboro, Lucerne, Music@Menlo, Spoleto USA, Bowdoin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Orlando, and he has recorded for the Nonesuch, Bridge, Mode and Kairos labels.

Zoot coffee and muffins are available before the concert.

PROGRAM

BACH Art of Fugue

BACH Concerto in C Minor, for violin and oboe, BWV 1060

Special thank you to our Bach for Breakfast Series Sponsor, Bangor Savings Bank.

Listen to James Austin Smith perform Bach’s Concerto for Oboe an Violin: