Chock Full O'Bach
Performances
Intensive study and performance of Bach’s music has always occupied a central role in the lives of our Heifetz students, so as part of the myriad performance opportunities we provide for our Heifetz family during #Heifetz2020, we will share a performance from our students, alumni, and faculty daily throughout the summer at 9am on our website, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram channels.
“To me, it feels as if I’m coming back home whenever I play Bach. It feels so naturally written and genuine. There are hidden elements in Bach; for musicians it is very knowledgeable music, but what comes out of it is more of a spontaneity of expression. You can listen to Bach from many points of view: you can admire the science of it, the incredible intelligence of it, but even if you don’t have any musical training or knowledge, you can still enjoy it for the incredible spontaneous life of the melody.”
Start Your Day With Bach
The ritual of beginning the day with Bach is a universal and sacred tradition among musicians. Stravinsky’s daily custom was to play one of the preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier every morning to spark his creativity, while Robert Schumann advised that those same compositions “…should be your daily bread.” Perhaps most famously, the renowned cellist Pablo Casals returned to the Cello Suites as his morning habit – his widow Marta recounted that, “Monday he played No.1, Tuesday, No.2, and so on. Saturday and Sunday he played No.6, which was the most difficult….He did this every day of his life until he died.”
We’ve seen countless musicians find solace in Bach’s music during the quarantine, from Yo-Yo Ma, who performed the Sarabande from the Cello Suite No. 3 as the second selection for his Songs of Comfort Series, to our very own Alumni Showcase, in which three of the chosen selections by our outstanding young alums were solo works by Bach…including Avery Fisher Grant winner Rachell Ellen Wong‘s gripping performance of the Chaconne, arguably the most challenging and intense work every written for a solo string instrument.
Bach himself knew the importance of starting the day off on the right foot – his Coffee Cantata was an ode to the much-maligned-at-the-time beverage. So whether you’re on the East Coast and join us in raising a cup of joe, or across the seas and tuning in for an evening pick-me-up, we hope you’ll join us in this wonderful tradition of enjoying Bach with a beverage!