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Since its founding in 2008 as a diverse group of professionals, students and avocational musicians, the Oregon Bach Collegium has offered historically informed performances in Oregon. Their goal is to spark interest, advance education and encourage dialogue about our rich musical past. They have performed music by such well-known composers as J.S. Bach, George Frideric Handel, Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonio Vivaldi, Scarlatti, Purcell and François Couperin. At the same time they have also explored the lesser-known masters of the 18th century, including Christoph Graupner, Johann David Heinichen, Pepusch, and still did not neglect the early 17th-century music by Cima, Castello and Riccio. Extending our scope in the other direction, they have performed early works of Josef Haydn and Boccherini.
This is a literature whose charm is, if not lost, then certainly diminished by the imposition of 19th/20th century instruments, performing styles and concepts of intonation. Their intention has been to apply the best and most enlightened scholarship to recovering the “period’ sound of this music. This they do by the use of the most appropriate instruments available, the original editions or manuscripts where possible, and the powerful element of improvisation which was so much a part of the period and which makes the music seem new and fresh again.
In each concert they tell a story, or at least make a point. Notable examples of their interest in historical context include their presentation of music from the court of Frederick the Great, a presentation of music mentioned in the Patrick O’Brian novels, and a re-creation of the meeting between Francis Drake’s musicians and a Javanese gamelan as performed on the deck of the Golden Hind in 1580. They research, devise, plan, rehearse and present these programs both for their own pleasure and gratification and for that of their audiences. It is they who make it possible through support of and attendance at their concerts, supplying the receptive ears without which the music looses a vital dimension.
Margret Gries has been Music Director of the Oregon Bach Collegium from 2008 to 2024. |
