Program:
Corelli Concerto grosso Op. 6 No. 9
Bach Sonata in G for violin and obligato harpsichord BWV 1019
Brescianello Chaconne in A major
Brandenburg Concerto No. 5

William Porter, guest artist
Organ & Harpsichord

William Porter, organist and harpsichordist, will be quite busy with Bach in Tallahassee! As Bach Parley guest artist, he will play J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 on Sunday, January 28, at 3:00pm at St. John’s Episcopal Church. As an FSU College of Music Housewright Scholar, he will play selections of Bach’s Clavierübung (German for “keyboard exercises”), Part III on Friday, January 26 at 7:30pm on the magnificent mechanical Taylor and Boody pipe organ at First Presbyterian Church. Porter will also be teaching an organ masterclass on Saturday, January 27, from 9:00-11:00am, as well as improvisation to piano students at FSU.

The centerpiece of Sunday’s Bach Parley concert is Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, which features a dazzling harpsichord solo played by William Porter. Valerie Arsenault and Karl Barton will play the violin and flute solos, respectively, along with a large Bach Parley ensemble including violinists Miriam Barfield, Carrie Holden, Minyoung Cho, and Aaron King Vaughn, violist Melissa Brewer, cellist Kim Jones, double bassist Melanie Punter, and Brian Arsenault who will be switch hitting on violin and viola. The rest of the program will be a Corelli concerto grosso, a Chaconne by the lesser known Baroque composer Brescianello, and the gratifying Sonata in G for violin and harpsichord played by Arsenault and Porter.

William Porter has ties to Tallahassee. While in college, Bach Parley Music Director Valerie Arsenault worked with him at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and sang in his church choir. Both current FSU organ professor Iain Quinn and retired professor Michael Corzine studied improvisation with Porter in Boston and at Yale.

Widely known as a performer in the United States and in Europe, William Porter has also achieved international recognition for his skill in improvisation in a wide variety of styles, ancient and modern. From 2002 until 2013 he was Professor of Organ, Harpsichord, and Improvisation at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York; he has also been a member of the music faculty at McGill University in Montreal, the New England Conservatory, Yale University, and Oberlin College. Now residing in Rochester, New York, he returned to the Eastman School of Music in 2015 as part-time Professor of Organ.

Bach Parley musicians:
Karl Barton
Valerie Arsenault
Miriam Barfield
Carrie Holden
Minyoung Cho
Aaron King Vaughn
Melissa Brewer
Brian Arsenault
Kim Jones
Melanie Punter

$10 suggested donation, Free childcare available

Special Event:
Organ Recital
J. S. Bach
Clavierübung, Part III

William Porter, organ

Friday, January 26, 2018
7:30pm, First Presbyterian Church
Free and open to the public; Free childcare available