The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform the world premiere of a new arrangement of Bach’s Goldberg Variations by SPCO Principal Horn James Ferree on April 8 at Ordway Concert Hall in St. Paul. The work, originally for solo keyboard, will be performed for an audience limited to 50 percent capacity to allow for distancing; on April 9, the program will be presented in person and live-streamed for free via the SPCO Concert Library. In a program note, Ferree writes, “Arranging this work during the opening stages of the pandemic, it became quite personal and therapeutic for me…. It was the intimacy of the work, the virtuosity, and the variety of characters that convinced me (and SPCO violinist Daria Adams, who proposed the idea to me) that Goldberg was ripe with potential to arrange for my colleagues in the SPCO. The work becomes a tour of the orchestra and its musicians…. I began nicknaming each variation … referencing music theory, world events, my reaction or approach to each variation, or just wordplay…. It’s still Bach, but Bach reimagined. My hope is that more people may experience the riches of Goldberg in a new light.”
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