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Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra celebrates 20 years with Bach

The CSO will be performing two spring concerts, one in Chilliwack and one in Abbotsford
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The concert will showcase flute soloist Bernard Blary. (Submitted)

The Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra and Chorus will be topping off its 2018-2019 season with We’ve Got Your Bach, a concert featuring compositions from members of the greatest musical family the world has ever known.

On May 4 and 5 the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will be playing music by two baroque period composers — the renowned Johann Sebastian Bach and his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

This concert marks the 20th anniversary of the CSO. It will begin with the Chilliwack Children’s and Youth Choir joined with Belle Voci singing a spirited a cappella version of Sleepers Wake.

The 13-piece CSO Brass Choir, comprised of professional CSO members as well as the Fraser Valley’s top music students will blow you away with J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. It’s a perfect blend and also a great opportunity for these students to play some fun, yet challenging music alongside their mentors.

The CSO Chorus and members of Belle Voci will sing excerpts from J.S. Bach’s Easter Cantata #66 and his Mass in B minor. Bach’s Mass in B minor, one of his last compositions completed in 1749, is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music, a monumental work which Bach scholars describe as representing “a summary of his writing for voice.”

An exceptional highlight of the concert will showcase flute soloist Bernard Blary, known for his beautiful sound and technique, in performance of the third movement of C.P.E. Bach’s Concerto in D minor for flute and orchestra.

Blary has been a member and featured soloist with a variety of orchestras and chamber groups and has performed concerts in the United States, Canada, Europe and South America. He is currently the principal flutist with the Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra, having played under both Clyde Mitchell and Paula DeWit, and regularly plays with other local orchestras, including the Vancouver Island Symphony, the Canada West Chamber Orchestra and the Richmond Orchestra.

We’ve Got Your Bach is in Chilliwack on Sunday, May 5 at 3 p.m. at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre. Tickets starts at $25 (family rates available at Chilliwack Cultural Centre) and available at 604-391-SHOW (7469) or chilliwackculturalcentre.ca.

They also have a concert on Saturday, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at St. James Catholic Parish (2777 Townline Rd., Abbotsford). Tickets: 604-795-0521 or chilliwacksymphony.com or Kings Music in Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

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The Chilliwack Children’s Choir. (Submitted)
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French horn player Susannah Blary. (Submitted)
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Cellist Shin-Jung Nam. (Submitted)
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The CSO Brass Choir. (Submitted)