Bach Society Orchestra of Harvard University explained

The Bach Society Orchestra, known as BachSoc, is Harvard University'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 four times per 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 Nos. 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 1954–55 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 Joel Lazar, Andrew Schenck, Alan Gilbert, Isaiah Jackson, Christopher Wilkins, Hugh Wolff, Samuel Wong, and Edwin Outwater, 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.

Music Directors

!Year!Music Director
1955Michael Greenebaum
1956Michael Greenebaum
1957Michael Senturia
1958Michael Senturia
1959John Harbison
1960John Harbison
1961Joel Lazar
1962Andrew Schenck
1963Bentley Layton
1964Gregory Biss
1965Isaiah Jackson III
1966Daniel Hathaway
1967John C. Adams
1968John C. Adams
1969Philip Kelsey
1970Martin Kessler
1971Nils Vigeland
1972Robert Hart Baker
1973Robert Hart Baker
1974Hugh Wolff
1975Neal Stulberg
1976Christopher Wilkins
1977Christopher Wilkins
1978Peter Lurye
1979Richard Green, James Ross
1980James Ross
1981Diana Watt
1982Samuel Wong
1983Scott Kluksdahl
1984Scott Kluksdahl
1985Jeffrey Goldberg
1986Scott Gregg
1987Scott Gregg
1988Alan Gilbert
1989James Kwak
1990Edwin Outwater
1991Edwin Outwater
1992Evan Christ
1993Evan Young
1994Steve Huang
1995Jonathan Yates
1996Jonathan Yates
1997Eric Tipler
1998Eric Tipler
1999Benjamin Rous
2000Grace Kao
2001Lembit Beecher
2002Sean Henry Ryan
2003Alexander Misono
2004Alexander Brash
2005Daniel Chetel
2006Aram Demirjian
2007Aram Demirjian
2008John Sullivan
2009Yuga Cohler
2010Yuga Cohler
2011Jesse Wong[1]
2012Lucien Werner[2]
2013
2014Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2015Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2016Sasha Scolnik-Brower
2017Reuben Stern
2018Reuben Stern
2019Reuben Stern
2020Soren Nyhus
2021Soren Nyhus
2022Camden Archambeau
2023Lucas Amory
2024Enoch Li

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Paine’s Performance Potential Restored Arts The Harvard Crimson . 2024-05-06 . www.thecrimson.com.
  2. Web site: Portrait of an Artist: Lucien D. Werner Arts The Harvard Crimson . 2024-05-06 . www.thecrimson.com.