This December, Santa Fe Pro Musica presents their Holiday Bach Festival—seven exciting concerts celebrating the holiday season, baroque masters, the glorious music of Bach, and beyond!
Tickets available through the Pro Musica Box Office at 505.988.4640 X 1000 or click the link below.
Bach Complete Solo Cello Suites
Part I, Wednesday, December 20 at 7:30 PM
Part II, Thursday, December 21 at 7:30 PM
The Holiday Bach Festival begins with Tanya Tomkins performing the complete Bach Cello Suites, in two programs. Equally at home on baroque and modern cello, Tomkins is renowned for her unique interpretations of these monumental pieces. Each concert is one-hour and performed without intermission.
“Tomkins performances are characterful and heartfelt: the preludes expressive, the dances carefully articulated.”—Julie Anne Sadie, Gramophone
A Baroque Christmas
Friday, December 22 at 7:30 PM
Saturday, December 23 at 4 PM
Continuing in the tradition of Santa Fe Pro Musica's beloved Baroque Christmas Concerts, this program will fill the historic St. Francis Auditorium with the glorious music of Bach, Corelli, Handel, and Geminiani. Organist David Solem opens the concert with Bach’s iconic Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The concert concludes with a selection of rare Christmas carols featuring Santa Fe favorite, Clara Rottsolk, soprano. Each 75-minute concert is performed without intermission.
Bach and Beyond for Families
Wednesday, December 27 at 10 AM
In this fun and festive one-hour concert Colin Jacobsen and the Pro Musica Bach Ensemble explore the music of Bach and his influences on generations of composers. Free and open to the public.
Bach and Beyond
Thursday, December 28 at 7:30 PM
Friday, December 29 at 7:30 PM
In the Holiday Bach Festival’s grand finale, Colin Jacobsen and the Pro Musica Bach Ensemble present a program celebrating Bach and his influence upon generations of composers, including Philip Glass, Arvo Pärt, and Felix Mendelssohn. This concert revisits the old, rings in the new, and celebrates the threads that connect them! Each 90-minute concert is performed with intermission.
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Women of Distinction Initiative
Santa Fe Pro Musica welcomes Clara Rottsolk and Tanya Tomkins as part of their Women of Distinction Initiative that features women engaged in various facets of the classical music industry.
Colin Jacobsen, Artistic Director, violin soloist and leader
Colin Jacobsen is “one of the most interesting figures on the classical music scene” (Washington Post). For his work as a founding member of two acclaimed ensembles—the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and orchestra The Knights—Jacobsen was selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, media, and literary artists to receive a prestigious United States Artists Fellowship. As of September 2022, Jacobsen is the Artistic Director of Santa Fe Pro Musica where he has had a fruitful long-term association as a guest soloist and leader.
Stephen Redfield, violin and leader
Stephen Redfield, violin and leader with the Pro Musica Baroque and Bach ensembles, is also concertmaster of the Pro Musica Orchestra, positions he also holds with GRAMMY-winning Conspirare (Texas), the Arizona and Victoria (Texas) Bach festivals, and La Follia Austin Baroque. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the U.S. and is a prizewinner in the Coleman and Monterey Chamber Music competitions. Redfield is a long-time performer with the Oregon Bach Festival where he contributed to numerous recordings, including their GRAMMY-awarded CD. He recently retired as violin professor at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Clara Rottsolk, soprano
Clara Rottsolk is acclaimed for her “pure and shining” voice (Cleveland Plain Dealer), and has had solo performances with Atlanta Baroque, American Bach Soloists (San Francisco), American Classical Orchestra (New York), Bach Collegium San Diego, Colorado Bach Ensemble, San Francisco Early Music Society, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks, Trinity Wall Street Choir, and at many festivals including Berkeley Early Music, Boston Early Music, Carmel Bach, Indianapolis Early Music, and Philadelphia Bach. Originally from Seattle, Rottsolk graduated from Rice University and Westminster Choir College. She is currently based in Philadelphia where she teaches at Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr colleges.
David Solem, harpsichord and organ
David Solem has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory where he studied organ, harpsichord, piano, and flute. He has over 30 years of experience in liturgical music, and has taught applied music and choral arts at Loyola University in Chicago. Solem is the assistant organist at the First Presbyterian Church and plays keyboards of all kinds, including baroque chest organ, double-manual French harpsichord, single-manual Flemish harpsichord, harmonium, the Reuters organ in St. Francis Auditorium, and the Hamburg Steinway in the Lensic. He is also a Jungian psychoanalyst in private practice in Santa Fe.
Tanya Tomkins, cello
Tanya Tomkins is renowned for her interpretations of the monumental Bach Cello Suites. She is principal cellist and a regular soloist with Voices of Music, Philharmonia Baroque, and Portland Baroque, and artistic director and co-founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival (Sonoma, CA). She spent 14 years in the Netherlands, performing throughout Europe and the U.S., including at The Frick Collection (New York), Great Performances at Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y, San Francisco Performances, Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal, and others. As an educator, she has taught classes at Yale, Juilliard, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.