At Bach Festival, more than one way to sing praise | Review (Orlando Sentinel)
By Matthew J. Palm
ORLANDO SENTINEL ARTS WRITER
The 90th annual Bach Festival is underway in Winter Park, and so far two concerts show that even at that venerable age the fest still has some tricks up its sleeve.
The festival is making music by combining the genres of spirituals and jazz in one instance, and then pulling out a rarely performed oratorio in another.
Let’s start with the Big Band Spirituals concert, technically the final pre-festival program. Local musicians led by Chuck Archard, took a selection of traditional spirituals and gave them jazzy big-band arrangements. A seven-member choir of Rollins College students and local pro singers gave the songs voice when needed.
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