Gala Finale - from Bach to Babylon

About

We close the festival where so much of western music begins — with J.S. Bach. Two of his irresistible Brandenburg Concertos bookend an evening that spans from baroque exuberance to urgent contemporary voices: award-winning violinist Amy Hillis presents Sid Robinovitch’s Adieu Babylon, a work that confronts the political challenges of our moment. And then, as a final gift to our audience, Mendelssohn’s String Octet — written at the astonishing age of sixteen, by a composer who would later almost single-handedly resurrect Bach’s music for the world. A miraculous work to close a miraculous week.