Cal Poly Bach Week Chamber Concert: ‘The Trio Sonata Ideal’

The Music Department will present its 2024 Bach Week Thursday through Sunday, Jan. 18-21. It’s a week devoted annually to the performance and exploration of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. The Jan. 19 “The Trio Sonata Ideal” chamber concert will take place in the First Presbyterian Church of San Luis Obispo at 7:30 p.m. One of the defining features of the new Baroque style was the so-called “trio sonata ideal.” In this, musical texture became stratified between a bass and two upper parts. Nowhere is this ideal more obviously seen than in the trio sonata, which, along with opera, was one of the defining genres of the Baroque style. This program will explore the evolution of the trio sonata throughout the Baroque period, in works by Bach, Bertali, Dario Castello, Arcangelo Corelli, Jean-Marie Leclair, Biagio Marini, Henry Purcell and Luigi Rossi. The program will also present early vocal works for two singers and continuo by Claudio Monteverdi, showing how the trio sonata ideal operated in all genres, not just instrumental music. Rebecca Myers, soprano; Ben Kazez, baritone; and members of Tesserae Baroque: Andrew McIntosh, violin; Vijay Gupta, violin; Leif Woodward, cello; and Ian Pritchard, harpsichord; will perform on the concert. Jan. 19 concert tickets and Jan. 21 concert tickets are sold at the Cal Poly Ticket Office, 805-756-4849.