Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University
Encyclopedia
The Bach Society Orchestra, known as BachSoc, is Harvard's premier chamber orchestra. The orchestra is staffed, managed, and conducted entirely by students. Each year, the members of the orchestra select the next year's conductor, always an undergraduate. In turn, at the beginning of the new year the inaugurated conductor auditions new and returning members of the orchestra.
BachSoc generally performs 4 times a year, with concerts featuring works for chamber orchestra - interpreted broadly to include intimate chamber pieces as well as mid-sized symphonies - taken from an eclectic set of historical periods. Works featured in recent seasons have included Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Beethoven's Symphonies 6 and 7, Barber's Adagio for Strings, Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (narrated by the Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes
), and Villa-Lobos' Sinfonietta No. 1.
The Bach Society Orchestra has been an official undergraduate organization of the University since the 1954-5 academic school year. At its founding, the orchestra loosely devoted itself to performing the music of J.S. Bach; since then, the repertoire has grown to span the historical continuum from baroque to the contemporary. The orchestra's annual composition and concerto competitions have become respected institutions of the Harvard music scene. Alumni include cellist Yo-Yo Ma
, composers John Adams and John Harbison
, conductors Alan Gilbert
, Isaiah Jackson
, Christopher Wilkins, Hugh Wolff
, and Samuel Wong
, and members of top American symphony orchestras.
An excerpt from History of Music at Harvard to 1972 by Elliott Forbes (Harvard UP: 1988) describes the beginnings of BachSoc:
BachSoc generally performs 4 times a year, with concerts featuring works for chamber orchestra - interpreted broadly to include intimate chamber pieces as well as mid-sized symphonies - taken from an eclectic set of historical periods. Works featured in recent seasons have included Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, Beethoven's Symphonies 6 and 7, Barber's Adagio for Strings, Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf (narrated by the Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes
Peter J. Gomes
Peter John Gomes was an American preacher and theologian,the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard Divinity School and Pusey Minister at Harvard's Memorial Church—in the words of Harvard's president "one of the great preachers of our generation, and a living symbol of courage and...
), and Villa-Lobos' Sinfonietta No. 1.
The Bach Society Orchestra has been an official undergraduate organization of the University since the 1954-5 academic school year. At its founding, the orchestra loosely devoted itself to performing the music of J.S. Bach; since then, the repertoire has grown to span the historical continuum from baroque to the contemporary. The orchestra's annual composition and concerto competitions have become respected institutions of the Harvard music scene. Alumni include cellist Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, composers John Adams and John Harbison
John Harbison
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
, conductors Alan Gilbert
Alan Gilbert (conductor)
Alan Gilbert is an American violinist and conductor. He is currently the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, making his debut performance as the orchestra's music director on September 16, 2009.-Early years:...
, Isaiah Jackson
Isaiah Jackson
Isaiah Allen Jackson is an African American conductor of world renown. He has recently concluded a seven year term as conductor of the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston, of which he has been named Conductor Emeritus...
, Christopher Wilkins, Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff
Hugh Wolff is an American conductor.He was born in Paris while his father was serving in the U. S. Foreign Service, then spent his primary-school years in London. He received his higher education at Harvard and at Peabody Conservatory...
, and Samuel Wong
Samuel Wong
Samuel Wong is a Hong Kong-born Canadian conductor and ophthalmologist .Trained at Harvard and Columbia, Dr. Wong is an eye surgeon practicing in Manhattan, Brooklyn and upstate New York....
, and members of top American symphony orchestras.
An excerpt from History of Music at Harvard to 1972 by Elliott Forbes (Harvard UP: 1988) describes the beginnings of BachSoc:
The 'Musical Club of Harvard University,' as it was called upon its founding in 1898, took on new life after World War II. The idea of a chamber orchestra was broached for the first time in 1947. Then in 1951 an organizational meeting of the Harvard Music Club was called to discuss the forming of a chamber chorus and orchestra. The next year a catalogue was compiled of all Harvard and Radcliffe musicians, and finally in the academic year 1954-55 were founded the Bach Society Chorus, Howard M. Brown '51, conductor, and the Bach Society Orchestra, Michael L. Greenebaum '55, conductor.
"The chorus was soon disbanded, but the Bach Society Orchestra has continued to flourish. Greenebaum continued as conductor for a second year, then as a graduate student. Starting with his successor Michael Senturia '58, who led the orchestra from 1956 to 1958, the conductor has always been an undergraduate, chosen either by an independent jury or by the orchestra members acting as a collective jury.