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ABOUT US: Click Here For Bachanalia's Artists' Biographies “It ain't necessarily so”, as the Gershwin so aptly pointed out, but it says here that in Roman mythology, Bacchus was born prematurely, torn to pieces by the Titans, put back together again as a goat, and raised by nymphs. That's enough to drive anybody to drink, and sure enough, Bacchus (or Dionysus, as he's known if you're an ancient Greek mythologist) went on to invent wine. Less well known is that he also assumed other godlike activities, among them taking charge of reviving vegetation in the spring, and eventually serving as the patron god of all creative things, including the arts. (He also married Ariadne of Naxos, but that's a different opera). Plato, indeed, called Bacchus/Dionysus the source of " the divine madness" that inspires all great poetry, theater and music. Johann Sebastian Bach, of course, is a divinity of a quite different, but no less fundamental sort, a visionary whose unparalleled creative artistry has enthralled audiences and inspired countless other composers for over three centuries. Beethoven, for instance, called Bach "the father of harmony"; Schumann wondered at his ability to "inexhaustibly provided new ideas"; Debussy settled for dubbing Bach "the Holy Grail." And so, with Bach as father figure, and Bacchus lending his joyful energy of rejuvenation and rediscovery, Bachanalia strides on to its coming 18th season, the ensemble dedicated to the combination of innovative programming with high performing expertise. As founding artistic director Nina Beilina puts it, "our concerts honor J.S. Bach, the father of modern Western music, even as they celebrate the intoxicating sprit of music as an art of life." |
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