Lewis Kaplan performs at a previous Bach Virtuosi Festival. Photo by Stanley Warshaw, courtesy of Bach Virtuosi Festival WARSHAW
Long before the world knew the name George Floyd, Lewis Kaplan was planning a musical program to address America’s rampant problem with hate. In the wake of the violence following Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, Kaplan’s planning feels ever more urgent.
If not for the COVID-19 crisis, Kaplan would be convening musicians this month in Portland for the Bach Virtuosi Festival, an annual gathering of the musical community to celebrate the legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the all-time great composers. The pandemic first forced the postponement of the festival until August and then turned it into a virtual event. Now scheduled for the week of Aug. 16, this year’s festival will feature videos of festival musicians performing much of the repertoire originally planned.
The centerpiece of the festival will be a collaboration with Portland Stage on a new piece called “Brotherhood/Sisterhood,” which will include dramatic readings of the inspirational words of Martin Luther King, Jr., Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Abraham Lincoln and others, interspersed with the music of Bach.
“It was inspired not by the pandemic, but by the situation with the climate of hate in the United States these last few years,” Kaplan said in a phone interview from his home in New York. “Going back at least a year, I have been thinking, ‘What in my own little way can I do about this?’ ”
Floyd’s death and the riots in New York and across the country confirmed his sense of urgency, Kaplan said.
Other musical highlights of the virtual program will include Arthur Haas performing “Goldberg Variations” and Kaplan performing “Chaconne,” with commentary.
As much as he would prefer hosting a festival in person, Kaplan, 86, said he was up for the challenge of trying something new.
“I don’t regard this as a fallback position. I regard it as a challenge, and I have for most of my adult life been involved with new musical and artistic ideas,” he said. “This is a wonderful, wonderful challenge. We are working hard now and thinking about not just putting on a program that we would have put on anyway, but how do we keep the same artistic standards and keep much of the same repertoire, and yet do it for a worldwide audience that is watching online? That’s quite a challenge, and it makes me feel rather young, vibrant and excited. I like that.”
For details, visit bachvirtuosifestival.org.
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