Sonora, CA…What does Sonora have in common with Kalamazoo, Scranton, Winter Park, Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) and 94 other communities? They will all be celebrating another year of acknowledging the music of Johann Sebastian Bach through a local music festival. In fact, The Bach Cantata Website lists 99 communities worldwide that have annual or biannual musical recognitions of the great composer, his music and his influence on the world.

Sonora’s, like so many others, began with the vision of one or two people. Carl Wirth, a renowned composer (particularly of music for classical saxophone), teacher and conductor, left Rochester, New York where he was a student and also a faculty member. He eventually ended up in Twain Harte. In 1976, on the front porch of his home and at the Eproson House Restaurant, he, and other musicians founded the Sonora Bach Festival. It was an informal gathering – a BYOI (Bring Your Own Instrument).

Since that time, like many of the Festivals world wide, the Sonora festival has grown. Originally held on one weekend with just a few concerts, the festival now holds its events every weekend in October. Like many of the Festivals worldwide, Sonora’s venues change from year to year and concert to concert. The Festival has used many of the historic churches in the county as well as the Sonora Opera Hall and Sonora High School Auditorium. This year’s venues will be held in the historical ambience of the The Church of the 49ers (Columbia), The Country Cowboy Church (Sonora), and Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church (Sugar Pine).

“We hold a different and diverse event each weekend in October, which allows us to offer a wide range of musical experiences to our audience”, says Festival Director Sandra Betti. “October is the perfect month for the festival as the weather is beautiful, the fall colors are out, and our mountain community is at its most charming”.

Unlike some other Bach Festivals, which feature only professional performers, the programs have been diverse and reflected a mix of local professionals, talented amateurs and visiting guest artists. Professional groups such as Philharmonia Baroque and Concerto Amabile, and local groups such as The Columbia College Community Chorus. The Symphony of the Sierra and Jazz@8 have participated in concerts. Lectures on the Fortepiano, the viola de gamba and Dances of the Baroque have educated the audiences. Concerts have featured the vocal music of founder Carl Wirth, music for three guitars, music for saxophone, and Bach for Banjo. Former county residents Claudia Waite and Lise Lindstrom, now international opera stars, have presented recitals.

This year’s festival will present programs featuring local youth and adults, and visiting, professional guest artists. The youth concerts, featuring some of the best, young local talent under 18, have consistently featured, as guest artists, former students who have moved on from the county in pursuit of their musical development Guest Artist for the Youth concert, October 8, will be former county resident, soprano Savannah Bailey. The Bach’s Brunch, October 30
will feature Sutter Creek guitarist Gordon Rowland. Other events will feature singers, pianists, organists, jazz saxophonist Rod Harris, Summerville High School’s award-winning Jazz at 8 and more.

Janet Telford, vice chair of the festival said “We are particularly excited about the chamber orchestra concert jointly presented by the Sonora Bach Festival and the Mother Lode Friends of Music. The concert will feature international, Romanian violinist Corina Stoian, our own Sandra Betti on flute, and Amador County’s Ron Brickman on harpsichord. They will be performing with the Mother Lode Friends of Music chamber orchestra as part of a wonderful concert on October 15 featuring Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, selections from Handel’s Water Music and Stoian in Bach’s Violin Concerto in E”.

The Festival, always run by volunteers since it’s earliest days, consists of music lovers and musicians who see the value of such a festival for our community. The committee consists of Betti (flautist and Director of Music at St. Patrick’s Church), Janet Telford (flautist and oboist), Barbara Broad (Director of Music at the Church of the 49ers, singer, and Chairperson of Sonora Sings Classical), John Carter (Retired Music Professor), Ralph Retherford (cellist and singer), singers Marguerite Close, Barbara Fish, Jennie Moiso, and more. In addition, other volunteers support the festival through donations, hosting, logistics, ticket collecting, contributing program ads and in-kind services.

This year Kalamazoo will celebrate it’s 70th season of Bach; Scranton its 31st; Winter Park its 81st; Bethlehem, Pennsylvania it’s 110th and Sonora it’s 40th! Like so many other Bach festivals, Sonora owes its continued existence to a group of dedicated musicians and music lovers such as Betti and Telford who love beautiful, classical music and believe in offering it to our community and nurturing its musical life. Says Director Betti,
“Our Festival may not be as old as some, or as large as others. But here in the Mother Lode you can have an enriching experience by listening to wonderful music in gorgeous settings, without leaving our beautiful county.”

Schedule of Events:

October 1, Saturday, 2:00 p.m.: Baroque Singalong at the Church of the 49ers, Columbia.
October 9, Sunday, 3:00 p.m.: Youth Finalists’ Concert at the Church of the 49ers, Columbia.
October 15, 6:30 Light Buffet followed by concert at 7:30 p.m.: Chamber Orchestra Concert at The Country Cowboy Church, Sonora
October 23, 3:00 p.m.: Locals’ Concert at The Church of the 49ers, Columbia
October 30, 12:30 p.m.: Bach’s Brunch at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Sugar Pine

Tickets and more information for all events are available on the festival web site at
http://www.sonorabach.org/
and Facebook at facebook.com/SonoraBachFestival/

Carl Anton Wirth (b. January 24, 1912 – d. May 16, 1986) was an American conductor and composer. Born in Rochelle, NY to German industrialist Anton Wirth and his Swiss wife, Ida Voitel, Wirth graduated with honors from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York in 1934 and then went on to found and lead symphony orchestras in Rochester and in St. Paul, Minnesota as well as to head the composer’s division of the American Symphony League.

In 1961-62, on assignment abroad with the U.S. State Department, he directed the Radio Republik Symphony Orchestra in Djakarta, Indonesia at the request of Indonesia’s first President, Sukarno. While there, he also studied gamelan music across the island of Java and, upon his return, brought back to the United States its first full set of gamelan instruments – which were acquired, and are still in use, by the University of Indiana, Bloomington.

Mr. Wirth, in his lifetime, composed over 100 orchestral works, ballets and chamber pieces, but is probably best known for his many contributions to the repertoire for classical saxophone — including the Idlewood Concerto, Jephthah, Diversions in Denim, Beyond These Hills, and Portals — many of which were premiered in the 1950s and 1960s by classical saxophone pioneer Sigurd Rascher.