The Scen3

CD Review by Kelly Dean Hansen During Zachary Carrettin’s ten-year tenure as music director, the Boulder Bach Festival gradually moved away from a compressed series of concerts in a single festival week to a spread-out season model like those typical of symphony orchestras.  In May 2022, however, the organization made a brief return to the […]

A review by Marc Shulgold Heartfelt words of gratitude from the stage, warm waves of applause from a sizable audience – and, as usual, first-rate musicianship from first note to last. Those were the memories for those exiting the fourth and final concert in this year’s 41st Boulder Bach Festival, Sunday afternoon in First Congregational […]

A review by Marc Shulgold The concert’s title alliteratively promised “Magnificent Magnificats,” and indeed, the Baroque ensemble Seicento delivered. To celebrate a decade of music-making, the group, led by artistic director Amanda Balestrieri, offered an intriguing triple-header of upbeat choral works, each built on the same joyful Latin text. Heard Sunday afternoon in Boulder’s First […]

A preview article – by Betsy Schwarm Is there such a thing as a single “authentic” Messiah? Even the composer himself might suggest not; after all, in the seventeen years between the work’s premiere in 1742 and Handel’s passing, he presented the work again and again, often reshaping it for particular singers and/or venues. So […]