Tuesday, 9 November 2021

Ich habe genug: Canadian company Sound The Alarm: Music Theatre's latest project uses a Bach cantata to explore issues of mental health, identity and more.

Bach: Ich habe genug - Jonathan Adams, Pacific Baroque Orchestra, Sound the Alarm: Music Theatre

Our relationship to the great works of the past is complex, and the current challenge is to explore further than musical works by dead white men, but companies are also re-examining ways of presenting existing classical works. One such is the Canadian company, Sound The Alarm: Music Theatre (STA). STA's most recent project uses a Bach cantata to not only explore issues of mental health, but to do so in the context of recent Canadian colonial history, to challenge historically white, Christian, heteronormative narratives as it relates to personal and cultural identity. 

The first fruit of this is a collaboration with Early Music Vancouver and their artist in residence, Cree-Metis baritone Jonathan Adams, performing Bach's Cantata BWV 82 "Ich habe genug", directed by Alan Corbishley with Alex Weimann conducting Pacific Baroque Orchestra, and video from Michael Heid, and recorded live on 5 August 2021. The performance also features a concert performance of BWV 56, which will be the subject of a companion video project.

Full details from the STA website, and the full performance is available on YouTube.

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