Celebrating 25 Years of the Lexington Bach Festival!
This September, the Lexington Arts Council will host a very special celebration of the Lexington Bach Festival. For a quarter of a century this annual music festival has brought together professional musicians from Michigan and Ohio to present orchestral, chamber music and solo performances for residents and visitors.
- Highlights of the upcoming festival include the orchestra collaborating with a chorus of outstanding vocalists from Cleveland, Ohio performing Bach’s Magnificat.
- The festival opens on Wednesday, September 10th with a free concert by the Lexington Bach Festival String Quartet performed in Lexington’s St. Denis Church.
- The festival moves to Port Huron on Thursday as St. Clair County Community College hosts two varied programs of music performed by the Bach Festival String Quartet.
- On Friday, the award-winning Chicago-based Axiom Brass will be joined by LBF percussionist, Kristen Tait and a multi-media presentation in music from four centuries celebrating the Festival’s 25th Anniversary.
- On Saturday, the Festival Orchestra is joined by a chorus of 15 voices in Bach’s Magnificat on a program that includes music by Handel and Mendelssohn on Saturday.
- The celebration concludes on Sunday with Bach’s magnificent Orchestral Suite No. 3, Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, Respighi’s The Birds, and The Last Kiss, a work by Clark Suttle written to commemorate the musical founder of this festival, Julia Kurtyka.
Bach Festival History
Located 80 miles north of Detroit, the village of Lexington is in the Blue Water Thumb Region of Michigan. Each year the Lexington Bach Festival offers residents and visitors to “the first resort north” great music by Johann Sebastian Bach and composers influenced by his works.
The Lexington Bach Festival was founded by violinist, teacher, and musical force of nature, Julia Kurtyka in the year 2000. Working with Lexington Arts Council, and Festival leadership of Lee Jones, she engaged Don Th. Jaeger as its first music and artistic director. Don Th. Jaeger led the festival for fifteen years, collaborating with artists as diverse as Jazz musician, Chris Brubeck; Concert Violinist, Caroline Goulding and Concertmaster of four major orchestras, William Preucil. Since then other artists who have joined the festival include Leah Crocetto, Mark Markham, Geneva Lewis, Josefien Stoppelenburg, Kurt Nikkanen, Maria Asteriadou, Colin Davin, Andreas Klein, and the Baroque Lute group, Duo Silvio.
When Julia Kurtyka passed away in 2011, Denice Turck and Kay DeLuca joined with Lee Jones to work to continue the festival. Their devotion was met with support and cooperation from the Lexington Arts Council. In 2014, Maestro Jaeger stepped down from the position of music director, and John Thomas Dodson was named as his successor. Members of the festival orchestra have gone on to hold positions with major orchestras including the orchestras of Dallas Rochester, San Antonio and Phoenix.
One of the most unique elements of this music festival is the degree to which it is ingrained into the community of Lexington. The musicians are guests of the community, housed in their homes and celebrated for bringing their gifts of music to enhance the quality of life of the Lexington residents. This special bond with the community has developed into a defining characteristic of the Lexington Bach Festival. Concerts are well attended, the musicians are respected as visiting artists, and individuals. Patrons, local businesses and the Lexington Arts Council continue to provide the annual financial support necessary to make the festival a success. As one of its two major annual projects, along with its Music in the Parks series, the Lexington Bach Festival is one of the major contributions to the quality of life for residents and visitors to the Blue Water Thumb Region of Michigan.
