History of the Bach Week Festival
Bach Week was founded in 1974 by Karel Paukert, then Associate Professor of Organ and Church Music at Northwestern University and Organist/Choirmaster at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.
Mr. Paukert’s vision was to combine the choral resources available to him at St. Luke’s with professional instrumentalists from the Chicago Symphony, Lyric Opera Orchestra, and Northwestern to perform the great choral and orchestral music of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).
Since the original performances in 1974, the festival has continued without interruption each May — the first year directed by Mr. Paukert, and successive years by Richard Webster.
From 1974 until 1982, the works of J. S. Bach were featured exclusively. Since 1982, works by other Baroque composers have been added selectively, particularly works by worthy but lesser-known composers not widely performed elsewhere.
The music of Bach still predominates and one critic called the Bach Week Festival “the most comprehensive celebration of Bach’s music west of Leipzig.” Artistic quality and public response have continued to develop throughout Bach Week’s history. As a result, Bach Week has earned the reputation as one of the Midwest’s most highly regarded and respected concert series.
Richard Webster, Music Director
Richard Webster is Music Director of Chicago’s Bach Week Festival, an annual six-concert series performed by some of the Midwest’s most celebrated musicians, now in its 33rd season.
Richard is a composer, church musician, choral conductor and organist of wide renown. He is in frequent demand for newly commissioned anthems, organ works, hymn tunes and liturgical music, and travels extensively to direct hymn festivals, choral workshops and perform organ recitals. His hymn arrangements for brass, percussion, organ and congregation are performed in churches and concert halls throughout the English-speaking world. The Canadian Broadcasting Company perennially features these hymns on their Easter and Christmas broadcasts. His settings have also been televised on BBC’s “Songs of Praise,” the most widely viewed religious music program in the world.
Recent commissions include the Cleveland Museum of Art, Baylor University, the 2006 American Guild of Organists national convention in Chicago, the Association of Anglican Musicians and numerous churches. Richard’s works are published by Augsburg Fortress, Church Music Society, Church Publishing, Selah and Advent Press. He has written articles on church music for The American Organist, The Diapason, Chicago Tribune, The Living Church and the Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and is a contributing author to Leading the Church’s Song, published by Augsburg.
Currently the Associate Director of Music at Boston’s historic Trinity Church on Copley Square, Richard directs the newly formed Trinity Choristers, and assists with the Trinity Choir, Parish Choir and Canterbury Singers. Much sought after as a choral clinician, Mr. Webster has led Royal School of Church Music Training Courses for boy and girl choristers in the United States and South Africa. Richard is a past President of the Association of Anglican Musicians.
As a frequent organist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Richard has performed and recorded with them in works from the Saint Saens Organ Symphony to Ives’ Fourth Symphony. Webster is the Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus of the Parish Church of Saint Luke in Evanston, Illinois, where, from 1974 to 2003 he directed the Choir of Men and Boys, the Girls Choir and Adult Schola and the St. Luke’s Singers in a program widely respected and emulated in the field of church music. The 1998 restoration of the celebrated 1922 Ernest M. Skinner organ at St. Luke’s was accomplished under his leadership and is dedicated in thanksgiving for his ministry.
A native of Nashville, Richard studied organ with Peter Fyfe, Karel Paukert and Wolfgang Rübsam. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Great Britain, studying the English choral tradition as Organ Scholar at Chichester Cathedral under John Birch.
As a diversion, Richard loves running, and has completed eleven marathons, including three Boston Marathons.
Biographical information on Mr. Webster from his website: www.advent-press.com.
The Bach Week Festival Chamber Orchestra
Musicians from the Chicago Symphony, the Lyric Opera Orchestra and other professional musicians come together each year to form the Bach Week Festival Chamber Orchestra. These superb musicians are dedicated to the concept of the Bach Week Festival and many also agree to appear as instrumental soloists during the festival week.
The Bach Week Festival Chorus
The Bach Week Festival Chorus made its debut (2000) in the B Minor Mass. Since that time, they have sung all six of the Bach Motets and continue to perform J.S. Bach’s Cantatas. This dedicated ensemble is made up of auditioned singers who also sing professionally/semi-professionally around the Chicago area. To schedule an audition, contact Mei Aden at 837-784-8775, or via e-mail at tkmei@yahoo.com