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 preview by Kelly Dean Hansen Violinist Vadim Gluzman has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras.  The Ukrainian-born Israeli violinist–recognized as one of today’s top performing artists–made an appearance at the 2016 Colorado Music Festival, playing with the Festival Orchestra and on a chamber recital with the University of Colorado’s star pianist David […]

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 Betsy Schwarm Spring 2022 brings the 41st season of the Boulder Bach Festival.  In lesser hands, 41 years of a single composer – even the mighty JS Bach – might seem too much.  His catalog is vast, but it’s all him:  how many cantatas and fugues does one really need?  However, years […]

A review by Marc Shulgold Oh, sure – J.S. Bach was there, represented by three marvelous chamber works. And there was music by his famous old friend Telemann. But so too were deserving pieces by four not-so-familiar names. As much as we revere Johann Sebastian, it’s a safe guess that he would have welcomed sharing […]

A review by Kelly Dean Hansen, Ph.D For much of its history, including the first years under music director Zachary Carrettin, the Boulder Bach Festival was a compressed event, with three or four concerts packed into a single week.  Carrettin, now in his ninth year with the BBF, expanded the festival’s calendar to make it […]

Johann Sebastian Bach:  the music and the name are timeless, like a Gibraltar of great music.  Beethoven has myriad admirers, as does Mozart.  However, both masters studied JS Bach’s works, as have countless others since Bach’s time.  The man set such an unsurpassed standard of excellence that one hardly needs to specify which of many […]

A CD review by Betsy Schwarm Given current events, some may see accidental irony in the title of this delightful new recording of Schubert’s Sonatinas for violin and piano, Boundless, with Zachary Carrettín and Mina Gajić.  After all, “Boundless” can’t entirely describe the day-to-day activities of many, many millions of people living on lockdown in […]

A review by Gwen Gray After an ambitious year that included a half-dozen public concerts, two subscriber-only performances, and several outreach and education events (at schools, retirement homes, libraries, etc.), the Boulder Bach Festival ended its 38th season with a spectacular finale on Thursday, May 23. 2019, at Boulder Seventh Day Adventist Church. BBF audiences […]

A Review by Gwen Gray (Photo credits from Broomfield Auditorium: Opus Zero) Few have ever claimed that love is a singular emotion. It can be patient, blind, ill-fated, all-consuming, unrequited, sweet, tragic or true — and that’s just for starters. This was illustrated in great detail during the Boulder Bach Festival’s Feb. 14, 2019 production […]