Bach - Vox Luminis - Pontaumur & Santander

15 August 2022, 21:00

I performed Bach’s Missa Brevis (essentially the Kyrie and Gloria of the B Minor Mass), as well as the Magnificat in two performances with Vox Luminis. We also played the final chorus of the B Minor Mass, Dona Nobis Pacem, as an encore. The first performance took place in Pontaumur in France in the Bach en Combrailles festival on 13th August 2022, and the other concert took place two days later at the Palacio de Festivales in Santander in Spain as part of the Festival Internacional Santander.

We spent several days rehearsing in Pontaumur, near Clermont-Ferrand in the Puy-de-Dôme department of France, which was a beautiful area.

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The original plan was for us all to perform with the impressive built-in organ at the Eglise Saint-Michel in Pontaumur. (The festival raised the funds, by 2004, to install a replica of an organ that J. S. Bach played in Arnstadt.) However, due to a pitch issue with the organ, we were unable to use it for the majority of the performance. Gladly, we did use it for the encore, and Bart Jacobs also played Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C major BWV 547 on it, between the Missa Brevis and the Magnificat. It was a fantastic instrument and the carillon or celeste stop he used at the end of the piece added a certain sparkle to the proceedings.

The concert in Pontaumur was so well attended that there was still an enormous queue when it was due to start. I think people even sat outside: the large doors at the back of the church were left wide open.

I played first trumpet with William Russell on 2nd, Gareth Hoddinott on 3rd and Koen Plaetinck on timpani. Bart Cypers played horn. The performance was reviewed by Forum Opera.

“trompettes et cor ont livré une prestation admirable de clarté et de musicalité”

“trumpets and horn delivered an admirable performance of clarity and musicality” – Forum Opera

We traveled to Santander by coach, which took most of the day. Thankfully, we managed to avoid the disruption caused by the devastating Hostens wildfire in southwestern France. After a Eurostar train cancellation on the way to France, I was glad of a straightforward journey on the way to Spain, even though it took most of the day. The views along the coast of north Spain were fantastic: we arrived in the so-called ‘golden hour’ just before sunset. As soon as we arrived, we walked into the centre of Santander for tapas (or pincho). It was great to taste some of the local Cantabrian food and to stretch the legs after a long day of travel.

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We had most of the morning and afternoon free the next day, and we explored Santander on foot. It was thankfully much cooler in Spain than it had been in France and walking for most of the day was not too tiring. I love exploring a city I have not visited before, and Santander is already a place I would like to return to. The concert hall was quite a different acoustic to the church in Pontaumur, so our soundcheck was simply a matter of acclimatising to the space. The concert was well-attended, and there were many lovely moments, including an exemplary Esurientes sung by Alexander Chance, with Tami Krausz and Sien Huybrechts playing traverso.