This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news

Bach Festival Previews June Program

Adair McConnell, minister of music at St. Stephens United Church of Christ in Harrisonburg, will give two talks highlighting some of the works to be performed at the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival coming up June 10-17, 2007.

The first lecture will be held 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20 in the Detwiler Auditorium of Heritage Haven at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). The second will take place 2:30 p.m. May 29 at the same location.

The first presentation will focus on music of composers other than Bach, specifically on three Romantic era works: both Chopin piano concertos and the Brahms "Requiem."

Internationally-acclaimed Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska will perform both concertos during the festival, and the Festival Chorus and Orchestra will perform the celebrated Requiem, with soloists Sharla Nafziger, soprano, and Thomas Jones, bass.

Artistic director, Kenneth Nafziger, will conduct all three of the festival’s main concerts and the Sunday Leipzig service.

'Bach and Some Admirers'

The May lecture will provide background information on J.S. Bach and preview his Orchestral Suite No. 1, Cantata No. 100, and Concerto for Two Violins, performed at the festival by violinists Joan Griffing and Susan Black.

Relating to this year’s festival theme, "Bach and Some Admirers," McConnell will discuss festival music written by composers who admired and were influenced by Bach.

An admirer of Bach’s music himself, McConnell specializes in early music, having previously been a lecturer-demonstrator of ancient keyboard instruments at the Smithsonian Institute.

A singer, organist, pianist, and recorder player, Adair stays active in retirement as a church musician, as a member of the Round Hill Recorder Consort, as a board member of both the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival and Harrisonburg’s First Night, and by involvement with many other local community activities.

McConnell earned a degree in English and spent 30 years teaching Russian and French in a high school in Fairfax County, while also serving as a computer instructor and online publications coordinator at the national headquarters of AARP, writing computer training manuals for the Department of Defense, building a harpsichord, forming and conducting the Reston Chamber Orchestra, and working as an organist and minister of music at several churches.

More Info

For this year’s 15th annual event, the board of the Bach Festival invites the community to support this exceptional artistic endeavor by making a contribution in memory of or in honor of a special person and to enjoy the beautiful music of the Brahms Requiem, the Chopin piano concertos and much more.

The presentations are open to the public free of charge.

For more information about the festival, see www.emu.edu/bach or contact Mary Kay Adams, festival coordinator, at or 540-432-4652.

— article by: Jim Bishop; posted February 16, 2007